"Games are a perfect way to meet new friends, Akihiro!" Sousuke's nurse gushed after dragging him away from Hinasaki and into the Game Room. He didn't quite understand her fascination with making him do these ridiculous activities that seemingly had no point, but for now he'd follow her lead. He didn't want to be sedated again, not when he had a job to do.

But Miku had told him she was going to nap, so he didn't worry about it too much. Plus, if he heard a ruckus, he could always be in the Sun Room in the blink of an eye. His nurse sat him down on one of the couches and gave him a deck of cards.

"Find someone to play with," She encouraged. Then left after giving him a sweet smile. Sousuke stared at the cards, as though not sure what to make of them.

[Waiting for Sanosuke "Burrito Killer" Sagara]

And against his will, he joined the ranks of those he'd hoped never to empathize with.

Artemis couldn't remember the last time he wanted someone dead, but it was particularly difficult to consider the past when all he could think about was how very happy it would make him to see Mr. Reid Garwin dead in a hallway somewhere. Where was Butler when the boy needed him most?

It wasn't as though he was internally crumbling at the thought of his life being made-up. There was absolutely no way that anyone could possibly dream up his life. It was too... him, really. His scars were real enough, his memories weren't fabricated, Holly's eye was in his head.

No, what he was furious over was being called a 'rip off' and a source of entertainment for children. His story was both nothing like Harry's, and definitely not for children. Children couldn't appreciate the pain he'd been through and the feats he'd accomplished, and as much as Artemis respected Harry, he wasn't as foolish as his friend was.

And secondly... he should be making royalties on such a book.

Someone would surely be sued once he returned.

For now, he would have to settle for some good reading. He'd discussed philosophy with Ritsuka on the board, but he needed something a bit lighter after that. He pulled The Picture of Dorian Gray, sat down in a corner amongst the stacks and began reading--a crease forming between his eyes.

At least one million, if not one point five. Pain and suffering could be added to the claims as well.

[For Renji]

[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.

The last intercom had spelled out everything.

Misbehavior. Someone had started a riot - quickly quelled from the sounds of it. He didn't want to say it was good thing he'd be stabbed, but from the looks of it, it was probably best he was absent from whatever shift this had happened during. The warning siren, and all of the habub about it; blood had probably been spilled. In his current condition, he might have been tempted.

Well, there was no might in that. He would've been.

Despite protests from his nurse as well as his own body, Edward politely asked for an escort to the music room, wanting nothing more than to get out of his little cell. The cream-colored music room was quiet, spacious, and had plenty of seating.

He was surprised to see it empty this time, and made no hesitation in moving to sit at the large keyboard. It was no parlor grand, but it was accessable. Couldn't really complain about it.

Edward sat for a moment, lost in his memories. It had been a while since he had played anything... something old sounded satisfactory. Maybe a song from his childhood? Popular song, maybe. Gus Edwards?

Nodding to himself, he let his fingers settle against the keys, keeping his back straight for the hole in his chest. Without an entrance, his fingers began dancing along the keys to the tune of By the Light of the Silvery Moon. A quirky little tune, but a personal favorite.

Burly orderlies and agile Calm Effect nurses flooded the cafeteria from the Courtyard while regular hall nurses filed in from the Sun Room and ushered out those not involved in the rebellion. It indeed seemed as if Landel was sending out all the cavalry, and an effective cavalry they were: The riot didn't continue for much longer after the alarm sounded, though it seemed strange just how quickly all of the mutinous patients fell, even the ones who hadn't been injected with anything.

The hall nurses were quick to escort their well-behaved charges back to their rooms, praising those who hadn't joined in and chiding those who muttered under their breath in response. There were some exceptions, of course: One nice young man had even defended one of the nurses from the violent patients! Now, wasn't that exemplary behavior? Dr. Landel would be so proud to hear about it...

Within half an hour, all of the so-called "loyal" patients had been safely deposited in their rooms, and it was then that the alarm finally stopped and the true difficulty of the situation was tackled. There certainly weren't enough rooms in solitary to accommodate such rampant disobedience, and yet measures would have to be taken to ensure proper consequences for each and every patient involved. After all, something like this couldn't be allowed to happen again!

Different options were considered. Perhaps they should make an example out of the girl who had sparked the riot, but then again, perhaps not. This certainly wasn't the first case of patients attacking nurses or their peers in a crowded area, but what had been different this time was the sheer support that the other patients had shown for her. Should the staff then make examples of all those who had tried to "protect" her from the well-meaning nurses? No, there were too many for that...

