Day 61: Cafeteria

[fluctuate]

Needless to say, her night was a bust.

It wasn't that Ramona was trying to turn it into an absolutely safe evening in which she got nothing done. A part of her wanted to test the limits of her abilities and see what she could actually do in this place, but outside of the absolute confirmation that subspace was no longer a go, she couldn't bring herself to go much farther. Scott's words hung over her heavily. The fact that he had made it clear that he was going to continue being as affectionate as possible wanted to remove any chance of her dealing with anyone. So, though she hit another hall, she turned back around and headed back to her room. Ramona was the type of person who sometimes preferred sulking with company, but that wasn't on the plate for the night. (And she didn't want to call it sulking, either.)

She wasn't certain when she fell asleep, but when she woke up, she was sure the people in charge here had some kind of fast-forward button that they could hit whenever they got bored. That was definitely not the entire night, nor had it been the night before. Sometimes night just ended. Of course, Ramona could appreciate the need for a scene change. This place was already running on enough lame clichés to last it a lifetime. Sometimes they need to return to the daytime status quo to hit reset.

That all said, she was getting the feeling that her own waking up process was a little boring. Ramona was glad that her hair was short now because it made her feel a lot less neurotic about the lack of allowed primping. She cast a glance in the direction of her roommate's bed before she plodded out after her nurse. The woman was kind looking, which, of course, meant that she was evil. Then again, anyone could be evil. Ramona just wanted everyone to be evil right now.

(Maybe she was still sulking.)

"We've noticed that you haven't been socializing as much, Sandra," the woman said while grabbing her attention, and it was as if Ramona finally clued in that a conversation was supposed to be happening. Great, she was fitting the bill for crazy on top of incredibly irritated already. The nurse was definitely evil. And maybe a bitch, with the way her fingers freed her shoulder and she stepped back, snorted softly, and gave a shake of her head. "It's always when you're new that it's hard," the nurse added. "And we can tell you're rebellious."

"Wow, it's been a while since someone thought I was a punk rocker. Don't worry. I can socialize," Ramona assured her as she hit the cafeteria. But it looked like she was one of the first arrivals.

Ramona decided she'd get the woman off her back by grabbing a tray of food and not sitting too far from it. At least people might stumble upon talking to her if she looked available enough.

(And hopefully, that someone wouldn't be Scott. Even though she highly doubted his ability to get out of bed, he seemed to acclimate to this place enough to make an appearance with his face and his smiles and his stupid "I love you"s.)

[for America]

Comments

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar followed the nurse silently into what was probably the cafeteria. She explained to him in that damn condescending tone how this was where he would be eating his breakfast with the other patients. He took a brief glance around. Not many others had arrived yet. It was a big room... Would it fill up?

Either way, Scar retrieved his food and sat at one of the tables, setting the tray down more firmly than necessary. His eyes still suspiciously scanned the room for arriving "patients," frown still firmly set on his face. He didn't touch his breakfast.

[a_sin_for_him]

The conversation with Frank was still preying on Lust's mind when the morning came. It was strange, the way she simply woke up in that room without ever returning there or falling asleep. But still she woke with strange philosophies chasing themselves over and over in her mind. How much of that human woman was left in her? There were memories. Fragments, strange out of context visions that made little sense to Lust, but she knew they were that woman's memories.

For the first time, she found herself fearing potential humanity. Her own words rang back to her 'if I became that woman, what would happen to me?'. When Scar still lived, she had wanted more than simply humanity. She had wanted that identity as well. Now? She still wanted humanity, but she wanted to be herself. And how much of wanting to be the woman she was had been for her benefit? Before him, she hadn't even known she had ever been anything or one other than Lust.

It didn't matter much, anyway. While she was certain the key to attaining humanity could be found in this place, she knew she wouldn't come upon it easily or quickly. It was daytime again, and daytime was pleasant enough. She could entertain herself as she chose - within limits - and didn't need worry about watching her back or hiding who she was. There was no one in this place that knew her.

Those were the thoughts at the forefront of her mind as the homunculus followed her nurse to the dining hall and retrieved her breakfast from the counter line. She wondered idly if she could find that clever man from the bulletin and discuss dancing a bit more personally.... She wondered if his flirtations were as charming and witty when face to face. Perhaps she'd ask about...

And then she froze, approaching the tables, as her eyes fell upon what surely had to be some maudlin fantasy brought on by her musings. She had thought of Scar, and now her mind was telling her that she actually saw the dead man...

It couldn't be real. It was one of those tricks she had been warned about, the way the place worked its way into someone's mind to make them and think and see what wasn't real! Despite how it looked; as though a few more steps and she could sit beside him, touch him...

"You're not real."

[inherited]

It always came this way, leaving him feeling irritated that his night couldn't have gone off a little better. Then again, Riku quickly rationalized that his night had gone in a certain direction, making it possible for him to write it off. Taking someone on a fetch quest wasn't his idea of a good time, and he wasn't up for doing that again. Showing someone the ropes was bad enough, but when it was someone like who he was stuck with, he found himself unsure. It set him on edge.

After all, people who claim they have no reason to invest in fear were usually the ones with the bigger problems. But maybe that was his bias coming into play again. Riku couldn't tell for sure. He'd have to talk to Sora about it, and if they couldn't make a guess right now, make sure that he didn't spend any nights in the vicinity of Kairi.

Riku tried to keep his thoughts in check as he moved out of bed and toward the door. He noted that the other side of his room was empty now. That was probably a given, as the guy who was there before was always asleep. That was the sort of thing that happened. Still, it made him feel uneasy. Even though he barely knew the guys he kept getting stuck with, he wondered if he was some kind of bad luck charm. Maybe he was the reason why he "barely knew them."

He tried not to dwell on it too much. Asking his nurse why he had bad luck with these guys would probably hit a dead end. After all, she'd tell him this was good luck—that sure enough, he was just helping them get better. Riku wasn't up for that.

So he just moved past her quickly to the cafeteria. Sora and Kairi weren't there yet, but he made sure to sit close enough to the entrance after grabbing his food so one or both of them could spot him. The last time they spent their nights separate, they were worried about him. Hopefully, it would be a different tune this time. After all, this one was planned.

[for Sora]

[lighthearted]

Normally, Sora might have woken up feeling frustrated that he hadn't gotten anywhere the night before. His original plan had been to take Kairi to the medical wing so that she could have her closure there and they could move past all of that, but they had never gotten that far. Still, he had been meaning to give those gifts to her for a while now, and while it hadn't helped them progress when it came to escaping, that didn't make it any less important.

He realized that a leader should have been more proactive, but now that he'd done that, he could move on and keep working. Sora felt oddly invigorated even though he had to wake up to the Head Doctor's voice. He focused on the promise of food; he hadn't gotten to eat last night at dinner thanks to his strained conversation with Peter, so he was pretty starving.

Peter, speaking of which, was still fast asleep by the time that Sora's nurse showed up for him. Sora gave his new roommate a worried glance before letting himself be led out. He hoped that Peter would have a good day despite everything that happened, but he wouldn't know that for sure until the evening came.

One step at a time, though. He needed to take care of his club duties, and that was his first priority as he entered the Sun Room. Once he'd tacked a note up on the bulletin, he went ahead and moved on to the cafeteria. The breakfast sandwiches looked as good as he remembered them, and he grabbed one for himself before searching for a place to sit.

Sora's instinct was always to look for his friends, and it didn't take him long to spot Riku. He moved over to sit with the other boy, smiling at him in greeting. He still felt guilty that he hadn't bought any gifts for him, but it wasn't something he was going to dwell on. Riku probably wouldn't have cared, anyway.

"Hey! How did you last night go for you?" Sora had entrusted Riku with checking out the newest club member, so he could only hope that it'd gone smoothly. Riku wasn't the friendliest person, but he was a pretty good judge of character.

[kings_thief]

This was ridiculous. Completely ridiculous and more than frustrating. They'd almost gotten to the patio, they had been only a few yards away and then they'd been cut off. again.

Locke was torn between the feeling of throwing something across the room and laying in bed until he was forcibly removed. He chose neither option and dragged himself out of bed, glaring at the journal (his chosen projectile had that urge won out) before heading out to go to the dining hall. Why was it that every time he'd tried to make himself useful this place had to go and cut him off? Maybe he was going about this the wrong way. Maybe the solution was to start by just getting a weapon; in this sort of place he shouldn't be so picky about the way he defended himself and his friends.

