[from here]

It wasn't too long a while of walking through nothing but forest with no obvious landmarks that they came upon a clearing. Callisto had seen the break in the trees a ways back, setting their course for an area different from the one the group before them had taken. (She hadn't seen much of them besides their tracks, but they clearly hadn't been the first ones over the wall.)

There was a dirt road ahead of them, a much more familiar sight than whatever they used to get into town on. She followed where it led, noting the downed carts scattered around. It wasn't exactly what she was used to seeing and it took her a moment to make the connection, but even with centuries separating her time and whenever this was in use it didn't take too much effort to figure out what it was.

Now they were getting somewhere.

The blonde glanced over her shoulder at the other two, smiling again. "It's a mine," she said, even if they insisted on sticking to their own incomprehensible gibberish. Now what use would Landel have with a mine? It couldn't be anything too important, or he wouldn't have made it that easy for his patients to reach. Keeping the beam of her light-stick ahead of her, she walked toward the opening without another moment's hesitation.

[From here.]

Edgar landed heavily, waiting a moment for Gren before starting the trek north. He moved quickly, wanting to get some ground between them and the institute before stopping to consider their direction. He could only guess the distance of Landel's influence: it was likely that if he could control the town, the areas within walking distance of the institute were in his realm as well. They'd be easier targets if they stopped for too long.

"A few nights ago, a voice appeared on the radio," he explained as he walked. "It was a woman- the Jill we just heard of- claiming she was trying to aid us. She sent us directions that night, and again the next, trying to find something or someone. Judging by what we just heard, I'd say the latter."

The ground began to slope upward, growing rockier with each step as the grass died away. What was just outside the walls of the institution? "Until those nights, the devices remained silent and seemingly useless," he said as he pulled the jacket around him to ward off the cold. "I only happened to hear the message a few nights ago because I'd returned to my room to drop off a few items. It was fortunate timing, and while I'm not keen on trusting someone I can't see, I am interested in their motives for their 'help.'"

[from here]

There was no one here yet. And wasn't that strange? If she remembered correctly, there was a male patient block here. Even if it was away from the others, it should still be fairly well occupied. Were they all just staying in for the night? It was also odd that no one from the female block had come up this way yet either. Either it was just too early, or something had happened in her absence that kept others from coming this way unless they had a larger group with them (or not at all).

Callisto stopped to shine her light down into the adjacent hall, seeing if she could pick out anyone heading out of their room. She thought she heard the sounds of people moving about on the other side of the wall, so it couldn't be completely empty. Was there any point in waiting around? She didn't need someone to accompany her, and it had only slowed her up in the past anyway.

She would wait a bit, perhaps, if only to sate her own curiosity before moving on.

[from here]

He'd been prepared for the same uncomfortable disorientation from last night, but all Kirk stepped into was the cold, clean air of the recreational field. A considerable improvement, although he wasn't about to thank Landel for any small favours. Despite the dull throb of his injury, he kept a firm hold on the door, remembering the way the handles kept slipping out from under his hand yesterday. Not tonight. Even if the doors apparently weren't tossing them around anymore. Even if it didn't matter. He wasn't going to get separated from Bones.

Kirk realized that this ran contrary to his own orders for them to split up, but then, what was the point of being captain if you couldn't change your mind when you wanted to? Besides, he'd issued those orders in a fit of impulsiveness. Whatever it was his captors expected out of him with their constant torments, he was determined to fight back by staying as unpredictable as possible.

"Oh, and forget about what I wrote earlier, you're with me tonight," he said before Bones could think to point this out, and flashed one of his just-trust-me grins for good measure. There was a fifty-fifty chance of Bones being able to tell that he was faking that unflappable assurance — not bad odds. "You can tell me about the important part of what happened while we head to M108."

The Sun Room was dark when Taura re-entered it; her eyes adjusted quickly, but not quickly enough to avoid one of the 'techs coming over to talk to her.

"Were you going to join us for the movie, Kitty?" she asked, waving a hand at what appeared to be a 2-D projector screen.

"Movie?" This was, apparently, the wrong question to ask, as the woman's face fell into a moue of practiced disappointment.

