"Now you just have a seat and wait for your visitor like everyone else."

As the nurse went away from him, Kurogane huffed out some agitation but refused to have a seat. Hearing that he had a visitor had been one of the last things he'd expected. It was always the magician who got one, not him. And who the hell would want to visit him anyway?

During his first protests, the nurse had been telling him to behave since it wasn't nice to be sour to girls, so he knew it had to be a girl that was visiting. There were a few of those Kurogane knew could show up as a "visitor" for him, all of which were annoying. Some were worse than others too. He could probably handle if Sohma showed up, and maybe Amaterasu, but when it came to Tomoyo-hime... she was already hard to handle normally, no matter what world she came from. The Piffle version had been pretty much the same, just raised differently. If he saw her, even a fake her, she would probably be just the same and he'd have to at put up with it no matter what.

Eventually he chose to take a seat, knowing that he would not be leaving any time soon. Of course, he picked the one that was furthest into the corner to avoid unwanted conversations. He would already have to deal with a visitor; he shouldn't have to deal with anything more.

There wasn't any jingle as the intercom came on; it sounded like the Head Doctor was still having issues with the system, and it also seemed like he was none too pleased about it.

"Well, everyone, I hope that you all had more fun this last shift than I did! Hahahaaa..."

His weak laughter trailed off. His office chair squeaked.

"In any case, as you all probably know already, it's now time for dinner! I'm sure you've all worked up an appetite after all that repairing – er – exercising, so I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that you'll be served generous portions of spaghetti with delicious tomato sauce and, if desired, meatballs. For sides, you'll be having some freshly baked garlic bread and, if requested, a Caesar salad. Our regular drinks are available, and for dessert, we'll be serving some delicious strawberry gelato.

"And, now, I suppose it's time we get back to this wiri–"

The announcement cut off abruptly.

Kio's breakfast ended on a much happier note than it had started. However, for once the announcement truly surprised him. He blinked as his nurse came to pick him up. Recreational Field? But.. but if they had a greenhouse, he wanted to go there. The prospect of gardening was a truly liberating one, an island of joy in this hellhole. He thought about going to the Sun Room and lying down, but it occurred to him that he hadn't had proper fresh air since being here. With a cheery goodbye wave to Honey, he followed his torturer outside.

It was much better than he had expected. The sun wasn't too hot (what time of the year were they in, anyway?), so he walked slowly along the walls, fascinated by the size of the field. He wondered if Sou-chan was alright. He hadn't even checked the board. Well, if Soubi wanted to apologize, Kio would be willing to listen. The place was so crisp and clean. He had to think if anyone had ever gone over the walls. What was out there? Freedom? Or a different sort of monster?

Leaning against one of the walls, Kio took as much advantage of the sun as he could. He desperately wanted a lollipop. One was quietly nestled in his pocket, but he would need to wait until the nurses were busy with other patients before he tried anything. Soubi had gone to some trouble to get them, the least he could do was make sure they didn't get confiscated. So with bated breath, Kio waited for a shift in the mood. He was, for once, content. Not happy, but not going crazy either.

[Sou-chan! Team Loveless deploy!]

[ from here ]

At least S.T.'s room wasn't at the opposite end of the hallway. Spider was on the verge of just leaving without him as it was. Instead, he walked up to the door and knocked loudly with the butt of his flashlight.

"Hey you motherfucking sack of shit," he said, cheerfully. "Three seconds and I'm coming in after you."

[ from here ]

Spider shone his flashlight on the room numbers as he walked past them. 120, 110, 100. Christ, Sangamon had some nerve, being in farthest fuckin' room from him. Ah, there it was. M90. Spider turned down the last hallway, grinning. This was going to be a night to remember.

[ to here ]

[ from here ]

"What fume-addled asshole of an architect designed this labyrinth of dicks?" spat Spider, nearing his destination. "If all the nurses were in my cellblock, and someone set this cellblock on fire, it would take fucking FOREVER to ..." Spider pulled open the door to the next interminable hallway. "Note to self: set this cellblock on fire."