In the end, it was decided that the best immediate solution would be to treat the rebellious patients in the Medical Wing while they were unconscious and then move them back to their rooms to await punishment. To ensure the safety of both their roommates and the patients themselves, however, the staff decided to securely fasten their limbs to their beds and keep them heavily drugged. Such a sad sight they were to see, but... it was necessary.

Finally, when each and every patient had been escorted back to their respective rooms, the staff hurried off to an emergency meeting upstairs. Strangely, Head Nurse Lydia was the one taking care of the proceedings in the Head Doctor's stead. She calmly told them that he was preoccupied with more urgent matters, and as she began to speak to the crowd, the staff could only wonder what could possibly be more important than an unprecedented patient riot...

[ Comment to this post with separate threads for each patient room, and please put your character's room number in the subject line. Thank you! ]

Renji quickly got dressed once he finished his dinner, gathering his normal supplies and making a makeshift sheathe for his sword from the bedsheets. He also left the few maps he'd had a chance to make - four of them - on his desk, labeled with who should get them if they remembered to stop by: Aoyagi R, Yagami Light, Kudoh Yoji, and one unlabeled since the person requesting it hadn't left a name. The fifth, he took with him, since Daemon had asked for it.

He headed out into the hall, though for once, he felt no urge to run to his destination. He still wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but he'd said he would be there. Daemon's room was only a short walk anyway.

[to here]

[To here]

Sano had decided to start from the place farthest from his own room, and this seemed to be it. Kicking open the door to the block, he put down the kid at last, and began looking around with his light stick. There were a lot of damn rooms in this place.

"Look, I don't care if you liked the ride or not," And from Zuko's squirming, he definitely hadn't, "But it was the fastest way to get here. Now help me find M55 so we can meet up with Kenshin."

After that, most entertaining conversation, William gathered his notebook, a pen and his flashlight before setting off into the dark hall. He had to be quick about this, or else his idiot roommate might end up insisting on tagging along. And William had the idea that Armand didn't have the stomach for science.

Or the nerves either. Oh well, William could always introduce it to him later, just to see what effect it had on the fool.

[To here.]

_{[from here]}

Aidou exited the cell block, heading down the hallway to the second male block. There were two stops he had to make in there, and with any luck there wouldn't be too much of a hold up. After all, he made a point of keeping out of the glow of people's flashlights as much as possible--even wearing white over grey, it was more easy than not to blend in.

Habitually, he kept an eye on each end of the corridor, absolutely refusing to be caught unawares himself.

_{[to here]}

Hitsugaya left the chapel no less frustrated than before. The head doctor once again had chosen not to hide his face, yet promised he would be making an appearance at some time in the near future. He didn't like being patient, but there wasn't much choice. Either the head doctor would show his face, or he wouldn't. Renji had already seen him, and knew how to find him. That was enough.

The thought of eating made him slightly nauseous as usual, but he knew he needed to get his strength up. He could either be weak and try to force his way through brunch without eating anything, or he could be smart and actually give himself something to eat. And there was rice. Rice and fruit. He took a heaping pile of rice, and grabbed as much watermelon as he could fit on his plate, then proceeded to an empty table. He scanned the room, watching for Momo. He wasn't exactly looking forward to their conversation, knowing how she'd acted yesterday; however, he knew he had to speak to her, and there was a good chance that she would show more restraint now that the drugs were out of her system.

Thoughtfully he consumed his rice and waited.

[free at the moment, pester if you wish]

[from here]

She rounded the street corner onto another, but did not stay on this other street for long. The sign for "Lil’ Tyke Toys" was quickly visible just to her right. Coming upon the store, she looked in the display windows, finding the toys to be very similar to her own. Everything from her usual plush dolls that she tossed about to those precious porcelain ones that she smashed the faces of. Some of those would go really well in her room too.

When she entered the store, she caught the "antique toy" smell that always seemed to overpower whatever smell the newer toys were supposed to have. It was somewhat refreshing, even those she didn't actually go into stores like thi sback home. She bet stores like this were where the Earl sent his Akuma minions to fetch the gifts he presented her with.

There was a small display dedicated to the porcelain dolls that Rhode found herself drawn to. Dolls were the closest thing she had to being a "normal little girl", and though it sickened her to have any kind of attachment to human things, she could not help herself. She stared at a few, eyes analyzing the perfect faces, the pastel dresses rimmed with lace, and the messes of brightly colored curls. Rhode would never look as any of these dolls did, but their perfectness is what drew her to them. Dolls were about as fragile as humans, and broke just as easily as human hearts. How she longed to just take one and smash it on the floor to remind herself of that feeling - how she could, with ease, shatter something so completely.

