damned_institute | Day 32: Intercom, Evening

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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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"Oh, how sad," Brook's tone turned sad for a moment. Pirates were a breath of fresh air sometimes! Or, at least, his crew had been. He knew full well that there were other crews out there that weren't very friendly - one had even been the death of their own! - but not all crews were like that. Brook definitely couldn't have lived with himself had the Rumbar Pirates been like that, in any case.

Then his smile returned, albeit hidden beneath the napkin. "Oh yes, quite dead!" he announced proudly, even though it wasn't really something to be proud of, "I almost said earlier, but I used to be "Just Dead Bones" Brook! A walking skeleton, as it were. Hm, do you know what a Devil's Fruit is? Probably not, but you see there's these fruits where I'm from that if you eat them give you amazing powers! And mine brought me back from the dead! Yohoho!" Still sitting, he swooped into what would pass for a bow. "My soul got sent back, but by the time I found my body again, I was just bones! It was so strange being a skeleton! A living skeleton! How impossible!" He began laughing again.

"You seem to be doing pretty well now, what with the skin and everything," Archer pointed out, rather obviously. "I assume it's because you came here that you put on a few pounds of fleshy?"

The former Servant actually felt a little sorry for this guy. Living as only a skeleton would be a horrifying fate. Archer was amazed that this guy hadn't tried to destroy himself or give up after finding his body in such a deteriorated condition.

"Why do you try so hard to live, despite being a skeleton? Wouldn't it have been easier to simply pass on?"

Archer was also interested in this Devil Fruit, wondering if there was any truth to its namesake.

"Oh yes, quite well!" he hummed happily. It wasn't every day that one got thrown back into his skin after half a century without!

He would have been willing to explain the ups and down to being a skeleton as a follow up, but it seemed Archer wanted to know about something else - the same thing Franky had thought to ask that time in Thriller Bark. The man wasn't at all like his cyborg friend - but then again who could be?! - but Archer was just as insightful. The question just boiled down to "why try" then?

His mouth dropped back into a neutral position, as his eyes trailed to the floor, distance beginning to show in them. "Ah, well that's..." ...something he really hadn't though of in a while. Of course, his crew, their promise, and most of all Laboon were always on his mind, but through the excitement of the day, he'd had no reason yet to simply sit and dwell on anything. Now that someone was asking him, he really couldn't think of anything else.

Having skin was wonderful, but this place and the magic it held were just another block in his journey back.

"I made a promise," he said simply, "one that I absolutely must keep."

"That must be one hell of a promise," Archer said, taking a moment to wash his food down with a gulp of juice. Taking on a more serious tone, he spoke. "If you go out and meet people with the way you look, you know what kind of reactions they'll have right?"

It was the harsh truth, and Archer didn't think Brook was a big enough idiot to have overlooked this.

"You're a talking skeleton...? There's no way that you could become friends with a guy that creepy, something that abnormal will die of shame," he said, staring at his roommate. There was no malice in his words, just the cold, hard truth. Turning away, with a lighter tone, he continued, "Well, I can see that promise is important. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. People have secrets, and there's no reason for you to reveal it to a perfect stranger."

"It is," Brook nodded as he abandoned the napkin back to the tray, then folded his long fingers in his lap while the man continued.

The Straw Hats were one thing, but outside of them there would be others not as understanding, even on the Grand Line. He'd yet to meet anyone outside of Thriller Bark back home since they'd not even made it to the ~~Mermaid~~ Fishman Island. When it did happen though, if he returned to being a skeleton again after this place, he would deal with it. That was after all a part of taking a Devil Fruit's "curse", wasn't it? And even if it was not, the truth was something he knew very well, probably better than anyone, and being told it directly did not affect his understanding of what his skeletal condition meant.

He could grant Archer one thing over Franky at the very least: he was far better with his timing on the question. And for that, Brook was fine with explaining his story.

