DAY 43: CAFETERIA, MORNING

[hailmegatron.livejournal.com]

Where was Blitzwing?

Lugnut ignored the nurse's fussing over his foot, even as it howled objections to his ill treatment of it the night before, pounding through the town in search of his wingmate, reportedly helpless and injured by an attack the night before-- and not finding him, not seeing even a glimpse of his crazy triple-changing ally.

Snarling at the nurse, but restraining himself from shows of violence-- Blitzwing would mock him if he showed up drugged already, and he would be useless to Megatron like that--he made his way impatiently to the cafeteria, stopping for just long enough to post an urgent notice on the board.

Where was he?

Looming in the middle of the cafeteria, he took the tray the nurse handed him (filled with disgusting human fuel, didn't she know he didn't have time to eat, not when his wingmate was missing?) and ignored it, watching for Blitzwing, where was he?

He refused to think about what might have happened to a wheelchair-bound, drugged, incapacitated warrior, with the swarms of monsters flooding around him, clawing and biting...

[for Scourge]

Comments

[haplesstracker.livejournal.com]

Scourge woke up, and by rote stabbed the air (as he'd been doing for what felt like hours) with a screwdriver he no longer had in search of a target that was no longer there. It took a few more slices before he stopped and panting, looked up at the bright ceiling with a rising feeling of relief.

"...oh." He was back.

The tracker sat up, one arm wrapped around his chest, rolling up his sleeves to make sure nothing had taken a chunk out of his flesh--just scrapes and bruises. He'd made it through the night alive.

Even in the midst of his joy, the intercom announcement made him raise a slight eyebrow. The head doctor must be on vacation or something. Were they getting visitors? That could get interesting, even if they'd probably have the same reaction to the prisoners as the townspeople did. Maybe he could beg more stuff off them.

Scourge practically skipped over to the cafeteria, taking a moment to look over the notice boards--someone had died, apparently, Scourge was surprised that it was just one. He stocked up his tray with "brunch", justifying his gluttony today with the fact that he totally deserved it for being good yesterday, and went over to talk to Lugnut.

Where the heck had he been, anyway?

[hailmegatron.livejournal.com]

Lugnut ignored Scourge until the Decepticon was next to him, still scanning the cafeteria.

Blitzwing would show up any moment. He was sure of it. They were wingmates: they supported each other, despite spats and disloyal mutterings, and Blitzwing would never allow himself to be swallowed by this place.

When Blitzwing didn't show up in the next few moments, he glanced down at scourge, face blanker than normal but voice definitely filled with ill-concealed worry as he asked, "Have you seen Blitzwing?"

[beloved-less.livejournal.com]

Soubi had hardly had a rough night when it came to the zombies. But emotionally? He wanted to find a place to hide and sleep to get rid of the stupid headache it caused.

But at least he'd found Kio. He didn't want to admit how relieved he was, but he felt it in every part of his body.

He gathered his breakfast, wondered what was up with the intercom and sat down, waiting for Kio. He knew Ritsuka was ok and...after last night... he wanted to be near the boy but not exactly seen by him.

[stalksperverts.livejournal.com]

The intercom buzzed and the voice did not belong to Nurse Lydia or the Head Doctor. Kio sat up in bed. He was feeling rather sick and his nurse was already in the room, fussing over him. "You had such a bad sunstroke, you poor thing." He didn't remember any sunstroke. He... he'd been in the shop, looking for lollies and then... darkness. Kio looked uncertainly at his nurse, afraid of the smile she wore. He decided not to question her and got up shakily.

Silently, she led him to the Cafeteria, to brunch. He noticed the note from Soubi and his heart jolted, but with pain and fear, he could not tell. Silently, he let her pile food on his plate. His friend was there, his blond hair visible among the few patients.

Kio sat down and frowned. "Sunstroke," was all he could say before he put his hand over his arms. His resolve was crumbling, he knew it.

[reanalyze.livejournal.com]

The morning's news had not been good.

The death of comrades was certainly nothing new to Citan, but that hardly meant he was completely unfeeling. Certainly his friendship with Armand had been born of the younger man's usefulness, but that didn't negate the fact that he had been fond of him.

And the doubts came, of course, as Citan gathered his breakfast and took a seat. If he had been there, would things be different? If he had made an effort to seek out the man he knew couldn't fight on more than a basic level? But in the chaos there had been little time or thought to spare for absent friends. Regardless of what had happened or how he had changed, Citan always looked out for himself first and others later. With, he supposed, a small exception for his family.

He honestly didn't even know if he was running over these 'what ifs' because of Armand or himself. On a personal level, he liked Armand and was saddened that they would never again speak. Armand would never return home, would never do anything ever again. And that was...regrettable, Citan supposed the polite word was. On another level... someone he considered under his hand had been lost. Where did the blame lay, if not with him? This place had castrated him, and he found himself mostly angry.

And there was a wealth of new information to go over, new prisoners to observe, more steps forward to possibly take...but that could wait until after breakfast. Even a man such as Citan needed to mourn.

Oh Yui, I wish you were here. I could use your insight...

[OOC: free!]

[loyal-soldier.livejournal.com]

622 was running entirely on autopilot. He'd tried to shut down all unnecessary thoughts, keeping his mind numbly blank. It was a relief, compared to what he could be feeling. This was worse than when Commander Akobi had died. At least there, they were all serving the Empire. Death had always been a possibility.

But Stormtroopers weren't really supposed to outlive anyone. Now he'd done so with the only two real friends he'd ever had. He didn't protest when his nurse picked out what food she thought he should have, taking the tray and sitting down at the closest table, digging into his food, feeling little comfort in it. It took him a moment to realize someone else was there. Dr. Uzuki. He nodded to the other man, not able to manage much else in greeting.

[fencing-captain.livejournal.com]

Food first. Whatever later. Juri was well-experienced with believing or thinking what she thought. She considered herself well-grounded in reality and educated. A town full of zombies which she had to fight while wearing a skirt in the company of Utena Tenjou didn't fit in with her view of the world.

Still, she awakened in the clean bed with her poker gripped tightly in her hand. The announcement sounded different too. A computer? What? Juri hid her poker away, and silently followed her nurse to the cafeteria. Free to choose what she wanted, Juri filled her plate with fruit with bowl of dry cereal o the side. She opted for water to get the bad taste of memory out of her mouth.

What was going on here? She didn't like any of it, but knowing that still didn't tell her what to do.

[Free! no restrictions]

[reallyshortfuse.livejournal.com]

[Mind a fireworks-expert with a temper?]

No one had bothered to respond to her when Kuukaku had called out in the hallway. Unless she would count the weird announcement echoing in the hall all of a sudden. The fireworks master could only guess what was going on, but it sounded like someone just got in some deep shit. Perhaps it was the shitface who had put her into this place.

And then she woke up in bed. Back in the room she awoke in earlier, as if she had never even left it. Only it seemed to be daytime. What the hell was up with this bullshit?! She threw away the covers as she slid out of bed and stomped over towards the door. Her hand was only hovering above the handle when it suddenly opened, revealing...some woman? Huh? But before Kuukaku could do or say anything else, she had already began speaking: "Good morning, miss Skye. I hope you've had a good night's rest. Now please come with me so that you can meet the other patients."

That hadn't been what she had wanted to hear. Hell no. "Don't gimme this bullshit, alright?!" she commanded, placing her hand on her hip. "Tell me what's goin' on here now!"

The woman sighed. "Miss Skye, you are in Landels Institute. You are sick, but we will make you better," she continued, obviously not phased by the tone her charge used against her. "But now, please come with me."

