There was, Naomi decided, some sort of cosmic irony in all of this. Not that she was trapped in a deranged and possibly other-worldly asylum with a man she'd idolized for years and a boy who was being investigated for - among other things - the murder of her fiance. No, at this point, those were perfectly normal occurrences. Rather it was the soft, pretty, feminine pink sweater dress she'd been stuffed into in the morning. A chance to wear normal clothes, and she looked like a soccer mom. The white blazer and white boots only made her look like a soccer mom who maybe hadn't given up gogo boots.

It was humiliating. Why couldn't she have jeans and a sweater? And sneakers? Something she would conceivably wear? Not this damned pink monstrosity. And her nurse kept saying how pretty she was.

She didn't care if she looked pretty.

Grumbling to herself, and taking it out on her muffin, Naomi was shoved onto an empty bus and told to 'sit tight'. Oh, she'd sit tight alright....

At least she was relatively certain L was alright. She'd spent the whole night with him, and other than falling on his ass, nothing had happened to him. And hopefully nothing would happen to him in town, either....

[From here]

Ami stepped out into the wider corridor. Again, silence. It was disconcerting. Glancing around, Ami couldn't see anything threatening. Yet. She forced her fear back, determined not to let its icy claws grip her.

She walked across the hallway and into the women's bathroom.

Ami stepped out into the dark hall. It looked like no one was out of their rooms yet. Heart fluttering slightly, Ami closed her eyes to allow them to adjust to the dark hall.

A few minutes later she opened them, able to make out the long corridor and various doors. She began walking quickly and quietly down the corridor.

After Momo had departed, Integra was resigned to her indefinite wait for the vampire yet again. She could never know how quick he would or would not be, but knew the time in between must pass so much slower for her, having so little to do. Still sitting on her bed, the woman made another map copy by flashlight -for him again- now including the new information her roommate had provided.

Integra still wondered as well if the stranger Mustang had assigned to meet with them would show after all. She’d left her room number on the bulletin board, but couldn’t know if the one named Dias had ever seen it. Whoever they were, she assumed they’d be intelligent enough to knock at least if they did come before her servant reached her though. The knight had no intention of waiting in the hall as an idle target by herself.

After finishing the newest map, she tucked it back away with its identical brethren also in her pocket. If they did end up having company, she and Alucard could always share one and give the other to Dias. If the stranger didn’t have their own by now. Surely everyone had been covering more ground each night and documenting it. Cutting the flashlight back off to conserve the battery, Integra stretched to lay out on her sheets in the darkness. There was no fault in resting while she could, though the fools better knock before barging in.

[from here]

And there they were: the doors to the Sun Room!

But where was Allen?! Rhode stood at the doors, tapping her foot and looking around. There had been such a gathering here last time, so why wasn't anyone here now? Not that she cared for anyone past her favorite white haired exorcist, but she had still expected to at least find someone there!

She peered inside the open doors, not finding Allen through the darkness and rather doubting that he was in there (his glowing eye would have given away enough light for her to spot easily. Allen Walker out of sight, and no reason yet to go in search of the area above her, Rhode turned her back to the doors, folded her arms, and took to tapping her foot impatiently, waiting for him to show up. She'd give him... at least a few minutes before deciding to yell at him the next day for making her wait.

[from here]

Good, everything still looked familiar. Or as familiar as was possible in the darkness. Rhode still had yet to discover the joys that belonged to the flashlight nestled beneath her pillow, but her eyes were so accustomed to the darkness of her own dimensions that the hallways did not bother her. A little light would have been welcome, if only to flash against her golden eyes and scare away whomever had the misfortune to stumble onto her. She smiled at the thought of someone screaming as they ran away.

Only a little farther now.

[to here]

[from here]

The hallway was empty here as well. Just how much earlier had she headed out tonight? Probably not by much. The absence of others in the hallway barely bothered Rhode as did the presence of others. Her mind was usually so dead focused on getting somewhere or finding someone that she had never really paid attention to what other things happened around her.

A left at the next hallway and down a bit for the doors on the left. That should be right. She hoped the ghost woman's influence on her wasn't messing with her memory.

[to here]

Momo's mind was turning over all the possibilities surrounding this "field trip" to the surrounding town when she settled down in the corner of the Sun Room away from the Arts & Crafts room. She curled her legs underneath her as she waited for Shouko-san to find her. The shinigami had no idea what she looked like, so she kept an eye on all those entering the room.

It was still very cold, or at least she was cold, and the momentary thought of getting her coat from her own room passed through her mind amidst the field trip thoughts. She pushed it away and decided to deal with it being as cold as it was since she'd already been late to one meeting today and didn't want to start making it a habit.

As she waited, she pondered the next day's possibilities. Maybe, just maybe, once away from the institute the shinigami will have access to their full reiatsu. And if not, maybe they'll have a better idea of how they are being limited so much. Maybe Aizen would be able to find her then. He'd save her... right? Right?

