DAY 45: Sun Room (Second Shift)

[violent-varmint.livejournal.com]

There was something fishy going on in the Institute today. All over the bulletin board, people were talking about having "woken up", having been "cured"... and it seemed as though ZEX was one of them. Tanaka wouldn't have recognized the note at all if it hadn't been signed - his wording, his handwriting, even his name had changed - and a part of him still wondered if it had been an imposter, trying to pull the wool over the Captain's allies.

But it'd be easy enough to find out the truth. Whoever it was had agreed to meet him, and Tanaka was waiting for him just outside the cafeteria doors, ready to catch him as he came from breakfast. If "Max" was an imposter, then he'd discover the identity of a hidden enemy. And if he was really ZEX...

...well, he'd have a whole new set of things to worry about.

[for a spoiled rich brat brainwashed Admiral]

Comments

[degozaruyo.livejournal.com]

Kenshin was exhausted, physically and emotionally. His only consolation (which offered him no comfort whatsoever) was that Yuffie's "condition" was not an isolated phenomenon. Whatever was happening to the patients here, it was fairly widespread. He was just grateful it hadn't yet touched Kaoru or himself.

But how did they have until it did?

With a frustrated sigh, the rurouni collapsed onto a couch in the Sun Room, trying (in vain) to get his thoughts in order. He just had to hope that this--whatever it was--would pass eventually, leaving all of the "changed" patients back to their old selves. The last time he'd seen both Sanosuke and Yahiko before they'd disappeared, they had both been decidedly themselves. Kenshin could only pray that this didn't mean that Yuffie--or any of the others--would and up vanishing.

A faint mewing tore him from his thoughts, and the rurouni looked down to see a kitten winding itself around his legs. Absently, he picked it up and started to play with it. It was certainly a good diversion from his troubled thoughts.

[For "Yuuko"]

[tostepforward.livejournal.com]

It had been nice to feel normal again, or as normal as she could feel with the awareness of what she'd been doing and saying for the last while. But that feeling had evaporated after talking to Julian at breakfast, and now Yuuko was feeling inexplicably guilty. Because she was getting better and would be leaving him behind? Or maybe she was just clinging too much to her delusions. If so, that needed to be corrected - she had to get back to her life, her real life.

She shook her head once, firmly, trying to dismiss that lingering guilt, but instead her attention fell upon a rather familiar shock of red hair. Oh. Him. It didn't make all that much sense now for her to have such an intense hatred for the man; with that hair it wasn't as though he really could be Japanese or anything, much less a Choushuu assassin. And even if she'd only dreamed that part about stabbing him she still...well, felt bad about it. Just because she'd fixated on him, or something.

Well, even though she hadn't seen a response from "Robin," she could still at least apologize to one person she'd wronged in the past. Although she should probably be a little careful about it, this time. It wouldn't do to upset him if he was still clinging to his own delusions.

She moved over toward where he sat, and once close enough politely asked, "I beg your pardon, but...would you mind company?"

[wantsyourzex.livejournal.com]

Well, Asch had mostly taken the news pretty well, all things considered. It was probably hard to find out your friend was sane again while you were still crazy. Poor guy.

Tanaka, on the other hand, might be a different story, and honestly Max was a little worried. They'd been the last two sharing the same delusion since Caleb had left and Fwiffo and Talana had disappeared (probably released, although he'd never found out for sure). Tanaka probably wouldn't be happy about being left behind by Max either.

Well, it wasn't like he'd exactly wanted to wake up in the first place. He'd rather be ZEX than Max, but he didn't really have a choice now. Not unless he had another breakdown or something. Hopefully they could just talk things over reasonably like adults and it'd all work out fine.

Even so, Max played with his fingers a bit nervously as he left the cafeteria. Probably nothing would happen, probably...

He started when he caught sight of Tanaka, then laughed nervously in an effort to cover it up. No need for him to get jumpy or anything, nothing was going to happen. "Ah, sorry, you startled me a little."

[violent-varmint.livejournal.com]

The moment ZEX entered the room, Tanaka could tell something was wrong. The most obvious was that he'd clearly had some kind of unusual medical care overnight; whether this was the result of a monster or something else, stitches on the skull and a bandage over one eye weren't exactly normal accessories.

But that wasn't the thing that bothered Tanaka the most. No, what worried him was how ZEX was carrying himself: smoothly. Comfortably. Like a human, or at least like someone used to being vertebrate. And if that wasn't enough, ZEX had jumped when he noticed him waiting. No, not just jumped... apologized. The Admiral may have been many things, but apologetic might as well have not been in his vocabulary, from what Tanaka had seen.

So this wave of "sanity" had enveloped even ZEX. Tanaka... wasn't sure what to think of that. Brow furrowed, he muttered, "Do not concern yourself," and motioned ZEX over towards one of the couches. "I have a feeling we have much to discuss... Max."

[jokers-wildcard.livejournal.com]

[unknowingly waiting for Sechs]

Normally, Harley didn't pay attention to most of what was going on around her. Not that she was dumb, she just didn't care about whatever most people considered important. But even she was able to tell something funny was going on around here with the people. Everyone was so serious today; melancholy and lifeless sacks of flesh, like the kind of stuff you find outside. People tended to be grumpy or angry or mopey here, no doubt about that, but this was... different. She didn't like it. In fact, it was making her really uncomfortable.

There were only a few places in the whole entire world she felt she could be really 'at home,' and that was either with the boss or in an asylum. Both had their ups and downs but they still felt real to her. Today things were feeling... fake and far away. Like a dream. That sensation was getting to her. Where was the life in here? Why did it go away?

She plopped herself down into one of the couches, fidgeting and looking around the room restlessly. Behind closed lips, she was gritting her teeth. This was ridiculous. She might do something desperate if the rest of the day went this way. And she'd rather get a needle in her arm than put up with this. (Okay, not really, but it was close.)

