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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"Can you even tell if it's genuine empathy, or vicarious discomfort from your Jedi sensibilities?" Schuldig pointed out. "Of course I'm suspicious. Where I come from - where practically everyone comes from - you don't get something for nothing. Not even sympathy."

He reached out and appropriated Obi-Wan's dessert plate without comment, relocating it to his own tray. "I was only vaguely aware you knew him. But he's been keeping an eye on me in exchange, so it's only fair."

"I'm more than capable of sorting out my own feelings on the matter," Obi-Wan replied evenly. "Just because I am a Jedi doesn't mean I take pity on every creature I meet. However, I do see the merits behind seeking to understand first, and being understood second. That, in turn, lends itself to empathy. It has nothing to do with any supposed 'discomfort' you think I ought to be feeling." He took a sip of his water before continuing. "We're connected enough to be trapped in this place together. As far as I'm concerned, that alone is reason enough."

So Artemis was keeping an eye on Schuldig, too. Interesting. He almost wanted to ask for details, but perhaps it would have been better to talk to the boy about it himself. "Yes, we're on fairly good terms," Obi-Wan said instead. "But it seems he's got an enemy or two among us." The Jedi furrowed his eyebrows a little. "I wouldn't like to see anything bad happen to him."

"Good to know," Schuldig replied, deliberately ignoring Obi-Wan's overall message in favor of focusing on specific comments. It defied his cynical worldview, and as such was discarded as either a lie, a misconception, or - at very best - a strange and unique quirk on Obi-Wan's part rather than a sign that his blanket judgment of humanity might be in error. It wasn't as though one altruistic person disproved everything he knew and had observed, anyway. "I've got no interest in your pity."

At the mention of Artemis' enemies, Schuldig snorted. "Of course he's got enemies - he's a teenager with a god complex. He mocks people without any thought of the consequences, and unlike me, he doesn't have any sort of skill beyond general intelligence to back him up when that inevitably turns out badly. If he had any sense, he wouldn't be a teenager." He grinned at Obi-Wan. "I'll look after him, but I can only do so much; if you don't want to see anything bad happen to him, you may want to avert your eyes. The kid's a magnet for misery."

"Glad to see we're clear on that, then," Obi-Wan said simply. He wasn't sure how much more upfront he could be in explaining his intentions, which, in is mind, weren't so out there. Still, he knew that a lot of patients here came from a variety of backgrounds, some even preferring the confines of the Institute to whatever horrid place they might have been in before. It was natural for some people to be suspicious.

The Jedi couldn't help but give a wry smile at Schuldig's observations about Artemis. Although the boy had always acted nothing but respectful when they spoke to each other, it didn't surprise him that he could come across as haughty during other circumstances. Obi-Wan himself had been rather arrogant when he was about Artemis' age. It certainly didn't make it all right, and he was sure it brought the young Earthian a fair amount of trouble, but he could at least understand.

After all, it was easy for young people to think they had all of the answers; that went especially so for young people who also happened to be extremely talented.

"Or maybe I'll have a hard time looking away," Obi-Wan spoke up with a rare glimmer in his eye. "In which case, I might just be better off lending a hand instead of acting like the spectator of a nasty speeder wreck."

"Yeah, well," Schuldig chuckled as he dropped his spoon back into his now-empty ice cream bowl, "I never said that was necessarily the best option. Just the easi - "

The redhead abruptly broke off in midsentence, eyes going unfocused as he suddenly redirected his entire attention somewhere hallways away. He hadn't been paying attention to Artemis' game with Haku (if only because it was rather annoying to see the boy so happy when he'd half-killed himself to get the boy to that point, and still had the pounding headache to prove it) and even less to the distress of the patients being dragged off for the sleep studies, since the odds of any of the few people he cared about being abducted were so low, but...

