damned_institute | Day 37: Intercom, Evening

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Day 37: Intercom, Evening

"And I believe it's time to start wrapping up the day," was what the Head Doctor said after the intercom's initial jingle. "Now that everyone's all cleaned up, I think it's time for some... that's right, dinner!

"Tonight, we're serving some scrumptuous rotisserie herb chicken, seasoned with rosemary, lemon juice, and other delicious seasonings. On the side, we have cooked asparagus with bits of grilled onion, as well as small roasted potatoes with garlic and butter; for dessert, we'll be serving vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup on top. Our normal assorted drinks and specialized diet alternatives are available.

"Some of you might find that you have new roommates since your old ones were fortunate enough to recover and leave us. Hopefully, you'll be able to see them again the next time we have visitors if you wish, but in the meantime please treat your new bunkmates kindly.

"I believe that's all for now. I hope you had a wonderful day and that you have a delicious dinner! ...Well, you'll definitely be having a delicious dinner, but there's nothing surprising about that, is there? Hahaha..."

With a seemingly good-natured chuckle, the Head Doctor turned off his mic.

[ All introduction posts for this shift's group of new characters should be made in response to this post. Find your character's room assignments here.

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! ]

Threaded | Flat

The nurse finally took pity on Melissa again after lunch and let her come back to sleep in the room, an opportunity the mindcaster took full advantage of. Unfortunately, she only got a couple hours of sleep before the intercom announcement woke her up, warning her of the soon-to-be increasing multitude of thoughts and emotions as everyone was led back to their rooms. With a soft groan, Melissa sat up in time for her meal to arrive, but she didn't touch it even after the nurse left. She just wasn't hungry right now, and the fact that Claire's bed still looked unlived in wasn't helping.

It wasn't Claire herself that worried Melissa, so much as her sudden disappearance, leaving at least two worried people looking for her. People vanished that easily? How? Why?

After a few more moments, Melissa forced herself up off the bed and sat down at the desk to try and eat something, still worried in spite of herself. The nights of relative freedom suddenly seemed so much more urgent, if they could disappear any moment at the whim of an insane ringmaster.

Obi-Wan knew he had to prepare himself for tonight. Not by mediating, although it seemed he was increasingly relying on that in order to find his center in the face of what he'd done to Sanzo, but by eating and keeping up his strength. There was no way for him to know what he was going to find when he went deeper into the building with Qui-Gon, which was exactly why he needed to be prepared for anything.

It seemed like it'd been awhile since he and Schuldig had had a decent conversation, but he was aware that his roommate had gone through some difficult times during the past week. As warped as the other man seemed sometimes, the Jedi knew that no one here deserved the kind of suffering the "patients" were being put through.

Which was all the more reason for him to further investigate the basement, despite the risks. His mouth creased into a small, thin frown as he silent took a bite of his chicken.

...chicken. It was not fried but, again, it was chicken. And onions and...! Luxord smiled at the tray in contrast to his foul mood (if you'll pardon the pun).

Oh, Martin. You truly did love him.

There was a lump he had noticed on the bed beside his, but he paid it little mind. Simply another roommate, one that would promptly be christened Not-Noah 2.0, that he wouldn't care about. Now was about dinner.

Claude sighed as he was escorted to his room by a nurse. Today hadn't been that eventful, which probably would have been a good thing under normal circumstances. But the longer he went without hearing from Ashton, the more his stomach twisted into an uncomfortable knot. It was enough to curb his appetite, so the blond only half-heartedly pushed his food around with his fork, occasionally forcing a bite of chicken down his throat.

Maybe it would be better to pass the time while reading again. Claude took out his book and flipped it open to where he'd last left off. It was a nice distraction, especially since he'd been too sedated to focus on getting any further into the story last night. He was always open to chatting with his roommate when he arrived, but Claude could appreciate a good book, too.

Sighing to himself, he leaned over his desk, eyes focused on the pages in front of him.

