The nurses came and took Takaya away. For a visitor? Tony heard that as the other boy was led away, but he didn't react. Usually, when he heard something, he wasn't supposed to hear it, and it was just a good idea to pretend he hadn't. Though he wondered if he should check on Takaya later if he found a way to do it.

He returned his attention back to the recorder in his hands. Now with no "student" to teach, he could play the melodies from his head again. This one was a bit more exuberant, a bit more expressive of the hope he felt that life was more than this, more than the city where he'd grown up. Tony had dreams that weren't crushed. His music said all this.

(for Frey!)

He must have eaten, because he wasn't hungry, but Tony didn't remember eating. He'd been too excited about the ideas that Fwiffo had given him. But he was sitting at a cafeteria table alone with an empty plate in front of him when the announcement came on. Other rooms? He stood up and started that way before the nurses arrived. When his caught up to him, she made him backtrack and put up his tray, then tried to get him to go outside, but no, he wanted the music room.

Once there--it was still empty--Tony went straight for the box of small musical instruments and plucked one of the recorders he and Kvothe had left behind the other night. He didn't want to risk the one he had already safely hidden. Satisfied that he was just going to sit and play the plastic wind instrument, the nurse left Tony alone. He cleaned the entire instrument outside and as far inside as his fingers could reach using the hem of his shirt, then put it to his lips.

Before long, he was lost in the haunting melodies that poured out of his head and into the breath the blew through the instrument. Nothing magical happened when he played--he didn't feel the stir or pull of objects wanting to dance around--which disappointed him some, but this is what he wanted most: the music. Music had been a friend to him and Tia since before he could remember clearly.

(for Takaya)

Miku hurried away from her new friends (and kitten) to the cafeteria. For some reason she was just terribly ravenous. Her nurse smiled, relieved that her patient had finally chose to eat something and wouldn't continue that backslide into poor health. She loaded the girl's plate with French toast and fruit, dusted the bread in powdered sugar and a bit of cherries in red-red syrup and sent the girl to sit.

"There we are, Alice, a nice healthy meal," she cooed, and patted Miku's head. Miku sighed, but carefully cut into her meal and started eating, keeping her eye out for Sousuke.

((From here.))

With how many times he traveled through these hallways, sometimes it felt like the nights all blended together. Granted, some were more exciting than others, but in a place like this, a boring night was probably better than one filled with monsters, mad scientists and brain-washed captives. But occasionally there was a nice breakthrough, like that time he and Guy had successfully gathered enough metal for their swords.

Now if only they could actually get them made. It wouldn't solve all their problems, but at least it'd make looking after themselves a lot easier.

In the meantime, it was best to be on his guard. Silently, he made his way into the next hallway.

((To here))

Wishing Vlad good luck, Qui-Gon gathered his things. Wearing his old clothes wouldn't be much of an advantage, but it would be enough: his robes and his tunic were a great deal thicker and more resilient than the flimsy patient shirts, and with boots, he could keep his legs protected. Considering the state of his injured knee, he knew he wouldn't be kicking down any doors in the near future. But it was still protection all the same. Strapping on his utility belt, Qui-Gon ran a hand over the nicks and scratches on its surface, all from years of his service as a Jedi, each with their own story, their own mission to tell. His hand passed over where he would normally clip his lightsaber, feeling like he was missing a companion.

Sighing, he finished dressing. If they were heading to the basement, he wouldn't bring the outer robes; he'd need maximum mobility in case they were attacked and they would get in the way. The extra protection they offered wasn't a good enough trade off at this moment. Tightening the belt and checking to make sure it was secure, Qui-Gon moved about the room, retrieving the Shield Artifact and his knife, sliding the blade into his belt. Next were the makeshift commlinks, which were small enough to fit in there as well.

He was as ready as he was going to get.

Qui-Gon tried to stretch out his senses. Blurry, muddled. The Force was stronger to him than it felt to him during the day in Doyleton, but he was still recovering from exerting himself so much the night before with those droids. He would have to focus. It wasn't the first time he pushed himself. Opening the now-unlocked door, the Jedi Master stepped out.

[headed this way]

[Waiting for Daemon and Renji.]

