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Description
Dr. Rain is, unsurprisingly, distracted by the Internet. He should know better than to throw himself into the pit of beasts that is online discourse, but he continues typing anyway. A knock on his office door interrupts his crusade.

He hears the youngest researcher’s voice outside, she says, “Excuse me, this is the Noel family, here to meet about–”

Right, those people were supposed to come today.
“Oh, right, right, come on in,” the doctor says, sitting up straight and closing his browser. He shoots a glance towards his desk, checking that it’s presentable. No loose papers, no crumbs– all is well. There’s even a fancy pen, neatly waiting to sign off on official documents. Everything is as it should look.

A mother and father enter, led in by the young researcher, who closes the door behind them and departs down the hall. Mrs. Noel, a short woman with an air of exhaustion, immediately sits in one of the squat white chairs in front of Dr. Rain’s desk, before even acknowledging the doctor’s presence. Mr. Noel remains standing, nodding towards Dr. Rain.
“Mr. and Mrs. Noel, it’s nice to meet you, my name is Brian– Dr. Rain, they call me here. Please, sit, make yourself comfortable,” the doctor says, offering a cheerful greeting to the tired pair.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Mr. Noel says, shaking the doctor’s hand, before finally sitting down himself. “We appreciate you making the time for us.”
“Oh no, thank you for reaching out to us in the first place,” Dr. Rain replies, with a wave of his hand. “I’m sincerely glad we caught your interest, and that you would consider participating in this project. Not to mention how out of the way our facility is– ah, anyway, I’m sure you have plenty of questions about this project, and hopefully I can answer them all today.”

Mrs. Noel shifts in her seat, and she finally looks Dr. Rain in the face.
“Is it safe?”

There’s a fleeting moment of silence, and then Dr. Rain chuckles a little, raising his eyebrows.
“Yes, I assure you it’s safe, Mrs. Noel,” he replies, “We’ve already run non-human trials and done countless tests on the medicine. Any side effects it would have are negligible. I trust that you’ve read the waivers we sent to you–”

“Yes, I have, and I think you can understand my hesitation. Our daughter will be alone for a week, with no food, and we’re supposed to trust in you that this will all work out perfectly fine?”

Shit, so they actually do read all that…

“Participants receive all the nutrients they need. Their metabolism changes under the effect of the medicine. They’ll be perfectly fine, if a little hungrier than usual after the conclusion of the program.”
The doctor’s face shifts to a more serious expression, and he folds his hands on his desk.
“Listen, I understand the skepticism. But if you look at the results from Dreamsend’s previous trials years ago, there were significant changes in cognition over such a short period of time– it’s a form of therapy unlike any other existing right now. And we’re offering your daughter this unique treatment, so it can be used in the future for others. I understand that you’ve tried previous treatments– various drugs and doctors, with no real results.”
Dr. Rain flips open a yellow folder marked with the Noel girl’s name, and pulls out her psychological assessment report. Long history of anxiety, depression, trauma-related symptoms.

He turns his attention to Mr. Noel, who’s been watching with his hand on his chin.

The man says, “It’s been a long few years. She’s barely gone to school at all, she’s getting worse if anything, and we’re running out of options. Each new treatment is costly, and we end up dropping them.”

Mrs. Noel is downcast, with tight lips and eyes that stay on the tile floor.

Her husband continues, “If this has any chance of helping her, I want to take that chance. And if it doesn’t work.. Well, we keep looking.”

Dr. Rain rests his head on his hand, frowning and nodding as a concerned, sympathetic listener should.

“I assure you, results show that the Dream Project has been plenty effective. And in any case, you will be compensated for your time and travels.”

“I actually wanted to ask about the compensation–”

I’m sure you did, Mr. Noel!

“How much will it come out to?”

Dr. Rain takes out another prepared, neat sheet of paper from the folder, and pushes across the desk into the other man’s hands.

“It comes out to about 2 thousand for this week-long trial, taking all the expenses into account. You’ll be paid at the trial’s conclusion.”

Mr. Noel simply nods, in thought. Mrs. Noel peers over at the sheet herself.

“It’s only if she remains throughout the entire week?” she asks.

“That’s the policy, yes.” Dr. Rain replies. “We can’t pay for results we don’t get.”

Mrs. Noel opens her mouth to ask something else, but her husband is quicker, as he stands up and offers his hand for another shake.

“Thank you for your time, I think we’ve heard all the answers we needed.”
“No, thank you,” the doctor says, accepting the handshake, standing as well. “Please let us know your decision within the upcoming week. We’d like to time our trials to end at about the same time, you see.”
“We’ll contact you, yes.”

The man taps his wife’s shoulder and leads her out. She stops in the doorway, turning around and inspecting the office quickly with a few glances, and then follows out.

Dr. Rain closes the door after them, and then retreats to his chair, tipping it back against the wall. It’s fine, he thinks, opening his laptop back up. All the other parents who made it to this point all turned in their paperwork and handed over their consent forms. They won’t wait long.

