[from here]

It didn't take long to know he'd made the right choice. As he continued walking down the corridor, his attention was immediately drawn to the balcony to their left. Which he actually recognized!

"Hey! Check it out!" He jogged ahead for a few steps, rushing right over to the balcony. He stopped right up against it, one hand braced on the railing as he leaned over it and the other hand aiming his light down into the room below. "We're right above the Son Room!"

So that meant this was that area that he could see when looking up. Sure looked different looking at it from the other side. He hadn't seen any staff patrolling up here or anything before, but the convenient overlook spot had caught his attention as suspicious. He pulled his light up to scan the... big mess of doors all around the balcony area, wow. Suspicious balcony above a suspicious room and surrounded by a bunch of suspicious doors? Sounded like they hit the jackpot!

[from here]

By the time he reached the top of the stairs, Klavier had a vague melody playing in the back of his head. It really would have been better to have something tangible to listen to. That way he wouldn't lose it as soon as he tried to focus more thoroughly on his surroundings. He stood, quiet and straining to listen for anything unusual in the darkness. Nothing.

He still hesitated in proceeding forward. If anything, the continued silence just made the entire thing feel more suspicious. It was difficult not to feel like one was walking right into a trap or an ambush. He briefly glanced behind him, back down the stairs, before moving forward. Again, he just needed to focus on what he was doing and where he was going. Don't get sidetracked.

The area he wanted to inspect was straight ahead.

[to here]

Renji was in a weirdly good mood as breakfast finished. Brook was one of the stranger conversations he'd had in a while, and maybe that's what made it easier to feel less like punching everyone in the face.

Even with a light headache starting to build behind his eyes - maybe there was a storm coming or something - Renji managed to be something approaching polite to his nurse as she took him back to the room so he could grab his coat.

He also realized that he hadn't seen Sora at breakfast and asked the nurse if she knew what happened to him. He had to resort to describing Sora, since he couldn't remember the kid's fake name. But the nurse knew who it was and told Renji he was sleeping.

That was worrying. But Renji told himself it was nothing to freak out about yet. Maybe. He'd sure be checking in with Sora as soon as the kid woke up, and he wasn't going to stop feeling worried until he did. But until then, that also meant someone had to deal with Arts and Crafts for the day. One the way back out, Renji took a quick detour to the bulletin board. It was better to concentrate on business than worry anyway.

Out in the courtyard he stuffed his hands in his pockets and started wandering around, just trying to keep the blood moving. The cold didn't really help the headache, but he used to everything just sucking at random.

[Free to a good home]

His conversation with Jesse had felt him feeling a little less numb. Nothing sensational, but he no longer caught himself zoning out at his lap or the carpet for minutes on end. Then again, it could have just been the pain killers wearing off. Either way, Ippo felt more lucid and while the tremors still paralyzed his finer motor skills, he could at least hold onto his lunch while his nurse wheeled him into the Music Room.

It was probably for the best since he couldn't play games, walk around outside, or make anything in the arts and crafts room. All you needed to listen to music, though, were two years. Actually, you really only needed one so he was beyond the minimum requirement.

In a corner of the room, Ippo was wheeled around so he got a view of the entrance in case he saw someone he knew. The woman accompanying him wrestled up a CD player for him to listen to. It was a pretty advanced model and the boxer was surprised they would hand out something so pricey to patients. Still, Ippo wasn't going to complain. he didn't listen to music all that much except to catch rhythm when he trained, but the classical music chosen was easy to listen to. He could drift in and out as he fumbled with his sack lunch. The apples were eaten first since they were easiest to pick up.

[Woody o/]

Needless to say, her night was a bust.

It wasn't that Ramona was trying to turn it into an absolutely safe evening in which she got nothing done. A part of her wanted to test the limits of her abilities and see what she could actually do in this place, but outside of the absolute confirmation that subspace was no longer a go, she couldn't bring herself to go much farther. Scott's words hung over her heavily. The fact that he had made it clear that he was going to continue being as affectionate as possible wanted to remove any chance of her dealing with anyone. So, though she hit another hall, she turned back around and headed back to her room. Ramona was the type of person who sometimes preferred sulking with company, but that wasn't on the plate for the night. (And she didn't want to call it sulking, either.)