[sixth-attack.livejournal.com]

Refusing to be stuffed into a boring room full of even more boring books, Sechs was escorted to the sun room by a particularly stern nurse. Ignoring the nurse's scolding over his outburst in the cafeteria, Sechs angrily limped off from his uniformed tormentor in search of a lone corner to brood in. He had more important things to furiously think over than listen to the stupid nurse's lecturing.

Damn that bastard! Fine! That big idiot Teisel can just keep on pretending to be some lowlife named Todd! Sechs didn't care! He didn't care about anyone! Especially someone who would lie like that to him!

Yet no matter how forcefully Sechs confirmed to himself that his conversation with Teisel/Todd didn't matter, what happened between them still bothered him to no end. Could it be possible that Teisel was sincere about being "confused" and that everyone else including him were crazy-- No! It was Teisel's problem, not Sechs'! Yet despite it all Sechs still couldn't shake off that deep feeling of betrayal and disappointment. So much for battling Teisel's Blitzkrieg...

After a moment of glaring at the notes posted up on the board (stupid nurses censoring all the good stuff...) Sechs found himself restlessly limping around the room until his leg ached too much for him to stand. Growling and cursing under his breath, Sechs slouched over to the nearest couch he could find and sat himself down with a disgruntled groan. As he continued stewing over what had happened over breakfast, the vexed Replica slumped forward on his seat in deep thought, sending his dark hair to hang past his scowling face.

Why did everything have to be so damn complicated here?!

[whos-da-man.livejournal.com]

[closed to Rey]

Junpei headed from his interesting meeting with Sho into the Sun Room. A quick look around showed him no short blonde vampires, so he let out a long breath and then wandered to the bulletin board. After a moment of reading over the notes, he pouted. No one other than that anonymous dud had responded to his call for mobile suit pilots. Rey didn't count since Junpei already knew him.

This totally blew. How was he going to learn more and get better insight into where the suits might be if the other pilots didn't talk to him?

Turning back to the rest of the room, Junpei fiddled with the collar of his shirt, pulling it up a bit more in an attempt to hide the bandage on his neck. Stupid vampire. Well, maybe he could will a pilot to present himself.

[denied-future.livejournal.com]

Well, that'd certainly been an interesting way to start off the day, Rey decided. Though if the intercom was any indication, it seemed Soma's sudden 'recovery' wasn't exclusive to simply her. Frankly, he was just glad that he himself wasn't one of the victims. He refused to be anyone but Rey, even though he didn't have a purpose anymore. Even though the doctor was right when he said that there wasn't anyone left who cared about him--

--And Rey really needed to let that go (so much for concluding that it meant nothing). Such a thing had always come easily to him before, but this time, not quite. It wasn't even the remarks about him being worth nothing more than an experiment that got to him--he could brush those words off easily enough. It was the fake Gil's words ("you betrayed my trust") that hurt the hardest. They brought down that same sense of overpowering guilt he'd felt back on the Messiah, when he pulled the trigger and watched the man fall, which was no doubt the doctor's intention. It wasn't even Gil, Rey knew, but what was said was still clear in his mind.

"Then you're an obstacle that needs to be removed."

There was no point, since he couldn't exactly ask the man now, but Rey wondered if that was how Gil would truly feel if he were still alive. That line of thought just made him feel worse though, leaving him in no mood to hold a conversation with anyone. Unfortunately, his nurse was apparently still insistent that he get out and socialize, forcing him to go over to someone familiar. Junpei wasn't a person Rey wanted to talk to when like this, but he didn't seem to have much of a choice.

"... How's the search?" he asked.

[mizuhomaiden.livejournal.com]

[closed to 'Violet']

Sheena left the cafeteria in a hurry. She didn't understand what was going on with Raine and was way too upset to deal with anything. She quickly ducked into the bathroom and splashed some water on her face, wincing a bit at the stinging sensation that accompanied it thanks to the slashes on her face. At least when she blotted the wetness away, she didn't really look like she'd been crying. Her eyes were still a tinge red and someone really perceptive might pick up on that, but she looked better. More composed. At least she was keeping the freakout internal for the moment. Something terrible had happened to Raine and Sheena didn't know what to do about it.

Leaving the bathroom, the ninja decided to avoid the library as clearly Raine would head there, even as Jeanne. Besides, Sheena needed to put things in motion to keep her friend safe tonight when the doors unlocked if that didn't knock Raine back into being herself. With the new restrictions, it took a bit, but then ninja posted a note (http://community.livejournal.com/damned_bulletin/594379.html) for Harley, hoping hr friend was still who she normally was. Hell, Sheena would be okay if Harley had to tie Raine up to keep her from wandering out come nighttime before the ninja got there.

Sheena felt a tiny bit better having done that. She still had no idea what to think about the whole thing. She couldn't believe Raine refused to acknowledge Iselia. Sheena wasn't even from the small Sylvarant town, but she knew how much it meant to Raine. To call it a figment of her imagination...

The ninja wrapped her arms around herself and bit her bottom lip. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but she wanted comfort. She wanted something familiar. She wanted something that would make her feel...

She wanted her youkai.

[mind-the-sukima.livejournal.com]

Had she been aware of this wish and had she been Yukari, she might have found the mixed blessing she would be presenting to be amusing. But seeing as she was neither, Violet simply wandered out into the Sun Room feeling ambivalent. On the one hand, she was glad that she was feeling better today, but it was the same clarity she had gained that presented her with the ability to evaluate her past actions, both since arriving her and before that. It was... a little embarrassing. She knew she was irresponsible sometimes and fully believed in having fun, but given the situation, it was a little much.

At least talking with David, she knew she wasn't the only one regretting their actions. It had been good to hear it from someone in a similar situation. Now though, she just wanted to sit down and sort things out in her mind. Going over to one of the couches, she flopped down on it and leaned on one of the arms, chin in her hand as she stared at nothing in particular. This was quite the mess she was in...

[idontregret.livejournal.com]

Cats. There were cats all over the sun room. Heath stared at all the bundles of fur for a while, wondering how he'd managed to walk through the area as many times as he had without noticing this. Sam would have thought it was adorable.

