damned_institute | Day 36: Waiting Room/Lobby 2

Okita hadn't been expecting it when his nurse suddenly appeared in the Game Room. He'd expected to be left alone like last week, but instead she gently took him by the arm and told him he needed to say goodbye to Kaden for now. Okita assumed it was time for his visitor and waved goodbye to him, only to be led off himself. The swordsman had followed obediently into the Sun Room, but when he tried to go off to another room, she stopped him. "Not today, Julian."

Not today? Something about his nurse's demeanor seemed off, almost as if she were worried about something. It wasn't until she led him out of the Sun Room that he understood what was going on. He had a visitor. There were only so many people that would come to visit him in a place like this. His sisters, Tetsu, Kondou or... Okita didn't want to think about the last option.

Taking a step into the waiting room, he stopped at the door and turned to look at his nurse. "Are you sure you're not mistaken?" he asked, feeling actual fear for the first time in a long while. If this wasn't some strange punishment/joke for behaving poorly in the chapel, he didn't know what to do. Badou's graffiti was still on his hand and he quickly slipped that hand into his pocket. He could feel the pen there, clipped to the inside of his waistband. The nurse shook her head and moved to the side of the room, keeping a close watch on him as he stayed by the door, trying to hide his anxiety by feigning interest in the strange magazines on a table nearby.

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"Dex... ter, that's right," ZEX said softly. "You mentioned that before."

He couldn't exactly say he was happy at the moment, but he was certainly happier than the alternative, of sitting and drowning and not being able to hold on to anything. At least now he was holding on to someone, and they were holding on to him and touching his hair in that way he liked, and the question of whether or not this was really a good thing or not was muted to almost being unhearable. He wouldn't have thought humans could truly embrace each other, with their arms as rigid and inflexible as they were, but they fit against each other much better than he'd thought. If only he had his head feelers... but his hair being touched felt nice as well.

"Dexter..." That didn't sound right to him. Close, in a way, but not right. "DAX suits you better."

"It's a very strange name, sir," Dexter said, as though he didn't care one way or another.

The hug lasted for a while longer, but eventually Dexter pulled back, long-ingrained habit compelling him to check his watch. "I have to go," he noted with a displeased frown. "Madame will be wanting an escort to the hairdresser." It would be literally impossible to say that sentence with less enthusiasm than Dexter's voice contained.

ZEX wanted to hold on to him as long as he could, but he suspected it'd come to an end eventually. If DAX didn't stop himself, then one of the nurses nearby would have intervened. It didn't mean he was happy about it, though. He let his hands linger for a moment before he settled back into his chair, alone and close to miserable.

"So soon?" Part of him wanted DAX to stay, to snap out of it and talk about plans for escaping from this place, going home, becoming a VUX again, be with him and part of him wasn't sure he could take much more of this. Another painful, conflicted feeling to join all the others. "Can't you..."

ZEX wasn't sure what he wanted to say, or even what he wanted in general at the moment. His head was starting to hurt... the double vision was beginning to give him a headache again. He kept both of his eyes open. "I..." What could he say? It was good talking to you? ZEX wasn't sure that it was. Please don't go? He wasn't sure if he wanted him to stay. Thank you for talking to me? For making him feel this way?

ZEX looked down, obviously conflicted and it showed on his face, even if he didn't know he was doing it. "If... you have to go... I guess you should." It was all he could make himself say. It was so difficult to breathe.

"I'll come back as soon as I can," Dexter said, seemingly impassive as he watched the conflict written over Max's face. Reaching out, he patted Max's hand before standing. "Take care of yourself, sir. At least try to listen to the doctors."

He didn't know what else he could say.

Knowing that he'd be coming back soon, that was a comfort... he thought. This was all horribly confusing. When DAX stood ZEX almost instinctually reached out for him again, although he caught himself in time.

"Soon..." ZEX stared at him, trying to sort through everything and failing. He tried to think of something to say. "You... take care of yourself as well."

More than anything he wished for a sudden, piercing moment of clarity; definitive knowledge of what was real and what was not, even if it was just so he could know how he felt, and what to say. He didn't like being at a loss for words. It made him feel... helpless, and- was this what Max must have felt- ngh.

"Of course." Reaching out, Dexter patted Max's shoulder, once, as though bracing him up -- and then turned away.

The visitor's lobby wasn't so wide that it wouldn't take him more than a few seconds to reach the door.

Something suddenly became clear through his conflicted morass of doubt and confusion when DAX turned to go. His voice, he was leaving and it was like he'd had a part of his home again only to have it torn away from him, and despite everything else, all else, more than anything he wanted DAX to stay.

He reached out a hand to catch his coat, but he was already out of range, and then he nearly stood to follow him and felt a hand on his shoulder. A nurse nearby, no doubt wary about sudden movements after the other conflicts in the visiting room, and ZEX sat back down, trembling. There was so much he didn't expect from this visit, but an almost overpowering sense of loss wasn't one of them.

Now there were words, although he couldn't bring himself to say them. There was no point now. Don't go. ZEX pressed his hands over his eyes. Don't leave me here. Don't do this to me.

He didn't know what else he could do. He kept his head buried in his hands, trembling. If this was a nightmare, ZEX hoped that the Creator would have the mercy to let him wake up.

He'd speak with Max's doctor before leaving the institute entirely, if there was enough time; Dexter's concerns lay completely with making sure Max got the best care possible.

He didn't look back once as he left the visitor's lobby. There didn't seem any point, when he really did have to leave. He'd see Max next time he came to visit...And hopefully there would have been some improvement by then.

Day 36: Waiting Room/Lobby 2

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