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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The days always passed by faster than the nights, but this was bordering on ridiculous.

Was it all because she’d fallen asleep after breakfast? Geez. Yuffie let a long sigh as she trailed into her room, rubbing the back of her neck. That couldn’t be it! She’d barely even gotten started, and now it was over! She hadn’t even managed to see Sagara!

Woah, woah! The thief shook her head, as though doing so would send that traitorous thought flying straight out of her ears. It wasn’t like she missed the guy - she’d only seen him just last night! She just… She’d just been looking forward to proving that yeah, she was the kickass one, and therefore she had totally won that pillow fight. Yeah. That was it.

After the chat she’d had with Mizuho, though… Sagara being unable to accept his failure was the least of her problems. Ugh. Yuffie flopped on the edge of her bed, pulling her tray of food closer. Her current and more pressing problem was Rude. A little more viciously than necessary, Yuffie speared a piece of chicken.

That stupid, good-for-nothing, pea-brained Turk bastard! How dare he go spreading rumours about her! He didn’t know anything.

Only the fact that it didn’t surprise her was stopping her from marching straight out of the door. Only that was keeping her from teaching Rude a really, really important lesson; namely, that Yuffie Kisaragi did not take insults lightly. It wasn’t in her nature, and even a few years worth of maturity hadn’t dampened her instinctive reaction to defend her pride - loudly, and, if necessary, violently. Yuffie was pretty sure he’d learn to keep his trap shut if she kicked him in the nuts.

Today had been a long and somewhat tiring day, more emotionally draining than physically. He'd have to check on Rinali first thing. If she wasn't here anymore, he wasn't sure what he'd do. Rukia, Renji, Lavi, and now Rinali? The only person left from his world was one he wanted very little to do with, namely Tyki.

Still, he was determined to at least check and figure things out before he let his emotions get the better of him. She'd been late before, it was possible that was all it was. He hoped that's all it was.

Dinner was acceptable, almost quite good if Beatrix overlooked where it came from. The blonde ate quietly, her thoughts turned inward as she ran scenarios concerning the upcoming night with SubZero and HK-47 through her head. Sitting on the desk next to her tray were two brightly colored beaded bracelets she'd made in Arts & Crafts.

Despite the coming night and all the dangers that would follow, today had been a really nice, even normal day, at least through some parts. She hoped she would get to meet with Yukari and Brainiac again, they'd both been really nice and maybe she was just imagining it, but even seemed to enjoy her company, if only just a little. She didn't think she'd ever had so many people she could call friend, even if it was only a small and budding friendship.

Meeting with Bridget every day was fun too, though she wished he would open up a little more. Then again, maybe that was her fault. She didn't really make a habit of talking much about herself to strangers, but then... Bridget wasn't really a stranger anymore, he was a really good friend.

The food tonight smelled really yummy and well-seasoned too, much better than the greasy hamburgers and hot dogs from lunch. She said a quiet Itadakimasu! before starting her meal. Max hadn't been there last night either, but there was still a tray of food laid out for her. Kagura had to wonder what was going on. They hadn't taken her away like they'd done with Leon a couple nights back, had they?

Another meal for Momo to not eat. She'd not touched a single bit of food all day and she wasn't going to start now. Her nurse had gone on about making sure she ate at least a little since she hadn't been 'feeling well' and it would do her some good.

Nope. Not happening.

Once her nurse left, the tray sat untouched on the desk next to her journal and the small shinigami curled up in her bed. Tonight was going to be very hard, for many reasons, and she really just wanted to have Hitsugaya hold her, but Renji did deserve the memorial. Hopefully, she can get some rest while waiting for the night to come. Hopefully, her demon roommate would take the hint that, being under the covers, she didn't want to talk.

Momo was pretty sure Anya wouldn't recognize a hint if it hit her in the head.

There was that line again... that story that the disappearing patients were cured. No way. Maybe--maybe--they could be brainwashed for long enough to get them out of the way, keeping them asleep or something until the Institute could march them out as 'proof' and scare the patients. Usopp wasn't sure of even that much, but maybe it meant Nami was somewhere in the Institute. It wouldn't explain how Sanji and Zoro had disappeared and come back with more memories, though...

Worrying about the way the Institute worked was enough to give anyone a headache, excepting maybe the little bunny kid (Nate?) and a few of the other people on the boards. Mello was busy more and more on the board, too. If he'd had any faith that the others would actually check it, he'd want to check on the board every day to make sure nobody else in the crew had disappeared. Would Zoro get his swords..?

Feeling a bit gloomy, despite the shower, Usopp poked at his chicken a bit before starting to eat, not feeling too hungry. If Sai didn't come by tonight... well, he had things to work on, as usual. He'd figure something out.

The day had been entertaining enough, even if he'd spent much of it napping. As usual, he started on the ice cream first, and in Xelloss's opinion it was perfectly sensible. Not as good as Saillune's, but still good, and it'd be a pity for it to melt while the chicken was being dealt with.