Despite the large breakfast he'd had, his stomach still felt empty. All he could do for now was ignore it. First chance he got he was going to have to approach one of the doctors about it - definitely not something he was looking forward to, but otherwise he'd just suffer further for his stubbornness.

He walked slowly over to an empty sofa and flopped down on it so that his face was buried into a throw pillow. For now, he was just going to tune out the rest of the world and hopefully get some sleep while he was at it. Maybe he wouldn't dream of demons for once.

[free]

[roger-hug.livejournal.com]

(hope you don't mind?)

Bridget had missed out on breakfast, but Lunch wasn't too far off so that would have to do. The library sounded boring today and he decided that the Sun Room was the better place to be. After all, it had kitties.

Scooping up the first one to come and greet him, the bounty hunter flopped down on the floor next to a couch with a sleeping man on it, trying to be quiet, and started to play with the kitten, occasionally softly talking to it.

"Oh! Good kitty. Do you like to have your tummy rubbed?"

[alwayscomesback.livejournal.com]

Sokka had thankfully been allowed to spend some extra time in his room before he'd been forced into greeting the day. It might have been because he'd asked his nurse why someone had lit her on fire, but he wasn't going to argue with the extra time to feel better. After last night.... what had happened last night? He felt like he'd eaten that cactus from back in the Earth Kingdom, only this time he'd felt more sick than loopy. He remembered being in the office, but after that? Nadda.

The Sun Room spun a bit as he was led in and his nurse was nice enough to get him to a couch before he could fail to get there on his own. As she left, he gave a floppy wave after. "Bye nurse-lady," he drawled with a grin on his face.

[fuzzy-diablo.livejournal.com]

Man, what had he gotten himself into?

Someone wanted to meet him for whatever reason, and Kurt was as nervous as he'd been since he'd arrived and found out that he turned into the fuzzy terror at night. Maybe he'd feel better about the whole thing if he didn't have this nagging feeling that the person who wanted to see him already knew him. Like Peter had, and Steve.

He couldn't worry about that now. It was next shift, he could mentally prepare himself now... by chasing a kitten around the room.

"Here kitty, kitty!" Kurt called, taking two large strides and scooping up the kitten into his hands. It didn't seem too pleased at being chased, but Kurt gave it a small scratch behind the ears and it seemed happy enough.

Kurt looked over at the person flopped on the couch, waving after his nurse. He looked like he was... well... high.

"Hey man," he said cautiously, holding the cat in one hand. "You okay?"

[gald_digger]

When Anise woke up, she could feel tears in her eyes. She felt like she just had a bad dream, but she couldn't remember it. She only wished she could say the same for the waking nightmare she went through last night.

Guy was dead. Through her hellish stay at Landel's, the one person who had always been there for her... was gone. Anise didn't know what to think. It just didn't seem real. Her wound from that night had vanished too, without leaving so much as a light scar. It really was like it never happened... but the memory was much too fresh, and too painful, for Anise to believe that for even a second.

The girl wiped the tears from her eyes, and like she did every morning, she shoved her nightshift gear into the usual hiding places. Her hands trembled as she did. The pointed shard she brought in case she needed to use it against Sync... The time of need had come and gone, and she never once reached for it. Even when Sync had his hands around her throat, she didn't have the resolve to try to kill him. Maybe if she hadn't been so reluctant, it wouldn't have come to this...

Anise wrapped her arms around her body and held them there for a minute, waiting for the shaking to stop. The sound of the Head Doctor's voice on the intercom didn't help. That bastard... After everything he did, he was already back to his despicable, cheery act! Anise wanted to kill him more than ever.

"Oh Dolores, you're awake now?"

Anise bristled at the sound of the nurse's voice. She clutched Tokunaga close to her chest, hoping to get some comfort from it. She wasn't in the mood for playing along with the Institute's games today. Really, she wasn't in the mood for talking to anyone. Without a word, she just regarded the woman with a wary look.

"How did you sleep?" The nurse inquired with a concerned look. "You were tossing and turning when I came to get you earlier this morning..." Did that mean she missed breakfast? That was fine with her. Anise didn't feel like eating.

"...I'm fine," she muttered, not looking at the woman.

The nurse didn't look satisfied with that answer, but she didn't push the subject. Instead, she smiled gently at the girl. "Everyone's going to the library now. Do you want to come? Or would you rather go to the Sun Room?"

"I don't want to go anywhere."

This made the woman pause, but it did nothing to dim her smile. "Oh, don't be like that. You can't stay cooped up in your room all day, can you? Come on." Anise could have fought against the nurse's gentle nudging, but she didn't have the strength for it. With the woman's hand on her shoulder, she was guided out of her room, through the halls, and to the Sun Room. Once there, she shrugged the hand away and retreated to a corner in the room, finding a couch that faced the wall.

Still gripping Tokunaga tightly against her chest, the girl curled up on one side of the couch. She wasn't crying anymore, but she didn't know if she could face anyone without starting again.

[for Claude]

[full-score.livejournal.com]

The remainder of breakfast had been spent alone -- well, as alone as anyone could get during the day, plus the added bonus of the orderlies' hawk-eyed watch. One of the nurses had put a new tray of food in front of him, but he didn't touch it. With the way his stomach was churning it was obvious he wouldn't have been able to hold anything down. Not that anything sounded appetizing today. Even if it had, it seemed wrong to let himself enjoy a soothing, warm meal.

Especially when he thought about how Guy and Dias would never be able to eat anything again.

Hearing the Head Doctor's announcement and the pride that rang so clearly in his voice only made Claude's blood boil again. Martin Landel. Once he was through with Sync, Claude told himself, that bastard was next on his list. He didn't expect it to be easy by any means. Perhaps it'd be more grueling that his battle against the Ten Wise Men, but he had to keep telling himself it would be possible to have his revenge, to put an end to this madness. Focusing on that distant hope was the only thing keeping himself from completely losing his composure right then, and some part of him was grateful for it.

