Dayshift 43: Courtyard [4th Shift]

[itstaichoutoyou.livejournal.com]

Fresh air, devoid of the foul stench of death, was quite welcome, along with the sun's warmth. It help to distract him from last night's events. The courtyard hadn't been his first choice, but he hadn't had much say in the matter when his nurse cruelly snatched him away from Hinamori, just when she started to warm up to him.

He sat down on the grass and laid against a tree overlooking the pond. The view was marred only by the grim memories of last night.

[Reserved for Faize]

Comments

[sewenteen-sir.livejournal.com]

Chekov stepped outside and tried to brush the glitter out of his hair. No feelings were drawn, but his nurse had confiscated the construction-paper covered in FTL equations. No matter, he could recreate them later.

But he was still reeling a little bit from this 'Dist' person's inability to read the primer and discover that alternate worlds and realities existed beyond the fabric of space. Stranger things had happened, Chekov supposed.

...'what are things made of' though? That was an insane question. If this place wasn't a prison, Chekov would have sworn Dist was insane.

[Free]

[haplesstracker.livejournal.com]

Scourge had been tempted to duck into the chapel again and get his head together after notCyclonus left. The lack of response to Galvatron's name had clinched it. Landel's had just picked up some poor deluded idiot, mindwiped him, and set him wandering off towards Scourge like a windup automaton. Nice to know that they cared that much, but Scourge was on to their tricks. He'd even gotten some chocolate bars out of it.

It had sounded so much like him, though...Scourge brushed the thought away. Not Cyclonus. Not. The tracker wandered out into the courtyard, the remaining two candy bars hidden in his pocket. If nothing worse happened today, he could probably survive the night.

Before him stood a man with a glittering head. For no apparent reason. Was it some strange biological trait or had he just dunked his head in a pot of sparkle for kicks? It was a harmless enough question.

"Nice hair," Scourge said, wandering past the confused-looking human. "That normal?"

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

Recluse didn't argue with the nurse that decided that he should take some time outdoors, although it was not without some regret. The moment he stepped outside, the sunlight nearly blinded him. Just when he had thought the photosensitivity issue was becoming relatively manageable.

He found a shaded spot beneath a tree and stood, waiting, watching the door and any that came through it. He was mildly curious about Megatron, although he did at some level represent competition as a mastermind, but he'd yet to form more than a few vague plans in his mind about what to do with regards to that.

[Reserved for a meeting of the Overlords!]

[oldestremnant.livejournal.com]

Now that he was convinced that Mother was still alive in this world (since Kadaj apparently was), Loz was filled with a renewed sense of hope. The last thing he felt like doing was crying.

The Remnant chose to go outside to the 'Courtyard', since he hadn't been outside all day. Once he was shown outside, Loz took a brief walk around to see what was out here. A few trees, a pond, and some benches was pretty much all there was to see, as far as he was concerned. Loz found himself a tree to sit under and began watching the clouds go by. He also glanced at the sun and wondered how long it would be until nighttime. He really wanted to play with someone or something.

[Free and limitless]

[queer-clockwork.livejournal.com]

The nurse would not stop chatting and Alex's responses did not seem to be of much help. He kept wondering when the torturing would start. Were they trying to give him a false sense of security? Make him believe he was somewhere but Hell, only to be thrown into a cauldron with the other sinners and prodded? Looking around him, the place was like a mixture of the prison and the hospital where they'd done the treatment on him.

"How about the Courtyard, Peter?" Peter. There she went again, with the name. He'd decided to play along for now, slightly wary of annoying the demons. So a 'bit of fresh air' as she gently put it would just mean more information. The radio system talked about doctors, but he could see none so far.

It was cold outside, colder than he remembered. Alex looked around. A pond, a trail, benches, walls. "Good old staja," he muttered under his breath. There was ivy around the walls, too. He wanted to go and try to climb, but doubted his demon charge would allow him. He'd seen enough of them walking around to know that they held the power here. Spotting a lonely looking man on a bench, Alex nonchalantly walked over. It was surprising how being dead made him feel so...alive.

"I see you look a little lost, brother. Now tell old Alex what your troubles be."

