When the bus had lurched to life, Okita was barely able to contain his scream of terror. He was lucky no one was sitting next to him or he would have died of embarrassment at his actions. Never having seen or even been in a modern transportation vehicle, he spent most of the trip curled up in his seat, gripping it like it was his only lifeline. The bus terrified him - the sounds it made and the way it jolted along the road. When it had become apparent that it wasn't going to explode, though, he'd relaxed enough to realize that unlike riding a horse, this metal monstrosity made him motion sick.

As soon as the thing stopped, Okita was off it, looking a little green. He remembered to take his sack breakfast and the coupon book, though, and quickly fled the area to find the closest place to hide. It ended up being a beautiful park with carefully sculpted lawns and what looked like play equipment. The fresh air did him some good and he quickly moved to the swings, setting the brown bag in his lap as he lazily moved to and fro on them.

He still had a lot to think about, he'd been able to supress most of his worst homocidal urges on the bus. Hijikata couldn't just disappear like that. Perhaps he'd been rescued earlier and would be somewhere in town today. All Okita had to do was get up the courage and start moving - no matter how difficult that seemed to be.

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....

Huh, her plan to run past the monster actually worked. Go figure.

If the others wanted to fight it, then that was their problem. She had other plans for the night, and all of them involved making it to the kitchen, alive, and with all of her body parts.

Her heart was still racing, but she couldn’t stop now. All that remained was to make it through the cafeteria.

Unfortunately, Raven was also well aware that it was never that easy.

[From here.]

Sousuke rushed into the room, immediately turning around in a circle, his pole at the ready. It didn't look like anything was in there, but Sousuke still felt uneasy. His soldier's sense was prickling. But maybe it was just his imagination...

"Let's go," he muttered, moving ahead urgently. He kept turning, as to avoid blind spots, all the while moving towards the Cafeteria door.

[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.

[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]

[from here]

Her neck still hurt and the cold had yet to ease, but Rhode had to force herself not to care. No matter what her mind told her, it wasn't important and, as she now repeated over and over to herself, it wasn't real. She was convinced of that. These emotions that kept plaguing her were merely those of the ghost woman, nothing more.

That's all she could believe to keep the emotions from overwhelming her.

One hand running along the wall and the other at her neck, she again left her room, following the path she remembered and now had memorized courtesy of Larxene's map. There were two places that Allen Walker had been that she had always managed to find him at or around: the doors outside the Sun Room, and the area just a floor above that place. She hoped the latter would not need venturing into and that Allen would be on the bottom floor. Seeing the ghost woman again would not be a welcome sight.

[to here]

The intercom gave its cheery jingle just before the Head Doctor's equally buoyant voice rang through the halls.

"Ah, and finally, our day is coming to a close! Rooms and roommates have been reassigned with care, though what great partnership can start without a good meal? Ah, yes, after the nurses escort all of our patients, new and old, back to their proper rooms, everyone will have the chance to enjoy a savory chicken pot pie, full of peas, carrots, potatoes, and of course, chicken. On the side, we'll have buttery corn on the cob and green beans, and to drink, you may choose from the regular slew of water, milk, or assorted juices, which your nurse will bring to you.

"I believe that's all for now! Phew, long day, huh? I know I'll be happy to get some sleep, and thank you to all our vigilant doctors and nurses, although Dr. House seems to have gone AWOL... Hmm... Well, in any case, have a good dinner, everyone!"

The intercom clicked off again as the nurses began organizing the patients for the small trek back to their rooms.

[ OOC: Remember, room threads go in response to THIS post, and please put your respective room number in the subject line of your first post. Thanks! ]

The intercom clicked on amongst the sound of conversation and eating in the cafeteria.

"I hope you all enjoyed that hearty lunch and are ready for our next shift!" The Head Doctor said cheerily. "Our next activity will be in the Library, as our schedule is going to be changed in lieu of our expanding patient population, and I'm pleased to announce that all of our new patients' files have been cleared, and that the nurses will be introducing Group 4 of our new patients to all of you shortly.

"However," the doctor began a new sentence, his chair squeaking from under him as he seemed to lean back in it. He seemed pleased, content. "Tomorrow will be a fun day indeed, and something new will happen that will give greater--if temporary--freedom to all of you and give all our patients a break from the admitted tedium of daily shifts. Why yes--tomorrow, we'll be having an Institution-wide trip to Doyleton, the nearby town outside of the valley and hills that this institution is surrounded by. Of course, the field trip isn't mandatory, and patients should feel free to stay here and enjoy a special day of special recreation should they desire."

The Head Doctor paused, as if weighing how much he could reveal about the events of the next day, and then seemed to decide that a quiet tease was better than nothing at all.

"I should let you know, patients, that I too will be attending the field trip! Oh, yes, indeed, and as I'll be personally chaperoning one of the buses into town, I do hope to meet some of you in person and become familiar with the faces that I'm always so busy taking care of but never really becoming friendly with. Yes, tomorrow will certainly be an interesting day..."

He trailed off, then finished the announcement:

"In any case: Next shift will be in the Patient Library, though, of course, the option of staying in the Sun Room is always available. And that's all for now!"

The intercom clicked off, though conversation had now dwindled to hushed and excited chatter.