Her roommate was gone.

Whether she was released-gone or dead-gone, Yuffie didn't know. No way to find out, either; not until dayshift. And, honestly? While Yuffie was curious—hard not to be!—she was torn. Should she look into it? Should she just leave it? It wasn't like she even cared.

As she finished pulling on her own clothing, Yuffie elected to hold off on any investigation, and to not go raiding through the woman's stuff. It'd lead to trouble, trouble that she could do without landing herself in. Sen was connected with Okita, and Yuffie wasn't in a hurry to lose that guy as a casual, fair-weather ally. He had a good fighting spirit, skill with a sword, and an appreciation for pranks. Only mega-huge downside was the psychobitch tendencies and his feud with Kenshin.

After a quick inventory (knives, check, shuriken, check, pipe-cleaner, check, other miscellaneous bits and pieces (flashlight not included), check, candy, check!), it was time to go.

[To here]

As breakfast ended and the nurses started herding the younger "patients" toward the door, Ema thought she saw a familiar face in the gaggle of adults that was being herded in another direction. The preoccupation with her sister's trial must have been starting to screw with her mind, because Ema could have sworn that she had just seen Lana. It was just a brief glance, however, so maybe it was just her eyes (or this place) playing tricks on her. Still, Ema's gaze lingered on the crowd, searching for her sister's figure just to make sure.

The nurse next to Ema took notice and glanced down at her quizzically. "What has your attention, Marie...?" She followed the girl's line of vision, and the confused look gave way to sudden realization. "Ah, your sister. Don't worry, there will be plenty of time to catch up with her later. You don't want to pass up your shower, do you?"

Ema froze, staring up at the woman stupidly. Her sister was here? Even if Ema felt a pang of guilt about it, the news hit her with overwhelming relief. For one, she wasn't alone in this hell; even with her sister's ever-increasing frost, Ema knew that her sister would protect her (and, hopefully, Agatha). Secondly... Lana couldn't be found guilty of murder if she was here, could she? Chekov's explanation of the fluidity of time in this place went out the window--Lana was here, and therefore safe from the legal system of Los Angeles.

As much as Ema wanted to break free from the nurse and run after her sister, she refrained. She had already been given one implicit threat today to stay cooperative, and she didn't want to invite trouble. Besides, Lana seemed to be headed toward that room with the bulletin board in it. That meant Ema could catch up with her after the shower, which was good.

After giving the nurse a nod to indicate that she was going to the showers after all, Ema hurried there as fast as her still-aching legs would take her. She never was the type to take very long cleaning herself, and today she really sped through the wash-down process. In a matter of maybe ten, fifteen minutes, Ema had undressed, washed her hair and body, rinsed, dressed, had her bandage changed, and was well on her way to the Sun Room, her hair dripping behind her as she went.

[And Ema's off to meet her sister here]

Peh. "Graduates." Who were they trying to fool? It's not like anyone here believed them, and no one ever visited the institute. What was the point in keeping up this sad little charade? To add to the realism of it? Well, whatever. If they wanted to continue this exercise in futility, that was fine with Porky. All it meant was that they spent more time focusing on the day instead of the night, which was definitely a good thing. Now, who was Porky supposed to meet in the Game Room again? Ah, that's right. Porky didn't know...

No matter. It's not like they would be able to hurt Porky or something in broad daylight. Then again, there were some more...savage patients here. Well, Porky was sure that none of them would be interested in meeting with Porky anyway.

While he waited for his mysterious contact, Porky grabbed a gameboy and started looking for a game to pop in.

...No Zelda, no Mario, no Kirby...What was wrong with Landel? Did he have no taste whatsoever? Porky kept looking for something he had actually heard of before, and eventually settled on...Tetris. How dreadfully boring. Well, no matter. As long as he didn't have to play a board game or something, Porky was content. After turning on the gameboy, Porky merely sat down and played, eagerly anticipating whoever had asked to meet with him.

[For Eva, I think~]

[from here]

Lockdown kicked the door to the hardware store down and barged in. There was already a zombie in here, a big one, who the bounty hunter guessed was the owner of the store. There were also two other zombies with him, so Lockdown was already outnumbered. But that had never stopped the bounty hunter.

He frantically shifted his optics around the store, before settling on a set of large axes. Dashing forward, and executing a somersault to dodge the hands of the zombies, Lockdown quickly took hold of an axe, preparing to defend himself with it.

"HK, get your aft in here and lend a servo!" The bounty hunter called out.

At first, the idea of being stuck in this meatbag dwelling sector at night seemed like a wonderful idea. So many targets, such an open field, and so many things that could be repurposed for use as weapons!

...Then he saw all the zombies. After the talk of those 'space barnacles' last night, it was fairly easy to identify them as such. But the only thing was, those things were supposed to only affect droids.