[nobleman]

Even though Guy's conversation with Ronixis hadn't done all that much to make him feel any better about the coming night, he was still glad that he'd gotten a chance to talk to the man when they didn't have undead creatures after them at every turn. Now that he thought of it -- had the man gotten a hold of the gun in the end? He hadn't remembered to ask, but he hoped that at least some good might have come out of that disaster last night.

He wasn't sure if he'd be able to do much during the night shift, and so the servant decided that he would take this last shift to get some fresh air. He might as well assume the worst and expect the infection to come back, in which case he wanted to have some peace and quiet before things got unreal again.

Strolling out onto the courtyard, he noted the lack of people with a slight frown before he found a bench under a shady tree. It was getting kind of cold since noon was long gone, and so he rubbed his hands over his arms for a moment before moving one hand to his chest. The bandages were still tight in place, but if he thought about the wound, it started to sting again.

Guy chewed a little too hard on his lip when he found himself remembering the feeling of Claude's teeth ripping at his skin. He had to say that being bit by a friend wasn't something he'd ever planned to experience in his lifetime, but Landel's had thrown a lot of firsts at him.

The blond out a sigh and glanced over toward the pond. Hopefully he'd set his eyes on someone who could make this last part of the day enjoyable.

[For Claude.]

[full-score.livejournal.com]

The shift had ended much earlier than Claude would have liked, which left him feeling really conflicted, to say the least. On one hand, part of him couldn't help but feel angry toward Landel for involving his family in his crazy schemes -- but on the other, he'd gotten a chance to see his mom, of all people, healthy and in good spirits.

Between his first mission in space, winding up on Expel, and getting pulled into the events that followed, she hadn't always been in the forefront of his mind, in all honesty. Oh, he'd think of her, of course -- sometimes when he'd wander through a particular inn alone at night while the rest of his friends were asleep, or when a battle against some monster was looking grim. But once he'd seen her face, heard her voice, and smelled her hair...that was when the fact he'd missed her -- really missed her -- hit him at full force.

Claude wondered what all this meant. Was she stuck in this world, forever brainwashed? Her husband was still alive, at least, which was obviously so much better for her than what her life before had dished out to her, and yet--ack, why was he even thinking this? They'd taken her real memories away! Of course she wasn't better off here.

...Right?

But now wasn't really the best time to think about all this, he told himself as he stepped out into the courtyard. Maybe the fresh, chilly air would help clear his head a little, and then he'd be in a better state of mind to talk to Guy about what had happened. Where was Guy right now, anyway? Claude hoped he hadn't gotten any unexpected visitors, because this was probably one conversation that he didn't need to put off.

Once he caught sight of a familiar figure sitting alone on a bench -- Guy, he realized -- Claude stopped in his tracks, briefly hesitating. This was the man he'd bitten and turned into a zombie. Just what was he supposed to say? Suddenly, any apology or excuse he could think of just sounded inadequate to him, and his mind drew a blank on how he should even greet him.

Still, Claude knew he had to man up to what he'd done. He owed Guy that much, at least. Giving a nervous swallow, he finally strode over to the bench and settled down beside the older man.

"Hey." It would have been easy to just stare out onto the pond instead of looking at Guy, but Claude made himself face him anyway. "How're you feeling?"

[fshrfrndsnotfud.livejournal.com]

Dory asked to be shown the water. The nurse only complied because it would be good to get the new patient outside. The size of the small pond disappointed her, but Dory didn't say anything to the nurse. She just practiced using her fingers by pulling leaves off a nearby bush and throwing them toward the water one by one. She'd rather throw herself, but it didn't look deep enough for something so big as a human body.

[for Lenny, I do believe]

[otnemememento.livejournal.com]

[Augh, I TOTALLY overlooked this thread somehow. D: Forgive me for my tardiness!]

Leonard stood idly for a moment, watching as Anise was collected by one of the nurses and sorting through his own thoughts. He he reached into his pockets, feeling their contents: a book and some photographs. He opened his journal and made a few notes for later. I need a way to better organize these- one where I can find what I need to know more quickly.

The nurses along the wall made no effort to come for him, so Leonard decided to move, hoping to get a better view of the rest of the area. A pond? Nice touch. He spotted a wheelchair-bound woman sitting near the water's edge, plucking leaves from a nearby bush.