Kuukaku blinked. Sick? Patients?! How the hell did she end up in some freaking institute of all places?! What the hell?!

"Hey! Didn't I tell you to stop with the bullshit?!" Kuukaku answered, raising her voice. "I ain't sick or whatever, so cut the crap. Don't make me repeat myself again and just answer the fucking question!" This woman was making her patience run thin. And the situation wasn't making any sense whatsoever either. "Besides, that ain't my name. It's Shiba Kuukaku!"

"Yes you are, Miss Lucy Skye." the woman answered, this time more strict. "Now please calm down and come with me." Kuukaku glared at the woman. Was she playing dumb or really that fucking ignorant? Kuukaku was aware of her own temper, aware of her habit to smack people whenever they refused to listen. She was forceful and authoritative. Though this was heading towards one of those typical 'smack the useless piece of shit until they made some sense'-situations, Kuukaku wasn't stupid.

This woman seemed to be about as ignorant as Ganju's ass. No info from her, then, no matter how much sense would be smacked into her face. Seemed she'd have better luck interrogating a monkey or something.

But it was still pissing her off.

"Are you gonna keep repeatin' the same crap again and again or what? Che!" she said, though still visibly irritated. "Make yourself useful some other way, then. Bring me to someone that can tell me somethin' else, got it?! They'd better be useful!"

The tone of her demand wasn't something that pleased the other woman, but by some sort or miracle both the nurse and the fireworks master arrived to the cafeteria. A plate had been pressed into her hands along with the comment 'to behave'. And before Kuukaku could scold the woman she had already conveniently disappeared.

What the hell?!

And there Kuukaku stood, in the middle of some room filled with unfamiliar people eating their meals. Plenty of choices, at least. Hopefully, someone could be more useful than that shitface earlier.

She threw the plate on the nearest occupied table to ignore it for the rest of the damned meal (who cared for food right now anyway?). Instead, she pointed at the other person at the table.

"You! Tell me what the hell's goin' on in this place!" she demanded. "You'd better not be as useless as that woman earlier!" Because she was out of patience and she wanted an explanation already.

She was not going to deal with this bullshit any longer, for fuck's sake!

[scarefaux]

The voice on the intercom was more jarring than usual this morning; doubly jarring was the horrible sensation that came from the Scarecrow's shoulder as he stretched. His hand ran to the spot- oh yes, he'd been bitten the night prior by that man in the Spa. That was both unpleasant and unsettling.

Why would people want to bite others? He was confident those townspeople didn't actually want to eat him. They must have been incited into their crazed state, sort of like how the Institute became a much spookier and more threatening place during the night. Maybe all folks from this place were like that- they became monsters at night. That would certainly explain why the patients, most of whom claimed they weren't from around here, were seemingly normal during the darker hours.

His thoughts were interrupted as his stomach growled. That's right- he'd given away his sack breakfast the other day to that man he'd sat next to. He'd missed lunch and dinner, as well. No wonder his body was complaining.

He was thankful when the nurse led him to the cafeteria without much questioning. He took at least one of everything and found an empty seat.

[Free, no limits]

[ruthless-hunter.livejournal.com]

Well, that had been one Pit of a night. Once again, Lockdown woke up back in his cell with no memory of how he'd gotten here. He was clean of blood and gore now, and his arms were bandaged up where the zombie had dug its claws into him last night. He also still sported the throbing discoloration on his lower arm.

He woke up in time to see HK get dragged off, chuckling as the droid scared his nurse with his macabre sense of humor. His own nurse dragged him to the cafeteria soon afterwards, saying that "he would heal faster if he ate something."

After gathering a tray of food, he was sat down with a man with leathery skin. Lockdown could swear that he'd met this man before. However, since this man probably hadn't given him any trophies and had done nothing memorable, the bounty hunter had most likely pushed his name and face out of his processor like so many others.

"Haven't we met before? I think we have," Lockdown asked the leathery-skined man.

[wildunderstress.livejournal.com]

All Jamie could recall of the previous night was spending it in a drugged, semiconscious haze on one of the buses. He'd been vaguely aware of day progressing into night and, after sundown, of his surroundings becoming exponentially creepier, as they tended to do around here - there'd been moaning, dead-looking things shambling around everywhere, though he hadn't been entirely sure if they'd been real or some kind of drug-induced hallucination. Whatever their nature, none of them seemed to have taken notice of him and he'd made it through the night unharmed. He supposed that, for once, it was a good thing he was easy to ignore.

He felt surprisingly clear-headed upon waking, save for the presence of Wild Eagle, who was muttering irritably about the situation in general. Jamie himself was less than pleased to discover that his alter was sticking around - it was still unsettling and uncomfortable, and made him feel as though he really were crazy and deserved to be in a mental institution - but he tried to ignore it as he picked out his breakfast and found a vacant seat.

[donetakinorders.livejournal.com]

Raph groaned, muttering various obscenities before dragging his pillow over his head to block out the noise of the damn intercom and go back to sleep. Unfortunately his nurse had other things in mind, as she pulled the pillow away and, after a brief tussle, recruited some orderlies to tip Raphael out of his nice comfy bed and get him dressed and out for breakfast. He nearly put up another fight at that, but he was hungry, so Raph grabbed his tray and piled on some bacon and eggs and toast before hunting around for somewhere to sit.

A familiar face caught his attention, and he switched directions to head over and dump his tray on the table. "Yo, Eagle," he said, a devil-may-care grin spreading across his face at the sight of the kid. "See ya made it from yesterday."

[should-be-dead.livejournal.com]

When the night had progressed, the rot had only spread further over his body. Tenzen needed little investigation to know it had not just spread from his entire shoulder to his arm, but also his chest and his back. The decay had even started on his neck, and along with the rising desire to have a taste of living flesh, Tenzen had began to wonder if he was actually turning into one of those walking corpses himself. It had grown tempting to sink his teeth into the helpless boy near him, to satisfy the hunger, but the ninja had gritted his teeth and ignored the boy's scent as best as he could. He couldn't remember when he had last been so hungry. Though the ninja had no qualms about giving into desires, he had no intention of becoming anything like those mindless corpses he had slain earlier. It'd be inexcusable!

Once again, a certain creature within had picked a wonderful time to be dormant.

Yet, all of it seemed to have passed once morning came. The ninja woke with a start, disorientated at first but soon realized he was back at the institute. Like the night previous, he had awoken in his room without any recollection of returning and heading to bed. Perhaps some individuals had not spoken madness when they stated people whom had gotten beyond the walls simply returned in their rooms by morning.

He sat up and inspected his wound. Though the wound in his shoulder remained, the rot along with his hunger seemed to have disappeared altogether. Not to mention the wound had been treated and bandaged, which was...curious to say the least.

Especially considering he still held a bloodied axe in his hand.

The shovel seemed to have disappeared, but why would they let him keep the axe? It'd be best not to push his luck, so when he heard footsteps growing louder in the hallway he quickly slid out of bed to hide his weapon. There were little places to hide it, so the ninja eventually settled to wrap it in a shirt and hide it among the other clothing in the closet. Hopefully, the staff wouldn't look in the closet to notice anything odd. He had barely closed the closet doors before the nurse pushed open the door and entered his room.

"Ah, Mr. Hayami! You're already up!" the nurse exclaimed, obviously happy she didn't have to drag her charge out of bed. And before Tenzen could do or say something else, she provided him with the choice of where to spend the coming shift; the chapel, the sun room, or to eat brunch in the cafeteria.

Frankly, Tenzen could not care any less where this woman decided to drag him to. The only thing which sounded remotely worth his time seemed to be eating, something his stomach seemed to be agreeing on. It'd be best to keep his strength up in case this institute had more surprises in store for them.

