[Inside F16]

Now that Ilia had left, there was plenty of room to pace, and Lana took it. It would help keep her muscles loose, too. Ilia had been a help, but the most important point was getting the basics to Ema -- including the part about running away being the best thing to do if she couldn't help. She would hold onto that guilt; Lana knew her sister, and she could admit she would (and had) done the same herself.

But neither of them could let it freeze them up in the future. They had to try, that was the key to the whole thing. Two men were dead; one mourned, one not, and so were many others. This place ground through people, and Lana didn't intend to let their names be the next up.

[Ema and Renji]

[from here]

Even the main hall was deserted. S.T. switched on his flashlight and took a look around. Yeah, it was empty. No roadkill, no other patients. If he ever made it home, he was never bitching at any of the girls who didn't want to do night ops alone again. It was different when you knew there were things out there in the darkness. Things that knew they had the upper hand or just didn't give a fuck.

He whistled something that, if anyone listening could shelve their sense of pitch for long enough to identify it, switched back and forth between the Twilight Zone and Batman themes.

[by your powers combined Team Mental Quest]

After handling two conversations that had been difficult for completely different reasons, Castiel had to admit that he felt weary. It was not a sensation that was new to him; between Izaya showing far too much interest in his kind and Ruby simply being who she was, some peace and quiet was what he craved.

As it turned out, he might have a chance at that, seeing how the Head Doctor had decided to give them a choice for where to go in the next shift. Sitting around and eating three times a day had always struck Castiel as inefficient, so he approved of the change. Despite that, he still took the brown bag when it was offered to him, as his appetite wasn't something he could control.

His first choice was the library, and it was something that the nurses permitted. That surprised him, as in his experience eating wasn't allowed in libraries. He could understand the logic: books were sacred. Reading wasn't his goal at the moment, though, as he'd been meaning to write out an account of his experience last night since the morning. Now, finally, he would have the chance.

Castiel picked out a table at the back of the large room, sitting down and setting his lunch off to the side. He'd gotten a few sentences written out thus far, which he studiously added to. He soaked in the quiet; it helped him focus, and he wrote.

[For Kratos.]

And so it seemed that everything had gone back to normal.

Guy had spent his breakfast filling in a new patient and now Landel was rambling over the intercom like he always did. It made sense that the man would want to act like everything with Aguilar had never happened, though Guy couldn't help but wonder how things would change when night finally came. Knowing Landel, he'd have a long-winded speech prepared for them.

That was something that he could worry about later, though. Guy filed away the information about the doctors, but it didn't matter too much to him. He'd only been forced through that once, and had apparently been deemed a lost cause after that session. Speaking with a doctor here would just be a waste of time as far as he could tell, so that was fine by him.

Being placed in the Sun Room gave him access to the bulletin board, and perusing it gave him some idea of what had gone on last night, at least to the point that he understood that they'd had some sort of outside help. People were being secretive, but that was nothing new. Guy went ahead and put up a note for his friends, wanting to keep it up as a routine (at this point Luke should have been the one doing it, but Guy could talk to him about that later).

With that taken care of, he had little else to do but find himself a place to sit, and before long he located a comfy armchair. He took as seat, but as usual Guy couldn't help but keep an eye out for any friends.

[For Tear!]

[from here]

No, something was different. It wasn't until she reached the next hallway that Anise realized, but she could feel fonons - in the air, and in her body. It took a moment to process this, but as she thought about it, she quickly grew excited. Could this mean...!?

Tokunaga was retrieved from her back, and she held the doll in front of her in her arms. She focused her energy, and... to her delight, the doll began to grow. Its limbs stretched out, then thickened as the head and torso swelled to several times its original size. Once it was large enough, Anise tucked her weapon in the strap of the bag tied around its neck, then used her free hand to hold on to its head. When it finished growing, the doll was slightly taller than an average adult (and much wider), and Anise sat happily atop its big round head.

"Tokunaga! You're back!" she cried excitedly, wrapping her arms around the top of the doll's enormous head to give it a celebratory hug. "Let's go show the others!" This could only mean good things! Maybe they could finally escape!

