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! ]

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Sora ended up taking it as a question, but he was quick to respond, glad to hear that they were thinking along the same lines. "Yeah, that'd be great! We aren't too far from M23, so we'll probably be some of the first people there." He wasn't sure if that was good or bad. On one hand, it might be awkward if they didn't know what to say to Hitsugaya (Sora's own conversation with him earlier had been stilted), but on the other they'd be establishing their place if they got there first.

Now that he thought about it, Sora didn't really know what this funeral was going to consist of. Was there some sort of shinigami custom, maybe? "Hey, do you know what it's going to be like?" he asked as he continued to eat. Hanatarou certainly had a better chance of knowing what to expect than he did.

Any conversation that Hanatarou had with the grouchy captain had been stilted at best and incredibly awkward at worst, but at least if he had someone else there with him it wouldn't be so bad being there early. He gave a somewhat relieved nod, glad that Sora seemed to like the suggestion, and went back to pushing food around on his plate without eating it.

"Um, it...I don't, um, know." The shinigami bit his lip for a minute, uncertainly. There wasn't much that they could do right now, with their difficulties with even the basic kidou and without their zanpakutou, plus with the dangers of the Institute itself. Even if they wanted to do something, well. And besides, it was clear that some of the standard operating procedures for shinigami had changed to fit this place, and he hadn't really been there long enough to understand all of it. Except for the fact that they were cooperating with Ichimaru Gin who hopefully wouldn't be there or anywhere near there. "I saw, um, Matsumoto-fukutaichou was going to say something, and it's just...um. Probably simple."

It was good that someone was willing to say some words for Renji, though that must have been a pretty big burden at the same time. Sora was glad he wasn't in that person's shoes, since he wasn't the best with words, and while he felt that Renji deserved a eulogy, he couldn't imagine giving one. Anything he might have said probably wouldn't have seemed like enough...

"Right, okay..." He was fairly certain that Hitsugaya had mentioned that they still had the man's uniform, so maybe they were going to bury it? It would be hard to watch that (or be a part of it), but Sora still wanted to do it. It was no good to avoid something just because it was painful.

Realizing that the silence in the room was stretching, Sora let out a sigh and went back to eating. Life was still moving forward, even if Renji was gone, but the past day had been tougher than he wanted to admit.

By the time he realized that Sora hadn't really said anything in a while, it really had been long enough that Hanatarou felt kind of awkward about jumping in. Not that he had anything to say, that was, so even if he tried to come up with something it probably would've made things even worse and more uncomfortable.

Hanatarou finally gave up on the food he wasn't really interested in eating and pushed away from the desk, silently moving to retrieve the pillowcase from his bed, then went to the closet to retrieve the leftover strips of fabric Kagura had torn for him the night before. If he was going to be out and about again, he might as well be as prepared as possible, even if it hadn't done a lot of good the night before. He'd already been asked to see to Hinamori-fukutaichou's injuries, and there might be more.

When he opened the closet door, though, the shinigami froze in place, the pillowcase dropping from fingers suddenly gone nerveless. There was a complete impossibility sitting in the closet, and he hardly dared to move lest it suddenly disappear again.

When Hanatarou started moving around and getting things together for the nightshift, Sora thought it might be best if he did the same. He shoved down a few more bites of food (including some of his half-melted ice cream) and then got up from the chair, reaching into his desk for his flashlight.

Right as he pulled it out, he heard the soft sound of something being dropped and glanced over to where his roommate was standing by his closet and staring. Raising an eyebrow, Sora moved over to see what was going on, and he wasn't quite as surprised to see that the shinigami's uniform was hanging neatly in the closet.

"Hey, looks like you got lucky!" he said, moving a little closer to get a better look. It was pretty much identical to the ones the other shinigami wore as far as he could tell. "Sometimes people's outfits just kinda show up here. Weird, huh?" Now he wondered if he had gotten similar good fortune.

"Wh-what...?" Clothing just showed up? For no reason? Hanatarou tore his gaze away from the familiar black uniform in the closet and blinked at Sora in some confusion. All right, he'd noticed some of the other people here wearing something other than the grey clothing provided by this place, but thought it was for - well, important people. "It's...but why?"

