[from here]

He slipped silently down the hallway, flashlight (turned off) in hand, as he couldn't fit it into a pocket with both the bulky radio as well as the gun. A hassle, but bearable. Having a portable source of light handy with him while wandering dark corridors was actually rather helpful, even if normally, Vino wouldn't have bothered with it at all. Light showed up too brightly in darkness when he needed to be invisible.

Like a shadow, he passed through this larger hallway in his block, ignoring all the doors. He'd tried them all before. Besides, his job wasn't to break into a room. At least, not completely, anyway.

[to here]

When the familiar crackle came on from overhead, Claire had paused, then continued about his business, sorting through the few possessions he had in his box and setting them into seemingly random positions on his desk, looking as listlessly bored as he'd been just prior to the announcement. But he was quiet, quite aware of what this Aguilar man was saying. Ah, so he'd been right about his nurse after all -- it had been a play, hadn't it? He himself hadn't received any visit or letter from one of these supposed "loved ones" today, but all the same, it was a terrible trick to play, wasn't it?

Still, there was a sort of liking he took in this Eagle. The man was straightforward and he said things clearly. Simple truths, just like that. There were none of the stories that Martin Landel had come up with in his words, though those stories had been interesting in their own right. But Aguilar shared that same, self-righteously entitled attitude as Landel. Who was he to trespass on other people's worlds? Claire's world? That wasn't allowed. Claire couldn't allow that.

As the voice continued on, Claire finished sorting through all his belongings, then replaced all but a few back into the metal box, closing the lid with a snap. His dinner lay untouched, pushed to one side of his desk, but aside from that, the only loose items on the table top were the flashlight, the handheld radio, and the gun.

The gun. He picked it up, weighing it in one hand. The voice droned onward as he ejected the magazine, counted the bullets -- one, two only -- then slipped the magazine back into place. He raised his arm straight before him, the one with the lightning burn, and took aim down the barrel at an invisible target on the blank wall before him. As the message ended, his finger jerked slightly on the trigger, but came up against resistance. The safety was still on. No worries.

What was worrisome was the fact that it was almost as if someone at the top had just made a gift of this weapon, as if telling him, here, let me provide with a way to kill your enemy. Which felt an awful lot like someone was baiting him -- do this, you know you want to. And that wouldn't do at all. The problem with the entire Institute here wasn't that they were telling lies to all the inhabitants and keeping them locked in one place -- it was that the people who ran this place acted as if they could control these people, as if these lives were theirs to control in the first place. The gall of that assumption! Everything Claire was hearing now about that new Medical Wing was positively charged with it. It was... annoying. Yes, annoying was the right word to use here.

He really had been in that medical ward for too long, he decided. He needed to get out and do something.

The click of the unlocking door was his signal to leave. Claire twirled the gun expertly around his finger with practiced ease, smoothly slipping it into his pocket. Really, if they were going to be so generous as to give him a gun, they might as well have provided a holster with it. Not that it mattered too much, though. He grabbed the radio and flashlight, then headed for the door.

With a wave over his shoulder to his new roommate, Vino left the room.

[to here]

[From here.]

Empty. Again.

Whoop-de-doo.

Less witnesses, good thing, yadda yadda yadda. Peter just wanted to get it all over with and get down to the good stuff. (Good being a subjective word here.) The basement. The coliseum of...whatever the coliseum had in store. A fight. Probably with lions. Three headed lions. The point was that they were finally getting somewhere, and now that the hour had come all Peter wanted to do was slice through every other bogus problem barreling his way and head straight for it. He was sick of worrying about Grell, about monsters, about the godawful crap Jessica and her attitude had brought him, about all the people that had left. Being fiction. Kirk had put a better spin on it, but that still did little to ease the grip on his insides every time the subject popped up. And if Captain freaking Kirk couldn't assuage him, then what could?

Getting down to business might. A chance to get answers would be even better.

[To here.]

When she left the lobby, Anise still didn't know what to think about her visitor. All this time, she thought the one person the institute would never truly get to was the Colonel, and that if he was gone, then maybe he was hiding somewhere, plotting a way to rescue the rest of them. Now that she thought about it... maybe that was naïve of her. She only thought those things because she didn't want to believe that the institute had that much power...

