damned_institute | Day 36: Intercom, Evening

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Day 36: Intercom, Evening

The intercom's jingle rang out and the somewhat uninhibited movement that was going on between the main activity rooms halted as the Head Doctor made one of his usual announcements.

"Good evening everyone, and I'm very pleased to see so many of you in such high spirits after meeting with your loved ones! However, like with all good things, it can't last forever, so I ask now for nurses to escort our patients in the waiting rooms and in the main areas back to their rooms, where they will be treated with a special Sunday... steak! That's right: today, we'll be serving juicy, delicious steak with fries and cooked vegetables on the side – simple enough for everyone to like and good enough for everyone to thoroughly enjoy! (Our patients with specialized diets will receive their alternate meals, of course.) Our usual beverages are available, and for dessert, we'll be serving warm slices of apple pie.

"After all, patients, t's always wonderful to see all of you cooperating with the staff even when given so much freedom, so I'd like to personally thank and congratulate all of you for helping us, your family, and more importantly, yourselves. Hopefully, we can help you to a speedy recovery so that you can see your loved ones more often, but first... dinner! I hope to speak with you all again soon."

The intercom clicked off.

[ All room threads go in response to this post; please post your character's room number as the subject line of the initial post. Thank you!

On an added note, just wanted to clarify to players of characters who are canonly vegetarians and the like that you get to decide (within reasonable and realistic limits) what kind of diet your character gets from the staff. :3 ]

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The movements were controlled, but it was clear to Senna, given her knowledge of the sword, that the cuts sweeping upward or to the left using her injured shoulder were visibly lacking in smoothness and power. It hurt to swing her sword that way and Falis scowled, her brow twitching with each cut. This could cause a problem if she ran into any beasties that needed killed this upcoming night.

"They're patients. I call 'em Sparky and Fido. Fido got pissed off I called him that when I mentioned it on the board," she replied. "I told him to give me a different name to use, but he didn't. So he's Fido the Fucking Fire-Breathing Demon until he does."

Leon was in a marginally better mood tonight, or at least he was more focused on practical matters. He was actually, if only for entirely selfish reasons, quite glad to see his roommate this evening. "There you are. Are you free tonight?" No sense beating around the bush, was there?

"I don't look at the board that much." It wasn't like Tokito knew very many people here, or wanted to, so there wasn't much point squinting at people's lousy handwriting all the time. "But someone told me there were sports supplies in the shed by the field, like maybe baseball bats. I thought I'd check that out..." Truthfully, Tokito didn't entirely mind the thought of going alone, if Jamie was busy elsewhere. It wasn't like Jamie was likely to be able to help him in a fight.

Asking Alita if she would be okay tonight would just come off insulting, so Senna tried something different. "If you can find something warm to put on that, it should at least loosen up the muscles for more flexibility."

Patients, huh? Now, wait. Why would... "So why are the patients attacking each other?" Senna tried not to sound like a child when she asked, but all she was doing was asking questions. It was annoying her, so it had to be annoying others.

Well, the talk with Nate had been food for thought, to say the least. He hadn't been all that excited about the steak, but Usopp had to think Luffy should be thrilled with the offering. What was Luffy going to be doing tonight, anyway?

At least he knew where some of his crewmates would be... a small army were due to drop by his room, and maybe Sai would come by as well. He could use all the help he could get, especially if the courtyard wound up occupied again. Usopp started into his meal without too much fuss, for once leaving his notebook alone.

Seiya was more than ready for the steak, which looked and smelled wonderful. Steak wasn't her favorite, but she could definitely afford the extra energy for tonight. Thinking about her upcoming meeting with Michiru, she considered her options again. The two locations she'd hoped to reach were still at the top of the list, but maybe heading outdoors downstairs would work as well. It was hard to guess; it might not even work in this place, without her crystal near her. But she had to at least give it a shot. Hopefully, she wouldn't pay for the effort if Michiru took advantage of the subsequent drain of energy.