Once he got to the hall he didn't bother looking around or even looking at what food was handed to him, he just took the stuff, and flopped down with a sigh in a random seat. Poking at the food sounded better than eating it right now.

[Tooolteen~]

[age_of_kings]

Really, was this place built on frustrations?

Tolten wasn't sure what to think. While he had yet to suffer any grievous harm, he felt as though he weren't doing nearly what he should. He thought back to running into Gren and having to awkwardly explain that no, they couldn't go to the place with knives. Not with Tolten. Not with that thing waiting for him.

He needed to deal with this problem. Two nights in a row it had greatly impeded his - and his companion's! - progress. When it came down to a matter of life or death, it was time to throw romantic notions and childish wishes out the window.

At least one thing lifted his spirits some, and that was seeing Locke at breakfast. He had worried about the other man, hoping desperately that nothing ill had befallen him. Hopefully he had armed himself, and found a more useful companion...

Upon retrieving his breakfast, the young king headed straight for his friend. At the very least, he could explain what had happened on the patio. And perhaps...well...Locke was very kind, and Tolten certainly trusted him above anyone else here!

"Good morning," he began. "I'm very glad to see you! I...oh goodness. Pardon me, my mind's all in a tizzy this morning!"

[bitpartgod]

When he woke up, Kibitoshin swore to himself that he wouldn't let today drag by.

He swore that he wouldn't just sit around feeling sorry for himself, and he swore that he'd make a plan, and he swore that, from now on, he wouldn't fall behind everyone else. What was he doing, hiding and feeling sorry for himself? It was crazy- no, it was worse than crazy, it was borderline pathetic. And as he got up, rubbing the night from his eyes, he swore harder than ever that he was going to make the most of every single second he had.

Heading along to breakfast, the Kaioshin plucked at himself self-consciously. Sure, he wasn't fit to wear his uniform for a while, but that didn't excuse him from looking tidy altogether. The trouble was, with hair this long it was inevitable that it would get messy and tangled even without a nighttime of daring and danger to contend with. At least his beret had hidden some of it before.

Still, part of him was glad that the whole military thing was over- in the long run, the ability to hide his hair wasn't really a good trade for a stiff uniform and bad food. Kibitoshin was happy to tuck into his meal and get himself properly fed for whatever lay ahead.

[SCARECROW]

[scarefaux]

The Scarecrow only half-listened to the day's announcements, his mind elsewhere. While he and Lust hadn't gotten where he'd wanted to go, he couldn't say the night had been unproductive by any standard- the conversation had been one that turned his brain, and deep thinking like that made him believe that his human might have been working well enough after all.

Which, in turn, made him want to think about other things. Not just about his missing friends or Hunk Howard's welfare, but about Wizard Landel and how they could possibly defeat him. His mind came back to the basement- there had to be something down there, or it wouldn't be so well-guarded. He knew how to get there, but having heard multiple times how dangerous it was, it didn't bode well for him to go alone. Worse was that he couldn't turn to Depth Charge for help- his roommate would just tell him not to go down there, surely. That meant finding others.

Deciding such thoughts could wait until after he'd settled his rumbling middle, the Scarecrow took his tray and headed for an empty seat he spotted near a familiar face. "How do you do, Kibitoshin?"

[complicatedliar]

Having a weapon of some sort was nice, but not all Loki would have liked to do with his night. He had to hope that things would be more interesting in the future. And that if he was ever stuck with Riku again, there would be ample opportunity to push the obnoxious boy off a wall. Preferably a high one. Over a pit of spikes.

But no. He had to play nice for now. He just needed to remind himself of that, keeping his temper in check. A few days of annoyance was a drop in the bucket.

The breakfast offerings were not nearly as pleasing this morning as they had been the previous day. Loki sighed quietly as he found a place to sit. At least today the horrible woman in uniform that had been attached to him by a sad twist of fate was letting him go about the big, scary room on his own.

Only she still insisted on fixing his plate for him, since apparently eating a healthy breakfast was necessary for one to be his best. Loki smiled and nodded at that statement while heartily wishing he had a fork in his possession, though at this point he wasn't quite certain whose eye it would end up jammed in to.

Loki contemplated the egg and sausage sandwich with the sort of despairing look normally reserved for ship wrecks or burned-out wastelands, and pushed the plate aside before he proceeded to pick at his bowl of fruit.

[Free!]

[savagestray]

Morning found Heine groggy and feeling like he'd downed about a dozen too many of Badou's pansy-ass drinks, but at least he wasn't sedated anymore and the broken bones in his hand had already healed. He pushed the blankets aside, flexing his fingers a few times to test it. He'd broken it yesterday, sure enough, but usually a break like that was fully healed in an hour or two, not an entire day.

He frowned at the appendage, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. It was completely alien to him to think that it'd already been a few days and he couldn't so much as remember his dreams. Not that his dreams were ever pleasant. Was it because Lily was here? Or was it the same thing that was affecting his healing?

The door opened and a nurse waited nervously near the door, not quite coming inside and Heine was sure he caught a glimpse of the large orderlies from the other day waiting just a little further off. While he was still mad as hell with the staff here, he'd had enough time to cool that he wasn't going to spend the rest of the day getting sedated and barely remembering his own name.

He steered clear of the nurse, ignoring most of her chatter as she led him back to the cafeteria. Dark red eyes scanned the room, but there was no sign of Lily or his idiot partner and the woman who'd brought him here was still nagging him to pick up a tray and get something to eat. He bristled, but did as he was asked, grabbing a few things at random and not caring enough to guess what all of them were. A sandwich, grapes, some hot cereal that- well at least it wasn't more of that pink shit.

There were plenty of empty seats, but the chatty nurse wanted him to find a "friend" to sit with. Though he managed to dodge her hand when she tried to lead him, he wasn't so lucky with the orderly, who placed a heavy hand on his shoulder and walked him to an empty chair next to some lonely guy who was staring at his food the way Badou would sadly stare at an empty box of smokes. If he was lucky, maybe this guy would whine less than the redhead. Heine gave a straight-faced nod, probably the most friendly and charitable he'd been since arriving here, and sat down to pick at his own meal.

[norainu]

Renji felt a little better about things come morning, mostly because he at least had a basic weapon in his possession for the next night. Yes, a mop handle wasn't exactly Hollow-slaying material, but it was still miles ahead of a pen.

He fixed himself a hearty plate and found a seat in as yet mostly empty cafeteria. The biggest problem right now was that he needed to feel like he had a goal. And more so, it felt like he needed something more concrete than just 'escape somehow and rescue everyone and live happily ever after the end.'

That was the hard part. He still didn't know enough about what was going on to decide which way to jump.

[Free!]

[tender_cruelty]

Perhaps it was because of whatever had happened the other night, but he had fallen asleep quickly last night, dark and dreamless sleep overtaking him. While he lamented the loss of a night, he didn't feel too bad about it. he had been tired enough to need it apparently. The nurses were particularly active today it felt like too, rushing him along to get dressed and washed and to breakfast as though it was something more exciting than the usual monotony.

He filled his plate (he was hungry; perhaps for the same reason that he had been tired?) and found a place to sit. That... he frowned a little when he spotted a red-haired man at the table. Not Badou, but he was familiar none the less, although he couldn't put a name to him.

A familiar face was a good thing here though. He went to sit down opposite him. "Is this free?"

[cpt_minnow]

Talk about skeletrons in the closet- Landel had his ferrying patients. It was a little difficult for Depth Charge to work up his usual levels of general distaste, frustration and/ or anger after last night's escapade. Down there it almost felt like they were making progress- new area, new routes, and even a new face to go with it. If skeletons could be said to have faces, that was. He could maybe even forgive the fact that he could swear he still smelt the moist, cloying smell of the caverns, like damp moss, on his shirt, because frankly he was too curious about what was on the other side of that river to be put off.

Obviously, it was still dangerous and stupid as slag to go running back there tonight or whenever they decided to reconvene, but at least this time it was entirely on their heads. Landel was a smelthead, that was for sure, but he wasn't exactly chasing them back into the caverns with a chainsaw. Yet.

Which made today a trial of patience rather than the usual trial of fire, just feeling the nanokliks take their own sweet time to tick away around him. If Depth Charge seemed a little distracted as he sat down to breakfast, it was because he was. The day didn't matter in the slightest- he might as well have slept today away for all it mattered- but the night? That was where things kicked off.

[Kotetsu!]

