Day 52: Game Room

[full-score.livejournal.com]

Lunch had taken his mind from his worries, if only for a few minutes. But after the intercom sounded and the nurses began leading patients onto the next activity, one look at the bulletin board brought everything back in full force. No replies from Ashton, Dias or Dad. By now Claude felt like he was practically counting down until the end of the day, when he was going to have to finally grapple with the real possibility that most of his friends from before Landel's, as well as his own father, had fallen victim to the institute.

And now he was going to have to deal with his mother being here on top of that. It didn't seem like a coincidence that she'd show up right when his father's whereabouts were so up in the air. But what did it mean? Why couldn't Landel leave his family out of this?

Normally, the announcement about new video games would have made him perk up, but his eyebrows only knit together with concern as his nurse led him into the game room. That didn't seem to stop her from trying to get him to unwind, though.

"Oh, come now, Thomas, you've worn that expression for most of the day!" she told him with a frown. "Why don't you have a bit of fun now that your eyes are all better? I'm sure you could use it."

The last thing he wanted was to be reminded of his "sleep studies", he darkly thought to himself. But before he could protest, his nurse had sat him down in front of one of the television screens. There was an old gaming console, one Claude had never seen before, and he glanced at her with a confused expression. "Go on," she encouraged as she placed one of the controllers in his hands. "I know how much you enjoy these kinds of things. Someone will come play with you soon, too, I'm sure. Doesn't that sound nice?"

He didn't have time to answer her, because she'd soon bustled off to tend to some of the other patients. Claude watched her leave with a sigh. He realized the daytime staff meant well, which made knowing what they turned into at night even worse to think about. But now he was just being negative for the sake of it, wasn't he?

Taking in a small breath, he reached over to the console and turned it on. As long as he was waiting for some kind of answer from the bulletin, there probably wasn't much he could do except pass the time. Claude watched the title screen appear on the television, his expression growing more curious in spite of himself. Super Mario Bros....

[For Prussia!]

Comments

[herr-inspektor.livejournal.com]

After a conversation that had just skirted too close to 'personal' for his liking, what Lunge supposed he needed was a chance to distract himself. Not in the casual sense of the word, of course- one man's distraction was generally Lunge's bane. Where was the point in sitting around playing worthless games when there was so much out there that hadn't been explained yet? How could he possibly waste his time like that? And if there was one thing that L had reminded him of at lunch it was how precious time was here: how easy it was to come within a breath's width of defeat or death. It wasn't Ruhenheim- nothing could touch Ruhenheim, to him- but it was certainly something close.

Nonetheless, he wasn't exactly in the mood to protest when his nurse decided to whisk him away to the Games Room of all places after lunch, reminding him gleefully of how much Otto Jung had loved to play chess before he had arrived here, and wouldn't it be nice to try it again now? Hmm.

At least it gave him the opportunity to find someone to speak with- that much-needed distraction from the almost humid closeness of before. It seemed as though the 'thinkers' here gravitated towards the chess sets, and while he couldn't say that he had any real affection for the game it made for a useful conversation starter. It was easier than simply jumping into a psychological breakdown of the Head Doctor and Lydia Thayer, to say the least, though perhaps he would save those judgements for L's ears, once he'd recovered.

There it was again. Once he'd recovered. Swiftly, he took a seat and began to set out plastic chess pieces on the white side of the board, only half paying attention while his hands worked. He wasn't going to let himself make L into his next Grimmer. That wasn't productive.

[witchoftruth]

[ ugh sorry I JUST got my new computer /)_(\ ]

The game room was as good a place as any for Erika to continue analyzing her new prize: An updated map from Xemnas, one that he produced to help Erika fill in the template she grabbed from the board. Of course' to say that Erika trusted the map was a little inaccurate; she was not one to blindly accept help. It was best to crosscheck and triplecheck the map, and what better way to do it than to harass random strangers?

"Do you know your way around here?" Her target was a man who was sitting alone, rearranging a chess set. That alone vaguely interested her; most people didn't choose a chess set to play with. And Erika didn't want to deal with "most" people.

[herr-inspektor.livejournal.com]

And sure enough, someone was along a few minutes later to distract Lunge from his less constructive train of thought. Her appearance came as enough of a surprise to shake him off of that at least: a young woman, maybe in her mid-teens, with blue eyes and (more startlingly) bright blue hair. Now that was something he'd never seen before.