"...Above me shone the stars, for the night was very clear. I felt a certain sense of friendly comfort in their twinkling. All the old constellations had gone from the sky, however: that slow movement which imperceptible in a hundred human lifetimes, had long since rearranged them in unfamiliar groupings..."

The first thing that Sylar noticed as he walked into his room was that it was empty. It looked like the blond guy wasn't even sleeping there anymore, which was fine by him; while Sylar always enjoyed finding new "friends," he appreciated privacy as well.

So, he thought to himself with a smirk as he sat as his desk and leaned back in his chair. Clark Kent. Even better, that "Wally" guy seemed to be even more trusting than Sylar could have imagined, going as far as to help with trying to find Claire on his behalf. Maybe it'd be easier to manipulate him than it would be to convince Eddie that he was competent, and maybe the rewards in the end would be much better. After all, while it might have been safe to to be a murderer in front of Eddie, he sure as hell didn't have Superman as a friend.

The prospects in this place only got better and better by the day, though Sylar knew he couldn't get ahead of himself. If he wanted to take all these abilities and use them with the same strength that he'd had in the Courtyard, he needed to find out what had been done to him and how he could bring his powers back. For now, he'd keep up relations and tag along with those who made progress towards the truth of this place, but... well, any allies helping him along would be in for a nasty surprise.

Sylar grabbed his fork and knife and pulled off a piece of chicken. He'd always enjoyed meat.

Sigh... What a day.

One she could have done without, however. For the first time, Yukari was glad to return to her room. Now she could relax, without being around so many people and without someone coming to bother her... Okay, mostly talk, but by this point Yukari had enough of it and would have liked some time to herself for a while.

The first thing the girl did upon arriving at her room was flop on to her bed, face first into the pillow; she really had ought to go for eating first, as she decided to forgo her lunch earlier, but it was just so tempting. Maybe in a little bit... She needed to get up eventually, anyway-- there was a certain box in her closet she still needed to investigate, as well.

Eh, whatever. There wasn't any reason to hurry.

The time hanging out with Yuffie had been fun and she liked the other ninja, but now that Sheena was once again in her room, her mind drifted to things. Things she wasn't sure she wanted to think about.

Fine, fine, fine... So what if she was thinking about Zelos? So what if she was just a little itty bitty teensy tiny bit upset that he had been here and then did his own vanishing act before he even got to annoy her? So what? It's not like she wanted him around anyways. All he'd do would be to make infuriating comments at her, focus on her chest instead of the things that needed to be done and... make her feel a little better about being trapped in an evil ranch.

What? No. He was nothing more than an irritating idiot. Damn Chosen. She didn't need him. There was no way she was going to miss that damn philanderer. All he'd do would be to call her names. Hell, she had Soubi to do that now. She didn't need Zelos.

Then why was she so upset he was gone?

Maybe, Raine had lied about him being there. Sheena didn't remember Kratos telling her he was - not that she would have listened to Kratos anyways. Maybe Raine had told her Zelos was around in an attempt to make her more manageable. It was always easier to deal with the ninja when she had her ever-present punching bag around to take things out on.

Maybe not. ARGH! Sheena didn't know what to think other than she still did want to kick Raine in the head. Someone needed a Mizuho boot to the head soon or she was going to explode.

With a glare at her food, the ninja picked at it and then started making her cards for the night. Damn pieces of paper weren't the best of materials; she needed something better.

Mikami's conversation with Toph had been interesting, and... thankfully free of the intricacies and/or stress the others he'd been in recently seemed to carry by default. Above all else, it had been a useful catalyst for the gathering of more information- he'd learned quite a bit from the board. Of course... he still hadn't any further contact from Light.

However, there were things that needed tending to once more. Namely, whatever falsehoods Mello might have imparted on his roommate after his oversight in leaving the two men together. The thought had continued to come back to him repeatedly over the course of the day.

