O.K., what had made it back with him. Pipe, flashlight, toolbox? All present and accounted for. The kit had a few new dents in it, courtesy of one exploding lab bench, but the hinges still open and shut. He didn't need it tonight. A bottle of mixed pharmaceuticals extracted from it was enough in case something tried to eat them or Scarecrow's brain gizmo went haywire. Then the rest of his crap. The radio he tied to a belt-loop with the duct tape that had secured it to the toolbox. It swung like an construction worker's hammer holster, but it held. That completed the stylish anarchist's ensemble.

Right. One secret decoder ring that would teleport him to what, a pantry? If he believed the Head Bastard in the first place. Which he mostly did. There had to be a catch, but it would work as advertised. Maybe summon a stack of mutated Gila monsters to go with the overtrusting consumer. Still, he wrapped it in a bit of ex-T-shirt and stuffed it in his pocket.

Time to go set up for movie night. Maybe the damn ring would come in handy. Popcorn was a requirement if he couldn't manage beer and/or nitrous on short notice. Or pizza. 1-800-Dial-A-Zombie. Don't order anything with meat on it -- keeps it obvious if the delivery boy sheds on the merchandise.

[to here]

[from here]

Nothing in here either. Snow was starting to wonder if maybe Badou had been exaggerating when he said all of the staff turn into monsters. The place'd probably be crawling with Cie'th if that were really the case, or maybe they were all off in another part of the building. At least there wasn't anyone getting attacked or anything yet. He'd just keep an ear out for any trouble.

In the meantime, Snow made his way down the hallway, running a hand along the wall as he tried to get his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Wonder how many people got thrown in here.

[to here]

As expected, after the allotted amount of time had passed, the nurses started to move through the waiting rooms to inform the visitors that it was time for them to leave, whereas in the Sun Room King Kong was turned off and the staff quickly sprung to action to put the equipment away.

Meanwhile, the sound of intercom turning on cut into the hustle and bustle, but it was Lydia's voice which came through. "Mr. Landel is taking a quick nap," was all she said by way of explanation, as she seemed to be beyond making lengthy excuses for the man. "Nurses, once the visitors have said their goodbyes, escort the patients back to their rooms for dinner. Tonight there is steak and fries on the menu, with a slice of cheesecake for dessert and vegetarian options if requested.

"Enjoy your food and have a good sleep." Keeping it short, the intercom then turned off.

[From dinner. In M24.]

The intercom announcements offered a lot of food for thought, with the talk of reconstruction, sleep studies, and a cryptic mention of visitors. When the broadcast ended and the lights turned off, Peter heard a low rumble of thunder that seemed eerie in the context of Landel's words. He wasn't sure what the head doctor was trying to scare them into anticipating, but the whole point was probably that they really had no way of knowing what to expect.

It looked like both of them were safe when it came to the sleep studies, at least. But that also meant that there were some other patients out there who hadn't been as lucky. Peter remembered how shaken Mello had looked last night, and the idea that more people were going to be put through that hell set him on edge.

Not that he was going to suggest to Sam that they go to help, since that clearly wasn't in his roommate's plans. Hopefully Hanatarou or one of the other healers would be on the job despite the miscommunication issues.

With shovel in hand, Peter went to grab his flashlight out of his desk, unsure of how it was doing when it came to battery power. There was only one way to find out, and so he turned it on to illuminate their dark room, directing it toward Sam (though taking care not to blind the other man). It seemed to be holding out for now, but he was going to need to remember to get a new pair soon.

"Not sure what that's all about," he said with a sigh. If Sam had any guesses, hopefully he'd share them. "You ready?" He didn't know where they were going to meet Dean, but he was well aware that Sam was the sort of person who liked to leave as soon as possible when he could.

[from here]

Kurogane couldn't tell how long it would be before he would begin seeing other patients about, however if the hallways continued to be empty for too long he would have to start becoming suspicious. There was no chance that he was the only patient in the place, yet the moment the thought crossed his mind, he couldn't ignore the potential that the building had for messing with them. Whatever magic was involved here could manage something that could make it seem like there wasn't anyone else around.