After spending the last shift in discussion in the library, Rukia had a lot on her mind. Speaking with Captain Harkness had been somewhat informative, but only increased her worry. How easily were they all being controlled by Landel? And by what means? Too many questions.

Since she was still confined to a wheelchair, Rukia asked a nurse to get her some fruit, salad, and a big bowl of rice. She could have easily done it herself, but wanted to find a spot in one of the corners near the door to wait for Renji. She hadn't spoken to him for long the previous day, and had been very upset at the time. Maybe they could just have a nice lunch together.

Rukia thanked the nurse who brought her food and began to eat, looking up at the door every so often.

[In M47]

Artemis was particularly pleased at how the day had ended. Showering with his fellow underage males had been embarrassing and uncomfortable, but he'd ended on a good note--a wonderful, wonderful argument in which the opponent couldn't hit him. Perhaps the orderlies weren't so bad after all.

They deposited him in his room with Haku, and the moment the door shut, the Head Doctor came over the intercom. He frowned at the mention of a month and filed away the information for later. No... he'd have to write it down. His head was suddenly somewhat muddled. He groaned lightly and put a hand to his head, trying to sort things out. Things pieced together, but only with some effort. He actually had to think about things instead of automatically responding. What was going on?

"The man on the radio is dead. I killed him - stabbed him six times in the chest... I have to say, it took a lot off my mind."

Artemis' eyes flew open. Oh this was bad. This was bad beyond words. Even if he couldn't think as well as he normally could, he could understand that much.

"H-Haku, you wanted to do something, correct?" He reached under his mattress for his sword, hands shaking. The patients were in trouble now. Deep, deep trouble.

A loud "clunk" signaled the unlocking of doors in the hallways outside, cuing Kunzite to slide off his bed and proceed to his dresser. The soldier recovered his flashlight, a pen, and his journal, slipped on one of his coats, and creaked open the door to his room.

"Empty so far," he murmured, sweeping the rays of his flashlight left and right. Footsteps shuffled along in the rooms nearby; surely the other "patients" were getting ready to stir as well. No matter, he thought to himself, using the light to scan the map in his journal. For now, a rendezvous with the Princess and Mercury, and we shall proceed from there.

As Kunzite strolled south, his attention ever-vigilant to sudden motions in this unnatural darkness, he mused on the words spit out by the doctor. "I've killed the man on the radio," Kunzite whispered with a smirk. "As I suspected, a power struggle. This place gets more and more interesting with each passing moment..."

[Going to M-B Block Hallway]

The cafeteria was all but empty when Zelnick got there. He was a little disappointed; he had gotten the impression that patients usually ate dinner in their rooms, so he hadn't arranged to meet anyone, and there really wasn't anyone to sit by and engage in conversation yet.

Quietly, he collected dinner and a big glass of orange juice, and chose a seat near the food-serving counters. Talking for so long had made him thirsty... and, well, fruit juice was a luxury he had missed.

[Stalk away, my dearest Admiral. <3 ]

Oh, the Game Room... And here he'd thought he'd never see it during the day.

There was something simply marvelous that came with the altercation that morning: perspective. After all, in light of these current events, it was obvious that, aside from the vanity and occasional arguments with fellow patients, Luxord was a perfect angel compared to those awful rioters. Despite the fact that he was not even near the cafeteria during breakfast, thus unable to take part in the fighting even if he wished, there was something about that argument that Nursey seemed to listen to.

At least, listened to and warned that if he made the slightest notion of misbehavior that it would be the last time he'd ever go into the Game Room.

But in the meantime, there was a sense of delight around the Nobody. There was entertainment to be had! And he'd soon be entertaining a certain lady...

Ah, this morning... Life was beautiful.

[Waiting for Anya, I think? :o]

[Bother away~]

It was surprising how quickly the staff had lifted the lockdown, particularly for those who had a hand in this morning's "incident". Ken was certain they were going to be stuck in their rooms until nightfall and thus, felt wary of the intercom's announcement. Partly for possible ulterior motives, partly for the fact they were treating them as children.

This whole situation was one glorified time-out, when he thought about it.