But Edgeworth wasn't already there when he arrived for once, and upon this revelation, his body began to produce a desire for food that bordered on desperation. Despite the perseverance in unusual meal choices, he obliged his hunger while waiting for his roommate to make his appearance.

In a tiny room padded with cushy material in a part of the institute away from the other patients, Falis lay on her back alone. The blonde's hair was spread out around her, free from the band she'd taken to pulling the massive mane up with so it was less annoying, and still somewhat damp. After she'd been pulled away from Hokuto, she'd struggled enough that she'd been sedated with more of the poison than she'd had before. Honestly, it'd been a surprise, after they quickly dried and dressed her, that she'd managed to stay mostly on her feet the entire way to the little room.

Not that she knew where she actually was.

A tray of food had been brought to her by one of the vultures, and the best Falis could manage was to roll toward the door to issue the most pathetic threat she'd ever given in her life. At least she thought it'd been a threat of bloody, painful and gruesome death if she so much as found a scratch on Hokuto, but it came out more as an angry whimper-growl with a lethargic hand gesture before she flopped onto her back again.

It felt like she was caught in the midst of another soul commutation where she felt her body but couldn't really do anything with it as it seemed so detached from her, yet right there at the same time. She decided she'd be pissed if, when all this went away, she was stuck in the body of the fly she'd seen crawling across the ceiling earlier. Or maybe it was a spider. Or some black dot thing that moved. When she blinked her eyes, there were more of them, but then they went away.

This fucking sucked. Falis was worried about the black dot things she sometimes saw and sometimes didn't. And she hated the dry feeling she had in her mouth coupled with the wetness on one side of her face. Ugh.

"Oi! Ceiling," she slurred out. "You and them dot things need to settle down. Givin' me a fuckin' headache. Too many of you t'count and you keep movin'. Stand still so I can decide if I need to use fire. Royal decree an' shit."

The ceiling didn't seem to want to listen.

ZEX felt drained and tired in more ways than one when he was brought back to his room for dinner. He'd barely paid attention to the nurses referring to him as Max before, and now it prompted a sharp twinge of something, not quite sure what it was, in response, which worried him.

So tired of this. So tired of everything here, of dealing with this. He'd never felt his age as heavily as he did now. He hadn't heard from his roommate about his message earlier that day, either... if he appeared, then he'd have to explain his behavior last night to him as well, another thing that he didn't quite look forward to.

In a way, he just wanted this all to be over, to find answers to his questions so he could stop thinking about them. Hopefully Wally would provide a welcome distraction for tonight...

ZEX picked at the easier bits of food on his tray, anything that didn't seem too complicated, and he was too hungry to forgo it completely. Answers weren't going to be miraculously bestowed on him... it was time to organize his thoughts. He opened his journal and began writing.

Fourth shift had left Sanosuke feeling pretty damn good, and not for the reason Pinky thought. Finding a guy like Akihiko in a place like this was about the closest thing to a perk that they got. Kind of like saying "it's crappy you're here, but since you are, I'm glad to see you." Or something.

He went into his room, and had barely taken a seat in his desk when Pinky mentioned something about his new roommate coming along soon. It wasn't enough to kill his spirits, but it came pretty close. Sano had the feeling it wouldn't be Cloud walking through the door, but part of him still hoped it would be. Ninja Girl would be damn happy to have her friend back.

Until whoever it was showed up, though, Sanosuke had other things to take care of. Namely, dinner. It wasn't bad at all, though different from what he was used to, as always. Definitely something he could eat two helpings of though, and something he just might do if his roommate didn't show up soon enough.

As he usually did, Kakashi gave a great deal of care to memorize just what path the nurse took him down when she led him back to his room. From what he had read, the jounin knew the next time he traveled the hall, it would be completely dark. He wasn't unused to working in that particular condition, but he also knew part of being successful was being as prepared as possible.