"Huh. Good idea," Falis replied in response to the suggestion. She didn't know where she'd fine something like that though.

Satisfied with the knowledge of how much her shoulder was effecting her, the bounty hunter got the gauze Senna had put down and sat down next to the other girl. "Can you..."

"This place takes some of the patients every other day or so and somehow makes them think we're the enemy or something. Special Counseling is what it's called." Falis shrugged. She really didn't care too much about the special counseling.

Umbrella? That didn't ring any bells, so he supposed it was something from Leon's world. Strange at how many similarities there seemed to be at times between their lives. And he'd probably just given more away about his own life back home, but why should he care anymore?

"I'll keep an eye out for any I can find," Yohji promised.

Xelloss started with his apple pie, pleased at his own progress for the day. He had plans for the night, and the means to fulfill them. That was often an improvement over aimless wandering, although he had to admit aimless wandering had its benefits too. It didn't hurt that the meal was also rather delicious.

Now, if Hellmaster would just show up again, everything would be perfect, or at the very least he'd have a better idea of what needed to be fixed. No one had reported a young roommate missing on the boards, that he recalled, but some patients could be a little callous. The thought of someone simply taking Lord Hellmaster Phibrizzo to and from wherever they liked against his will was not as strange as it might have been. There was also the possibility that he'd found a way home, and if he did, the odds of his pausing to considerately inform Xelloss were at best mediocre...

Well, that was the price of Xelloss's station in life. He didn't mind it, really. Being a lord of death had to be tiresome after a while. And the steak was also delicious.

Vlad was still unhappy about being pulled from his game before a complete victory could be won. He didn't act out, of course, turning his best smile to his nurse as she guided him to his room and thanking her for the dinner before she left. But it was growing old, quickly, to be shuffled about from room to room on someone else's schedule. At least the nighttime had that much freedom, assuming idiots didn't choose to do idiotic things that required his intervention whether he'd made plans or not.

On the other hand, winning might not have been a perfect idea. The way the other man had reacted to Vlad's first victory had been stunning, but perhaps showing a winning streak would only cause resentment. The idea that he might have actually lost the next hand for any reason other than his own pans to do so didn't pass his mind long. He'd had the strongest hand in the deck, and had already won with the weakest; unlike whatever idly sadistic idiot Kaiji had played with before, Vlad knew what to do with strength.

He also knew what to do with steak, unlike the staff here, but started cutting into his meal anyhow. It wouldn't be practical to have the quality of meat Vlad was accustomed to in an institution, even if this place was a clear fraud on that front. But a rare, high-quality fillet would have been a lovely change of pace.

[not sure what kind of first-aid stuff Falis has...]

"Sure!" she said warmly, taking it. She thought for a minute, then placed them the same as the others were, before firmly taping down the edges with medical tape. It looked like it would hold. "If you soak some towels or cloth in hot water, it'd probably do the trick."

Finished, Senna sat back. "So, they brainwash the people?"

Lia turned the bulk of her overt attention back to her journal, finding herself a little more able to concentrate once she no longer had to worry about her roommate's arrival catching her off guard. Still, she continued to keep track of the other girl out of her peripheral vision, not staring, but not turning so far that she lost all visual contact, either. Her brow knitted, a small measure of concern bubbling up in spite of her better judgment. She frowned, biting her lip in thought, then shook her head slightly and picked up her fork to continue eating her dinner. It's not my problem, she reminded herself. I don't care.

Deeply ingrained skepticism made Tony raise an eyebrow at that explanation, though he certainly couldn't argue the first part. He'd seen himself that Wally could move faster than should be possible within the bounds of human athleticism; doubting that now would be both ridiculous and counterproductive. He nodded slowly, processing the information and filing it away.

"An accident, huh? That's different." Tony gave Wally an odd, wry little smile. "I was figuring you might be a mutant." He realized almost immediately that the remark, if they really were from different worlds, might fail to make any sense at all. Even if the phenomenon existed, it might have a different designation. "Uh, we have people in my world who've got strange abilities, too. Genetic quirk, mostly. I'm not a biologist, I don't know the specifics."