[ to here ]

[From here]

Yukari peered up and down the hallway, deciding against shining her flashlight this way and that; she didn't particularly want to attract any monstrous attention. Mentally going over the maps, she tried to remember where she was going. Ritsuka had said M35, right? So that was the next block over... she'd have to go through the West Hall, but hopefully could get through without getting attacked her first night.

M35... why did that ring a bell?

Giving a shrug, the youkai headed on her way.

The Head Doctor seemed a little rushed as he spoke on the intercom, not taking as much pleasure as he usually did in describing the delicious food that would soon be served.

"Hello, everyone! Tonight is turkey night, which means turkey breast in a great turkey gravy with some nice turkey sides: peas, herb potatoes, a small garden salad, and for dessert, a slice of pumpkin pie. We of course have vegetarian substitutes available, as well as our usual assortment of drinks.

"...I believe that's it! I'll talk to you soon!"

The intercom clicked off abruptly.

[ If you are introducing your character during this shift, you may either choose for them character to wake up before their roommate gets back, or after.

All room threads go in response to this post; please post your character's room number as the subject line of the initial post. Thank you! ]

That really hadn't been the breakfast she'd been expecting, but Yuffie couldn't bring herself to complain. The kid made for good company, and was, if nothing else, pretty entertaining. She could've just done without the whole choking thing. That… That had been embarrassing. A bit. Okay, a lot. Yuffie was starting to get a feeling that this day was -- for once-- actually going to ping on her ‘interesting!’ meter.

Whether or not that was a good thing, she didn’t know.

By the time she’d reached the Sun Room's bulletin board, a kitten on her shoulder and a pen twirling between her fingers, Yuffie was starting to put her finger on why she had that weird, nagging feeling. Though on second thought, it was less like putting her finger on it and more like it had jumped up and punched her right in the nose; the feeling wasn’t just about waffles, magicians, or tricky candy thieves. Sagara hadn't answered her bulletin post; he hadn't answered any bulletin posts. She hadn't seen that stupid, spiky head of his all morning. It was like radio silence without a radio.

Agai-- No, Yuffie cut herself off sharply, frowning. She was just jumping to conclusions. It wouldn't be the first time, right? Right! And yet… instincts were instincts for a reason, and in a dump like this, who knew what could happen?

[for Okita?]

[From here]

Crane took several cautious steps inside the entry room, shining his flashlight around and taking a closer look.

The walls were certainly...cheery. Good for a mental hospital, but not exactly something that he would care for in his apartment back home. Of course, he was only ever there long enough for it to still be considered lived in. He even let the light drift up to the ceiling for a moment, just to be certain that there weren't any unwanted surprises waiting for him.

As for which one was the correct file room, there were several doors that he had to choose from, two of which appeared to have labels for the files. As for which one...it was a toss-up. The one to the left of the front door was a good enough place to start, and if it was wrong, then it wouldn't be all that difficult to try the other.

He went over behind the desk, shining his flashlight under it to make sure there weren't any surprises waiting there, either, then went to open the door. Of course, it was just his luck that the thing was locked. There wasn't really a key just lying around, and taking the time out to go search for it would only decrease his chances of getting the file before Kristoph. He was horrible at this kind of thing, but it seemed like the only option. Crane took a deep breath, stepped back, and then threw himself at the door, lowering his shoulder.

[To here]

[from here]

Only a few more hallways to go. It seemed almost too quiet, as he stepped through the hallways. That could mean that it was just early, of course, but it could mean that something was there in the shadows.

Oh, well. If there was, Akihiko would just take it down. It wasn't too much of a worry.

[to here]

[from here]

So far, so good. Akihiko hadn't expected any monsters or brainwashed patients in the patient blocks, but he was still keeping his guard up.

At least the female blocks weren't that far away. He kept an eye out for Ken as he passed through the halls, but he trusted the boy could make it that far on his own. He was tougher than most people gave him credit for.