The announcement of the intercom this morning had been rather strange as well compared to yesterday.

Piling some decent-looking Western food on his plate, the ninja sat down at a table and began to eat.

[Free, no limits!]

[icy-demise.livejournal.com]

For once, SubZero was glad to wake up back in his room. It was better than being surrounded by decomposing, hungry corpses, but not quite as nice as freedom would have been. He unhappily made his way to the cafeteria. Last night had involved a lot of combat, compared to most nights. Aside from the fight with Ophelia it had been the most intense, and he hadn't been at full strength either.

SubZero put a lot more food on his place than he would normally, and normally he could eat quite a bit. He tried to sit by himself, but his nurse wasn't going to let that happen, so she took his tray and made him go sit next to someone. It looked like the guy had seen some action last night, but that was hardly surprising.

"Morning," SubZero managed before he started eating his breakfast as quickly as possible. He'd figure out after he'd eaten why Landel hadn't given the announcement. Maybe he'd finally gotten smart enough to realize he shouldn't stay in a building full of people that wanted to kill him?

[madeinthehrl]

Soma awoke with a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. How much had the infection spread by now? She had lost all feeling in her left arm by the time she blacked out. How would the nurse attempt to explain that away?

Something rattled slightly beside her as she sat up, and she looked down to find the handgun lying on the sheets next to her arm and oh God, it looked completely normal, except for a clean white bandage wrapped neatly around what she knew was the original bite wound. She stared at it for a moment, trying to bring her emotions under control before she pushed the gun under her bed.

When her nurse finally came, chattering mindlessly on about nothing in particular and ignoring all of Soma's questions about the new intercom announcement, it was almost a relief. The walk to the cafeteria was short, and she didn't see anyone she knew on her way there, but surely more people would be going to brunch. She could only hope her friends would be there, or at the very least people who knew if her friends were all right.

The cafeteria was still relatively empty when she arrived, but she filled her tray with fruit and a few pancakes before she seated herself at an empty table. She tried to concentrate on eating, but she was unable to keep her gaze from wandering toward the doors for long.

[Free, no limits]

[windstwilight.livejournal.com]

[stealing! =D]

A jolt. Senna's eyes opened. A room, hers. The switch between day and night had become so ingrained that Senna barely noticed anymore. Just rolled with it and dealt. Except for today. The girl was froze for a moment, her mind catching up with her body. Everything that had happened.... Her hand went to her forearm, rubbing the light bandages there. And the... the horse. The kitten. And Meche, and those guys, and. And everything. Shit.

The intercom blared to life, and Senna winced, for a second still catching up to herself. Then the difference was noted. Military? Really? What the hell was going on? And where was the crack-addict doctor that was normally droning away? Way too many questions. Way too much had happened. She just wanted to rest and let someone else figure it out, but something solid in her pushed her to her feet, putting the extra sword next to hers under her bed. God damn it. What was going on here?

The highlight of all this was two food shifts, back to back. Her metabolism was fucking joyous. But instead of being cheery, the girl simply loaded up two towering plates, and looked for a place to consume them. Person, person, Soma.... Something shifted in her eyes, and she headed towards the pilot. Setting the plates down carefully, she pulled out a chair and sat down across from her. "Hey." Senna was almost reserved compared to her normal self. "Are you okay? I--" Her eyes softened with worry and something else entirely. "I didn't see you guys last night other than Meche."

[piggy-king.livejournal.com]

Porky woke with a jolt.

"AUGH! GET 'EM OFF ME!" he screamed, flailing his arms in an attempt to fight off the non-existant zombie birds that had been attacking him just before morning came.

When he finally opened his eyes and saw that he was just in his bed, he laughed nervously and looked up at his nurse.

"Uh..." he stuttered, "A...er...bad dream."

Seemingly satisfied with his explanation, Porky's nurse led him to the cafeteria. During the walk, Porky began to think about what had happened last night. To the others, it may have been bizarre, but it was nothing Porky hadn't seen before. Truthfully, he had been around zombies at least two seperate times. Still, it had been quite a shock when the townsfolk had turned into zombies right as night had fallen. And then there had been the infection...

Porky rubbed his arm tenderly. The wound was still there, but the symptoms had vanished, along with the pain that the rotting had caused. Still, there was no telling when it would return. If only the other patients saw the necessity in documenting who had been infected...Ah, well. No skin off Porky's nose if they didn't want to make things safer.

When Porky finally reached the cafeteria, he could barely hold back a squeal of pure delight. It was a buffet!

Porky immediately ran for the sausage and bacon and piled them high and hobbled off to find a seat.

[jokers-wildcard.livejournal.com]

For once, Harley was happy to wake up in the same boring bed in the same boring room before the same boring nurse came in to bug her. She liked to think she was used to mutants and powers and other normally abnormal concepts, but a plague of mutant zombie people all over the place was a bit much, even for her. Especially since on top of being smelly and kind of everywhere, they'd been really annoying on top of things.

She was actually given an option of things to do today, which was a nice little change of pace. Or it would have been if the choices were any fun. A stuffy chapel, the same ol' boring sunny room, or food. Didn't take a genius to figure out which she was going with.

Her nurse thankfully didn't attempt any chatter, she Harley was able to get to the lunch room and quickly pile up a stack of pancakes and several sausages. She mostly wanted those cakes, though~ Mmmm! After loading up her tray, she rushed off to a nearby seat so she could start chowing down.

It had been an empty space only a moment ago, but just as she reached the chair, someone else reached another nearby spot at the same time. It was-- OH!

"Hey! I know you!" she announced in immediate excited recognition. "Yer the gramps from last night! With the hairspray!" She waved her hand in enthusiastic greeting as she placed down the tray.

[Currently in M47]

[byname-bynature.livejournal.com]

Artemis jerked out of bed at the strange, almost automated-sounding announcement. That wasn't the usual system... Where was the doctor? Who or what was Iris? And he'd been right... 'federal training'. What exactly that meant at this point, though, he wasn't sure.

Haku.

The boy rolled out of bed immediately, spotting Haku on the other side of the room. He'd lived through the night. Thank God, he'd lived through the night. Artemis walked quietly over to his friend and knelt on the floor, taking his hand gently. They were both safe now, everything would be fine--for now. Softly and into the mattress, Artemis let out the tears he'd been holding back in the basement.

Re: [Currently in M47]

[faithful-frost.livejournal.com]

Haku had lived through the night, but he looked to be in bad shape. Thick bandages wrapped around his throat and shoulders; an iv line in his arm; and a few bruises stood out against pale, pale skin.

When Artemis took his hand though, fingers flexed and he squeezed gently, opening his eyes, and a corner of his mouth twitched up.

"Morning." His voice was soft and a bit raspy.

[sir-savien.livejournal.com]

Kvothe woke with a start, smothering a groan as he realized he was back in his room at the institute but he hadn't truly expected anything different. And at least the creatures were gone. The voice on the intercom made him frown, however. It wasn't the head nurse, it certainly wasn't Landel, and something about it didn't sound quite human. Some of the words caught on his mind as just being wrong. Automated? Federal training sponsership? They were supposed to be insane, not training for anything. That they apparently weren't bothering to keep the story straight anymore worried him a little as he sat up and swung his feet out of bed, hissing in pain when he tried to stand but his ankle held. He'd probably be limping slightly for a day or so but it would heal. The adrenaline last night must have masked some of the pain, looking now he could see deep scratches where his leg had been grabbed and he could feel more scratches, cuts and bruises all over most of his body. Nothing serious, he thought as he ran a mental check of the injuries, but he wouldn't be comfortable for the rest of the day.