[just gauze and tape, so it's all good.]

"Thanks," Falis replied as she turned her attention to the wooden poles she'd ripped out. They were to become a pair of stakes and a spear; the sword cutting them nice points.

"I guess so." She glanced up. "Other than Sparky and Fido, I haven't come across any others."

Ed grinned at the boy when he began to cut the meal into half, quickly scraping half of everything onto his own plate and moving bakc over to his own side to devour it quickly. Hey, it was better than the kid wasting it if he wasn't hungry enough to eat it all. And Ed was getting more energy to see him through the night. It was a winning situation for both of them, obviously! Shame there was only one dessert each really. And no ice cream. He really liked the ice cream. It was such a rare thing for him to be able to try that he kind of wanted them to serve it more. There was probably something wrong with him for wanting the Institute to do something for him, like he was getting too used to being there, but it had tasted good so did it matter? Didn't mean he wasn't going to punch Martin Landel if he was ever given the chance.

He wondered if the cooks turned into monsters at night too.

He shrugged in response to the question, wondering how he could explain it better. It had always been such an instinctive thing for him to do, even when he'd been little, that he didn't much think about the how anymore. He just did it. "You have an array which allows you to focus a large amount of energy onto the atoms in the base material." He wasn't much good at explaining this stuff really. "And it isn't technology. it's science, but not technology. It takes years of study to become proficient at it, and a certain measure of natural aptitude. It's more effort than is worth it for most people to learn." Otherwise everyone would be doing it.

Yes, Ed had expected this to be heading towards the inevitable question. At least now he had a genuine excuse for not being able to promise to make something there and then. He had responsibilities to Hughes and the Cooking Club now after all, and he wasn't going to just jump ahead and skip everyone on the list in favour of his roommate. "If you put your name down on the Cooking Club list," he said. "There are people waiting for weapons from me so there's a waiting list. What did you have in mind?"

Today had probably been the worst day Keman had had so far at Landel's. He was still reeling from the visit from his mother, and now he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't get rid of, no matter how hard he tried. It was like something had gone horribly wrong in the past...ten minutes or so, but he couldn't quite figure out what. Still, he couldn't take it out on Leon. That wouldn't be fair. The kid probably already thought he was some sort of manic-depressive anyway.

"Hullo," he said, forcing a smile. "How've you been?"

Tony was taking it better than he'd thought, though Wally wasn't really sure what kind of reaction he had expected. Freaking out? Threatening to have him dragged off an experimented on? They were in a mental institute where monsters regularly tried to eat them, Tony was probably more worried about that than his roommate's weird abilities.

He relaxed a little and unwrapped one of the pieces of candy John had given him as he listened to Tony's talk of mutants. "Wait, you've got people with powers in your world too?" he said in surprise. "Weird. Where I'm from, people like me get called metahumans for the most part. Most of us get our abilities from things like accidents or weird coincidences, though some people get born with them too. I think there was some research going on into a genetic link, but I don't know all the details." It was odd, they'd already pretty much figured out they were from different worlds, but it was looking like there were more similarities between them then they'd initially thought.

There was something else bugging him now and without really thinking he asked: "So, if you guys have metas, do you have superheroes too?"

"Because you seem to understand someone's motivations better than I do," Miku replied honestly, and kept her eyes glued to Lust's head. Maybe this was a bad idea, she thought suddenly. Lust was a dangerous creature, and Miku had known this since the first night the other woman had chosen to flash those weapons at her from under her bed.

"I know we don't get along - I'm not so naive to not realize that, but," the words tumbled out and spread like oil over the silence, "I need your help." Miku set her hands in her lap and looked plaintively at Lust, even if she knew it was unlikely the woman would care, or even offer any advice.

Carefully, Elle unbuckled the sling, letting it fall off her shoulder onto the ground while she held her injured arm up with the uninjured one.