He was overthinking things now. Anywhere else and he'd have been able to handle things like this, but not here. Landel had managed too much. Had Kurogane not wanted to kill the bastard, he might have commended the guy for it. Maybe.

[gone here]

Although the trip was longer than usual on account of the rain and wind, the buses did eventually – and safely – reach Landel's Institute. No strange happenings yet; the patients were escorted off the buses according to the usual protocol and made to go to their rooms and change back into their normal uniforms while the nurses temporarily left them to retrieve their dinners and, in some cases, new roommates.

It wasn't long before the Head Doctor made one of his usual announcements:

"Welcome back, everyone! I regret I was unable to join you on your foray today, but you'll soon find that we had some new guests to attend to in your absence! And now, for your dinner: lamb curry, spicy, but served with naan and mildly seasoned steamed vegetables for anyone who might have a sensitive tongue! For dessert, we'll be serving each patient a slice of banana cream pie, and our usual drinks and dietary alternatives are available.

"I'm hoping you all didn't get too wet, and hopefully the hot dinner will warm you up in no time. Nurses, please escort our newer patients to their new rooms, and everybody, I'll speak to you again soon!"

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. Find new room assignments here. ]

[ Continued from here. ]

The damn burger place was actually the last place Haseo would have wanted to revisit after the previous week, but there was little other choice when practically dragging the distraught Endrance along with him and trying to find an appropriate shelter: he couldn't be certain anywhere else close would have somewhere to sit down, and the only other place he'd actually been inside of - the grocery store - had been somewhere Endrance had also been in when the town had been full of zombies.

This was where Haseo had been with Leon and Kibitoshin when the nightmare started, but... well, he couldn't remember if he'd ever mentioned that particular piece of information to Endrance or not, and at the moment going somewhere that wasn't as bad to Endrance, even if it was more unsettling to Haseo, was more important. Most of the places were enough to make Haseo feel secretly sick to his stomach anyway.

Hurrying through the door, he immediately guided the Blade Brandier to the side, behind a dividing booth and by a window sporting a display that mostly blocked it. He couldn't keep from staring around a bit (was that chair over there the one he'd used as a weapon?), and his mind was strangely blank, but he'd gotten alright at doing things without thinking. If only that could work all the time.

"Sit," he said seriously, and made to do the same.

Luckily for Mele, the night had ended before Tenzen had changed his mind and deemed Mele appropriate for target practice. Even if the situation of who was mocking who had seemed to change into the Iga ninja's favor. Despite her behavior, perhaps the insolent woman could serve some sort of use nonetheless. He had been trapped in this place for a week by now, he would not accomplish anything on his own.

A week was a long time, a lot could have happened. Of course, he was thinking of the war, the bloody clash of two rivaling ninja clans, whose hatred had gone back for four hundred years. After that infuriating peace treaty had been broken, he, too, could finally release the hatred. And despite their losses, Tenzen had been certain that the Iga clan - no, that he would be the one to remain standing.

Four had remained on both sides a week ago...had the remaining Kouga already been killed? Or had they somehow succeeded in disposing of the remaining three Iga (excluding himself) during his absence? Of those three, two were blind. The situation was not a favorable one, and with himself trapped here before he could return from death, he had to wonder if the Kouga had removed the name 'Yakushiji Tenzen' from the scroll and would believe they had eliminated all of Iga's chosen ten.

The thought - along with no manner of telling this - was enough to make his jaw tighten. The longer he would remain here...

But as unfuriating as it was, it would not help him return. After confirming the presence of the scalpels he had retrieved, a nurse entered his room to escort him to the cafeteria for ridiculous Western breakfast. Unfortunately, the same ridiculous food was the only source of nutrition.

Upon entering, the ninja noticed he was the first to arrive to the area. After deciding on a salad rather than these so-called 'pancakes', he moved to one of the many vacant seats.

[Free to a good home. No limits!]

Shinji once again lingered on the threshold of his room, debating on whether he truly wanted to step out into the dark, uninviting hallways. The sense of claustrophobia, of being watched, of being enclosed were already starting to creep up on him. He rubbed at his arms, swallowing softly. He paused to pick up his flashlight, rolling it back and forth between his two hands before he finally stepped out.

