[From here.]

Carter gave the cave a quick scan for bats as soon as he was stable enough to hold up his flashlight. Nothing bad so far, but it would be best to write a note quickly and leave.

"Hey, can you keep an eye out?" he asked as he sat down on a nearby rock and held his flashlight under his chin, juggling it with his notebook. "There were some monster bats in here last time, but they hate lights so they're not too hard to get rid of."

Now, what to write?

Dear Claire,

I hope you are well. We are all doing okay at Landel's and everyone is pretending very hard that you are dead. Venom is very good at it. I don't know where you are which is probably exactly what you wanted but I hope I will escape and see you soon. Also look out for bats if you are in here because we got attacked by several. They do not like light so shine a flashlight at them or blow something up, that should help. I miss you a lot.

Love Sincerely,

Sgt. Andrew Carter

Firo was glad to see the end of lunch, if only for the fact that in a few more hours, the day would be over. Night was the only time he had any real freedom of movement, and it was the only time he could do something worth doing, instead of just sitting around.

The usual soldier came to fetch him shortly after the announcement, with only a curt, "Come along, Saviano." Firo frowned, but followed him out of the cafeteria into the Sun Room.

He would have been fine with stopping there, but the soldier apparently had other ideas. When Firo stopped, he went so far as to grab hold of his shoulder and roughly steer him into one of the adjoining rooms, ignoring his protests all the while. The new room was full of round tables with various items like colored paper and paint in the middle, and Firo had a sinking feeling about it. What had the activity mentioned in the announcement been? Arts and crafts?

"What am I supposed to do in here?" he spat at the guard.

"Draw a flower. Make a bracelet. I don't care," was the gruff response before the soldier disappeared out the door.

Firo had half a mind to follow him out, but no—he'd wait a few minutes first, just in case he got shoved back into the pointless room. In the meantime, he took a seat at one of the tables, turning his chair towards the door and leaning his head against one arm propped up on the table.

[For Battler]

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!]

By some stroke of luck, Harvey hadn't been bothered while he'd been in the library, allowing him to lose himself in a random book for at least a little while. Even so, he'd gone through all of his possible options for who might be visiting, from Gordon (in which case he'd probably end up sedated by the end of it) to his mother to Bruce Wayne to even the Joker.

He knew the latter couldn't be possible, not when he had to be rotting in a cell of his own by now. He'd better be, anyway. If Batman was going to be making a nuisance of himself, the least he could do was get the insane clown behind bars.

In other words, the book hadn't completely prevented him from working himself up about this whole visitor thing. It was the last thing he wanted, but as the shift ended and a soldier came to collect him, it became clear that resistance would not be tolerated.

And so he was shoved into one of the rooms, watching as the patients from the previous shift exited out, some looking relieved and others looking crushed. It only made the knot in his stomach pull tighter, but Harvey forced himself to breathe and calm down. No one he recognized was here yet, so he'd have a moment to compose himself at least.

Taking a seat off in the corner, Harvey considered grabbing one of the outdated magazines to read over while he waited, but he couldn't relax quite that much. Instead, he pulled up one leg to rest on the opposite thigh and made subtle glances towards the door every few seconds.

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.]

As he stepped out onto the exciting, snowcovered streets of Future Town, Carter was struck by how much the town during the day differed from the shadowed streets of nighttime Doyleton. He was then struck by the memory of what had happend the last time he'd come to town, and given a third strike by guilt at the thought of what he'd done to that poor diner.

That would have to be his first stop. Carter stuck his hands in his pockets and wandered down the street, checking each gap between the buildings for slumbering gigantic rats just in case the ones he'd killed still had kin in town. It wouldn't be easy to explain that you'd blown up someone's place of business trying to kill your own shadow with a one-handed molotov cocktail, but Carter felt he needed to at least make an effort at apologizing. If they were still rebuilding, maybe he could even spend an hour or two helping with the work. He didn't know much about Future Construction but he imagined it wasn't hard to pick up. At the very least he could help paint a sign, or sweep the floors, or something useful like that.

...now that was funny.

