"Jack," the voice on the intercom scoffed out of nowhere, "oh, dear, and you call me a liar! Of course, I have no time for petty games at the moment. No, no, right now, I'm at the end of another long night and yet again I've been too busy looking after your collective behinds to give you new games to play with. You'll just have to deal with the same old toys for now. Aheh, not that you all care. I'm sure all of you are completely oblivious to just how amusing this place can really be..."

He cleared his throat, then sighed, and his chair squeaked as if he was leaning back in it.

"But no matter. Daylight is upon all of you, isn't it? I'm sure most of you are either being quick about using your last minute of 'freedom' for all it's worth or simply slumping in a bed, bleeding after being injured by all my little pets. Years of research, this place took, I'll have you know. I'm sure Alec could tell you all about that, of course..."

Another sigh, though this time, the admonishing clicking of a tongue came with it.

"I suppose that's all you ingrates can comprehend for the moment. And so the cycle continues."

The intercom clicked off, and the lights came on.

Another day began and another intercom jingle served as the collective alarm for the patients of Landel's.

"Good morning, everyone! I trust you had a pleasant night's rest." The Head Doctor, as usual, seemed to have a bundle of papers on his hands that preoccupied him as he spoke into the microphone. "I in fact have some good news and some bad news: The good news is that our institute has garnered such a good reputation that we have even more patients lined up on our waiting list! The bad news? Well, we're so busy caring for our current population that I'm afraid we'll only be able to introduce these new faces to you once the day is over. Such is life, hmm?

"In any case, I'm sure what you truly want to hear about is breakfast! Well, today, we have breakfast sandwiches! That is--eggs with sausage patties on a toasted English muffin. Yum, yum! Of course, we also have our regular breakfast cereals and fruit alternatives, as well our normal sides of tater-tots, and some silver dollar pancakes as well.

"I believe that's all for now! I trust you all enjoy breakfast and have a wonderful start to a wonderful day."

The intercom clicked off as it always did.

Kuja was, in fact, quite surprised to suddenly find himself in bed. An odd turn of events, as he previously remembered investigating the contents of a closet. If the genome hadn't known any better, he would have thought he hadn't even left the room. However, the items he was still holding obviously proved such thoughts untrue; he had left his room.

This cage was a peculiar one.

In any case, unlike the night the day seemed the appropriate time to perhaps take a rest from all the danger lurking in the darkness. While he was resting his wings, perhaps it wouldn't hurt to "socialize" with the other patients, as allies would certainly be more useful during the night (and not merely to open doors for him). Perhaps he had made a fool out of himself tonight, but such wouldn't happen twice. Not everyone was fond of an encore, after all.

The sorcerer silently stepped out of bed, noticing his roommate was still asleep. The man didn't waste any time, however, as he hastily stored the items into his own closet, camouflaging it with clothes. Nurses finding his newly acquired items was the last thing Kuja needed, after all.

After he had closed the doors of said closet, another door opened as an extremely cheerful woman came in. Such contrast with the night, but the actors played their parts well.

Perhaps too well...

Kuja allowed himself to be escorted to the cafeteria, his attempt to gain more information from the nurse proving to be completely fruitless. Halfway, he had given up, as the staff seemed not as stupid as the Alexandrian court. Either they were acting, or they were unaware of the role they were playing. Regardless, they were mere pawns.

After he had filled his plate with some food, he seated himself at one of the tables, purposely choosing a place where he could easily watch the others patients entering. Blue eyes studying the various canaries flying within their cage as they were finally allowed an opportunity to rest their wings, he picked up a fork and began eating his breakfast.