She wasn't certain when she fell asleep, but when she woke up, she was sure the people in charge here had some kind of fast-forward button that they could hit whenever they got bored. That was definitely not the entire night, nor had it been the night before. Sometimes night just ended. Of course, Ramona could appreciate the need for a scene change. This place was already running on enough lame clichés to last it a lifetime. Sometimes they need to return to the daytime status quo to hit reset.

That all said, she was getting the feeling that her own waking up process was a little boring. Ramona was glad that her hair was short now because it made her feel a lot less neurotic about the lack of allowed primping. She cast a glance in the direction of her roommate's bed before she plodded out after her nurse. The woman was kind looking, which, of course, meant that she was evil. Then again, anyone could be evil. Ramona just wanted everyone to be evil right now.

(Maybe she was still sulking.)

"We've noticed that you haven't been socializing as much, Sandra," the woman said while grabbing her attention, and it was as if Ramona finally clued in that a conversation was supposed to be happening. Great, she was fitting the bill for crazy on top of incredibly irritated already. The nurse was definitely evil. And maybe a bitch, with the way her fingers freed her shoulder and she stepped back, snorted softly, and gave a shake of her head. "It's always when you're new that it's hard," the nurse added. "And we can tell you're rebellious."

"Wow, it's been a while since someone thought I was a punk rocker. Don't worry. I can socialize," Ramona assured her as she hit the cafeteria. But it looked like she was one of the first arrivals.

Ramona decided she'd get the woman off her back by grabbing a tray of food and not sitting too far from it. At least people might stumble upon talking to her if she looked available enough.

(And hopefully, that someone wouldn't be Scott. Even though she highly doubted his ability to get out of bed, he seemed to acclimate to this place enough to make an appearance with his face and his smiles and his stupid "I love you"s.)

[for America]

[from here]

Even the main hall was deserted. S.T. switched on his flashlight and took a look around. Yeah, it was empty. No roadkill, no other patients. If he ever made it home, he was never bitching at any of the girls who didn't want to do night ops alone again. It was different when you knew there were things out there in the darkness. Things that knew they had the upper hand or just didn't give a fuck.

He whistled something that, if anyone listening could shelve their sense of pitch for long enough to identify it, switched back and forth between the Twilight Zone and Batman themes.

[by your powers combined Team Mental Quest]

[from here]

Kirk ran into the main hallway and found nothing there except more pink light coating everything. His gut feeling said that if something was happening, it should've happened already, but he was a loss to explain what was going on. The system (if he could call it that, vague as it was to describe the whole Landel's torture/experimentation assembly line) had broken down at least once already, on that night when I.R.I.S. had first(?) appeared, and the whole of the building flickered like a malfunctioning hologram. Was that what the glowing cover was for? To prevent... he didn't know. Something. Something bad enough to warrant a Code Red.

(What had killed that creature?)

Waiting around here was already bad enough on normal nights, what with it being an open space with high traffic, but he'd picked it because it was the quickest and most obvious meeting place for all of them. Now with the whole area lit up like the inside of a strip club, Kirk was starting to feel like a lone piece of meat wrapped in a gold ribbon and tossed out for the wolves. He made a face for a second as he considered the unfortunate implication of mixing those similes, then decided that the dumb thoughts which crossed his mind ranked considerably lower in priority than, you know, paying attention to his surroundings and not getting himself killed.

Kirk swung the lead pipe in his hand once, just to focus, and shook his head as pain rippled out from the still-healing gunshot wound on his right arm. Take it easy, Jim, he admonished himself silently. It was still early in the night. Someone would be along shortly. And if not... he was giving his crew one minute. One minute, and then screw it, he was tracking down everyone himself.