Still, after all of his time here, that really shouldn't have come as so much of a surprise. Checking himself, he chose a calm, authoritative smile to face her with (implication is she's come to you for whatever reason for advice of some sort + her age= act as authority figure) and looked up. "You could say that, I've been here for some time now. I'm Inspector Lunge- how can I help you?" Not that being helpful was generally at the top of his priorities, but it wasn't as though he had anything better to do.

[willing-sheath.livejournal.com]

It was probably a foolish hope that she was going to be given enough time on her own to really find any semblance of order for all of the information she'd been given in the few hours since morning--still, with the new area 'nurse Anna' had shuffled her off to Tomoe kept clinging to that meager hope.

She had caught glimpses of Kenshin in the cafeteria, and even now in this 'game room' as Anna had called it. The part of her that was crying out for some semblance of normalcy wanted to approach and stay near him--but then all of those factors that broke said normalcy again.

There was no normalcy here, even where she hoped there would be. Her husband was not her husband. Fourteen years older. He had to be a different person in that much time. He had to have a new family in that time. He had to have a new life in general, one that had no business having a shadow such as herself thrust upon it--even in this place.

Still... he survived. That was the important part. That was all she cared about when she had acted. That was all that mattered: that he didn't die by the Yaminobu's hands. Whatever was happening now and no matter how many mistakes she had made then... that was all that really mattered.

Or at least she kept trying to tell herself that when her mind drew back to that in between trying to rationalize waking in the institution itself... and what it would become at night.

As she had each time she'd been dumped into a room, she tried to seek out a secluded corner, pausing momentarily to watch in a combination of muted awe and confusion at...

...

Well, in truth she had no idea what she was looking at. She could only assume it was some sort of Western technology (just like all of the other gadgets and machinery she'd caught glimpses of)--though despite that more... apparent explanation, she could only think that it was some kind of... enchanted mirror... After all, that was much more plausible than a box displaying thousands of still images in rapid succession via an electrical signal...

Tomoe gave her head an abrupt shake, tearing her eyes away from the television and continued moving, finally taking a seat in a corner, carefully hugging her arms, simply watching the room for the time being.


[open]

(omg tomoe <3333 does she mind a cheerful teenager getting all up in her business? :3 )

[stealthetruth.livejournal.com]

Jeeze, no one had talked to Kay at all the last two shifts! Seriously, was she invisible or something? She was even wearing her little cardboard Yatagarasu pin that she'd made, but no one had wandered over to ask her about stealing the truth and bringing criminals to justice or anything.

Well, at least Ema seemed to be okay, from the glimpses she'd caught of her friend, so Kay wouldn't have to worry about her! That was good, at least. And in the meantime, Kay could go bother someone instead of waiting for someone to approach her-- like that pretty girl over there, who looked rather quiet and lonely. Kay would have to bring some brightness into her life, yeah!

Kay went over, smiling cheerfully, and greeted, "Hey there! I'm Kay Faraday. Who're you?"

(she probably minds a lot, but she won't say so! XDDD)

[willing-sheath.livejournal.com]

Tomoe glanced up at the younger girl walking in her direction, at first just for curiosity's sake, being attracted by the girl's movement. And then said girl continued to get closer... and closer. Good lord, did she have a sign on her forehead that said 'please bother me'?

She nodded shallowly to the girl. There didn't seem any point to fighting the socialization in this place, no more than there seemed any point in fighting the concepts being forced onto her: the impermanence of death, the concept of multiple worlds, the fallacy of time--and of course whatever happened in the facility at night. In the face of all of those... railing against casual conversation seemed quite silly.

"Himura Tomoe," she answered quietly, not bothering with full pleasantries for the moment. Responding was enough at this point.

[incaution.livejournal.com]

Jo wasn't all that sure that she wanted to sit around a game room and just waste her afternoon away, but it didn't seem like she had all that much of a choice. After a less than satisfying lunch, she was shuffled into the room by her nurse, and cheerfully deposited over in the corner of a room. Encouraged to talk to the others and give the games a try, Jo shot her nurse a sarcastic grin and turned away, glancing back over her shoulder a few moments later only to notice that she was gone. Oh well.

Her eyes trailed over the others in the room, and she knew that she looked like a paranoid freak by this point in the day. She hadn't quite reached the acceptance phase of being stuck in an asylum, and was still convinced that this was all some kind of hallucination. She wasn't sure what would cause it, other than a djinn or maybe one of the power crazy angels. Cas would know something about that, but he wasn't here. She was alone in this, and had to figure it out on her own.