Renji wasn't so certain what this grilled cheese thing was all about, but he liked the sound of some soup. Even if it was strange western soup, well... there wasn't anything bad people could do to soup, in his experience. His good mood was starting to fray at the edges, a little, from the strain of dealing with the Ichimaru issue, and even more from what had been on the bulletin board earlier.

He'd never had difficulty simply writing something before. But...

He shook his head as he entered the line. He didn't want to think about it. He wanted to hold on to the tenuous equilibrium he'd managed to find.

Renji got himself a large bowl of soup, water, and even one of those sandwiches, just to try it. Old habit, recently awakened, had him over to one side of the cafeteria, where the fewest people possible would have the chance to pass behind him. He sat there with his back toward the wall and started eating.

With the nurse's guidance, Rinali was the first one into the room.  Along the way she did her best to make note of what she saw, but everything seemed to fit what the nurse had said.  This looked for all intents and purposes to be a mental asylum.  Still, everything was off.  Why did the nurse say her name was Mei Dianfu?

"Here's everything you need to get going," the nurse said with a warm smile, leading her to a table with cheap scissors, glue, and an assortment of glitter and other tools to draw or build.  "I'll be right over here if you need anything, hun," the nurse said with a warm smile.  "The other patients will be coming in shortly.  Try and make some friends."

Rinali smiled slightly to the nurse in thanks.  The nurse seemed genuine enough, so there wasn't any point in being rude until she understood what was going on.  "Thank you very much," she said, then took a seat at the table.  She didn't bother to look at the art supplies, instead waiting for the rest of the 'patients' to filter in.  Maybe one of them would know why she was here, or better yet, where her brother was.

Brother, she thought.  Where are you?

Day came too soon.

Sora hadn't been able to find Rena, had instead been forced to crumple onto the grass of the recreational field and bleed all over himself, and hadn't even accomplished what he'd been sent out to do. What he'd been entrusted to do. He didn't know how he was going to be able to face Renji and the others, but he also knew he wasn't going to hide from them, either. That would just be low, after all, and he was ready to face up to the consequences.

He didn't try to make excuses for himself. Even though there had been a Special Counseling patient, they had managed to take her down by sheer numbers. The fact that he hadn't seen any sign of Rena was what had him the most worried. He hoped he could find her today.

The boy laid in his bed for a good while that morning before his nurse finally came in to collect him. She clucked over the bandages wrapped tightly around his chest and leg, and asked him if he was okay to walk.

Once Sora assured her he was fine (he didn't really want to use crutches, as that would just attract attention to himself, and he didn't need others worrying over him), they made their way to the cafeteria. Sora yawned and winced against the bright light of morning - it seemed even earlier than usual, and he realized why when they entered the cafeteria and found it empty.

The boy shuffled over to grab a chocolate chip pancake, a bowl of cereal, and a glass of milk (good for the bones, or so his mom had always told him) before settling at a table. He kept an eye on the door, hoping he would see Rena walking in soon.

[[ from here. ]]

Just a bit further now, just a bit further into the woods before the wolf would pounce on her. At least he wouldn't be wearing her grandmother's clothes this time. That ruse was always so irritating, not to mention amateur of a skilled assassin.

But wolves had never been proper assassins anyway. The steel blade was pointed and flew.

Momo had once again thoroughly cleaned her katana and was set for the night mission when the intercom clicked on. She listened to the announcement and sighed. So this was what Hitsugaya had meant by Special Counseling. One of the patients turned temporary enemy for the night was right in in the way of her mission and this time she had a young girl with her and Signum. She sighed again and slid the cymbal into the back of her pants and her katana into the sheet-belt at her side. She was even happier that she'd come across Kimbley this morning than she'd been earlier. She was going to need Signum properly equipped.

Stepping out into the hallway, Momo put her back to the wall after checking the small bit of the hall to the left before the wall. Sumeragi-san and Signum will hopefully be moving rapidly. They needed to move.

Some day, he really did intend to go to the game room, just to see what they had in the way of games. But not today. He was simply not in the mood to do anything approaching fun, and he was starting to feel like shit from a combination of being sedated and not having eaten anything yet all day.

The nurses bought it when he did a little exagerated stumbling around, and let him slink off to a corner of the Sun Room. He figured he'd lay down and pretend to be asleep, and maybe he'd be lucky enough that everyone would leave him the hell alone. He even found a couch with its back to the door so he wouldn't be immediately visible and laid down on it. His feet hung over one of the arms, but it wasn't as obvious as his hair being visible.

He had a lot to think about. Like trying to understand why he both did and didn't want to see Rukia. And the things the mysterious person on the bulletin board had said. Thinking about it made his hands shake and made him feel sick. It made it nearly impossible to try to tell himself that nothing had happened, now.

Renji closed his eyes tightly and wished that he really could sleep.

The nurse assigned for the next session of group therapy was a kindly, older woman, running a bit to the plump side. Her hair, long gone grey, was done up in a neat bun. (It was more difficult for violent patients to grab, that way, among other things.) She made certain to arrive at the room early, just to make certain that everything was neat and ready for the patients. She checked her clipboard for the three names; Max Vyer, Arthur Fairbrook, and Haneda Shiori. She hoped that Shiori was feeling better after her little episode this morning, or else things might be a bit tense. But that was what the nurse was there for, after all; to keep things going smoothly.