When the nurse arrived he asked to be taken to the cafeteria, he hadn't eaten much the day before and although he didn't feel very hungry after what he'd witnessed overnight he knew he needed to eat something. He filled a plate, avoiding meat as he tried not to think of the stench of rotting flesh he'd been too distracted at the time to really let himself notice, grabbed a glass of juice and positioned himself at an empty table where he could watch the door.

[free]

[buteo-sapiens.livejournal.com]

Tobias woke up aching.

It was a kind of ache he hadn't felt in a long time, the ache of being beaten up by bullies, of running away to protect his skin, and waking up sore and bruised the next morning. And his head hurt-- had he knocked it, last night, when he had clipped that shelf? Ugh. And he still wanted a mouse. How nice, how normal that would be, getting to hunt in the morning-- he bet there was great hunting outside the walls, in that forest, or even in the soccer field....

Not a great way to start a day.

Rather like the baffling intercom, for that matter. Lying in his bed and frowning at the ceiling, he gingerly prodded his bruising arm-- an impressive mottling of purples and red, he was lucky he hadn't broken his wing, which was a particular brand of dude-not-cool-- and listened, until his nurse came for him and took him out, letting him choose where he wanted to go.

"Food," he answered, quietly, and was led to the cafeteria, collecting a tray of meats (with a token banana, at the nurse's scolding look) and looking for a place to sit.

Hey, wasn't that the guy who'd recognized him as not-entirely-human...?

Wait, no, it wasn't, and he blinked, shaking his head. How hard had he knocked his head?

Still, he'd already started towards the guy, and it would be more awkward to turn away than it would be to sit with a stranger, so he slid in across from him anyway and nodded in greeting.

[sewenteen-sir.livejournal.com]

“Good morning, Victor!”

Chekov started out of his bed, shouting as though he had just been running for his life and was now finding himself back in the unfamiliar bed, apparently waking up from a horrible nightmare. Breathing heavily, he looked wildly to the door. A woman had burst into his room without even asking for his permission. What sort of strange place was this where people could barge into private quarters without permission?

“Come now dear, we have to get you fed! You have a big day ahead of you, wouldn’t want to miss it due to improper nutrition!”

While Chekov did concede that he was hungry, he was still reeling a bit from the shock of waking up someplace he hadn’t fallen asleep in--he'd been in a full-out run just a second ago. "Where are ze zombies?"

"...the what, dear?"

"Zombies! Dead humans, walking ze hallways!" Chekov exclaimed as though this woman were a complete dunce.

She gave him a sympathetic look. "It was all a dream, dear. Don't you worry. You're safe now."

A dream? A dream... it had to have been a dream. A very vivid dream, but a dream nonetheless. After all, what would he and Captain Kirk be doing in an abandoned facility with zombies walking in the hallways?

...but then why had he dreamt of waking up in this exact bed before he'd even seen it?

"I am wery confused," Chekov admitted, putting a hand to his head.

“Don’t you worry Victor,” his nurse said, patting him on the shoulder. Chekov looked at her hand quizzically. “We’ll get you straightened out and you’ll be back home in no time. If you cooperate with us.”

“Cooperate…?” Chekov repeated, suddenly feeling very hunted. What was this strange place and why had he been brought here? “Ma’am, zere has been a mistake. My name is not… Wictor.”

“Victor,” she corrected.

“…Wvictor.”

“Vic-tor.”

Chekov muttered something unintelligible in Russian. “Just tell me where I am and let me report to my commanding officers—zey will straighten zis out.”

Instead, Chekov found himself sitting at a table, a tray of food in front of him. This was not how he'd expected things to work out when he'd said 'nawigational officer of ze Enterprise, ma'am'.

[Free! /o/]

[quickdrawbkiddo.livejournal.com]

[yoink!]

It wasn't too long after the boy had sat down that a tray was set down at the same table a little further down. Beatrix was thoughtful, not even noticing the present company. She slowly chewed her meal and replayed over the events of the previous night and combined them with the morning's announcement.

Something had happened in this building while they were all being terrorized by zombies. Had the zombies been a distraction to keep them away while whatever happened at the institute had happened?

The playing field was changing. The Bride did not like that fact.

[cannotlogout.livejournal.com]

Never had Tsukasa thought that he would be so very glad for night to end. He'd truly had a trial by fire when it came to his introduction to the Institute; first the corrupted Kite from his first night, and then zombies, and all he really wanted to do was huddle beneath the duvet and not move out of the bedroom ever again. He wanted to go home, he wanted to be back in his dorm room doing homework and planning for the trip to Shimokitazawa with Mimiru and Subaru.

He wanted to cry.

He didn't though. The nurse wouldn't take no for an answer when it came to getting food, and Tsukasa barely registered the strange announcement on the intercom. He let the nurse fill a plate and then slumped in a chair, resting his head against the table and burying his face against his arm.

[For Leon. Please ask before joining!]

[heraldric.livejournal.com]

Leon could have cried tears of happiness to find himself back in his room again come morning. He almost did, burying his face in his pillow. It was then that he noticed a couple items he didn't recall having before. The sweater with the cat on it lay folded in front of his nose, and the knife Haseo had handed him lay on top of it. Before the nurse arrived, he tucked both in his top drawer, pleased to see that his book remained where he'd left it.

When given the choice, the mage chose to be led to breakfast without hesitation. He was starving, and incredibly thirsty thanks to the spell he'd cast the night before. He loaded his plate up and managed two glasses of water and a carton of juice before his nurse urged him out of the line.

A familiar head of hair caught his attention, and though he wanted to check up on Claude more than anything, Tsukasa looked despondent enough that it warranted a visit. He set his tray down by the boy's head carefully so he wouldn't spill anything, then gave him a light pat on the back. "Hey. you all right?"

[euphemise.livejournal.com]

[closed to Suzaku.]

Euphemia sat bolt-upright in bed, her hands covering her face as if she were still expecting one of the bats to dive down at her. She gave a small shriek, then blinked her eyes sleepily. Had it all been a -- no. This was the same room she'd first woken in. That meant last night wasn't just a nightmare. She sighed, thinking things over, but didn't have long to think.

"Good morning, Diana. Did you sleep well?" The nurse's thoughts shook her out of her thoughts. "Pardon me, but my name isn't -- " The princess didn't get to finish her sentence before she was being helped out of bed and into a set of slippers.

"I'm sure you're just a little confused, dear," the nurse continued, talking all the way to the cafeteria. She explained that this was a place called Landel's Institute and that she was there to get better, but...that didn't make any sense. The nurse led the confused girl through the line, loading her tray with eggs, waffles, and juice, then led her to a seat.

Euphy looked around the room for a familiar face - she would have felt a million times better if she just recognized someone, but nothing.

[superdynamic.livejournal.com]

Suzaku never thought he'd be glad to wake up in Landel's Institute. The whole night before, he'd been counting on everyone being transported back come morning, but with everything else breaking the pattern, there'd been no real guarantee of that. He might not have been able to keep going without the thought it would be over by morning, but seeing the same old boring ceiling was a relief nonetheless. It meant that, as far as he knew, he and Lelouch had gotten through the night alive. Suzaku shuddered a little at the all-too-vivid memory of truly thinking they were going to be eaten alive by animated corpses. He'd always had a death-wish, but he'd never wished for that. Not to mention that he'd never, ever forgive himself if something happened to Lelouch before they even got back to their own world.

So it was with something other than exasperation, for once, that Suzaku allowed himself to be led around by the nose. The strange announcement didn't escape his attention, however, so he stopped to exchange a few notes on the bulletin. He wasn't sure what to think about the business with Landel, but the fact was that they were still prisoners here, so it didn't really matter who the enemy was. There would still be someone to defeat, even if Landel was dead.