He could hear the nurse lecturing him as they walked out of the cafeteria together, but Claude's attention drifted away from her and onto the captives who'd gathered in the sun room. Many of the faces were of people he'd seen in passing, and yet his own gaze scarcely glossed over them, as if he was unable to fully take in their presence. Suddenly Claude felt tired at the prospect of having to socialize under constant supervision. More than anything he felt like he needed some time to himself so he could properly grieve over what had happened last night. But of course he couldn't even be provided that sort of luxury here.

"--don't you find a book?" The nurse's voice suddenly filtered into his thoughts, and Claude turned back toward her. "The library should be okay for you so long as you don't get into anymore trouble."

"No," he answered, perhaps a little more firmly than he would have liked. There were memories of words exchanged over old, musty science-fiction classics that Claude didn't want to recall today. Somehow, though, that realization made his voice quieter, though rather strained as well. "N-no, I'm...I'll be okay in here."

They parted ways, and he moved to grab a seat on one of the couches before someone else did. Once he caught sight of the girl curled up on the couch, however, he grew still, his heart twisting in his chest.

Oh, Anise...

He'd been so wrapped up in his own grief and anger that he'd barely given any consideration to someone who'd obviously suffered more than he had at Sync's hands. No doubt Anise had relied on Guy for support within Landel's walls. They'd known each other before their abduction and were good friends, after all. Not only that, but Anise was young -- too young for an awful place like this.

This wasn't the time for him to want to isolate himself. The failure to stop Sync from hurting Anise rested squarely on his shoulders now.

Gently, Claude settled down onto the other side of the couch, far enough to where he wasn't crowding the girl, but close enough to where his presence would be felt. He didn't say anything just yet, deciding it would be best not to force a potentially unwanted conversation onto her right away.

[akarusa.livejournal.com]

Instinct told Hokuto not to press Senna too hard right now, which was a big part of why she was more confused after the conversation ended. Was that her evil twin or something? It'd make about as much sense as anything else!

She did have one idea, though--check Senna's spirit threads. Obviously she couldn't do it herself, but she knew who'd be willing to.

[[For the littlest vice-captain.]]

[hajike-tobiume.livejournal.com]

Momo was passing through the Sun Room, chatting with her nurse, when she caught sight of Hokuto. She gave the girl a smile before turning her attention back to the woman beside her. It seemed it was going to take a bit longer before the shinigami would be given a new journal, the woman stating something about making sure they had enough in stock. Did that mean she should expect a new group of patients soon?

Nodding to the woman, Momo turned from her to see what Hokuto was up to.

[ruthless-hunter.livejournal.com]

When the nurse asked him if he wanted to go to the library or "sun room", Lance chose the latter. He'd never really been much of a reader. Only things he ever read were car magazines, the newspaper, and once in a while he would dig out some old Playboys he kept in his closet. He'd only been in a library once, at an old girlfriend's insistance, and immediatly found it boring.

First thing Lance did was go look at that bulletin board. He'd stopped by this room on the way to breakfast and had looked at the board. He figured it might give him a clue as to what was going on. Lance had ended up replying to some post asking who was "feeling sane" today. Checking in on the message, it looked like he'd gotten a reply. Lance ended up having a conversation with the message-poster, some guy named Stefan, through the board. Kind of like an IM conversation, only on paper and with the time of replies further apart.

However, what Lance soon learned through these replies was... stunning. That Stefan guy had confirmed the nurse's statement that he had... that multiple personality condition. Stefan had even met his other self, this Lockdown.

Lance needed time to think, to absorb all this. He laid down on a couch, one in the shade, and stared at the ceiling. Was it really true? Was he really crazy? Did he really have another personality in his head? Or was this all just a dream, and any minute he would wake up?

[FREE. Acquaintances and canonmates would be appreciated]

[brooklynisangry.livejournal.com]

It wasn't the best feeling ever to wake up and realize you hadn't been dreaming about being in a nuthouse, thinking you were a demon. It got even worse when Derek woke up enough to remember everything else that he'd done back in Japan. He sat up, rubbing his eyes to try to stop feeling groggy from waking up late as the nurse came in ("Yeah, 'm fine. ...Aw, hell, sorry 'bout trying ta deck ya two days back, I didn' really mean to. Or, I did, but-- Yeah."), getting up and following her down through the halls.

He wasn't all that big on reading, so he asked to go someplace else. So, of course, that meant the place he'd dreamed he'd gone and got his ass kicked by a guy in a weird costume. Great. Why couldn' I just not be crazy when I was asleep at least? Well, he was feeling... sort of better today. He knew Reiko was here, but she'd still been calling herself Renamon... he didn't really want to deal with that right now.

Right now, he had a less dramatic problem: Trying to find somewhere to sit where people wouldn't get freaked out by the tattoos and sharp teeth. Yeah, he did still like how they looked, but damn if it didn't make it hard to talk to anyone at all respectable.

He saw someone he recognized, the only other guy here with facial tattoos. The guy that he'd gotten into a big loud argument with a couple days ago. Well, it was worth a try, at least, and he should at least apologize.

"Hey. Sorry 'bout yellin' at ya before. I wasn' feeling too good right then." Yeah, had a nice case of th' crazies. He looked sheepish and apologetic. Hopefully this guy wasn't big on grudges, or things might get bad again.

[himetsuru.livejournal.com]

...that had been really hard for Rose. Maybe if she prayed real hard, God would let her try that conversation with Kagura again, this time without hurting her. Predictably, God didn't answer her prayers, just like he'd never done before. That was why she'd had to take matters into her own hands.

As Rose sat down on an empty couch, she stared at her hands. She'd shed blood with these hands many times. Even as she was now, she believed she killed that woman. At least she was pretty sure. People usually didn't get back up after ending up at the bottom of an escalator. Even so, that didn't excuse her from hurting Kagura. And her friend had been so understanding. That's what hurt the most.

