Day 22, Waiting Room 2, Evening Shift

[31st_of_china]

Sanzo couldn't think of anyone who would want to visit him. He knew that he wasn't exactly the most pleasant person around - not that he gave a shit - so it wasn't like he made any friends. That was more for the others: Gojyo had called him a "self-absorbed prick" more than once, and Sanzo didn't care to change it. Fuck the roach

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[brilliant_azel]

Azel could barely contain his excitement; his heart was thudding frantically in his chest -- it had started when his "real" name was announced saying that he had a visitor. There was a very short list of people it could be and he was hoping it was the name first on that list

[damned_visitors]

The man who looked like Calintz entered and his eyes didn't have to search long before they fell upon Aaron. He walked toward him, his excellent posture apparent with every step he took. His long white hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail and his clothing, while still well-suited to his body, was a bit more modern.

He held up a hand in a brief greeting, his eyes taking in every detail. As always, those shining, hopeful eyes looked right back. He reached over and squeezed the young man's shoulder gently before taking a seat himself. It wasn't much, but Calvin had never been a man of much emotion.

"Hey," he began, concern in his eyes, "feeling any better?"

[brilliant_azel]

"CALINTZ!" Azel more than made up for the other's lack of affection by leaping practically (at least effectively) into the man's lap the moment he sat down, wrapping his arms around his friend's shoulders.

"Oh gods, you came! You really came!" His voice trembled and he clung to his captain with a fierce grip; his eyes welled with tears and finally overflowed, as he sobbed.

He had cried before while in Landel's, but never like this. Never heartbreakingly relieved and vulnerable, his face buried in Calintz's shoulder, holding the other as if he might fall apart if he let go, or he might wake up to find it had all been a dream.

"Please. Please. Don't leave me here."

[damned_visitors]

He stiffened a bit at Aaron's sudden affection and how he still used that other name, but the way he was shaking, sobbing, just so... broken, even he couldn't just push him away. He wobbled a bit in the chair, trying to compensate for the sudden weight on his chest without making the both of them fall over.

"Aaron? Hey, come on, it hasn't been that long." His little brother had always clung to him like a shadow, so he knew it had to be difficult being alone here. He ruffled the boy's hair and patted his back in a meager attempt at being reassuring. He'd never been very good at it, but Aaron usually evened things out. "Hey, Aaron, no more tears hm? It's alright."

"Please. Please. Don't leave me here."

Calvin's face grew still. Did Aaron think it was easy for him to just leave while his brother was stuck in this place? "You know I don't make promises I can't keep Aaron," he said, his voice falling quietly. "I wish I could take you home with me today, but I can't. Not until you're better."

[faithful_frost]

Haku was more than a little surprised to hear his 'name' over the intercom for visitation. Who would visit him? The only person he had in his life was Zabuza-san, and there was no way his Master would visit him in a hospital of all places.

But, curious as to what else this place could do, Haku followed the nurse politely into what she called a 'waiting room' and sat down.

Looking around, he spotted Sanzo, from earlier. He wondered if the man was happy to receive a visitor, or was, like himself, terribly confused about the whole situation.

He sat quietly and waited.

[damned_visitors]

James very cautiously walked into the waiting room. There was really no telling how Christopher would react, or if the boy still blamed him for his mothers death. The doctors told him not to expect much of an improvement, but when he saw his son sitting there, he couldn't help but hurry over to be near him.

James very dearly wanted to hug his son, but the doctor had warned him not to startle Chris.

"Christopher..."

[faithful_frost]

Haku was more than a little surprised when a man he didn't know though there was something almost familiar about his face... hurried over to him.

He recognized the name as the one the people here insisted was his own. So, after a moment of deliberation, smiled politely up at this man.

"Hello..." His tone indicated introductions were in order.

[damned_visitors]

James frowned when Christopher didn't even seem to recognize him, just had a calm, polite look and was waiting for him to introduce himself.

"Christopher, it's me, your father. I know you've been mad at me, but please, try to remember?"

James placed a hand on his shoulder, a pleading look on his face, hoping Chris would remember him.

[sanguinarily]

That was odd. Soujirou had not expected to be called for a visitor. The number of people who would visit him were very short. His family was dead and he doubted that Shishio-san or Yumi-san would visit him here. Either way he went to the waiting room with the others and sat down, a pleasant smile on his face.

Landels was getting odder, he had to say. This wasn't Japan, so he didn't think anyone from Japan would be here. They also continued to call him Chris Baty, which was as far from his name as could be. It was English or something, and he didn't think he even looked English, really.

Maybe it was a trick. But if it was a trick, it was a very elaborate one.

[damned_visitors]

Before long, one of the nurses lead a lanky man towards Soujirou. He was nicely dressed (though he looked a little odd in Western clothing) and, despite the Spring-like temperatures outside, wearing a scarf. He twirled a cigarette lighter in one hand, annoyed that they had confiscated his favorite pipe at the door.

Unlike the other visitors, he did not look pleased to be there.

Sneering, Joaquim Baty regarded his "uncle." If his crazy grandfather hadn't gone around with that disease-ridden whore (not to mention promptly DYING after Christopher's birth), his family wouldn't have been landed with the boy in the first place...and his parents wouldn't be stuck paying for this overpriced loony bin. If not for the family's important (and therefore visible) position in the business world, Chris would have been dealt with in a much more...permanent way.

