Day 37: Intercom, Afternoon

[damned-intercom.livejournal.com]

The Head Doctor nearly spoke over the intercom's jingle, he was talking so fast.

"Sorry, sorry, always paperwork to do, staff to rearrange, new patients to help become accustomed to this environment... in any case, we'll now be having the adults in the Arts & Crafts room and the children in their respective showers. You might also find some new friends in the Sun Room, so make sure to give all of our new members a warm welcome!

"Hmm... my announcements seem to be getting briefer and briefer, don't they?" He laughed. "I suppose I shall just have to promise you all that I'm working hard to keep things running smoothly for all of you. Have fun, get clean, and make sure to listen to your escorts!"

The intercom, as always, clicked off.

[ All introduction posts for this shift's group of new characters should be made in response to this post. (Please have your new character wake up in a random empty room, as we aren't yet able to officially assign rooms.) Since we know it'd be weird for new characters to get showers on their first day: it is MANDATORY for brand new patients to hang in the Sun Room with whoever else wants to go there or to go to the Arts & Crafts room with the other age group. (The nurses will say that they were already cleaned up upon their arrival.) Thanks! ]

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[paper-murdock.livejournal.com]

Wait….. this wasn’t his bed. Matt knew that right away. The smells were all wrong, the feel all wrong, and he knew his pillow wasn’t so…. hard. In fact, everything smelled wrong. Everything was wrong. Sitting up, frowning, he tried to pinpoint exactly what it was that was off and then….

It was like being wrapped up in a blanket. Everything was less. Touch, smell, hearing… What the hell? Swinging his legs off the bed, he felt around, looking for his cane, any cane.

Okay…. Mattress. Follow that to the … bedside table. No cane. Stand up and follow the mattress to a … desk. Running the back of his fingers over the wood, he frowned. Still no cane. Where was he? What was going on? That’s, of course, when the door opened and startled him. He hadn’t heard anyone coming. Was it because he hadn’t been paying attention?

“Goodness, Mr. Murdock. You’ve certainly slept in, haven’t you? Missed two meals and all sorts of chances to make some new friends. Come along now. We’ll go on to the Sun Room.” The cheerful, female voice wasn’t one he recognized, but the smell of ‘hospital’ was everywhere. She was a …nurse? Doctor?

“I’m sorry miss, but… What’s going on? Where am I?” The woman made a tsking sound. “How quickly we forget, hm? You’re in Landel’s Mental Hospital. Don’t you remember? You were brought here not too long ago.”

A mental hospital? That didn’t seem right… This whole thing didn’t seem right. Matt debated on demanding a more logical explanation or just going along for now. It might be in his better interest to play along for the moment and find out what he could first. He smiled slightly. “Oh, of course. I forgot. May I have my cane?”

That tsking sound again. “Mr. Murdock, you know we can’t allow you to have something like that until you can prove to us that you can be trusted with it.”

“What? Ma’am, I assure you I-“ She cut him off.

“There will be plenty of time for that later, now take my elbow and I’ll tell you all about your new, hopefully temporary home.”

[catstreetblues.livejournal.com]

Sanae thought he had this flying thing down pat. Sure there was a little bit of show element maybe involved, but he was more than willing to include that- in fact, that was the easy part. Still, he hadn't expected to land...in a bed. It felt like a bed, alright, although it wasn't his, and that was the problem. What to do when you wake up in a bed that's not your own... Now that sounded like some questionable activity.

He opened his eyes slowly, blinking as he sat up and yawned. "Whew, what a...woah." Shibuya had an explosiveness to it, an unpredictability that he loved. What greeted him was just dull. It was a plain room with plain furniture with- he looked down at what he was dressed in and grimaced- terrible fashion sense. With the sterile atmosphere it felt like a hospital, and Sanae was proven correct a few moments later when a woman walked into the room; he could tell by the uniform that she was a nurse. Yup, this was a hospital, although why he was in a hospital was anyone's guess.

"Oh, Mr. Inouye, you're awake!" she cooed.

"Hanekoma," Sanae corrected, cracking a grin in the belief that she was either joking or confused. He reached casually toward the bedside table and stopped cold when his fingers failed to touch his sunglasses. This was turning out wonderfully.

The nurse laughed. "My, Mr. Inouye, you have a wonderful sense of humor."

Alright, so that hadn't been the reaction he had been expecting. Still, one had to keep a positive attitude.

"Glad you appreciate it," Sanae replied graciously, throwing the blankets aside and standing up. "Now, I hate to keep you, but I really do have some things to attend to--" He was almost out the door when the nurse gently stopped him. "--but maybe I can get to them later."

"Now, we can't have you wandering around lost; why don't I take you to the Sun Room? I'm sure you want some fresh air after sleeping for so long." The nurse gently took him by the hand and led him out in the hallway.

As they left, Sanae asked, "So, where am I?" There hadn't been a multitude of beeping machines surrounding him; this couldn't be your average hospital.

"Oh, I should have told you earlier! Welcome to Landel's Institute, Mr. Inouye." She beamed at him. "We're here to help you get better, alright?"

"Ah. Thanks." An institute? Well, he didn't exactly deem himself "average", but "insane" he certainly wasn't. Worse things could have probably happened, though.

Right?

[its-the-mileage.livejournal.com]

Indiana Jones had woken up in a lot of strange places in his life. It came with the territory, really. Spin a globe and put your finger somewhere on it, and Indy had, more likely than not, started another day there.

Still, it didn’t take him long to figure out that this one was going to take the cake.

He’d gone to bed reasonably early the night before, planning on getting up by seven to slog through the last of those term papers before heading in to the office. Later he’d remember ruefully how itchy he’d been to get out of Barnett College--Less than two months since you found the Holy Grail, Jones, and you’re already desperate to race off again, he’d thought with a grin as his head was hitting the pillow.

One of these days, he was going to have to learn to be more careful what he wished for. As soon as he opened them, Indy’s highly discerning scientist’s eyes told him that this was definitely not his bed.

Admittedly, it wouldn’t have been the very first time he'd been a little surprised by his surroundings in the morning, but the lack of feminine company was a strong argument against that possibility. Indy took a closer look around at the bare, sterile little room. The place looked like some kind of hospital.

Indy tried to remember any questionable judgment calls he’d made recently that could have landed him here, but he’d been unusually good about not jumping from moving vehicles or getting into fistfights with Nazi stooges in the last couple of months. The most serious threats on his life had come from the undergraduates mobbing outside his office for their papers. Indy quickly did a mental rundown of his body but found nothing that suggested devastating illness or injury.

He was saved from the need to theorize about this by the entrance of a nurse--looked like late 50s, gray hair, built like a Chachapoyan fertility idol. No, this definitely wasn’t that kind of morning after.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Lucas,” she greeted him flatly. “Ready to head over to the Sun Room?”

It should have sounded like a question, Indy reflected, but it didn’t. He gave her his best ingratiating smile anyway. “I’m sorry, there must be some misunderstanding. My name is Indiana Jones.” And I have no idea what the hell I’m doing here, so I hope you can tell me.

She sighed. Indy got the sudden feeling that this wasn’t the first time she’d had this conversation. “Most of our patients have similar delusions about their identities, Mr. Lucas. You’re in Landel’s Institute to sort them out.” She was holding the door for him, clearly waiting.

Indy considered his options. Unless she was armed (and she didn’t look like it), he could get past her pretty easily, but then what? Until he knew what he was dealing with here, his old knock-out-a-guard-and-take-his-uniform trick might not be the best bet. Hers didn’t quite look like his size, anyway.

“Lead on,” he said gamely. Time to explore.