"You can't keep doing this to yourself, Kitty." Doing what, exactly, was something 'Kitty' was evidently supposed to know. Then the screen flicked on, and some sort of advertisement was playing while a staffer adjusted the volume. Oh. The term was unfamiliar, but entertainment hadn't changed that much.

"I mean, er, what movie is it?" Taura rumbled, keeping her voice low so as not to interrupt. That must have been the right question; the woman brightened back up and started explaining.

"King Kong!" she said, clearly expecting a reply. Then she sighed, and continued. "It's about a giant ape, brought back from an exploration," she began. "It's also a love story -- oh, just trust me. It's a classic."

"The ape falls in love?" That sounded a little outré, at least by Institute standards of entertainment. Not by Jacksonian ones, but those Taura had been just as pleased to leave behind.

"Oh, nothing like that. Well, the ape does fall in love -- but it's just a beast. Why, Fay Wray doesn't even come up to its waist." Taura blinked at her again. What did height have to do with it, anyway? She was leaning, just a little, without even realizing it. Perhaps looming would be a better word. The 'tech blinked back, and then finally the penny dropped. "Oh...oh. Maybe it wouldn't be to your taste, dear." And with that, she scurried off to adjust a chair that was already facing the screen quite adequately. Taura sighed, and slipped through the gathering crowd to the bulletin board.

[Zack]

The day had been quiet so far.

After talking with Brainiac 5 first thing in the morning, the Doctor had spent brunch alone, though he'd kept an eye out for Donna. When he'd finally spotted her, she'd already gotten settled at a table with someone else. They needed to talk sooner or later, but he didn't mind pushing it back a little while longer. He also needed to talk to Dean—he was certain the young man would have a lot of questions about what had happened last night—but a quick check of the sun room bulletin after eating confirmed that Dean would find him when ready.

He was tempted to ask the nurse to take him outdoors to the courtyard, but the idea of staying in for the movie was more than a little tempting. It would be a break in the daily routine around here, and he could use that. The break in the routine might be refreshing, even if watching a movie in a mental hospital the day after finally, finally being reunited with the TARDIS all too briefly was really the last thing he wanted to be doing. He wanted to still be in the TARDIS.

He took a seat in the back row of the chairs that had been rearranged, leaning back and waiting for the film to begin.

[For Dean]

The intercom jingled to life a little later than usual, after most people had already cleared their plates. (Assuming, of course, that they hadn't gone for seconds.)

"Hello there, everyone! I apologize for the wait – needed time to set up the Sun Room and all, didn't we? Of course, it doesn't exactly seem like the 'Sun Room' at the moment; in fact, the lights have been dimmed and the ceiling's windows have been covered so as to private a good movie-watching experience! Our nurses and orderlies have arranged a projection screen in the room and have rearranged all the furniture to face it, and it would seem that... ah! King Kong garnered the most votes, so that's what we will be viewing today.

"Of course, you don't have to view it! Today is our free day, which means that all our activity rooms – as well as the Recreational Field and Courtyard, with proper escorting from your nurse, are available for use! Of course, some of you do have visitors ready to see you, which our staff will take you to very shortly! Unfortunately, we have not yet finished reviewing the suggestions in our box, but we will be finishing shortly!

"I believe that's all! Enjoy your day, everyone!"

The intercom clicked off.

[ ALL NEWLY ACCEPTED CHARACTERS MAY POST TO THIS SHIFT. All character introduction should be made in response to this post. Please have your character wake up in a random room, as we have not yet assigned them. Thank you! ]

Hello! I.R.I.S. here once more to announce to you, our honored guests, that you have officially made it through a day of our typical Landel's treatment. Of course, it isn't quite over: we will now have you retire to our designated patient quarters with one of your agency partners to inspect their sleeping area and the tools that we provide them with for the true bulk of our behavioral testing. On an added note, we would like you to notice once again that the meals we provide to our subjects are of the highest quality.

For those of you feeling apprehensive about taking part in our more intensive methods, please be aware that we would never imagine putting all of you in any danger whatsoever. This last shift will be your last at our Institute; afterward, we will escort you to our Head Doctor's personal observation station to survey some of our test Next-Wave participants in the rigorous trials we put them through – all for their betterment, of course.

Once again, we hope that you are satisfied with what you find, and as always, direct any questions you may have to your console.

The nurses began to escort the patients to their rooms. They didn't even seem to be brought to awareness by words such as "testing" and "subjects."