She arranged the chairs neatly in a circle and then sat, waiting for her patients to arrive.

Gluttony didn't want to leave his Lust, not after he'd just found her!  But the mean tasty nurses said he had to.  "You can't join her in the women's showers" was a bad excuse.  He didn't like the mean tasty nurses.  Maybe Lust would let him eat them later.  Still, he knew he would see his Lust again, and that was good.  He liked Lust.  She was good and beautiful and smart and kind.  Why did they have to take him away from his Lust?

Still, he would see her again.  And she would tell him it was okay to eat the tasty nurses, and that would be good.  His new friend liked eating people, too.  That made him happy to find a friend who shared a love for eating people.  Today was a very good day.

As he entered the showers, he stood under a shower head and opened his mouth wide to drink up the water.  It wasn't as good as eating people, or eating waffles that didn't scream when he bit into them so weren't nearly as good as eating people, but it was still swallowing something, and that made him feel better.

Sai awoke rather groggily, which wasn't a good sign for a ninja. It meant he was probably ill. He'd need to get checked up with a medic-nin before he did very much more that day. Eyes blinked open slowly to stare at the ceiling and then narrowed in confusion. Not his ceiling. Was he already at the hospital?

"Mr. Pastello... wake up, hon."

Turning his head to the side revealed a vaguely familiar woman in a white uniform. A nurse? ...Oh yes. His nurse. Landels. He sat up at her direction, feeling mildly dizzy as he did so, and glanced down at his arms as he folded them in his lap. They were covered in clean bandages, no longer bleeding. The dizziness told him he was still suffering a bit from the blood loss, however.

When had he passed out? The last few events of the night hadn't been very clear. He didn't know what had happened to the two pirates and, looking around, the mess of blood they had left seemed to have been completely cleaned up. It was amazing, really. He smiled at his nurse, too weary to do much else but let her lead him to breakfast at the moment.

She helped him to his feet, where the light-headedness was even more apparent. It didn't seem to be anything he couldn't put up with, though. The nurse seemed to know a bit about what he suffered from, but made no mention of it aside from telling him to avoid lifting heavy objects and to drink lots of fluids as they made their way to the cafeteria. The subject of blood-sucking leeches never arose, and he figured if it had she'd surely feign ignorance.

It wasn't until they got there that he realized just how absolutely starving he was. He'd had what, corn for dinner? The smells were simply enticing, even though he had no idea what waffles were supposed to be. He was sure anything edible at this point would be fine, and made his way out of his nurse's grip and to the line with more speed then he'd probably ever gone after food at.

As soon as the doors had unlocked, Xemnas already headed outside. His amber eyes scanned the dark hallway, but there were patients nor monsters lurking within the darkness. Keeping his flashlight off as to avoid any unwanted attention, the Superior quickly proceeded.

He was aiming for another visit to the second floor, hopefully to get as much exploring done as possible. The Nobody didn't care to take any other patients along the way. Conversation and planning was best to be saved for the dayshift, after all.

[Off to here]

The staff had been frustratingly slow in depositing her back to the cell for dinner, so she and the girl had had very little chance to actually speak before the doors unlocked once more. From what could be seen though, Momo still appeared much insulted from the obvious distrust Integra had exuded earlier.

The knight could still hold no sympathy for the stranger's thin skin however, believing herself fully right in having more than enough reasons to never take anyone’s words as genuine again. They could still work together even tomorrow night of course -this was a desperate time- but Momo would simply have to move past the fact that Integra would always be working to the benefit of her own goals without true alliance or trust in this place. This notion could be thought of as selfish yes, but all that weighed on her mind now were the people she’d already failed and had to get back to as soon as possible. Prior obligations were where her only real loyalties lied.

She did regret not getting to find out where that bloody sword had miraculously come from before Momo departed though. Maybe the talk about weapon smiths lurking around was indeed correct then. The sight caused the blonde to remember she still had yet to speak to a man named Colonel Mustang about that. But for now, all she could do was remain waiting as she hoped her greedy servant would hurry himself along. The promise of her blood should have given him wings tonight.

Fully cleaned, both her face and, more importantly, Renji's katana, Momo had made sure she had the belt fashioned of one sheet again as well as the extra sheet and her pillow cases. She hadn't spoken to Integra all of dinner, which was probably for the best.

Hanging her muted flashlight once more from the sheet at her waist, this time Momo wrapped the other sheet diagonally across her chest like sash or bandoleer. The pillowcases were tucked at her waist and once more the shinigami went barefoot, though the thin slippers were added to the pillowcases as she was unsure exactly what terrain she'd encounter at the gardener's shed.

Pens tucked into her hair, Momo heard the doors click open. She cast a brief glance at Integra. "I am sorry for earlier," was all she said to the blonde before she pushed the door open and entered the hall. A sharp look around showed no one else in the hall, so the shinigami headed quickly down the hall.

((here.))