damned_institute | Day 41: Intercom, Evening

When the intercom's jingle sounded, there seemed to be some kind of tapping in the background noise, like letters being punched into a keyboard. It stopped and the Head Doctor chuckled.

"Hello, everyone! I'm actually taking a break from paperwork for once – everyone needs some recreational time, you know! – and of course, now we can all look forward to a scrumptious dinner from our cooks. Tonight, herb-seasoned grilled salmon is on the menu, served with buttery mashed potatoes and asparagus. All our regular drinks and vegetarian options are available, and for dessert, we will be serving yellow cake with a whipped cream icing.

"...Well! I can hardly wait to get my own dinner after saying all that. Good bye for now, everyone, and enjoy your delicious food!"

The intercom clicked off.

[ All room threads go in response to this post; please post your character's room number as the subject line of the initial post. (Find all of the newly changed room assignments and shift introductions here.) If you are introducing your character during this shift, you may either choose for them character to wake up before their roommate gets back, or after. ]

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For once, Ken was led into the room he and Yuki (and Yue) shared before the other boy. He followed his evening ritual of splitting his dinner and putting half on Yukito's plate (along with all the asparagus--yuck,) then started in on what he'd kept for himself.

He'd finished eating and stretched out on his bed in short order, hands crossed under his head, staring at the ceiling as if it held all the answers to the questions and doubts running roughshod in his head. He'd wait here for Aya.

Yue had been more than slightly reluctant to leave Sakura, now that he'd found her (the real her, not the false visitor), but he'd also not wanted to cause any trouble. He'd managed to stay out of trouble since the first day, and he'd no desire at all to make the staff start to keep an eye on Sakura as well. Besides, she'd agreed to wait for them to pick her up tonight, so hopefully she would. Still, he'd have to hurry and get Touya and go find her again as quickly as possible once the doors unlocked.

And he had to deal with the fact that Yukito was still unhappy about the way he'd been hiding the fact that he suspected she was there - not only from him, but from Touya as well. He'd had his reasons, though, and stubbornly clung to that; there'd been no reason to give anyone false hope.

He entered the room with the rather absent air that meant he was focused more on silent conversation with his other self than his surroundings, but upon realizing Ken was already there he blinked and withdrew again. Yukito hesitated, then sighed faintly and shook his head before giving his roommate a thoughtful look.

"Did something happen last night?" he asked, concern clear even as he moved toward his dinner. From what he remembered of the night before, Ken had looked fine when they'd run into him in the storage room, but there seemed to be additional bandages now.

"Ran into a little trouble, is all," Ken replied, shifting so his head was at the end of the bed, turning onto his side, so he could face Yukito as they spoke. "Wasn't the best night ever."

That was really an understatement. First there was Crawford, then there was the fire in the hallway--and from his reaction to it, Ken wouldn't at all be surprised if the precog had figured out that he was pyrophobic from that. Then there was the brainwashed patient and the mimic. He must have pissed someone off. Some omniscient sadist with phenomenal cosmic power, using it all to fuck with Ken Hidaka. Either that or his luck was catching up with him. Something like that.

"A little trouble?" Yukito echoed, glancing up from his almost single-minded inhalation of his dinner to give Ken a rather dubious look. It was spoiled slightly by the need to push Yue's still-damp hair away after it fell into his face at the quick movement, and he suppressed a sigh as he tucked it behind his ear. Again. Where it definitely wasn't going to stay.

"I'm starting to wonder if it's safe for you to even leave the room at night," he continued, though with a touch of wry humor that said it was teasing. Mostly. He was definitely concerned, especially with how quickly it seemed Ken's night had gone downhill.

"There was a brainwashed patient in the courtyard. The guy I was with made it by, I wasn't so lucky. She threw me around a little, then I tried to go back, but kinda ran into a mimic on the way. The patient didn't like me stalling, so I kinda had to choose between the rock and the hard place. While the rock was trying to electrocute me."

Ken snorted. "Well, unless you decide to stay in with me to make sure I don't go anywhere, kinda fail to see how you'll get me to stay here. It was just a bad night, everyone has them sometimes." A lot more often here.

That...certainly sounded like more than just a "little" trouble, and accordingly the doubt in Yukito's look grew even stronger. A brainwashed patient and a monster, right after each other? Ken apparently had the worst luck possible.

Yue gave a sardonic little snort at that, silently wondering what that meant when it came to his roommate assignment, and Yukito blinked once. That wasn't what he'd meant at all, but...well.

He cleared his throat quietly and refocused on his dinner, stabbing a piece of asparagus and examining it for a minute before taking a bite. "Hopefully tonight's a little better, then. Maybe you should see if one of the healers can take care of that shoulder?"

Ken shook his head. "The healers can only do so much each night. I don't want to interfere if someone else really needs them. Plus I wouldn't have the first clue where to find one." He did appreciate the concern, but really...he didn't want to waste everyone else's time and effort.

"Aya and Yohji should be meeting me here. Then we'll be giving Aya the midnight tour."

"Tour?" Yukito glanced over and blinked, frowning slightly. "Someone new, then?" There'd been a whole group of new people today, from what he'd seen and heard. And he didn't think he remembered Ken mentioning that name before.

Of course, there were apparently a lot of things that Ken hadn't mentioned before, considering their conversation the previous night, but still. Hopefully tonight's "tour" would be significantly less eventful than the night before.

"Kind of. He's been here before." But the Aya who'd been here before was different than the one who'd just woken up here. Ken's eyes drifted closed for a moment or two. "...I was hoping he wasn't really gone."

But the other, younger Aya coming into this place had confirmed that the elder was gone. Probably 'released,' which meant that this place had gotten to him just as it had Omi. What did that mean for him? What hope did he have of resisting when the hospital's lies had taken in someone like Ran?

People coming and going like this was...well, not very pleasant. Both for the people who found themselves here and for those who were left behind, Yukito was certain. He absently scraped the last of the mashed potatoes from his plate, finishing off his dinner with brow creased slightly in thought.

"Someone else I know arrived today, too, and...well, as much as it's nice to have a familiar face around here," and how much Yue had cheered up (relatively speaking) since he'd found her, "I'm worried about her." Yukito sighed, resting his elbow on the desk and his chin in his hand as he stared at the far wall. "She's a lot younger than most of the people here, and without her powers..."

Day 41: Intercom, Evening

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