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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Haku smiled again and shook his head. "Not at all." Artemis was strange and different to Haku. He would always be interesting. "I've just never known someone to be kind, simply because they wanted to be, especially when it comes to Zabuza-san."

If this were a sitcom, he thought, there would be a grating sound effect of tires screeching to a halt right here.

"Well, I uh," Artemis shifted uncomfortably. "Friends do each other favors... just because they like them. Because they want the other person to be happy, and that's reward enough."

Or so he'd heard and vaguely experienced, but never in such plainly stated terms.

"I would do much more than lie for you, if it made you happy."

Haku's smile softened and he bent forward, pressing a cool kiss to his friend's forehead. "Thank you," he said, pulling back. "But I couldn't ask you for anything." He tilted his head and considered his roommate. "For the same reson, I think. I ... don't want you to be unhappy." His smile brightened, pleased he'd been able to understand and express that correctly. ... He hoped.

The boy frowned slightly, confused. "What could you possibly ask me for that would upset me? I would do anything for you Haku, it wouldn't matter what. My sanity is indebted to you, and if that isn't enough, as a friend I would be happy to fulfill any request you made of me."

Maybe Haku hadn't quite understood what Artemis was trying to express...

Shaking his head, Haku smiled. "No, I mean that I don't need anything from you that you haven't either given to me or offered already."

"Oh..." Artemis smiled, pleased with himself. "The feeling is mutual, I hope you know. You've already given me so much, it's hard to want more."

"Good." Haku laughed softly. "I'm still rather new to this whole 'friends' thing, so I'm not sure if I'm going about it right or not. I admit, you seem to know more about this than I do."

He laughed a little, "No, I just have a few close friends, really. Two years ago, if someone had told me I would have friends in a year, I would have laughed."

Artemis' gaze became a little more distant. "There's Butler, of course. My oldest friend and bodyguard. He's watched over me since infancy, so I suppose that makes him more of a father figure that I pay to stay with me. Juliet, his sister, was our house maid and secondary bodyguard, but she's gone off to Brazil to be a professional wrestler. I suppose I could call Mulch Diggums and Foaly--a dwarf and a centaur, respectively--my friends, but I've never asked them explicitly. And Holly..." He smiled a little, remembering the strange sequence of events that had lead to their friendship. "Holly is the elf I kidnapped two years ago. Somehow, by some bizarre chain of events, we ended up as friends."

He looked up at Haku, "The hazel eye is hers. She must have my other one."

Haku folded his hands in his lap and listened carefully. He felt ... a bit unhappy that he seemed to lack the natural ability to make friends that Artemis had... but he was happy for his friend at the same time.

"You both must be close." He smiled. "Your face and voice change when you talk about her."

"We've been through a lot," Artemis admitted. "When you associate with me, things are never easy, I'm afraid," he laughed. "Things happen. Mostly bad things, and somehow everyone I know is roped into it."

He smiled softly, "I have the same effect here, it seems.

"Anyway," He continued, waving his hand to dismiss it. "For your information, sir, my voice and face change when I talk about you as well." He grinned.

Haku brought up a hand and laughed softly behind it. "Ah, but despite my appearance, I am not a lady friend of yours." Haku couldn't help but tease him just a bit. Perhaps it was a reaction to his slight feelings of jealousy?

"W-wait, what?!" Artemis looked shocked. "No no no! Holly and I don't have that kind of relationship!" Besides... cross-species dating was not something he was about to get into, thank you very much.

"We are strictly friends. Good friends, but she is not a 'lady friend', despite the fact that she is female," He frowned. "And even if you looked more masculine, it wouldn't matter to me."

Haku laughed softly again and shook his head. "I was only teasing, relax."

He grinned and lifted his scarred eyebrow again. "Even if I looked more masculine, you'd still think of me as the same girl that you believed was your roommate not too long ago? Oh, thank you."

"That's not..." Artemis growled in defeat. "I just can't win, can I? You're going to take whatever I say and twist it!

"Well, we'll see about that," He cleared his throat and shifted himself around so he was sitting and facing Haku. "No matter what you looked like, be it man, woman, or whatever, it wouldn't matter to me. What I like is here," He touched Haku's forehead with a finger. He moved his hand down to his friend's chest, "And here. This," He brushed a hand against Haku's cheek, but lost his nerve and removed it after a moment. "Is superficial, comparatively."