He had the choice of staying in the Sun Room or going to the chapel -- heh, as if praying would do someone like him any good -- but he was mostly just interested in breakfast. He hadn't had any dinner the night before and had been fighting nonstop all night, so upon entering the cafeteria, he made a bee-line for the food and didn't notice much else. There was a minor incident where he almost dropped his tray, his injured shoulder apparently less functional than he thought, but he politely refused his nurse's offer to carry it for him and managed to get through the rest of the line without a hitch. And then he finally looked away from the food long enough to scan the cafeteria.

This time he really did drop his tray.

The loud crash fell on deaf ears, however. Suzaku couldn't hear anything, couldn't see anything but the -- the apparition before him. Some distant, distant part of him was aware of what Lelouch had said on their first night here, about Landel raising the dead. But reality was a faint dream on the edge of his awareness, in the face of this vision. Hallucination. He was hallucinating, he had to be.

Suzaku couldn't count the number of times he'd wished so desperately he could see her one more time, hear her voice again, if only for a moment. Sometimes he'd wondered, half in fear, what she would think of him if she could see what he'd become. Whether she would forgive him yet again in all her beautiful, foolish innocence, or whether she would be -- disappointed. But the thought hadn't been enough to stop him from becoming a detestable thing, killing thousands in the name of some forgotten ideal, being blinded by revenge. . . And now he was serving her murderer as he should have served her. It might be for the pursuit of the world she wanted, but he'd damned himself to Lelouch's level, and how could he even look at her again? All he could think was that her lovely face belonged to some spirit come to pass judgment, an angel who could see straight through his guilty heart and had descended to demand repentance.

"Euphie. . ."

He was hardly aware even of his own broken whisper. After he'd finally resigned himself to despair, to living a nice, long, Geass-aided life without ever seeing her bright eyes again -- just once, he would have given anything to see her just once -- here she was. In the most unexpected, incongruous place, just -- sitting there. The sight of her was like physical pain, and he stumbled backward suddenly, irrationally afraid.

"It's not you." He couldn't look at her, and his eyes flickered from side to side, but he couldn't see anything else. This -- this was a trick of Landel's, it had to be. As if everything wasn't enough already, he had to torture Suzaku like this, had to mock her memory. It couldn't be true, and he -- he wouldn't forgive Landel for daring to give him that kind of hope, to laugh in his face. "It can't be you!"

[2cute2bkira.livejournal.com]

Misa woke up to the sound of that -- what was that voice? She just remembered standing on one of the streets in town, the sun just starting to set, and then...this. She didn't get it, not one bit, and it was starting to worry her. She thought for just a moment about posting to the bulletin board, but there were a ton of people surrounding it.

She didn't particularly feel like pushing through the crowd to figure out what happened, so she let her nurse escort her to the cafeteria. Misa picked out some fruit, waffles, and juice, then sat down, looking around.

[possibly/probably closed to L; poke me before posting.]

[ryuuzaki]

[from this thread.]

The information that Matt gave to L was disquieting, as was the information he received from a cursory scan of the bulletin board in the Sun Room. As it seemed that he had an assignation of sorts with the German detective next shift, it would be necessary to eat something. He found that his stomach was growling. In spite of any setbacks, his appetite had always been a reliable machine.

He was suspicious of the food here, but everyone else was eating it, which suggested that it was probably safe to consume.

At the buffet, he loaded his tray with food, mostly French toast and whatever fruit he could find. The complete absence of coffee or tea irritated him, but a glass each of orange juice and apple juice joined the rest of his haul.

Another pang arose, for Watari, who had for years made sure a tray was ready for him every morning; L pushed it aside. It was both irrelevant and useless to mope about his current situation. If there was a way out, it would be found through intellect, not emotion.

As he scanned the tables for a place to sit, he noticed a familiar face. Making a bee-line for it, he set his tray down in front of Misa with a clatter, and began to speak with no preamble.

"Amane, I am annoyed seriously. They will not tell me why I am here." Strictly speaking, it's true that the nurse hadn't told him, not in any detail -- but it's also true that he hadn't asked.

[kagurazuki.livejournal.com]

For the first time, Kagura was glad to wake up in the starchy sheets and stiff bed. She was still shaking when she threw off the blankets. She'd made it through another day, but how much longer did they have? How long until it was her that was bloody in the street, being eaten alive? Lately she was convinced it wasn't so much a matter of when they might escape, but a matter of how many days they had left to live. Who decided? What if it was today? How could anyone be expected to live like this?

The message when the intercom came on was different too. What did it mean? She could hardly piece it together before the nurse came to collect her. Kagura walked to the cafeteria with an almost lifeless expression on her face. More people had died. More were brought in to take their place. She had no appetite for the food placed in front of her, but held the tray and found an empty table before setting it down.

[free, no limit]

[dasgift.livejournal.com]

Kristoph supposed he should have expected the transition. After all, his few days spent in a crazy house proved the coming of dawn always brought him to square one. Or close enough to it. A glance at his bedside revealed something decidedly pink and shapely, wrapped in the jacket the nurses had provided in their ill-fated trip.

He snorted at the parting gifts and tossed them both into the confines of his closet. They would be dealt with later. For now, he had an automated voice to puzzle over, one that sounded nothing like the Head Doctor and his bland-toned assistant. Federal training sponsorship? Surely, this reveal had to count for something.

The thought persisted to the cafeteria, where he opted to have a breakfast of grapefruit and water. It continued when the man came upon the first empty seat available, which happened to have a rather depressed looking young woman nearby. Goodness, the zombies had spread to the patient population.

He barely remembered his manners. "May I?"

[mister-fine.livejournal.com]

Apollo sat up in bed, out of breath, his hand clutching his chest. The sound of his pulse pounding in his head almost drowned out the weird, automated messaged that played over the intercom. Unfortunately, he didn't get much time to consider what it could have meant, as a nurse entered his room with a concerned expression.

"You look awfully pale, Mr. Fine!" she said, frowning a little. "Perhaps a decent meal would do you some good." And although a guy would think running away from zombies would be the best way to work up a healthy appetite, Apollo felt more nauseated by the thought of food than anything. The only thing he'd really had to eat within the past 36 hours was, like, half a burger that wound up rotting in his hands once night had fallen. It didn't exactly inspire confidence in this place's cafeteria, that was for sure.

But not only that, he'd just spent the entire night running from zombies. Zombies that tried to eat people! Apollo would have been quick to dismiss it as some sort of horrible nightmare or hallucination, but a quick glance at the bulletin told him otherwise. That realization hit him hard, maybe even harder than anything else he'd heard here, leaving him feeling cold in the pit of his stomach. And yet, all of this information was almost impossible to even properly comprehend, which just made dealing with it that much harder.

Zombies, for crying out loud!! He'd seen them with his own eyes!

He was in a daze as his nurse prodded him into the cafeteria -- so much of one, in fact, that he could only hazily process the fact this was supposed to be his first "normal" day in Landel's -- and his first time in this part of the building. After some coaxing from the nurse, he managed to get a muffin and a small piece of bacon. She tried to get him to eat a little more, but Apollo wasn't even sure he could stomach that...

After setting down his tray, the lawyer let his forehead drop against the table's surface, his eyes closing. Apollo really just wanted to be home, curled up in his own bed with a mug of hot, steaming tea to calm his nerves.

But more than that, he hoped everybody who'd gotten caught in last night's mess was okay. Apollo had left some notes on the bulletin, but only time would tell what kind of response he'd find when he checked it again.

