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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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.

Day 31: Intercom, Evening

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