[KIRK TO ENTERPRISE]

Anise wasn't sure what to think when she was escorted to the waiting room. It was disturbing enough that Landel mixed up her family - and Ion! - in his stupid schemes, but the military was going to do it too? While it looked like they were pretending to follow the Head Doctor's schedule, she still felt uneasy, like they might do something unexpected and horrible to her loved ones.

Well, more horrible than what was already done to them, that was...

Despite that uneasiness, though, Anise really wanted to see Ion or her parents, even if they'd still be brainwashed. After getting no visitors the previous week, she was worried about how they were doing. Even if it hurt to hear them say all those crazy things, it meant a lot just to see their faces.

She wished they would at least tell her who was coming beforehand, so she didn't have to get all anxious while wondering... Anise didn't even have Tokunaga to comfort herself right now. All she could do was clench and tug at the gray fabric at her knees as she sat waiting in a chair, her feet dangling just above the floor.

Taura's stomach was growling, but she could be patient. Her nails were still tacky; she'd rather wear nail polish and eat lunch than vice versa.

Being out in the snow was much more pleasant when she was dressed for it; it was pretty, all clean and white. Deceptive, but pretty. Nothing about this town was what it seemed, and she wasn't forgetting that, but the weather didn't make it worse. Not when escape was already cut off; exposure was low on the list of worries. It wasn't like some of the Jacksonian brothels, the cheap ones, that assumed the cold would be enough to keep their workers there. They didn't know enough about desperation, those owners; Taura did, though they'd only once considered trying that with her, and not for very long. Hah. She could run forever, even in this, if it would get her anywhere.

Taking one of the buses wouldn't be very hard, or one of these ground-cars, but they still had to have somewhere to go. The only place she knew how to get to was the institute, and while that would be an unorthodox and unexpected move, it didn't seem like a good idea, either.

Since she didn't have a destination in mind, she just strolled down the sidewalk, watching the snow come down and waiting for her nails to dry.

[Mele!]

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]

(from here.)

There was no one in the hallways. Bella couldn't help but feel the fear spike up for a moment when she realized that her light was the only on visible, but she quickly swallowed it down, chanting that same mantra over and over again in her head. No one was out because she had ran out of the room quickly, that was all.

Okay, stick to the plan, she got herself thinking, nodding her head as she moved towards the door that lead into one of the main hallways. Get to Edward's room. Get the jars. Empty said jars ... then somehow make my way upstairs. ... Well, obviously, use the stairs to get upstairs. There's really no other way to get up to a second level ... unless there's an elevator somewhere ...

"Oh god," Bella muttered to herself, unable to help herself when she rolled her eyes at her own antics. "Shuush. Is silence so hard to ask for, brain?"

You don't want the silence, she reminded herself. The silence will make your paranoia come back.

So maybe the talking to herself wasn't so bad after all.

(jumping to here.)

[From here.]

The big connecting corridor. He may be in a rush, but this hallway deserved extra caution. What would he do if he tried to get to Stefan and ended up mauled on the way there? The first night when he'd smelled blood here, it was still a bit... haunting. It meant there was a chance of something lurking, dragon or not.

Dammit, he was trying to reminisce again. Less thinking, more walking (which, as things went, was actually a feat for a vampire. It came with the whole multi-tasking thing.)

Sweeping his light through the length of the corridor, Edward inspected every bit of wall the light touched, eyes darting like a bird's for any sign of movement. Still no patients. At least the stillness would make it easy to see any potential ambush. At least, that's what he was going to tell himself.

[To here.]

Well, that was the most exhausting lunch Elena had ever experienced. And she didn't get around to eating very much either. Her headache was a least somewhat bearable now, but as the shift ended, she realized how stupid it had been to not get something in her system before the shift ended. But that apparently wasn't in the cards. In fact, just as she stopped panicking long enough to try and get some food down, her nurse was sweeping to her side.

