damned_institute | 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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Amelia's own enthusiasm for the meal was as nothing before her roommate's. She wasn't sure the reason for the girl's excitement this evening, but it had certainly brightened the atmosphere of the previously lonely-feeling room. Looking up from her own tray with a cheerful smile, Amelia returned the greeting. "Good evening! How was your day?"

Much to Rena's delight, the dinner menu was exactly as the Head Doctor announced. The absence of appropriate utensils was kind of a downer, but at least the food was there. Without wasting time, she picked up her bowl of rice and began to eat.

The girl considered her roommate's question between bites. "It was...good!" she answered, pressing a plastic spoon against her lip. "How about yours?"

Good? It was a vague answer, but it was definitely better than bad. Swallowing a spoonful of soup, Amelia replied, "Mine was good, too!" All things considered. They were living awfully comfortably, for being prisoners in a den of evil. "I'm surprised. The food here is actually quite good!"

It was nice to hear Amelia's day had gone well, or at least better than the usual, what with their setting and all. Maybe their good luck will extend onto nightshift. Rena could only hope.

"Oh, yes." Rena popped a piece of chicken into her mouth. The texture was slightly rough, but the taste was adequate. "They feed us pretty well here, they do," she continued. "It's... Well, Rena thinks it's kind of odd."

And contradictory. She had difficulty knowing whether the staff wanted them dead, in pain, or something else altogether.

"Hmm..." It really was odd, wasn't it? Amelia hadn't really stopped to question it before. "I wonder if some of the staff here really don't know what goes on at night..." After all, the nurses who escorted her throughout the day hadn't seemed all that evil at all. They were pleasant, even, and had the circumstances been different, Amelia might have found their company genuinely enjoyable.

Perhaps they were victims as well, and didn't even know it!

Amelia had a point. What if part of the staff members had no idea of the dealings at night? Not the doctors, no; they undoubtedly knew. The nurses and orderlies, on the other hand, were likely being control. In fact, hadn't Luffy mentioned something odd about the staff the night they returned from Doyleton?

"You know," began Rena, her tone turning to worry, "someone told me he saw the nurses turn into monsters once, at sunset after a field trip. It sounded like they didn't have any control over it." If Luffy had been correct, they probably were not given their monster status because they wanted it.

Amelia stood abruptly, causing her chair to rattle and wobble as it was shoved away from the desk. "T-turned into monsters!?" the princess stammered, her voice raised in shock. "Against their will!? That's horrible! That's... that's completely unforgivable!!"

Then the patients weren't the only victims here! Just how many people were suffering from this evil scheme!?

And furthermore, from Amelia's knowledge of curses, spells that transformed humans into monsters were fairly high-level stuff. That was, they were so high level that human sorcerers were generally unable to use them - and that was a good thing, too! But the only beings who could... were those wretched manifestations of pure evil, the Mazoku! This too was Hellmaster's doing, she was sure of it!

Day 31: Intercom, Evening

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