[From here]

In the incredibly boring and uneventful hallway that followed, Tyki paused. He guessed he was pretty early, considering there was a huge lack of anyone around. No monsters or not even other patients. The thing there wasn't a lack of, though, were directions to head in to. And that was pretty much the question that kept the Noah occupied right now;

Where to?

[For Peter Petrelli!]

The nurse had told Wash he could go anywhere he wanted and the thought Is home included in that? crossed his mind, but that sounded too pathetic to say aloud, even for him. So he silently eenie meenie minie moe'd through his options, ended up choosing the Sun Room, and then promptly decided the Arts and Crafts room would be more interesting. At least there might be stuff he could fiddle with and distract himself.

A part of him couldn't decide if he was relieved or not he didn't get a visitor. He didn't think it would've gone the way a proper visit was supposed to go, but...

He stepped into the room and sat down at an empty table, rifling through the materials absently. This place looked much too cheerful. Although maybe that was better than looking much too scary, but it was so cheerful it was almost scary and now he was starting to confuse even himself.

After a second, he picked up a pair of scissors (these weren't scissors, they were more like plastic chopsticks) and a sheet of construction paper and began cutting.

[hi Badou~]

Momo was both relieved and disappointed to discover that she would not be receiving another visit from Aizen this week. She was happy that she would not have to go through another bout of doubting herself and getting answers she didn't understand to the questions she had. She was sad, though, that she wouldn't get to see him again, just to feel that comforting presence he has. She had accepted that he was doing very evil things and that she'd unknowingly helped him, but... he was still her captain. He was still Aizen-sama.

Since she wasn't to have a visitor, her nurse gave the option of the vice captain choosing what room to spend the next shift in. Given her injuries, the nurse suggested she stay in the Sun Room, but Momo declined. Now that she had time, she wanted to draw... to create something, especially since she had taken the Noah's life the previous night. Her nurse acquiesced and lead the shinigami to the room.

Momo was moving slowly because of her torso, but also so she could adjust to the new blind spot on her left. She was fairly sure she was doing well enough since neither Fai nor Hanatarou had noticed. Granted Fai hadn't been feeling well himself, but Hanatarou was of the 4th; he should have noticed. Then again, the other shinigami had barely looked at her their entire meal. Maybe she could continue to hide her handicap. The last thing she needed was whomever was planning retaliation upon her for Rhode's death (most likely the other Noah) to learn that she was half-blind.

The shinigami was disappointed to discover that not only did they not have a canvas and easel for her to properly paint on, but they only had finger paints, claiming the brushes were too dangerous... that she could accidentally poke an eye out. Had she the energy, she would have considered smacking the nurse for the bad joke. There was a large white board with various colored markers that she could use, though. It made little sense - markers were okay but a paint brush wasn't? Maybe she'd just make her own brush by cutting off a small piece of her hair and tying it to the end of a pen.

An idea quickly thwarted by the plastic scissors. Sure, if she worked at it she could cut her hair with them, but it's take too long and probably draw the attention of the nurse since there was no one else in the room. Sighing, the shinigami set the finger paints down on the table with some larger pieces of cardboard, next to her journal. Maybe she'd...

Her attention returned to the white board. Picking up a yellow marker, she uncapped it and stared at the board for a long moment before she started to sketch, not quite sure what she wanted to draw.

[Hokuto]

For the first time since arriving at Landel's, Elle woke up feeling... almost peaceful. She lay in bed for several minutes, adjusting to certain things. Mostly the fact that her left arm was in a sling. And her shoulder didn't hurt as much as she would have expected it to, which probably meant she was on meds.

She got out of bed slowly, and made her way to the desk. Her journal was still in the top drawer, lying closed on top of the files she'd stolen. She grabbed it, along with a pen and a rubber band - not easy, one-handed - and allowed herself to be escorted to the Sun Room by a nurse.