Still, there were some benefits to the matter, which the nurse was now spelling out for him. "....choice of the Sun Room, the Music Room, the Game Room, or the Arts and Crafts Room--"

"Wait." Ken stopped short in the middle of the hallway. "Excuse me, but did you say Arts and Crafts Room?"

The nurse nodded and smiled. "Would you like to go there?" she asked. "You deserve it, considering you were so good during today's ordeal."

Perfect. He was hoping for a place to finish the copy of the map he had planned to give Yukari. This "Arts and Crafts" Room should have something more eye-catching than pens. (Blue and black ink were boring selections.) With a nod of approval, Ken allowed himself to be escorted.

In five minutes, the boy managed to assemble several choice markers and four sheets of white paper, which he took to one of the round tables in the room. There, he set to work, using the map within his journal pages as a reference.

Nathan had never actually been in a nuthouse before and had only recently contemplated checking himself into one in a fit of sarcastic, self-depricating humor as of late. It was safe to say that he wasn't terribly familiar with the typical layout, even though he guessed it wasn't too hard to assume in this case. Everything was clean and painfully sterile-looking, if you could tell just by looking anyway, and he had to admit that they did a decent job of dressing this place up like a stereotypical, mental institution. They'd probably wait until evening to run whatever tests they wanted after they'd drugged everyone up nice and good.

The former congressman parted ways with his nurse, offering her a fairly sarcastic "thanks" as she let him loose in the expansive cafeteria. The food choices seemed pretty basic: hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza... The sort of thing he'd been living off of for the past, couple of months. Nathan hadn't realized how hungry he was until he actually picked up a plate. Skeptical as he was of the food here, it probably didn't matter whether it was drugged or not; if he was where he naturally assumed he was, they'd have their way no matter what he did. The only thing not eating would accomplish would be to make things easier for them.

With a hamburger and some fries piled on his plate, Nathan scanned the large room for any familiar faces. If he'd been nabbed in his sleep, there was at least a small chance that they might've nabbed Parkman or one of the others too. Unfortunately, he seemed to have chosen the wrong place to get information. It was practically empty.

Great. It looked like he'd be keeping himself company for the time being. Always a fun person to pass the time with. Sitting down at an empty table, Nathan took a moment to stare his hamburger down before taking a hesitant bite.

Ginji was shocked, stunned, overjoyed. Here they had just provided an entire "All-You-Can-Eat" meal and yet... and yet.... there was still more food. He knew there were people who could eat and eat and eat and eat because they had the money, but he had never, ever been one of those people. And now he was able to eat and eat and eat. Real meals. Snacks. So much food. Ginji was the type of person to enjoy whatever he could, and food was something he really, really, really enjoyed.

He grabbed as much snacks as he could and went back to a table to enjoy it. Keeping some of his manners, he called out his thanks before going to munch on some fresh vegetables. So delicious. He was grinning despite the fact he was in a horrible place, that friends he had made had disappeared, that he was still too injured to really walk very well on his own, and that he had had to explain to someone else about Raitei. He got the feeling that Roland understood it a lot better than other people. For one he hadn't tried to tell Ginji that anything Raitei did "wasn't his fault". Ginji didn't like talking about it and didn't want to think about it, so he focused on the food in front of him.

"Yummy!" he said cheerfully, after he had finished chewing what he had shoved into his mouth.

[ entering from here with TK in tow ]

Oh so much joy, there was a place to play here, a pit full of plastic balls! Yes, so many fun things had been destroyed on her own world, why not enjoy what was offered here? After icecream. And the coupon was good for a whole meal too! Ed finally dropped TK's hand and sauntered up to the counter, presenting the slip of paper to the attendant with pride.

"Ed wishes to have her tummy filled with yummy!" The employee behind the counter took her coupon and before long Ed had her meal and sweet treat. She commandeered the first available table without a second thought, digging into her food with gusto.

Zelgadis was not happy, at all. Not that this was any change, but the events of the past few hours had given him more to angst about than usual. Nightshift had been dreadful: first he was attacked by a small green man and then covered in leeches, neither of which lead to warm fuzzy feelings.

And now this.