[oyaji]

[From here]

Kotetsu had squeezed about as much information out of his nurse as she was going to allow. He had to take back what he had said about her; the woman was a lot stronger than he had given her credit. She would hear nothing more about this make believe super hero, nor his exploits as a defender of Stern Bild. There would be time to think and worry later under more supervised provisions, she had said. For now, he should relax and let himself get acclimated to the institute. A mental institute.

Being drunk and breaking a hip would have been one thing, embarrassing though it might have been, this rated on a whole different spectrum of humiliation. He wasn't normal, sure, but it seemed par for the course when it came to NEXT. It was impossible to grow up normally and no amount of recent social acceptance was going to fix years of ostracism, certainly not a mental institute! He was a grown man! If he had problems, they were his to sort through and fix. That was his responsibility!

No, the more Kotetsu stewed over this mess, the less it made sense. His family wouldn't ship him off to a hospital without any prior input from him. It didn't make things better when he was told outside communication was forbidden. Something smelled seriously fishy, like really old salmon you left in the fridge and you kept telling yourself "Oh no, I'll just cook it tomorrow. It'll be good for one more day" and then a few weeks go by and now there are things living in your refrigerator because you didn't want to have to deal with throwing it out but now you have to and its really gross! That was the level of fishiness here.

He did like the pajamas, though. Too bad he didn't have his hat anymore. That was a serious drag.

In the line of patience he found himself in, Kotetsu was surprised to see the vast array of people who seemed as mentally unstable as he. Most were at least ten years his junior, but some were children and that broke his heart. What could be worse than being kept here all alone without family?

"Mr. Kaburagi?"

His nurse's voice broke him out of his silent sulk. "Uh, yes--Ehm, ma'am?"

"What would you like to eat? We have poached egg, sausage, we can put cheese--"

"Yeah, that's fine. I'll just have everything," he replied, too distracted to listen to her properly. There was a sigh and Kotetsu didn't really care enough to discern whether it came from her or another patient. Regardless, he was given a tray with a loaded english muffin, a side of fruit and small bowl of plain cereal. "Oh! Do you have any mayonnaise?"

"Mayonnaise?" She repeated as if the word was somehow foreign.

"Yeah, you know, white, tastes really good." Okay, maybe that wasn't the most apt description of it, but it got the woman moving in the right direction. She squirted a dollop on his plate (and one more at his insistence) before escorting him further into the cafeteria.

"Let's see..." she mumbled with a manicured nail stroking her face. It didn't take her long to spot a suitable patient out of the crowd. "Oh! Mr. Price is closer to your age. He's been here for quite some time so he will help you with any questions you may have."

With a wave of her hand and some quick steps in her shoes, they pair stood beside the man and his shockingly bright blue hair. "Aaron," she said with a sweet smile. "This is Kotetsu Kaburagi! He just woke up today. Kotetsu, this is Aaron Price. He's a veteran here at the institute and he'll be sure to take care of you during breakfast, alright? Enjoy your meal, gentlemen."

Now it was just the two of them and Kotetsu did his best to keep his smile composed despite the frantic beating of his heart. "Hey, nice to meet you!" He offered before sitting down. "Hope you don't if I sit here. She just kinda... picked you."

[tryingtogetahead]

Looks like we're still getting real food... Celty noticed as she went through the food line.

Things hadn't changed back to the Military overnight, which was good. Maybe. Choosing between the lesser of two evils was always difficult, but it was even worse when she still had no idea what either faction was after. Landel seemed like he just wanted to play with them and the General? Had he been preparing them for war or something?

Celty shook her head as she had a seat and stared at her food. She'd made the decision last night not to hold back because of the possibility that pink sludge would return, but she was still getting accustomed to the actual process of eating as it were. The silverware was hard enough after watching Shinra use chopsticks for so many years, and then she had to figure out what it was okay to use her fingers on and what wasn't. This breakfast seemed simple enough though - sandwiches were hand food, weren't they?.

[for Claire]

[railroadmenace]

[Sorry for the late!]

Last night had been a disappointing affair. It turned out that the team had decided not return to the underground ballroom last night after all. And after how much he'd looked forward to it all of yesterday! It was terrible, that's what it was. Just terrible.

So Claire was in a bad mood that morning. This meant that his poor nurse got to spend another morning dealing with him and he still almost skipped going to breakfast. But then he'd felt bad when he saw that the nurse was almost in tears. Fine, fine, if he had to, he'd do the gentlemanly thing, at least. If only he had that magic ring to just transport himself without having to rely on Miss Utena being there!

It was nice to see that the food was still good. That only improved Claire's mood a little, though. He had a whole day ahead of him, but nothing to look forward to. Maybe he'd look around and see what sort of interesting people he could have a talk with to pass the time until night time. When it got dark, things tended to get more interesting.

Standing there with his tray, Claire noticed the woman from yesterday. She was sitting at a table by herself, staring at her food, so obviously, Claire joined her. He found her odd and curious. She'd be just fine for a conversation partner.

"We just keep meeting like this, don't we?" Claire commented as he picked the seat opposite her and sat down.

[seekingmystrength]

His streak of not reaching the basement had persisted, and all Kurogane could do was accept that fact. There was only so much he could be angry for given how expected such an outcome was in this place, and lingering wouldn't help him any.

He brushed off the cheerful prattling of his nurse to search out a cafeteria table to himself, knowing the routine would have the woman returning to him shortly. This was what he knew, and how it had been for the past month even with the military attempting to drive Landel out. The same things just kept happening every damn day and night.

"Dammit..." he swore from exhaustion before the nurse found him and set his food down. At least it wasn't sweet stuff.

[for Kairi]

[stranded]

( why didn't i see this stupid search not working for me MY BAD BB )

When Kairi woke up the next morning, she awoke with a smile on her face. After all, how could she not? Last night had been spent with Sora; something she felt like they have no done in ages, and it causes her heart to swell with the memory. They had so much fun laughing and talking about past things.

Even as she was led down the hallway, she is happy. The redhead's fingers lift to touch the necklace hanging around her neck, and thinks, just for a little bit, that maybe everything is going to be okay for them. For all of them.

Her two friends are the first two people she saw. Instantly she felt better; Riku was safe and sound, too. No need to interrupt them.

Kairi noticed the man sitting by himself instantly, and without question, moved towards him. Call it her hunch, but she had a feeling that, perhaps, he might want some company to cheer him up.

"Hello," she greeted him happily. "May I sit with you?"

[see_my_back]

Sakura woke, taking a moment to line up the events from last night. At least she'd managed to heal Sai up a bit, but Sasuke- she'd completely missed him. Would he be upset? He'd been here longer than she had, he had to understand that things happened, that sometimes the nights were short, sometimes plans were interrupted. Still, she made a mental note to leave him a message on the bulletin, though it was hard not to be disappointed about a night alone with the Uchiha(even if it was fraught with peril and nasty monsters, that was no reason that it couldn't be romantic as well, come on!).

It was probably for the best, she chided herself; she'd spent most of her chakra healing Sai, so she would've had little left to rely on if anything did happen. Not that she didn't trust her own taijutsu abilities, but it was always good to have a plan b.

She stepped into some slippers in time for the nurse to arrive and escort her to breakfast. The pickings weren't her favorite, but she settled on some oatmeal and a bowl of mixed berries. Sakura was somewhat disappointed to see that they weren't serving the tiny cups of gelatin this morning, but maybe they'd have it later in the day.

Glancing about the room, she settled herself into a chair, set out her notebook, and took to watching the door as she ate, occasionally jotting down notes.

[Brook]

[somesoulsearching]

"Have a good day, Michelangelo-san!" Brook waved back at his roommate before following his nurse off to the Cafeteria.

While he hadn't gotten very far the night before, he could never be upset with the morning announcements ringing him awake. The daytime was so much safer when compared with the evenings, and there were so many patients just waiting to have a cheerful face brighten their own mornings. Brook could understand why others might feel poorly after such scary nights, but he nevertheless wanted to banish those feelings from whomever he could.

After all, they were all still alive, weren't they?

Thanking everyone from his nurse to the lunch lady, Brook took his tray of food and spun around to look out at the room. "Now where should I sit todaaaaay," he hummed, stepping out into the rows of tables to get a better view. He wasn't looking for anyone in particular, but when his eyes found their way to a pink head of hair, he was certain of where his tray would end up. "Ah, Sakura-san!" he called before moving to the table she was sitting at. "Good morning! Would you mind if I joined you? It's been a while, hasn't it?" he asked, laughing for his good mood.