Now there were meatbag zombies. All over the place. And he didn't have a flamethrower. Oh no no no nononono.

In short, HK freaked out.

With the early morning’s embarrassment out of the way, Depth Charge had decided to devote a chunk of the day to familiarising himself with Doyleton: its ins and outs, the stores, the street names. Anything that could prove useful if he ever managed to escape- that, and having something to keep his mind busy after the incident in the used car place. Not only had he looked stupid, he’d looked careless and stupid, and neither of those were looks he really wanted to go for.

Finally he drew his circuit of the town to a close in a run-down park just off of Kelley Street, and boy did it ever look like slag. There was something oddly refreshing about it after the squeaky-clean stroll he’d taken around Perfectville, and anyway, he could hear the sound of a stream in the distance. Good enough for him.

The paper bag he’d been given on the bus was starting to feel irritatingly heavy to him, so it didn’t take long to pick a bench and sit down to eat. Depth Charge opened it up. Ah-hah. There it was. His old adversary. The orange fruit.

What was it Mori had done? Peeled the top part away? With the care of a ‘bot picking the wires on a ticking bomb, he began to strip the outer layer off of the fruit. So far so good. At this rate he might even be able to eat the slagging thing... 

[What light through yonder window breaks? Tis the East, and Lugnut is the sun!]

Before anyone could come to any decisions for their next move, the room suddenly filled with a thick fog. Faster than he could realize what was happening, it had filled up the entire room and swallowed every single one of his friends. Then there was that undeniable stench of iron, blood and... he last remembered taking a step back and feeling that slippery skid and the realization of what that was. By the time he yelled, he was sitting straight up in his bed like he'd bolted awake. Like it'd been nothing more than a bad dream. ...What the hell just happened?!

"Oh! Good morning!" The nearby voice made him yelp with a half squeak-like noise. Oh, for hell's sake. It was one of those freaking nurses again. She was beaming at him like nothing had happened at all. Before he could so much as ask one question, the hag started blathering real fast about some field trip and buses and getting changed and hurrying up before everyone left without him and... OH MY GOD, WHAT WAS SHE DOING?! She was grabbing at his shirt like she was about to start helping him get dressed (or undressed in this case).

He flailed in a desperate attempt to get away from her and yelled his consent to go along if she would get out and let him change HIMSELF. What was the matter with her?! Thankfully, she left but told him to hurry. Hell if he knew what she'd do if he took too long. So for the sake of not getting freaking stripped, he quickly changed into the clothes she'd left on the bed. Clothes being the ugliest looking white-and-black track pants he'd ever seen and a bright blue sweatshirt with a cute little penguin design on the front. This was some kind of joke, right? ...Not to say the penguin wasn't cute or anything but there was no way, no way, he was wearing something like this in public.

But the nurse had burst right in again, and before Kanji could offer much protest, he was being pulled down the hallways and through the doors of the bus. He'd yelled some things her way, but she totally wasn't listening at all. By the time they stopped, he was standing at the front of the bus with a paper bag and the nurse had run off to cart another poor sap along. Frickin' PERFECT. For the sake of not standing up there like some kind of zoo animal for everyone to stare at, he plopped himself into one of the seats by the front and sighed in complete exasperation.

[Free. No limit.]

[from here]

The fog was waiting outside, cold and thick enough that even if it hadn’t been dark there wouldn’t be much to see. The ground was freezing beneath Walter’s bare feet. It was almost familiar, reminding him of the forest near Silent Hill. The air wasn’t the same though; it felt emptier.

He glanced behind himself when the door clicked shut to see if Michael was following. Whatever had brought Walter here did not seem very interested in keeping him. As he started down the path away from the institute, holding the metal rod in front of him, he wondered aloud:

“It seems so simple, doesn’t it. Are you coming?”

[from here]

There was no sign of anyone else here. Maybe she was early - she had left her room immediately, after all. The rest of the team should be here soon.

Soma took up position on the other side of the hallway so she faced the F-blocks and waited.

[F01]


Another night, another wait. This time, Miku made herself stay put. It was hard to do much without her flashlight, but she was sure Sousuke would bring her bag with him. She'd have to see about reinforcing it, and finding proper sewing needles and thick thread. With a little sigh, Miku rested her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. She wiggled her toes as she waited, feeling the nylon of her stocking stretch up and down.

The waiting always seemed to be the worst part of the evening. Were you eaten tonight or not? Would someone come after them? Would it be a friend?

I can't think like that. I need to think positively, Miku worried her lip. Because I made a promise for tomorrow. She nodded to herself and watched the doorway. Sousuke would be coming soon and she'd have to be ready. Idly, she found herself watching her roommate. It was better than nothing.

