Yuffie Kisaragi, indomitable bouncing ball of sunshine and unfathomable ebullience, was tired. It'd been a long night full of gibberish and getting nowhere fast.

"Can't I—"

Plucky, who had been busily loading a plate full of French toast and bacon, tittered. "I'm afraid not, Hanna, darling. A chat over a nice, hearty breakfast would do you a world of good, don't you think?"

"Aaaaactually—"

"Come on, let's find you a seat. Plenty to choose from this morning!"

For a long moment, Yuffie seriously considered doing something—anything—to act out. Punch her nurse, rub jam in an orderly's face, climb a wall and hang off the ceiling, jump on a table and parody Loveless… A ruckus like that would definitely jolt her back into gear, right? Sedation aside. And it'd turn Plucky's good day right on its head, which was always a bonus worth shooting for.

But, by the time she'd reached a decision—and it was an epic decision, a really awesome one; everybody'd appreciate the genius, she was sure—she was already alone. Her breakfast tray had been set down neatly by the nurse, who had left with an infuriatingly winsome smile.

"Wow," Yuffie muttered. Shaking her head, she picked a chair at random and threw herself into it. She kicked back, one arm slung across her eyes, to wait. For what, she wasn't totally sure. Some moron to decide that she looked like good company? That was how it usually went.

[M60]

Honey's words from that afternoon still bothered Sai as he sat on the edge of his bed when the doors opened. Unlike the previous night, he'd changed back into his black ninja attire now, that damned kunai held loosely in one hand. He had a job to do, and though there was the danger of Okita attacking them again tonight, he couldn't just leave Artemis and Haku to do their task alone.

He nodded his goodbyes to his roommate, everything he needed (including a pillowcase just in case they needed a makeshift sack) tucked into his belt. Now wasn't the time for worrying. Though there was still the chance that whatever creature had possessed him in the sun room would do so again, it at least hadn't the night before. That was always a good sign.

Hoping that danger didn't await him the moment he stepped out the door, or that he didn't bring it with him to Artemis's doorstep, Sai walked out into the darkened hall toward the rooms just two rows over.

[to here]

Meeting with Anise had been fun as well as relaxing, but the rain was coming down even harder when he left the shop than when he'd entered.  Still, he'd promised Tsubaki that he'd meet her at the park.  And it wouldn't do for him to stand up such a good friend.  So he was stuck waiting under the trees in the park, holding Usa-chan tightly, half-stuffing the plush into his jacket to keep it from getting wet too.  Rainy days weren't so bad when it was warm, but when it was cold, they were downright miserable.  He moved from tree to tree every few moments, to get a better vantage point.  Maybe Tsubaki got distracted or found a different friend to play with instead?

He let out a sigh.  Even the park's playground equipment was too wet to be any fun and the sandbox was more like a big mud puddle.  At least he didn't have to worry about zombies this early in the day.  They could still have fun yet.  He tried to look as optimistic as possible as he glanced around the park.

[Tsubaki ♥]

Once she'd found she wasn't in any danger whatsoever of hopping aboard the Pukemobile, Yuffie had gotten kinda peckish. She'd ditched the bagged breakfast ages ago, way back on the bus, and, haha, like hell was she trekking back over that way to get it. Too much to see in a town without a lot in it.

So, here she was. Sitting at a plastic table in a plastic chair, in the almost completely plastic 'Tasty Burger', with fries, chicken strips, and a banana shake to wash it down with. Yuffie wrinkled her nose, more put off by the Eastern-style 'meal' than the reproachful stares of the staff and patrons. The latter she was way, way more than used to. Came with the job description. All of the job descriptions.

"Should've gone to the Twin Pine," Yuffie muttered around the (plastic!) straw, slumping forward onto her damp, denim-clad elbows. Taking a long pull of vaguely banana-flavored gloop, she cast a deft, if bored, eye around the establishment. As always, she'd gone for the most strategic seat; one that let her see as much as possible, without cutting off her access to at least one viable escape route. Not that she wanted to look at the place. Eurgh.

It was still hard to reconcile how this place should have looked with how it did look. Quick repair jobs were one thing, but something about the set-up rubbed Yuffie the wrong way. It was the same the whole town over. Chips, here and there, cracks in windows and doodles on walls. But no scorch marks, no sign that there'd been a no-holds-barred battle tearing up the place from top to bottom. The residents were pissy and suspicious, but not in that way—not in a way that'd suggest they remembered what they'd done, what they'd turned into, and what the patients had done in return.

[Cloud and Nanaki~.]

[M57]

Having no roommate pretty much sucked. Even if the first guy who'd been in here with him had just slept the whole time, at least there'd been someone else around. It was one small thing to focus on, even if only as a perplexity. Tieria had actually given him someone to talk to after that, but this evening the man had just never shown up. Did that mean he was gone? Or maybe the nurses switched things around sometime. If not, though, that'd make the second roommate of his who'd just up and disappeared.

Was he bad luck or something?

It looked like he had the room to himself for the moment, but that wasn't something Zack liked. He'd prefer to have someone to chat with over dinner, but instead he'd been forced to eat in silence and then scribble in his journal to pass the time. He'd made sure to get a hold of his flashlight before the lights went out, but since that was really the only thing he needed at this point, it wasn't like he'd had to do much preparation.

The announcements from the Head Doc spiced things up a little, but it was hard to care too much when Zack had barely any idea of what the man was going on about. Jill, a rebel... what was all that? Maybe he could ask Aidou, since the kid seemed to be well-informed. If they got the chance, anyway. He didn't know how much effort this task of theirs was going to take, but he'd stay focused on the matter at hand if that was what it came to. He was nothing if not a good soldier, as much as it hurt him to admit these days.