Again, he felt hideously vulnerable. He wanted to find Kaworu and Asuka though. He wanted to make sure they were alright. The guilt and fear of letting them down overrode his own instincts to curl up and hide somewhere, to simply duck and cover until it was all over. If they left or rejected him, who would he have? Who could he turn to?

Nobody. He would be alone again. He didn't want that. He didn't think he could stand that, as much pain as there was involved with becoming close to others.

He pressed on into the darkness.

_{[Moving to here.]}

Yet another intercom jingle sounded, and the nurses, anticipating the Head Doctor's orders, already began grouping around the patients as he began to speak.

"Good evening, everyone and I trust you all enjoyed your fun day of physical activity! I sure wish I had! Aha! Anyway, our dinner tonight is some spaghetti with our ol' homemade Landel's marinara sauce, served with garlic bread and a Caesar salad. Our usual assortment of drinks and vegetarian alternatives is available, and our dessert for tonight is vanilla gelato ice cream with chocolate sauce.

"I do hope that sounds palatable to everyone! I will be speaking with you again shortly!"

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. Find new room assignments here. This shift's intro group is here. ]

[For Yuna!]

Fish and chips weren't his favorite thing ever, but he did make sure to eat it all. He just liked to think of the fish as the Filet'o Fish without the bun and it made it easier to eat. The french fries had been pretty well cleaned off and he'd even managed a bit of fruit, although he avoided the oranges and other sour things his nurse had insisted on putting on his plate. But the fries had been good and he felt a little better having eaten something. With everything that had been going on lately, Ritsuka had been shirking on his meals more than usual and it'd all but made him sick.

Now, as he flopped onto a sofa in the Sun Room, he felt sick in a different way. He really shouldn't have eaten as much as he did, but there was no helping it. He'd been hungry. Wasn't hi fault the grease was starting to get to him.

Pulling his legs up onto the seat cushions, Ritsuka leaned back and asked his nurse to bring him the book he'd checked out from the library last time. She returned soon enough and he curled up with the book, ignoring her curious looks at his choice in literature. He hadn't seen Soubi at lunch and now that it was the fourth shift, he figured most of the men would be out in the Greenhouse. He'd have to catch up with the Fighter later, now that he'd calmed down.

Cloud knew he should be taking the opportunity to check out the rec field during the day. The fresh air would be a welcome change from the crowded stuffiness the Institute usually provided, and he would have a chance to scope out the area when it wasn't all under the cover of darkness. When offered a choice, however, he remained in the sun room. He told himself it was so that he could watch the bulletin, him still being fairly new and needing all the information he could get, but the thought rang hollow.

The real reason he was here, he knew, was because he would be out there. Maybe it was weak of him, but he needed a chance to breathe. Ever since he'd arrived it had been nothing but one shock after another, and seeing Zack standing in the cafeteria that morning talking to Aerith had been the final card that caused his tower to crumble. He needed to just sit back somewhere out of the way and start rebuilding.

Being able to watch the bulletin from here was just a perk. Cloud made himself comfortable on one of the sofas, watching people come and go but not really paying attention to them. He took the time to try and rate this on a scale of the biggest messes he'd ever gotten thrown into.

(for Sheena)

It had all been going so well!

Seeing Cloud and Aerith(!) again had brought a now unfamiliar lightness to her shoulders. Work would be harder from here on out, but she wasn't on her own anymore. She was getting a second chance she'd never thought was possible. And then, then they'd trekked outside, totally ready to face the fog and the unknown (privately, the ninja had been a little worried; it couldn't happen again, it just couldn't, but what if it did?)—only to wake up. In their beds. As usual. Gaaaaaawd—!

