Day 46: Doctor's Office 2 (Dr. Stein) [Fourth Shift]

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Stein stared at the ceiling as he leaned back in his chair, head lolling backwards over the back of the chair. He rotated ever so slowly on the chair, which was obviously well greased considering how long his inertia was lasting. As he watched the ceiling revolve around the useless bulb that hung in the lampshade and the trail of smoke coming from his cigarette, Stein thought.

He had almost lost it with his first patient here. He couldn't be doing things like that, not if he wanted to keep his cover. Even the man was on the path of the demon. He was in a secure asylum, it's not like it was in any danger of getting worse. Concentrate on the killer that was still at large.

Mechanical clicking filled the room as he turned his screw, smoke drifting lazily from his slack mouth. Just breath. Breath out the madness and restore order.
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"Dr. Stein?" asked the nurse, knocking on his door. The rotations stopped, both of his chair and his screw, his arms falling slack. His head lolled over towards the doorway. The nurse peering in continued. "Your next patient will be in shortly. And could you please put that out?"

She frowned disapprovingly at the cigarette in his mouth, though putting it now wouldn't help the cloud of smoke around the ceiling and the smell of tobacco that now permeated the air. Still, the Stein obliged, sitting up and snuffing it out in the ashtray on his desk. Satisfied, the woman left to bring his patient in. While she did so, Stein looked over the next file.

"Frank, huh?" he murmured distantly, reading without taking the words in. Maybe this one wouldn't care if he smoked.

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"Right, right," said Stein absently, standing up and backing over to his chair before sitting down. Forte didn't have anything to worry about; between the risk of worsening the patient's injuries and this new conundrum, any thought of dissection had left the doctor's mind.

There was nothing wrong with Stein's perceptions, that much he could tell. Then why couldn't he see this boy's soul? He was human, wasn't he? Was this some kind of Soul Protect, only instead of disguising a Witch's soul as a human soul, it hid the soul entirely instead? But why would he... there was no reason a small-time punk like him would know a technique like that. Then had it developed naturally?

"Hey... you wouldn't happen to be any good at going unnoticed, would you?" asked Stein, a curious tilt to his head as he sat backwards in his chair, leaning on its back. "Like, stealth and that kind of thing. Or even just people generally not noticing when you approach."

It seemed unlikely, considering the boy's apparent nature, but you never knew. After all, Black Star was good at stealth... when he could be bothered to keep his mouth shut.

[runner-up-robot.livejournal.com]

Alright, this was getting a little unsettling. The doctor's attitude and line of questioning had changed suddenly, and Forte didn't know what had caused it - his answer, his yelling, or looking at his wound. Still, asking him about sneaking around was... well, completely out of the blue. It sounded like an innocent enough question, though, and at least he shut up about why Forte wanted to fight.

"No, my opponents always know when I'm coming," he answered, trying to make it sound like a boast. Of course, the monsters always seemed to find him when he was shouting about his own greatness.

[drheadscrew.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe it was a case like Black Star... or just something else entirely. Why, out of all the people he met, was this boy's soul undetectable? Unless... no, that wasn't possible. This was a human sitting before him, no matter what kind of delusions he had. There had to be another reason.

"So, tell me about the other people in your life," said Stein, making idle small talk as he turned the problem over in his mind like a piece of an unsolvable puzzle. "Surely there's more than just Rock and Dr. Wily, right?"

Maybe there wasn't, seeing how one-track he seemed in his delusions. Absently, Stein reached into his lab coat for his pack of cigarettes and lighter.

"Mind if I smoke?" he asked as he pulled them out, tapping the box against the desk to get a cigarette to come out. He needed one about now.

[runner-up-robot.livejournal.com]

Forte shrugged at the cigarettes. He didn't care about the doctor's habits, though he was only vaguely aware what they were for.

The other question made him hesitate, though. There were others around, sure, but none of them really mattered. Ah, of course, except for the one that he'd taken for granted would be there. "There's Gospel, my support unit. He's a robot wolf, and I'm stronger when we fight together. He's the only one I'd say I miss." Other than for revenge, of course.

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Smiling gratefully, Stein pulled out the cigarette and placed it between his lips; a deft flick of the lighter later and it was lit. He inhaled deeply then breathed out, head tilted back. A look of calm spread across his features as white smoke drifted up towards the ceiling. Ah, that was better.

Returning his attention to the boy, he let a benign smile come to his face. So, a robot wolf? A glance down at the file showed no mention of any dog, but it was possible it just hadn't been of note when they'd written it. So, perhaps a pet? Or from how he worded it, a friend of his? It could go either way.

"Oh, is he?" he asked interestedly. "So a close friend of yours, would you say?"