The display was to high for her to reach though. The shop owner was smart in that decision. Even a relatively normal child would have run the risk for accidentally breaking a doll. He probably hadn't considered that any customer would enter wanting to break a doll, but it was just as well. Rhode hoped for a moment that some small bit of her power might trickle back momentarily. With that, she could have bade a doll to slide forward just enough to come toppling from the shelf. It would look the accident, but Rhode's smile would betray her. The delight would be in her eyes while she had them cast over the glass shards littering the floor. It was a shame that manufactured dolls couldn't bleed.

Rhode didn't want to have to let go of Allen, not ever. It could be forever before she was able to be with him again! But the nurses were persistent in moving her off the big yellow thing, as was Allen for getting away from her. Even outside of the building, people were just determined to keep her from being with him! It wasn't fair!

Once off the bus and shivering just slightly from the crisp fall air, Rhode was handed a small booklet of what the nurse called "coupons". It took some explaining, but Rhode was eventually able to understand that the thin pieces of paper in the book were supposed to be used like money here. She wasn't at all accustomed to buying things for herself; that was supposed to be the Earl's job. When Rhode expressed this problem, the nurse only gave her a sad smile and patter her in the direction of the buildings.

"Why don't you go find something fun to do? There's a toy store just around the corner there. Don't worry about being alone though, we're all here to keep an eye on you. If anything happens, just come get one of us," the nurse explained, nodding to the staff members that were set to parole the town for any problems their more unruly patents could cause.

So, they were all going to be watched even though they could roam about freely? Rhode took a look back towards the yellow things but was unable to pick out Allen from the mess of patients. In a few moments, she probably wouldn't be able to find him at all or for the rest of the day. Should she just resign herself to that for now and use the small bit of freedom to her advantage? Being with Allen was important, and a lot of fun but...

She glanced down at the coupons again, smiled up at the nurse as best she could, and gave a quick, "Okay!" before running off as suggested.

A small bit of freedom was bound to make her feel better. Maybe she could use it to remind herself of how she was supposed to handle Allen Walker, an exorcist. This town did have a similar air to that of the Rewinding Town, after all.

[went here]

Momo tugged on the collar of the light blue sweater she was wearing as she followed her nurse to wherever these buses were, winding her hair up into its customary bun as she went. It was an odd feeling, knowing she was about to go outside of the institute's borders. Maybe the Head Doctor was about to make an error and the shinigami, as well as everyone else, would no longer be limited and they could finish what they started several nights back.

That was probably too much to hope for. She was feeling better this morning, even with the blood moon, and was mildly looking forward to the bus ride. Captain Jack said he was going to be here this morning and even if it wasn't customary breakfast in the cafeteria, she's be satisfied with him sitting next to her on the bus.


The nurse handed her a muffin, some napkins, and a small box with a straw. She stared at this box for a moment before shaking it. From the sound it contained liquid. How odd... Momo wasn't sure why they would but liquid inside a small paper box - it didn't make any sense to her and she wasn't sure how one was supposed to get it out of the box.

Clambering onto an empty bus, Momo chose to sit in the very back near the emergency exit. Maybe she could force her way out of it as they were moving and escape the limiter enough to come back and level the institute, freeing everyone. Or maybe she just wanted to be able to see everyone that was on the same bus as her. Wishful thinking versus reality.

Huh, her plan to run past the monster actually worked. Go figure.

If the others wanted to fight it, then that was their problem. She had other plans for the night, and all of them involved making it to the kitchen, alive, and with all of her body parts.

Her heart was still racing, but she couldn’t stop now. All that remained was to make it through the cafeteria.

Unfortunately, Raven was also well aware that it was never that easy.

[From here.]

Sousuke rushed into the room, immediately turning around in a circle, his pole at the ready. It didn't look like anything was in there, but Sousuke still felt uneasy. His soldier's sense was prickling. But maybe it was just his imagination...

"Let's go," he muttered, moving ahead urgently. He kept turning, as to avoid blind spots, all the while moving towards the Cafeteria door.

[from here]

The hallway was empty here as well. Just how much earlier had she headed out tonight? Probably not by much. The absence of others in the hallway barely bothered Rhode as did the presence of others. Her mind was usually so dead focused on getting somewhere or finding someone that she had never really paid attention to what other things happened around her.

A left at the next hallway and down a bit for the doors on the left. That should be right. She hoped the ghost woman's influence on her wasn't messing with her memory.