Carter stopped in front of the Twin Pines Restaurant, staring at its immaculate front door and windows. Not a scratch. He walked around to the side to make sure the explosion hadn't gone that way instead, then to the other side, and then stood out front scratching his head in confusion. The restaurant seemed untouched, as if the explosion had never happened. He knew it had happened, of course, he'd been carrying a splint around for three whole days to prove that horrible night wasn't a dream, but the Twin Pines seemed to have recovered even faster than he had.

Boy, Future Construction must work really fast. He couldn't even tell the difference from last week.

[Claire]

Rita awakened in a cold sweat that morning. What the hell was that all about!? It had to be a trick, like the moving shadows from the other night... It just couldn't be real.

In the end, no progress had been made. How much longer was Rita going to be trapped in this dump?

Speaking of dump, that was about the moment when a male nurse entered the room, carrying a pile of worn clothes that looked like they came right out of the trash. He dumped them unceremoniously on her bed, and with an unfriendly glance, ordered her, "Put these on."

"Would it kill you to ask nicely?" Rita sneered, pulling herself out from under the covers and crawling over to where she could look through the pile. There was a dark blue knee-length skirt, a pair of purple stockings that came up to about the knees, a pink blouse, blue jacket, and a pink scarf. This was for that 'field trip', then? Well, whatever. They didn't look as stuffy as the military uniform, so Rita put them on.

Once she was finished, she found herself being led outside to some large machines - no, vehicles? - which several other patients were being made to board. Rita had heard very little about the Doyleton trip, other than the fact that they were apparently going to visit some Earth town. There was something intriguing about that - being able to see something that perhaps no one else from her world would ever see - but it was also a distraction that was going to further delay her escape, and that was irritating.

The vehicle that Rita was brought to was empty at the moment, so she sat herself down by a window and started looking through the various items she had been handed upon boarding. The money card was especially curious, and she wondered how much the allowance would allow her to buy. She assumed very little, but she hoped ten dollars were at least worth more than ten gald.

[Free!]

Though five days without bathing was hardly unusual for Rita, she was actually looking forward to showering today. To her, the last shift had been somewhat enjoyable, if only because it allowed her an opportunity to be alone with her thoughts for a bit. Of course, she couldn't be completely alone in the communal showers, but no one was rude enough to disturb her in there, which was good enough for her.

Once the shift was over, she re-applied the bandages on her leg and knee, dressed herself, and made her way to the cafeteria. The pain in her knee seemed to lessen as the day progressed, and her slight limp became less noticeable to herself. Hopefully it wouldn't impede her much come nightfall.

Upon entering the cafeteria, however, Rita found that she had more immediate problems to deal with. What was that slop they were serving?

Deaf to her complaints, a soldier quickly ushered her into the line for the pink gruel. While waiting, Rita became aware of a section in the room where edible food was being served... but apparently only to selected patients. Whose butt did they have to kiss to get that treatment?

After receiving her "meal" (using the word very loosely), Rita found an empty area to sit in. There, she made no move for her utensils, but instead glared at the plate of mush as if the food itself had somehow wronged her.

[For Woody]

[M74]

Something was really wrong here. Snow had been here for a few days already and had gotten the way things were supposed to work around here. There was a rhythm, a system. That's how prisons were supposed to be, right? But now it seemed like everything was changing far too fast. Too much was going on. The guy Snow shared a room with never came back to the room. That never happened. You know what it's like just sitting around, forcing down weird food and waiting for some guy who never shows up? It's jarring. Snow ended up spending the latter half of that time just pacing the room like a trapped animal. He'd spent ALL DAMN DAY in isolation and now here he was, alone again, while who knows what was happening outside. He hated not knowing.

What the hell happened to him? Had they captured him? Was he still being held in the isolation rooms? Or was he sent somewhere else? And what about Light? Where'd they drag her off to? ...You're alright. Right, Light? She really better be. He was gonna be so pissed if she wasn't. He hadn't been able to keep up with what had happened to her during the fight. He wanted to think she was fine. That she slipped away from her guys and ran off. Probably made it out of here. Maybe she was figuring out a way to get home right now. Otherwise... what? She was in the isolation rooms, too? How many people had they thrown in there anyway? They weren't just gonna keep them there all night, were they?