"I doubt that's healthy for the plant," he said as he approached her.

[faile.livejournal.com]

After speaking with Adelheid, Faize remained in the courtyard for some time, politely declining his nurse's offer to escort him elsewhere. He felt a strange sort of envy for the people of this planet, being able to live under a sun so young and gentle. It was difficult to estimate precisely from the information he had, but Earth certainly had billions of years of life ahead of it. Unless, of course, it came to meet the same fate as either of the Earths Faize knew...

It was rather tragic, when he thought about it.

As his attention returned to the land in front of him, Faize noticed what seemed to be a young boy, looking less than content, seating himself by a tree. A child, it appeared. Perhaps he wanted to be alone, but Faize could think of few youths who preferred solitude over company. Even Lymle, who did everything she could to be difficult for Faize, seemed oddly opposed to his leaving her, on that last day they saw one another.

Well, there was no harm in offering his company. Faize stood from the bench and made his way over to the boy, stopping a few feet away from him.

"Pardon me. Would it be a bother to you if I were to join you here?" he asked in a way that may have been considered excessively formal.

[itstaichoutoyou.livejournal.com]

Hitsugaya didn't appreciate the intrusion of his private time, but he knew moping around was hardly healthy or productive. The young man who approached him seemed well mannered, a plus in Hitsugaya's eyes, so there was no logical reason to turn him away.

"Go ahead," he said in a dignified and authoritative manner unfitting his youthful appearance. His tone was more akin to that of a shinigami captain. "I'm Captain Hitsugaya Toshiro of the Gotei 13's 10th Division, and you are?"

[never-learns.livejournal.com]

It was immensely tempting to just go and hide in another room somewhere or maybe even ask to go back to his own room for the rest of the day, rather than try to face Aya after what had happened yesterday. Schuldig seemed close to falling apart, Aya hated him, Ken was, well, he didn't know but it all came down to none of this being good. The day just needed to end. The only upside was that there had been no visit from Cliff and even that left him with mixed feelings. On the one hand, he hadn't nearly had a breakdown, on the other hand, the thought that maybe Cliff had forgotten him or didn't want to waste his time anymore was particularly painful. It would be so much easier to just go with him.

He found a free bench in the courtyard, as far from the nurses as he could find, and sat down, stretching his legs out in front of him and closing his eyes, catching the last of the afternoon sun.

[For Aya]

[briar-thorns.livejournal.com]

"You want to sit over there, Kevin?" For the fiftheth time in the past ten minutes, Aya swore death on this woman who was currently, all that was keeping him upright and moving. Whatever drugs they'd given him had been potent. Aya hardly took painkillers when he was injured. Being sedated was a completely never level of things he did not want.

"Alright, just-" Aya shook free, moving slowly- almost too carefully- those last couple of steps to the bench and fixing the nurse with a glare. He was lucky that the bench Yohji had taken was up against one of the walls of the courtyard because he was sagging back against it without giving his body permission.

His arm hurt as everything that had started to heal had been undone with the little stunt he'd pulled after seeing...

He didn't like this. He didn't like it at all. Aya could feel that part of him was still reeling from seeing her but he couldn't...get at it. It didn't matter as much. All he could focus on was the odd weightless feeling he had.

"Yohji." Aya's day hadn't been much better. He wouldn't mind it to end about now either.

[sheisthecause.livejournal.com]

So Domino wasn't coming. Until the fourth shift announcement sounded and the nurse came into the Sun Room to ask her where she wanted to spend the rest of the day, Meche hadn't realized just how tense she'd been. Another week before she'd have to worry about seeing that smirk again. Maybe she should really quit fretting over the zombies and try to look on the bright side: as far as the walking dead went, she'd met a lot worse than those things.

She tried to stall for a minute while she decided what to do. She didn't have any particular plans for the rest of the day. Everyone seemed to be more or less all right after last night. What Meche really would have liked to do was go to the infirmary, but of course that wasn't an option. The only other task that came to mind was her promise to Senna that she'd try to check up on Phoenix, but with everyone so spread out today, the chances of finding him were--

Wait, wasn't that him coming through on his way toward the cafeteria?

