Many patients must have been waiting for the next intercom announcement, waiting for Landel's reaction, for the mask of calm condescension that he'd wear over his unhinged fury. Instead, however, a familiar female voice spoke over the intercom.

"Hello, everyone." She coughed and shuffled through some papers. Although there was nothing menacing in her tone, she certainly didn't wear the same cheerful mask that the Head Doctor donned so often. "Head Nurse Lydia here. I'd like to let all our patients know that the situation is under control, and I'd like to thank our staff for the efficient way that they dealt with the circumstances. Dr. Landel would address you all if he was able, but he's indisposed at the moment.

"That said... I'd like to say on behalf of the Landel's Staff that we are very disappointed in those who participated in breaking the rules this morning, but that we are proud of those who stood their ground and didn't join in on the misbehavior. Those who did decide to participate will attend the next two shifts with two orderlies accompanying them at all times, and they will be allowed limited time to shower. We will punish the infractions as we see fit once we've decided on a suitable course of action.

"In any case, we'll be having two activity shifts in a row. Nurses, please escort all adults to the appropriate shower rooms? Children should be taken to the Sun Room, where they may also visit the Music, Game, and Arts & Crafts rooms. Those who participated in the riot are, of course, restrained solely to the Sun Room.

"That's all."

The Head Nurse clicked off the intercom without any other sort of goodbye.

As much as Nia didn't want to leave her new friend alone she didn't have much choice in the matter when her nurse coerced her out of her room. She'd always been the type that wore her emotions on her sleeve, so it was easy to spot the look of dismay written on her face. Try as she might, Nia couldn't bring herself to smile, feeling like she let someone very dear to her down, and to her that was the worse feeling she could have ever felt.

But oh, did she try! It wasn't until they reached the Sun Room did she manage to smile for her nurse, trying to look for the silver lining in the clouds. At least no one was killed, or even seriously hurt for that matter, but she hoped no one would be punished too severely for his or her actions. Everyone must have had good reasons to fight, and until she was convinced otherwise she would only hope for their safety.

When her nurse offered her a choice of rooms to go to, the girl pursed her lips and thought hard, but it didn't take long for her gaze to land on a big board with several notes pinned on the surface. Her curiosity piqued immensely, and with her nurse's question long forgotten, Nia raised her arm and pointed over at the aforementioned object.

"If I may ask, what is that?" The woman followed her patient's gaze before laughing lightly, letting her hand rest on the child's head.

"Why, that's the bulletin board. It's an awfully popular place for patients to go to, especially if they want to talk to someone they can't seem to find. But the things they write there..." The nurse shook her head, but that was enough for Nia. She was already walking over to it, but she caught herself and offered the latter a cheerful smile.

"May I stay here?"

"Of course you can, Rachel. Just don't get in the wrong crowd, okay?" Nia hadn't the slightest clue of what the nurse was talking about, but she nodded nonetheless and sat herself on one of the chairs and began to read. However, not even a minute into it she found herself tilting her head out of habit.

What was a club?

Despite the location and the feeling at the end that she was back in grade school trying to hide her smoking, that attempt at normal with her roommate hadn't gone too bad. That was possibly the closest she'd ever gotten to making normal work, even if it was for such a short period of time. Maybe it was because Maki knew she wasn't normal and thus she didn't have to try and pretend she had always been normal. It was kind of nice.

Beatrix was escorted to the showers. The prospect of public showering didn't bother her, she had been on a few of the sports teams in high school and after being subjected to serial rape over the course of a long time, one tended to be desensitized to things such as nudity around other women. It'd be a little different had it been co-ed bathing, but of course this place wouldn't do that.

The Bride stripped down to her birthday suit, the scar on her lower abdomen plan as day, she checked out the state of her bruised hip as she unwound the bandage from her hand. That was healing nicely, just slightly discolored now, and the stitches on her palm had been removed at some point before she'd woken up. Since she got Mion to agree to stay in her room that night, the lessening of her injuries meant she could do something productive that night. She just needed to figure out what.

Seeing no need to dally in the showers, Beatrix fired up a shower and stepped into the spray once the temperature was acceptable. She washed quickly and efficiently before she went to work on her hair. In this location, this situation, the metal plate on the left side of her head could not exactly be hidden as the water slicked back her hair, but a girl's got to have clean hair. She figured anyone that decided to come talk to her would be more focused on the scar than anything else.

[Waiting for Kaito... I think...]

Well, meeting his new roommate had been an interesting experience. Especially since the guy had been strapped to his bed and barely able to form coherent sentences. Heiji had to give him some credit, though, there weren't many people who would have tried to rescue a girl from the riot. Too bad he got caught.

He wanted to relax--away from all the orderlies and such, so he opted for the Game Room (even though he was, after eating pretty much nothing at all, starving). His nurse, at his request, handed him one of the old Gameboys out of a box along with a game. The detective flopped down on a chair, popped the cartridge in and began playing.

Heiji frowned. Just what the hell was this? He'd never even heard of this game. It looked like he was playing some kid who had these cards, that transformed into a ball, and then into a monster. What was the point of that?