Laying on her stomach, Rose pillowed her head with her arms and closed her eyes. She needed to stay calm. Remember that feeling. Remember that feeling.

[closed to the girlfriend]

[akarusa.livejournal.com]

[[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/750343.html?view=61140487#t61140487).]]

When Hokuto spotted Falis, she saw the body language but hoped her girl was just tired. "Hey," she said softly, sitting next to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. "How was the rest of your night?"

[unmocked-lawr.livejournal.com]

Breakfast had passed quietly, which had given Javert time enough to mull over the events of the previous night in his head. Of all the patients he'd been expecting to be taken, his erstwhile roommate hadn't been among the first. While he felt no sympathy and no regret for the fact that von Karma had been taken, the event still plagued his thoughts.

He requested to be taken to the Sun Room--he had no time for books that offered no information concerning his whereabouts--and seated himself, journal and pen out as usual, before returning to his thoughts. In all but one of the experimental cases he'd learned about, the patient had received some sort of supernatural power. The last thing he or anyone else here needed was a man like von Karma with ridiculous abilities to further his lies.

And then there was the matter of the patients here. From the look of things, some of them had given into their real lives at last. Javert doubted it was entirely voluntary; a pattern like this one was far too suspicious. He'd been here for nearly a month now and nothing of the sort had ever occurred before. And the last week had been anything but normal (if, indeed, anything could pass for normal in a place like this). He only hoped none of his contacts had succumbed to it.

A faint weight on his lap distracted him from his thoughts: a black and white cat had clambered into his lap, arranged itself on top of his journal, and was now staring at him with something approximating hopefulness. Javert almost deposited it onto the floor before remembering that he was under the watchful eye of his nurse, and Philip Hunt had been showing such improvement lately. Grudgingly, he scratched it behind the ears. He had never particularly liked cats.

[ryuuzaki]

[From here.]

The nurse led Daniel from the Library, where he had been for all of ten miserable minutes, into the Sun Room. He toted his pen and journal, and walked, again, with a downcast face. It is better not to be curious... isn't it?

He looked around for a seat, and saw one open near an older man, a man around Lunge's age, tall and on the slim side, hair mostly gone to gray. It would take a while to train himself not to catalogue these details. A black and white cat sat on the man's lap, where it received what appeared to be desultory attention.

Most of his time not spent in seclusion had been spent with his father, when his father had the time; thinking of him, Daniel experienced a brief pang of nostalgia. I... miss him? Yes. Based on this, and knowing that it was a flimsy basis for a decision which would otherwise have been completely arbitrary, he took the open seat.

He sat normally, rather than in L's outlandish perching crouch. That, and talking to other patients -- learning to see them as people, rather than as a collection of evidentiary statistics, behavioral profiles, and useful pawns -- might assist in his recovery.

He hesitated, trying to think of something to say. When something came to mind, he said it in a soft tone, less assured than it might have been a day earlier. "Do you like cats, Mr -- ?"

The fact that old habits were likely to die hard, if at all, presented itself yet again. He knew that the constant accusations of social awkwardness were fair. On top of that, he would have to force himself to stop leading all of his conversations in directions that would encourage people to give him personal information while allowing him to reveal nothing about himself.

[number-crunch.livejournal.com]

Nutritional needs deftly dealt with, Sho headed out into the Sun Room. Hearing about whatever weird experiments the higher ups were up to left him restless and wishing he could be the one reiterating the values of others and modifying their data to satisfy his curiosity. Unable to access this particular option, he settled for scanning the bulletin as his hands hastily folded and unfolded pieces of paper into polygons and polyhedrons.

So, some of the sick were feeling sicker? Sounded like a case of malfunctioning identity matrices.

[Free]

[razmaspaz.livejournal.com]

As he hurried towards the Sun Room, Raz's stomach started to growl embarrassingly loud. Was skipping out on breakfast a bad idea? Maybe... probably... yeah. But investigating this whole I'm-feeling-better-all-of-a-sudden phenomenon was higher up on his to-do list than anything else.

The first thing he did when he entered the room was to quickly scan the bulletin board, searching for any tidbits of information about what was going on. The situation was worse than he imagined: from what the boy gathered from the fresh new notes on the board, a bunch of people have started feeling 'sane' again, which was another way of saying both 'brainwashed' and 'vulnerable' in this place. "This doesn't look good..."

To his right, Raz noticed- oh hell. It was him. He juggled his options between 'testing to see if he was brainwashed' or 'running away and hiding just in case he wasn't...' For some reason, he decided to go with the former. Cautiously, the Psycadet approached the older teen and asked, "You feeling any different today?"

[foolishmessiah.livejournal.com]

Minato turned away from the bulletin board after scanning it one last time, glancing at the nurses around through his hair. All of the notes about delusions and being sane were worrying, and he felt the need to get someone else’s thoughts on the matter; this was only his third day in the institute and the discomforts of the situation made themselves more and more apparent with each passing day.

He settled on a couch closer to the music room, hoping to hear something from there to distract him from the rest of the chatter going on. The amount of patients in the room made it harder to eavesdrop, to the point where it was more distracting than helpful to listen.

A mewling sound made him avert his eyes from the glass ceiling to the ground. One of the cats in the room had wandered over, looking at him briefly before brushing against his legs. The boy quietly leaned forward, scratching the cat’s ears as it continued its display.

Maybe it could tell just how troubled he was by these rumors.

[For Yukari]

[remedying.livejournal.com]

The moment breakfast was over, Yukari wasted no time in hurrying into the next room over to find Minato; there was obviously something he wanted to talk about, and she didn't want to waste any time in getting to know what it was.

Finding Minato was, thankfully, not a difficult task; the familiar head of dark blue hair was easy to spot out in the crowd of people, but the sun room itself was large enough to never have a hard time locating anyone. As soon as she did, Yukari walked around to the other end of the couch.

"Managed to make a new friend?" she started off with in an attempt to begin the conversation on a somewhat cheery note, making a small grin in the cat's direction. "I guess he could join us for now."