[fai_d_flourite]

Yuui pushed himself up from his bed, a little startled to find that another day had passed. His nights seemed to be increasingly short and he had been tired more and more during the day. Maybe it would pass, as it had before, or maybe he would end up like Sakura, Yue, and the others.

He tied on his eyepatch, more accustomed to the action now that more than a week had passed since. More and more he seemed to be falling into routine here, and with no new orders from the doctor and no luck finding Marc, he felt more and more like he was stuck in a corner with no way to go.

All the same, it didn't stop him from smiling, false as it was these days. He greeted the nurse pleasantly, followed her to the cafeteria, and made his way through the line, grabbing a glass of juice out of habit and adding it to the rest of the items he'd gathered on his tray. He noticed Kurogane was already there, but made sure to steer clear of the man. He looked... tired. And just as a hint of concern slipped onto Yuui's face, he turned away almost as quickly; it wasn't his problem. Kurogane could take care of himself. He was always saying as much.

It didn't take long to find an empty seat and one that was reasonably far from the ninja at that. He settled in and took a bite of his sandwich, chewing thoughtfully.

[Freeeeeee~!]

[brb_burgers]

How he always woke up just before his alarm these days was kind of a comfort and kind of annoying. Previously he'd felt disconnected to this place and part of him still wanted to be. But the connection to the time difference thing here was the only connection he had whereas he'd had--

Well, that was a few nights ago, now. No sense on dwelling on that. He'd play the part he'd been handed and he'd play it well to trick these good ol' fashioned bad guys the real meaning of being taken out from the bottom. That's what they'd call a grass-roots revolution, right? Getting dressed was the first order of business and he was already done and waiting at the door to greet his nurse with a convincingly pleasant smile. This place... if anything, was becoming unpredictably predictable which was both good and bad but to be honest he wanted nothing to do with it and wanted to get back home and get back to business.

One of the few things keeping him going (aside from bullish stubbornness, really) was the fact that he realized these people needed to be saved. Not in any other sense except for escaping this place and being given their rights to resume their pursuits of happiness! Which this place had rudely interrupted. Save for the one incident with the doctors wanting to prod his unique-- uniqueness he hadn't been the object of a lot of scrutiny. Attention getting was something he thrived on but here he needed to be cautious.

Stepping into the cafeteria was also uneventful and he turned to look to his side, making sure the nurse left him to his own devices (sometimes a very bad idea, depending on who you were) before giving the cafeteria proper a look. The smell was just a hint better than the gruel he'd grown up on, so by comparison people might think he was nuts for enjoying it. Well-- that's why he was here, wasn't it?

Now it was just time to pass the time, find a face to heckle and see if he couldn't get a rise out of someone and make their day maybe a little more entertaining. With a soft, considering sound he spotted what he considered a lonely looking gal sitting alone. That's a shame, really, so he made his way over, bringing out his best (genuine) friendly smile standing across from her at the table.

"A might awkward if it stays quiet here, right? Mind if I join you, miss?" often he knew people found it more awkward and forced to try and converse with nothing in common, but he loved learning about people. Even if they were closed off or a little wacky themselves. "Promise I won't try to steal your grub."

[fluctuate]

On a regular day, it was difficult enough to not look at someone like they were an idiot, so Ramona had a hard time stifling that feeling today. The moment he started speaking, her eyebrows raised at his phrasing, and a small, thankfully muffled laugh, slipped out of her throat before she covered her mouth with her hand when he finished on the word "grub." It wasn't like she meant to make a hobby of judging people, but sometimes it just ended up happening. At least she could always claim that Kim Pine still claimed the first prize trophy in the championship of being Absolutely Judgmental.

But beyond the initial judgment, she found herself lacking on witty additional remarks to add to her internal monologue. In a lot of ways, her new found company was completely bland. It wasn't that Ramona had a problem with bland—see: Scott as proof—but that she was hoping for something interesting. Maybe his bangs could be cut wrong or maybe he put his ugly gray T-shirt on inside out. There were a number of valid opportunities. She just found herself coming up dry.

"Go right ahead," dude," she decided after running down her mental checklist. "Pretty sure the crazy nurses would swat your hand with a flyswatter if you tried taking my food, anyway. It might even be complete with catchphrase: 'Bad doggy.'" She smirked and leaned and elbow down. "Though maybe it'd be more appropriate to the locale and less ... bestial."

[immortale]

Staying in last night... had been good for him, Firo thought. Maybe it had been a waste of the only time they were allowed to move around freely, without the watching eyes of their guards (be they soldiers or nurses), but... getting a good night's sleep had been refreshing. Much better than wasting the night by being indiscriminately murdered, at least. He was recharged, and definitely ready for tonight.

He just had to make it through the day first.

It had seemed too much to hope for to have good food two days in a row (despite the morning announcement), so the sight of food exactly as described instead of the return of oddly-colored gruel was a pleasant surprise. Firo helped himself to an egg and sausage muffin, with a modest side of fruit, and then found a spot alone, off to one side of the room.

He glanced at the door as he sat down; he hadn't managed to identify that red-haired murderer from the other night, but while the desire to find that person (and make them very sorry they'd crossed him) hadn't disappeared, it didn't seem quite as pressing as it had yesterday. Still, he kept an idle eye on the gathering group of inmates as he started on breakfast, just in case...

[Paging one Mr. Scott Pilgrim]

[vstheworld]

Despite having seen a lot in the way of human remains that night, Scott was considerably less traumatized than he figured he might have been. It helped that the remains had cracked wise at them. Took a bit of the edge off things. Either way, less trauma equalled good in Scott's mind, even if night did seem to end before they got beyond the exchanging of morbid jewellery (again, not something he had been expecting to happen that night).

So that gave Scott plenty of room to worry about something entirely different come morning time, and her name was Ramona Flowers. According to Scott's nurse, he was a little late waking up, and as soon as he heard that, he was up and running faster than he might have been otherwise. If Ramona was still around, then she would probably be in the cafeteria already. He had to go check on her, make sure she hadn't been bitten in half, that sort of thing.

Once he had a tray of food in hand, his eyes shot to the breakfast crowd, scanning it for his girlfriend's (current) trademark blue hair with the efficiency and thoroughness of an item hunter in a JRPG. Blue, blue, blue... No, that's Depth Charge... Oh! Bingo!

There she was. Scott weaved in between tables, making a beeline for the one and only girl for hi—

Oh. She was sitting with some guy already.

Scott Pilgrim used Pout. It wasn't very effective.

It was then that Scott's nurse caught up with him. "Why are you in such a hurry, Bryan dear? Breakfast isn't going anywhere." She followed his gaze out, then figured what the problem must have been. "Ahh, has a friend of yours got a tablemate already? Oh don't worry, Bryan! I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to catch up later today. Why don't you try sitting with someone else until then? There are plenty of patients who don't have anyone to sit with yet."

"I could squeeze?" Scott asked kind of pathetically, looking at all the filled chairs around Ramona and the mysterious blonde hunk (grrr).

The nurse shot him a look, then took him gently by the shoulder and navigated him over to another table.

Where it turned out the person he ended up across from wasn't a stranger.

"Oh, hey," said Scott with some slight surprise. "You're... Someone." Damned if Scott could remember the name of someone he had met only once, especially when he was pretty sure it was some weirdo foreign name. He was pretty sure he remembered the guy's face, though. This was the one he had met in Doyleton, right? The one he had explained DVDs and video games to. How had he been making out so far, Scott wond...

In the middle of that thought, Scott found his head drifting back over his shoulder in Ramona's direction. Meeting people decades out of their own time held about equal sway to making sure someone didn't mack on his girlfriend, apparently.

[dualistic]

As Harvey woke up, he had a hard time deciding whether or not the previous night had been a complete waste of time. They had seen what what was behind that door and had managed to avoid any real danger, but beyond meeting a skeleton with an attitude and getting a weird bracelet that was supposedly helpful (the skeleton had been vague on those details), not much had happened.

When the alternative was watching someone else die, maybe that wasn't a bad thing. But it seemed like in this place, it was either make progress at the cost of being traumatized, or stay safe but don't get anywhere. What had happened to some kind of middle ground?

That was apparently too much to ask. Harvey grumbled to himself, but he got out of bed, sending a glance at Lunge before heading out of the room with one of the nurses. It was strange to be walking through the halls when he knew that there was not only a ballroom and a series of challenges, but a whole lake beneath them. Generally, the daytime still struck Harvey as largely useless, but he realized that it was good for regrouping and figuring out what to do next, if nothing else.

