His time in the bar had gone far more smoothly than the last after Kurogane had agreed to the immediate demand that, if he wanted to stay, he couldn't drink straight from the bottle this time. That had been the only reason he'd been forced out during the last trip, and that had been without the added bother of Fai making him angry. Now that his only worry was what might happen after the sun went down, the ninja hadn't given the man so much as a second thought once they'd split off of the buses. Fai knew where he could find him, so long as he'd been listening during that part, and Kurogane didn't care either way if he appeared or not.

All he really cared for was that he was able to drink without the possibility of any children coming around to bother him. He was pretty sure Tsubaki was too young to enter this place, and that she was the oldest of the kids he knew.

Still, he did keep glancing at the door on the chance that he would see someone he knew - welcome or not - as he drank. He was ever ready for the unexpected.

[free]

During lunch, some of the staff of Lil' Tykes Toys had taken it upon themselves to decorate the store with an assortment of balloons. The variety of colors would have been enough to remind most people of bubblegum drops.

On top of that, a new face -- perhaps someone temporarily hired for the event -- sat behind a small table near the cash register. The festive balloons surrounding her seemed to match her cheerful disposition, as she wasn't shy about beckoning both children and adults over so they could receive their free gift.

The ad on the town bulletin wasn't lying, but what were they handing out?

((NOTE: Please read the lounge post for more details.))

Fai was excited to be able to wander the town. It felt like any other one of the worlds they had traveled to and now was his chance to truly explore. He knew there was restrictions but he didn't mind following rules as long as he got to enjoy the day out of the institute.  He accepted his items and headed down the street to see what the city had to offer.

And then he saw it.  How could he possibly resist an ice cream shop? It didn't matter how cold it might be, or the fact that he hadn't eaten any real food yet. All he cared about was having something sweet and tasty. The thought of enjoying many flavors of ice cream was the only thing on his mind as he made a beeline for the little shop.

He pushed the door open and looked around at the decor. It was definitely cute and the smells reaching his nose from the bakery side of things was almost enough to make his stomach growl even though he didn't believe he was actually that hungry.  He walked up to the counter to look at the various flavors that were available.  This could take awhile because at the moment Fai wanted to try one of everything.

[Free!]

As usual, night had ended too damn early. Anise really wanted to see what was at the end of that tunnel! But on the bright side, it sounded like she and her friends could get back there easily.

Actually, maybe it was a good thing that they got interrupted when they did. Today was a field trip day; it'd give them a chance to stock up on any tools or supplies they might need for their venture into the unknown. Anise just hoped the Head Doctor wasn't going to interfere with them going back, now that they were so close...

The outfit selected for Anise that day was a little colorless for her tastes, but the style was cute enough to satisfy her. There was a long, striped sweater with a hood. Two long flaps dangled down from the hood, resembling the floppy ears of a rappig. She fidgeted with them as she was led aboard one of the buses. It looked like she was the first on this bus, so she went ahead and sat down in a window seat.

With little else to do at the moment, she took the blueberry muffin from her paper bag and started breaking off tiny bits with her fingers to eat.

[Free!]

Fai had finished his dinner in relative silence.  He had been thinking about the events of the day and the fact that he had yet another long night ahead of him.  He had determined that he should do some exploring but as the doctor's voice came over the loud speaker, something had caught his attention.  The third floor..he wondered if that was the place that Kurogane had been trying to take him when he had first arrived.  Things had been a little strange then and they never seemed to end up where they were supposed to.

Standing up, Fai set his dinner plates aside and headed out into the hall. He looked around for a moment, finding that things were fairly quiet still.  It seemed he was a little early in heading out.  He wondered who he might run into while out tonight.  He hadn't met a lot of people on this world yet, but the few he had were certainly interesting.

Starting down the hallway, Fai briefly wondered if he should stop by Kurogane's room before continuing. The other had said he would check up on him.  That thought made Fai pause.  He had promised to wait for Kurogane to check up on him before venturing out each night, but certainly the ninja wouldn't care if Fai met him half way or even made it to the room before Kurogane left. 

With a smile on his face, Fai continued down the hall. He put his hands behind his head as he took his time. No sense in rushing since he did have all the time in the world to get there. And with no destination really in mind, Fai wouldn't have to worry about being late.