[silent-shades.livejournal.com]

[Prosecuting Princess!]

Rude had spent breakfast intimidating some kid, on purpose and by accident. Happened sometimes. Anyway, nothing useful had come from it except that he knew some little girl/boy had good reflexes.

Whatever. He was gonna keep an eye on Loz when and where he could (you know, without making an effort) and think more about any plans there. Probably it'd be nothing, but if he could get the guy doing stuff for them instead of getting in the way? Why the hell not.

Rude had already had his after-food nap at Breakfast. Now it was time for...work. And he wasn't even getting paid. There just....wasn't anything else to do.

[iwhipthefool.livejournal.com]

Kibitoshin could be a singularly infuriating man when he wanted to be, but Franziska felt much better after hitting him. Now she had little to do for the day since the only thing she really needed was only capable of being accomplished at night. So for the day, she was fairly free.

Which meant she could take the day to catch up with certain people - one of whom she saw in the Sun Room as she went on her way to check the bulletin board. Veering off course, she moved toward his location, her journal held in her off-hand. Hopefully Rude of the Turks would be a little smarter than the Guardian of the Universe when it came to her. "Well, it seems you're still doing well," she said, coming to a stop near him.

[kindalikedit]

Okay, so things were still on shaky ground between Matt and him, but at least he'd agreed to talk it over. It was still a step in the right direction, although he was pretty sure Matt was gonna bitch him out and make all these retarded demands like stop drinking and stop sleeping around while he was at it, as if he wasn't a big boy with his own job and car and by the way, Matt wasn't Mom. He'd just have to take it: at least Matt was talking to him at all. Rick couldn't help feeling like he'd stepped over a hurdle and he was in a pretty good mood - the morning wood was dying down a little too, thank God - as he hit up the Sun Room.

It was weird, actually, 'cause he could still remember some of what the last week had been like before he woke up with a woodie and a real clear head. Rick wasn't sure how much of it had actually happened, how much of it he'd tripped out on; for starters, there was no way he was just walking around the halls at night, and yet he could still remember some stuff, like talking with Matt, doing things with him, hugging him once, and it was kinda messed up that he was closer to him in some delusion than he was in real life, even if "Sam" was kind of a fruity name (seriously, "Sammy"?). Now he wasn't proud of stabbing himself and putting his family through all of that, but Rick wasn't stupid, and he didn't think he needed anything more than a GED to be able to come to a conclusion. The delusion, all that stuff he'd thought he'd gone through, it did have a good point. Being brothers again with Matt? He wanted that and while he wasn't gonna go spouting to Hello Nurse that being nuts made him see the light, he was gonna try to make things better if he could.

Although he had to admit, it sounded pretty badass on paper to be traveling around the country hunting evil. Sure put "mechanic for eight years" to shame. Although he had no idea why he'd been flipping out over Alexander showing up - the guy was a way out, a real ticket, and he was pretty sure when his year was up, Matt would actually be proud of him for a change and not just sneaking glares at him while he posted his bail again. Okay, maybe he wouldn't quit drinking, but he could drink a little less. And maybe actually let someone be designated driver instead of insisting on driving his own ass home all the time.

It wouldn't kill him to do that.

Rick settled for lounging back in one of the couches, slouching as he got comfy and leaned his head back, just closed his eyes, chilling out and letting today's totally awesome breakfast digest. He cracked open an eye when he realized something was sitting on him, and got treated to the sight of one of the cats, a tortie with a crooked nicked ear, curling up on him like he was just another piece of furniture. Its tail flicked, and he could've swore it knew he was debating shoving it off when it gave him a don't even think about it pal look before lazily closing its eyes.

That smug sonuvabitch.

Fine, whatever, plenty of space for the two of them. Rick shut his eyes again and just basked in a day where there weren't imaginary monsters gunning for him and the worst thought he had was hoping that damn cat was house-trained.

[Dean gets ousted by the cat to here]

[scalyfishman.livejournal.com]

Aaron left the cafeteria as quickly as he could, beating out the tension in his muscles with every heavy step he took towards the Sun Room. He'd never been a reader and anyway, how the fuck was he supposed to focus on something like that now, anyway? It occurred to him that his teeth were still gritted and his hands still clenched, but also that he refused to let himself relax either of them. Damn it, Peter!

But then, what did it matter, anyway? He wasn't going to have anything else to do with any of them. Oh, no, he'd learned that lesson already.

Well, whatever. He threw himself down on a sofa with a soft thwump, sprawling across it so that his legs dangled off of the arms haphazardly and his fingertips trailed patterns along the floor. Slowly, he let himself calm down, and the release was almost euphoric. God, he was tired. The room was quiet enough that, with his eyes closed, he could retreat into the calm darkness of his own head. Hell, he could almost pretend that he wasn't here. Almost.

[runner-up-robot.livejournal.com]

As Frank left the cafeteria in a hurry, a nurse came to help him walk with his crutches. He refused to go toward the library, never having been a bookish type, and hoping that the sun room would be less crowded. This backfired, however, when she led him to a familiar blue-haired man, apparently concerned about his outburst in the cafeteria.

"Why don't you talk to your friend, Aaron? You both look like you could use a friend."

She didn't show any intention of letting him move somewhere else, so he dropped, a bit painfully, into a chair next to... Aaron. It was better than 'Depth Charge,' certainly. It was strange to be seeing someone that 'Forte' had been so close to, mostly because of some shared delusion... robots, fighting monsters at night. They even had the color-coded hair. So, what could he say to this... partner in psychosis?

"I don't want to hear anything about robots."

[oftemptation.livejournal.com]

Endrance's nurse led him into the Sun Room - he really didn't feel like the library, as much as he might normally have appreciated the relative quiet. He settled on an open couch, and right on cue, the Mia-lookalike cat jumped up next to him and into his lap. "You..." he murmured softly, before petting her behind the ears; she curled up into a ball and purred contently.