He stopped pacing when the intercom strained itself to turn on with that noise. There was an automated system this time. Huh, first time that ever happened. Hey, wait. They had the technology for automated systems here? So maybe they weren't as behind as the rumors said after all? Hmm. For the first time since, well, ever, Snow actually stopped and paid attention to the announcement. Not that he could understand what was being said. Project 2911? What the...? He'd heard about the experiments going on here before, but... So they were doing that stuff tonight then?! Oh you have GOT to be kidding!

Some other guy came on then. Snow didn't recognize it, but the way he spoke made him think he was definitely one of those military guys wandering around. Snow just glared at the intercom like the guy could somehow see this from the other side. Consider us warned? Consider us warned?!

"Hey, Bastard! WE'RE not the ones who're gonna need the warning!" he shouted at the intercom. Whether he thought that was a two way transmitter or he was just venting... hard to say. Either way, he pointed at the intercom angrily. "You think we're just gonna stand here and put up with this? You got another thing comin'!" He waved his arm aside like he was smacking such thoughts away. "YOU'RE GOING DOWN! Just you wait!!" Show you insubordination...

[RAWR!]

[From here.]

At least if he couldn't soothe anything else, he could soothe the flashlight. While it seemed to rebel by flickering a few more times, the light stayed steady otherwise. So now, on top of attempting to supply himself with blood so he didn't randomly select a new victim and get stabbed between his ribs again or set on fire, he had to find new batteries for a finicky flashlight before it permanently went out.

Welcome to your eternity, Edward Cullen.

At this point, vampire or not, his overwhelmingly human biology was beginning to work against him in waves. The muscles of his calves felt tight and warm; his mouth was parched, without even saliva to attempt to cool his body of exertion. His throat was raw, and he felt like calling it burning was an apt description now that he had had several first-hand encounters with varying degrees of burns. All in all, the combination was not pleasant. After he'd thrown open the - what, fourth, fifth? - door, he paused just inside the door frame to lean against the wall, taking deep breath. He wasn't out of breath of course, but it helped him focus. The pause helped his muscles from complaining too loudly.

Now that he was almost there, his walk was almost leisurely.

[To here.]

[From here.]

It was probably a good time to declare everyone legally dead, because this was the fourth hallway in a row. This was what being proactive felt like. Yes. He was going to roll with that. Proactive and paranoid as hell, that was him.

Paranoid enough to take out the pathetic little knife from the pillow case and clutch it around the handful of cloth. Maybe one day, Edward thought derisively, I'll be lucky enough to find night-vision goggles so I can stop wasting my time with the light. As soon as he thought it the flashlight flickered, the round yellow beam turning black before popping back on again.

What little blood he had in him drained from his face. "That was terrible of me, I'm sorry. You're a fine flashlight. Possibly the best."

[To here.]

 
[from here]

He peeked around the corner as subtly as he could before coming completely into the hallway, scanning the dark for any signs of things that could possibly launch out and snatch him up.

Nothing, as far as he could tell.

So he kept moving, trying to stay quick, and heading straight across the hall from the patient rooms, to the bathroom; his knuckles were turning white, he was holding onto the pillowcase so tightly.

[to here]

For once, HK was working very hard to hide a giddy facial expression as he met his nurse at the door. He'd already hidden his scalpels in his clothing. The wonderful, sharp implements of doom would be needed today. “Statement: Despite my reticence towards all processed meat and plant products, I am experiencing intolerable levels of hunger,” he informed his nurse. “I require an especially large meal.”

It was the easiest and best excuse to load his food tray with several of these 'inglish muffin sandwiches', and two glasses of white milk. He then found a table strategically located in the center of the refueling area, and waited. He needed the room as full as possible before the Evil Plan could begin.

[Free, but planning doom upon all.]

With sigh that toed the ambiguous no-mans-land between soft and explosive, Yuffie collected a plateful of waffles with all the toppings. She was sure that, if nothing else, it'd making a pretty satisfying splat if—when?—she launched it at somebody's face, and that was all that counted.

"Hanna, isn't that a little much?" Plucky asked, doubtfully.