Upon entering the cafeteria, Harvey didn't see much in the way of familiar faces. Depth Charge didn't count. There were a few other people who he'd spoken to once before, but none of them were really worth catching up with at the moment. Instead, he focused on getting himself some breakfast. He was slowly easing into eating solids again, so he was going to keep up with that.

After taking a seat, Harvey glanced down at the breakfast sandwich and started to pull it apart, aiming to make it more manageable to eat with a mouth that was half-burned.

[For Niikura.]

[oneman_onekill]

[Sorry for taking so long! Also assuming some stuff from a backthread...]

That? That had been heart-pounding in a beautiful way. Fear certainly did get the blood going, although it had been hard to determine if that had been the real cause behind the way his breath had caught, or if it had all just been a rush of excitement because this was an adventure. They had taken a risk, and hopefully, their reward would pay off.

Really, he just wanted this day to be over already so they could get back down there, down to the basement. His interest had been thoroughly piqued, and Niikura was one of those pig-headed types who refused to give up on something even if it killed him--literally.

In any case, it seemed he'd woken up late: Edward was already gone, and by the time he got to the cafeteria, it was packed with people. They hadn't demolished all the food yet, though, so he grabbed a sandwich and a bowl of cereal and went to go find a seat. Most of them were filled, which meant that he had to do a bit of hunting, but eventually, he stumbled upon an open spot next to an older man with a mass of gauze and bandages stuck to one half of his face.

Niikura's first thought was that something had gotten this guy good the other night, and he was about to ask what when he remembered a conversation he'd had with Shiina the other night, during which she had mentioned meeting a man with bandages covering nearly his entire head. Well, he didn't see any other such fortunate men around; this had to be the one.

For a few seconds, he just watched Harvey deal with his sandwich, wondering how best to strike up a conversation (and wondering what he'd said to Shiina but now wasn't the time to be unnecessarily paranoid). Hey, you've talked to someone I've talked to. Okay, that was the wrong way to go about it, or, at least the wrong way to start. If he wanted to sound like a total creeper, he could...

"Morning," Niikura said with all the pep an enthusiastic kid could muster. "How's it goin'?" This guy was supposed to be nice according to Shiina, but then, if he were some random guy talking to a teenage girl who looked like she was kind of overwhelmed, he would be nice too.

[dividedby]

The last thing Zero had expected after that third door-breaking adventure was for the night to suddenly end and for him to wake up to the annoyingly cheery voice of the Head Doctor. Sigh. All of that work, and little progress had been made. He and his temporary companion had only managed to get into one room that ended up being another empty hallway. Still, even the tiniest bit of progress was better than none, he supposed. It was something he could jot down on his maps for later investigations.

The maps in question had somehow returned to his desk drawer, crinkled and folded as they'd become last night from use. He unfolded them and slipped them inside of his journal just as his nurse showed up to fetch him for breakfast. When he asked if he could take the journal with him, he was almost surprised to hear her answer yes.

"After all, I'm sure you have many wonderful things to write about today, don't you, Mr. Suzuki?" The woman flashed a smile. "Just as long as you make sure to eat and not get too caught up in writing, okay?"

Zero nodded in agreement. Sure, fine, whatever. As long as she didn't pester him about reading these 'wonderful things' later...

Journal and pen in hand, the once-Reploid followed the nurse to the cafeteria and then promptly abandoned her to get his morning rations and sit down at a table by himself. Beyond note taking, breakfast would give him the opportunity to learn about yet another human food, the so-called 'english muffin sandwich'. (Yes, he'd actually paid attention to the broadcast this time to hear about it. Quite a feat when it involved listening to a voice that was pleasing to hear like being submerged in a tank of acid was pleasing to feel.) Judging from appearance, these 'english muffin sandwiches' consisted of a type of unknown substance shoved between two pieces of that bread thing he'd learned about on previous days. He'd grabbed a sandwich at random, so he couldn't be sure of what this particular one had on it. Some kind of meat, from the looks of it.

Whatever it was...it could now wait. (So much for that agreement with the nurse.) Zero took the pen, flipped his journal open to his maps, and began drawing on them - as much as he could remember of his and Erika's route the night before.

[Erika!]

LMAO TIMING <3

[witchoftruth]

Unfortunately, Erika never got to see what was in the room beyond the window - when she went through the door that Zero helpfully unlocked for her, she was greeted by darkness, and then morning. By this time, Erika just let out a wistful sigh as she realized their adventures were cut short by the passing of time. A shame, but it was fine. It was another day to find out what happened to that brat she was supposed to be traveling with. And find out what happened to Zero, because Erika had the feeling that she might have to start looking for a replacement brat.

After making a stop at the Sun Room to leave a very angry message for said brat, Erika finally allowed her nurse to lead her over to the Cafeteria. Well, Erika would have... allowed her nurse to lead her there, but all she got was a suggestion that it was a good time to go there and eat breakfast, before she was left alone. Curious. Did that mean her previous privileges were restored? The detective would have been incredibly pleased if that was the case, but either way, she wanted to go to the Cafeteria anyway.

She had people to find.

As she should have expected, Sync was nowhere to be found, and seeing as how Erika had already expended effort to contact him once, she decided she really should have just left the boy be. Whatever. There was still Zero to attend to, and Erika found him rather quickly, pleased to see him poring over what looked to be notebooks and maps. Good, he was proactive. She liked him already.

"That was sudden, wasn't it?" Erika greeted her new "friend", keeping a carefully controlled smile on her face as she sat down across from him. "Are you alright?"

[anemptydecapo]

He'd fallen asleep again.

This was, what? The third time he'd done this? Coupled with spending the majority of his day unconscious in the sun room, it was only understandable that the assassin was frustrated with himself. Anyone else might have taken the constant bouts of tiredness as a sign of an overworked mind demanding rest, but to Venom it was just another insult to his mounting injuries. He couldn't allow himself to continue doing this when he needed to work. That was all there was to it.

When he entered the cafeteria, it was with his journal in one hand and his head in the other. He didn't bother going through the line, instead immediately taking at seat at the emptiest corner of the room. Pen in hand, it was time to recall what had taken place since the last time he'd bothered to actually use the journal to write instead of just storing photos. Ngh... Even now, he could feel the pathetic twinge in his chest to turn to the back and spend the rest of his morning staring at them.

Ch-thunk

"Hm?" When his eyes turned from the paper to the source of that sound, only two things greeted him: a bowl of fruit and a hand--the hand of which was attached to a less than pleased nurse.

"We're really getting worried about you, Vincent. You have to eat something. You're just making yourself sick doing this to yourself."

"Hmph." His head had already turned back to his writing the moment she began speaking, and he didn't bother to look up again to see her sigh when he could already hear it. She'd mumbled something else, something he couldn't quite make out, before she turned on her heel and vanished into the crowd. It didn't matter. He had work to do.

...Maybe he'd eat one strawberry.

[Chipp, someone's about to give you heavy dose of punching in the face]

WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME

[zanuff]

[ OH BOY, PART OF A BALANCED BREAKFAST. ]

Shit, he was never going to get used to this whole "suddenly waking up" shit that was going on. It bothered Chipp to consider the many possible ways that this kept happening to him, and how the hell was he getting dragged back to his room in the first place? Was someone doing it, or...? The ninja shook his head and tried to remember what happened last night. Met with Rainbow girl. Found out she wasn't a Gear. Made plans to kick Landel's ass with Luke and Rainbow. Okay. Then what? Shit. It bugged Chipp the whole time it took for him to get to the Cafeteria, hardly listening to his nurse insisting that he should get some breakfast. He didn't need her telling him to eat anyway, did she think he was some brat who needed babysitting all of the time?

"Do I look like I need help eating? Get lost," was Chipp's flippant reply to his nurse, and he got a very strained smile in return before she went ahead and did just that. Alright, he got his food, and... Ah. Even though Chipp hadn't even told Venom about the Gear girl, they could still talk about finding Landel or something. Venom probably made more progress then he did, anyway.

"Hey." Chipp sat down in front of his colleague, giving him a somewhat concerned look, because Venom looked like he went through hell recently. "What's wrong with you?"

[Tiger & Bunny spoilers]

[baniichan]

((From here.))