[Free.]

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

Yesterday was a horrible, hideous mess. For the million things that had gone wrong, she could still point out a handful of things, important things, that had gone right. It left her feeling more than a little confused. And as she assessed the state of her room and her belongings, she noticed the clothing from yesterday had been replaced with the standard uniform, though she did still have one of the hand-axes from last night, nothing else remained. Well, isn't that convenient? First they think we're so weak that weapons won't matter, but now that we get our hands on some decent ones, they take most of them away! Make up your minds, you stupid bastards!

Sakura tucked the weapon away, wrapping it in a shirt before sticking it under her mattress. The message this morning was strange too. She hadn't been her long, but she knew well enough that it wasn't what they ought to have heard. Sakura memorized the important bits and followed her nurse to the cafeteria as had become the standard.

On any given day, Sakura might find herself up to her elbows in blood and gore, some hers, some her team-mate's, some her enemies, so eating breakfast the very next day didn't bother her much. Apparently the nurse wanted her to branch out and make new friends though, so she escorted Sakura to a particularly lonely looking individual who was sitting face-down, head almost in his breakfast. Great.

"Morning," she offered, deciding not to mention last night's events just yet. If the guy needed cheering up, that was probably the last thing he wanted to think about.

[winged_moon]

It was like waking from a particularly vivid nightmare, his heart pounding and breath coming in shallow gasps, and for a moment he just lay there staring unseeing at the ceiling as he tried to convince himself that he didn't still feel the cold grasp of rotting flesh against his skin. Touya. Sakura. Fai. Were they all right?

As the initial panic subsided, replaced by a dull, throbbing worry in the pit of his chest, it finally occurred to him that him wasn't them and another sharp spike of fear lanced through him. He squeezed his eyes tightly closed again for a moment, focusing on the two selves and who belonged where, and tried not to think too hard about the possibility that they might not be able to do so in the future. That was what the doctor had been trying to accomplish, wasn't it?

Yukito slowly sat up again, wincing slightly in pain as the various injuries Yue had taken the night before protested the movement, and pressed his palm against the bandages on his stomach. Hopefully tonight would be somewhat calmer than the night previous, else he'd never start to heal.

The arrival of the nurse distracted him, though, and he fumbled for his glasses as he mustered up his usual cheerful smile for the woman. The announcement he hadn't really paid attention to had mentioned breakfast, and that immediately caught his attention; he was always hungrier on days after Yue had used his powers, and today was no exception.

He might have been moving a little more stiffly than usual, a little slower, but there was no lack of enthusiasm in the way he piled his tray with food to the extent that the nurse finally protested and insisted on carrying it for him. Yukito just smiled, perhaps a little sheepishly, and followed her to a table, then settled down, trying to eat breakfast while simultaneously watching the door.

The others would know to look for him here, right? Because they would be showing up, because they were all back, too. They were all fine, just like he was, because he wasn't going to believe otherwise.

[for Touya]

[guardiancomplex.livejournal.com]

The second Touya had woken and realized that he wasn't dead, he threw his bedcovers off and ran past his nurse. If he was alive and awake, there was only one place Yukito would be.

And thank God, he was there.

"Yuki," Touya said, finally reaching the table Yukito was seated at. He was definitely out of breath, and his nurse looked rather irate about his sudden outburst. Yuki was alright--

"What about Sakura?" he asked. "Is she okay? And Fai?""

[remedying.livejournal.com]

[for kaito.]

Pillows... blankets... groggy 'not-quite-awake-yet' feeling... Oh. Oh thank god. Yukari lifted her head some from the pillow she had found herself sleeping face-first in, and she couldn't have felt happier about it. Morning meant last night was over. No more of whatever the hell was happening, and Yukari wasn't going to think about it any more than she had to.

If she planned on it, however, the announcement over the intercom would have done enough to deter those thoughts; it was... definitely not Landel, and somehow that only made her feel all the more worried. Wasn't that nurse sidekick of his usually there when he wasn't? What happened to them, and what in the world was federal training supposed to mean?

And yet, the nurses went about their daily routine, acting as if nothing was wrong at all. Well, more so than usual-- something like this should have been noticeable, even to them, but an inquiry got her nothing. Oh, it was nothing, nevermind that they would say, and it was far too frustrating to walk in these circles for something after not too long. A little more irritably than usual (she had every right to be, especially after last night!), Yukari decided to start the day off with some food after checking in at the bulletin. At the very least, it sounded like everyone made it out all right for the most part.

After picking whatever looked good out, she grabbed a spot in the cafeteria.

[flashyaudacity]

Kaito couldn't have felt more relieved than he did upon waking up back at his room in the Institute. The night was over. No more zombies, no more crazy town, no more fighting (for now). If that was any indication of what happened outside the walls of the Institute at night, then...

He frowned, his line of thought being cut off suddenly by the unusual morning announcement.

Kaito pulled himself out of bed with a groan once the announcement finished, only to realize he was still holding the toy gun from last night. Interesting. It wouldn't do for the nurse to catch him with it, so after making a quick check of the ammunition (gone, naturally), he stowed it in his closet. His nurse came by a moment later to collect him, taking him to the cafeteria by his request. Food was sounding really good this morning.

He glanced around after filling his tray, spotting Yukari sitting alone for the moment. Perfect; he'd been wanting to touch base with her, especially after last night. He headed for her table, sliding his tray onto it. "Morning!" he said, sounding more cheerful than he felt. He hoped his smile didn't look too strained.

[byname-bynature.livejournal.com]

Artemis let his nurse guide him out of his room and to the Sun Room. He quickly posted a few notes, read some notices, then agreed that he should probably eat something and that yes he was a growing boy. Honestly. Artemis thought that a near death experience wouldn't allow for such frivolities as milk and vegetables the next day.

He entered the Cafeteria, pausing at the door to look for Badou. He had said that they were going to breakfast, he only wondered if the man had gotten his own meal first.

[For Badou]

[strayfag]

Badou had spent the first part of his morning bitching at his nurse about the finer points of b-rated zombie movies. Actually, he seeing a zombie's head explode was both disgusting and fucking badass at the same time so he was mildly satisfied that they'd gotten their revenge after the zombie eight-mile-dash bullshit.

He had to spend way too much time scoring the bulletin after that. Mostly he'd just been picking up the institute gossip about what was going on with the weird ass announcements, but then he just had to see his name in giant letters and familiar handwriting. Everything else hit the back burner for a full minute while he just stared at it. Alkaid was back. Or someone was playing a really bad joke, but he doubted that for once. He wasn't really sure how he was supposed to feel about this bit of news. The people that disappeared in his life didn't make a habit of coming back to say LOL HI I WAS IN A COMA.

Badou pressed the heel of his palm just above his right eye. God fucking whatever. He'd deal with it tonight when he saw her. Right now, he had to make sure Arty's head wasn't set for exploding too.

Entering the cafeteria, he managed to spot his quarry almost immediately. "Hey, brat. Any broken ribs?" He called cheerfully, which was the only warning Artemis got before being picked up and slung over his shoulder like bag of potatoes. Badou flinched as every one of the stitches in his arm and shoulder protested and threatened mutiny, but hopefully Artemis was too busy freaking out to see it. "Jesus you're heavy. Like a baby whale. Maybe you should go easy on the rich food from now on."

[herr-inspektor.livejournal.com]

The next thing Lunge knew it was morning, and straight away he was back in bed as though he had never left it at all. So he was in the same building, then. More perplexing, however, was the lingering memory of the announcement seconds before the change. Apparently, a man had been killed last night and a woman was being held hostage, and now a computerised voice was relaying instructions.