"Uhhm. No. About, like... a little while ago, I managed five caramel apple pies with ice cream and berries and, y'know, I think there was a gallon of soda involved at some point." It wasn't the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. There really had been five caramel apple pies, but Cloud had ended up wearing two and a half and the third had taken a vacation to Boobsville (Tifa had loved it. Really. Really). The moral of the story (as she'd told Marlene and Denzel later) was that anything was game, just as long as you could run fast enough afterwards.

The nurse nodded slowly. "I… suppose. Well, I'll leave you to it. See that you behave, won't you, dear? You need to set a good example for the new batch of patients."

"My examples are the best examples," Yuffie proclaimed, with the dark-bright grin that still came so easily, no matter how little she felt really felt it. It lingered even when the nurse had flitted off to deal with another charge, but there was an edge to it. What the edge was, Yuffie couldn't say. Didn't want to say, after what'd gone down last night. Nah, she had better things to do; things like sitting down and waiting, just waiting, for Cloud or some other sucker of an easy target to walk through the door.

[HARLEY HARTWELL o/]

[From here.]

"Hey! Hey, hello!" Carter yelled, banging on the Twin Pines Restaurant door. There were a few lights on inside but he couldn't see any occupants and all the chairs were put up on the tables. "There's giant rats out here, let us in!" Still nobody home. It wasn't even that late at night, the hofbrau in Hammellburg sometimes stayed open until near-midnight and the lights were left on so somebody had to have left them like that, so why was nobody answering the door? Things were starting to get weird in the bad way and Carter didn't like the way his shadow kept shifting.

He turned to Claire, nervously biting his lip. "I...I'm gonna break us in again," he said apologetically. "It's okay to do that in an emergency, and it's definitely an emergency right now if there's monsters and funny things like that." Whatever was going on out here, it wasn't something a little sergeant and a lady needed to face alone.

Really, really sorry, the young sergeant thought as he wedged his crowbar into the gap of the door and started heaving. He'd leave a note of apology and explain about the giant rats, the Future people would certainly understand.

Behind Carter, something dark twisted out of the ground and stood up. It lingered behind Carter and waited to be noticed.

[From here.]

She strode hastily into the store (keeping mind of where the broken glass had fallen, mind you), no longer caring if the Sergeant was keeping up. Even if the store somehow didn't have an alarm system ringing off right now, someone could have heard her break in. It was more likely than not, so she had to be quick. Get what she wanted and get out.

"Okay, knives, drills, pliers..." Useful things, but not what she needed now. Though she did stop briefly by the garden shears, considering them for a moment before moving on. Those things were sharp, but the knife she had tucked into her pants was better. Easier to manage, and a lot less messy.

She bypassed the chainsaws too. She'd never operated one, and she doubted she could keep up with the constant need for fuel. Plus the weight would be a hassle. But then across from them - ah. There.

Claire smiled, hefting a long, freshly polished ax into her hands. Now there was something she could use. She flipped it around and brought the head upright, trailing a finger along the edge. Freshly sharpened, too. Nice.

Though it was tempting, she shouldn't grab more than she should carry. They needed to travel light, and there were more supplies they needed. Medicine and food. An American map, if they could find one. One of the local area wouldn't be a bad idea either. One thing she did grab, however, was a sturdy cloth tool bag. She removed the plastic one from her shoulder and dumped the candy inside. Much more durable.

"Anything you need?" Claire asked, glancing up at her companion. "Better grab it now. Someone probably heard us come in."

[From here.]

They had reached the end of the first row in a short amount of time. It was the smallest town Claire could remember being to. The Island seemed huge in comparison. Walking from one end of town to the other barely took five minutes, and Claire had to look over her shoulder just to make sure that they hadn't missed a longer stretch of road at the other end.

"This way," she said shortly, turning to the right. There was nothing left on this street but quaint wooden houses, and those were of no use to her. Aside from the odd street lamp and a few lit windows in the stores, none of the lights were on. It was rather strange. The place felt so empty.

Of the few street lamps that seemed to be working, the one they were passing under played the strangest tricks with the shadows. As they walked briskly past the lamp, the dark shapes shrunk back from behind them and grew anew in front of their feet, stretching far ahead of them on the weathered pavement. Claire was paying it no mind until something seemed to jerk. Wriggle. It was difficult to describe, but for a moment it looked like her shadow had gone jittery and moved on its own.