[to here]

[From here.]

Almost there.

By now, Rukia was familiar with the way the patients' hallways were laid out. She headed straight to the end of the hallway, shining her flashlight on the door to M1 just to make sure she had the right place.

[Going here.]

Qui-Gon was in a mixed mood. On one hand, the maps from young Artemis Fowl would be incredibly helpful, and he had made sure to make extra copies for himself, Obi-Wan and anyone else he might pass it onto in the future. On the other, the intercom announcement was more than a little worrying. He had heard mention of other patients being taken for experimentation, only to released on their friends; it looked like that was true, if Martin Landel was to be believed.

The Jedi Master sighed, collecting the flashlight and the small collection of metal utensils that he'd collected with Obi-Wan last night. His meditation into the Force had been only slightly more fruitful than before, but he was nowhere near strong enough to help as much as he would like. There was no doubt in his mind that he wouldn't be able to use the Force to persuade the experimented patients that no, they didn't really want to hunt down their fellows, and they should listen to him just because he said so.

He wasn't too sure about the other areas mentioned, but he did know enough to avoid the Sun Room for now. Stepping outside, Qui-Gon prepared himself. Tonight his grasp on the Force wasn't as strong as it had been when Obi-Wan was knighted. But even now he could feel the swirl of anger, fear, and hate around him, dotted with the moving "holes" that were the Earthian creatures and the staff. The fear and anger, he was unfortunately familiar with. The galaxy, despite the efforts of good people, was a regrettably nest of such emotions. But the holes in the Force, the sense of void, would never be familiar.

And he would have to watch for both, it seemed. The dangers tonight wouldn't just be the creatures, or the staff. Qui-Gon turned and headed down the hall, extending his senses as far as he was able.

Sai awoke rather groggily, which wasn't a good sign for a ninja. It meant he was probably ill. He'd need to get checked up with a medic-nin before he did very much more that day. Eyes blinked open slowly to stare at the ceiling and then narrowed in confusion. Not his ceiling. Was he already at the hospital?

"Mr. Pastello... wake up, hon."

Turning his head to the side revealed a vaguely familiar woman in a white uniform. A nurse? ...Oh yes. His nurse. Landels. He sat up at her direction, feeling mildly dizzy as he did so, and glanced down at his arms as he folded them in his lap. They were covered in clean bandages, no longer bleeding. The dizziness told him he was still suffering a bit from the blood loss, however.

When had he passed out? The last few events of the night hadn't been very clear. He didn't know what had happened to the two pirates and, looking around, the mess of blood they had left seemed to have been completely cleaned up. It was amazing, really. He smiled at his nurse, too weary to do much else but let her lead him to breakfast at the moment.

She helped him to his feet, where the light-headedness was even more apparent. It didn't seem to be anything he couldn't put up with, though. The nurse seemed to know a bit about what he suffered from, but made no mention of it aside from telling him to avoid lifting heavy objects and to drink lots of fluids as they made their way to the cafeteria. The subject of blood-sucking leeches never arose, and he figured if it had she'd surely feign ignorance.

It wasn't until they got there that he realized just how absolutely starving he was. He'd had what, corn for dinner? The smells were simply enticing, even though he had no idea what waffles were supposed to be. He was sure anything edible at this point would be fine, and made his way out of his nurse's grip and to the line with more speed then he'd probably ever gone after food at.

[[From here]]

Miku stumbled into her empty room and headed for her bed. Unlike other nights, her dubious roommate was not in attendance. That was fine, she needed to think quietly.

And she needed to rest. With another cold look at the covered broth meant to make her feel better, Miku crawled into bed and flicked out her flashlight.

Her words had been angry, even if her voice had not been. Maybe she was as bad as every other person, saying things that agitated people.

"If you cry, the boat you'll ride... the last trip to the other side..." she murmured, the sound floating down. She wanted to cry. Miku was tired.

Tired of monsters, tired of people arguing stupidly and doing stupid things, of people who crossed and double-crossed. Tired of feeling weak, tired of her power, tired of the crazy head doctor and the crazy radio man and the silly, butterbrained nurses that smiled at them all like the prisoners were insane.

She turned on her side, "Once you get there, sacred marks you'll bear," she felt more tired already. Just once, Miku would like to sleep forever.

"And you will be punished.... should you fail to... lie..." The last word of the punishment lullaby failed on her lips, and Miku felt her body get heavy.

Maybe Byakko and Alfons would find her, maybe not. Maybe she would just sleep and be eaten by a shadow. Either way, she wasn't going to move until someone, or thing, found her.