...wait, was that monster named Whiplash?

The last intercom had spelled out everything.

Misbehavior. Someone had started a riot - quickly quelled from the sounds of it. He didn't want to say it was good thing he'd be stabbed, but from the looks of it, it was probably best he was absent from whatever shift this had happened during. The warning siren, and all of the habub about it; blood had probably been spilled. In his current condition, he might have been tempted.

Well, there was no might in that. He would've been.

Despite protests from his nurse as well as his own body, Edward politely asked for an escort to the music room, wanting nothing more than to get out of his little cell. The cream-colored music room was quiet, spacious, and had plenty of seating.

He was surprised to see it empty this time, and made no hesitation in moving to sit at the large keyboard. It was no parlor grand, but it was accessable. Couldn't really complain about it.

Edward sat for a moment, lost in his memories. It had been a while since he had played anything... something old sounded satisfactory. Maybe a song from his childhood? Popular song, maybe. Gus Edwards?

Nodding to himself, he let his fingers settle against the keys, keeping his back straight for the hole in his chest. Without an entrance, his fingers began dancing along the keys to the tune of By the Light of the Silvery Moon. A quirky little tune, but a personal favorite.

[Bother away~]

It was surprising how quickly the staff had lifted the lockdown, particularly for those who had a hand in this morning's "incident". Ken was certain they were going to be stuck in their rooms until nightfall and thus, felt wary of the intercom's announcement. Partly for possible ulterior motives, partly for the fact they were treating them as children.

This whole situation was one glorified time-out, when he thought about it.

Still, there were some benefits to the matter, which the nurse was now spelling out for him. "....choice of the Sun Room, the Music Room, the Game Room, or the Arts and Crafts Room--"

"Wait." Ken stopped short in the middle of the hallway. "Excuse me, but did you say Arts and Crafts Room?"

The nurse nodded and smiled. "Would you like to go there?" she asked. "You deserve it, considering you were so good during today's ordeal."

Perfect. He was hoping for a place to finish the copy of the map he had planned to give Yukari. This "Arts and Crafts" Room should have something more eye-catching than pens. (Blue and black ink were boring selections.) With a nod of approval, Ken allowed himself to be escorted.

In five minutes, the boy managed to assemble several choice markers and four sheets of white paper, which he took to one of the round tables in the room. There, he set to work, using the map within his journal pages as a reference.

The sky was blue and the sun was shining brightly, though all aspects of the good weather didn't fit the Head Doctor's current mood. His arms were crossed and his face was creased into a scowl; his eyes were sharp and although he wore his usual brown suit and tie, both were wrinkled as if he'd slept in them. His hair, usually combed and slicked back, was mussed up from neglect and stress.

On the whole, he didn't look too happy.

He glanced at his gold watch again, muttering out a curse and turning his gaze to the sky. The recent glitches in the security system's mainframe hadn't been enough to allow the patients free reign of the place, but it had been enough to dampen all of the powers within the Institute's Walls rather than just those of the prisoners.

It meant that he and Doyle would be on equal ground.

Dr. Landel usually wasn't the kind to take reckless risks, but he was far too angry to think rationally at the moment. His old partner was the one responsible for all of this - his old partner who had betrayed their cause and now sought to sabotage it, who didn't understand the true importance of this work...

The Head Doctor looked at his watch again. He should have expected this from someone who had already proved himself to be both a traitor and a coward.

The lockdown had been interesting. The fact that the staff had enough power to put down a rebellion that quickly and then lock people into their rooms just as fast was something of a feat to be admired. Their efficiency would have been much more impressive if Okita had been on the other side of it, however. As it stood, he had to keep his assessment to himself and when the nurses came and escorted the men out to the showers, he was ready to play the role of model prisoner for a little while.

The last thing he needed was another needle in the neck, after all.

He followed his nurse, smiling pleasantly at her as she led him through the Sun Room and toward the men's showers. Despite arriving almost a week ago, this was his first time experiencing these strange Western bathrooms. He'd explored them at night, but the smell had kept him far from the spigets and fixtures except when absolutely necessary. His nurse pointed out the changing room and politely turned around, trusting that he'd be good for now.

It was fortunate that she did or she might have seen the extra five pens he'd stuck in his waistband to be used later if he needed a weapon. He undressed, hiding the pens away along with his journal and allowed his nurse to remove the bandages around his chest. The scratches had scabbed over and were mostly healed by now. He took the towel she offered him and went into the showers, glad to see he was the first one. It would make finding him easier if anyone needed to speak with him.

Stepping over to the shower furthest away from the door, he fiddled with the knobs and nearly screamed when cold water hit him full on. Stupid Western plumbing! He hadn't been expecting that from what everyone had told him about showering. It took a few minutes, but the hot water began to run and he calmed down, peering at the showerhead and marveling at how water came from the wall directly. Such innovation. With little else to do but enjoy a nice warm bath, Okita began to wash, feeling the stress slip off him along with the week's accumulated sweat and grime.

[open for anyone]