The cafeteria, at least, smelled good. Breakfast usually wasn't on Barnaby's list of priorities, but the delicious aroma was almost enough to whet his appetite. He hadn't eaten a proper meal in what felt like days -- not since that awful hospital visit, at any rate, though it wasn't because Kotetsu hadn't tried to feed him. Come to think of it, his leftover fried rice was still sitting in the refrigerator at home...

That thought chased away what little appetite he had left.

Unfortunately, the nurse insisted on arranging a tray of food for him before she allowed him to pick where to sit. Barnaby had no use for making small talk with other patients, though, so he chose a table tucked closer toward the corner of the room and settled down.

"Once breakfast is finished, I'd like to make a phone call," he told the nurse once he took a seat.

"I'm sorry, but that won't be possible," the nurse informed him with a sickeningly sweet smile.

Barnaby's green eyes narrowed. He hadn't expected her to deny his request, and he didn't appreciate it. "May I ask why?"

"That's simply how our program is designed," she responded. "We do occasionally allow friends and family to contact patients in the Institute, though. I'm sure you'll hear from someone soon enough."

Barnaby wasn't particularly impressed with her explanation. Of course he'd hear from someone. Every day spent in this hospital meant a loss of profit for his sponsors. After all, they paid a great deal of money to get their names on his powered suit. If he wasn't protecting the citizens of Stern Bild, then that meant everyone was getting the short end of the stick. Maybe Kotetsu didn't need him, but there were other people, like Mr. Maverick, who did.

"Anyway, I'll check on you once you're done finishing breakfast," the nurse assured him. "Enjoy your meal!"

As he watched her retreating back, Barnaby's expression suddenly grew more skeptical. Did this woman not recognize him or something? The thought was absurd enough for him to immediately discard it. She must have been trying to put him at ease by deliberately ignoring his celebrity status and treating him the same as the other patients.

Well, if helping him adjust was her intention, she'd missed the mark. He never wanted to be seen wearing such a ridiculous uniform, for one thing. Barnaby glanced down at his clothes with barely-masked distaste. This shirt was hideous. If the other patients weren't already wearing one just like it, he would have insisted on changing out of it. But as things stood now, their current state of dress allowed him to blend in much better -- and in this situation, laying low wasn't an entirely bad thing for Barnaby's image.

That was why he turned toward his meal, lifted his fork, and at least pretended to try eating. In reality, though, Barnaby's mind was already far away from here. Ouroboros was probably much larger than he ever could have anticipated, even after all his years of research. He had to get to the bottom of it, no matter the cost. Mr. Maverick may have needed him to help his vision of Hero TV come true, yes -- but right then, alone, hospitalized, and his mind slowly unraveling like a spool of thread...Barnaby felt like he needed the man's help even more.

He likely didn't have anyone else to count on now. Not after the way Kotetsu had lied, and certainly not after some of the terrible things Barnaby had said to him. How long had it been since they'd last seen each other, anyway? Hours? Days? Maybe Kotetsu had already turned in his resignation letter, maybe even taken the next train home -- and out of Barnaby's life. The thought should have made him glad, should have left him feeling oddly numb at the very least, but instead it painfully twisted into him like a knife to the gut.

There wasn't anything he could do about that, though, and that was the most frustrating thing about this arrangement. Barnaby could only hope no one would be stupid enough to strike up a conversation with him while he was trying to reel in his emotions.

The last thing he needed to do was give everyone here another public breakdown to gossip about.

[Closed.]

[nobleman]

The last thing that Guy saw before night ended was Claude's eyes as he'd looked over his shoulder. In other words, he'd looked back -- not at Guy, but because of those voices that had been impossible for them to silence or ignore. It was hard to know if night had ended because of Claude's action there or if it had just been a coincidence, but either way it was morning now.

Guy sat up in bed, rubbing at his eyes and grumbling at the sound of Landel's voice. It really wasn't the best thing to hear first thing in the morning. Once again, their efforts hadn't gotten them as far as they'd hoped, but Guy knew that when it came to this place, you had to be persistent. How many nights had he gone down into the basement, after all?

Not that that had led to anything good, but the point still stood.

Either way, he was pretty sure that all of them were going to do their best to keep looking forward when they tried to get through that hall again. Guy couldn't blame Claude for what had happened, but he hoped that his friend wasn't beating himself up over it now.

As usual, Guy took to leaving up a note for his friends on the bulletin before he headed into the cafeteria. The smell of breakfast was something that he could enjoy without guilt now that the gruel was gone, and it wasn't long before he had a plate of food for himself. Since he didn't spot anyone around who he really needed to talk to, Guy went ahead and took a seat on his own and started to eat.

[For Leanne.]

[survives]

She couldn't believe this! Her one chance each day to roam the halls freely and she'd fallen asleep!

It wasn't even like she'd have missed that much during only one night, especially after everything had seemed so much calmer the day before. Her plans for the night hadn't been anything concrete either, only a vague determination to get farther than she had during the previous nights. And the freedom they had during the night, that was little more than what they usually had, not when they'd end up in the same place every morning. But even so...

As much as Leanne hated to admit it, even to herself, even an illusion of freedom, of some semblance of control, was better than none. (It was no time to be giving up anyway, not at all.)

With a groan, Leanne rolled out of bed, sparing the room only one more cursory glance before following the nurse out to the cafeteria. Well then, there wasn't anything she could do about the missed night, not anymore. This day would just have to make up for it.

By the time she had her breakfast in hand, a good part of her annoyance had disappeared, replaced by a certainty that this day would just have to be better. Not seeing anyone she recognized, she took a seat near a stranger, flashing him a grin as she set her tray down. "Morning!"

[propheteer]

Izaya hadn't exactly meant to spend the night in, but it had happened: he'd laid down, waiting for his roommate to scamper off first, and the next thing he'd known, it was already morning. Despite the unintended rest (or perhaps because of it), there was a spring in his step as he walked to the cafeteria alongside the nurse who was to deliver him. He may not have accomplished anything last night, but today was young and promised so many people to observe...!

He bid the nurse farewell once they arrived in the cafeteria, and he quickly selected a sampling of the breakfast offerings before taking a seat in the corner of the room and turning his attention to the people in it. If past history served, someone would likely come along shortly to take a nearby seat (whether they sought conversation or not, it sometimes seemed the presence of another was almost guaranteed), and Izaya wanted to be sure he had at least a few moments to watch unhindered before that happened.

There were only a few familiar faces in the crowd thus far, but the unfamiliar ones were of equal interest. He watched one couple for a moment before switching to another pair, trying to settle on someone to focus on for the time being.

[Come bother him, Snow :D]

[heroesdontshave]

Despite what people might think, Snow really wasn't used to being completely confused all the time. Opposite, actually. He liked knowing what the hell was going on, you know? Even just generally. When he didn't, it made him anxious. So when Snow was woken up not by some guy yelling at him but by some woman gently coaxing him awake? Kiiiind of disquieting.

It must have been pretty obvious that he was distressed or confused or something, because the woman immediately looked concerned and asked if he was okay. And she looked even more concerned when he asked what happened to the soldiers. After a moment, she assured him that there weren't any soldiers, but there was a nice hot breakfast waiting for him if he would just follow along with her. And then she went on yammering about a bunch of other cheery things that weren't really registering with him at the moment.

He was at a loss, honestly. Not that he was complaining about not having the threat of guns getting shoved in his face, but... what had happened? Had the guys in charge really sent those guys packing? What did that mean? Was it because they didn't see them as being a threat anymore? That was probably it, right? No one had stirred up any big trouble since those soldier guys had come in, so they probably figured that the message had been beaten into their heads enough to move out. 'See, this is what happens if you cause trouble. Do it again, and we'll be back.' Something like that. That was probably what they were supposed to get out of that whole mess. Snow couldn't say he liked it, but he understood. ...Bastards...

He ran all this through his head as he warily followed after the woman, looking strangely dark in mood despite his escort's cheeriness. Sure enough, there wasn't a military uniform in sight, on any of the staff or the people being held prisoner (thankfully). The cafeteria was the same. Looked like... they really were all gone. It should have been a relief, but it more pissed him off. Like he'd let them all slip away without giving them anything back. It was unsatisfying. And it itched at him in a horrible way that made him feel--

W-Well, anyway. Bottom line was they weren't around anymore. Nothing else mattered. Probably better to just focus on one thing at a time. So... Snow just grabbed the tray that was handed out to him, warily eyed the thing on his plate, and wandered off to find some place to sit down so he could get his bearings. Instead, he found a familiar face sitting not too far away. Izaya.