She remained standing in the corner for a while, looking over at the door as people were escorted into the room one by one, and her eyes eventually fell on the old TVs and game systems. She was a master at duck hunt, and any games related to shooting and hunting, so she was a little disappointed that the old system, didn't have a dog chasing ducks on the screen. She recognized Mario and Donkey Kong from games she played as a kid, though, and games Ash would sometimes pull up on his laptop back home.

It was only nostalgia that drove her to go over to the systems as one cleared out, and she picked up the rectangular Nintendo controller and started up a game of Mario. It didn't take her long to get into the game, and within minutes she had brightened up considerably, and was insulting Mario out loud. She didn't care if anyone heard heard her, it was just nice to get a break from all of her paranoia and angst. Even if it was only for a few minutes, and even if it made her miss Duck Hunt like crazy.

[]

[stlg13bomber.livejournal.com]

Boy, now this was really Future. Carter scorned the simple board games and dice in favor of investigating what they'd done to the television. They had some funny boxes hooked up to them with wires and wires going to other things (not bombs, of course, nobody would put bombs there), something the televisions in Doyleton had lacked. They were also bereft of the wireless controllers and had other things hooked up to them with wires which presumably took the place of the 'remote'.

Carter came and hunched over one woman's shoulder, a hand over his grinning mouth. He had no idea that the moving humanoid had an identity or that the little gold ovals had any value to them, but they were colored and moving and that was interesting enough. With the way the woman's hands were moving and the way she was talking to the screen (did it understand her?) she seemed to be controlling the action in some fashion.

"What does that mean?" the young sergeant interjected as Mario went down a pipe and made an odd wavery tone.

[incaution.livejournal.com]

Jo just smirked a little as she was interrupted, having heard the man approaching. It felt like she was a kid all over again, in the moment, and she had to say that it was a welcome feeling. "It means we're going underground to a secret tunnel. There's coins down here," She starts explaining, and pauses in order to move Mario across the screen to collect all of the visible coins.

"And then you just hit the pow over there," She does so, and concentrates in order to collect all of the coins that are made visible in the time limit. Once she accomplishes the task, she grins for herself, and turns to glance up at the guy who was questioning things.

"What, you don't know Mario?" She wondered what kind of deprived childhood the guy had, and felt a little sorry for him. "It's just a video game, that's all. I used to have this when I was a kid."

She felt the need to explain, just in case he was also curious about why she had been talking to the pixelated man on the screen.

[deadlyjuliet.livejournal.com]

Games. Seriously. Did it look like Grell wanted to play games? Did he even remotely seem capable of playing games right now? Where did "I just spent the last shift screaming at some kid about how he almost ate me alive last night" and "I have a giant HOLE IN MY NECK" equate to "oh yes, let's play a nice little game of cards with betsy and john from down the lane"? Where? Apparently in this hellhole it did because his nurse wasn't letting him out.

"You need to relax, Geoffrey," she said in her most soothing tones. The sort of voice that Grell found increasingly irritating the more he listened to it. "We wouldn't want you to harm yourself again."

Anger meter rising, Grell started imagining ways he could sick the human-demon face muncher on her instead of him. Maybe if he tied steaks to her ugly face. Even if the demon only mauled her, that would still be an improvement.

"Will you behave?"

"Oh, yes, ma'am," he said, trying not to clench his teeth as he pushed the words past the burning hatred in his throat. His nurse released him and he turned, trying his best to find an open seat far away from where the demonspawn was sitting. He could see him. It was impossible not to notice him sitting there with the Doctor, the man with the impossible aura. It was impossible not to....sit in the same general vicinity. Grell made a face and sat with his back to the men, hoping they wouldn't see him. He hoped no one would see him today. He wasn't in the mood to put up the innocent act even if, in this case, he truly was innocent.

[For Lightning!]

[warnin': FFXIII spoilers ahoy]

[thestormishere]

Lightning was completely lost in keeping track of what her current predicament could possibly mean by now, but really... it wasn't long before she'd cooled down enough after her talk with Snow to find a handle on her confusion to try and do something about it. She wasn't really the kind of person who allowed herself to succumb at length to emotion any more... and so there were only two huge, complex problems playing foremost in her mind.