[ All room threads go in response to this post; please post your character's room number as the subject line of the initial post. (Find all of the newly changed room assignments and shift introductions here.) 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. ]

[from here]

Junpei burst out of the Twin Pines, dragging his chair along with him. Wide eyed, with sweat dripping down his face (he was so not crying), the teen stared at the hordes of zombies in the street. What was he going to do? He could still feel Chidori's presence, so she had to be alright. She had to be - right? RIGHT?

"SENPAI!!" Junpei yelled at the top of his lungs, hoping one of his senpai would find him. He was alone, surrounded by zombies, and didn't have an evoker. He was scared. "MITSURU-SENPAI! AKIHIKO-SENPAI! WHERE ARE YOU?"

The sudden zombie apocalypse forced any thoughts that Junpei had been pissed off at Akihiko and avoiding him. Akihiko could punch a zombie and makes its head explode. Mitsuru could kick a zombie and make its head explode (no matter where she kicked it). Junpei? He could... swing his chair ineffectually at the closest zombie as it tried to eat his brains. Good thing he didn't have much of them; maybe they would get a whiff and decide to go after someone smarter. Which made him think of Yukari.

"YUKA-TAN!"

Shit. No one was there for him to hide behind to help him. Maybe he could find them the next street over. It had to be called Main Street for a reason, right?

He tried to sneak across the street, hoping maybe this hat they gave him had some kind of special stealth mode, but forgot he was still clutching to his chair. Junpei tripped over it, screaming like a little girl in the process. Zombies descended and the teen struggled,m kicking and punching and pathetically swinging the chair around in an attempt to get back to his feet. He cried out in pain when he felt something bite his ankle, but the chair came down and crushed that zombie's head. Struggling to his feet, Junpei just ran, swinging the chair back at the zombies he'd just escaped as he entered the alley across from the restaurant.

[to here]

Being inside a building, the setting of the sun was not as prevalent as it would have been outdoors. Beatrix had enjoyed a pleasant meal alone after she had left the elf and her companion outside. She'd just been getting up, folding her napkin to set on her plate at the behest of her nurse, then the change came. Being right next to her nurse, it wasn't hard to miss.

"Fuck," the Bride stated, realizing that she was currently bereft of her sword and other armaments. That did not mean she wasn't still deadly. The assassin wasted no time, immediately grabbing her nurse and snapping the woman's neck while she was still in the twisted throws of change. The body went limp and hit the ground, laying still, once she'd let go.

More, there were more. Cold eyes darted around the restaurant, noting the other prisoners remained the same, though many were already frightened and others moving as she did, but the wait staff had all changed. They'd become...

"Zombies?" What the hell was this? Beatrix felt like she was in a bad adaptation of a George Romero film. This lead her to wonder if these were Type I or Type II zombies. Best to find out.

When the first zombie waitress came at her, Beatrix met it and , after blocking its attempt to bite her (duly noted), she grabbed its head and twisted sharply. The zombie's neck snapped and, just like her nurse, the creature went limp and fell to the floor. Type II it was. This was most beneficial as she didn't have anything sharp to...

The kitchen.

The Bride fought her way to the restaurant's kitchen, snapping a few more zombie necks along the way, and shoved the swinging double doors to the kitchen open with enough force to knock the zombies trying to come through back. She snapped the largest zombie's neck, the chef from the tattered remains of its clothing, and then headed further into the kitchen. Jumping up onto the stainless steel counter, she quickly crossed the kitchen amid the sea of the zombified kitchen staff. On the far wall, she could see the magnetic board holding the knives.

Kicking the nearest zombie in the head to get it out of the way, Beatrix jumped the aisle between the two counters and grabbed the knives. She was glad for the jacket she was wearing as it had large inner pockets (thank God for bad eighties fashion) and stuffed three of the knives into the pocket after wrapping them in a cleaning rag that had been on the counter. She then took the two largest knives left (there was no way she'd be able to take all of them) and brandished them at the advancing zombies.

Yes, a bad George Romero film. With a narrowing of her eyes, the assassin watched the small horde before leaping to the opposite counter to give her more maneuverability. She needed to find her associates, but clearing the restaurant to make it something like a safe-house would be a good idea. The children needed someplace safe to hole up in, after all. Zombie-killer was never a title she ever thought she'd have tacked onto her name.