The doll charged triumphantly through the hallway... then stopped at the door. The frame was too narrow for it to fit through. Anise had to shrink the doll down a bit, carefully squeeze through, make it grow again, and then they were off to find her friends!

[to here]

Anise had only just finished taking inventory of her collected medicine when she heard the telltale sound of the door unlocking. Since this wasn't the first time night had started without any words from the General, she didn't think much of it. She quickly grabbed her nighttime equipment: her meat tenderizer, flashlight, and Tokunaga. Her binoculars and the skeleton's velvet bag each went into one of the pockets of her leather jacket.

There was still no telling for sure whether Utena was going to take her warnings to heart, but... she did her best. Anise couldn't afford to stick around and try to physically stop her roommate when she had her own plans to take care of.

She stood, started for the door... then cringed as a loud screeching noise filled the building. An alarm?

"What's going on!?" she cried, then darted out to the hallway, as if she might see something there that would answer her question. She stepped out just in time to see some kind of soft pink light cover the walls. Anise was wary - there was no telling what that could mean. Maybe it was best to hurry to meet Guy and Claude...

Something did feel a little different, though.

[to here]

Anise couldn't get out of the Cafeteria fast enough. The stench of rotted food was overwhelming, and she was starting to feel sick. Most of her nausea came from seeing the people around her eating it, though. Even her friends! Anise didn't know what to do... What if lunch ended up being the same?

The Sun Room didn't feel like it was nearly far enough from all the rot, and Anise was convinced she could still smell it even after leaving the Cafeteria. She considered ducking into that blanket fort to get away from it (wait, blanket fort?), but decided distance was a better buffer than a pile of sheets and cushions (but seriously, blanket fort?). After giving the bulletin a quick look-over (No one had said anything about the food yet. It wasn't just her, was it...?) she decided to duck into the Library. With her privileges, Anise probably could have run off to wherever she wanted, but she figured it would be too boring to do that if she wouldn't have anyone to talk to.

Come to think of it, Anise hardly ever came to the Library, even though she liked reading. It just never felt like there was enough time to read. The first and last time she came was the day she had that fight with Aidou. She wondered how he was doing. Maybe it was about time they made up...

The last time she came, she'd been looking up Earth myths and legends. Anise wandered back to that section, looking over the rows of books as she considered giving that another shot.

While she stood there, her stomach growled, and she set a hand on it with a groan. "Like I could even stomach a meal right now..."

[Tear.]

[from here]

She moved from the cover of the trees into the open space provided. In this, at least, they had been right. And these in front of her fit the idea of 'ruins' precisely--imperfectly so, as the result did not match the time. She eyed the buildings warily. And where would the new radio persona be, if he was indeed here? There were few buildings at least to choose from, but there still remained a few options.

The trek from the institute had affected more than she thought, despite Tear's healing. Her hand slid into her jacket and pulled one of the two stronger tablets the man had given her. She had no want to lose any lucidity, but a lack of pain as distraction right now would be useful. She dry-swallowed it, then glanced off at the town. "Ideas?" she asked quietly. "We could explore each or determine the likelihood."

Because it couldn't be simple, of course. Ah, she was letting things affect her. It couldn't well be simple and she understood that. If he was simple to find, they would not be the only ones hunting. And she didn't think Marc would like to be caught, despite the recent company he was keeping.

[From here]

The three were mostly silent as they kept moving, which suited Utena fine for now. Maybe she would've preferred to talk with her new companions on any other occasion, but for right now, the most important thing to them was speed. The less distraction they had going on, the faster they could get through the building and out to the forest.

Utena didn't speak again until they were outside. She rubbed her arms as they made for the high walls of the yard. "Ughh, when did it get so chilly?" Utena asked to no one in particular, crunching through half-melted snow. She already knew that the change in weather had probably happened while she was out of commission, but that didn't mean she couldn't complain about it.

"Here, someone give me a boost up," said Utena as they reached the wall, reluctantly taking her hands off her arms.

[from here]

It was really dark.

It had been a long time since Anise last tried to navigate the halls without a flashlight, but with both her hands full, there was no way she could carry one. She had her handy little mini flashlight tucked away in her coat pocket so she could use it after dropping off the pipe.