Haku blinked, listening. He ... hadn't responded to the teasing quite like he thought he would, but still, this was interesting too.

When Artemis removed his hand from his face, he reached out and took it in his own, smiling. "I've never heard that before." He thought for a moment. "It's the same here. I like you too." He smiled happily.

"Although," he couldn't help but add in a slightly teasing tone, "I'm rather fond of my 'superficial' appearance, thank you. I took after my mother."

Artemis wasn't expecting Haku to take his hand like that, so of course his face turned pink again. He really needed to get that under control, before he died of embarrassment.

He struggled to find something to say about being liked as well, but failed. All he managed was, "She must have been very beautiful."

"I don't remember much about her," Haku admitted. "But I remember her hair and I still have a memory of her smiling at me. I know she was beautiful though. The rest is hazy. I was very young when she died." And the memory of watching Father beat her to death kind of over-rode any other pleasent memories he had of her.

Artemis felt rather guilty, or lucky, now. Of course his mother had lost her mind at one point, and his father had been kidnapped by the mafiya and thus his family life was all but nonexistent, but he had one.

"At least you remember her," Artemis said, smiling encouragingly. "Never let go of that memory. If you forget it, it would be a tragedy, I think.

"And now you have Momochi-san to be your family, as much as you protest that he isn't," He said with a grin.

Haku turned his head away and laughed behind his hand again.

"You seem fixated on the idea of Zabuza-san being my family," he said, turning back once he'd gotten back under control. "Shall I tell you about how we met?" Haku wouldn't share the gritty details, but the basics wouldn't hurt.

"If you like," Artemis said with a smile. "If it's something you'd rather not share though, I'd understand completely."

As much as Haku wanted to deny it, Artemis still couldn't get the image of Zabuza as Lord Montague out of his head. And although Lord Montague never explicitly slaughtered Juliet, it was starting to look like Shakespeare hadn't taken insanely protective fathers into account.

Haku smiled. "I don't mind, though I'd rather it wasn't somehting that got out.

"Perhaps I should give you some background about my country and out culture before I launch into story time, hm? The country Zabuza-san and I come from is called The Land Of Water. Of the five large nations of the land, it is the poorest. After my parents died, I had no one to take me in, and the village I had grown up in was unwelcoming of someone like myself. So, I travelled and survived. After a few years I met Zabuza-san. He was older than I and already a fully trained and highly acomplished assasin. He decided, for his own reasons, to take me in and train me. I was seven at the time.

"I was his student until he deemed me ready and I became what I would be until I arrived here." He was skipping over some parts, but they weren't terribly important.

Artemis listened to the story, nodding in all the appropriate places. It was sad, but at the same time a beautiful story. No doubt Haku experienced much hardship during the time he spent alone, but it only proved that there was always a light at the end of the tunnel.

"I'm sorry to hear that you experienced traveling alone at such a young age. But I suppose these things always happen for some reason, since you ended up with Momochi-san." It was no wonder that Haku was unfamiliar with the concept of friends--surviving was a full-time job.

"Well, many people where I'm from wouldn't think of that as a good thing. Zabuza-san was famous before he was my age." Haku smiled, but the expression was more thoughtful than anything.

"Zabuza-san murdered every child in the academy's graduating class when he was approximately seven years old."

Most of the color drained from Artemis' face. "...Is that so......?"

He was going to die. Painfully, and in a long and drawn-out manner. From now on, he'd have to be extremely careful with who he talked to about Haku. Renji and Hitsugaya only, so far. It would have to stay that way, for his own safety.

"Well," Artemis coughed to cover the crack in his voice. "That's... rather telling of his ability, isn't it? I think I need some water..." He stood up and poured himself a glass and drank it all in one go. Why were things always so damn complicated?

Haku frowned, worried. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." He honestly didn't, but he hadn't expected Artemis to take such news so poorly. At least he hadn't had another panic attack.

Standing up, Haku walked over to Artemis and gently plucked the glass from his hand. "If you drink like that, you're going to make yourself sick." He poured out a measured half-glass and held it out to his roommate. "I really am sorry. It's common knowledge back home. I didn't think."

Day 31: Intercom, Evening

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