"I want you to know that I'm only here as a service to my parents. The stupid social worker for this place would not stop calling us until someone from the family showed up for a

[sanguinarily]

Soujirou had not felt a shock in nearly seven years. He turned his eyes on his visitor and his mask almost fell. That was utterly and completely impossible, even for Landels. Even for a time and place where he had no idea what was going on, ghosts -- because that was what this was -- couldn't follow him here.

"...are? Arererere? Ah... Ahahahahahahahaha, ha... hahahahaha," He began to laugh, a little unsteadily and uncontrollably as Yanosuke approached. It was impossible to forget and impossible that he was here. Soujirou clearly remembered cutting off his head with the wakizashi Shishio-san had given him. He'd cut the head clean off before killing the rest of the family. "Ahahahahahahahahahahaaa..."

He didn't have any response to that at all.

[damned_visitors]

Even when he had been sane (though, "sane" was a relative term, really), Chris had been a creepy kid. Always smiling and laughing, even when Dad was beating the shit out of him with that big cane of his.

The Baty family wasn't exactly blameless when it came to the matter of Christopher's fragile mental health.

Joaquim waited until Chris was done with his outburst, fiddling with the lighter and smiling malevolently. Oooh, he wanted to pound that stupid smile off the kid's face...but physical had never been his style. He preferred to leave the dirty work to those bigger and stronger than himself, like his older brother.

He smirked. "Surprised?"

[dead_draven]

Eric went escorted to the waiting room with a blank expression on his face. Of course he wasn't pleased by the idea of a visit. He had no living family, and Shelly was....gone. That meant that it could only be some fake, some doppleganger that this place had created solely to torture and tease him, or one of the few left he had yet to kill.

Since it was supposed to be family and friends, he assumed it would be the former. But he was prepared. He steadied himself as best he could, sitting with his head hanging, staring at the wood of the table. No matter who it was, no matter what he saw, he wouldn't let it bother him. They wouldn't break him, not today.

[damned_visitors]

She seemed a little jumpy, a little uncertain when she entered the waiting room. And why not - she'd barely avoided this place herself, and lost the man she loved to it, though with hope temporarily, even if there'd been a setback.

A nurse led her over to where Mercutio sat, quietly explaining a few things to her before they arrived.

Still, her smile was brilliant when she saw him. She said, "Hey, you," and held her hands out to him.

[dead_draven]

He looked up, meeting her eyes, unable to think of a thing to say. He was speechless for the first time in a long time, his resolve and confidence drying up the minute he laid eyes on her.

She looked just the same as he remembered her best, as she had been until death had broken their door down. She looked like an angel, just like she always did. But that was what she should actually be, now--an angel, not a breathing being. He knew she'd died, he knew. Even if she had survived and what he'd seen had lied to him, why would so many other people have lied in turn? Albrecht...Sarah. No, she couldn't be. It wasn't her.

Part of him wanted to touch her, pretend that she was real. But he couldn't do that. He loved her too much.

So he stayed silent, staring up at her without saying a word. He didn't take her by the hand, or kiss her, or caress her; he didn't do anything he badly wanted to do. He stayed still, and just did his best not to let the sight of her make him cry.

[damned_visitors]

When he looked at her, joy showed in her eyes. Then when he made no move, it was like a physical blow, a punch in the gut. She still smiled, but it hurt.

"You remember me, right?" she asked, her voice breaking. "I... I miss you."

[burst_knuckle]

Zell was miserable. He generally tried to be upbeat, but he didn't really have a lot to be upbeat about at the moment

[damned_visitors]

When a stocky woman, with her sleeves pushed up to her elbows (and wearing an apron, as if she'd literally been pulled out of her kitchen and deposited here) was escorted into the room, she didn't have to search for long before locating her son.

"Macaulay!" she exclaimed, and moved over to him at a surprisingly fast pace. Usually she didn't call him by his full name (Maccy had sufficed as an endearing nickname), but in this case it seemed appropriate.

Before Zell would have had much of a chance to react, she had yanked him out of his chair and enveloped him in a huge - the crushing sort.

[burst_knuckle]

When Zell had looked up at hearing the name of the person he was still convinced he'd been mistaken for, and looked up, he'd done a double take.

It wasn't exactly his Ma - there were subtle differences, nothing so major he could put his finger on it but enough to make him hesitate - but there were a hell of a lot of similarities. But more than anything else, it was the hug that convinced him. No one but Ma Dincht could hug like that.

"Ma!" His arms were practically pinned to his sides, but he managed to get them partly around her nonetheless. And for a moment he was guiltily relieved that Squall wasn't around, because he'd have felt incredibly self-conscious about this if anyone he knew was around.

[damned_visitors]

Once she had initiated the hug, it was hard to let her boy go. It had been so long since she'd seen him; she felt like he'd grown so much already. He was only seventeen, after all. There was still a chance that he'd have a final growth spurt. (She knew how self-conscious he was about his height.)

Eventually, she forced herself to detach from her adopted son, taking a half-step back so she could look him up and down.

"Have you been eating well?" she asked with a frown, grabbing for his wrist and lifting it up to get a better look at his arm. "You're so scrawny!"