It looked like the night was going to start on a positive note, but Anise couldn't help but wonder about that weird announcement from earlier. The military was probably up to something really shady. Anise just hoped they didn't put anything weird in her food again.

[to here]

It was nighttime, but Anise still hadn't made any plans. She didn't want to let the night go to waste, and she didn't want to try anything too dangerous, either... Maybe she could just go find some useful supplies to collect, so they'd be there when she or her friends needed them! That seemed like a pretty good idea. If things got dangerous, she could turn around and run back. No problem!

Before leaving, Anise made sure to slip on the tough leather jacket from her closet, and to gather her equipment. She tied an empty pillowcase around Tokunaga's neck so she could fill it with things later. The bracelets she was given last night were left in her possessions box for safekeeping. It'd be bad if she broke those before they figured out what they were for. Finally, she put Tokunaga on her back and picked up both her meat tenderizer and her pipe.

First order of business: delivering that pipe to Tolten! Anise wished Utena good luck, then slipped out of the room and into the dark hallway.

[to here]

The dinner announcement came as something utterly unexpected. Rather than Harrington's excited tones, the calm accented voice of the General drifted through the intercom speakers.

"Code 1-8. I repeat: Code 1-8. All personnel are to report to your stations. No exceptions."

The intercom clicked off, leaving no explanation behind. The staff appeared to take the words to heart, however, as evident by their thin-lipped faces and snappy tones to the slower patients. They were in an obvious hurry to get everyone back to their rooms.

For what cause, they refused to divulged.

[ Those participating in the forced drug trials, please ensure to read this lounge post before posting to dinner. Thanks! ]

Although it had been good to see his mom again, Claude entered the cafeteria with a dark expression on his face. He was glad she felt comfortable enough with him to share her experiences from last night, but that didn't make him any less angry at the military for using her to do their dirty work. Why couldn't those bastards clean up their own messes? Surely they had the resources for it.

Were they really going to have to fight someone else's war now?

His head buzzed with those sorts of questions as he moved through the room. Even so, with the help of his escort, Claude assembled a tray with a rather large hamburger, the appropriate condiments, and a cup of water. The cafeteria was still relatively empty, save for the soldiers on duty, so he took very little time in the line. It was probably just as well. He'd been so engrossed in his conversation with Rita during breakfast that he hadn't eaten much.

After finding an empty seat, Claude gingerly placed his tray and journal onto the table and sat down. As he lifted up his burger with his good hand, Claude couldn't help but think of Ashton for a moment. Where was he? He'd disappeared so long ago, and yet part of him worried the military had used him for something too.

Eyebrows furrowed, he took a bite and tried to focus on getting a decent meal in his stomach.

[For Guy!]

Anise woke up feeling lucky to be alive. She still felt a bit waterlogged, even though her skin, hair, and clothes were completely dry. During last night's adventures, she'd swallowed a lot of water, and it still felt heavy and disgusting in her stomach. Her arms and legs were tired from treading water. Lying still in her bed, she still kind of felt like she was floating and bobbing in the water.

But she was alive.

Knowing how close she came to death last night, and remembering the lengths her friends had gone to in order to save her, there was no way Anise could let a little discomfort get her down. She had to be at her best today so she wouldn't seem ungrateful to Guy and Claude. On that note, she had to remember to thank them properly, now that she was better able to express herself.

While getting ready, Anise was surprised to actually run into Claude that morning. He came to her room asking for the notebook he stored there (or maybe it was an excuse to see her cute face again), so Anise happily located it and handed it over. She was pretty tired, but the big smile she gave him was genuine. Who wouldn't be happy to see her savior so soon after a dramatic rescue?

After he left, Anise finished re-tying her pigtails into a low position so the military beret would fit on her head, and then she was ready! Even though her stomach wasn't feeling that great, she figured sitting down to a decent meal would help normalize it. And luckily for her, she was among the few who had the privilege of eating such a meal. Anise filled a plate with french toast topped with syrup and fruit, accompanied by small portions of each of the available side dishes.

It looked like she was early, which meant there weren't a lot of people around. That was okay, though. Anise could get a good head start on her meal before any company came around. She sat down at a table by herself and started on her sausage first.