[runner-up-robot.livejournal.com]

"I... I guess, yeah." Forte had been using the term 'ally' because he didn't want to call anyone here a friend - he only wanted people to fight beside him and help him get his body back, after all. But Gospel was more than an ally or a friend. He was more like an extension of Forte - often literally. In fact, looking back, it was a bit strange that he hadn't been missing Gospel the whole time, and he felt a bit guilty. "He was built when I was - built specifically for me, to help me in combat, just like Rock has his own dog. He doesn't talk, but we always know what we mean. I mean, it makes sense, sometimes we combine and he boosts my power directly, so we have to understand each-other completely..." his voice started to trail off as his mind drifted. Where was Gospel, anyway? Forte was built to be a stand-alone unit, but Gospel was made to support him. Had he been deactivated when Forte was kidnapped? Or worse? Or did he turn around to find his master gone without a trace?

The idea of another Forte running around, fighting Rock Man while he was trapped was almost worth it if it meant that Gospel was still online, well, and happily following it.

[drheadscrew.livejournal.com]

That sounded more like a dog than another person; so this was probably a pet he'd had since he was young. It wasn't surprising that hadn't been mentioned in the file. Still, it sounded like they had a pretty close bond, especially since no others came to mind when asked about Forte's life.

"A team that works together, hmm? I'm surprised; you struck me as more of a lone wolf," he commented with a smile. The description was not unlike how weapons and meisters teamed up in Shibusen.

Still, it wasn't a particularly interesting facet of his life, but since the more interesting topics either riled the boy up too much - something Stein would, for the moment, refrain from in regards to his injuries - or were an unsolvable mystery of the soul - it wasn't possible that the boy didn't have one - it was all he was left with for now. Well, maybe he could give the latter one last try.

"Not to change topics on you completely, but what do you believe about souls?" he asked suddenly. "Do you believe people have them? Do you believe you have one?"

Stein wasn't expecting much considering the boy's delusions, but it was worth a shot; maybe he'd be surprised and shed some light on this mystery.

[runner-up-robot.livejournal.com]

Forte couldn't help a tiny smirk at the description of him as a 'lone wolf' - it described the way he saw himself, too, as well as matching Gospel's model.

Of course, this was followed by another random question without warning. And this one was definitely creepy - what did that have to do with anything? Was this about trying to convince him he was a human? It was a weird way to get to that point.

"Isn't that the... thing... that makes people... alive?" He was obviously struggling with the abstract concept. "I don't know, it doesn't have anything to do with me, I'm a machine. Supposed to be a machine." Unless being human meant he had one now. Or maybe... he knew it wasn't supposed to be something real, that could be manipulated, but if Landel had some way to transfer a soul from one body to another... "I don't see why I would have something like that," he added, his voice uncertain.

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Stein sighed. The answer was both uninformative and more or less what he predicted. Since Frank thought he was a robot, of course he didn't think he had a soul. He seemed rather doubtful, but his answer hadn't really contributed much to Stein's analysis.

"A soul is a person's essence, yes, the core of their being that gives life to the body," he explained since the boy seemed unsure. "Every living thing has one."

Except for Frank, apparently. There was no way that could be the case though. He was not a machine, no matter what he thought.

[runner-up-robot.livejournal.com]

Forte was getting annoyed with this line of questioning. Other than his curiosity about how he might have been transferred to a different body, he really didn't care about all this stuff. He just shrugged, "well, according to Wily, I'm - I was - powered by something he called Fortenium. And my program is based off Rock's, programmed by his creator. So unless a soul is an experimental power source, I don't have one. Satisfied?"

[drheadscrew.livejournal.com]

Fortenium? For the robot Forte? Now that was just being silly.

"Right, right... while the soul is certainly a source of power, it's not like a fighting robot like you would need one, would it?" said Stein, some of his former humor returning to his face. He was thinking too hard about this. It was probably just a fluke, an anomaly.

"Well, yes, I guess that's all I need to know on that particular subject," he admitted. "And we have some time left over. Any questions? How has your stay here been so far? Problems? Anything you need advice on?"

His smile wasn't particularly genuine, but he was willing to answer anything Frank might ask. His mind was elsewhere though, turning over the things he'd learned today and examining their various facets.

[runner-up-robot.livejournal.com]

Good, this was almost over. Of course, he had questions... way too many rolling around in his head after today, but like hell he was going to trust this guy and his answers. The sooner night came, the sooner he could talk to someone he did trust - Teisel - about his problems.

Of course, in the meantime, he just glared at the doctor. "It's been horrible, but you wouldn't believe me anyway. Or you'd say you didn't believe me. Either way, I don't care."

[drheadscrew.livejournal.com]

"Hoh-ho... it never hurts to ask, you know," said Stein. The boy was probably right, considering how disinclined the doctor was to believe he was a robot, but regardless of whether he believed the actual content, Stein was eager to gather any sort of data he could now, especially about how he was dealing with his current environment. After all, Landel's was still new to the doctor as well.

"But if you really don't feel like talking on it, that's up to you," he said with a resigned tone. "I won't press you for details at this time."