She didn't need a sling. She was tough enough to take the pain.

Slowly, she let her arm fall, seeing if she could hold it up on its own. "Crap," she hissed, realizing that even the slightest movement shot jots of pain straight into her wounded shoulder. Maybe she did need the sling.

She glanced over at her roommate, wondering if the other girl was paying any attention. Probably. Almost definitely, in fact - it wasn't like Elle was being subtle about embarrassing herself. Her eyes hurriedly shifted away from Lia back to her desk.

Daddy wanted her to be better, so she might as well start with her roommate.

"I'm sorry," she said, still quiet, her eyes focused on a tiny pen mark on her desk. She tried to sound sorry, too, but she was pretty sure it came off as stilted and insincere. No, better meant being a better liar, too. Try again, Elle. Don't disappoint. "I'm sorry," she tried again, trying a little harder to sound genuinely apologetic.

"It looks good doesn't it?" Tony asked. "How was your day?" He didn't want to ask about the night yet. With Kvothe there, Tony started cutting up his food, though he was tempted to eat the pie first. It was still warm!

The visitor shift left Joshua more than a little bemused at the outcome. He'd learned a lot from the brief interaction, and though he'd never admit it out loud, he was a bit shaken from the encounter. Neku acted entirely like himself, but how things had played out... no, he didn't like that. Not at all.

That was why the blond was quiet as he walked into the room and sat on his bed, pursing his lips and obviously deep in thought. This... wasn't good.

As for himself, Roland wasn't feeling too bad. His head was full of poetry, his belly was full of meat, and he had a journey with his comrades to look forward to when the night came. All in all, that was about as good as it got for someone like him, who'd lost hope of even seeing his homeworld restored again. Little things meant a lot to someone who'd lost almost everything.

A quick glance as he walked in told him that his room mate was enjoying some steak, which was fine with Roland. It wasn't like he'd be enjoying his own, after all. Instead he stretched out on his bed, offering a slight smile. "Are you doing well?"

Oh boy, this was going to make the day even better.

Yukari insisted she really didn't want to go back to her room, but as usual, the nurse with her declined. Oh, no, she'll be all right was the normal response she always got and still did, and it wasn't sounding like anything in the world was going to persuade the nurse to think otherwise.

Wonderful.

When she got closer to her room, she was snapped out of her dreading thoughts by an unfamiliar, enthusiastic voice: "Oh hey, Yukari! I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" She paused in step, snapping her head up towards the person who called her out; and immediately was confused.

Huh? What the heck was that all about? Perhaps she had seen her briefly around somewhere, but Yukari knew she had never actually talked to the other girl... So why did she call her out like that? Better yet, how on earth did she know her name?

Before she could say or even think more on the matter, she was ushered into the room and the door closed behind her. Well... at least it was empty in there-- for now, anyway. It wouldn't be like that for too long, and then... who knew.

Yukari didn't quite have an appetite at the moment-- god knows it wouldn't have mattered either way, in some way or another her eating was going to be interrupted if she had-- so while it was quiet, she plopped down at the edge of her bed, eventually allowing herself to fall over into the pillow.

She didn't know what was worse; waiting for the inevitable, or it actually happening.

"It'd be stranger if there weren't," Tony mused, though he'd felt much the same. "If there were only a handful of realities in which that sort of thing turned up." Yet despite the similarities, the difference between their two worlds was drastically apparent. It was enough to make him wonder just how frequently the phenomenon did turn up, and with how many different causes. And, more importantly, how many people from these worlds had been collected by the person or organization behind the asylum.

Wally's question disrupted that line of speculation before Tony could lose himself too far along it. He uttered a startled snort of laughter. "Yeah," he replied after a brief pause. "Yeah, actually, we do."

"Yeah, it does." He started cutting his steak. "It was interesting. I got a better look at the place, I think I'm going to try to get back to the Arts and Crafts room tonight, get some things out of the cabinets there."

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Day 36: Intercom, Evening

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