[for Tolten!]

Since her talk with Soma in the morning, Rapunzel had been afraid this moment might come. Even as she distracted herself with other things, there was a tightness knotting up inside her stomach. Even as she assured herself that she would be prepared if it happened, the feeling wouldn't pass. And now, she felt a firm hand on her shoulder, and the word "visitor" passed from the lips of a disguised soldier to her ear. She hadn't thought that knot could get any tighter, or heavier.

She forced herself to breathe as the soldier led her to a room full of chairs. Okay. You can do this. Just take it like Soma said. Whoever this is, or looks like, or whatever — it's not the end of the world.

She drew a deep breathe in. Let it back out. Then lowered herself into a seat. She was glad for that seat, at least; it made the shaking of her legs harder to see.

The air inside the Institute was getting stifling. It wasn't much different than usual, really, but knowing about all the changes done under the Institute's hood in her absence, Utena could barely stand it. The staff were so stiff, even as they pretended to be the same caring nurses as always. Landel's regurgitated voice recordings crept under her skin like skittering bugs. And there was still no sign of Himemiya anywhere.

At least today was still Free Choice Day. As soon as she was allowed, Utena went back to her room for a coat, and made her way outside. That was another change to contend with — the temperatures had been dropping before, but it hadn't snowed yet when last she'd checked. Still, that wasn't such a huge deal to Utena. In fact, the snow was actually kind of refreshing; it was something she hadn't seen much since entering Ohtori. And even if she had hated the snow, she bet that she would have gone out anyway. If she didn't get some fresh air, she knew she was going to get a headache. Or kick something. Whichever came first.

Utena followed the path out through the courtyard. She breathed in deep as she walked, then let the breath back out, watching it dissipate in the cool air. She stared out into the empty, walled space. "Guess it's not so easy to get out of here for good, huh?" she said to herself, pushing her hands into her coat pockets and wandering over to a bench.

She sat for a while, staring up at the white-blue sky. Thoughts from the day ran through her mind on a loop, filling her vision. Eventually, she got restless. Arms raised above her head, Utena laced her fingers together and pushed her palms up toward that sky, glad to feel that soothing burn of stretching. She brushed snow off the bench next, swinging her legs up onto it and starting in on toe-touching stretches. This was what she needed right now, Utena thought. Something to focus on for the moment, take the heavier thoughts away for a little while. So, she kept stretching.

Eventually, Utena (being Utena) got into some of the more complicated streches. Meaning that eventually, she was leaning upside-down against the wall behind the bench, hands pressed into the cold ground as she alternated stretching one leg away from the wall, then the other. Nothing unusual about that. Not at all.

[Jessica~ ♥]

Edgar's charming company had raised Anise's spirits enough that not even the Head Doctor's voice could bring them back down. Besides, she was feeling pretty sure that Landel wasn't actually around. To begin with, it wouldn't make sense, and secondly, his announcements sounded suspiciously like ones she'd already heard before. While Anise wasn't very familiar with Earth technology, she'd seen the little devices in the Music Room that could play recordings of people's voices. This had to be something like that.

It wasn't long before Anise was escorted to the Cafeteria, and then to the section where edible food was being served. As she filled her plate with waffles, fruit, and sausages, she looked to the other side of the counter with a look of sympathy. It was hard to enjoy her own meals while knowing what the other patients had to suffer through.

She wasn't about to refuse her meals just out of guilt, though. Anise needed her strength for tonight. There was still a bit of a nervous twist in her stomach whenever she thought about what could happen down in the basement... but she wasn't going to back down. Not after promising her friends they'd go together.

With her tray in hand, Anise seated herself at an empty table in the middle of the room. She preferred to have company while eating, but it looked like she was one of the first patients there, so there was no one to sit with. Maybe if she minded her manners and tried to look her cutest, she'd attract someone handsome! Holding her utensils delicately, she began to cut her waffles into smaller pieces.

[For Battler.]

Anise was actually sleeping well for once. When morning came, she was curled up on her side, her arms tightly hugging her pillow in the same way they would usually hold Tokunaga.

All was peaceful... until she was awakened by a hateful voice.