Jiraiya had been right about the bulletin, at least. Yousuke guessed that meant he'd probably have to take some of the other things he'd said a bit more seriously as well. Like the monsters at night.

Hopefully his questions would all be answered when he met up with Kanji and Naoto. (At least he was pretty sure it was Naoto. No one else from their group spoke like a textbook.)

He was led out to the courtyard to mingle, saved from the showers due to his newbness, it seemed. Should he be grateful? If they expected him to play catch with someone, they were going to be disappointed. (Though if they got an actual game of soccer going that might be another story...) Mostly, he just wanted to find a familiar face as soon as possible, despite the promised meeting later.

[closed to his bff Adachi]

Just as von Karma started to enter the doorway leading to the Courtyard to look around for anyone remotely resembling his daughter, that pretentious lunatic's voice rang out over the Intercom, heralding the approach of lunch time. Right away, the damned nurse practically dragged him back into the cafeteria and towards the serving tables, telling him in that cloyingly cheerful tone that he could get his fresh air after he had had his meal. What rotten timing!

His mood worsened as he saw what was on those tables. "Nurse! This is the same greasy, disgusting, perfect-artery-ruining swill that was offered for lunch the last time I was in here! Does this Institute serve nothing else? How is any of this healthy for someone whom you claim has recently suffered from a stroke?!"

"Why, you're right, Mr. Fuchs! Here, I'll fix you a nice, big, healthy salad." Before he could protest that he wasn't hungry anyway, the smiling nurse loaded a heap of greens and some fruits onto a plate for him. Then she led him to one of the tables and seated him there. "Now, be a good man and finish all of that. You will do that just for me, won't you?"

The look he shot her in response indicated that he would never do anything "just for her." Certainly, not consuming this entire mountain of lettuce and carrots. As much as he approved of salads, the portion she served him was nothing short of ludicrous. Glaring at her in silence, he made no pretense of even starting in on this ridiculous travesty of a meal. Finally, she seemed to take the hint, excusing herself to attend to the other patients... but not without admonishing him that his "plate had better be clean" by the time she returned to take him to the Courtyard.

As she left him, von Karma looked all around him to see whether Franziska had come into the cafeteria yet. Unfortunately, as he had already arranged to meet his former roommate at this time, all he could do for now was to attempt to visually confirm her presence in this hellhole. As much as he hoped that the author of the replies to this S.T.'s note was nothing more than an impostor -- in which case, he would make that person pay for brazenly impersonating his daughter -- he was not entirely certain of that right now.

In the meantime, he had other practical matters to attend to. He still needed to speak to Javert to find out what had truly happened during the time he was unconscious. As he surreptitiously scanned the stream of arriving patients for the face of his daughter -- or those of his enemies -- he patiently awaited Javert's arrival, hoping that the man could still recognize him after all this time.

[Closed to Javert]

Utena was very, very glad that the patients were finally being allowed to go to the showers. Even for a girl more used to sweating than many in her gender, two days without a shower was definitely enough to make her feel stickier and stinkier than she preferred to be. Especially after all the running around and tearing apart of rooms she, Celes and Edward had done the night before.

I really hope those rooms magically turned clean this morning or something, like every other place in here seems to, Utena thought at that, hoping that no patients had awoken to the rather desperate-looking remains of a break-and-enter.

Taking a wash towel from one of the baskets, Utena headed for a free showerhead.

[Free. Limit: Any]

Endrance turned his head to look at the intercom, giving it a look that would wither an entire rose garden in an instant. He would never get used to ending up in his room again from somewhere else in the Institute.

He brushed his bangs out of his eyes, not sitting up just yet. He could tell already that his torso had been heavily bandaged, even more so than it had been the night before. The cuts on his arms were covered with fresh bandages, and the one on his cheek seemed to no longer be there at all.

Endrance had been expecting to wake up in a lot of pain, but even that seemed numbed. "They must have given me something," he murmured quietly, as he slowly sat up.

At that moment, his nurse came to get him, pushing a wheelchair along with her. "Peyton, dear, good morning. I've come to take you to breakfast, so..." He shook his head. "I'm fine. There's no need for that...I can walk perfectly well."

She sighed. Well, if he insisted, she wasn't going to stop him. She motioned for an orderly to take the chair away, and walked him to the cafeteria. Once they had gotten there, she pointed him toward a seat, then set a full tray of pancakes covered with syrup, a bowl of fruit, and a glass of orange juice in front of him. "Now eat all of that, Peyton, or else you won't be strong enough to keep walking like that."

He glared at her back as she walked away, then stopped suddenly. There was that faint pulse he'd felt the night before...it was exactly the same.

And so he completely ignored his food in favor of staring at the cafeteria doors, looking at every patient that came in.

