damned_institute | Day 43: Intercom, Evening

Hello! I.R.I.S. here once more to announce to you, our honored guests, that you have officially made it through a day of our typical Landel's treatment. Of course, it isn't quite over: we will now have you retire to our designated patient quarters with one of your agency partners to inspect their sleeping area and the tools that we provide them with for the true bulk of our behavioral testing. On an added note, we would like you to notice once again that the meals we provide to our subjects are of the highest quality.

For those of you feeling apprehensive about taking part in our more intensive methods, please be aware that we would never imagine putting all of you in any danger whatsoever. This last shift will be your last at our Institute; afterward, we will escort you to our Head Doctor's personal observation station to survey some of our test Next-Wave participants in the rigorous trials we put them through – all for their betterment, of course.

Once again, we hope that you are satisfied with what you find, and as always, direct any questions you may have to your console.

The nurses began to escort the patients to their rooms. They didn't even seem to be brought to awareness by words such as "testing" and "subjects."

[ 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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The way Meche talked about the girl made Donna picture a more weapon-crazed version of Jenny. That was certainly a scary thought. "Only if she didn't end up with teeth in her," Donna pointed out. Maybe if this girl was an alien or something... come to think of it, did aliens turn into zombies if they got bitten? Donna would have to ask the Doctor about that one. Too bad he hadn't gotten bitten instead of her.

Donna leaned back on her bed, thinking about the idea. "Yeah, doing something's always better than just sitting around. And I guess I could do for having something to use... though I'm much more used to working with pumps than spears. How are you liking yours, by the way?" she asked suddenly, pointing to the floor. It had been a few nights since Donna'd pretty much mugged Meche for them, so hopefully the woman was enjoying her usual footwear.

"They wouldn't dare. She'd probably bite them back." Boy, she was just tossing out one line after another tonight. Maybe that was what came of getting some of her energy back. "And the pumps are great. Thanks again for those." Meche went over to get them--might as well start getting ready while she had the time. "I ended up hiking through the woods in them two nights ago and there isn't even a scratch on them."

Once she'd finished sliding them on and doing the buckles, she set her map and flashlight out together on top of the desk so she wouldn't forget them, then settled back down in her chair. "Oh, I haven't asked what you're doing tonight. Do you have any plans, or are you going to take it easy after last night?"

"I came pretty close to doing just that," Donna managed a laugh, "But I gave it a good smacking instead. They probably taste awful!" Even the thought of biting a zombie, whether it deserved it or not, made Donna feel sick to her stomach. Now she definitely wasn't going to eat her meal if she could help it.

Donna watched Meche fish out her heels and admired them after hearing the story. "Where'd you get them again? Or did you tell me, and I just forgot? Anything I got would be trashed after hiking, probably." And Donna certainly did not skimp when it came to shoe shopping. She had some pretty good pairs, all of which were unfortunately stashed in the still missing TARDIS!

Shifting a bit on her bed, Donna wondered if she really should be doing anything that night. "I don't have any plans," she admitted, "Didn't get much done today, unfortunately. Accidentally ended up decking a nurse when I woke up this morning. All those 'bad dreams' about zombies, you know?" She waved a hand to enforce the sarcasm, "I might take it easy, but you never know." She shrugged.

Meche couldn't remember if she'd told Donna where she'd gotten the shoes either, so she said, "I suppose you could say they were a gift from my ex-boss. I don't know where he managed to get them; our office wasn't exactly on the regular mail routes." She could hear a little bitterness in her voice and tried to soften it. She really didn't have any idea where any of those clothes had come from. Domino had handled all the ordering--just another one of the ways he'd tried to keep control over her, Meche recognized now. She'd had to argue for weeks to get him to look for those stockings.

They were good shoes (nothing but the best for Domino Hurley's secretary), but still, it was strange that they didn't look damaged or even dirty at all. She'd gone through the forest, the stream and a ruined building in these heels. Shouldn't they at least be a little scuffed?

Meche had to admit she was almost sorry to have missed Donna decking the nurse that morning; not that she thought it was fair to attack the day nurses if they really didn't know what they were doing, but it probably would have been a real sight to see. "I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you at least got a good swing in," she said with a little chuckle. "What about the daytime yesterday? Did you manage to make it over to the spa?"

"Oh, that's right! I think you mentioned something like that," Donna remembered having a conversation about where they shopped before. She really should have remembered something like that.

Whatever sentiment Meche had in regards to her clothes Donna took as her missing her home. They all had had it rough here, especially where fashion was concerned, so Donna couldn't fault Meche for having ill feelings about things.

"I wish I knew," she answered, changing to the other subject in hopes of cheering Meche up, "I just snapped to from fighting zombies. You know, waking up back in bed and all. I could have sworn I was about the deck another zombie, but suddenly I've got a nurse scolding me and a needle in my neck." She huffed, folding her arms to show how much it bothered her. "I'd have rather known what I was doing than get a cheap shot. Honestly." Maybe Donna didn't fight fair all the time, but when it came to the people in this place, Donna would always want to know when she got back at them.

"I did get to the spa, yeah. Only it turned into the zombie apocalypse halfway through my treatment. I didn't even get my toenails done!"

Meche found herself laughing out loud at the image of her roommate decking zombies left and right. It probably hadn't been any more fun at the time for Donna than it had been for her, but there was still something funny about the image of the other woman elbowing her way through the crowd like it was the sale of the century--probably telling those monsters exactly what she thought of them the whole time.

"Sorry, I'm not laughing at you," she explained. "It's too bad that that happened right when you woke up. It's just that I can really picture you going down the street clocking those things. Maybe it taught them a little respect for the importance of a decent pedicure."

Talking helped, but Meche couldn't help feeling restless. Dinner shift seemed so long tonight. She reached idly for the flashlight and flicked it on and off--nothing. Right, the battery had run out. Hadn't there been a spare somewhere? She started rummaging impatiently through the desk drawer. "Doyleton was a mess, wasn't it? I was in the hotel, and there was a fire; we made a barricade with all the dining room furniture...I wonder if there'll be anything left to take us back to next week."

Day 43: Intercom, Evening

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