First, if Snow had forgotten so much, then what could she be missing too? The number of things that had happened to her and the whole of Cocoon since the Purge was staggering. Most importantly? Barthandelus and his plan for the demise of the land he was supposed to protect- even now the confession seemed to ring in Lightning's ears just as loudly as the moment she'd first heard it, and the last thing she could do was forget what that had done to them. Particularly Snow, even if he had soon been able to find new purpose afterward.

Yet now something had happened to the tall self-styled 'hero,' putting him under the illusion that they were still... reorganizing themselves above Palumpolum or something. Long before the problem that continued to eat at her came to light. It was difficult to fathom that she could quite possibly be the same way, with unknown events hanging over her but forgotten. The only thing she knew for sure was that she wasn't on Cocoon- she'd already seen the sky outside, noting it as distinctly different than the sight seen from her homeland at night.

Her second main question was, naturally: where were the other l'Cie from Cocoon? Even though she remembered being with the others right before waking up here, Snow was the only one she'd seen so far... and he had claimed to have been there already for two days. The thought immediately struck her with worry... her promise didn't have to be continuously updated for it to remain in effect: she was supposed to help and protect the others- particularly Hope. It was definitely within her responsibility to get that boy safely home and back to his father, in addition to saving that home in the first place and seeing Serah once more.

In the interest of blending in with the other grey-uniformed prisoners, Lightning was compliant for the most part in following the majority into the room situated off the large, naturally-lit room she'd already seen. It seemed that after the whole presentation of the food thing, the guards had little interest in what she did with herself for now. That was good. She definitely needed some time to think... away from the seemingly-amnesiac Snow.

... And what a room she'd found herself in. Lightning couldn't help but stare at the people there, some of which were obviously enthralled and gathered around what looked like primitive screens and computers of some sort. What in the world was their purpose?

The ex-soldier walked along the edge of the room, studying the rest of the occupants with a mindset undoubtedly left over from having to scope out a crowd under her division's jurisdiction. Most of them seemed tired or irritated, which wasn't all that surprising, but the number of injuries...? That seemed alarming. Lightning could tell the impairments not just from the bandages some of them obviously sported, but the way they moved and acted too. Had they all been attacked by the monsters Snow had mentioned or what? She paused, hand on her hip and exacting gaze landing on a person with long red hair... and what seemed to her to be either an especially defeated or brooding demeanor. Hm.

[deadlyjuliet.livejournal.com]

Face in hands, Grell tried to ignore the world around him. He absolutely hated today. First, he woke up late. Next, he got stuck with Mr. Happy Jaws whom he was certain now wasn't telling him the whole truth about himself. Finally, he got shoved around to this bloody 'game room' when he only wanted to rest and recuperate. This was a hospital and they weren't letting him rest? Even for a fake hospital, that was simply pushing things.

After a moment, the death god let out a heavy sigh and sat back in his seat, trying to get his head to lean back. It was a terrible idea and soon enough he snapped back upright, hissing through his teeth.

It was then that he noticed the woman - no, the girl standing near him. She was staring at him, a hand on her hip. She wasn't someone he knew and she had an odd aura to her, too, but not so odd that it gave him a headache. Instead, her gaze was what bothered him. After rubbing his forehead to ward off the pain and tension his injury brought, he raised an eyebrow at her. "Yes? May I help you?"

[girlsandgadgets]

Though he appeared attentive to the nurse, Edgar had other things on his mind. The bulletin board still proved to be a frustrating method of communication- no new information on how to reach the basement, and the day was nearly through. Perhaps cryptic questions meant to dodge the attention of the nurses only garnered cryptic answers, or there were other reasons the patients didn't share such information lightly.

While Edgar felt that ending Landel's reign of torture and kidnapping was paramount, it was likely not everyone felt that way. They had a common enemy, but were unwilling to see the need for cooperation. He could understand those who wanted to protect others- he felt the same way, that not everyone should go wandering into the more dangerous areas of the institution- but surely they could see the benefit in spreading the information that was known. If all who knew the entrance were to suddenly disappear, those left would be back at square one.

However, it wasn't all bad news: Locke had replied on the board- thankfully, he'd not vanished so soon after his arrival. Knowing there was someone who'd be on his side he could trust, one not hiding every piece of vital information under lock and key, was encouraging. There was also Gren, whose help had been life-saving. The man in the library, the rebel, had called for the patients to rally together. Not everyone was so reluctant to ally themselves.