"Shift change, m'dear." Like she hadn't noticed everyone getting up out of their seats and leaving the cafeteria. "I'll take your tray for you, and you make sure to get out to the field on time."

"On time?" Her blank expression must have given away more than she realized, because the nurse was giving her yet another sympathetic look.

"You slept thought a lot this morning, I'm afraid. I'll explain along the way."

By the time they had reached the Rec Field, the nurse had explained most of what had happened with the food fight, and the tear gas, and it only served to damage her calm yet again that day. Of course she slept through something like this, and of course the boys and girls were split up this shift, and of course Elena would have to wait around for some uniformed man to call out her fake name before she could get to Stefan.

At least her last name was near the stop of the list.

"Bailey, Samantha-"

"Here! I'm here. Can I go back inside now? Please?"

Though she didn't even wait for an answer before turning back and heading for the building. As far as she was concerned, she did what she was told, and there was no good reason why she couldn't make her way to the Sun Room right this very second.

[to here]

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/]

No better way to start the day than with a bucket full of sunshine, huh? Too bad that'd been the opposite.

In the end, Yuffie had been more than glad to escape. All the angst and sap and drama; it'd been too much, and way too personal. She'd done her best, for her friend's sake, but that Tomoe chick was gonna be hard work. Why couldn't Kenshin have asked for her help in something simple, like killing the big bad of the day?

… Oh, wait.

Groaning, the young ninja gave up on just walking through the sun room. What kind of a way to cheer herself up was that? No, she needed something interesting—she needed a distraction. Walking on her hands wasn't a whole lot better than walking on her feet, but it did get Plucky going.

"Hanna, stop that this instant! You'll break your neck."

"Oh, come on; only a moron'd kill themselves doin' a handstand. They're child's play!" Yuffie, after shifting her weight to her left hand, waggled a finger at her nurse. "It's a waste of my prodigious talent, actually. You really should be grateful." She hopped forward several more paces before dropping her hand back down.

"Be that as it may," Plucky replied, doubtfully. "I must insist."

"Insist away," said Yuffie, nonchalantly, pausing just long enough to let a cat stroll past her.

"You'll disturb the other patients!"

"Your face'll disturb the other patients." It was petty, and it was childish, but Yuffie didn't care; it was getting her what she wanted. And what she wanted was something to laugh at, something to poke at, something that, while it kept her wandering attention in the here and now, didn't really require her to think.

[For Kaito~]

[From here.]

When Locke opened the door, he was greeted by a rush of fresh air—something entirely unexpected, on his part. It was too easy, wasn't it? When he looked around, all he saw was a field, a shed, and walls that blocked him from being home free. Lucky me, he thought to himself, as he looked around the surroundings. So far, he'd managed to avoid any sort of conflict, but he didn't want to take chances. The more and more he wandered around without a weapon, the more vulnerable he felt. It wasn't safe, he knew, taking Zack's previous words into consideration.

Taking a deep breath, Locke looked over to the shed—a little too far for comfort. Crossing the entire field for whatever was inside that shack seemed way too risky for his own good, as tempting as it sounded. Instead, he remained by the wall, careful not to make too much noise. If not the shack, then, just what was beyond this wall...?

( No use worrying about it, right? )

The latest intercom announcement filled Aigis with a sense of dread. Aborting her attempt at writing in her journal, Aigis stood silent for a moment then paced to the closet to retrieve her baseball bat. She would normally have offered her roommate some assistance during her first night in the institute, but Kay had already expressed during dinner that she had plans with a friend. It worked for Aigis. She had plans herself. The unhappy task of receiving one last memento from her released friend.

It shook her to the core, thinking how her friend had disappeared so suddenly. They had only just met up, and now she was already gone. It was almost too much, too powerful of an emotion for the android to fully realize.

"I wish you safety in your endeavors tonight, Kay-san," Aigis whispered solemnly. Then, grabbing up her flashlight in her free hand, Aigis moved to the door and made her way down the hall.

[to here]