damned_institute | Day 43: Intercom, Evening

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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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All of Sora's concerns about Joshua were nearly chased away when the boy made sure to check the bulletin before dinner and found that someone had responded to his message -- and not just any someone, but Hitsugaya. He was back! Well, he was sort of back, anyway. He had no memories and he probably wouldn't even be able to recognize Sora, but it was extremely relieving for Sora to know that he would soon be seeing him again.

In fact, it made the knowledge that Renji had died a little easier to bear, too. He could also come back someday -- the memories would be gone, but at least he would be alive. Sora made a note of how this felt to think back on if another close friend of his ever lost their life to this place in the future. (He didn't like to assume that it would happen again, but he knew he had to be realistic.)

In any case, it looked like he would be meeting up with the shinigami tonight -- come to think of it, he had to wonder if Hanatarou had heard the news yet. He probably had, but that just meant that Sora had his roommate to talk to about it while he waited for night to fall! He knew it was weird to be looking forward to night coming, but this was a special case.

The boy rushed back to his room, eager to see the meal that was waiting for him. For once he was the first one to make it there, and so he didn't waste any time before sitting down and digging in.

Dinnertime meant that the night was even closer, and that made Hanatarou nervous. Well, even more nervous than usual, since tonight was going to be a little different than others he'd spent since coming to this place, and he only hoped that he wouldn't completely mess everything up.

He was in no hurry to return to his room, as though dragging his feet would somehow delay the onset of the night, so by the time he arrived he found Sora already there and eating dinner. The healer managed a nod and a small smile in greeting, relieved to see that Sora was there at all, after the night before. He'd replied on the bulletin earlier, but actually seeing him was different. "Um, hello, Sora-san...how are you feeling?"

His own dinner tray he examined without much interest; his stomach was all tied up in nervous knots that prevented him from feeling terribly hungry at all. But if he was going to be out and about tonight, he really did need to eat something in order to keep his strength up.

Sora was similarly relieved when he was able to set his eyes on his roommate and confirm that he was in one piece. He'd found it hard to imagine how Hanatarou had dealt with the zombie invasion last night, seeing how the other boy was usually so jumpy -- and the healer had admitted himself that he wasn't the fighting type. There had probably been other patients around who had made sure that Hanatarou stayed safe, and for that Sora was grateful.

The boy was in the middle of a bite of steak (even with the plastic utensils they were given, the meat was so soft that it could easily be cut) when his roommate asked him a question, and so he had to take a few seconds to finish chewing before he could answer. He wanted to just immediately mention his elation about Hitsugaya being okay, but he knew that his roommate had been asking after his health.

"Oh, I feel all right! My bite hurt a little this morning but it's mainly okay now." The fact that it was on the back of his neck probably made it seem worse that it actually was. He had to admit that the bandages were starting to feel a little suffocating, but he knew it would be a bad idea to remove them.

Sora tossed a fry into his mouth as he kept talking. "Oh, but have you heard about Hitsugaya? I can't believe it!" he exclaimed.

It didn't seem that Sora was nearly as distressed about being bitten as Brook had been, which was quite a relief. Hanatarou didn't think he'd be able to handle it if Sora decided to panic - he didn't really seem like the panic type, so if he did it would probably be really bad indeed. And the bite itself didn't seem all that bad, relatively speaking, which also made him feel a little better.

Thus reassured, Hanatarou picked up a fork and poked at the steak without any apparent interest, but as Sora continued speaking he suddenly froze in place. Hitsugaya? What about Hitsugaya? He'd been trying not to think about the captain ever since they'd spoken (or Hitsugaya had spoken and Hanatarou had tried to pretend he wasn't there) earlier in the day.

"Er...what, um, about him...?" he asked hesitantly, with a sidelong glance in Sora's direction.

It was hard to tell what Hanatarou knew or didn't know just from that answer. He could be awkward because he didn't understand why Sora would bring up the shinigami when thinking about his death was so difficult, or it could just be that his roommate was confused that Sora would mention the other boy all of a sudden.

Figuring that it wouldn't do much harm to tell Hanatarou either way (if he didn't know then he'd be glad to hear it; if he did know then it might be anticlimactic but it wouldn't be harmful), Sora didn't waste any time in dropping the news.

"Well, he's back! I mean, maybe you already heard -- you guys probably keep in better contact than me... but yeah! No memories or anything, but it's him!" It wasn't that Sora and Hitsugaya had ever been close by any means, but that didn't stop the boy from being thrilled about this. Who wouldn't be glad to find out that even an acquaintance hadn't actually died for good?