Thinking about it too hard made her feel so anxious it made her stomach churn, though, so Anise decided it would be best to distract herself in the meantime, and then think about it when her head was clearer. She'd probably have to tell Guy and the others what happened, too.

While she really wanted to see the movie she helped select, she also really wanted to see if the Arts & Crafts Room had those new sewing supplies the Head Doctor talked about a while ago. When she arrived, she asked her "nurse" about it, who cheerfully replied that yes, they had them, and that Anise was among the ones fortunate enough to have the privilege of using them. Was that a good behavior thing, or a military rank thing...? Well, in either case, it meant Anise got to check out the new materials they brought in, so she wasn't going to complain.

There were some pretty floral patterns among the pieces of fabric, so Anise selected those. Anything that she made had to have a few cute elements, after all. She brought the pieces to her table along with some needles, thread, scissors, and a roll of a thick cord-like material.

Before she could begin, however, that "nurse" returned, dropping an envelope on the table in front of her. "This is for you," was all she said before walking away again. When Anise picked the item up, her eyes widened in shock. There, on the envelope, was the name Dolores... written in her Mama's handwriting. Much of the other information on the outside had been blacked out, but... was this from her parents!? Without a moment's delay, she tore open the envelope and began reading the letter within, her hands trembling as she did.

[For Claude!]

Brunch had tasted delicious as usual, but he still felt guilty for enjoying it when so many other patients weren't as fortunate as him and Ritsuka. Still, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't grateful for his meals. His appetite had been pretty spotty during the week after his "sleep study", so Claude wanted to think he was making up for lost time by packing it away now.

In the meantime, it looked like they really were playing a movie this shift. Claude had half wondered if they'd simply been putting on an act for the benefit of any civilians in the building, but that didn't seem to be the case. That was good, at least. It meant that he and Guy could follow through on the plans they made a week ago -- back when Claude was still suffering from the immediate affects of the experiments, and Guy had kindly offered to stay with him.

That seemed so long ago now, and yet Claude could still feel his stomach knot up with uncertainty when he thought about the implications of what the doctors had done to him. Without thinking about it, he brought his hand up to crest inscribed onto his shoulder, beneath the fabric of his sleeve. He'd kept himself so busy that he'd never spent much time examining it.

But now wasn't the time to get wrapped up in that. It was easy to let himself get distracted by things he couldn't control if his mind wandered to much. Instead, Claude was going to try his best to enjoy his time with Guy.

After settling down on one of the couches in front of the projection screen, Claude leaned back and folded his arms over his chest as he kept a look-out for his friend.

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.]

It figured that night would end before Rita and Taura could progress any further. Rita wasn't particularly disappointed to wake up abruptly, as they had reached a dead end. Really, the institute was doing them a favor by bringing them back to the starting point, where they could regroup.

What she didn't appreciate was the loss of valuable time, and the fact that her equipment had been confiscated once again. Rita didn't have time to mess around... which was precisely why the cheery voice broadcast over the intercom only served to grate on her nerves more than usual. In fact... how was the Head Doctor even giving that announcement? She doubted he'd managed to take the institute back in such a short amount of time, though the broadcast itself was suspicious for a number of reasons. Even though she could clearly hear the man's voice, it didn't necessarily mean that he was there. She had to look at things critically.

Still, it seemed almost as if everything had returned to normal... with a few exceptions. The different staff was one, and her lack of possessions was another. It didn't seem like the staff was expecting to fool the patients into thinking this was the same old institute, so why...?

Even as she went about preparing for the day and walking to her first destination, Rita kept her most pressing questions in mind, coming up with multiple hypotheses to explain what was happening. Since she didn't expect that the Chapel would hold anything of interest to her, Rita opted for the Sun Room instead. She was interested in seeing the bulletin board, for one.

