Day 52: Intercom, Evening

[damned_intercom]

The intercom jingle was slightly different for this shift, almost as if it had gone up in quality. The Head Doctor gave a sigh of relief, his own voice clear as a bell despite the usual electronic buzz

Comments

M68

[beyondinfinity]

After his initial conversation with Sora, Buzz had spent the rest of the day checking out the rooms his nurses stuck him in and trying not to look too out of place. Since breakfast, his nurse hadn't tried to make him talk to anyone else, and for the time being he was thinking that might be the best plan of action until he got the hang of this whole 'human' thing. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he couldn't jeopardize all of toydom with a few misplaced words, especially after those close calls with the kid. No, he'd have to watch the humans, figure out how they acted. Go undercover.

Which was... much easier said than done, Buzz realized, especially when he was still dealing with his own newly discovered body. He couldn't seem to get used to the physics of anything he did, and he couldn't help but keep going back to the idea that maybe all of this wasn't real at all. He hated to discount a great kid like Sora, who did mean well even if his imagination seemed a little out of control, but with the suddenness of all

Re: M68

[timedork]

Martin Landel had to be stopped.

The Doctor felt more sure of that than ever, but... What could he do? He hadn't even seen the man, and despite what had been done to Donna and to Brainiac 5, he felt that he had to give Landel a chance. He had to give him a warning, an opportunity to stop before anyone else was hurt or else be stoppedHe wondered if any more would be taken tonight

[beyondinfinity]

It hadn't been more than a few seconds before the door opened again, and Buzz stiffened in place as yet another nurse entered the room with yet another human patient. On top of that, it looked like the staff members were putting some drinks on their desks too, and not for the first time today, Buzz found himself wondering inwardly at just how much humans seemed to ingest on a daily basis. He remembered when Andy had started his growth spurts and eaten slices upon slices of pizza at get-togethers with his friends, but he'd always chalked that up to him being a growing boy. It'd never occurred to him that all humans ate this much every single day!

Then again, he hadn't been down to the dinner table in a long time now. Maybe he'd just... forgotten.

And maybe he really was starting to feel some genuine hunger. He didn't know how else to explain the strange longing that he felt as soon as he caught a whiff of the steaming food, and as much as he'd tried to avoid the whole "eating" ordeal during breakfast and lunch earlier today, it was

[timedork]

"Oh, no, just 'Doctor'," the Doctor insisted, feeling a little more cheerful already even if his new roommate had gotten his name wrong. Slightly. "No need for the 'mister'."

He reached out to take Buzz's outstretched hand and give a firm handshake. "A pleasure to meet you, Buzz Lightyear. I hope you prove to be better company than my last roommate. -Well, I say 'better company'... He wasn't a bad sort, but I didn't get much chance to get to know him. Always sleeping, or not feeling like a chat it seemed."

The Doctor didn't quite like the idea that Buzz was new; he knew that new people were arriving all the time and others were disappearing just as quickly, but after last night... It put a different perspective on the whole thing. He hoped that Buzz would be more fortunate than others, and be returned to where he'd come from before anything happened to him.

"You won't get much information from the staff, I'm afraid," the Doctor said. "Well, I haven't managed to coax anything worthwhile from my nurse at least... You may

[beyondinfinity]

"That'd be great!" Buzz replied, once again encouraged by just how friendly everyone here was. It was making the whole 'interacting with humans' aspect of this operation seem a lot less scary, especially given how, unlike Sora, this 'Doctor' was an adult. After all, Buzz had always seen human adults as being... well, kind of stiff and weird (something that the staff here had definitely reinforced), but this guy seemed just as enthusiastic as Sora! And, maybe since he was an adult, he'd be able to give Buzz some more accurate intel on what this whole place was about.

Buzz took a step back from the doctor as soon as he was done shaking his hand, then scratched his head - that hair... he didn't think he could ever get used to it - as he recalled the events of the day.

"So far, I've gathered that we're in some kind of incarceration facility - heavy security, uniform clothes," he said, counting off the different aspects on his fingers, "solid walls, and bunks completely devoid of windows. But what confuses me," he went on, frowning, "is

[timedork]

"Oh, yes, that," the Doctor said, walking the few steps towards his desk and taking a seat. He gestured for Buzz to feel free to do the same; they could easily talk over dinner. "I doubt you'll be able to get them to call you anything else. Being told we're crazy is the same for everyone; this 'Institute' claims to be a mental hospital. Not everyone is called by a completely unfamiliar name, but something fake seems to be the case more often than not."

He paused to taste the miso soup, but soon continued, "If you arrived here this morning, then there are things you should know before tonight. The doors are locked right now, but they'll unlock a little later on. You can wander around then, but you'll find yourself in here again come morning."

The Doctor looked down at his tray, trying to decide what to tell Buzz about the way things were at nights. He'd had his doubts about 'monsters' until recently, but after seeing those poor creatures in the kennels, and then running into a Weeping Angel of all things... And then there