Meche was pretty sure the only destination that way at this time of day would be the courtyard. She should probably stop to get one of those awful sweatshirts, but right then it felt more important to keep up with him--if it wasn't Phoenix after all, she could always go back inside and read. She hurried off in the same direction and finally managed to catch up with him at the outside door.

[for the Big Damn Leader himself]

[pleading-ngri.livejournal.com]

Phoenix had been pulled out of visiting before the announcement went up, and found himself spending five minutes sitting inside the door to the nurse's station, getting the bandage on his elbow changed. He'd been surprised to see several neat black stitches holding the wound closed, heavy-knotted and poking out little black antennae at odd angles. He hadn't thought the wound was that deep, though it explained why he still didn't feel up to running again any time soon. In conjunction with the angry red skin and various fascinating shades of fluid that the nurse produced just by cleaning the injury, it also explained why the entire area still hurt so much.

Somewhere between gauze and another round of painkillers, though, his nurse cheerfully informed him that she'd heard that his old roommate was feeling better, and wasn't that wonderful? Before he could weasel any details out of her other than that the doctors thought he was almost ready to leave the infirmary, she shooed him out into the hall again, giggling about how sweet it was that he was still so concerned about Mr. Plana. Phoenix tried to brush off the indignity of being all but patted on the head in response to a serious investigation, then sighed, heading for the courtyard. Fresh air sounded like just the thing, with the smell of betadine and pus still clinging in his sinuses.

On his way out the door, he heard someone trotting up behind him, and thoughtlessly held the door open a moment longer. He didn't look back to see who it was, still mulling over the announcement and Maya and a dozen other things. The fact that he was being approached by Mercedes, of all people, didn't sink in until she was practically next to him. He blinked, only laughing slowly, stuck by the symmetry of the situation. "Second time in 24 hours," he noted, smile turned a little wry.

[demon-beast.livejournal.com]

Ugh, her stomach hurt even worse after the nurse had made her eat something. Stomach Aches were unpleasant. She'd forgotten how much since they'd always had dis-aches before, but ugh. Too much flesh too quickly and the stuff in the cafeteria that had made it roil unpleasantly. She wondered if Roland was feeling the same. They'd eaten a lot last night, lost in the scent of flesh and blood far too much to care about the prospect of being in agony the next day.

She didn't want to move, but the scent of food in the cafeteria was making her feel sick. Fresh air was better and she stumbled out into the courtyard, quickly finding a spot to sit down in, leaning back against the wall in the shade and closing her eyes. She cursed this place and their lack of restorative spells and medicines.

[vayu-pavana.livejournal.com]

Gale was not even remotely in a good mood.

Being confused, not comprehending a situation was something he greatly disliked. It set him on edge, even more so being in a place that reminded him of a Karma Society building. No one could give him answers, would give him answers. From what he'd been able to discern from simple observation it seems that there are a number of people as out of place as he was.

His first goal was to locate his comrades, then they could figure out what was going on together. Too many unanswered questions, but now was not the time for overt action. Not yet. Not alone.

Wandering through the courtyard, Gales eyes dart around looking for a bright, familiar color. The people outside of The Junkyard were generally dull in color, leaving the Embryon to stand out like beacons among them. So the shock of pink hair caught his eye the moment it came within his field of vision.

"Argilla!" He started towards her, picking up the pace the more he realized there was something wrong.

[reanalyze.livejournal.com]

And out into the fresh air once more.

The day was progressing stranger and stranger. Citan was simply storing away the information for now, not bothering to try and make connections when there simply wasn't enough information to make any. Besides, other things were still weighing on his mind.

Patience was, as they said, a virtue. And he could be patient. It was a lesson he'd had to learn, of course, but he had. He was a grown man, not a hot shot teenager any longer.

The fresh air was nice. He had to admit, he'd grown fond of mountainous climates since his time in Lahan. There was something soothing about the air at those heights. He took a seat and breathed deeply, hands folded in his lap.

Perhaps a bit of meditation would be just the key to set him right...

[Free!]