The Head Doctor's words intrigued her. Visitors? Friends and family from back home? Despite the sudden ray of hope, she had to admit the unlikelihood of seeing Daddy. Either he'd put her here for a reason, and so would have no need to visit, or he couldn't get here at all.

It took a very long time to figure out how to hold her journal open and write at the same time. Through trial and error, she discovered that using her left hand to hold the journal didn't hurt too much.

This was probably a really bad idea. But if Daddy had really put her in here to kill Sylar as some kind of test, he wouldn't have given Sylar the virus. And if it came to having Sylar as a friend or as an enemy, she'd rather have him standing between her and the monsters than in a nearby corner laughing while she got ripped apart.

[for Eddie]

[from here]

Wally took a quick look around the hallway before looking back at Tony. "Maintenance closet, nurses' station and maybe a doctor's office? I'm guessing most of that stuff'll be on the second floor, right?" He hadn't seen much of the institute last night, as this was when he'd kicked into superspeed on his way out. Things were mostly a dark blur at that point and even if there had been signs around, he probably wouldn't have noticed them. Though if there were signs, he wasn't sure if he'd trust them at this point.

[Coming from here]

So they still had to deal with one of the brainwashed patients tonight; the rest were being carted off for experimentation. Something had changed in the routine. There'd been a pattern earlier, one night to those "trials", the others for the brain-washed patients. But tonight was different for some reason.

So what made it change?

Sanzo was suspicious of sudden change, mostly because it always signaled something was up.

Was it because of that "Jill" pissing Landel off? Or just pure whim?

Whatever the reason, it wouldn't do the patients any favors.

Rukia filed out of the bus with the other prisoners, shivering a little in the cool autumn air. She was a little irked that the nurses hadn't given her mittens on this trip. Forced to stuff her hands in to the pockets of her jeans, Rukia hunched her shoulders and wandered to the edge of the park before turning around to look for anyone she knew.

Nurses and orderlies were already milling about, supervising and watching the prisoners. Rukia's plan was to get a hold of something - anything - that she could use as a weapon when they returned to the Institute that night. It would be difficult with so many staff members around, but she was determined; the last thing she wanted was to be trapped on the buses again with no weapon.

Wally woke as the intercom crackled to life and was surprised to find himself back in his room. The last thing he'd remembered was feeling relieved at finally beating off those dragonfly-lizard things. There'd been that weird intercom message, then... he wasn't quite sure what had happened after that, but he was certain it hadn't involved falling asleep. He'd be half-wondering if he'd dreamed the whole thing if it hadn't been for the nagging ache on his back and ankle from where he'd been bitten. A quick check revealed they'd been bandaged, apparently while he'd slept. He wondered if he had Kal to thank for that. Maybe he'd get the chance to ask later.

He jumped as the door swung open to admit the familiar face of the nurse who'd woken him yesterday. "Up already, are we?" she said cheerfully as she busied herself pulling out clothes. A blue shirt and a pair of jeans were passed to him. Wally blinked, he hadn't been here long, but he'd gotten the impression that the grey-and-smiley-face combo was standard.

"Does this mean I'm being released?" he asked, hope creeping into his voice.

The nurse turned back to him, pity etched on her features. "I'm afraid not, dear." She smiled brightly as she continued, "but today's when all the patients get a special field trip into town! Won't that be a treat!"

Wally stared at the clothes, his mind working away. He'd been trying to get into town and to a phone last night before he'd been attacked. But if they were going in today, this might be the perfect chance for him to contact the Justice League. He smiled warmly and thanked the nurse as she left to allow him to change, then happily allowed himself to be led to one of the buses, picking a seat about halfway down and sliding in to look out the window. It seemed like today was going to be brighter than yesterday, at least in the area of possible phone calls and rescues. About the only dark patch he could see was that the contents of his paper-bag breakfast were going to be nowhere near enough to fill the yawning pit that had taken the place of his stomach, and even that was tolerable when he was positive he wasn't going to be here much longer.

"And you say that time goes rushing by, but it seems so slow to me, and you see a blur around you fly, but it takes too long, it seems so slow to me..." he sung absently.