There. It had been faint as Artemis' consciousness faded out, but Schuldig had never over-exaggerated about his telepathic skills. He latched onto the boy's cry for help, then jumped to Haku's mind when Arty's blanked out to clarify what information he hadn't been able to get before Artemis had lost consciousness -

"Oh, son of a bitch," he swore, only half-aware he was snarling it aloud as his eyes refocused themselves on the physical world again. Forgetting his food - and there was still Obi-Wan's ice cream, which he wasn't going to get to eat now, damn it - he vaulted off the bed and stalked over to his closet, throwing it open, because tonight even he might have to fight and he still had the lead pipe he'd picked up while working with Reno and Rufus -

He stopped moving almost as suddenly as he'd started, even Artemis fading briefly in his mind as he stared. There, hanging up more neatly than he'd ever bothered treating his clothes, was his outfit. Not even the formal white suit he'd worn for Esset's grand voodoo ritual - which he'd looked damn good in, mind, but he didn't really consider it his outfit - but his normal clothing, from the trenchcoat right down to the bandanna and sunglasses, both hanging neatly on the hangar's crossbar.

When the hell had that gotten there? He didn't bother wondering about the how, because he knew damned well he'd probably never find out the answer to that one. But he'd be pretty pissed off if he'd been wearing the worthless grey uniforms for days when this had been hanging here the whole time, simply because he hadn't been checking his closet every day...

Arty, he reminded himself, and he yanked out the hangar and tossed the clothes onto his bed - he'd get to them in a minute - before digging into the back of the closet, where he'd concealed the pipe wrapped in a pair of pants and tucked in a corner out of sight.

Obi-Wan paused as he watched the sudden shift in his roommate's emotions -- the distress he was giving off was a sharp contrast to the somewhat lighthearted air between them just moments before. Eyebrows furrowed, he could only watch as Schuldig abandoned any attempt to finish off his food and threw open his closet door.

"What is it?" the Jedi asked, rising from his chair. He'd never seen the man act quite this way before, even after all the dinners they'd spent together. Something had obviously alarmed him enough to start making preparations for tonight, although the clothes were an unexpected surprise. For a moment, he remembered Qui-Gon's change of clothes from the other night, and Obi-Wan couldn't help but wonder what the purpose behind these "gifts" was.

Of course, that seemed hardly relevant now. He needed to find out what was bothering Schuldig if he could.

"You know what I was just saying about Artemis attracting trouble?" Schuldig growled, tossing the pipe onto his bed and stripping off his institutional shirt without preamble and grabbing his own shirt and trenchcoat off the hangar. "Well, Landel's decided to make an honest man out of me. Some orderlies just dragged him off for experimentation tonight."

As soon as his roommate informed him of the situation, a strange coldness swept over the Jedi's body. Never mind how incredible -- and perhaps unnerving -- it was that Schuldig was capable of knowing such a thing.

Artemis had been taken.

But Obi-Wan recognized his anxiety for what it was. After all, the boy was one of the few friends he had in this place, aside from Qui-Gon. Within moments, he'd taken a deep breath and released those unnecessary feelings to the Force. It was all right to be concerned for the boy's well-being, but he would need a clear head if he wanted to be of any assistance tonight.

"We have no time to waste, then," the Jedi said quietly. He rose from his seat, dinner forgotten. Since Schuldig was changing clothes, he ought to make preparations himself. Within moments, he'd retrieved his knife and commlink from beneath his mattress. He could have checked his closet to see if any of his old possessions were there, but at this point, Obi-Wan wasn't sure he'd want to waste time changing into them.

Despite the sense of urgency, though, he hadn't forgotten his previous plans with Qui-Gon. He brought the commlink to his mouth. "This is Obi-Wan," he said quietly. "Can you hear me, Qui-Gon? Something's come up."

The only response he received was crackling static.

Mouth tightening into a thin frown, the Jedi quickly jotted down a note explaining the situation and left it on top of his bed. He'd try talking to his former Master personally if he could manage it, but Obi-Wan realized that time was of the essence.

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Day 37: Intercom, Evening

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