The intercom jingled and the Head Doctor sounded pretty exhausted as he began speaking into the microphone.

"Mmmff! Well, hello, everybody, and I hope you enjoyed breakfast and perhaps some made new friends as well! Some other patients will be joining you this coming shift – or at least they'll be joining the adults out in the courtyard while the children get a good wash. It's still a bit chilly, so you might have to wear something extra, but the sky is clear and the breeze is crisp – oh, I do wish I could join all of you, but alas, obligation calls!

"At any rate – nurses, would you please escort the patients to their proper locations and bring out the old patients into the general population? Thank you, and also thanks to you, patients, for your thus far good behavior.

"I believe that's all for now. Ta-ta!"

The intercom clicked off.

[ All introduction posts for this shift's group of new characters should be made in response to this post.

Have your character wake up in a random room as we don't have roommates sorted out yet. Putting M??/F?? in the subject line is fine. ]

Haseo's steps were heavy with the weight of righteous anger as he was escorted into the Sun Room, his posture so sullen and reluctant you could almost hear the nostalgic cry of an electric guitar. He was seething, and though perhaps it was a bit harder to be intimidating while wearing the uniform of an insane asylum and flanked by a bored-looking orderly, it was not for lack of trying.

Unfortunately, his nurse seemed unaffected by the act, and even with the cloud of failing to keep "Kai" away from "Peyton" hanging over her, remained determinedly cheerful. She merely said something about receiving a lecture later on, ignored his retorts, and assured him that it would be alright even though his internet stalker was in the same building. For the most part, Haseo tuned her babbling out after that, dismissing it as hopeless.

"...and usually this would be the time children would be taking showers, but you don't have to worry about that right now. Now then, le--"

"Wait. What?"

"Oh, all the children seventeen or under are separated right now while the adults go to the courtyard..."

"Hey, I'm not a kid you old--!"

"Oh of course you aren't dear, but you're not eighteen yet either, now are you?"

Haseo resisted the urge to do something rash, literally biting his tongue to keep quiet. But upon having the bulletin board pointed out to him, he shrugged off his anger for the most part and headed that way, fully intending to get more answers than he'd had time to receive during breakfast.

Well... at least Endrance is in another shower group, he thought, Thank god.

[Closed to Tsukasa, for now!]

Utena was very, very glad that the patients were finally being allowed to go to the showers. Even for a girl more used to sweating than many in her gender, two days without a shower was definitely enough to make her feel stickier and stinkier than she preferred to be. Especially after all the running around and tearing apart of rooms she, Celes and Edward had done the night before.

I really hope those rooms magically turned clean this morning or something, like every other place in here seems to, Utena thought at that, hoping that no patients had awoken to the rather desperate-looking remains of a break-and-enter.

Taking a wash towel from one of the baskets, Utena headed for a free showerhead.

[Free. Limit: Any]

Allen was bruised and sore when showers rolled around and he was only too happy to make it as quick and painless as possible.  There were still stitches healing in several places on his chest and sides along with all the new scrapes and bruises he'd gotten from Tyki last night during their scuffle.  Worse than that was the fact that he'd lost. 

When the soap and hot water hit his wounds, he winced and hissed , but cleaned them all up properly.  Compared to some of the fights he'd been in, this was nothing.  He grabbed a towel and dried off, glad to be done before the room became too crowded.

[to here]

All praise to Leviathan, the Flower of Wutai was free!

Yuffie all but bolted away from the weirdo she'd shared her breakfast table with. She wanted to get to the courtyard as soon as possible, wanted to be free of the jolting disquiet brought on by Albedo's creepy grin, strange attitude, and his questions. If it hadn't been for the night before - and if he hadn't been one of the ones directly involved -- maybe it wouldn't have bothered her so much, but she was on edge. Couldn't quite work out what to think and what to feel. A breath of fresh air and the feel of grass under foot would hopefully fix that, or at least make it easier to deal with.

She spent the trip over bugging her nurse, as usual. And again as usual, she escaped from the woman as soon as she possibly could. "Like I'd ever cause trouble!" She called back to Miss Stuffy McNursey-pants, calling an end to their pseudo-argument about behaviour and safety. Grass tickled her palms as she cartwheeled across it. She breathed so deep that it almost made her dizzy, tumbling to a stop right by the edge of the pond, and stared up at the sky. Just this time last week, she'd met Sagara for the first time. It felt like months ago… Yuffie sat up sharply.

Now wasn't the time for nostalgia. Now was the time for the future, for getting her head on straight. The usual avoidance tactic just wasn't gonna cut it, kind of like how a butter knife would be useless in a battle against a Rampaging Syrup Monster from the depths of Carameltopia. This was going to require finesse. The Problem At Hand was trying to ninja her; she had to ninja it right back. Sneak up on it, grab it in her best headlock and hold on until it surrendered. Make it think it really was getting to her -- which it was -- and then… and then…

Push it down the No-Go trapdoor and pretend it never happened? No. She had to use this. Nobody could change the past, but the future… that was fixable. If her various victims didn't make it their missions in life to A - make her time hell or B - take their revenge in slightly more permanent ways, that was.

[Loose reserved for Guy. Limit: 4]