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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Keman gave his roommate a one-shouldered shrug. "I...probably shouldn't have said all that," he muttered sheepishly. "I've just been a little worried about it lately. I've been running on a shorter fuse since I came here...getting angry, getting in fights, that sort of thing. I guess it's just this place."

Leon nodded. "No, it's probably good that you did. I think this place gets to a lot of people, especially for those so changed by it." The mage had lost his ears, but at least he hadn't changed form completely. Even if Keman took a human-like form now and then, it couldn't be good on him to be stuck that way.

"And," he added as a last minute thought, "if you're ever, you know, real cranky about anything... you can talk with me, okay?" Not that Leon had any experience with that sort of thing, but it was worth a shot.

"Yes," Keman agreed. "But you lost your...ears, right? So I can't really complain. We're both in the same situation." Suddenly, he smiled. He didn't want to talk about this anymore. He was actually looking forward to tonight, to seeing Orihime again. He felt mildly guilty about anticipating it, especially since he'd been avoiding his own sister and friends today. "Let's talk about something else." But now he had to figure out what else to talk about. Fewmets.

"Could you tell me about your home? I like hearing everyone's stories." People usually liked talking about themselves...right?

He looked a little startled. He hadn't expected Leon to say that...

"Thanks."

"My home is..." Leon frowned and stared down at his hands. Before everything had happened with Claude and the others he would have enjoyed talking about his home. Back when everything was normal. But now... "I don't really know what's going on with my home anymore. It's... a bit hard to explain."

He gestured randomly towards the ceiling. "First there was the meteor, then the monsters, then..." Then they'd been transferred to another place entirely and the inhabitants said that... "It might have been destroyed. The planet, that is. Was destroyed, they said... But Claude says we managed to save it. I want to be happy about this - but I didn't get to see it happen! And now I know everyone's all right and I can't even be there!"

...Fewmets! The question had been perfectly innocent, but if Keman had known how much it would depress Leon, he wouldn't have asked it.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I know how you feel. Hours before I woke up here, we'd negotiated a treaty to end a war. I never got to find out if it actually worked. I hate platitudes, but...I'm sure it'll be okay. You'll get back."

Well, it wasn't really the same. Even if it was engulfed in war, Keman's world would still exist. But that wasn't the way to be thinking about the situation at all! Especially since it was as close to understanding Leon's situation as he was bound to get. The mage felt a bit ashamed for even thinking such a thing.

"Don't worry about it," Leon smiled. "You didn't know. And I'm sure you're right." He wasn't sure, really. It didn't seem like anyone had actually managed to escape, but he didn't want to think like that either.

Keman gave his roommate a crooked smile. "You know, I tried to change the subject so that we could get away from depressing things." Hmm. What did adolescent two-leggers usually talk about, anyway? The only people remotely in that age bracket that he'd known well back in his homeworld were Valyn and Shadow, and they were terrible examples. Luke and Masaru had been rather...violent when he'd spoken with them here a day or two before, and Tamaki had just been...odd.

Maybe he could just ask.

"...All right, I've got nothing. What do male two-leggers our age usually talk about, anyway?"

Day 31: Intercom, Evening

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