[colonel-badass.livejournal.com]

Well, it had been a remarkably quiet day thus far, although perhaps that had been out of some tacit apology for the fun-filled night before. He hadn't had much difficulty with the zombies - perhaps the title of Necromancer was good for something other than blatant intimidation - but the fact remained that the events of last night had clearly been an unexpected aberration, as were the scripted announcements of today. He hadn't been around to know personally what was the norm and what wasn't, of course, but between Edgeworth's notes and the shock people were expressing on the bulletin board, it wasn't hard to tell that the institute had been shaking up the status quo ever since he'd first arrived.

On the one hand, that was a useful equalizer; regardless of how long other patients had been around, they were currently no more certain of where they stood than Jade was. On the other hand...clearly none of them were standing anywhere that they would ever conceivably want to be, and it also made the information Edgeworth had given him on the normal operations of the place less than useful.

Also troubling was the fact that Jade had been fighting the undead for two nights in a row - which, incidentally, happened to be exactly the number of nights he'd been at the institute. It was starting to become an ironic trend; if he found himself up against zombies tonight, he'd be forced to reclassify it as a pattern(and, even more disturbingly, wonder if perhaps the institute wasn't deliberately targeting him somehow).

Truthfully, the day being quiet wasn't all that helpful; he was being plenty of quiet in which to think about unsettling information he had that wasn't complete enough for conclusions. A distraction might actually have been more useful.

[For Dist the Runny~]

[world-makeover.livejournal.com]

Well, at least Dist was being allowed to wander around where he liked, although it was obvious that he was still being closely monitored. It would have been flattering if it weren't so annoying, and if it hadn't been obvious that everyone was getting the same treatment; Dist was certain that he was far more dangerous and intelligent than the rest of the people being kept in the place, and as such he should have been treated with more attention, not that he was going to point it out to anyone.

Getting some fresh air sounded like a good idea to him; he hadn't actually been outside in a long time, and while he typically preferred to remain inside(where his projects were), he was getting tired of low ceilings and close walls. Someone as beautiful as him wasn't made to be kept locked up.

He was a bit surprised at the size of the courtyard, though granted he'd only really seen two rooms and as such had no idea how large the building actually was. Despite how large the place was, Dist managed to zero in on one person almost immediately.

Of course Jade was here. That stupid lying woman would have to be dealt with once he figured out what was going on, and if anyone would know what was going on it would be Jade. So, without giving it another thought, Dist crossed the courtyard in a slight huff and moved to stand in front of Jade, his arms crossed and his expression sour.

"What the hell kind of joke is this?!"

[shallweplay.livejournal.com]

Today had been filled entirely too much with irritating blondes, thought Ophelia as she made her way out into the fresh air of the Courtyard. There had been Kio in the Chapel, the damned Number One herself at Brunch, and that royal girl with the red eyes, Hime. Two of them thought themselves above her while the other was looking a little more suspicious of her now than she would have preferred. Oh well. It's not as though there isn't another gullible assistant I can find to help me with the board if Kio turns on me. Just means that I'll be able to have my fun with him sooner than anticipated, as well, she thought, trying to look on the bright side as she imagined Kio's insides splattered all over his outsides in beautiful sprays of blood.

She leaned in the shade against a tree as she might have against her sword in her own world, deciding to focus on planning her moves for the coming night rather than attempting to harass another patient. She knew for certain that she wanted to make her way up to the Pharmacy again, and to make it there before the end of night caught up with her as it had before. Disappointing as it sounded, that meant that she would have no time to stop and play with the likes of the delightful ninja turtle as she had the other night. She would need to focus on getting to the room quickly and avoiding combat with any creatures if it could be helped, even if they were fun like the zombies had been. That would be easy enough to do if she reigned herself in, but there was still one problem: she would need some assistance in separating useless drugs from the ones she was after. Who to rope into doing that for me? she wondered.

[Unknowingly waiting for Sechs]

[sixth-attack.livejournal.com]

Not in the slightest mood to be stuffed back into the institute, Sechs found himself wandering out into the courtyard. Its amount of scenery and trees set it apart from the recreational field that Sechs had just stormed away from. Despite the monotone advice from the staff, no amount of fresh air did anything to curb his mood or clear his head in anyway. No matter where he was, Sechs felt like shit.