[Oh Captain, my Captain~]

[from here]

A hand upon the left wall, Momo paused and looked around. Empty. No monsters, so it was clear. She hoped the colonel wasn't going to be too angry at her for not getting the key back to him at breakfast. She didn't have the heart to tell him it was because she'd simply refused to leave her room that morning after having her own silent fit about the frustrating results of the previous night.

It would be kind of embarassing.

[to here]

The intercom came on, and as it did, it seemed to carry a little more interference than usual for a daytime announcement, a little more static. While the patients might have thought for a moment that once again the elusive woman on the radio had hacked into the Head Doctor's system, the man himself soon proved that theory faulty as he laughed over the broadcast.

"Hello, hello, everyone, and I'm sorry for the bad quality of this broadcast; we've been having some technical difficulties lately, you see, and we wanted to make sure everything was fixed by tomo...."

His voice crackled out into inaudibility for a moment before fading back in.

"Yes, hopefully that will be done soon. In any case, now's the time that you all head back to your rooms to enjoy a delicious meal... seasoned salmon! Yes, we have filets of very tasty, very juicy salmon seasoned with herbs and garlic; on the side, we have mashed potatoes, peas, and to drink, our usual assortment of beverages. For dinner, you'll all be enjoying vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce."

The intercom's broadcast crackled again. The Head Doctor laughed, seemingly a little nervously.

"Ah, yes, perhaps we'll be able to finish the repairing tomorrow, when all of you are away at... Doyleton! Yes, yes, you're all in for a fun and exciting day, a day whose activities will be new for some and a welcome familiarity to others. You'll be under strict supervision, of course, but... well, I suppose you'll find out all about the circumstances tomorrow, before you set off, mm? Yes! In any case... I hope you all enjoy dinner!"

The intercom clicked off again as the nurses began ushering patients back to their quarters.

[ All introduction posts for this shift's group of new characters should be made in response to this post. (You can find your character's room assignment here.) Remember, everyone responds to this post with their character's room number in the subject line. ]

[One speedster, free to a good home! Plays well with others and has had his shots. Adopt today!]

Wally followed the steady stream of patients from the cafeteria towards the showers, but was prevented from entering by one of the ever-present nurses.

"Not you, dear," she said with a fixed, though pleasant, smile, "you were already cleaned up on arrival. I know, why don't you wait here in the Sun Room and see if you can make some new friends?" She gave him a gentle push back towards the centre of the room. Wally forced a smile in response and made a show of wandering around the room, taking in the paintings before pausing to check the bulletin board.

He wondered what the nurse had meant exactly. Had he been showered and cleaned before he'd gotten here, or had one of the nurses taken care of it while he'd been out? That was an unnerving thought. He added it to the long list of unnerving thoughts he'd gotten that day. Most of the rest had been about monsters, but there was also the whole powers thing which no one seemed to know much about, judging by the bulletin board, and Kal-who-thinks-he's-Clark. It had given him a lot to chew over, which was more than he could say about lunch. He hadn't been game to even grab a snack on the way out with Marcus watching him.

"Well this bites," he muttered to himself. He made his way over to an empty couch and flopped down with a sigh in the warm sunlight. Surely it couldn't be that much longer until he was able to bid this place 'goodbye' as he speed back to a more familiar setting. At this point he'd even be willing to let J'onn beat him at Brawlin' Bots, or go on a completely serious, Flash-please-stop-talking-and-concentrate patrol with Bats, if it would get him home.

Yuffie bounced all the way through collecting her lunch, all the way to a good seat- one with a nice view of the whole cafeteria, which was something she'd been missing out on during the past day or so that she'd been stuck in the Institute- and hell, she even bounced into her seat.

A good mood? No, really?

Despite the occasional blip, talking to Sagara had been awesome. He was a fun guy; he wasn't a prude, didn't have a stick shoved so far up his ass it was poking out his eyeballs, and he'd actually had a conversation with her. One that hadn't revolved around doom, gloom or how much life sucked. If she could find other people like that and keep in touch with Sagara, maybe there was a little hope for this place.