It clicked then. Why it took a ridiculously long time and required a trigger to spark the memory, no one could say, but Izaya's face brought everything back. He remembered! That night! With him! And Ryuu! And the... AAHHH!! What was the matter with him? How could he have pushed that back and forgotten all about it until now?! He'd... he'd hurt them, hadn't he? I mean, it's not like he'd meant to, but...

For a split second, he considered avoiding the entire thing and hiding off somewhere. Mainly because he just wasn't sure what to say or do in response. But the fact that that even entered his mind made him feel guilty. And he ended up overcompensating by doing the complete opposite. ...That is... he rushed over immediately.

"Izaya!" he yelled as soon as he reached him. You know, in the off chance the guy somehow hadn't noticed him barreling over. "Are you... alright?"

[corvus_veritas]

Looks like Landel was really here to stay. Byrne kind of preferred it this way, though, if only because he could have more leniency with the hospital staff without having to worry about being shoved around or yelled at. (Then again, was being treated like a mental case any better?)

Speaking of mental case... Last night. He and Badd had that 'crazy evil religion running the Institute' theory going on, but Byrne still had his doubts about that thanks to the vision he'd seen. It was too early to just blame that on black magic. Drugs were the more likely culprit here. Perhaps there'd been some drug slipped into random patients' food last night, and he just happened to be one of the unlucky guys to get it. There would definitely be word flying around if that were the case, right?

This was obviously a question for the bulletin board.

Byrne visited it on his way to the cafeteria and searched it for any sign of a note that had anything to do with hallucinations. There wasn't one, but then again, there weren't many notes on the board at all right now. He left his question anonymously and hoped he'd get some response by the time breakfast was over. A helpful response, if nothing else.

For now, well, might as well get some food in his stomach. Another thing to be thankful for as far as the Landel vs. Aguilar thing was concerned - at least Landel knew what food was. Byrne loaded up a plate and went looking for a seat, hopefully by someone he recognized. He couldn't find anyone he knew, however, so he ended up sitting by himself. That was okay, though. Maybe a quiet breakfast was what he needed today.

[Gren!]

[stellarregions]

It was a little strange--the morning announcement had been so normal and free of worrying undertones that Gren actually felt himself worrying more about it than he would have had something actually ominous popped up. He wasn't sure he trusted the everyday routine anymore, as nice as it was, in some respects.

Like breakfast. Real breakfast two days in a row. That was very nice of them, wasn't it? It made the place seem almost legitimate again, the way it had seemed on his first day there, covering everything that lurked underneath in a little bit of cooking grease and a smile. A nice way of doing business.

One that did absolutely nothing to kill the creeping paranoia that had been clawing at him for days. It was worse this morning, perhaps because nothing had happened last night, either. He'd met someone nice, and nothing had tried to kill them. That was how life was supposed to go, and yet...

Well. This wasn't going to get him anywhere, and the nurse was giving him strange looks for not going through the breakfast line in a quick, orderly fashion, so he did that, and then went to go find a seat. Thankfully, he spotted Byrne rather quickly. Byrne, who was nice, who would understand his own unease, and who, from the looks it, wasn't waiting around for anyone else. He walked over and set his tray down before sliding into the seat opposite him.

"Hey. Doing okay this morning?"

[tightsofmight]

Sora was long gone when Peter stirred awake. The bed across from his was mussed. He stared at it for some time, prone and silent between his sheets. Well yesterday was stupid, he decided. That struck a nerve somewhere, deep and cutting, and he was pressing his fingers into his eyes at the gaffe. It wasn't that he shouldn't be missing Brainy. That was still there. It was a big hurt, and as well as he had distracted himself last night it was impossible to keep himself from losing a tear or two in the quiet wake of morning. That was going to be there for a long time, this wedge in his chest, and he was going to have to keep powering through it every day from here on out, but all things considered he ought to give Sora an apology. Last night had been the world's worst introduction. No doubt his new roommate thought he was some kind of psycho.

"Well. Another day in the loony bin, Mr. Parker." Peter drew a rattling breath and stirred in the sheets. All evidence of the tears was removed. "Might as well beat the stereotype this time."

If he didn't find his new roommate before dinner, he'd leave him a note. Get that out of the way as soon as possible. And god, he still had to do that thing for Claire too. She might not know about her uncle.

This had the makings of a very, very ugly day.

Still, Peter complied neatly when he was collected by his nurse and shuffled along to the cafeteria. He picked out a breakfast and sat down at one of the remaining empty tables, chewing listlessly at whatever he managed to get on his fork.

All things said and done, they hadn't gotten too far last night either. Just chatted with Skullert Boneson the Third. Irrationally, he thought back to his old Doctor, Mr. Frankenstein, and that cartoonish screw sticking out of his head. What would Brainy say about a talking bag of bones? He didn't believe Peter about the screw at all.

[FOR THE DOCTOR.]

[timedork]

When the Doctor awoke, the man in the other bed wasn't the same one he'd seen for the past several days. He sat up, recalling his conversation with the nurse yesterday evening—new room, new roommate; right. Right. He ought to tell the friend.

He hadn't really had a chance to speak to his new roommate last night, and it seemed he wouldn't have a chance this morning, either; no sooner had he climbed out of bed than a nurse arrived to whisk him away to breakfast. He followed with a smile—("Love breakfast!")—but took a moment to grab his journal first. It had been a few days since he'd completed the schematics for Brainiac 5, but somehow, he still hadn't managed to hand them off to the boy. But today, well... Today would be the day.

...But breakfast first. The nurse had allowed him to stop at the bulletin board to leave arushed note, but gave him a frown when he hadn't started heading straight for the serving line once they had reached the cafeteria and took it upon herself to supervise until he had a tray full of food in his hands. Then, with a satisfied nod, she departed, leaving the Doctor to look for his friend. A scan of the cafeteria didn't turn up the Coluan—but did provide one friendly face.

The Doctor headed for Peter.

"Alright, Peter," he greeted, taking a seat as he set his tray down. He gave a look towards the door as soon as he was settled—if Brainiac 5 came in soon, maybe they could wave him over to join them. He watched for a moment longer before turning back towards Peter.

[gald_digger]

When Anise woke up, the first thing on her mind was how frustrating it was that, once again, night had ended without her and her friends reaching any kind of goal. But then a few seconds passed, and she realized something that made all that seem completely unimportant in comparison.

Ilia. The bulletin board! Anise shot out of bed, quickly got ready, and stood impatiently by the door until a nurse came to escort her out. She walked briskly through the halls before reaching the Sun Room, where she made a beeline for the bulletin board.

As promised, Ilia had left a note to assure her she was safe. It was hard to describe what Anise felt upon seeing it; it was a mixture of immense relief at knowing her friend was all right, and immense dread at knowing she was likely to make it to the Coliseum the next night. The result was an odd kind of numb feeling, where she couldn't justify getting upset, but she couldn't properly celebrate her friend's safety, either. A short note was left in reply. There were a lot of things Anise wanted to say to Ilia, but most of them had been said yesterday. At this point, all she could do was hope for the best.

Before going to breakfast, Anise poked around the bulletin a bit more, finding and replying to Guy's check-in note as she always did, but she stopped when she spotted another familiar name in an unusual place. Sync. It looked like someone left him a private note. Peering around her shoulders to make sure no one was watching her, Anise picked up the note and unfolded it. If you're still here, answer. I haven't forgotten about you, and don't think I will anytime soon. Was Sync still making enemies...? It was one way to interpret it, but without any context, Anise couldn't really tell. If it were addressed to anyone else, she might have even entertained the idea that it was a love letter.

Careful to fold and affix the note exactly as she found it, Anise left it on the board and made her way to breakfast. It looked like they were having those muffin sandwiches again. Anise took two with differing contents, grabbed a cup of milk, and made her way to an empty table. There, she quietly sipped her milk as she watched the other patients pass by. Maybe the person who wrote that note was nearby... whoever it was.

[for Claude]

[earthling]

In the end, Claude hadn't been able to control the impulse to look back. That much was only hammered home when night abruptly ended the moment his eyes wandered, leaving him to wake up in bed with nothing to show for their trouble. Letting out a huff of air, he tried not to let his frustration get the better of him. He was reminded of how difficult it had been to get through the basement's first challenges. They could only hope they wouldn't have something like the the coliseum waiting for them at the end of the caverns.

