Day 32: Intercom, Dawn

[damned-intercom.livejournal.com]

The sky was slightly cloudly as the sun began to rise into the sky, but not enough to put a damper on the Head Doctor's daytime mood. The sound of him humming the intercom jingle came on just as the jingle itself ended, and he paused as he realized his silly antics had been caught on the microphone.

"Ah..hem. Good morning, Landel's Institute! Patients, staff, and everyone else... I am sad to say that the ruckus last night was about a certain something being stolen from our upper levels. While some of our guards received minor wounds during the attack, no one was seriously injured and none of our patients or doctors were involved.

"To get our minds off this horrible event, however, let me announce something very happy, and that is... you guessed it: the arrival of new patients! We have a very large batch coming in this morning, so I hope that all the nurses will be patient--but firm!--with their new charges while our patients will, as always, welcome their new friends with open arms.

"In any case, today's breakfast will be delicious Belgian waffles with your choice of toppings--syrup, butter, whipped cream, and assorted fresh fruits are all available. As sides, we have bacon, sausage, tater tots, and scrambled eggs, and as always, we have assorted juices and milk.

"We hope that you all enjoy breakfast and the new members of the patient body. I will speak to you all after breakfast!"

The intercom clicked off.

[ All introduction posts for this shift's group of new characters should be made in response to this post. (Have your new character wake up in a random empty room, as we aren't yet able to officially assign rooms.) Thanks! ]

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[358days.livejournal.com]

Sleep was an art form, and like many people at his apparent age, Roxas had mastered it. Comfortable beds were, at his level of expertise, totally optional; the same could be said for blankets, which is probably why he went without during the hotter months (days? whatever) in Twilight Town. However, the art didn’t include the actual process of waking up, so when Roxas opened his eyes and found himself in an unfamiliar bed in an equally unfamiliar room, this new development was received with absolutely no grace whatsoever.

That was why, once his initial confusion had worn off, Roxas’s attempt to simultaneously sit up, kick off the sheets, yawn, and take a wide-eyed look around catapulted him off of the bed and onto the floor.

“What the—whoa!”

Thud.

“Ow!”

Roxas lay on the floor for a moment after he’d been “relocated,” clutching at his head with his eyes squeezed shut. He’d been unlucky enough to knock it against the dresser on his way down, and, if he wasn’t mistaken, a bump was starting to form where he’d been hit. Great. What a way to start the day.

Grimacing, Roxas gently massaged his scalp and tried once more to examine the room, this time through a pained wince. There was the rumpled bed he’d just fallen out of (he gave it a small glare), the dresser (this received a much larger glare, as well as a poorly aimed kick—that hurt!), yet another bed, two desks, two chairs…

He pushed himself off of the floor, giving his head a shake before finally taking his hand away. More upsetting than the room he was in, of course, was the fact that… well, the fact that he was. He existed, and while that would have been fine on its own, he could neither see nor feel any sign of Sora, which could only mean… what? Had his other been turned into a Heartless again? But they’d been on Destiny Islands just a minute ago! Roxas knew that much at least, but since he was here now… what the heck was going on?

Roxas was sure of one thing, though: someone had to be yanking his chain. This definitely wasn’t Twilight Town, and he’d been aware enough of what Sora had been doing to know that the Organization had been eradicated, so the chances of this being Castle Oblivion or someplace in the World That Never Was were incredibly low. He wanted to blame Di—Ansem the Wise, just because, but after thinking of the man’s apology and subsequent death, he felt… well, maybe not guilty, but maybe that okay, fine, it couldn’t be old man’s fault. With the change of clothes, the separation from Sora, and this weird room, though, it had to be someone, and after everything he’d been through, something like this was the last thing he wanted to deal with.

Glowering now, he walked to the door just in time to hear footsteps approaching from the other side. Immediately, he sprang back again, sinking into a crouch and—and—?!

Roxas had enough time to send a bewildered look down at his empty hands before the door opened, and, quickly shoving aside his confusion, he darted to the side to grab one of the chairs and brandished it at the figure that stepped inside.

[358days.livejournal.com]

The nurse blinked at him, surprise registering on her face for just a moment before professionalism kicked in and her expression relaxed into an easy smile. “Now, now, Mr. Lawrence, is that any way to behave on your first day?” she said chidingly, holding out her hands good-naturedly to show that she was unarmed. Yeah, like Roxas was about to buy that.

“My name isn’t ‘Lawrence,’ it’s Roxas,” he replied coldly, tightening his grip on the chair. The woman’s innocent act was grating enough on its own, but being spoken to like he was five wasn’t helping. “Who are you? What is this place? Where’s Sora? Why can’t I summon the Keyblade?” The last two were particularly of concern to him, but if he was going to have to break out of this place to find his other, he was going to need something better than a chair to fight with. Even the Kingdom Key would be better, and that was saying something.

The nurse just looked at him pityingly, shaking her head. What—?! “This is Landel’s Institute, dear, and there’s no such thing as a ‘Keyblade.’ We do have your brother here, but—”

“Sora’s not my brother,” Roxas interrupted, his glare intensifying. He had yet to lower the chair, and if the nurse’s thoughtful look was any indication, she’d noticed. He didn’t like that look one bit, he decided, and he lifted the chair slightly in response. “What have you done to him?”

This time the nurse frowned, motioning to someone just outside of Roxas’s view before slowly advancing. “We’ve only been trying to do what’s best for him and what’s best for you,” she said in that annoyingly reasonable and still condescending tone. Roxas found himself backing up just a little before he made himself stop, but the appearance of a large male orderly made him wish he hadn’t. If he couldn’t summon the Keyblade, then what else could he not do? “Now please, Mr. Lawrence, put the chair down and come with me.”

Well, Roxas could come up to the correct response to that pretty easily. Giving both the nurse and the orderly one last furious look, he shifted the chair into a more appropriate position and charged, swinging his impromptu weapon at the nurse’s head. He hoped to knock her out or at least incapacitate her so that he could get out (she looked more like the brains of the outfit than the orderly did, so it seemed like a fair plan), but rather than the solid crack he’d expected to hear as the chair hit, the slap of a palm on plastic put an end to his happy dreams of escape.

Looking up revealed that the orderly had caught the chair in an iron grip and was giving Roxas a disapproving look that was nearly identical to the one the nurse was now sporting, but rather than give up then, Roxas yanked hard on the chair, failed to free it, then let go and made for the second one. If he could just get past these guys—

This time, the orderly caught his wrist, yanking him closer to the pair and standing immovable as a mountain as the Nobody tried in vain to free himself. ”Hey!” Roxas cried, flailing, kicking, and biting the man when all else failed. “Lemme go! You can’t do this!”

The nurse waited until the orderly had him more or less pinned in place before advancing again, this time with a syringe full of some liquid Roxas couldn’t identify in hand. His struggles increased once he spotted this, but by now it was obvious it wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He could only watch as she stuck the needle in his arm and emptied its contents, and by the time she drew away, Roxas had all but stilled and was left staring at her through eyes that were suddenly much harder to keep open.

“Now, I understand you must be confused, Luke, but please believe us when we say this is for your own good,” the nurse said rationally, as if he hadn’t just tried to bash her skull in. “This is your first day so we’re still going to let you go to breakfast, but if you insist on being difficult later, we’ll need to take disciplinary action.” She grinned at him. “So be a good boy, okay?”

Roxas glared at her.

“Good.” With that, she gestured to the orderly and led the pair off, leaving Roxas to wonder just how stupid she had to be to think that meant “yes.”