Her eyes snapped open, and she jolted up into a sitting position. The Head Doctor... that bastard Landel was back! Those were her first thoughts, but as the haze of sleep gradually left her mind, she began to question whether that was actually true. There was something weird about the intercom announcement. She couldn't put her finger on it exactly, but... wasn't it a bit too much like another announcement she'd heard before?

"Did you sleep well, Dolores?" a nurse asked as she let herself into the room. No... she wasn't a nurse. It was that woman from yesterday - a soldier. Anise didn't want to start any trouble with her, so she merely answered with a nod as she pulled herself out of bed.

Wait a second... this wasn't her uniform. Well, it was, but it wasn't the one she was wearing last night. It looked like Anise was dressed in those gross-looking gray rags again, with only one noticeable difference: a pair of star-shaped stickers on the front, just above the smiley face on the left side. What was that for? And did this mean they weren't going to be treated like soldiers anymore?

Anise didn't have much time to wonder, as the "nurse" urged her to quickly finish getting ready, and to choose a place to go. As usual, Anise chose the Chapel. There was a bittersweet familiarity about the place. It reminded her of home, but it also reminded her of how far she was from home.

Once she was left alone, Anise sat down on an empty pew. She didn't feel much like praying today, and she still wasn't sure it would do any good, besides. Instead, she occupied herself by looking around at the decor and the staff, and then by picking up a hymnal and glancing through it. She really wanted to know what was going on... but it didn't seem like any clear answers were going to come right away.

[Edgar!]

[ From here. ]

Deserted.

Regardless, Lightning took several steps into the large room, looking about and listening intently. Most importantly though, she was also trying to get a feel for the air there. She remembered quite clearly how it had seemed her first and second nights, how someone else going through ahead of her had caused the oppressive air inside to be stirred slightly, and figured that would be the best way for her to tell if anyone had already beat her out the door.

However, that didn't seem to be the case here, and as far as she could tell without walking all the way over to it, the entrance at the other end of the room hadn't yet been opened. Taking a hasty step backward, Lightning was quick to retrace where she'd come from as soon as she was sure of the possibility being struck out--

And then the sound of static from the radio trapped in her jacket, harsh and almost deafeningly loud in the darkened silence, nearly caused the already wound-tight l'Cie a heart attack then and there. Pressing her lips together in annoyance, she moved to retrieve the thing, immediately recognizing the first voice and then...

... That was-- was that the 'head doctor?'

Now almost outright scrambling, she quickly lifted the radio to not far from her face, first bending her head so that pieces of her pale hair fell forward as she listened, then promptly shaking it back, turning her back to the wall and leaning there, determined to keep an eye on her surroundings at the same time despite her surprise.

Much of the message went right over the ex-soldier's head still, but... they were working together- not even a child could miss that. Shaking her head in disgust, she started putting the noisy device back in the jacket pocket almost before the broadcast had come to an end.

Seeing how his conversation with Hope had been pretty thought-provoking, Zack had ended up spending his lunch at the Twin Pines on his own as he'd thought through it all. Different worlds, somehow related and yet in other ways totally apart from each other. He wished he'd handled that conversation with Hope better, that he'd made it clear that certain things that the kid knew from home just weren't going to exist in other places, but...

In the end, he was too much of a softie for something like that. It was for that reason that he'd let Yuffie trick him time and time again when she'd been a brat of a kid.

Still, it had been good to get some food in his stomach in a heated restaurant, and so Zack had made the best of his meal, actually enjoying the time to himself for once. He'd spent it thinking about Cloud and Tifa too, since there was a lot that he needed to discuss with both of them. Why was it that there never seemed to be a good time for it?

Well, maybe it had to do with the fact that they were fighting for both their lives and their freedom here.

Once Zack was done eating, he realized that it was about time to get back to exploring, and so he wandered the streets for a while before stumbling across an electronics store. He was curious to see what a town of this size had to offer, although he got the feeling that it wasn't going to approach anything like what he was used to.

That was more or less proved true when he stepped inside. There were cell phones on display, but they looked practically prehistoric. He didn't know if he should find it interesting or if it was more the sort of situation that required shaking his head in dismay.

[For Taura.]