Xelloss wondered if he'd start to gain weight from bad eating habits if he stayed here long enough. Lina and her friends never seemed to, but they burned up a lot of energy with magic (along with generally being frantic forces of destruction whether well-intentioned or not) and aside from nighttime, Xelloss's lifestyle had been a bit sedentary lately. Maybe he should start volunteering for fighting groups more, pretend he used to be a masked hero named The X and wander around with a makeshift costume.

His roommate might not see the humor in that.

Sakura had to admit, she did feel a little bit better after talking with Himura. He was pretty nice for an old guy, though admittedly, he didn't look all that old. Maybe it was just the way he talked. Or maybe he was using a jutsu like Tsunade-sama to keep himself looking young. It didn't seem to fit, if Himura was worried about looks, he probably would do something about that big scar on his cheek, but she supposed it was a possibility.

At any rate, she just had to hurry over to the entrance to the Sun Room once night came. Himura was right, she'd just have to show Sasuke that she really could be useful. And if he kept doing stupid things, maybe she really would give him a few hard knocks.

On the plus side, Vlad hadn't noticed Danny posting any requests for help in committing suicide this evening, which left Vlad's on evening free. Free for him to decide what to do, and free of listening to the boy complain about everything imaginable while they tried to make progress. Granted, they never did seem to get very far...

The down side was that he hadn't made plans of his own, either, opening up another possibly empty evening. Surely with so many new patients, he would find someone who wanted a more experienced hand around to 'guide' them, and in a particularly desperate situation, would make suitable bait for anything that might attack. After all, like the old saying went, you only had to be faster than the other person...

The food was acceptable, although it was a bit amusing to Vlad to hear such glowing terms to describe such a mundane meal. Probably available in the frozen food section for any particularly lazy or busy housewives. He could appreciate the lightness of the meal, at least, compared to lunch, and contemplated skipping dessert even if it was ice cream.

The day had passed quickly and in confusion. The game itself wasn't totally unfamiliar, but the more he read, the more he realized he didn't understand, and that was disturbing. At least tonight he'd have plans, but an entire day passing was also disturbing. He'd woken up in the morning, it had seemed, so he didn't exactly know what the passage of time here was like in relation to his proper place and time, but it was still too much time wasted.

Without weapons or his body in working order, the threat of 'monsters' was more serious than it should have been. Since his human body seemed to be the most functional part of him, keeping it in order by eating was still important. As he sat down to eat, this time asking for water instead of letting the nurse pick out milk for him again, he looked around at the room more clearly, remembering what he'd been told about the flashlight. There were two beds here; someone else would be quartered with him.

For once, Armand had a lot on his mind. He was still a bit angry at the world, but talking to his friends and having a plan helped him immensely. Ideas zinged around in his head, almost too fast to note down. So despite his irritation, he was actually smiling to himself as he ate.

And the food was actually food. He picked at the chicken cheerfully with the fingers of one hand, ate the asparagus the same way, and mostly ignored the potato. With the other hand he wrote in his notebook, trying to come up with ideas on how to present the service he had in mind. No, that wasn't tonight, but he wanted something to work from when he spoke to the new Cooking Club leader in the morning.

The day hadn't been that exciting. Days weren't. Nights weren't really either, but tonight, he had some idea what he wanted to do. Tony just didn't know how to break it to Kvothe. He should have told him earlier. He really, really should've, but he didn't, so he had to do it during dinner.

He started his dinner, dessert first, and gathered a few things together for the night. He didn't have much.

Allelujah was thoughtful when he was led into the room that night. Sousuke had had a point. There had seemed to be a lot in the town, even if it had been small. Surely there would be something there worth raiding which would help. Vehicles for sure, kitchens with knives, maybe a hardware store, although the idea of charging around with a chainsaw was sort of ridiculous.

He took a few bites of his food idly, not really paying attention to what he was eating, more lost in his thoughts.

Honey was growing ever more convinced that this stuff with Soubi was just because there'd been a misunderstanding. Arts and Crafts had been fun and Soubi was good company as far as he was concerned. Takashi would understand too, he just hoped the twins hadn't riled him with their message board posts.

Though the regular food smelled alright, Honey was much more interested in the dessert. Unfortunately, it was just simple vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup. It was disappointing, but he ate that first anyway before starting in on the healthy food.

Scar was surprised to discover the usually occupied bed on the other side of the room to be, well, unoccupied. Either his nameless roommate had finally decided to get out of bed, or he was one of the aforementioned patients that had been - as the head doctor had so kindly put it - 'recovered'.

Either way, it wasn't any of his concern.

He seated himself (a little awkwardly) on his chair and began munching on his dinner, trying to think of a productive way to spend the night.

Talking with Sanosuke had definitely put Akihiko in a better mood. He honestly liked the guy, and was looking forward to sparring with him sometime. That good mood lingered as his nurse led him down the hall. He took careful mental notes about the pathway, and particularly, the room number. M93? That was good, because it meant he wasn't too far from where Ken was. Akihiko wanted to keep an eye on the boy for the next few days.