He didn’t have long to theorise. Barely a minute later a woman opened the door- bright, smiling and dressed in a nurse’s uniform, Lunge could almost predict her first words to the letter. “Up bright and early, I see. Good morning, Otto! Or would you prefer Mr. Jung?” The smile softened and she tilted her head in sympathetic attention. “I hope you’ve had a good night’s sleep- you must have arrived very late last night.”

Otto Jung…?

Not only had he apparently been admitted, but he had been given a new identity altogether.

Choosing his own expression with the same amount of care as the nurse had clearly chosen hers, he stood up. Sensitivity was required; while the last thing he wanted to do was reinforce this false identity, it was highly unlikely that protesting would correct it. For the time being he would wait and explore his situation a little more thoroughly. “Mr. Jung, thank you. Just where have I arrived at?”

“You don’t know…?” For a moment she seemed confused. Then her eyes creased understandingly. “Is your memory playing up again? Well, there’s no need to worry. So long as I’m here, you won’t have any more problems. We’re here to help you and you’re in a safe environment now.”

Memory problems…? Whoever had placed him here clearly thought they were a master of irony. They were wrong. Still, Lunge allowed himself to be taken on a tour of the place while the woman began to relay the day’s schedule to him. A bulletin board in one of the rooms visited caught his eye- after a thorough read of what was already there he left a few notes of his own before continuing. Hopefully, he would find a few more answers when he checked back.

Until then he had a choice of places to visit- the cafeteria, the chapel or the curiously named ‘sun room’, but she felt that he should get a good breakfast to “start him off well”. It wasn’t long before he found himself seated in the cafeteria with a plateful of pancakes. Even when she turned to leave she continued to speak, as though her voice would carry through the walls long after she was gone. It was just a pity that nothing she said was even remotely useful.

Well. Until she returned, he would use the opportunity to organise his thoughts and start a plan of action.

[themotherreborn.livejournal.com]

Eileen had woken up with a gasp, either due to an unremembered nightmare or what had happened last night. Whichever it had been, it was less than pleasant to wake up still terrified.

And she wasn't exactly thrilled to be back in her own bed. While the zombie apocalypse or whatever had happened last night was over, that didn't mean this place was safe. Not even during the day, not for her.

He was here somewhere. That was why the first thing she'd done had been to post an anonymous inquiry about a bodyguard. She felt stupid doing it, but... well, Eileen wasn't stupid. She wasn't a match for Walter and she knew it.

So when she went to the cafeteria for breakfast, rather than sitting alone, she sought out the first person she saw who wasn't engaged in conversation. She just felt...safer.

"Hi," she said, still carrying her tray of breakfast. She tried to smile and be friendly, despite the fact that her legs still felt like rubber. "I hope you don't mind if I sit here...."

[longlivetheking]

The last thing Scar knew before waking up in his room was the rather...odd intercom announcement. Everything suggested that the headdoctor might've been bitten by his own dog. Was the man dead? But that almost seemed too good to be true.

Either way, he was no longer in that crammed space anymore. The former lion couldn't help but to be relieved. He hid the steel pipe in the closet and cast another glance at the wound on his lower arm. It still hurt, but they had covered it up by some strange, white cloth. It was probably the human way of treating wounds, but still the former lion tugged at it questionably.

"Mr. Irons, please stop tugging at your bandage!" The comment was so sudden that Scar jumped in surprise before he noticed the nurse had already entered his room. After regaining his composure, he was given the choice between various rooms; the cafeteria, the sun room or the chapel. His stomach growled before he could answer, so the nurse insisted it'd be best to bring him to the cafeteria for something to eat.

Scar sat down at an empty table, nurse carrying the plate and setting it in front of him. She still didn't trust him to bring his meal to a table without accidentally spilling it over the floor, obviously. After she had left, he cast a disdainful glance towards his food. Pancakes were one of the few things he knew by name by now, but that hardly mattered. He'd rather have something more familiar, but it had already became apparent they wouldn't serve zebra or antelope anytime soon.

[Brainy!]

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

Something had changed in the night, that much was obvious from the moment Brainiac 5 woke up to the automated announcement. Personal consoles and welcome bags? Federal training sponsorships? That and something he'd observed the night before were beginning to make him look more closely at his theories about this place. Which was no doubt of some benefit, as he was more than a little bored with being confined to this wheelchair.

"It's just until your foot has healed, Michael," the nurse said soothingly as she pushed him into the cafeteria. "And with the mess you made of your shoulder, you can't use a crutch, so it's your own fault."

He didn't quite flinch at that, though it was a near thing. The last thing Brainiac 5 wanted or needed was a reminder of his recent past. Particularly when he was trying his best to forget about it and focus on what was important. Nonetheless... he couldn't keep himself from glancing around, checking the room for a familiar head of red or blond hair as his nurse left him briefly to collect his breakfast tray, and it was only once he'd verified that neither Luxord or Grell were in the area that he relaxed a little.

"Now, I want you to actually eat this time," his nurse scolded after she'd returned and moved him to a spare space at an occupied table. "I noticed you haven't eaten much of anything the last couple of days. I know you miss Kal, but this has to stop or else you'll be taken to the medical wing and treated there," she continued. "So please just eat something."

She gave him a stern look and Brainiac 5 sighed, taking a bite of his cereal mostly to appease her. A couple more were needed before she finally left and he glanced over at who he'd been set opposite. Something was familiar about the man's face, and it took him a moment to place him.

"Oh," he said, frowning slightly. "It's you."

[lostonlifesroad.livejournal.com]

Just when Kakashi had thought he was getting used to the jarring lack-of-transition between night and day, the Institute found a way to make it worse. Even Kakashi's typical control was put to the test by it, and the jounin needed several moments to shake off the disorientation of suddenly finding himself safely in bed--so to speak. Thankfully, he'd gone through enough training and battles to be able to get certain things done despite the shock. First and foremost was checking his inventory from the night before. All he found, however, was the jagged blade he'd procured in the hardware store. Not that he would complain, since the saw would be much more useful than the broken shears. But it would have been nice to be able to keep both.

Once the saw was hidden safely away, Kakashi went ahead and composed a note for the bulletin while he waited for the morning escort. Once the nurse led him out, he headed for the Sun Room to post the notice, then to the cafeteria to eat. The active night had left him with a healthy appetite, and the nurse didn't seem inclined to force Kakashi's company on someone so early in the day. All the better, really. Kakashi wanted to spend some time thinking about what had been said over the intercom. If he replaced the word "federal" with "ninja," it almost sounded like a twisted version of the academy back home--in purpose, anyway. So was Landel's some sort of training facility? It made sense in a way, considering that they seemed to be trying to get the patients to accept the false lives.

But speculation could only take him so far, and Kakashi was well aware of that fact. He pulled down his mask once he was settled, rather quickly devouring his breakfast as he tried to decide just what the Konoha-nin should do in light of the new developments.

[Free as free can be! Limit: 2 more.]

[numberonemonkey.livejournal.com]

Chihaya was feeling a little too depressed and worried for food, but he supposed he ought to try before he set off for the chapel. He let the staff fill his plate after they got angry at him for dawdling.

He really missed everything about Kagetsuya and having to eat anything but his cooking made it worse.

Chihaya plonked down next to a patient who looked friendly enough. Even though he was young, his hair was white. He had scars too. And a mask...

"Do you have a cold?" Chihaya asked, shifting food about on his plate, absent mindedly.

[tightsofmight]

[Indy? :3]

Nothing. Just...nothing.

The doctor's dulcet tones were gone. Peter woke to the voice of an android, buzzing over the intercom where there was usually false cheer and lamenting over mounds of paperwork. Where was Martin Landel?