When she entered the Sun Room, Rita brought a pen and her journal with her. If no one approached her, she would at least have a chance to document her discoveries from the previous night. First, however, she checked the bulletin board, only to find it completely empty. That confirmed a few suspicions of hers. Content to see evidence supporting her ideas about the strange occurrences, Rita sat down on a couch, opened her journal, and began to write.

[Free!]

> ==>

The snow had gotten heavier. Rose walked out into it. It was better than being on fire, but slow going. She let one needlewand slide back into her hand, and pointed it at the ground. Nothing. At the air. Nothing. She wasn't going anywhere her own feet didn't deign to carry her. Her powers were well and truly blasted back to square one. Before square one. She didn't even have a laptop.

At least she could see the shape of the other side of the building. Provided a general lack of space-time paradoxes, the extents were clear. That was a stupid assumption to make, so she didn't.

Instead, she turned back to Lily, who still hadn't answered her questions. This made sense, as it had only been a few seconds, mostly occupied with such trivialities as doors.

[from here]

Niikura let the door leading in from the previous hallway stay open as he slipped into the next hall, flipping his flashlight on as he did so. It was completely silent, a contrast to the soft undercurrent of chatter that he usually heard as he made his way to wherever he needed to be. It was also kind of creepy, realizing that he was out here all by his lonesome with just a flashlight and some pens. If something big came out of nowhere and attacked him, heh, he'd probably be totally screwed, and he didn't even have his mask as a safety net. Not that he wanted to think about that. Really, what a spectacular way to start off an evening.

"C'mon, ya dealt with worse stuff just fine already. This ain't the time to be psychin' yourself out," he muttered to himself as he made his way down the hall, careful to keep sweeping the area around him for anything suspicious. "Someone's gotta be the trailblazer."

It occurred to him that he hadn't gotten a hold of Mike at all during the day. Would the other man show up again? They'd tried getting somewhere twice now, so third time had to be the charm - they were pretty competent, too, when one of them wasn't barfing or suddenly developing unexplainable paranoia.

...Mostly, he just didn't want to get stuck out in the rec field with only a civilian (also given to barfing -- what was this?) for back-up.

[to here]

[From here.]

Being down this way certainly did nothing for Peter's nerves. The last time he had come near this part of the hospital was when him and Harry...yeah. Right about there was where the shapeshifters came in.

The footsteps paused, the yellowed beam lingering on a seemingly unremarkable patch of floor. Then it jerked, swirling all around the hall, peeking into every corner and the distant ends and doors. Up on the roof. Peter stilled his breathing with some difficulty, throat grown thick. He hadn't even thought about it. He did even think twice about this being the same hall. And they had found Harry through the next door, where the thing shaped like his father had led him quietly away.

The door right over there. The door to the girl's block.

Heart pounding, Peter grit his teeth and approached. Shone the light behind him once again. His spider sense wasn't making a peep, but he could just feel it. Like something was creeping up on him here. So much had happened since then, but cripes, it really had been only two weeks.

But much like the Hallucination Hall of upstairs fame, he couldn't let this part of the institute spook him. An attack could happen anywhere. And if this spot was dangerous, if the only thing he thought of when he was standing here was how Mary Jane's mouth had split into rows of inhuman teeth and how the blood had burbled out of Harry's neck, then he was already a goner. He couldn't help Senna if he was frozen stiff.

Right. Senna Senna Senna. Focus. Peter wet his lips and went for the doorknob, sweet talking his heart out of the drum-like pounding it had adopted. He wasn't about to let Senna go the same way as Harry. No way on Earth. Whatever this planet was.

[To here.]

[From here.]

He had reached the meeting point in less than a few minutes and there was still not another patient to be seen. Castiel paused, standing near the wall as he moved his flashlight up and down the corridor. There was nothing, not the sound of a shadow slipping through the dark; not the whisper of something less than human.

The only sound was the static that periodically came from his radio. He couldn't seem to get it to let up, and he wondered if it was reacting to him or if he'd been given a faulty one.

He would have preferred the former option, but he had been knocked down too many notches when it came to the loss of his abilities, his divinity, the very things that made him him.

Castiel let out a breath that had been caught in his chest and then lowered his flashlight. He wondered how long this whole process would take, but he supposed that all depended on how well he did as a student. He fashioned himself a fast learner, but he had never been able to grasp things like popular culture.