"I just want you to know," Yuffie informed her nurse, grabbing her journal from the desk on her way out, "that your hair looks spectacularly god-awful today. What did you do, stick your tongue in a socket? I'm not exactly hip on fashion, too busy badass for that fluffy stuff, but—"

Plucky looked ready to plant her face in her hands. Or to plant her hands somewhere else. To her credit, and much to Yuffie's eternal disappointment, she did—tried to do—neither. "One of those days, is it?" the nurse sighed, disapproval incarnate. "Well. You're just going to have to behave; the new batches of patients are due today. We don't want to make a bad impression."

"I am feeling so completely convinced of my wrongdoing," Yuffie confided. They stepped into the cafeteria, practically empty as of yet. The chocolate cake last night had worked a treat, whetting her appetite. Honestly, she was getting sick of pecking at scraps like a runt Chocobo in the snow plains—but not literally, of course. Ew. She got more than enough of that on those damn buses once a week. Now that AVALANCHE really was dropping onto her lap—and remind her to get the hell out of dodge if Barret ever took his turn—she couldn't afford not to keep her strength up. For one, she'd be a liability. For two, she'd get her spine chewed out.

"Fruit," said Plucky, hovering as her charge picked out her choices for the day. Rolling her eyes, Yuffie grabbed an apple, slinging it onto the tray alongside an 'English' sandwich. "That'll do. I'll leave you to your breakfast, now." Somehow, that sounded about as comforting as 'My name is Don Corneo and I am raiding through your panty draw', and Yuffie was stopping that thought right there. Oh, god. Eurk. Bad, bad, bad! Bad, brain. Bad. That—yeah, no. Just, no. 'Sides, the guy was as dead as a doornail, splatted across Da Chao's feet. Dirtying them, really, but somehow Yuffie couldn't bring herself to be sorry about that.

(And it wasn't like the creep'd ever end up here, right? Right!)

She took to a seat, dropping her tray and her journal both onto the table. The book fell pages-down; Yuffie flipped it over, thumbing through to the middle as she worked through her apple. An almost finished map of Gaia stared back at her, neat as she could ever manage. Dots for major locations, squiggles for mountains. Stars for the materia caves, Chocobos for the tracks. All labelled in Wutaian. It was just a little piece of the home she absolutely had to get back to, 'cuz Leviathan knew what kind of trouble they'd be up to their necks in without her.

[For Donna]

Kaworu immediately gravitated towards the keyboard. It was not a piano, not truly, but it was attractive in all of the same ways. Music freed the mind from conscious thought, and Kaworu was feeling exceptionally weighed down by exactly that. There was a heaviness, as well as a lightness. He did not know where to begin approaching the situation with Shinji. It was a simple task to forget such things when the problem itself was caused by such an enamoring distraction.

Shinji needed to survive, he was supposed to continue, and yet he was here. This place would take his life without needing a reason. A soul so important could simply be put out, and the world would continue as it always had. It seemed wrong, but was it because it was not the way things should be, or simply because Kaworu wished it were so?

And yet, Kaworu could not say he was unhappy. He had done nothing to earn himself more time with Shinji. He had made his decision, and created for himself a fate apart from the Lilim. But as much as many Lilim wished the world to work in those terms, it rarely did. Events would move into place regardless of their actions. It was rare that something happened because an individual deserved it. It was only chance. Kaworu knew that he should not have been glad, but being with Shinji was indescribable.

His long, bony fingers moved across the keys easily, constructing Ode to Joy with each progressive note.

[Reserved for Albedo.]

Peter woke up suddenly, his body twisting in the bed and then forcing him to catch his breath in pain. Pain, which was coming from his middle because of the thing that had scratched him last night, and after that...

After that, Zach had jumped in front of him like some kind of martyr, like the exact opposite of everything Sylar stood for, to take the next hit for him. It got pretty fuzzy after that, so night must have ended right around then.

The man let out a pained grunt as he straightened himself up in bed. For some reason, he got the feeling that he'd slept in. There was no way for him to really tell without a window in the room, but he just knew. The fact that Sam's bed looked long since vacated was another clue.

Sam, but was he Sam again? Had the brainwashing worn off, as he and Roland had hoped, or was he going to have to go through this nightmare for even longer? He didn't know how long he could handle "Zach" and "Harrison" before he started going batty himself.