The zombies in the kitchen didn't last long.

[From here]

What had he gotten himself into? All he'd done was talk to Callisto, and how he was being dragged down the street. This day officially sucked ass.

The only real plus was that she was helping him to forget about what happened back in the electronics store, by just irritating him with something unrelated. It was a simple thing to just transfer the anger onto something else, and harder to handle it with a smile, like he generally did.

"Do you even know where we're going?" he asked as she turned onto another street, not bothering to keep a bit of irritation out of his voice.

The sun was starting to set, and it was with a heavy sigh that Edgeworth stepped out of Twin Pines and out onto the street. The tea had helped, but there was still a sense of worry that he couldn't shake. There was, of course, the entire situation with Franziska, but now both Javert and this new person calling themselves 'Justice' were in the picture. Had it been a bad idea to reveal that room information? Possibly, but as far as he could tell, it had gone unnoticed. There was only one way to find out now.

...and on top of all that, there was Dahlia Hawthorne to worry about. She was high on his list of least favorite people, but so far, he hadn't seen her personally. He tried to push the thought out of his mind as he looked around, but couldn't shake the worry entirely.

[closed to Phoenix and any cute things he may have in tow.]

Luffy was in good spirits by the time evening rolled around. There was nothing like some music to liven up the day! Then again, who'd ever heard of a pirate who didn't like music? It was the main reason he'd been hoping for a musician ever since he'd managed to get a ship of his own. If his musician position hadn't already been filled, Luffy might have asked that guy with the guitar to join up with him. But Brook was everything Luffy could have asked for and more, so he didn't think on that for long.

Actually, he had to hand it to his future self for being lucky enough to run into such an awesome guy like Brook and pouncing on the opportunity. If Luffy could, he'd shake his own hand, or slap himself on the back, or something. Obviously a big piece of meat was in order. Not that there wasn't an occasion when meat wasn't a great idea, of course!

It hadn't been too hard to get directions to the nearest restaurant. The way was a straight shot from the shop he'd been at earlier, and as tempting as it'd been to wander down one of the other streets, the call of food was a strong one for Luffy. Thankfully, it didn't take him long to finally reach Twin Pines -- a name he vaguely remembered hearing during his last two trips here. Now that he thought of it, wasn't he supposed to get something to eat here with Nami that day they'd pulled a heist at the hardware store?

Not for the first time, he wondered where Nami and the others had gotten off to. He trusted them enough to take care of themselves, but it was still strange the way some of his nakama drifted in and out of this place.

The aroma of delicious food pulled him out of his thoughts once he stepped into the restaurant. Someone seated him in one of the booths, and Luffy wasted no time in picking up a menu to look over. Oh man, everything looked so good!

Adachi hadn't expected the town to be so...tiny. A nice enough conversation on the ride over only did so much to aid the disappointment he felt. This whole mental institution thing was supposed to get his mind off of the whole "small, boring town" bit, not toss him right in the middle of another one.

Wonderful.

There had to be something that he could do to entertain himself. He found a bulletin board, and got some interesting information from a rather helpful somebody about that brainwashing stuff, but that didn't last too long, since he did need to be kinda careful. As he continued down the street, though, Adachi found another little store that caught his eye. Electronics, hm? Those kinds of stores always had a bunch of interesting stuff, even if it wasn't as grand as Junes' department, but most importantly it had TVs. Even if they did seem to be second-hand TVs. He almost suspected he'd find the kids there, lined up in front of one, but he could come up with an excuse for being there, if that was the case. Everyone kept mentioning how their powers had been sapped, so it couldn't hurt to test his own out, right?

And hey, if it did work...well, then maybe he could have a bit of fun in this joke of a town, too. After all, who'd really miss a psycho or two?

[open, but will probably be leaving the building in a bit]

Lunch at the Tasty Burger had been uneventful, but peaceful...and lonely, so to speak. She missed eating her usual bento boxes, but what she missed the most was eating with Shuji. Her heart ached everyday, knowing that he wasn't anywhere near here(whether that would be a good or a bad thing). But she had to move forward, for him and herself. It was just another obstacle she needed to get over.