After a quick gulp of pink lemonade, Yuffie settled to munching through her food and keeping an eye on the door.

[Waiting for Dean, I think? :x]

Artemis Fowl was, yet again, exceedingly displeased to be naked.

As much as Haku insisted that since he had experienced public bathing before, this time would be easier, the feeling was not mutual. Artemis' body was his own personal business, as far as he was concerned, and no one else's. His only comfort was the fact that he was not hideously tattooed anymore with various and sundry insults branding him a moron.

Still, that did not stop him from taking a towel into the shower area once again, Nurse Hedgerow grudgingly allowing it. She could see no other way of getting the boy to bathe. He was as stubborn as ten teenage boys. And after that lecture on psychological torture through means of public humiliation...

The boy let the water run over his head, the towel clutched firmly around his body. And he thought. July. How was it July when it had been fall just a week previous? It was impossible, logically speaking. But what part of this place fit in with any sort of logic Artemis had ever encountered? No, if he didn't let go of the fact that things would be as insane as people claimed he was, he would lose his mind.

His fingers brushed the burn mark Caleb had given him for what seemed the fortieth time. ...He had to get himself together, or this would only be a small taste of what awaited him in the hallways.

[For Omi]

[starting off in M13]

The last part of the night was little more than a blur in Homura's mind. The men had rushed in, but not joined them, instead staying off to themselves. Before any of them had a chance to react, however, a voice sounded through the air, mocking some other person Homura had never heard of, and the patients themselves.

To Homura, whoever that man was, he sounded a great deal like a god.

But before he could ask questions, the demi-god found himself no longer in the chapel, but some strange room on a bed. Is that what Kenren had meant from his earlier warning? Homura sat up, glad at least that the world didn't spin when he did so. Then the same man from before began to speak again, with a completely different tone. It was confusing to hear him talk that way, calling them patients instead of prisoners as he had before. Homura listened quietly as the announcement was made, then got out of bed.

Maybe he wouldn't have to go anywhere yet. It wasn't like Homura knew where to go anyway, and that meant he had time. If this was his room, and if he had been here as long as Kenren had said, there was a chance he could find something with answers. The Taisho had even told him that Homura had seen Rinrei. Certainly he would've written something down, made a map, something that could let him find her again! He started with the desk at the end of his bed, first finding a small stack of notebooks. Picking up the first, he flipped through, turning the pages with quickening desperation as he found each one to be blank.

[from dinner post]

... the doctor sounded tired. Shawn wasn't sure if he preferred that voice or the more youthful one in the second announcement but either way, he figured, this guy's still fucking nuts.

Talk about Sci-Fi gone wrong. Gus would've loved this, even if Shawn knew the other wouldn't have been able to stop shaking in his slippers long enough to go into full dweeb mode. Shawn committed both announcements to memory-- just because authenticity sounded verified, it didn't mean he could trust anything that was being said especially when it involved so-called advanced technology, a "shield", and some kind of super hacker. Hackers, honestly. If the act didn't involve Angelina Jolie in any way Shawn just wasn't interested.

He held pushed at the prematurely opened door, looking out into the dark hallway warily. Pulling back in, he cast an almost-cautious grin at Peter. "After you...?"

Like he was going to go out there first. Yeah. Right.

Tamaki was still awed and touched that Ritsuka had set up the clinic for him. He... well, he'd stay alert and up and as focused as possible until Raine showed up. And anyone else. He remembered Kratos had said something about not being able to make it....

They really did need more healers and doctors. Maybe during the day he could hold classes in first aide or something, and anyone who wished to help could come. Yes, that was something he could focus his mind on. That was good.

He struggled out of bed, eyes still feeling hot and itchy from crying, and opened the door with another small smile directed at his roommate.