Finding a seat on one of the brown couches, Edgar thumbed idly through a deck of cards he'd found sitting on the arm. It seemed nostalgia was everywhere these days.

[Free]

[doneinthree]

When the intercom jingled, Kirk's gaze returned to where Spock and Uhura were still talking, three tables away. The conversation with Battler had distracted him from properly stalking the couple(???), not that Kirk was the type to stalk anyone, no matter how it looked to some people in the Academy. Really, he'd been trying to condense the entire Starfleet training program into three years; he didn't have time to follow the every movement of a hot cadet with a completely different focus from his. But if his and Uhura's social circles happened to overlap sometimes, well...

Here, it was his job to look out for his crew, but even beyond his professional responsibility as the captain, he could be genuinely concerned. After all, he'd known Uhura for three years without even having drunkenly made out with her once, which had to be some kind of friendship record, and he and Spock were best friends in an alternate reality, which to the least put them at the same level as Kirk and Older Alternate Universe Bones. Ergo, he was both captain and friend, and could therefore be concerned in both a professional "what the hell is Landel planning for us now?" way and a more personal "how did you guys even meet?" way.

Well. They seemed be dealing okay, at least as far as Kirk could tell when he couldn't hear a single word and only a quarter of the people involved seemed to be capable of expressing emotion. (Again, not that he wanted eavesdrop.) Luckily, the sight of a determined nurse bee-lining his way reminded Kirk that "therapy" sessions were also slotted for the shift, and he quickly got up and followed the other patients into the game room. On the way, no one tried to redirect him to Kisugi's office. One plus for this entire crazy day.

Kirk settled in a quieter corner of the room, empty except for two chairs and a table set with a disordered game of chess. He was long overdue for a few seconds alone just to... process. So. Three nights ago, Spock and Bones got a glimpse of the Enterprise in Bones' timeline. Two days ago, Chekov disappeared. Today, Uhura was taken, and apparently remembered nothing beyond escaping the black hole — in other words, more or less the same point as him, where Spock and Chekov had been able to remember at least a few days after...

As he mentally ran through the events of the past week, he picked up one of the chess pieces — a white king — and began resetting the board.

[Spock]

[dual-worlds.livejournal.com]

Although the designated lunch period was not any shorter than those prior, Spock found that the time given to them was inadequate. This did not deviate from the Institute's typical pattern, however, as the staff seemed to go to great lengths to shuffle the patients about their daily activities in a way that typically disrupted ongoing conversations. Of course, he had learned a great deal regarding the lieutenant's situation, and had been able to clarify certain issues for her. In that sense, their meal had been a productive one.

As unfortunate as her appearance was, however, Spock was confident that her presence would prove to be an asset to their team. She had been his best student prior to her assignment on board the Enterprise. Although she would likely not have many chances to engage in her primary field of expertise, the fact remained she was highly intelligent and capable, even in the face of difficult challenges.

He would have to trust that she was able to look after herself until they met again in the near future. In the meantime, the nurse seemed insistent that he find a game to keep himself occupied until evening approached, and warned that she would find something for him to do if she did not see him voluntarily participate in an activity within the next few minutes.

Her concern was unwarranted, however. The moment she turned away, Spock scanned the room and immediately located Kirk, who was sitting to himself with a chess board. Taking long strides across the room, the Vulcan reached where he was seated in a matter of seconds.

"Captain," he greeted with a curt nod, standing in front of the table. Spock studied him, intent on observing whether he was still suffering from his previous injuries. "Has your condition improved?"

[bravados.livejournal.com]

As soon as lunch was over, Masaomi reflected that the bizarre, beautiful journey called ~youth~ didn't faze him a single bit. By the time he was in the Game Room, that was as true of him as it'd ever get. At the very least, it'd been a distraction from the other, even more bizarre, much less beautiful aspect of the journey he was on: there were some things about Ikebukuro he'd probably never escape. Far far far too literally.

It wasn't fair in that mundane sense any more than it was in this stuck-in-a-facility sense, but he hadn't really explored the Game Room before and trading one distraction for another seemed exactly like what Landel's was prescribing. Playing along and rooting out what information he could in the meanwhile was better than waiting around for things to change on their own. Especially since things had changed on their own. No hints as to what was actually going on, either, and he'd already been here for two nights. Had someone noticed he was gone yet? His parents wouldn't, but Mikado might have, or Anri-chan.