Standing in the middle of the street, she decided to take a slow walk in her bulky clothes, memorizing the town's scenery.

[for Fai and Kuma-gane~]

One second he was in the hallway, dizzy and sickened and barely able to focus as Youko picked him up (and he'd thought for a moment to warn her to be careful before remembering his shirei couldn't hurt her anyway, even agitated as they were) and then the next...in bed. Back in the sterile hospital room, with only the sharp scents of cleaners and laundry soap from the sheets, but nausea and a lingering pain behind his eyes still reminded him of the close call the night before.

Before he had time to think about it for long, though, the door opened and the nurse arrived with a bundle of unfamiliar clothing; she fussed over him briefly, trying to feel his forehead (from which he automatically grimaced and ducked away) and cooing over him like he was an invalid child. Of course he was a little feverish; it would only have been worse if the blood had touched him as it came so close to doing.

But the woman only bundled him into the clothing she'd brought without paying any attention to his protests, and he was hard-pressed to decide whether or not the shirt she gave him was any better than the bright yellow smiling face. And then he was led out to the front yard, through what he noted didn't look anything like the "holy ground" of the night before, and given a brown paper bag before being herded onto a bus with admonitions to "take it easy" ringing in his ears.

He dropped into the first empty seat he found, leaving the bag sitting next to him unopened as he leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes. Food was most definitely not interesting at the moment, and he had things to think about anyway.

[waiting for Youko]

[F15]

As usual, the doctor's announcement was vague and led her nowhere as far as figuring out what his intentions were went, but definitely foreboding. There was no way to tell what exactly he had in mind when he was cutting himself off like that among all the static, which was frustrating, but ... she supposed sooner or later, they would all see what would happen-- if it did.

For now, however, Naoto knew there were other important things she had to wait for, so the riddle can be further sat on later. Setting her journal back on the desk, she went to prop the door to the room open and sat back on the edge of her bed, then set the flashlight up to give the best lighting around the room she could get it to. Anyone else wouldn't be wandering around the pitch black halls without their own light, but Naoto figured it would be best if those dropping by could see easily in the room, as well.

Now, all there was to do was wait. She didn't care when in the night her radio delivery came in, but she wanted Yousuke and Kanji to hurry. There was a lot to talk about, and Naoto didn't want any of this time wasted.

[From here. Unknowingly waiting for Mitsuru.]

There was noise. Vague, subdued. The sort not many cared enough to pay mind to. Nigredo couldn't be certain from his position, but it sounded a good deal like a conversation. The voices came from down below (likely from the Sun Room itself), but with barely any lighting, the variant stood a good chance of being wrong. He was also high enough to not make out any concrete words, only impressions.

His curiosity piqued. Before he knew it, the boy peered down over the railing to the scenery below, catching nothing more than forms and shadows. He could have done a sweep with his flashlight but opted out on the account of keeping his cover. Nigredo didn't want anyone to think he was eavesdropping, after all.

[From here.]

There was, regrettably, not many unique descriptors for the second floor. In fact, when you omitted the tiny layout discrepancy and a severe lack of patrons, the two levels seemed exactly the same. It was a bit of an anticlimax, even if Nigredo technically should have expected the matching scheme.

He hastily ran a hand through his hair. Before Nigredo went any further, he had to formulate some sort of plan. Walking around aimlessly would only get him into trouble, or worse, trouble he couldn't rectify. The boy eventually decided on a quick and dirty tour of the area before returning to his room: nothing beyond the main hallways, away from obvious dead ends. That should hopefully satisfy the requirements stipulated by his curiosity.

Now, for a direction. The hallway ahead appeared closed off and thus, unacceptable for observation. On the other hand, if he continued along this path, it would take him to an open area. Likely the balconies he'd seen in the Sun Room. He could definitely start there.

Without another thought, Nigredo turned on his heels and headed east.

[To here.]

[From here.]

Scourge ascended the stairs carefully, squinting up into the darkness and wondering for the first time whether he should have brought the flashlight. He'd gathered that most humans didn't see quite as well as he did in the dark but this was a bit much even for him. He kept hold of the handrail with one hand and gripped his frying pan tightly with the other, wary of anything that might decide to leap down from above and do horribly nasty things to his head.

From there, he'd just have to fumble his way to the kitchen.

[To here.]