Day 46: Doctor's Office 3 (Dr. Kisugi) [Second Shift]

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The extra day off had been a bit of a surprise, explained to her apologetically by the Institute staff as a last-minute schedule change. Despite the fact that such a change would have little to no effect on her plans, if there was anything that Makiko disliked, it was something unexpected. That in and of itself had been sufficient to put her in an unpleasant mood by the time she'd arrived in her office that morning, but once she'd arrived she found there had been even more changes to her schedule, and nobody had seen fit to warn her of these ones before she'd laid eyes on it.

It seemed that some of her patients had been released - released, already, and without consulting her? These were her patients involved here, didn't the administration understand that? She'd not be able to make any progress whatsoever without any kind of set regimen, a fixed schedule in which to work. This was simply intolerable; even with what she'd been given she'd been anticipating this week's sessions, a second opportunity with certain of them (she could almost taste the bitter tang of fear on her tongue, even more bitter now with the knowledge that that person was now out of her reach) and now she had to start over with several patients.

The only consolation she could find was that the first one for today was a certain Eric Derringer. Even though he certainly wasn't her usual target, he was still at least somewhat entertaining to bait. If she didn't have to spend the entire session listening to someone whine about their paltry problems, then at least it wasn't a complete waste.

She pushed a random CD into the player and punched the "play" button with considerably more force than necessary, barely even noticing the music as it began. After a moment to school her features into her standard calm, impassive mask, Kisugi Makiko opened the man's file and began to read over her notes from the previous week, mentally filling in some of the gaps with her experience with him in town. He should be arriving any minute now, and she had no intention of him seeing her in anything other than complete control.

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"I'm not an idiot, Mr. Derringer." Makiko transferred her pen to her left hand and set it onto the desk again, then folded her hands in her lap. She was careful to conceal her right palm, keeping the gouge the pen's tip had left behind from view. It'd be healed soon enough, but she'd no desire to reveal that fact to anyone. "And despite certain appearances, neither are you."

She shook her head slightly, though her eyes never left his, never changed expression the tiniest bit. "You can pretend to ignorance all you want, and try to change the subject to make yourself feel better. But nothing will change what's going to happen to you in the end. Nothing will reduce the suffering that you're ever so willingly letting yourself in for."

[kindalikedit]

Was it him, or was she finally getting more blunt about it? It wasn't exactly saying he was gonna burn in Hell for all eternity, but it was a lot more to his face than the dance around they'd had earlier.

Dean's voice was quiet. "I'm not sorry I did what I had to back there. It'll be worth it, so I don't see a point wishing I could take it back."

He just wished he'd had more time. On some level, Dean guessed a year was better than nothing...but compared to the ten the other bargainers got with the Crossroads Bitch, it wasn't great. A year could fly by fast and even now, sitting half-slouched against Kisugi's desk, he was aware in the back of his head at how many minutes, hours, he'd wasted here. Less than a year, technically. Time like that could sneak up on a guy and it added up in a big way. And then there was Hell itself. Dean knew it was gonna suck but how bad? Getting the crap beat outta him by that Meg chick had been one thing but her helpful description of the place probably hadn't done it justice. He could always get something from Sam, but somehow he suspected that whatever thousands of years of lore they had on the place wasn't gonna prep him for it either.

Dean was scared shitless about telling Sam the truth, but with that looming over his head, seriously considering the fact that he was gonna end up dog food and in Hell come this same time next year was coming in a real close second.

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Had she been back at the prefectural hospital where she'd previously worked, Makiko would have had far more liberty to do as she wished. The administration there had been firmly under her control, and if any of the nurses had noticed anything odd or unusual about her, it would have been a simple matter to deal with. Here, however, she was far too new, only beginning to work on establishing herself, and had to be careful what she did, lest she call unwanted attention upon herself.

Because of this, the faint sound of voices outside in the hallway, of footsteps approaching her doorway, were both excellent reasons for her to not press the situation. To not keep prodding at that particular sore point until the man's fear spiked, ready to provide what little sustenance he was capable of. The awareness of danger was just enough to keep her logical side in control over the hunger, but only just; outwardly her control wavered for a moment as there was a flicker of something in her eye undefinable other than 'malicious'. She remained utterly still, though with the poised stillness of a predator waiting for the prey to break cover.

"Tell me again how worth it is once your time is up," she finally observed, her attention shifting toward the door as the footsteps outside halted there: the nurse arriving to fetch her charge, more than likely. She paused, then smiled, not quite as emotionless as before. "If you can."