He listened to the automation, but shut off at the word military. Weapons. Armor. Not exactly heartwarming thoughts at the moment. Peter rolled over, tugging his pillow from under his head and wrapping it to his chest. He tucked the end under his chin, staring thoughtfully at the newly mussed bed on the other side of the room. Brainy must have left a little while ago.

It didn't matter how many times he told himself this wasn't real. That nothing they did was for keeps. They were living it, weren't they? Maybe not living in the literal sense, but he could see. He could smell. He could touch, he could feel, he got angry and sad and hit every notch between. He could feel his own pulse. He knew it was there, not something he was just peripherally aware of when the mood struck the writers, but he always, always knew it was there. Ever since he became Spider-Man. It was weird, yeah, but the last few months had him checking constantly. Sometimes it was hard to believe you were alive, even hours after the guns stop blaring and S.H.E.I.L.D. was picking up the pieces.

The point was, being fictional...it didn't change that. He could feel the cut on his chest. He felt the skin tug when he inhaled and his chest swelled with air, and he felt fresh bandages itch across his skin when he blew it out. He could still feel his insides sinking lower, and lower, dragging all his thoughts along with them until he turned dizzy and shook around the pillow. He wasn't real, but he could feel. Why should it be different for anyone else?

The nurse collected him as usual, doggedly steering him towards the cafeteria. She found him a seat first, and loaded up a tray for him, all smiles when she returned. Jiggly, glistening chunks of scrambled eggs, speckled with pepper and cheese. Like little bits of-

you're not getting away that easy buddy
it's not supposed to be funny, Peter
safe because your failures are all dead and buried

He spasmed. Shot his hand to his mouth to keep from vomiting all over the table as the nurse panicked and hoisted him away by his middle. They rushed out of the cafeteria, and she held his bangs out of his face while he emptied his stomach into the toilet, then stroked his back when he began to cry.

They returned sometime later, and Peter nibbled on soda crackers and sipped a fresh cup of tea, paler than a sheet.

[its-the-mileage.livejournal.com]

Indy wasn't all that surprised when the first thing he saw was the white ceiling of his room at Landel's--yep, they'd brought 'em right back. Gore-free and bandaged up. His shoulder ached like hell when he moved to wedge the whip under the mattress, but the sharp pain he'd felt before he passed out didn't return. Maybe they had him on painkillers. Still, the weirdest thing about this morning was the strange voice coming over the intercom.

But last night...

It was easy to say he'd done what he had to, but that didn't mean he wanted to think about it. And Indy was still bothered by the question of just what those Zombis really were--surely not really the living dead. Landel's human experiments, more likely. What the hell had the man done to them to make them act like that, moving right up until gray matter fell out of their skulls? He would've liked to get Pierson's take on the situation, but it looked like Indy's roommate was already up and out for the morning. Indy could wait. The more he thought about last night, the more worried he got about the loose ends he was going to have to tie up.

His concern only increased when he got to the cafeteria and he saw Peter Parker sitting alone, looking like he'd been crying. Indy had the nurse pick him up a couple of pieces of food at random and headed over, wondering what the hell he was going to say. He was fine with kids, in a general sense--you had to be to teach undergrads, and he felt like he came across okay with them. Shorty was easy to get along with too, when he wasn't cheating at cards. But Indy had no idea to what to do with a teenage boy who was obviously scared and grieving. That was the kind of thing the kid's parents should be doing, and Indy's own dad hadn't been a hell of a lot of help as an example.

But Peter's parents weren't here, and Indy felt even more responsible for him than he had last night--after all, he was the one who'd blown up the kid's friend, no matter how dangerous that friend was now. He'd probably screw it up somehow, but he owed it to Peter Parker to try, at least. Even if Peter punched him in the face, anger might offer some kind of consolation.

So Indy had the nurse set his tray down across from Peter's and joined the boy. He looked awkwardly down at his plate for a long minute, then said simply, "I'm sorry."

[darwinism]

The last thing Sylar remembered was standing in the middle of the grimy electronics store; next thing he knew, he was gasping awake in his bed.

For a second, he thought it might've been a dream. After all, it had been short-lived and unlikely, even for this place.

But then the all-consuming pain of his headache hit him and all of those theories were instantly disproven.

He put a hand to his head and groaned quietly. It wasn't as bad as it had been during previous Dayshifts, he had to admit, and he could at least kind of think through it, but it was still unpleasant, and it was still very much proof that he'd done something last night with his powers.

His powers...

The pain subsided slightly in the euphoria of the memory. He had used his powers – Elle's powers – and knocked back a whole line of creatures with them, along with melting the damn thing in his... actually, he realized as he looked down, the plastic tray still was in his hand, and still distorted on one side. He wasn't sure what the point of it was supposed to be, but he found himself shoving it under his mattress anyway. He didn't want anything to go to waste.

The migraine continued – as per usual – even when his nurse came to get him, though he found that it was getting a little better with each step he took down the hall. Maybe... maybe these acquired powers were easier to use over time, even if that 'easiness' was all relative. He'd once been able to flip over armored trucks with his mind. Now, he was happy about melting a bit of plastic.

His mouth twisted into a scowl around the same time he got to the food line, and he continued feeling moody as he grabbed a bagel and spread some cream cheese on it. He didn't think he could stomach anything else.

He sat down at an empty table and began eating as he scanned the cafeteria for familiar faces.

[ Reserved strictly for Captain James T. Kirk! ♥ ]

[doneinthree]

Goodbye!

"Ugh... what?" Kirk groaned upon opening his eyes to yet another experience of waking up with no idea of where he was and how he'd gotten there. And here he thought those days would be behind him once he'd joined Starfleet. Sure, there was the occasional raucous graduation party, or maybe that time he'd been rendered unconscious from tongue contact with the poison glands of that one visiting female, but for the most part, those days were supposed to be behind him.

Then again, if the choice had been between suddenly waking up in a bed (was this the same room as last night?) or fighting walking corpses, Kirk wasn't going to complain. He'd barely gotten out of bed before a smiling woman appeared at the door. Her clothing suggested she was a nurse.

"Good morning, Mr. Shatner! I hope your sleep wasn't put off too much by the early arrival, but don't worry, you have plenty of time now to get adjusted. Are you hungry? It's free choice today!"

His head hurt too much to deal with all that information, and decided to settle on one point. "It's Kirk," he corrected.

She laughed, not unkindly. "Nice try. Your first name's Bill."

"What? No, my name is Jim, Jim Kirk—"

But the nurse merely ushered him out of the room, and chatted about "Landel's Institute" as she led him to what was apparently the cafeteria. Kirk realized as he looked around that this was the same place he'd been last night, except well-lit and filled with people and activity. He didn't recognize anyone he passed, but that didn't necessarily mean much, considering that over four hundred people crewed the Enterprise.

Where the hell was his ship, anyway?

All attempts to get his questions answered continuously fell apart in the face of the nurse's benign smiles and obvious experience dealing with difficult men. He was about to try a pick-up line when he noticed a familiar figure sitting down at a table. There was something off about him — the incongruous smiley face on his gray clothes, maybe — but it was definitely Spock.

Tray of breakfast in hand, Kirk broke away from his nurse to talk to the half-Vulcan officer. "Am I glad to see you," he sighed. "Have you encountered anyone else from the crew? I met Chekov last night, or what I think was last night, but I'm not sure where he is now..."

Kirk trailed off as he finally took in the features of the man sitting across from him. And stared.

"What the hell happened to your eyebrows? They're as big as mine now! And... and your ears. Holy shit. What did they do to you?"