When the nurse had come into his room with new clothes he had a small glimmer of hope-- some thief had taken his normal Landel's wear in the night, so perhaps this was a change in luck. However, it was not the godsend he had hoped for. Minus the threat of sedation, there was nothing in the universe that could make Zelgadis wear a bright lemon-yellow shirt. There was a jacket of a slightly more tasteful variety, so Zelgadis made good us of it-- he put all his coupons in a pocket and pulled up the hood. It was almost as good as his cloak. Well, no it wasn't, but it would have to do.

With mild protesting, Zelgadis was lead to a large yellow vehicle. He climbed the stairs, took a seat towards the back, and readied himself for another frustrating day of being attacked and threatened with spoons.

Ginji finished his dinner happily and then took out his notebook, doodling inside of it.

He tried to ignore what the Head Doctor said because it made him sad. A lot of stuff seemed to make him sad lately. He didn't like feeling that way. He wished Ban would hurry up and rescue him, since he couldn't think of a plan to get out on his own, especially while his leg was still hurt pretty badly.

Hopefully, that would at least be better soon. He glanced at the door and wondered how long it would take for the person to come, if they did at all, to help him out. He also wondered what kind of 'healing' powers they had.

The intercom gave its cheery jingle just before the Head Doctor's equally buoyant voice rang through the halls.

"Ah, and finally, our day is coming to a close! Rooms and roommates have been reassigned with care, though what great partnership can start without a good meal? Ah, yes, after the nurses escort all of our patients, new and old, back to their proper rooms, everyone will have the chance to enjoy a savory chicken pot pie, full of peas, carrots, potatoes, and of course, chicken. On the side, we'll have buttery corn on the cob and green beans, and to drink, you may choose from the regular slew of water, milk, or assorted juices, which your nurse will bring to you.

"I believe that's all for now! Phew, long day, huh? I know I'll be happy to get some sleep, and thank you to all our vigilant doctors and nurses, although Dr. House seems to have gone AWOL... Hmm... Well, in any case, have a good dinner, everyone!"

The intercom clicked off again as the nurses began organizing the patients for the small trek back to their rooms.

[ OOC: Remember, room threads go in response to THIS post, and please put your respective room number in the subject line of your first post. Thanks! ]

Libraries, he'd found, were rarely as dull as people made them out to be.  Though he felt no magic in these tomes, they were still full of useful information.  Maybe some of them could tell him a little bit more about this world he'd landed himself in. 

For that matter, why hadn't he run into any of the others yet?  They'd all been fairly close together when they'd left Rekord, but he hadn't seen a trace of any of them.  He was able to communicate easily with the people here though, which led him to believe Mokona was within a mile or so.  Unless the ones running this little game had some other way to let all these other-worldly people communicate amongst themselves.  In which case, the others could be very far away indeed.

The library had that wonderful smell of old books, and Fai traced his fingers along the shelves, skimming titles and pulling books that struck his fancy.  Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The War of the Worlds, and with a smile, he found Bram Stoker's Dracula as well.  Raven had been telling the truth then, in spite of his own lies.  Ought to be a good start.  He sat leisurely at one of the tables and began flipping through his selections.

[waiting for Tamaki~]

Renji wasn't so certain what this grilled cheese thing was all about, but he liked the sound of some soup. Even if it was strange western soup, well... there wasn't anything bad people could do to soup, in his experience. His good mood was starting to fray at the edges, a little, from the strain of dealing with the Ichimaru issue, and even more from what had been on the bulletin board earlier.

He'd never had difficulty simply writing something before. But...

He shook his head as he entered the line. He didn't want to think about it. He wanted to hold on to the tenuous equilibrium he'd managed to find.

Renji got himself a large bowl of soup, water, and even one of those sandwiches, just to try it. Old habit, recently awakened, had him over to one side of the cafeteria, where the fewest people possible would have the chance to pass behind him. He sat there with his back toward the wall and started eating.

[inviting Roland in from here]

Ginji carefully moved out of the way to let Roland in. He limped uncomfortably and painfully back to the wheelchair that was in his side of the room. He sat back down and looked grateful. He would have to remember to try not to do that again.

"Er..." he said. "Feel free to make yourself comfortable." He frowned because there really wasn't much that could be down to be comfortable in these rooms. At least so far Ginji hadn't been attacked inside of his room.