"Oh...yes." If that was all there was to it, Hanatarou was okay with that. He relaxed a little and went back to stabbing the piece of meat as though expecting it to get up and move or something. "I think he's been here a couple of days now."

And he'd spent that time trying to avoid the captain for more reasons than just the usual ones, because he wasn't quite sure how to deal with someone who'd died and suddenly wasn't dead again. It wasn't something that he'd dealt with often, in the past, and made him wonder just how permanent a thing death really was in this place. And if he should feel guilty for wanting people to return, considering how unpleasant a place this was.

After a pause the shinigami cleared his throat quietly and asked, sounding a little awkward, "Are you, um, going to be going somewhere with him tonight, then?"

Hearing that it had already been a few days made Sora wonder how he had managed to miss finding out until now. He was usually pretty attentive on the bulletin board, but maybe Hitsugaya had been trying to keep his presence a secret at first? They had also been in Doyleton yesterday, which made it even harder to keep a track of things.

It didn't really matter, though, since he knew now and was even going to see the shinigami tonight. Sora nodded in response to his roommate's question, turning away from his dinner slightly so that he could face the other boy more directly.

"Yeah, actually! I guess most people aren't doing Arts and Crafts tonight, but I put up a message asking if anyone needed a hand with someone and then he replied saying that he could use my help," he explained. Sora didn't know what that would entail, but he wasn't picky about what he spent his nights doing so long as it was useful somehow.

"How about you?" he asked Hanatarou as he took another bite of his steak. "Are you taking it easy tonight?"

Most people weren't doing Arts and Crafts? That information, combined with what Hitsugaya and Senna had said earlier, raised more than a hint of guilt within him - but it still didn't change the fact that he'd felt that he needed to do what he was doing, and still did.

Tonight, at least. Maybe that would change. He'd have to think about it some more later.

"Oh. Er." Hanatarou gave up on the unmoving piece of meat and speared one of the pieces of fried potato, examining it for a moment before nibbling carefully at it. "I, uh, agreed to help the, er, History Club tonight."

The History Club, huh? Sora did inwardly have to wonder why Hanatarou was working for a different club, but he knew that there was probably a reason behind it. Hitsugaya or Momo could have told him that they wanted him there for one reason or another, and it was hardly Sora's place to start questioning it.

Sora continued to eat as he wondered how he could keep the conversation going without making his roommate feel too awkward.

Finishing another bite of the steak, he smiled casually at the other boy. "Do they do a lot of dangerous stuff?" he asked. "I don't know all that much about the History Club..." Still, why else would they need a healer so frequently?

"I guess so." Hanatarou took a bite of the potato and chewed on it absently, not even noticing the taste. It wasn't as though he was hungry, and honestly wasn't sure how well the food would sit with him anyway. "But, um, that would mean they need a healer."

He fell silent for a moment, poking idly at another piece of potato. Was it even worth trying to explain what he was thinking to Sora? Even if he could explain it coherently, that was.

He finally gave up and pushed the tray away with a faint sigh, moving over to the closet to get his things. "I'm just glad I can do something...useful. You know?"

By now, Sora always noticed how little Hanatarou ate. It worried him, but it wasn't like he could force the food down his roommate's throat. The boy was obviously at least eating enough to get through each night, so Sora knew he shouldn't be too concerned. Maybe he he was the sort of person who ate more at lunch and then had a small dinner.

While Sora still wasn't so sure about the whole History Club thing, that was mainly because he didn't know the details. If it was helping Hanatarou to feel better about himself, then it had to be good, right?

"Yeah, I know what you mean! That's why I'm part of Arts and Crafts... but I guess that maybe the History Club needs healers more?" It was completely possible. Sora wondered if maybe he should start watching the posts made by the History Club leader more often to see if he could get a better idea of what they were all about. As he waited for a response from his roommate, Sora made sure to keep his eyes on his food since he knew Hanatarou might start changing clothes soon.

Hanatarou nodded absently, rummaging through his closet and pausing for a moment to give a puzzled look to the jacket that certainly hadn't been there before. And shouldn't be there, either, especially not in as good a condition as it was. That was...odd.

He finally just shrugged and moved on, pulling out his uniform and starting to get dressed. "They do...or, they have lately, at least." And this time he was going to be there when someone needed help, unlike last night. Or many nights so far. "And they actually want my help," he added, a little quieter and with a hint of surprise. He still didn't quite understand that, but they'd been oddly nice to him so far so he couldn't help but believe it.

A little, at least.

[To nightshift.]

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Day 43: Intercom, Evening

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