(Untitled)

[whatsatisfiesme]

Really, they even make this routine with the laundry dull, here.

[Everyone's clothes are gone, and Gilbert is being snide. Nothing has changed anywhere, except that he might sound a trace terser, a trace more theatrical, today:]

Maybe it's therapy. They'll do it often enough, and we'll all have no problem sitting naked in the cold. And then we'll

Comments

[immortalstudies]

[After a little, little pause, but a little amused.]

Of course. And I'd rather you continued in only English.

[whatsatisfiesme]

Maybe I feel less homesick, speaking like this. It wasn't so cold back in France.

[Says the kid who ended his stay there nearly freezing himself to death, but hey.]

I wanted to ask you about the laundry, though, doctor.

[immortalstudies]

For you it's important in particular to learn to cut some ties to your home. I'll answer you, though. But only things you say in English.

[whatsatisfiesme]

[...quiet for a moment. He's having some trouble deciding whether to drop the French or not. But, finally, a little begrudgingly:]

Fine.

[And then English:]

They did laundry the same way when you were a patient, didn't they? That's what I wanted to ask about -- since you've gone through it yourself --

[You could almost count his tone as sweet here, if it weren't so artificial, openly prodding. It sounds unsure whether it wants to be mocking or flirtatious.]

[moral_prodigy]

[Serge responds to him in French...]

Who is Doctor Laforet, Gilbert?

I wish I could give you a blanket.

[whatsatisfiesme]

One of the staff here. He was a patient when I first got here, but now...

[Trailing off purposely there, perhaps.]

I thought you'd worry more over clothes than the blankets.

[moral_prodigy]

But now? [He urges. He won't let that subject drop quite yet.]

I am concerned about both. There is little I can do either way. [In reality, he thought a blanket would be more comforting.]

[whatsatisfiesme]

Now, he's one of the men in charge.

[There's only a soft sniff of recognition at the comment on the blankets, now, as his tone stays quite dry:]

But he acts as qualified as the other doctors I've met.