Which was why, when he got into his room, he ate quickly before beginning to look through the part the nurse had designated as his half. Kakashi already knew he'd face the loss of his chakra, and being totally unarmed on top of that was not something that was acceptable. Especially not after what Itachi had said the shift before. He didn't expect the Uchiha to go after him directly, but there was no telling when circumstances would lead to the worst.

Kenshin really hoped that Sakura--the girl from the Sun Room--was going to be all right. She had sounded so hurt and lonely because of the way this other boy was treating her. The rurouni hoped that his advice had helped a little, at least, even if it meant that Kaoru was rubbing off on him. Kenshin couldn't remember a time that he'd actually recommended physical abuse of a friend as an appropriate action for a young girl to take.

Perhaps all that head trauma had damaged something.

At any rate, now it was time to think about someone a little closer to home. He had to prepare for Yahiko's first night shift. Genpuku or no, Kenshin was still having a little trouble thinking of the kid as being anything but the determined little boy he'd brought to the dojo all those months ago. Even though this Yahiko was suddenly older, Kenshin couldn't help but worry about him. He'd have to keep him safe, at any cost.

Aaah, the showers had been nice. Not only was Hikaru feeling much cleaner and happier now than he had at lunch, he and Kaoru had gotten to do what they did best: confusing the hell out of people. He almost felt badly for Danny, but not so much that it ruined his generally good mood.

Dinner wasn't so bad, either. It was nice that dessert was becoming a regular thing now. Hikaru knew that Honey probably really appreciated it.

Until he got another cavity anyway.

Chicken. Ah, well. It was too much to expect red meat twice in one day, anyway, so white would have to do. Chicken was better suited to the way they over-cooked things here, anyway. And it had been a good day, with a busy night ahead, so Farfarello found he wasn't in any mood to complain about the mediocre food.

Roland didn't seem to be around yet. Which reminded Farfarello--even though his roommate had been taken a couple nights back, presumably for his demon side again, there hadn't been any interesting vomit the morning after. How unfortunate. More claws would have been nice.

No responses to his board post, except one offering help tomorrow night, which was less than ideal. Leon sighed, poking at his meal for a moment as he thought. Clark was worse than useless in a fight, even though he'd been good at prying the pipes apart. It was probably better to just go alone, and hope nothing happened. He'd need to ask if Clark had managed to save any of the metal from last night, though.

That decided, Leon was quite content to turn his attention to dinner. It was actually quite good, but Leon was more concerned with hurrying through it to get to the ice cream before it melted.

Today had been a complete waste of time. No sign of Peter or Logan, forced to sit there and take it while Brock mocked him and then trying to make conversation with some asshole who played with trains. Harry was just glad the day was over and that Forte hadn't returned to their room yet. He'd enjoyed talking to him last night and didn't want to take out his bad mood on his roommate.

Staring in disgust at his meal, Harry tried to figure out just how he was expected to eat it with only his left hand. At least the nurse hadn't stayed to try and cut it up for him, that would've really been the last straw. Painstakingly working on one handed breaking the chicken up into manageable pieces was a lot more enjoyable if he envisaged he was taking Brock to pieces instead. "Shut up already, I heard you the first hundred times," Harry muttered sullenly in response to Norman's renewed sneers.

Subaru didn't really even look at his dinner. Hokuto had probably been trying to cheer him up, but he'd just ended up worried about her, instead. Knives, Sousuke, Yue, Hokuto... he couldn't protect any of them.

Gathering the mental energy to make more ofuda was impossible, in this state. Subaru lay down on the bed, putting his crutches aside, and stared at the wall blankly. Could he do anything at all, in this place? For anyone?

A group of four tonight. That was a first, for Shito's time in the History Club. Would it make things better, or worse? Would time go slower, or faster? Hopefully at least some of them were armed, because Shito still wasn't back to full strength.

The burns on his feet and hip were better than they'd been last night, but only a little better because he'd broken the blisters early by walking around without crutches last night. He'd do the same thing tonight, too, but it was good that the burns were healing on their own despite that--and despite the fact that his body wasn't supposed to heal on its own. Living bodies healed. Dead ones needed magic.