She was used to this.

In any case, it wasn't tough to stay the course now. Masaomi had too perfect an opportunity to chat up the ladies, several of whom were surely searching for their One True Checkers Opponent... and quickly spotting one such damsel in distress, he began maneuvering through clusters of people. Obviously, this was a role that he'd be all too charmed to fulfill.

[ tsun tsun dere tsun tsun tsun tsun tsun Izaya! ]

[propheteer]

Lunch had been enjoyable overall, the topic of Heiwajima Shizuo aside, and the announcement that the next controlled shift was to be in some kind of game room had left Izaya excited. There was a slight skip to his step as he walked with the nurse to that room, where he bypassed the video game consoles they had set up in favor of their traditional games.

He had already started to mentally run through what he needed to set up a representation of either the game back home or the situation here. A go board would be best, if they had it. Chess pieces were a given, and maybe a few playing cards. They probably wouldn't have shogi here, but reversi seemed likely enough; he could make do with checkers if needed, as well...

He found a chess set almost immediately, but he'd only barely begun his quest for the rest of the pieces he needed when someone bumped into him in a narrow space between two tables. Izaya glanced to the side to see if it was anyone of interest... and found that it was. To think that not long ago he'd been wondering who would show their face next, and now here was one of the very people he'd hoped to find!

"What a surprise to find you here!" he said, a layer of cheer in his voice just barely masking a darker undertone. "Kida Masaomi-kun."

[bitpartgod.livejournal.com]

Well, that had been an odd lunch time. Maybe it would be best just not to mention the Kaioshin thing at all- it would certainly make conversation less awkward. Castiel seemed nice enough, though, even if he was a little serious- not to the point where he was intimidating, per se, but he couldn't help but feel compelled to be on his best behaviour around him anyway.

Anyway, if anything, he needed to stop worrying about what had already happened and start planning what he was going to do tonight. It was that kind of forgetfulness that seemed to leave him alone and clueless at night, and while it usually worked out, he didn't want to take any chances.

Unfortunately, his nurse had other ideas. "I know! Why don't you go and play in the Games Room? They've put all kinds of new things in there that I'm sure you'd love to try!"

The next thing Kibitoshin knew he was sitting at a table with a box with "Checkers" written on it in front of him. Oh, dear.

Trouble was, he didn't exactly know how to play, and it looked as though the instruction manual had been missing in action for years now- probably got eaten by a monster, I'll bet. He enjoyed chess. He'd played it on Kaioshinkai, way back when there were people there to play it with. But just what was this game? The board was squared in two different colours like a chessboard, but all of the little counters looked identical. How were you supposed to move them, then? After a few minutes of shuffling wooden circles around the Kaioshin gave up and started to pile the counters into little arches. It wasn't his fault all the clever people had taken the good things already...

[itneverwas.livejournal.com]

Xemnas had found the opportunity to look over the bulletin board another time before the nurse herded him to the game room. Unfortunately, other than the announcement of the Keybearer whom he had just lunch with, the various notices scattered upon the bulletin's surface told the Superior little. It was hardly a (figurative) surprise that he finally entered the game room knowing little more than he did before.

And considering the area, that was unlikely to change. Though the area was an unfamiliar one, a hollow shell devoid of an essence couldn't hope to truly enjoy a game of chess. He had no interest in chasing after the memory of an emotion that was no longer part of him, did no longer exist. There were, after all, far more fruitful ways to spend his time.

A brief scan of the room revealed a familiar face. Concluding he may as well spend this mundane shift conversing with another patient, he approached the other man.

"Greetings," he offered, pausing at the chair across Kibitoshin.

[neuepolitik.livejournal.com]

((OOC: Late to the party, but open to non-canonmates, up to four others.))

Perhaps a bit of a distraction was in order. Ludwig had been in a bit of a slump ever since he'd arrived here. He'd been unforgivably slothful, hadn't accomplished nearly enough in the time that he'd been here, and that was starting to weigh down on his mind. He hadn't been doing anything worth noting, and that bothered him to no end. There was no excuse, no justification, for that. Even still, it would only hurt him if he focused too much on the past. He had to move forward. For that, he needed to clear his mind.