Her footsteps faltered. Was the light bulb going out above them? She cast a quick look behind her, brows furrowed. No, it looked just the same as before. It hadn't even dimmed.

When she looked back, the shadow twitched again.

Claire snatched Andrew by the sleeve. "Did you see that?"

[To here]

"Made it..." She whispered triumphantly as she walked quietly into the dark and quiet hallway first. It was hard to decide where the best place would be to stand since once others began to flood in, Asuka could easily be overshadowed by the taller adults. "Hmmm..." The best she could guess was to hug the opposite wall by the doorway and hope she would pick out the two members once they entered.

Remember, Asuka, you aren't the veteran here.

This wasn't NERV anymore. She had no one under her to display her impressive and extensive training to. The redhead was a newbie like the ones she was going to be working with, though perhaps a bit more intelligent. This first mission was important for popularity's sake. She needed to play nice for now, gauge their strengths and weaknesses until she knew who she could topple the easiest.

[Waiting on Agatha and Zevran]

The intercom jingle was slightly different for this shift, almost as if it had gone up in quality. The Head Doctor gave a sigh of relief, his own voice clear as a bell despite the usual electronic buzz.

"Hello, everyone – from our new and improved intercom system! We've had electronics rehauling our circuitry, and you can hear the result quite nicely! A whole bunch of improvement! Right, anyway...

"As I'm sure you've noticed, we have a whole new bunch of patients that have joined us recently, and because of the changes in our roster, we've updated our roommate assignments, so some of you might be enjoying the company of someone entirely new tonight! Please be polite and friendly to anyone you might encounter!

"Which brings us to... dinner! Tonight, we'll be having a delicious 'bento box' meal consisting of fish and vegetable tempura along with chicken teriyaki, a bowl of steamed rice, miso soup, salad, and... green tea! Decaffeinated, of course. We can't have you bouncing from wall to wall when there's sleep to be had! Our usual assorted drinks and alternative meals are also available. Oh, and... dessert! Green tea ice cream, with a topping of red bean paste.

"I think that's all for now! I'll speak to you once more before bed time."

The intercom clicked off.

[ All room threads go in response to this post; please post your character's room number as the subject line of the initial post. Please refer to the updated room assignments before posting. Thank you! ]

How one's body could maintain a waking schedule when sleep came unnaturally and in a room without windows, must surely be a mystery. Yet, as if working on cue, Natalia stirred well before her nurse arrived. That was normal. Less so, the weight that sought to press her eyelids closed again, the heaviness of her limbs that made lifting her hands to her face an effort. She put her wrist to her forehead with a frown, then attempted a jolt of energy – to swiftly dig her hands into the mattress and shove herself into a seated position, and from there, to her feet.

Not to overexert herself once again, but to refuse that it could be possible after sleeping. Happily, though all still felt leaden, her head did not swim. Encouraged, Natalia put on her slippers, rearranged the bedding, and waited. There came the announcement (reminding her, suddenly, of what she had last heard, and the guilt that had twisted in her gut, Jill--), and her face wrinkled with disgust at the hacking sound. Therapy and breakfast. Food would surely help.

Natalia did not wait long before her nurse opened the door, and after exchanging cursory “Good Morning”s (with rather more enthusiasm on the other woman's part), they began the walk to the Cafeteria. With, of course, the essential rest room stop, where water was splashed and scrubbed over her face, and her hair toyed with to no great satisfaction. At least the shower had renewed its body.

Separating in the Cafeteria, Natalia took her place in line and loaded her plate: eggs, fruit salad, fried “tater tots” (potatoes?), and curious meat wrapped in cooked dough. Some of everything, with juice and water. She thanked her servers, collected utensils and napkins, and found a seat at an empty table. It was early yet.

Sparing a brief look around to be sure no one she recognized had arrived – though she remained eager to greet every patient, at the moment she chose to focus on the possible strength gained from the meal – Natalia began to cut up the items and eat with a refined gusto. Entirely possible!

[Claude!]