Twice today he stopped himself from engaging a violent rumble with someone! Twice!! It was both a torment and a miracle that any prevention of Sechs' beloved pastime had even happened! It was amazing that he was able to halt himself before landing any fists into someone's face; his minuscule patience must have been growing or something... However, it still didn't change the fact that the rattled android still felt lousy inside. Even now the idea of practicing his battle skills to get his mind off things had lost its appeal. It would seem that there was a first for everything in this blasted hellhole...

Wanting nothing more than to glower and brew in his juices without any interruption, Sechs chose a seemingly secluded area within the shade of a tree. Any nurses who may be out to screw with Sechs' muddled mind were a tolerable distance away from his elected spot, making it a desirable choice for him.

Yet when Sechs noisily tramped to the shadiest side of the tree did he find himself mistaken over the solitude he thought would be present there. A lone woman leaning against the bark had already occupied the peaceful space. The Replica halted as he quietly cursed under his breath. Crap... Someone's already here... Eying the blond stranger, Sechs sensed that she was deep in contemplation. Unsure if the stranger had noticed his approach, Sechs figured he’d go and sit against the other side of the tree; hoping she would just keep on pondering while Sechs could do his own set of brooding undisturbed.

With a sigh that came out as a low growl, Sechs shuffled over to the opposite side of the tree trunk and then heavily sat himself down against it. The sullen scowl was still plastered on his face as he returned to his miserable thoughts.

[vayu-pavana.livejournal.com]

Gale had only been there for a short time, as far as he knew. His world's sky had been a constant gray cloud cover with an ever present rainfall. Then a dying world with a black sun and sick looking sky.

His time had so far been spent searching for his comrades, none of which could be found and that was troubling him. He understood 'hospital' and 'doctor,' but given his recent experience with such things before following his comrades to the sun didn't leave him with a very good impression.

The when the green haired man found his way to the courtyard and stood under the yellow sun, holding a leaf in his fingers and looking at it as if he were trying to decipher the nature of it's existence. His mind told him "plant" but that was as far his mind would allow for the moment.

Gale had never seen a leaf before, and it just proved to be a momentary distraction. It fascinated him, the way it resembled the thin, flightless 'wings' that draped along his other body and he wondered if there was any meaning to it, filing the thought away for now.

[free]

[broken-babylon.livejournal.com]

It seemed like late autumn here had nearly the same weather as the dead of winter in Tokyo, and Subaru wondered if he would be here to experience the kind of snow he'd only ever read about or seen in movies and on TV. For now, though, the weather was quite comfortable for him, as long as he bundled up. He got cold easily, because of his weight, but it was still nice in its own way--easier to deal with than the heat of a Tokyo summer, anyway.

So far it had been a difficult day, even though it had been a quiet one--Hinasaki-san had reminded him so much of himself after he lost Hokuto, except that she was a better and stronger person than he ever was, and talking with Fai-san was always a curious sort of mix of things that Subaru didn't quite know what to make of it.

He hadn't seen Hokuto yet today, though, which worried him.

[Falis, then Hokuto]

[himetsuru.livejournal.com]

Falis had chosen to get some fresh air, hoping that the crispness would clear the last bits of the hangover out of her system. It had been a long time since she'd had one last this long, but Hokuto did claim she'd drank an awful lot. Add that on top of the blood she'd lost and the way this place fucked with her strength and she guessed it made sense that it'd fucking linger.

Once outside, Falis' eyes fell upon Hok-- No, that was Subaru. Oh good, she'd gotten to the point where even from this distance and with her feeling like shit, she could tell them apart. It was a good thing he was there; Falis needed to talk to him anyways. She didn't want to talk to him, but after last night and with what she could remember from the end, she had this odd need...

The hunter limped over to where Subaru was, holding her right arm close to her body, and silently hoped he wouldn't comment on how much she looked like she'd gotten into a fight with a rabid pack of blood wolves. At least the cuts on her face were superficial.

"Oi. You and me gotta talk," she said once she got close. Unlike the last time they talked, or in general, she was quite subdued. It was going to take her a bit to get past the slaughter she committed the previous night.