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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Attacked and hurt. Someone hurt Guy. For all the calm that the sedatives brought, it also broke down many of the important barriers he needed to think things through in a rational manner. Instead, he just felt angry at whoever had dared hurt his roommate. Another patient, someone else here who was going to have to die if Okita ever found out who it was. Ironic, though, since that was probably exactly how Sanosuke felt about Okita stabbing Kenshin through the leg with a pen.

"Who?" He didn't think he'd get an answer though. Even drugged, Okita could tell Guy was cautious about him. Everyone was right now and it made sense. Not only was he ill, but he was losing himself. He was letting this place break him in half and that was putting everyone in danger. He needed time and space to himself to calm down again, but he was never given that. There was always someone there and always something to do; even tonight after such a long day. Homura wished to see him. It wouldn't go well. "Who hurt you?"

While that was the logical question to ask, Guy still had to wonder at Okita's motives. Did he want to know because he wanted to punish whoever had hurt him? Guy didn't know if his roommate was really all that invested in him, but either way, he didn't want to involve Okita in his problems when it was obvious that he had enough to deal with already. Guy didn't mind talking about it with him, but that was as far as he would go.

"Do you remember a few nights ago I told you about how there's an enemy of mine here?" That about answered the question. He wasn't going to give a name - even if Okita could handle Sync in a fight, there was no reason for his roommate to be trying to do his work for him. He had to deal with the God-General on his own - or with the help of his friends from home, at most "He managed to trick me and a friend of mine into walking right into a trap." He would stop kicking himself over it eventually.

Ah, old grudges and old wars - now Okita understood. Still, it didn't ease his anger at having someone he considered a friend getting hurt. The way Guy spoke though, it was obvious that this was his fight and Okita wasn't welcome. The swordsman fell silent for awhile, staring at his food almost as if he expected it to speak for him instead. He could understand. Of course, he understood.

He just needed to remember that he and Guy were roommates - that's as far as they went perhaps. Or maybe Guy heard what Okita had done and was silently chiding him. Or...maybe he just realized how dangerous Okita really was and had decided to keep his distance. Whatever the reason, Okita felt the boundaries quite clearly now even if this was all just inside his head.

"I see..." Pushing back from the desk, Okita ignored his food as he had during most of the shifts today. He didn't feel like eating and not even the dessert could rouse his appetite. Moving the tray out of the way, he pulled a pen out of his desk drawer and started writing poems onto the surface of the desk instead. "Please be careful, Guy-san. I look forward to seeing you every night. It would be terrible if that someone ambushed you again and I had to get a new roommate."

Having that stated so clearly honestly made Guy wonder. If Okita did feel that way, then was he being wary for no reason? Okita obviously wanted him to stick around, so attacking him wouldn't be helping that cause. Though there was the chance that Okita might be willing to attack rather than kill - and Guy was left wondering if he was over-thinking all of this. It was starting to feel that way.

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere," he assured his roommate, even though he had no real way of being sure of that. He wasn't going to die at Sync's hand, though, and he had enough smarts to make sure he stayed relatively safe. Which was why he wasn't going out anywhere tonight, for instance.

"Oh, by the way," he said, reaching out to grab for Heiji's package. He slowly got up from his seat, walked over to where Okita was writing, and set the package down on the desk (though taking care to not interrupt whatever his roommate was doing). "Heiji asked for me to give this to you," he explained. They were only sweets, but sometimes even a small gesture could do a world of good.

Hearing someone say they'd stay was a relief, even if Okita knew it could very well be a lie and that Guy had no way of really knowing the future. Hijikata had said the same thing, twice now, and he still ended up leaving. Okita just hoped that, for once, the words rang true. The pen scratched across the desk, carving the letters into the surface so he would never forget them.

Glancing over when Guy set the package down on his desk, Okita felt a smile break through despite himself. Heiji. Without a clue as to what was going on, but knowing that something was wrong. He still followed orders though - he, personally, had not come to see Okita and had found the next best way. Reaching out, he fingered the package and wondered if he'd ever be able to regain the trust he once had here. Heiji still seemed to believe in him. "I'll be sure to thank him later then..." It was such a small gesture, but it reminded Okita that there were things here he needed to do. Things he couldn't let die just because his world was crumbling out from under him. Pulling the pacakge closer, he ran his fingers over the paper and suddenly asked, "Guy-san? Are you afraid of me now?"

The question was understandable, though Guy had been hoping he wasn't coming across as so skittish. He remained standing near Okita's desk if only to make a point, and shook his head. "No, not really. I'm trying to be cautious because both you and Heiji implied that I should, but..." He let out a sigh and adjusted his sling carefully.

"It's hard for me to believe that you'd hurt me, is all," he admitted. He didn't mean to underestimate his roommate, but when they had always gotten along, he wasn't sure what reason Okita would have to want him hurt.