The healer reached out to brush his fingertips against the black fabric, testing to see if it wasn't just his imagination. No, it really was there, and felt exactly like the same clothing he'd worn for years. But then he spotted the bag behind it and immediately forgot about the rest in order to grab that up.

It was too light, he realized as soon as he picked it up - none of his supplies or medications were inside. But still, it was his bag with the 4th Division logo on it and he found himself swallowing hard against a sudden lump in his throat.

"I'm not really sure," Sora admitted with a shake of his head. He didn't think anyone else had figured it out, either. There was also no explanation for why only some patients got them. The nurses didn't seem to know about it, and Sora hadn't seen anyone dare to try and wear anything but the normal uniform during the day. That was probably the smart thing to do.

When Hanatarou suddenly reached for something else, Sora blinked and moved so that he was standing only slightly behind his roommate, glancing over Hanatarou's shoulder at the small bag he was clutching. Did any of the other shinigami have that?

"What's that?" he blurted out, not able to hold back his curiosity. It didn't look particularly special to him, but sometimes things weren't always what they seemed, and Hanatarou had seemed pretty interested in it.

Hanatarou started a little at the question; he'd halfway forgotten about Sora's presence, but managed a small, hesitant smile as he turned to show the bag to his roommate. "It's, um. Normally it would have my supplies and, and everything, but...it's carried by medics in the 4th Division. It's really...mine." He traced the lines of the stylized flower on the logo, still having a hard time believing he really had it again.

The timing on this was just perfect, though. Now he could dress like a proper shinigami and at least pretend to the part for the memorial service. It would make him feel a little more like himself, even if he was far from home. The shinigami carefully set the bag down on the bed and went to pull the newly-arrived clothing from the closet, suddenly eager to put it on again for the first time since he'd found himself here.

Sora peered down at the bag as Hanatarou explained. While it didn't seem like much, it was obvious that it meant a lot to his roommate, which Sora could appreciate. He smiled and nodded. "Hopefully you can find some supplies to fill it with soon, huh?" He knew for a fact there were places where first aid supplies could be found, and he was pretty sure that one of the other shinigami could direct Hanatarou to where he could get them.

Since it looked like Hanatarou wanted to get changed now, Sora took that as his cue to move over to his own closet and see if he'd gotten his outfit as well, doing his best to avert his gaze. While the shinigami would have had to deal with being naked in front of other people earlier in the day during the shower shift, Sora got the feeling he wouldn't want to repeat the experience.

"I hope so..." The last expedition in search of supplies hadn't really gotten very far at all, though. Hanatarou was quite certain he'd need to find someone who actually knew where to go next time, rather than just tagging along with those two friends of Atoli's.

That thought gave him pause for a moment: he hadn't seen Atoli lately, had he? Hopefully she hadn't disappeared, like he'd been told people could in this place. Maybe he should check and see if anyone knew where she was. In the morning, though - he had too much to do tonight, and the board would be easiest.

Hanatarou gathered the bundle of fabric against his chest and then paused, glancing uncertainly back at Sora. Fortunately the other seemed to have realized that he'd want as much privacy as was possible in such a small room, and the healer gratefully took advantage of the opportunity to change.

As he fastened the strap of the sadly empty (but hopefully soon to be filled) bag in place across his chest, he found himself feeling better than he had in some time. Now he felt like a proper 4th Division medic again, even in this strange place amid stranger people and situations. And even if he wasn't...well...terribly useful. He was still prepared to at least do his best.

While Sora was intent on keeping his eyes on his closet until Hanatarou was finished, there wasn't much for him to see there - just the same old coat, sweater, and extra uniforms. There was no sign of his outfit, and while there was still a chance that it was in the dresser or something, he wasn't going to count on it.

He was slightly disappointed, but he knew it wasn't that huge of a deal. They were just clothes, and it wasn't like he hadn't changed them around in the past. Then again, all of his outfits had been way cooler than the boring shirt and sweatpants he had to wear here, but he wasn't going to sweat over it.

Once it seemed like it had been long enough, he closed the closet door and turned back to Hanatarou, smiling at the sight of his roommate in his full outfit. "Looking good!" he exclaimed jokingly, though it was also obvious that he meant no harm by the comment.

So Hanatarou was dressed, Sora's flashlight was on his desk (and that was all he needed) - they were pretty much ready to go once that intercom went off!

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Day 37: Intercom, Evening

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