"A long time ago, the pirate crew I was a member of had to leave one of our Nakama behind somewhere. It was a painful and difficult decision, but... we made a promise then to absolutely come back before setting off without him." His head lowered further. "But... we were annihilated on the sea. And so as not to break our promise to him...!" Without realizing it, he tightened his hands, then relaxed the grip before continuing. "I've lived for a very long time since then. I am the only one who was able to return, so I have an obligation to that nakama, and to my crew that I must keep!!" He closed his eyes. "Since that day we died, it's been over fifty years time..."

"Nakama?" Archer asked, mouthing the words, rolling them over in his head. "You mean your comrade?"

So Brook was a romanticist? It was a little surprising to see he had a serious side, but perhaps this was his true self? Archer hadn't known him long enough to tell; his roommate seemed more like a goofball.

"Hey, did you say 50 years? It was that old of a story? I wasn't even born 50 years ago," he said, before adding, "well depends on how you look at it, but... still... Your Nakama might not be waiting anymore, or he could have died."

Archer sure knew how to bring down the party; it was like second nature for him.

"Yes, that's it," another nod, "My comrade and my friend, just as every member of my crew once was and still is." Death did not matter. His nakama were still just that, dead or alive!

The corners of his mouth turned up when Archer repeated the number of years. "Ahh. Fifty years is pretty long, isn't it?" He agreed, chuckling just slightly before tilting his head back gazing upward. "But! I know he's waiting! It took fifty years of being alone before I found out, but I know that he is waiting for us! For at least one of his Nakama to come back, as promised!!"

After the excitement, he brought his head back down, still smiling softly. "He believed in us so much to wait that long, and now he's still waiting. If all of us really had died... I know he never would have forgiven us! Death wouldn't have been enough of an apology for breaking our promise to him when he put such faith in us returning!!" Once again, he closed his eyes. "All those years of not knowing, however painful, were worth it to know what I do now."

It was still a little idealistic, this serious and solemn side of Brook. However, Archer felt that he could forgive Brook's chivalrous notions, just this once.

"I see, so that's how it is..." Archer simply said, smiling slightly. Perhaps his roommate was worth getting to know. The Counter Guardian couldn't really understand what Brook was going through, but he could respect it. Waiting all those years, surpassing even death, and weathering through the humiliation and horror of his twisted existence, all of it for the sake of fulfilling a promise to his nakama. Such strong devotion moved even Archer. "That's an admirable goal. I hope you meet up with your nakama."

Brook brought his eyes back up and looked across at Archer. For once, the other did not seem outright disgusted with him! That left Brook smiling brightly once again. "I intend to! How could I forgive myself now if I didn't make it back?!" Not only Laboon, but every last member of his Crew would have every right to murder him twice over (or perhaps it would be thrice over) if he didn't make it back to his friend now!

"Ah, but that's enough of that," Brook decided, feeling he'd explained all he needed. How had the conversation taken such a direction anyway? Oh right! Him being a skeleton! Always a conversation starter, that. "What about yourself, Archer-san? I'm sure you've a much better story than this old skeleton's tale!"

"Not really," he said. Lying was so easy when you were able to practice it for countless years. "I had a pretty normal upbringing, growing up under my adoptive father. I suppose I was more fortunate than the other children at the orphanage."

Lying back, he stared at the ceiling with his arms cushioning the back of his head, contemplating what kind of "safe" material he could share with Brook. He wasn't really obligated to share his life story, even though the other man had done so.

"I went to school, fended off an overbearing older sister, practiced my craft, and worried about useless things."

I also got involved in a war, twice. Died during the second one. It was meaningless, just like how I died the first time when I still believe in being a "Hero of Justice..." What a worthless dream...

"Ah, that sounds nice," Brook said, buying into everything said. He had no reason at all to doubt anything Archer said, might not have even if he had known the other man better. Brook only went with things once they were said and did not question. "Can't say I've had anything near that normal in a long while..." Though he supposed Pirates were more normal than not in his world. Still, his breed of Pirate was anything but!

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Day 32: Intercom, Evening

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