Haseo...what happened? I still don't understand, I just know that you're hurting and you're afraid and you don't want anyone to know any of that. And...what do you mean, about the Key of the Twilight? Aura was...wait. How could you know that...?

[for Tsukasa.]

[cannotlogout.livejournal.com]

Tsukasa stared at the ceiling for a few moments when he woke, blinking blearily into the light before groaning softly and covering his eyes with his arm and only just stifling swear words which were entirely inappropriate for a young Japanese girl. Boy. Whatever. They were appropriate for a hardcore MMO gamer and that was what mattered right now. He wasn't sure what would be appropriate for a real mage but he was still confused about that anyway so he was going to ignore it and hope that it went away.

How long had he been asleep? He half expected to wake up to find that a week had passed or something. He'd heard about that happening to people. They fell asleep and just didn't wake up for anything for days and days. Sometimes they just vanished.

He didn't feel like he'd vanished, but he wouldn't expect that you'd be able to tell that either.

The nurse thankfully informed him that no, it had just been the one night. The day after showers and didn't that thought make him want to shudder in horror and shame. He'd had to shower with all of those... those boys and look down and see...

No, totally not thinking about that now. Or preferably ever.

He'd missed breakfast apparently, but the sleep was appreciated more than the food at the moment. He spotted the familiar figure of Endrance easily when he entered the Sun Room (long blue hair was difficult to miss, even in this place, even if he sort of wanted to see someone with much shorter blue hair instead) and drifted over in that direction, slipping onto the couch next to him. "Morning," he said, giving Endrance a small smile.

[beloved-less.livejournal.com]

Hiro had gone from breakfast and argued with his nurse some more before being told he could go to the Library or Sun Room. He watched Jordan go to the Library and then checked the Bulletin. Several minutes later, he'd pushed away another of 'Soubi's' friends and was in an even worse mood.

Forcing himself to stay away from that stupid brat, he found a seat and opened up the book that had been in his room. The one....Jordan picked out. The one with a candid photo of Jordan being used as a bookmark.

What the hell was wrong with him? Why was 'Soubi' like this? Was Hiro connected to him through that? Through those people he touched and let touch him. Through a child? No, Soubi was the sick one. And Hiro was not Soubi.

And he didn't want to be. He didn't need those people. He didn't need anybody. He had Ritsuo. Maybe. Ryu at the very least. Maybe things had changed now, maybe it was safe...

Hiro found himself with his head in his hands again, the photo tucked in the back of the book. He couldn't bring himself to tear it up just yet. He ought to though.

[Kio~!]

[kagurazuki.livejournal.com]

Breakfast had been more than a little worrying. Alita, no... Rose's behavior was different, that was for sure. She didn't talk the same or act the same and while Rose was still nice, there was definitely something amiss.

When Breakfast was finished though, Kagura obediently followed her nurse into the Sun Room. While the Library was quiet, she did keep meaning to look at the bulletin more often. Maybe this would be her chance.

She looked over the notes here and there, but it seemed like there was a lot less than usual. Was it just a slow day? Or was there something going on? Had more patients gone home? She could never completely rid herself of the uneasy feeling she had in this place, but that didn't mean it couldn't grow when things got worse. Kagura sighed and kept skimming over the notes.

[Closed to Reno]

[offduty.livejournal.com]

Shit, he'd overslept. Probably had something to do with lying there all night watching Rude poke around with his explosives. Reno liked blowing things up, that wasn't the point. But really, watching the process behind it was like watching paint dry.

Except maybe a little more exciting, he'd have to admit. Paint drying didn't have the possibility of one crossed wire making the whole damn building fall down.

His nurse had handed him an apple on his way out of his room, and he was still crunching on half of it when his gaze settled on a girl by the board. She seemed pretty into it, and hey--he didn't have anything better to do. Might as well chat up a chick.

"Nurses been sticking anymore smiley faces over that damn thing?" he asked.

[not-rly-fai.livejournal.com]

He'd startled slightly when Aiden returned, clattering a tray in front of him and demanding he eat, but after sitting in silence for a moment, the other man had retreated, leaving him alone as requested. While his body told him he was hungry, it was hard to comply. In the end, he took a few bites and pushed it away, preferring to sit with his head down.

The shift ended all too soon and the nurse came by to see if he was feeling alright. While she gave him some painkillers for the stitches, she offered little else. He followed her into the next room and found a couch to occupy. Luckily, there were few faces he recognized, so he could at least pretend to nap while he tried to sort things out.

The last tie had been cut, hadn't it? There was no reason to feel guilty or attached to his other life. Whatever he'd been before, maybe this place wasn't so bad for trying to give him a new start, even if it wasn't a conventional way. There was still a chance of saving Aaron after all.

[Free for threading. Limit: # 2]

[promisedawhale.livejournal.com]

Brook hadn't managed as well as he had hoped in that. The shift was over much too soon, and all he'd done was rambled! Hadn't even learned the man's name either! Just what kind of person was he that he couldn't even cheer up one person, let alone learn his name in such a short amount of time! He was supposed to be the last remaining member of a group that could bring a smile to even the saddest child's face! Adults should have been so much easier!

But Brook wasn't about to be discouraged. There were sure to be people who still needed to be cheered up, and Brook wasn't about to let one bad instance bring him down. Why, it just meant he had to be more precise the next time!

And he would be sure to say his name as well.

"Hello there!" Brook announced to a person who... may or may not have been sleeping on the couch as he approached it, "My name is Brook! Would you mind some company? Yohohohoho!"

[euphemise.livejournal.com]

Euphemia curled up on one of the sofas - she'd asked to go back to her room, but the nurse refused. So, this was the best she could do. She didn't feel social at all, and that was just completely unlike her. She wanted to be alone - but one of the cats roaming the room decided she didn't need that. The small calico kitten mewed and jumped up next to her, cuddling into her chest. She smiled weakly at the cat, scratching behind its ears.

[fkdjdkj sorry this is so late, Meche.]