He imagined he would do a bit better with lockpicking, though. Leaning himself against the wall, Castiel stood there quietly, waiting for Orihara to show himself.

[For Izaya.]

[From here.]

As Castiel exited the room block he'd been assigned to, it occurred to him that Gabriel had not caught up with him this time around. That was for the best. He had a difficult time shaking his brother off in this place, seeing how he couldn't disappear at the snap of a finger. If he'd had to bring his brother along on his lesson with Orihara, Gabriel would have broken up the instructions and also invited far too many questions, considering his paranoia from the other night.

He had little idea of what the archangel got up to on the nights that they didn't come across each other, but at this point he couldn't get caught up pondering about it.

Straight down the hall and he would be at the spot that they had decided upon. He still had no idea of where Orihara's room was, but perhaps it was better that way. Their relationship should remain strictly professional, especially since he didn't really know how to turn it into something other than that.

This was easier.

[To here.]

[From here.]

It seemed the he was one of the first out tonight, though Castiel was not surprised that he had adapted to this routine so quickly. Heaven had involved far too much routine, and while being able to use his wings would have sped up this process a noticeable amount, he could at least make the nightly walk go by as swiftly as possible.

The halls were empty. Some people would have been frightened of a dark, quiet hallway, and yet Castiel hardly gave it a second thought. If he felt cold spots or saw flickering lights he would be on his guard, but at this point his only concern was getting to the meeting point.

[To here.]

Sora greeted the night with mixed feelings. It would be nice to have Neku as a roommate from now on, but it also meant losing Minato and Roxas. His Other had left this place before and Sora knew that he could manage without him, but there was still something about it that left him feeling... not empty, but like he was missing something. As for Minato, it looked like some of his belongings were still here (a gun, even?), so he would need to post on the bulletin about that tomorrow.

At this point, his first priority was checking in on Kairi, and so Sora squelched his urge to invite Neku along. This was something he needed to do on his own, and Neku had already done enough for him, hadn't he? The club could continue functioning starting tomorrow and that would work out just fine.

The question was whether or not to take his gifts with him. In the end, though, he thought that it was something that should be better planned. If he got there and Kairi was nowhere to be found (which was a thought that scared him), he didn't want to have to carry the coconuts and the jewelery box with him for the rest of the night and then risk losing them or damaging them.

For that reason, Sora only grabbed the basics for the night: his flashlight and radio. If he couldn't find Kairi, he wasn't really sure what he would do, but he wasn't going to think too hard on that until it happened. If it happened.

He hoped it didn't.

Sighing and shaking his head, Sora waved goodbye to his roommate and then stepped out into the hall.

[For Venom.]

Despite the rough start and the heavier snowfall, the buses managed to stay on route and on schedule. With minutes to spare, they arrived at the gates of Landel's Institute, back to the waiting arms of the military. All pretenses seemed to drop at this point, and the soldiers again took on their patented gruff exteriors. Patients were filed out of the buses in an orderly manner, eventually being escorted to their rooms for dinner in much the same. There, as promised by the personnel, well-behaved patients found their purchases among their returned possessions. A few even found new faces, though whether they brought as much joy as bought goods remained unseen.

The woman manning the intercom seemed to have missed the notice about the day's trip as her announcement remained no different from the usual. "Attention all subjects and personnel," she said. "Lights Out will commence within the hour."

A pause.

"I repeat, Lights Out will commence within the hour. All personnel: please report to your stations. The General will begin his address once preparations are underway. Thank you."

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. ANY NEWLY ACCEPTED CHARACTERS MAY POST TO THIS SHIFT (but are not obligated to if you would like to wait for Nightshift or Dayshift); please refer to the new room assignments before posting. Thank you! ]

[From here]

If Villiers was going to join him, Izaya was going to make the most of the time. He'd mentioned an interesting piece of information just a moment ago, so now was as good a time as any to find out more.