The only problem was that most of the games he found were American in origin. Monopoly, Candyland, Stratego... no, he didn't feel like those. Two were too competitive, too cut-throat- and particularly in the case of the latter, too similar to war-time scenarios for his tastes. To think that the modern era would glorify something as brutal and inhumane as war... no, he wanted to find something else. Something peaceful. Something constructive.

And what should he find but Carcassonne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne_(board_game))? He'd liked the game ever since it had come out, and the idea of building a castle- even a French one!- appealed to his engineering talents. So, for now, he busily started arranging the cards and getting the pieces set out. He may have even whistled a bit under his breath, though that was clearly impossible. Ludwig never had that much fun. Right?

[madeinthehrl]

To Marie's credit, she relinquished control as soon as lunch was over, once again becoming a warm presence in Soma's mind and leaving only a slightly dazed supersoldier in her wake. Soma had been expecting a reunion along those lines, but now, as never before, she understood just what had been done to her, both last night and all those years ago. And yet it was still a little too much to take in.

In any case, it was unlikely to happen again. Who knew what would happen next time the two of them saw each other? Even touching Allelujah had been unsettling enough as it was.

Her nurse seemed cheerful enough about the entire matter, albeit thoroughly confused; Soma expected she had given up trying to understand the relationship Maria Medvedeva and Jude Davids had with one another, and decided to assume the two had made up very, very quickly.

A quick scan of the Game Room offered little in the way of distraction. All of the video game consoles were taken, which was something of a disappointment; there was something almost endearing about the primitive figures bouncing up and down on the screen. In any case, there was no sign of her friends, and perhaps that was a good thing. If she had to speak to someone right now, she preferred it be someone who didn't know her at all.

There was a blond man, posture suggesting a military background and apparently about her age, setting up an odd game. Soma's curiosity got the better of her, and she sat down next to him, faint interest in her expression.

"I've never seen a game like this before."

[heroesdontshave]

"I told you already. I didn't do anything." That felt like the fourth time he'd said that in the last fifteen minutes. The same lady who'd been leading Snow around all day just stood in front of him, hands on her hips, and looked up at him with an exasperated expression. She'd been trying to interrogate him ever since Lightning ran off at lunch, like he did something to scare her off. But no matter how many times he repeated himself, she didn't seem to believe him. It was completely ridiculous. Worse yet, she had distracted him to the point that he'd lost Lightning completely. Now he'd have to wait until he found her again.

The nurse-guard just sighed like she had any reason to be annoyed here. "We expect better of you, Mr. Davidson. Please try not to pick fights with the other patients." He clicked his tongue in response and just crossed his arms, wondering how long she was planning to lecture him. If he was trying to pick a fight with someone, they'd definitely know it.

Argh. What was he doing? He couldn't stand this "wait and see" stuff. Playing along with these people until it got dark was just feeling like such a waste of time. He needed to go! He needed to move! He couldn't stay bottled up in this place until they all decided to turn their backs. He just plow through them right now, create an escape path for everyone else to run through, and get the hell out of there. Standing around and doing nothing was just killing him.

Them containing him that one time was just some kind of a fluke. He could handle these people. Now he had to decide though whether he wanted to scrap his idea of waiting until dark to bust down the doors or screw it all and do it now. "Now try to relax for the rest of the day, okay? Why don't you find someone to play a game with?"

The woman ushered him in and... he just followed. The day was almost over anyway. Maybe he'd just look at the stuff in this room for a while. This one wasn't full of books or anything though. It was supposed to be full of games, he guessed, but he didn't recognize anything on the shelves. There weren't even any computer consoles unless those tiny little things over there were supposed to count which... they obviously didn't. Instead, the shelves were full of boxes of stuff. Snow knelt down on one knee to look at the labels on some of them, tilting his head so he could read them more easily. Scrabble, Battleship, Checkers, Apples to Apples...

[for Claire!]

[savagesolitude.livejournal.com]

Claire had left lunch neither any fuller than she had entered it, nor any less confused. Goku was a sweet boy to be sure, but...strange. In a way that even Walt hadn't been. In a place like this that kind of naivete would only endanger him, and that unsettled Claire more than she'd care to admit. Goku was a stranger, yes, but he was just a boy. One of the youngest people here, from the looks of things. Was there no one around to look out for him?

Either way, she was glad to leave the cafeteria and the smell of the Mexican buffet behind. It made it marginally easier to ignore the growing revolt in her stomach. Sooner or later, she would have to eat something. Perhaps she could sneak into the kitchen later and grab something from a can. Something in an unopened container. It was the only way to guarantee that no one had tampered it.