Description
Dr. Rain is, unsurprisingly, distracted by the Internet. He should know better than to throw himself into the pit of beasts that is online discourse, but he continues typing anyway. A knock on his office door interrupts his crusade.

He hears the youngest researcher’s voice outside, she says, “Excuse me, this is the Noel family, here to meet about–”

Right, those people were supposed to come today.
“Oh, right, right, come on in,” the doctor says, sitting up straight and closing his browser. He shoots a glance towards his desk, checking that it’s presentable. No loose papers, no crumbs– all is well. There’s even a fancy pen, neatly waiting to sign off on official documents. Everything is as it should look.

A mother and father enter, led in by the young researcher, who closes the door behind them and departs down the hall. Mrs. Noel, a short woman with an air of exhaustion, immediately sits in one of the squat white chairs in front of Dr. Rain’s desk, before even acknowledging the doctor’s presence. Mr. Noel remains standing, nodding towards Dr. Rain.
“Mr. and Mrs. Noel, it’s nice to meet you, my name is Brian– Dr. Rain, they call me here. Please, sit, make yourself comfortable,” the doctor says, offering a cheerful greeting to the tired pair.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Mr. Noel says, shaking the doctor’s hand, before finally sitting down himself. “We appreciate you making the time for us.”
“Oh no, thank you for reaching out to us in the first place,” Dr. Rain replies, with a wave of his hand. “I’m sincerely glad we caught your interest, and that you would consider participating in this project. Not to mention how out of the way our facility is– ah, anyway, I’m sure you have plenty of questions about this project, and hopefully I can answer them all today.”

Mrs. Noel shifts in her seat, and she finally looks Dr. Rain in the face.
“Is it safe?”

There’s a fleeting moment of silence, and then Dr. Rain chuckles a little, raising his eyebrows.
“Yes, I assure you it’s safe, Mrs. Noel,” he replies, “We’ve already run non-human trials and done countless tests on the medicine. Any side effects it would have are negligible. I trust that you’ve read the waivers we sent to you–”

“Yes, I have, and I think you can understand my hesitation. Our daughter will be alone for a week, with no food, and we’re supposed to trust in you that this will all work out perfectly fine?”

Shit, so they actually do read all that…

“Participants receive all the nutrients they need. Their metabolism changes under the effect of the medicine. They’ll be perfectly fine, if a little hungrier than usual after the conclusion of the program.”
The doctor’s face shifts to a more serious expression, and he folds his hands on his desk.
“Listen, I understand the skepticism. But if you look at the results from Dreamsend’s previous trials years ago, there were significant changes in cognition over such a short period of time– it’s a form of therapy unlike any other existing right now. And we’re offering your daughter this unique treatment, so it can be used in the future for others. I understand that you’ve tried previous treatments– various drugs and doctors, with no real results.”
Dr. Rain flips open a yellow folder marked with the Noel girl’s name, and pulls out her psychological assessment report. Long history of anxiety, depression, trauma-related symptoms.

He turns his attention to Mr. Noel, who’s been watching with his hand on his chin.

The man says, “It’s been a long few years. She’s barely gone to school at all, she’s getting worse if anything, and we’re running out of options. Each new treatment is costly, and we end up dropping them.”

Mrs. Noel is downcast, with tight lips and eyes that stay on the tile floor.

Her husband continues, “If this has any chance of helping her, I want to take that chance. And if it doesn’t work.. Well, we keep looking.”

Dr. Rain rests his head on his hand, frowning and nodding as a concerned, sympathetic listener should.

“I assure you, results show that the Dream Project has been plenty effective. And in any case, you will be compensated for your time and travels.”

“I actually wanted to ask about the compensation–”

I’m sure you did, Mr. Noel!

“How much will it come out to?”

Dr. Rain takes out another prepared, neat sheet of paper from the folder, and pushes across the desk into the other man’s hands.

“It comes out to about 2 thousand for this week-long trial, taking all the expenses into account. You’ll be paid at the trial’s conclusion.”

Mr. Noel simply nods, in thought. Mrs. Noel peers over at the sheet herself.

“It’s only if she remains throughout the entire week?” she asks.

“That’s the policy, yes.” Dr. Rain replies. “We can’t pay for results we don’t get.”

Mrs. Noel opens her mouth to ask something else, but her husband is quicker, as he stands up and offers his hand for another shake.

“Thank you for your time, I think we’ve heard all the answers we needed.”
“No, thank you,” the doctor says, accepting the handshake, standing as well. “Please let us know your decision within the upcoming week. We’d like to time our trials to end at about the same time, you see.”
“We’ll contact you, yes.”

The man taps his wife’s shoulder and leads her out. She stops in the doorway, turning around and inspecting the office quickly with a few glances, and then follows out.

Dr. Rain closes the door after them, and then retreats to his chair, tipping it back against the wall. It’s fine, he thinks, opening his laptop back up. All the other parents who made it to this point all turned in their paperwork and handed over their consent forms. They won’t wait long.