[Open]

Scar wasn't fond of being forced to shower with everyone else. Bathing had been a rare luxury during his recent time in Lior, (Had it really only been just over a week ago?) so he was thankful at least for the chance to wash. Just as long as he could spend the whole time facing the wall.

He washed himself quickly and quietly, taking no time to savor the warm water and steam that made him drowsy.

[To here]

Link was feeling overall good as he was escorted outside after breakfast. The food had been good, and the weather was nice. It wasn't so cold anymore, but still comfortable. He much preferred coming outside to being cooped up in that stuffy, dull building. The Hylian was trying to remain positive. They had the cure now, did they not? People were getting better.

The death toll was impossible to ignore, though.

He sighed, hands in his pockets as he shuffled through the grass and settled himself on the lawn. This was nice. At least, it was as nice as things could get around here. Link's mind drifted back home, back to Ordon and Hyrule and Midna and Zelda. Everything was okay there, now. And he couldn't even see it for himself.

[Free!]

[from here]

Al knew he probably should be paying more attention to his surroundings, but he was eager to meet up with his new friend. Besides, the quicker this chore was done the faster he could go and find where the nurses had taken his brother to. Only being allowed to talk with him when they'd first found each other was frustrating, and he had plenty that he needed to let Ed know about. Plus, the quicker he found him, the less likely it was his brother would wind up neck-deep in trouble.

He knocked lightly on the door to M58, shifting anxiously from foot to foot. "Sasuke? It's me, Alphonse. Are you there?"

Fai heard the man on the intercom and was immediately whisked back inside by the nurse. He accepted his bagged lunch with a smile but turned briefly to watch how quickly those clouds were rolling in. It was curious to see such a sudden change of weather but he was glad that he was now out of it.

Walking after her, he asked her what direction he was to go in now but she merely stated it was his choice. Nodding, Fai looking around at the various rooms with curiosity. He finally selected the game room, if for no other reason then it looked interesting.

Fai plopped down on one of the cream colored chairs and opened up his lunch bag. It wasn't a particularly fancy lunch and the vampire was hardly hungry for normal food, but it would do to keep up his energy. He started pulling the items out one by one and set them down so that he could eat.

[Free!]

Despite Zero's earlier fit of (mostly internal) anger, it felt good to get some food in his stomach after going without since yesterday's lunch. He felt even better about how he had managed to avoid a certain former blue robot's attention for an entire shift - though he figured his luck was bound to run out very quickly as far as that was concerned. There were only so many people in this place and it wasn't like he was allowed to roam anywhere he wanted. Still, he would continue trying to awkwardly avoid his friend for as long as possible. Maybe he wasn't ill anymore and maybe it wasn't the right thing to do, but...until he figured out how to start a conversation with someone he'd literally taken a chunk out of the night before... How to apologize, and how to scold him for blatantly ignoring Zero's warnings...

(Either way, he wouldn't let it keep him from checking the bulletin board...even if there didn't seem to be much on there this morning. Hmm. Unusual.)

Otherwise... It seemed he was expected to go outside today. 'Vent some frustrations', the head lunatic said. Hmph. Good job being completely unsubtle. There was that flash of anger again - but by now, his ability to control said anger was becoming strong enough to prevent it from bothering him for more than a few minutes. That was good; he didn't need to waste his energy being too easily upset over words. Words couldn't make him bleed like half of the things that happened at night did. What he should be doing was taking advantage of the situation he had. The field would give him space to flex his muscles, help him train himself physically, prepare for whatever tonight might throw at him... Yes, that was what he needed to do. Train. And all he truly needed to worry about while doing that was not stressing his bandaged right arm, which needed to heal quickly more than anything.

Right. Once he managed to separate himself from his nurse (who was still worrying and fussing over his continued silence toward her) and once he'd scanned his surroundings to make sure that one particular face was nowhere to be seen, Zero began to wander across the grass, contemplating how he should go about this training. Maybe start with a light run around the field, to test his stamina....that sounded good.

[Harpuia and X!]

[from here]

The ninja hadn't really wanted to be right either way. Regardless of where the door took them, it would still be somewhere other than intended. The destination of the Chapel was long out of sight by this point.