"You said it's your first time in a town like this. Are you from the city, then?" That seemed to be the logical conclusion—'Doyleton' was small, quiet... quaint—but there were a handful of other possibilities as well. He didn't want to prompt Villiers into a single answer if it was another possibility, however, so he added, "Or is it something else?"

The day progressed, and still the Digimon had maintained a casual air despite herself, moving around the town to take note of the going-ons instead of see to something herself. The credit given was still a question, but the more realistic side of her demanded that she purchase something, and test the boundaries that were set for them. Thought prompted her to a place she had been in the week prior, and she slipped inside the store quietly.

Something that could double as a weapon, would be the first test. The Digimon could likely find saws or other such things but hammers were an aisle in, and she picked one up randomly, moving back towards the corner. Five steps from it, the clerk's voice rang out. "Put it back; it's not for you."

She halted, gaze moving over the man. The objection was firm. She internally sighed, and nodded outwardly, turning to place it back on the holder. Nothing like that, then. But had that been a personal bias, or a set rule? She would have to try something different. She glanced over her shoulder back at the corner, moving back to point at the shelves under the register. "Is that not for me, either?"

The man frowned. "The gum? Buy as much as you like."

...That answered that. Purchases could be made, just restricted in form. She would have to see if there was anything she could actually use that wouldn't be something unable to be bought.

[for Sasuke.]

Peter didn't know if he and Firo had left on the best terms, if only because the younger man was still so confused about what was going on in this place. The change in time period had a lot to do with it, but it had also sounded like he'd had a lot going on in his life before ending up here. Then again, who hadn't? Peter had just exploded before his arrival.

It was hard to think back to that night, to the way he'd stood in Kirby Plaza while burning up with nuclear overload, when he was in this quaint snow-covered town. This was the sort of image you'd see on the Christmas card; it wasn't supposed to exist.

Still, his walk with Firo had been rather long all things considered, and so Peter finally decided to leave the teen to his devices and go warm up somewhere. The best way to do that would be by putting some hot food in his stomach, and so he ended up backtracking to the Tasty Burger. He could have gone ahead to the Twin Pines, since the food was obviously better quality there, but the walk was longer and his face was starting to get numb.

Letting out a small sigh of relief as he stepped into the lively fast food place, Peter fished the proper coupon out of his pocket and went to stand in line, eyeing the two young girls at the counter as he waited for it to be his turn. Once he'd eaten, he could really start searching the shops for what to buy.

[Claire Bennet.]

After extricating himself from Harvey's company, Peter found himself at an utter loss for what to do. He drifted away from the park (too cold for that), munching on his breakfast muffin and searching out some place where $15 might be useful. The coupon pack was about as helpful as it had ever been. He wandered past Pearl's Prettification Parlour, took a long look at the matching coupon, and kept on walking.

Nope.

He was having trouble deciding what to do at all, actually. With his breakfast soon gone, he wasn't in the mood for food. That cut out the restaurants. And the grocer. And he didn't particularly like the idea of staying outside. Not just for the cold, but...memories took longer to fade than he'd like. Injured as he was and paranoid as ever, Peter could almost feel the rotten bodies pressing in from every side. And Harry had been right over there.

Peter paused, staring at the pristine walls and streets covered in snow. It had only been two weeks. Shouldn't there still be some sign that it happened at all?

Standing around digging at old wounds would help no one today. He had money, and he should make use of it. Yet the rest of the fare in Doyleton was a little kitschy for his liking, so he kept on walking, hoping to strike gold or have miraculously missed a store on his last few trips in. In the span of ten minutes, he'd already hit the other side of town.

What was this magic. How could anyone survive in a hamlet like this? They didn't even have a proper hot dog stand. Were really those so hard to get? God, he missed New York. If Peter had fifteen dollars and was in New York right now, that money would have vanished lickety split. Here, the pickings were so slim he was actually contemplating screwing it all and buying himself a pack of Cheetos and a coke. If they even sold that.

Maybe he'd overlooked something. Didn't think a possibility through. Peter turned right around and started trekking back the way he came, scanning each shop front with great care and quietly wondering if they could ever take a field trip to somewhere worthwhile.

[FOR SAKURA HARUNO.]

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!]