Her belly gave another painful gurgle and Claire clutched at it in vain. Two days now. Two days without food. She pursed her lips and reminded herself of her first few weeks in the days after the others had left. She had gone longer without. She could handle this. She'd weather through it, because that was what it was going to take.

"Here. Charlotte, this way. Come on, let's get to the Game Room. Time to do something different today," the nurse urged, guiding her with a firm hand on the shoulder and sounding distinctly apathetic to the idea. Spreading cheer was not her strong suit. The pair were soon strolling into a more humble room than usual, smaller with walls in place of windows and shelves lined with battered boxes. Televisions had been set up around the room, and Claire had to do a double take as she watched the screen light up and heard the sparsely noted tunes playing along. There was a stunted man running along the screen with pipes and bricks and turtles - she knew this. She knew...

"Mario." The word felt like a triumph. A smile crawled onto her face, gleeful and unbidden. "That's Mario."

"Dear, I'm sorry, but all the consoles are taken. Would you like to play a different game instead?"

"What?"

The nurse frowned when Claire made no move to find her own activity. Glancing around, she finally spotted a tall, scruffy looking man inspecting a shelf all alone and promptly directed her charge straight to him. "Ah, Arthur? How about you and Charlotte play something together, hmm? She arrived the same time you did. I'm sure you both will have lots to talk about."

Her duty completed, she vanished. Claire's impish smile disappeared in Arthur's shadow, replaced by the flat, hesitant stare she greeted all strangers with. The man was huge. When you were only just over a hundred and fifty centimeters, even average sized people gave you a reason to strain your neck. And Arthur was anything but average height.

There was an awkward silence. Claire had no idea what to say. What to do. How did they expect them to just launch into a game of...a game of Battleship and pretend like they were friends all along? That wasn't how people worked.

"I'm not Charlotte." Better establish that immediately. Claire uncomfortably crossed her arms and tried to meet the man's eyes without looking like an idiot. "My real name is Claire."

[lookitmemama.livejournal.com]

Oh, wonderful. A game room.

Asuka's scowling eyes traveled over each patient and every table that held some pedestrian children's game. She was not a child, though that hardly seemed an excuse since she saw grown men sitting around board games. Oh how low the mighty have fallen. Her nurse seemed to pick up on her gloomy aura, for she put her hand on the redhead's back and guided her further into the room with a sympathetic smile.

"Now, now, it'll be fun. And I'm sure you'll be able to make new friends out of this. Just try..."

The eva pilot simply gave her a light "humph!" and walked away with her head held high. Unfortunately, the angle almost made her trip over a patient sitting on the floor.

Who in the hell sits right in the middle of--Oh, no...

It was Toji, playing some video game on the institute's TV. "How typical..." She mumbled before cutting into the fourth child properly. "Instead of trying to form alliances with other patients or learn more about why you are stuck here, you decide to be anti-social and play video games. What a reliable comrade you are..."

[sangouki.livejournal.com]

He slept better than a steaming vegetable, he ate like a vegetable this morning, too, and he figured he might as well complete the set by being a fucking vegetable. He was quiet the entirety of the morning, and he planned on being quiet the rest of the day; there was no one here he needed to talk to.

Deep inside he was pissed off to all hell when he saw Shinji in the showers, but even deeper inside he regrettably felt comfortable knowing that someone else he knew was here with him; that contentment and raw anger all at once created a drunken slurry of incomprehensible feeling inside of him, something he wasn't really sure of. With Shinji around, he knew there was a chance-- a chance to get out of here, and the overwhelming confidence that he really wasn't crazy after all, though arguably everyone else here was. He wasn't patient Tanaka, he was a Suzuhara, and he was sure of it... But it wasn't enough, and a kind of weariness and paranoia of being wrong seemed to overwhelm him, and this wasn't a good time for optimism to fail him--

"--Ow!"

He rubbed the back of his head, gritted teeth and all, as he glanced up at the red-head. It was weird enough seeing her in what was practically pajamas for guys, it was even worse that he came in and reminded him of what he was supposed to be doing and-- lose his game, goddamn!

Toji's voice was a low croak as he turned to face the television again, brows furrowed. "What're you doin' followin' me around for? Fuck off, Soryu."