They'd already decided to keep pressing ahead, though. With a bit of luck, they'd actually make it to the next door during their next visit down there. Hopefully the ferryman wouldn't try to sabotage them or anything.

Speaking of which, though...Claude opened his mouth. "La la la!" Oh, good, that skeleton hadn't been stingy enough to keep his voice after all.

He let out a sigh of relief just in time for the nurse to come collect him from his room. They made small talk, but the moment he caught sight of the bulletin, he tore himself away long enough to anxiously check over this morning's messages. His mother's handwritten note popped out at him, and Claude couldn't help but give a hard swallow. That was definitely another, heavier load off of his shoulders --- for the time being, at least. If he knew his mother, she'd be marching back down there the first chance she got. For the time being, though, Claude was going to enjoy knowing she was safe for as long as possible. In fact, he didn't even bother looking over the other notes, deciding to hold off until he had some food in his belly.

He hastily jotted down a response before entering the cafeteria and quickly gathering his own tray. After several days of seeing everyone eat pink mush, Claude didn't think he'd ever take having a proper menu for granted again. Not that he was grateful toward their captors, but he hated seeing the other prisoners suffer when they didn't have to.

As he searched for a place to sit, he kept his eyes peeled for any familiar faces. Finally, his gaze settled on Anise, and he immediately made his way over to the girl. If last night's abrupt end was his fault, he...probably needed to apologize, didn't he?

"Hey," he said once he reached her table. "Mind if I join you?"

[freewill]

Due to this place and his weakened state here, this was hardly the first time that Castiel had woken up in pain. The bite on his arm and the gunshot wound had been the worst until now, but this time surpassed those if only because the pain was far more spread out.

The human body was fragile. Seeing how he had been in a bus when it had turned on its side, Castiel's vessel had taken quite the beating. As his eyes opened, he realized that he was dealing with a soreness that seemed to run from head to toe. The pain was more severe in certain areas -- his face, his side -- but right now pain was about the only sensation that this body could register.

Which was, to say the least, frustrating. He didn't need it distracting him, and his instinct was to fight against it. His first attempt to sit up in bed ended badly. A choked noise came out of his throat without his permission, as he also found himself clutching at the sheets without meaning to.

His second effort was executed much more gingerly, and while he was unsteady on his feet, he managed to stand. He realized that he was back in the gray clothing, but he doubted that he'd be allowed to wear his trenchcoat (Jimmy's trenchcoat, in reality) while the nurses were watching. He lifted the shirt and found that he'd been bandaged, and as he placed his hand to his face, he realized that his right cheekbone had been covered with medical gauze. It was a good thing that he wasn't expected to tend to himself, since he knew little to nothing about human first aid.

Now that he had taken stock of himself, his thoughts went to Dean, who hadn't fared much better than him last night. Their idea had been good in theory, but it hadn't turned out well in execution. Getting down to that town wasn't going to be easy, and he wasn't even sure that Dean would agree to trying again after what they had been through.

Another failed effort, but that wouldn't stop him from persisting. As a nurse entered the room, Castiel gave his usual clipped responses and followed her out the door and down the string of familiar hallways. She actually permitted him to leave a few brief messages on the bulletin board before escorting him to the cafeteria.

The amount of pain he was in seemed to be affecting his appetite, and so he decided to forgo food for the moment. Instead he found an empty chair and slowly, carefully eased himself into it.

[For Aigis.]

[no_dont_go]

Another night of little accomplished. No, that was incorrect. Great strides had been taken to dealing with Aidou's "condition" and that was something. Their basement adventures were much less grand. Perhaps this called for a hiatus of sorts. They had been running themselves ragged for the past few nights. Taking a different approach to nightly activities could be helpful in remedying the slump. Aigis made a mental note to suggest the idea on the bulletin at a later time.

For now, the food was calling to her. She still despised Landel, particularly after he made comments as he had before night had ended, but she could not find fault with his ration allowances. She gathered a few muffins with all the toppings to sample, then turned to look for a seat.

The bandages on the man's face caught her eye first, then she recognized the features as belonging to a person she knew. Castiel, the other defender of humanity who seemed to understand the dangers the world had been presented. He looked as if he had taken quite a beating. Her own injury was no longer noticeable, having been healed by Athena's grace. Perhaps she could offer him a little help in the future.

"Castiel-san," she greeted him, offering a short bow of her head. "Would you mind terribly if I joined you this morning?"

He didn't have any food in front of him. With her great amount, she could offer some if he hungered later. For now, she merely waited to see if she had his approval to sit.

[selfnighted]

Maya's most recent memory was of greeting Rose last evening; assuming nothing out of ordinary had occurred last night, Maya must have fallen asleep. Hm. She must be getting old.

Discrepancy aside, the head doctor sounded downright chipper today. Surely the cause of his happiness would be revealed to at least a few of them soon, but until then she wasn't going to worry about it; that seemed what he wanted the patients to do. How insidious.

No matter. The nurse seemed no more sinister than she usually did, the food hadn't changed to anything formless, and the cafeteria seemed as normal as Maya could remember it being. After choosing the usual quantity of food that seemed to pacify her escort's apparent concern, Maya moved a seat near one of the corners of the room and settled into it.

[free]

[threepwood]

So much for that night. Despite having made plans to drop off a few things by the Voodoo Doctor's room, Guybrush hadn't hardly made it down the hall before the night was over. He blamed a combination of fury over Javert's death, that smack in the face by having the inspector's coat left in his closet, and the nap he'd apparently had while sorting out his items on his desk and trying to decide what to take. All those late nights were catching up with him, and there were bound to be more with the S&R's fate unknown.

Javert had thought it was important to rescue those in need, but Guybrush looked at the bigger problem: taking out the man who was causing all the problems in the first place. It was easier said than done, but he had to start somewhere.

That somewhere he would start was breakfast. Though a nightmare had pulled him from his sleep that morning, he felt better rested than he had been in a while. It was time to start doing what he probably should have started doing in Chapter One: working toward solving the overarching problem. He was generally a small-goals kind of person. Fiance turned to gold? Find something to fix it. Need a voodoo-absorbing sea sponge and don't know where to find it? Small steps. None of his adventures had ever been finished in one quick move. That just didn't make for interesting plots.

For now, food. Guybrush took his tray and slid into the seat across from a familiar face. "Maya."

[avengingfists]

Ilia woke with a start, a little dazed and confused after the turn of events from last night. There should have been more, something beyond that door that called for blood, but then things had gotten dark and... Ilia reached up and touched her head, squeezing her eyes shut. Had she passed out? Or had morning come before they could open the door? She wasn't certain but either seemed possible.

Landel was back to his cheery self. Terrific. At least someone was happy. Ilia berated herself for her mood as she crawled out of bed and readied for the day with Lana. She was alive and well, nothing dangerous had come to pass as Claude and Anise had feared. She made a mental note to leave them a message before she ate, not wanting to forget her promise to them in her rush to find answers. Would there be any answers to find? She supposed she could check up on one of the kids or Seishin in case they had the answer.

Ilia began scoping out the cafeteria. As good as breakfast sounded (and smelled for that matter), she wanted to find at least one of her companions from the night before to start cross-referencing their data. If it turned out they had contradicting notes from last night then maybe they would discover what had truly went down after they had given their blood.

[Seishin~]

[unpriest]

The doors in that dark hallway, the blood sacrifice...everything had seemed to fade into darkness, somehow. Seishin couldn't have predicted what was behind that door, but the signs were hardly reassuring. There was something that caused a subtle feeling of dread. It may have been the , or the imagery on the doors but in the end everything escaped from his grasp like thin air.

The white ceiling was unexpected.

Seishin blinked in confusion, sparing a dazed glance around and recognizing his blurred surroundings as...his room? What had happened? He sat up, reaching for his glasses. Had morning came before they could have opened the doors?

The nurse entered his room, checking his bandages before bringing him to the cafeteria. The type of food they served for breakfast was quite unlike what he was used to at the temple, but the nurse was not satisfied before the former priest had filled his plate with a sandwich and some fruit. She did try to make sure he ate his food, though considering her behaviour yesterday it was hardly surprising.

At least Seishin had been deemed capable of finding his own seat, which was a welcome change compared to yesterday where his own opinions hardly seemed to matter. But there were more pressing matters, which the familiar face among the people in the cafeteria only seemed to emphasize.

"Silvestri-san," he spoke as he approached, "Would you mind if I joined you?"