damned_institute | Day 32: Intercom, Evening

The intercom clicked on and the Head Doctor spoke with his usual fervor.

"Good evening, patients and staff! I am pleased to announce that the arrival of nearly all of our new patients will conclude this shift. In addition, we have a very delicious dinner in store for you: carved Turkey with a side of mashed potatoes and steamed, seasoned vegetables. For drinks, we have our usual assortment available, and as a dessert included with your dinner, we will be serving a slice of warm apple pie with each meal.

"I trust that those of you enjoying the company of new roommates will give them a warm Landel's welcome, and I also hope that those of you who participated in therapy today were able to find a productive time with their doctors.

"That's all for now! Enjoy dinner, everyone!"

The intercom clicked off again.

[ Please respond to this post with all dinner shift threads between roommate, putting your character's respective room in the subject line. While we have none scheduled for this shift at this time: all introduction posts for this shift's group of new characters should be made in response to this post; the introduction may then continue on to be a regular roommate thread. ]

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Well, that had been an interesting conversation, Kenren had to admit. So that was Rhode's relative, whatever brand of relative they wished to call it. He seemed like an interesting guy. Kenren might have to meet with him again sometime. At least the kid had someone there to keep her out of trouble (maybe, he wasn't sure if Tyki was gonna' be any better than Rhode at staying unsedated). It would be something to see at least.

He entered his room, making charming small talk with the nurse to make her blush, before he went to sprawl on his bed for a while. He'd eat in a bit, and at least he'd slept for some of last night, he'd just wait for his roommate to arrive first.

Zelnick was quiet when his nurse led him back to his room, musing over Fwiffo. What black sense of humor brought a Spathi here, of all places? They already thought everything was trying to eat them...

Brooding as only he could-- that is, poorly; he wasn't cut out for the mindset-- he nodded greeting to his roommate before settling down at his desk for dinner. Protein, starch, sugar, vitamins... they're fattening us up, he thought morbidly, setting in to the meat without much enthusiasm.

Well... that was odd. Not that Kenren had spent much time talking to his roommate (he had been kinda' distracted last night to be honest), but he did seem kind of subdued. He watched for a few moments as Zelnick started to eat, looking thoroughly, well, not miserable, but preoccupied? Absent? Something like that anyway.

"Hey," Kenren finally greeted him, reaching for his own tray and starting to tuck in. It was pretty good and he'd never really thought about how much meat humans ate. "You seem kinda' out of it. Something on your mind?"

Startled out of his reverie, Zelnick looked up suddenly, and a bit blankly-- it took him a moment to process what Kenren had said.

When he did, he laughed sheepishly. "It shows? Yeah, it's... an old friend showed up," he explained. "Old and loyal and a surprisingly good subordinate. But..."

At a loss for words, he gestured with his fork at the room-- and by implication, Landel's Institute. "This place," he sighed, hoping that would be enough for Kenren to get the idea, and ate a bite of mashed potatoes.

Kenren chuckled softly and nodded. "'fraid so," he replied. "Unless the food has just done something to offend you." He listened as Zelnick outlined the problem, nodding in sympathy. "Yeah, I can understand that. This place isn't exactly where you want to be seeing your friends." He paused for a moment, cocking his head to one side in thought. "Usually. I think my commanding officer would probably enjoy the challenge. He'd just somehow manage to acquire the entire library in his room." Tenpou could acquire clutter in a vacuum.

"At least you've been able to give him some pointers though, right? He's not totally on his own."

"Nah, the food's decent. Better than freeze-dried everything and synthesized oatmeal." Ah, the joys of space travel; there weren't enough hydroponic gardens and cultivation vats in the world to keep two thousand humans and nearly that many aliens supplied with fresh food.

He laughed briefly at Kenren's description. "Sounds like an interesting guy. My friend, though-- well. He's from a culture that religiously believes they could all die any moment, probably from horrible monsters eating them all." Once again, he gestured around the room. "And in this place, he's almost right."

Pointers. Ugh. "If you can call 'stay in your room and at least try to eat' a pointer," Zelnick said, rather subdued. "I don't know what to do with him in this place. Protect him, of course, and try to make sure he's safe, but... he wouldn't feel safe in a room with three-foot steel walls. He doesn't feel safe in a room with three-foot steel walls." A Spathi. Here. God. He sighed heavily, poking at his food listlessly. "Why couldn't it have been Hayes," he mumbled to himself, "he always knows what to do."

"...I'll take your word for that since I have no idea what freeze-dried is. Or oatmeal for that matter." Sounded weird to him, not that he'd turn down the chance to try it if he got the chance though. Variety and all.

Kenren smiled fondly at the thought of Tenpou and then nodded. "Yeah. He's definitely interesting," he replied with some amusement. "But uh... yeah, I see what you mean. That's really gonna' just kinda' prove his fears." Ouch. Poor guy.

"I'd say under the circumstances that is a pretty good pointer," Kenren admitted. If the guy was terrified of getting eaten, then sticking to a room which wouldn't get attacked seemed like a good idea to him. "I guess if he can't stay in there, make sure he's with people who can protect him whenever he goes out. Maybe he'll gain some confidence."

"Uh... preserved in the toughest, blandest form possible," he explained. "Keeps for years and years, about as interesting and flavorful as leather. And oatmeal's the meal from oats heated into a kind of mushy grainy glop." He wasn't a fan of the stuff they made at the Starbase; back on Unzervalt, where they used real oats that they actually grew in the ground (not synthesized fiber in a vaguely oat-y shape), and with a drizzle of rich molasses stirred in... that was different.

Homesickness pinged at his heart for a moment before he led himself away from that tangent.

"You'll have to tell me about him sometime," he said, smiling. "And... Fwiffo'll live." Zelnick would make sure of it, even if he had to beat off monsters with his skillet to keep Fwiffo breathing. A place like this was no place to die, not after nearly five years on a nearly impossible quest to stop a nearly unstoppable force. "He's not going to be happy, but he'll live."

Zelnick's only reply to that was a doubtful "Hmm" as he continued pecking at his food, but... well, maybe it was something to keep in mind.

After a few moments, he looked back up at Kenren, trying to smile. "How was your day, then?" he asked, in an effort at polite conversation.

"Huh... much as I like leather when it comes to clothing, I think I will have to give that a pass if I ever come across any of it." If it was as bland as it was being described as, then yeah, he'd rather not bother. Really not his thing, boring stuff.

"As long as he lives, then things'll work out. Living is the important part." 'cause it was really hard to do anything if you were dead. Unless you were reincarnated. Or Hakkai. But that was Hakkai and he was a special case.

"My day? It was... met a few interesting people and got something organised for tonight, so not a bad time all in all. Then again, I still prefer this place to where I was before for the excitement value."

Day 32: Intercom, Evening

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