"I mean, you said yourself that you want me here, so..." Even though Guy had seen Okita become fierce once in the past, he wasn't sure that the man could ever be like Sync, who enjoyed causing pain just for the sake of it. Still, Guy didn't want to make any assumptions - everyone had a darker side, even if they never (or barely ever) let it show.

"My warning was because..." Okita trailed off, looking down at the carved letters on his desk now. Why had he warned him? Easy. Okita Souji was the demon killer of the Shinsengumi. When he saw an enemy, the battle wasn't over until that enemy was dead. He'd hurt friends and gotten his father killed because he couldn't control himself. A fight was to be won and the opponent to be defeated. "...what I can become is something to be frightened of."

He started scratching at the desk again with his pen, adding a second poem to the first. Hijikata's poetry, as bad as it could be sometimes, had a certain charm to it and every so often, he managed to write a fairly good one. Right now, Okita was writing one of those "good" poems. One that came in a set to match the one above it. "I don't wish to hurt anyone, but I nearly killed two people last night. I don't trust myself right now, and I don't want to think of what would have happened if it had been you who surprised me in the hallway rather than...them."

Sighing, he set the pen down with the poem half-completed. He didn't wish to hurt Guy, someone who had no connection to the war or to Hijikata's disappearances, but in the dark, if he were startled, Okita's first reactions now were to attack and ask questions later. Sanosuke had nothing to do with the war other than he was Himura's friend. It was nothing worth starting a fight over, and yet Okita had stabbed him in the side and punctured his lung. The captain laughed a little halfheartedly and rolled his pen across the desk until it hit the untouched tray of food. "Which do you think is better, Guy-san? Being stuck in here and remembering who you are, or escaping and succumbing to the lies?"

Even though Guy was curious about what Okita was writing, he didn't think it was his place to try and peer at the words. If it was something that his roommate wanted shared, then he would say so. Instead, Guy focused on the words that Okita was trying to get out through the haze of sedation.

He could understand that feeling of not having control, and so he was able to empathize with Okita at least somewhat. He was sure that it was a different situation, but the overall sentiment was the same. Even if the man might not want to hurt anyone, sometimes mind and body didn't function on the same page.

"I'll make sure not to surprise you, then," he replied, wanting to lighten the mood just slightly. Maybe now wasn't the time for that, but anything that would pull back the tension was probably a good thing.

At Okita's rather serious question, though, Guy's expression flattened and he glanced away as he thought it over. "Maybe it would be easier," he started, "to forget everything and have a normal life, but I don't think I could give up my memories and my home for that. Not when there's a chance that I can get back to the people I care about."

He glanced back to Okita and tried to force eye contact. "This place is designed to make us give in, right? Just because of that, I don't think we can."

How could Okita ever justify or even explain that Hijikata had given up his memories, his home and his friends for the lies this place offered? Even Guy, who wasn't fighting a war to preserve his country (so far as he knew), wasn't willing to give up. Hijikata was strong enough to overcome anything, so why had he left Okita here and gone off by himself? He'd never been the one to take the easy path. It didn't make any sense.

Which was exactly why it hurt so much to think about. Perhaps Okita was only projecting onto his leader and he really would - meaning Okita didn't know him as well as he had thought. Closing a hand over his eyes, he tried to fight off the drug induced dizziness, but wasn't having the best luck. He couldn't give in, that was for certain, but he didn't really know what to do.

"Yes...I suppose we can't." Lowering his hand, Okita sighed and tried his best to smile for Guy. He was probably worrying him with all this talk and Guy was the one who was really hurt. The poor man had a broken arm, hurt friends, and an enemy at the gates probably looking to harm him again. "Will you be staying in tonight or going to see the healers?"

Even though Guy had meant every word he said, Okita didn't look to be convinced by it. Not that he expected his roommate to suddenly feel better just because of him, but it was disheartening nonetheless. He wished he could cheer the man up that easily, and he could only hope that Okita would hang in there for as long as he could. (And hopefully that was long enough.)

At the question, the blond let out a sigh and shrugged. "I've been trying to figure that out. The original plan was just to stay in, and a friend of mine is dropping off some of my things that he borrowed, but I might head over to the clinic after that if I feel up to it."

He just needed to remind himself that helping people out was what the healers were there for, and not feel so guilty about it. He would be willing to repay them in any way that he could, and he would make that very clear if he went there, so what was the big deal?

It was around that point that the intercom announcement came on and the doors opened. Not wanting to hold Okita up any longer, Guy returned to his seat and used his left arm to wave to the man. "Good luck tonight," he said, even though he wasn't sure what sort of dangers Okita might be heading into, or what ways his limits might be tested.

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Day 36: Intercom, Evening

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