Once he was inside, he waited for a minute before settling on one of the beds. He wasn't used to having a roommate he didn't know - as a kid, he and Shinji had been roommates in the orphanage, and once he'd moved to the S.E.E.S. dorm, everyone got private rooms there. Well, first time for everything, he supposed, as he began tucking into dinner.

It'd been a while since Gin had seen his roommate, but he couldn't say he was worried. Gin took the time to play out his evening, since he obviously wouldn't be attending the memorial for Abarai Renji. It was possible that Momo and Izuru might, but with their earlier conversation, he had reason enough to believe that they'd be just as likely to come hunt him down tonight instead.

Not to mention the possibility of a doctor's visit tomorrow. Gin wanted to be well-prepared for that. A trip to the upstairs kitchen or one of the storage closets might be in order. The more small, sharp object he had on hand, the better.

Takaya hadn't really enjoyed his day, but then when did he ever? Hair still damp, he ignored his food in favor of throwing himself down on his bed and closing his eyes.

He couldn't afford to fall into depression again. Kagetora was being too quiet and he might take control at the first time of weakness. He wondered absently how Freyjador was... Probably okay.

The day had started out rather poorly, but improved quite a bit as it went on. But then as Hanatarou returned to his room he suddenly remembered just what was going to happen after dinner, and found his mood suddenly plummet once more.

Tonight was Renji's memorial service and he couldn't not go, even if he still felt a little guilty about not being there to help the night before. Everyone had told him it wasn't his fault (even Hitsugaya-taichou!) and he was kind of used to being a failure by now. But he still wished there was something he could have done.

Hanatarou dropped into his chair and regarded his dinner without too much interest, then finally went for the ice cream first. Maybe dessert would cheer him up a little.

Bridget smiled and thanked his nurse for cutting up his food for him before he sat down. Roger was sitting on the desk, looking smart in his new vest. He couldn't help but feel almost ... giddy. Kagura had made that. She'd thought of Roger (which meant she'd thought of him too, right?) and made that with her hands.

He tried to focus on his food, but he gaze still occasionally went to the vert with it's plastic buttons.

Well, that voice had answered two questions with one proverbial stone, Indy realized. The man he'd heard speaking must be the one that boy had mentioned, and the device which allowed them to hear him seemed like a good candidate for an "intercom." Now that he thought about it, it didn't seem so different from intercommunications machines like the Dictograph that could relay sound from one location to be broadcast elsewhere--it was just the scale and the quality that surprised him. Judging from the quick glances he got as he was shepherded briskly through the hall, there might be dozens of other rooms like this here. The place was a warren.

Where had they gotten the money for a communications system like that? It might make sense in a big company, but Indy realized he had never even heard of Landel's Institute. Was he even still in New York?

Something was wrong here, and it wasn't just whatever was going bump in the night.

Hell, worry about it after dinner, he decided. Whatever other complaints the kid had had about this place, the food couldn't have been on the list. Indy downed the chicken with gusto and started to look around the room for something he could use as a weapon. Night was falling. Enough time after dinner to let things quiet down in the Institute, and then he'd be off to meet the Boogeyman.

Tyki was glad he was allowed to wash his hands before being escorted back to his room. Food was great, but not with crayon stains all over it.

The Noah sat down on his desk and began eating his dinner. Only a little while before he could smoke...

"Alright Mr. Murdock. Chicken is at two, your asparagus and potatos are at four and eight." Matt knew he shouldn't throw the food at the nurse, she was only trying to help, but ... it was tempting. "Your ice cream is to your left and the water you wanted is to your right. Do you need anything sweetie? Your roommate should be along shortly."

Yes Matt thought. I want you to go somewhere and die. He shook his head and was finally left alone. Standing up, he ignored his food in favor of exploring the desk it sat on and the room beyond it.

Food was foremost on Argilla's mind when she was escorted back to her room by the nurse, who seemed pleased that she was so eager to be getting back for dinner, commenting that she'd be wasting away to nothing. Argilla sort of wanted to tell her to hurry up and change into her nightshift form already and then Argilla could really enjoy a good meal. She wasn't interested in chicken with plants and she was a little worried about how she was going to make her hunger work with a new roommate. Nami had been good enough to understand, but she doubted most people would be so understanding.

She didn't even bother with the chicken; meat would just stimulate her tastebuds too much, but the ice cream she took, going to sit on her bed and eating that.

The day had been rather uneventful, all things considered, and Yukito had to be grateful for that, after the last few. It meant that he could face dinner with something resembling an appetite, though the portions were, as usual, never big enough for him. Maybe it would be fine for someone who didn't have a metabolism like his, but he was kind of eating for two.

Though that reminded him. We really do need to talk, Yue-san, he said silently, even as he was careful to eat slowly to make it seem like he had more food. I don't think this is going to go away.

He could tell that his other self had heard, but there was no response. Yukito sighed quietly and took another bite of the chicken. He'd just have to keep trying, he supposed.

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