[to here]

A part of Ken couldn’t deny wanting to stay in for the night, as opposed to traversing outside and keeping his obligations. Between the arrival of the seniors and the revelation at lunch, the day had completely overwhelmed and undermined any desire to mobilize. Sleep sounded very good at the moment.

Maybe he could ask to be dismissed, perhaps after the S.E.E.S. had their meeting. No one would mind a half-night’s rest.

The boy quickly gathered up the container of juice and cans of corn in one hand and the spear in the other. His first stop was close enough to warrant a bag-less transport. Plus, he didn’t want to explain a random pillowcase if he could help it. With everything in place, Ken moved.

[To here.]

[From here]

Ophelia slowed to a stop when she saw more moonlight streaming down into the area on her left. She grinned wider, able to make out the features of the Sun Room in that dim light. And to her right, there were other doors as well, which she had vaguely noticed earlier in the day but paid no mind to. Oh decisions, decisions. Should she enter the Sun Room and explore its peripheral rooms, or try the rooms in the hall first before venturing in there? Any could contain potential clues as to where Landel was.

After standing in the hall in thought for a few moments, she decided on the Sun Room and the doors contained within it. She turned to the left, about to make for the entryway to the large area.

[From here]

As she entered the hallway, Ophelia stopped for a moment to quickly fold up Kio's maps and stuff them into one of her pockets. She had been hoping to take a peek at them at various intervals during the night, but in this dim light, there was no chance of being able to see them. For now, she would have to travel by memory of where she had been taken during the day.

At least this time the choice of where to go was easy. On one side she could just barely see the hallway ending, and on the other it continued for a ways. The path that continued would surely lead to the Sun Room and the areas around it. She started running again with a grin spreading on her face, emboldened by the long, seemingly unobstructed length of the hall. Perhaps she would find her first challenge of the night soon.

[From here]

Ophelia was faced with a choice upon entering the next hallway. The path to her right she remembered would lead to the areas she had visited during the day. The path to her left lead to an unknown area. While the thought of upping the challenge (and thus the fun) by going down an unknown hallway in the dark without her night vision was appealing, she decided to save it for another night, perhaps. Tonight she would try to build off of where she had already been, so she decided to take the right-hand path.

She could see barely there patches of moonlight from a window in the hall up ahead, and sped up to a jog in her eagerness to get to where there was a little bit of light. Despite the danger of running into something in the dark, her growing excitement was getting the better of her.

[from here]

She didn't waste time crossing the next hall. Even empty, it was foreboding. Moving carefully, she quickly crossed to the other side.

The inivisibility was more tiring today. She wondered what exactly that meant.

[to here]

Bidding farewell to his brunchmates, Zelnick headed into the sunroom, pausing to consider which of the other rooms to spend his time in--

-- only to find his arm caught by a nurse. "Come on, Caleb, time to see your visitor!"

He couldn't have heard that right. "Visitor?" he echoed, and she nodded, guiding through the sun room.

"Yes, visitor. Come on, you don't want to keep her waiting, do you?" The nurse took him into an unfamiliar room, settling him into a chair, and left him to wait.

Miku hurried away from her new friends (and kitten) to the cafeteria. For some reason she was just terribly ravenous. Her nurse smiled, relieved that her patient had finally chose to eat something and wouldn't continue that backslide into poor health. She loaded the girl's plate with French toast and fruit, dusted the bread in powdered sugar and a bit of cherries in red-red syrup and sent the girl to sit.

"There we are, Alice, a nice healthy meal," she cooed, and patted Miku's head. Miku sighed, but carefully cut into her meal and started eating, keeping her eye out for Sousuke.

(From here.)


Bridget managed to get through the doorway and over to a wall before his legs finally gave out. He felt cold, and knew that shock was setting in. Sliding down the wall, the staff falling to the floor with a clatter, he had enough presense of mind to sheild Kagura as best he could from his fall.

Back to the wall, breath sharp and shallow, he reached up and fumbled with the buttons on his coat, managing enough that the small pig would be able to escape. "Sorry... Miss Sohma." He'dlost too much blood now... All he had to do though was hold on until daylight. He could do that... right?