Except for the part about still being trapped here without Kubo-chan, today had actually been a pretty good day for Tokito. He'd met nice people, had yummy food, and gotten a new idea for how to find a way out of this place. And now dinner smelled yummy, too!

On coming back to her room, Chidori was actually in a state to notice the presence of the other bed. She was sharing? Well, that had seemed to be the case for Kirijo, in her latest post to the message board, so it shouldn't have come as a surprise. Somehow, it still did. And not one of those pleasant surprises Chidori had heard about, either. Sharing was not something she was good at.

Sighing and putting her sketchbook carefully away from the food, Chidori sat down at the desk. She really should eat something, at least, and this was lighter than the offerings at lunch. The spices and methods of preparation were mostly unfamiliar, but chicken was chicken, was it not? Even when it wasn't on a stick and called yakitori.

Okita had spent the last shift pleasantly enough and now that he was back to his own room, he took the time to relax. Tonight was set to be an important test not only for the History Club, but for Heiji and for himself. It would be his first big battle since his fight with Himura, and the first monster battle since the 'experiment.' He had to prove that he was still a capable fighter. He had to kill tonight.

But for now, he could relax, especially since he was first back to the room. The smell of chicken and herbs with roasted potatoes was actually appetizing for once, which was a godsend. He needed his strength.

Okita sat down at his desk and shifted his tray over, looking at the poem carved into the top of his desk. The nurses hadn't said anything, but they'd certainly given him disapproving looks. Taking out the same pen he'd used last time, he started carving a second stanza to the poem as he ate his dinner.

Tonight. Tonight was when people were taken. Tonight was when he had to go back to that horrible place and help people. He didn't want Soubi to go. Not after what had just happened to him. It would be awhile before Ritsuka could allow Soubi to go anywhere near that hallway, and no matter what happened, no matter how scared he was, Ritsuka resolved not to call the Fighter. He couldn't force him into that situation after all that he'd been through.

Besides, there were others who would be there to help. They'd all meet up either at Ritsuka's room or at the upper hallway - it didn't matter where, so long as they showed up. Those unlucky souls who were chosen were going to need help.

Sitting at his desk, Ritsuka looked at the food and wondered if it was actually appetizing. He tried a few bites and then gave up. His nerves were so much that he couldn't eat yet. Maybe later, when Tamaki showed up. If not, then...well, there was always breakfast.

By the time he was being nudged to go back to his room, S.T. had worked up an appetite. Missing lunch would do that to a man. So he followed quietly through the hallways, ignoring Nurse Chatty Cathy's attempts at conversation. She led him past the hallway he'd woken up in twice already, down to the end of the hall, and stopped in front of the first door on the left. With a parting burble about how she hoped he and his roommate would get along, she shut him in the room.

Wait, what? Roommate? Aw, hell. He'd thought he'd never have to share an actual room again after college. Keeping everyone from everyone else's throats in the Brighton house -- oops, co-op, or whatever they'd last called themselves -- had been enough of a hassle.

Sure enough, there were two trays of food on two desks, and one side of the room showed slight signs of occupancy. He tossed his notebook on what must be his bed, and ignored his stomach for long enough to do a quick inventory of his side of the room.

Though Anise had done her best to smile before parting with Guy for the night, she wasn't feeling particularly cheerful when she got to her room. The moment the door closed behind her, she gave a heavy sigh, one that felt like it had been held back for some time.

"Hopefully, you'll be able to see them again the next time we have visitors..."

The evening announcement only helped to dampen her mood even more. The people who disappeared really did end up like the visitors? Even Luke and Tear? Imagining it just made Anise feel even more miserable. If Ion was gone too, then maybe...

No. Ion was still here. She was going to see him tonight.

Reluctantly, Anise sat down in front of her desk and forced herself to eat the chicken, even though she didn't feel hungry. She knew she would regret it if she tried to face the night without keeping her strength up.

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