Day 22: Intercom, Afternoon Shift

[damned-intercom.livejournal.com]

The intercom clicked on with its usual enthusiasm.

"Well, I hope you all enjoyed your brunch as much as you could given your excitement, because now is the time that I'm sure you've all been waiting for!" Of course, nearly everyone had been dreading this unwanted complication of visitors, but the Head Doctor had never been one for candor. "These next two shifts, you may wander to and from any of the following areas: The Sun Room, the Music Room, the Game Room, the Patients' Library, the Arts & Crafts Room, the Cafeteria (in which assorted crackers, cheese, cookies, and beverages will be available throughout the day), and the Courtyard. Minors are free to ask their nurses to escort them to the bathrooms or showers during the first shift and adults during the second shift. Men are free to ask to be escorted to the Recreational field (and play with items in the Activity Shed depending on how well-behaved they are!) and women may go during the second shift. You may also ask to be escorted back to your room at any time during either shift.

The Head Doctor took a breath, then continued in perhaps an even jollier tone.

"However, the following patients will be doing something even more exciting during the next shift: Matthew Lawrence, Peter Snide, Skylar Moore, Lawrence Fischer, Alex Roberts, Jonathan River, and Daniel Wright will be escorted to Waiting Room 1; Jack Doughter, Roland Langley, Kelly Lamden, Daniel Adams, Mark Lancaster, and Franz Haushofer will be escorted to Waiting Room 2. I am of course referring to the visitation of loved ones, for which the aforementioned patients shall be escorted to Waiting Room 1 and Waiting Room 2, and I truly hope that you and your friends and family may have a lovely, peaceful afternoon together."

After a moment of reflecting the same quiet peace that he supposedly wished upon his patients, the Head Doctor made what had become a usual addendum.

"Ah, yes, and how can we forget being graced with even more new faces on this sunny Landel's day? Please welcome Hanada Shiori, Nick Hall, Jake Emmet, Michael Thomas, Kalvin Mirsch, Catherine Taber, Jeanne Anderson, Donovan Kirby, and Fred Rogers! Look forward to even more additions to our fast-growing population as the days progress, and I hope you all enjoy our Sunday treats! Until next shift!"

The intercom clicked off with perhaps even more subtly twisted joy than it normally showcased.

[ OOC: There should only be two posts for the visitor shifts---one for Waiting Room 1 and another for Waiting Room 2. Each patient who's receiving a visitor makes their own separate thread in which they interact with their visitor, and unless you've already cleared special circumstances (like two patients receiving the same visitor) by the mods, please keep all the patients in separate threads--to keep things simple. 8D Anyway, here's the official description for the Waiting Rooms, so please abide by it:

Waiting Room/Lobby 1 and 2: This is where patients wait while they’re being checked in (though no one seems to actually remember this process). It’s also the place where patients are reunited with their loved ones - for a short while - during visitation hours. Cushioned, but not overly comfortable chairs are placed against the walls, with wooden tables here and there. A couple of magazine racks sit near the doors leading to the entry room, which periodicals such as Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, National Geographic, and various medical magazines. However, the magazines seem rather dated, as their pages are worn and wrinkled from extensive use. (They certainly do come from Earth, however, and chronicle events from our time, as well as some ominous speculation on an upcoming world war...)

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[entrust-to-few.livejournal.com]

‘If House Solidor should crumble, the Empire would fail, and civil war would take us all.’

The smell of disinfectant was harsh, an intolerant scent that Larsa was far less accustomed to amongst other things. It was neither chaste like the hint of fresh flora in his room. Nor was it pleasant like pages of books opened far beyond their years. The smell stung him and left him nauseated, form hunched over the bed in an attempt not to spill whatever he’d eaten the day prior.

This bed was not his own. These sheets weren’t of Archadian silk, a material Larsa was utterly humble for and often gave to the lesser fortunate out of kindness. They were plain, ironed to a crisp finish though now wrinkled underneath him. Yet no matter how tightly the aristocrat wrapped it around his shaken body he couldn’t keep himself warm.

