damned_institute | Day 31: Intercom, Evening

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Day 31: Intercom, Evening

The intercom's jingle came on with its usual overly-cheery quality, echoing through the halls and doctors' offices.

"I trust, as always, that you all enjoyed the last shift and that all the staff-patient interaction went smoothly. Of course, we're nearing the end of another day and so we must begin to bring things to a close. Nurses and orderlies, please escort all the patients to their respective rooms and make sure everyone gets their dinner--which is, by the way, chicken teriyaki and assorted tempura, along with rice and miso soup--before they retire for the night. A vegetarian substitute is of course available, and we have our usual assortment of drinks; we also have a special of hot green tea to go along with the meal.

"Thank you, everyone, for an exceedingly pleasant day, and our therapy sessions will continue tomorrow as scheduled. Enjoy your dinner, and I will be on again before bedtime to say goodnight."

The announcement ended.

[ As always, individual dinner threads go in response to this post, and it helps to put your character's room number in the subject line. Thanks! ]

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"My sons are well. I'm worried about my daughter. She hasn't been seen since before the riot." And during the day, he couldn't really sense her psychic scent, even though the presence of the boys teased him occassionally. "I'm not finding this institution good for my nerves." He sipped the tea, grateful for its astringent heat.

"I don't think you're the only one feeling that way." Angel paused, rotating the cup thoughtfully in his hands.

"She might just be lost in the crowd. Doesn't seem like they're interested in killing people, whoever has us."

"I'd have a way of noticing her across a distance if we were in the same room." But that wasn't why Saetan was so worried about her presence or non-presence. He still refused to articulate what he feared everytime he saw Daemon with River.

"I had noticed that. They treat the people who are wounded at night while ignoring the probably cause of the wounds. It's almost illogical. I keep trying to find some pattern, some reason for why we're imprisoned here, but I can't see it. Not yet." He drained the cup and went back to eating the chicken. "Aren't you hungry?"

Angel nodded. That made sense. Vampires had the same connection with those they sired. What was Saetan, anyway, specifically?

"From what I can tell," he said, "and from what I've been told, there is no actual pattern. I think we're here because someone...wants to play."

It was the only reason that made sense so far because there was no true logic behind that logic. Doing something just because you could.

He cast a glance over at his untouched tray of food. "I'm not a big eater."

Saetan growled, a surprisingly gutteral and fierce sound from one who appeared so benign. "Their play is costing lives. Who knows what horrors are going on at our homes?" Though the hints he'd heard they may not even be missed at home. How was that even possible?

"If you don't think I'm being rude, would you mind if kept your chicken for my sons? We tend to burn calories faster than landens, and I'm sure at least one of them will be ravenous before morning."

Angel looked up. "The lives here matter just as much as those at home," he replied. "There might not be any known deaths yet, but people are still getting hurt."

Except for that man. The body. The one everybody called, what was it? Mr. Radio? That was a curious one. Although Hitsugaya had mentioned there were those who "disappeared."

He blinked once at the unexpected request. "Oh. Yeah, sure." He passed the tray over. "Go ahead."

Without wasting any time, Saetan rose and carefully scraped the meat into a clean napkin, then lay the little bundle beside his own tray. "Thank you."

Then he regarded Angel steadily. The man was a mystery--no psychic scent at all. Even landens had a weak one. Despite getting used to how weak his senses were here, Saetan considered that a mystery. "I didn't mean to sound callous to our fellow prisoners. What happens here matters, and we're here to the brutal end. We can't allow this obscenity to remain." He felt he'd been over this ground before. However, without more information, he didn't have anything more useful to add to the bald declaration.

For a second, Angel was quiet. He set aside his cup. "You mentioned horrors back home. Where's home for you?"

Not his world, he suspected that much. Or if from there, then pretty far removed from it. He hadn't missed Saetan's slightly off vocabulary. Landens?

"Home is... Kaeleer, in the Shadow Realm. I realize those names don't mean much to someone not from there, but those are the names." Saetan didn't shrug or seem apologetic in tone. These were facts.

"Are you from this world?"

He didn't recognize them, no. They sounded a little fanciful, though, even to him.

"I don't think anyone's from this dimension, technically," Angel said, absently digging the map he'd taken earlier out of his journal. "But mine most resembles it, if that's what you mean."

Now that was news. "So you do not think we are in the world most--" That was an assumption. Saetan frowned. "No, that was silly of me. We visited a small town a few days ago. It seemed a normal enough world."

[wtf, sorry, not awake. x.x You didn't see my massive edits. At all. DX;;]

"Looks are usually deceiving." Angel frowned, thinking. "This place, there's—it feels off. So no, I don't think we're in any regular dimension."

Besides, Hitsugaya had described the town as "quaint," and in Angel's experience, anything that had that small-town feel to it was harbouring something much darker. Like Sunnydale.

"I wonder if that is why this Dr. Landel has such control over us," Saetan speculated. He continued to eat methodically. "It's good to talk to someone who uses their head. You have other senses than the usual at your command, I would guess from your statements."

Angel glanced up from the map he'd been studying. He wasn't surprised Saetan had pegged him as something other than human considering the man didn't smell entirely human himself, but he hadn't expected the subject to be brought up so soon.

"You could say that," he replied, choosing, as usual, to skirt around the particulars. "Have you seen this doctor? I'm told some have."

"No, I haven't. I had hoped he'd appear at the altercation the other day. I should ask Daemon if he has. He tends to remember useful details." He set down his fork and rested his chin on his fist, studying Angel anew with his golden eyes. "If you wish to be secretive, you should be careful with your other statements." He had no right to chide or tease, so his tone was simple. However, Saetan couldn't keep the corners of his mouth from trying to lift into a smile.

Angel lifted an eyebrow. "I'm not looking to be secretive. I know you can sense I'm different, in the same way I can tell with you. I just didn't realize you'd be interested in the details."

Not that he needed to be a vampire to tell; the golden eyes kinda gave it away pretty easily.

And anyway, he wasn't lying about what he said. He tended to avoid talking about it, but it wasn't about keeping it quiet. Not really. Revealing what he was lead to questions and questions led to memories, and it was Angel's past that he didn't want to address if at all possible. Mainly because while he never wanted to go down that path, he also couldn't—wouldn't—outright lie about it, either. He couldn't possibly bring himself to just sit there and deny everything he'd done like it didn't matter or never happened.

So. Better just evade the topic altogether, then. Besides, he was...supposed to be cryptic. Wasn't that what everyone called him? Among other things.

"Not particularly," Saetan admitted. "Other than hearing some confirmation that I was right. Are you finding your... abilities dampened here?" He thought the young man finally seemed amused back at him. Perhaps. That was better than the wariness from before.

"I find that particular part of living here very annoying. I'm used to having far greater cognizance of my surroundings."

Angel nodded. "Seems to be the standard case for most. It takes a little getting used to. That, and blacking out in the middle of the night."

It wasn't as drastic a change as when he'd gotten his brief taste of humanity all those months ago, but still, if he was going to stay a demon, the least he could've gotten out of it was the full use of his senses. Hardly seemed fair otherwise.

Then again, he did get to touch the sun for the first time. Couldn't exactly complain about that.

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Day 31: Intercom, Evening

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