[thread will be closed to Haseo. ♥]

*hobble wobble*

"Damn that SCOURGE!" Starscream cried out, the slowly-filling cafeteria producing a jarring echo of his raspy voice. His limping, already bad enough from not knowing how to properly use his crutches, was now exacerbated from the injuries he'd received the shift prior. Despite the gauges in his non-casted leg so lovingly provided by the aforementioned 'patient', Starscream could still put some weight on it, but not so much that he could really stop and rest; relieving the soreness under his arms was out of the question. The nurse that walked behind him with his tray, already upset at having to deal with yet another troublesome inmate, was growing rather impatient as his charge slowly made his way down the food line.

"Just...give me a standard serving of the aquatic creature's flesh, some of those fried potato slices, two bananas, and three bottles of juice," Starscream sighed, his anger from just a moment ago assuaged by the physical exertion needed to move the way he did. "I'm going to sit down here...bring it to me when you're done."

He was hardly surprised to find that one of the bananas was completely bruised along its inner curve, or that the handful of 'chips' on his plate were all on the small side. Tired and frustrated as he was, however, he could barely muster a 'damned flesh-creature' before moving his fingers to the plate, picking one of the longer 'chips' and shoving it into his mouth listlessly.

There was an unusually high concentration of sodium chloride crystals on it. Of COURSE.

[For Tony Stark]

Utena's second night seemed to have ended even sooner than the first had, which greatly disappointed her. She had been hoping that at some point, she could have coaxed her friend into telling her what was so horrible that happened in her future. Then again, curiosity aside, she was also somewhat relieved that she didn't have to hear it just yet. She half-wondered if Landel had ended both of their previous nights early on purpose, too, just to make certain that Utena didn't spend enough time with her friend to potentially hear of that future.

Almost as soon as she thought of Landel, Utena heard his voice crackle over the intercom again. Hearing him yawn through his announcement almost made her sleepy as well; she'd had no idea that yawns could be contagious over speaker systems. Physically, she did feel rested, though she certainly couldn't remember sleeping or dreaming between the end of night and her waking up.

As her nurse came to collect her for breakfast, Utena felt conflicted over whether she ought to see Himemiya again that night. On the one hand, she wanted to be there for her friend and try to coax some of the girl's old self out of her. Either that or at least try to console her about whatever was troubling her. On the other hand, she knew that it would be stupid to waste too many nights on talk. She could be helping Seiya or the clubs or finding metal to store for whenever Skuld was ready for her, something that would help her and Himemiya break out faster.

Maybe I'll post a message for her later if I don't see her again during the day. It's not perfect, but at least it'll let us talk and then leave me an opening to go out and do . . . whatever it is that might need doing, she thought as she was escorted into the cafeteria to pick up breakfast (english muffins that morning). Remembering the clubs again, Utena thought about the message exchange she had had with that girl from Arts & Crafts, Momo Hinamori. They were supposed to be meeting over breakfast, right? Utena didn't see anyone who matched Hinamori's description yet, but then, the girl had said that it would be easier for her to find Utena than the other way around. She sat down at a nearby table for the time being and waited, running the previous night's short conversation in her head over and over.

[For Momo]

[from here]

Miles slowed again as he entered the hallway, due to another sharp spike of pain in his head. This time, it was accompanied by a louder rumble, one that almost sounded like garbled words.

He swept the beam of his flashlight from side to side. "Now, see? Nothing - and no one - is there," he muttered, hoping that would silence the voice's insistent worry. It was starting to get both annoying and worrisome at the same time. What was making it react like this? He couldn't think of anything, and the intercom announcement hadn't indicated anything particularly worrisome, either.

He sighed and continued down the hallway, continuing to scan for anything in the shadows with each step.

[to here]

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

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

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

The intercom clicked off abruptly.

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

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

That had been a very interesting shift, Miku decided as she was wheeled around. Not only for making a new friend in Endrance (well, perhaps not friend, but very kind acquaintance), but for the overload of unwanted information from the bulletin. It was enough to make her want to hide until there was no chance of a blush ever forming on her face (and ears, and neck and anywhere else a blush might decide to raise its wily head).

Her nurse was oddly quiet for once, as she gathered her meal (vegetable pizza and milk) and wheeled Miku away from the crush of other patients being herded in. Well, then it would be a quiet lunch, she decided.

"Now, Alice, I expect not to see a crumb of food left, do you hear? Not a crumb," her nurse chastised her gently and Miku winced. So, they were noticing. She'd have to be more careful to eat a little more.

"Ah... yes. I'm sorry," Miku ducked her head and started picking at her meal with her knife and fork. "I'll eat." Even if the nurse was really a monster at night, she hated that tone of disappointment. She sighed and picked at what appeared to be a piece of broccoli on her pizza.

[For Sousuke]