Again he felt the familiar pull and with this one so quickly following the last, it didn't warrant any cursing. He wouldn't have managed regardless since it was all he could do to keep the nausea from this second trip down. It wasn't until his feet hit down onto yet another tile floor that he realized that he should have waited at least a little bit before tackling the possibility of a secondary teleport.

His reached out again, this time off to the side since he knew Fai would be in front of him (and taking him down wouldn't have helped). He found something cold and hard and, grabbing it, recognized the sleek feel as familiar. Pushing his hand up, it curved around what he could only assume was the top of a sink. A bathroom then, and one that may've been needed for how he felt. "Damn place..." he groaned, taking a moment to recover over the newly found basin.

[from here]

He knew to expect absolutely anything while moving - monsters, announcements, hell, he wouldn't have been surprised if the floor fell from under them at some point - but there were some things he did know. The feeling of being jumped was one of those. When the sensation struck at him, pulling him through to wherever it would, the ninja knew it immediately and swore - the word echoing through the new and still completely dark location the moment he landed.

He stumbled forward from the rush, grasping for something and finding his hand hitting metal. Taking hold, it moved slightly, but he kept his balance from it and looked back to see if the magician had been forced along. The last time he'd been jumped through a door, everyone with him had gone, but there had been other times where just he'd been taken.

"You all right?" he asked, firm but hushed as his eyes tried adjusting to the darkness.

[from here]

The lack of any presences continued into the next hallway and the adjoining ones that overlooked the Sun Room below. The hallways were quiet, and empty, and nothing at all what he was used to.

"We're out late," came his reasoning, and he hoped that was all there was to the state of the hallways. Timing and nothing more. He moved quickly regardless, passing along the left side hallway with only a passing glance over the railing. "The Sun Room is below us. Something's usually there... some monster or a patient that's been brainwashed..."

The Sun Room had always been that way and was on most occasions even more dangerous than heading through the back field. That, at least, had less of a chance of having anything guarding it. The Sun Room however was the most direct route to the basement and, Kurogane still wagered, to some other passage that reached the top floor. That Landel always kept the below room so well guarded was proof enough of that possibility.

"Avoid it at night unless you don't have a choice."

[from here]

Once across the hallway, Kurogane took them to the closest stairwell. Usually he would take this route to reach the upper level if he didn't have anyone else tagging along, while the stairwell further down would be used if he'd had to go by one of the other rooms. The girls' rooms were on that side, and the magician's had been in the back. Until he got a clear number from this one, he couldn't know if he'd need to go by M99 any more.

"There is another set of stairs further down," he explained as they went. If the magician was going to be here for some time, he needed to know how to get around and start learning the layout quickly. He'd have his own understanding eventually, but for now Kurogane was the best map the man could have. "Either will get you to the second floor. There's a third floor, but no one knows how to get to it."

"Helloooo~? Is anyone here?" Fai held a gloved hand up to his mouth as he bellowed, peeking his head out the bedroom door and glancing down the rather stark hallway. Having woken up in an unusual bedroom was really not that strange to him, but waking up without his normal traveling companions did strike him as a little odd.

"Kuro-rin? Syaoran?" Even Mokona seemed to be missing and usually the small white creature was not far from his side. For a moment, Fai wondered if perhaps something had happened as they were transferring worlds. It wouldn't be the first time their group had gotten split up. It would be the first time he was left on his own when it happened though.

Taking a step into the hallway he placed his hands on his hips as he let his one golden eye wander and take in the scenery. They certainly had found themselves in a bizarre world this time. He wondered just what it was going to take to locate the others. If nothing else he could usually sense Kurogane, many thanks to the bond of blood that they now shared. However, even the familiar presence of the ninja seemed to be lacking. There was a hint of worry that pinged deep inside of him but he tried not to get too worked up yet. "It's not nice to start playing hide and seek without telling me first!"

Deciding it was time to continue his search, he started down the hallway, placing his hands behind his head as he strolled in a rather relaxed manner, despite the uncertainty that was boiling inside of him.. He could sense something about this place that was a bit off but it was going to take a little time to figure out exactly what it was. He didn't sense any magic, or at least none that he had ever felt before. "It's not like Kuro-tan to play games. This isn't quite the Clow Country that I had envisioned either. I wonder if something went wrong while we were traveling. Nothing felt different.."