From the sound of the intercom, something was happening tonight. Maybe he should ask Ritsuka to stay after all.....

"Good evening, patients and staff!" the Head Doctor said just as the intercom's usual jingle ended. Strangely, he seemed even more tense now than he had been throughout the day, though as he continued to speak, he seemed to get back into the usual swing of things. "I hope you all had very productive outdoor activities today and helpful therapy sessions to boot. Now, however, we must all begin to retire, and as always, our nurses will be bringing your dinner to your rooms shortly after your being escorted there. Tonight's meal includes a generous portion of delicious spaghetti with tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese (and meatballs if you choose), along with sides of hot garlic bread and fresh Caesar salad. For dessert, we will be serving slices of moist chocolate cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream."

The Head Doctor paused, and there was the sound of rustling and then muffled voices, as if the doctor had put his hand over the microphone and was clarifying something with someone--a female voice, probably Lydia. He took his hand off the mic and cleared his throat.

"Yes, that's all for now. I hope you all enjoy dinner, and remember, some of you tonight will be lucky enough to participate in our CM-US Experimental Therapy Trials, so look forward to that after the meal. Goodbye for now!"

The intercom clicked off.

[ Please respond to this post with all dinner shift threads between roommates, putting your character's respective room in the subject line. ]

There was a knot in Sai's stomach as he was led back inside to the cafeteria. It was an unfamiliar feeling, and he tried to ignore it. What was it? Was he actually uncomfortable with his decision? He couldn't afford to be. This alliance with Itachi was crucial, and he'd just have to try and make sure the others saw it that way.

The promised lunch didn't help, as the fish was fried and generally not something he'd eat on a regular basis. The cod by itself would have been far more preferable. Nevertheless, the ninja took the meal as it was offered, figuring he could simply scrape away at the breading once he'd sat down. He passed up the "chips" completely and just added the cooked carrots in their place. It was somewhat more appealing than he'd anticipated once he sat down.

Having done about all he'd intended to do today already, Sai allowed himself to get comfortable and relax. His wounds needed time to heal, even in this place. The more rest he got, the faster that would happen.

Guy let out a sigh of relief as he made his way out onto the field, glad to have some fresh air and sunshine after going so many days without it. That was one of the hardest things about being kept in this place, in his opinion. At least during their journey they had been outside more often than not.

Even though he spent most of his nights moving around or fighting some monster or even running from a monster when he bit off more than he could chew, Guy still felt the urge to do something active now. Being in the thick of danger was pretty different from exercising for the sake of it, after all. Besides, considering how physically taxing the night always was, it was good to keep in shape.

His talk with Allelujah had also left him bursting with excitement at the thought of satellites and colonies in space and mobile suits, so working off his energy would be a good idea. He figured a few laps around the field was just what he needed, so he found a relatively clear area and started doing a series of stretches.

If he was lucky, maybe once he was done running he could convince one of the nurses to give him a bat so he could practice some swordplay. He had his own bat, but he was usually too busy using it to bludgeon things rather than to practice the finesse that sword work required.

[For Sync.]

Renamon blinked, and suddenly she was laying flat in the bed she had originally woke up in. The timing was impeccable, accenting Orihime's explanation perfectly. She just hoped that she hadn't freaked the girl out with her little disappearing act. She quickly shifted out of bed, and grabbed the journal she had wrote notes in last night, and jotted down another page. No sooner did she finish did her ever-so-friendly nurse come to collect her. Renamon didn't respond to the nurse's excited talk of making friends and breakfast, and simply followed her, journal in hand.

She paused at the Sunroom to leave a message on the Bulletin Board to Toboe. Hopefully the wolf had simply gotten lost, and wasn't truly gone. On the other hand, maybe she should be hoping that the boy had found a way out, and a way home. No use overly worrying about it now.

She continued to the Cafeteria, only pausing to take a plain muffin and water. It seemed she was early. She sat at a table near the wall, scanning over her notes and waiting for her breakfast date.

[Waiting for Kairi and Sora]