Pulling himself out of bed, Peter lifted his shirt and saw that he was tightly bandaged. The scratch most likely wasn't nearly as bad as the bite that "Zach" had received, but it still smarted. He let his shirt fall and then had to deal with a nurse chiding him for sleeping through the morning announcements. Not that Peter really cared at the moment. He was too busy thinking about last night and the fact that in a way, he now owed something to Sylar. Except it hadn't been Sylar. That was something he was sure of now.

Lost in his thoughts, Peter reached the Sun Room right as the rest of the patient populace was trickling in from breakfast. Sighing to himself, he headed over to the bulletin board and then saw a note written in familiar yet unpleasant handwriting. Holding his pen in a vice grip, Peter scribbled out a reply and then stalked over to an armchair and fell into it with a huff.

While Sylar was maddeningly frustrating, there was one good thing about the fact that he was himself again. It meant that Nathan was too.

[For Spock!]

For the second time, Rika found herself waking with a start. She blinked at the grey light streaming through the windows, and looked across the room. Anise was still asleep. So. I'm still here. Let me just check...

Rika put on her slippers and walked over to the desk, checking the drawer and breathing a light sigh of relief. Good, the knife was still there. She wasn't sure why it would be there - shouldn't they have confiscated the weapon? Either way, though, as much as she was reluctant to use it, she was glad to have it still there.

Just then, she heard the creak of the open door, and quickly closed the drawer. Her nurse peeked in, whispering, "Rachel? Time for breakfast. You should put on a sweatshirt, it's a bit chilly." Rika nodded, quickly adding the extra layer and following the nurse out into the hall and to the cafeteria.

She was used to a Japanese-style breakfast, so the idea of something sweet - which the nurse was avidly describing, with the waffles and fruit and syrup - was a bit odd. Once she walked in, though, she had to admit it smelled good. She filled her plate with waffles topped with blueberries, some sausage, and eggs, took a glass of orange juice, and took a seat. It seemed she was early, so she took a seat close to one of the windows and waited.

[For Ange.]

[From here]

One sweep of the flashlight was enough to make the function of this room apparent. The shelves were stocked with more bytes of food than even Sho could think of inputting. None of it looked like it could be weaponized, but hex, even Reapers needed to eat. Grabbing one of Newton's favorite fruits, he took a look around for other exceptional values.

Hey, was that a pack of chocolate chip cookies?

[From here]

The door swung open, revealing the destination Sho had in mind: the kitchen, home of all things flame-inducing. That was the plan, anyway. Even though he didn't think it would work, the mathematician's fingers found the light switch and flicked it a few times. Nothing. Oh well, that's what he had his flashlight for.

"Okay, let's find us some combustion," he chuckled darkly, starting to go through the drawers. It wasn't long before there were egg-beaters and wooden spoons flying through the air.

[From here]

It seemed his sudden turn of good luck was merely a spike in the data; the room he entered was small food counter area that did not seem like a likely location for locating lighters. Nothing of interest to see except the door leading further in.

"Locked," he grumbled. This one seemed a lot less heavy duty than the thing outside, so perhaps slamming on it would actually work this time. That, and Sho just wanted to break something.

"Sine! Cosine!" he shouted, slamming the lock with his shovel. The clanging of metal on metal reverberated throughout the small room. "TANGEEEEEENT!"

With a final mighty heave, Sho's weapon definitively destroyed the device and a strong kick was all it took to send the door heaving inwards.

[To here]

[From here]

"Or maybe incendiary rounds, right? Just set that zeptoliter ablaze!" he laughed, waving his arms about enthusiastically as they came out into the moonlight. He came to a halt by the edge of the patio, looking out over the courtyard. Didn't look like there was any activity down there yet; a bit disappointing, though he could hear some noise from the rec field. Too bad the view was blocked by the building at the other end of the patio.

"Still, maybe some heat-seeking missiles? Just imagine sending a set of those on a trajectory in that directional," he said, pointing towards the courtyard, "just to see who they locked onto and erased, right? They wouldn't even know what hit 'em!"

Now Sho was hoping he really would run into a robot to derive parts from.