And there was hardly any sunshine to greet him as he awoke, but stale florescent lights that burned his flesh like hot coals. The room was silent, unnerving to those who’ve grown accustomed to the constant clanking of armor on marble floor and hoarse shouting of Judges amongst their men.

These tiny things Larsa would learn to miss amongst others, these simple gestures of home beyond his grasp. Eventually, as the weeks pass by, he would come to terms with his fate and the young Lord would cope for the best.

But for now Larsa would deduce the fantasy of being kidnapped. By a group of insurgents perhaps? He would not know, the aristocrat had been consumed by his country’s affairs of pacifism for the past year. The road to transforming Archadia from a country of war to one so otherwise was a difficult one to tread. To be snatched just as Larsa felt there was some kind of progress between Rozarria and his own motherland was a tragedy he would’ve wanted to avoid at all costs.

Alas.

“…”

Larsa had been awake for quite some time now, gray eyes plastered to the door in front of him. In the first few minutes he’d awoken the Emperor did his best to keep calm (His stomach certainly wasn’t up to this challenge), mentally retracing the steps he took in the previous day. There was nothing that signified as ‘odd’, but there had to besomething that revealed a weakness just wide enough for his kidnappers to snatch.

The door was locked, and yet he continued to pull. These walls were solid, yet he continued to knock. The bed was callous on his skin, but he had no other choice but to sit there and wait. The material of the cloths he wore was foreign beneath his fingertips, acting much like a film of slime that encased his body like a cocoon. Larsa wasn’t fond of these clothes.

In fact, he wasn’t much fond of anything in this room, and he would surely grow distasteful for this whole Institute all together.

[entrust-to-few.livejournal.com]

He had gone by his fifth run through of yesterday by the time the Intercom went off, startling him from his thoughts. Larsa listened intently, a rush of confusion overwhelming him as the man continued to speak. These terms meant very little in his vocabulary, and the names he heard held no familiarity. And not long after did the handle of his door twist open, revealing a young petite woman garbed in uniform.

Her smile was unsettling.

“… If ‘tis be gold you acquire I am more than obliged to accommodate your needs on behalf of my current situation.” Larsa’s tried his best to keep his voice clear despite how dry his throat felt. And yet the woman only continued to smile, walking into the room and stopping at the foot of his bed. The boy stifled when she reached her hand forward to place it comfortingly on his shoulder.

“I know this may be scary for you,” She responded in a gentle tone. “But we’ll try our best here at Landel’s to see you make a full recovery, Mr. Hall.”

… What?

Larsa merely blinked, eyes following up the woman’s arm until they met face to face, and he could no more but frown at these gestures.

“Pardon…? I am neither ‘sick’ nor this ‘Mister Hall’ you proclaim myself in being.” And yet this woman didn’t appear to be listening to him at all, her hand crawling up and combed his hair with her fingers.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Hall, I’ve read your files and I feel absolutely awful at the thought of children being here in this Institute.” Institute? “However, I can see why they’d send you here, considering how serious your case really is. It’d be a sin not to give a child like you the best for the future.”

Larsa had to hold himself back from sputtering. This was wrong, all of it! None of it made sense to him. And if this were truly the insurgent’s doing it was not only unnecessary but also terribly cruel to play these mind games. He must’ve looked distraught because moments later he found the woman embracing him fully, a gesture he was unaccustomed to among strangers.

“Shhh, we’ll take good care of you here…”

But his mind was starting to numb at the sides, and barely reacted when she pulled back and gently coaxed him off the bed. Larsa’s footing was a little shaky, but he managed to keep himself upright as the woman took his hand and began to lead him towards the door.

“P-Please. I beg of you…” The young Lord was beginning to shake. “If I were not to be let out Archadia will suffer! The burden ought be too heavy to carry. I-I cannot…”

Her next words were enough to make the child bow his head in deathly silence.

“After we’re done with you in Landel’s I reckon you’ll hardly remember this ‘Archadia’ ever again.”

’Lord Larsa is our last hope…’