[haplesstracker.livejournal.com]

Telling off Lugnut had been...surprisingly anticlimactic. He'd expected some big humorous explosion and all he'd gotten was a vague feeling of guilt. The guy obviously had it pretty bad, whatever he had, and Joshua couldn't help hoping he found a new robot friend to hang out with. Maybe Depth Charge.

He found himself a spare couch and stretched out, hands folding up behind his head. But he really did need to separate himself from people like him, crazy people, controlling people.

Joshua closed his eyes and tried to remember all those little pamphlets Levi kept leaving in his locker. Stuff about removing yourself from areas and people associated with the addiction (or the crazy), not associating it with good things, finding replacement habits, support networks--not likely to find a support network anywhere around here, everyone but the nurses seemed to be just fine with their little delusions. And he wasn't much fond of the nurses either, they kept talking down to everyone and now they were censoring the bulletin board of all places. It didn't seem to make sense.

Still. He needed to think about him now, not what everyone else thought of him or what he needed to do to play with the cool kids. Just himself and getting better. Everything else would come later.

[Free? I think?]

[scarefaux]

[Guess again. ;P]

Knowing that there were a good number of other folks looking for a way to the third floor was a promising thought the Scarecrow carried with him as the nurses ushered people from the Cafeteria into what appeared to be a book-keeping room. The smell of room full of tomes was interesting, albeit a little difficult to describe. He turned to ask his nurse a quick question, only to find her gone to some area unknown. He snapped his fingers- she was good at that. He'd have to think faster if he wanted to ask her anything.

He looked around the room, his mind traveling to the note he'd seen on the bulletin board the other day. There was a book on Oz somewhere in this place. He wanted to find it, but wasn't sure how. There were so many books! His quick glance around the room took his mind off finding the Oz book- he spotted the man from the bus ride. Excellent timing! It'd be good to get in contact with other nonhumans to try to work out a plan.

"Scourge!" he said a little loudly for the room as he approached the former robot. He stopped, feeling sheepish as a couple of visible nurses glared at him disapprovingly. "Boy, am I glad to see you," he continued in a lower tone.

[hailmegatron.livejournal.com]

Lugnut hadn't eaten a thing.

Everything was all wrong. Blitzwing was gone, Lord Megatron was gone, Scourge had deserted, Depth Charge was gone... he was, for all intents and purposes, alone, without hope of escape or rescue, doomed to this place for the rest of his short organic existence.

It had taken two nurses to shift him away from his untouched plate, leading him to a couch and depositing him to stare blank-eyed into space.

He had never been alone before.

There had always been someone within reach-- his wingmate, his consort, his liege-- someone loyal or reliable or useful, someone for him to help, or to help him.

Against his will, his body began to tremble.

[Free to a good home.]

[loyal-soldier.livejournal.com]

[Mind a stormtrooper?]

622 had kept to himself during the morning meal, eating quickly. He hadn't gotten all that much done last night, but he had stopped that thief from raiding anyone's rooms. He still felt like he needed something to do. Maybe he'd put a message up on the board making sure people knew about the courier service. It would certainly be needed, now that the bulletin was being censored.

He put the notice up on the board, and looked for somewhere to sit. It wasn't all that hard to notice that it looked like the biggest person in the room wasn't doing so well. He didn't know the man, but he'd seen him around. It was rather hard to miss him.

He stopped a few paces away from the man, posture about as relaxed as it would ever get. "Are you alright, sir?" Best to start out polite.

[superdynamic.livejournal.com]

[for Dean]

Suzaku had never hated the nurses as much as when they separated him from Euphie. She needed him now, for God's sake, couldn't they see that? On the other hand, he did need a minute to sit by himself and try to stop shaking. That was one conversation he had never, ever wanted to have, and he still couldn't believe he'd had to tell her.

As much as he wanted to blame Rolo for it, however, he knew he couldn't. To Rolo, she was just the Massacre Princess, and he couldn't know better. He was only a kid, anyway. It was Suzaku's responsibility to protect her, and that's what he should have been doing, instead of moping around because his life was difficult.

And now he would have to tell Lelouch, who wouldn't take the news well, either. At least they were planning to talk at lunch, so he had some time to collapse onto a sofa and try to calm himself down.

[kindalikedit]

[From here]

Rick was just about to doze off when that cat on his lap not only had to start purring, but then thought it was a great idea to start kneading his thighs and make invisible biscuits. With its claws. All of ‘em. Yeah, this wasn’t gonna work.

Rick promptly scooped up the cat in both hands and moved it off him, and the damn thing wasn’t gonna go quietly or let him have the couch all to himself – it flattened its ears for a split second, almost like it was giving Matt a run for its money with that bitchy face, and then swiped at him with a claw. Rick thought better about claiming the couch to himself and let Bitchy get it, getting up and turning his back on it as he looked for a better place to sit. He wasn’t about to get into a friggen fist-fight over something like this with a damn cat. Give him a little credit. ‘Sides, the thing looked like it was a mean mother underneath the cute furry little face starring up at him and that scratch was already starting to sting. Screw that.

He wandered about until he found an almost empty place to sit. There was another patient there, a kid, and for some reason, he felt like he knew him. Maybe they’d met, probably when he was all tripped out on being “Dean Winchester, monster hunter, badass” and throwing around aliases like they were candy or something. He had no idea how no one called him out on that bull. Rick flopped down at the other end of it, flashing the kid a casual grin. He wanted to say he had a name starting with “S”, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember it right now when it was all blurry. The smile became a bit more strained when he noticed what was now curling around his legs and rubbing itself tail against him.

Jesus. H. Christ.

Bitchy looked up at him and had the nerve to purr again as it made another pass to rub up against his leg.

“Dude, this thing’s stalking me,” Rick said, shooting the kid a look. “Is it me or are you getting this too?”

To add insult to injury, the couch he’d just abandoned and waved the white flag on was totally empty. That cat was doing it on purpose to screw with him.