Now Fai was starting to worry a bit. Not letting it show quite yet though, he placed that energetic smile on his face that was his norm and called out once again, "Excuse me~? I appear to be lost? Is anyone around? I could use some help! It would be greatly appreciated!" Fai wasn't sure if he was really yelling to anyone at all, but he figured if he kept hunting he would run into someone eventually. And if he kept talking, someone might hear him and come to him. He knew that it wasn't time to get worried yet. He just had to keep on walking and eventually something was bound to happen! Of course..he wasn't sure if it would be something good or bad..but he tried not to dwell on the specifics too much.


[OOC: Free. Goes to here]

[from here]

Shuffling along the wall would make too much noise, so Ryusei walked normally along this hall. He was worried, but with the exits at the two ends, he'd see someone coming long before they saw him. He could always duck past, but— He'd deal with that if it came up. For now, he had to think about where he would go from here. Routine said the cafeteria, but logic dictated otherwise; there was no point to going there. How about the front door? That— That was an option, wasn't it?

... It...wasn't a good one.

... He'd made it without mishap. Next.

[to here]

[from here --and waiting for Ryusei!]

There still wasn't a lot of people in the halls, and it was starting to make him nervous. Maybe he should try to find someone to hang out with tonight. Snow and Celty had insisted on how Mikado shouldn't be alone at night--it wouldn't hurt to take their advice. But it would be strange to just go up to someone and ask to walk around with them.

...Wouldn't it?

He made a face, and paused in the hall, looking around. He was more aware of the bandages covering his eye in the dim, and even wearing his own clothes didn't negate that uncomfortability. He was suddenly starting to think he should have just stayed inside.

[from here]

For once it seemed like barely any people were out. Was he really that early, or was there some other reason things seemed quiet? It wasn't a good idea to think in the dark with a large blind spot, and Mikado regripped his flashlight nervously.

Maybe he should have contacted Izaya again tonight. But he didn't want to bother the man more than necessary. Despite the circumstances, Mikado was probably just someone Izaya was assisting, not someone to be considered a friend.

...Did Izaya have friends back home? It made Mikado think for a moment. How weird. No one was readily coming to mind.

[to here]

[in from here]

The commotion that came from forcing the kitchen door opening was sure to have alerted anything that hadn't heard their first break in, which made continuing on, and quickly, all the more important. They were fortunate enough to have not hit anything as of yet.

Kurogane kept the lead as they entered the kitchen area, stepping over the broken lock and shrugging the sensation away from his shoulder as best he was able. He'd known breaking the lock would take some energy, even without him having kicked it down, but he hadn't expected to feel so much more exhausted from the action. Landel's new game was testing more than just his patience that night, but he didn't let it get to him. They were beyond the more open areas now, and shouldn't have too many more doors blocking their way to the basement.

Turning to the right, Kurogane spotted the outline for the refrigerator door from across the room and stepped ahead only to have the outline blur suddenly in his line of view. He paused, shook his head, and tried to get his focus back through will power alone. The door remained a muddled blur however, and soon the rest of the room was blurring just the same.

"Damn..." he swore, shaking his head out a second time and bringing a hand up.

[from here]

Yuui was the first to push open the door.  It took a few solid kicks to break the lock, more noise than he'd like, perhaps, but hopefully nothing that would slow them up.  His single blue eye tried to adjust to the darkness inside, scouting the room for any undesirables, but he could only make out a few tables and chairs and precious little else without light. 

His footfalls were almost silent, his breathing more cautious as he led the way inside.  The headache that had started earlier was becoming harder and harder to ignore, the loud noises and sudden movements doing little to help.  It was almost a relief that it was too dark to see the sheen of sweat prickling at his forehead or the way his body trembled every now and again as he tried to push forward with weary muscles.  He was beginning to regret not bringing his coat, but the heat would've made it intolerable on top of all the rest. 

It wasn't much further to the basement, he realized, though it would be the first time he'd returned to the place since the accident that had cost him his eye and left several other permanent scars.  He had to wonder if Kurogane fully understood what he was asking, for him to want to return to that place.  If the same thing happened again, if they found themselves in that coliseum, would he make the same decision?  It wasn't a thought he wanted with him as he felt his way through the darkness and toward the back of the room.  Kurogane was a much better lead at times like these.