Once Landel was done talking, all Zack could do was wait. He stood in the center of the room and started in on some squats, figuring that he could limber up while he waited for Aidou to arrive. He hoped it wouldn't take too long.

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]

[from here]

Mitsukuni was up on the wall and Mori took his hand, knowing that despite his smaller size, his friend was more than capable of helping him up. For how tiny he was, Mitsukuni was strong enough to throw Mori - twice to three times his height and possibly twice his weight - across a room like a ragdoll. Pushing on the wall and pulling himself up with Mitsukuni's help, Mori soon joined his cousin on the ledge of the wall and motioned the other boy forward.

With a cautious glance upwards toward the roof, Mori dropped to the other side of the wall and found himself in the courtyard. He'd been in here before, during the day, so he knew the layout. Trees and benches here and there, with a large pond in the middle of the area. And to his right, the Institute and the doors leading to the kitchen. Their goal was in sight, so now all that remained was staying alive and out of reach of those birds until they actually achieved it.

Waiting until Mitsukuni was at his side, Mori started forward and headed for the doors.

[from here]

The kitchen appeared to be empty, but Kratos understood that initial impressions were usually incorrect. Through the dim light provided by the flashlights they had, he couldn't see anything lying out; everything was apparently tucked into the appropriate cabinet or drawer, which was how a proper kitchen was meant to be kept, but given the atmosphere, it almost felt as if its cleanliness was meant for reasons other than sanitary ones.

As the group moved through the kitchen toward the refrigerator, Kratos kept his ears especially open for any sounds of rapid movement across the white tiled floor, as even with a flashlight, it was difficult to see much other than what was lit a few feet ahead of them.

Heh, tonight was promising to be kind of interesting. First time in awhile, it seemed like, for which Xigbar was far too happy to give things a shot. That in mind, he stripped off that aggravating gray shirt and started grabbing his weapons, making sure that they were all okay. Three knives lashed to his ankles, three arrows tied around his waist, and the clips of ammunition for the gun were carefully put away for safe-keeping. The gun, naturally, remained in his hands, and he reminded himself that he needed to get some duct tape so he could lash the flashlight on the thing.

For now, though, after preparations were complete, he opened the door and eased out into the hallway, keeping his eye open for trouble. Not that he'd mind, but he'd prefer seeing some trouble after meeting with his people. No point in showing off if there wasn't an appreciative audience, after all!

The intercom jingle went off, mirroring the cheery voice that came out of the speakers soon after it.

"Hello, everyone, and I hope you found productive endeavors in both your music-making and your therapy sessions! Now, our nurses will be escorting all of you to your rooms and to your delicious dinners. Tonight, we're serving moist slices of turkey breast covered in gravy and served with mashed potatoes and grilled artichoke. Also available are our usual salad and drink choices, as well as a to-die-for devil chocolate cake dessert!

"...Mm, yes, I do think I'll have to partake in some of that myself! I trust you'll all enjoy it as much as I do, and I'll speak 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. ]

[from here]

Here. Finally.

Except there was no sign of Simon. There was also no sign of crazed hungry monsters, wearing ninja outfits or not, but he checked the hall as well as he could with the handheld light, including the ceiling, before giving a hesitant knock on the M60 door. It was nice that the room was on the end of a smaller hallway. If something went wrong, he wouldn't get cornered too easily.

"Simon? Are you there?" Usopp kept his voice low, although trying to keep it from shaking. That didn't make a very good impression on people. The rubber band in his coat pocket snapped between his fingers nervously. "It's me. Usopp. Your friend that doesn't remember you who's a great pirate and sharpshooter? Um, you didn't turn into a monster or a werewolf or anything for the night, did you?"

The game room made Heath feel more like he was being treated as a child than any other place in the Institute. It might have just been the selection they had to choose from. A deck of cards was a safe choice and would hopefully keep him from attracting much more energetic company. Yet as he sat down and began shuffling them between his hands he was surprised to find that he couldn't remember how to play a single game. At a loss, he blamed it on his current state of mind.

The red-head sat back in his chair and began looking through the deck one card at a time, if only to have something to do with his hands. The kings, queens, and jacks blurred together despite suits as this did nothing to distract him from the pangs of his still somehow empty stomach.

The deck was eventually tossed to the floor in front of him, free for anyone who felt like a game of 52-card pick-up.

Heath swore under his breath and slouched where he sat. This whole ridiculous matter was more than wearing thin. He'd have to get the involvement of a nurse before dinner. There was nothing else for it. Still, more than one came close enough to stop and he did nothing. Something deep within him knew there wasn't anything any of them could do.

[for Argilla]

Today was really trying to rain on her parade, wasn't it?

Well, it wasn't gonna work! Hanna was determined to stay strong and cheerful, in spite of Kenshin throwing a mega bitchfit and that the chick from the library being… Yeah. Her flightiness had been bad enough, but the half glossed-over memories had bordered on terrifying. Had she really been that far gone? It had to have been the meds. Just the meds. Yuffie was a douchey, semi-sociopathic klepto ninja thing, but even in that imagined world of hers, she hadn't gone around slashing people to ribbons for fun. Had she? Ugh, Hanna didn't even know anymore. Crazy people were capable of crazy stuff

Hanna's gut clenched just thinking about it, and she turned determinedly back to her lunch. The food wasn't exactly great, but it was better than some of the stuff she'd eaten. Like Stan's Deep fried Twinkie and mashed banana hot pot. Or, y'know, the normal stuff that teenage semi-runaways ate. Craptastic sandwiches and super economy potato chips, when she could get them, and whatever was in Tiffany's fridge when she couldn't. Dignity was dignity, and dignity was important, but being able to scratch a living from a rock was a handy life skill to have.

Stuffing another few chips in her mouth, Hanna did her best to ignore the door—and, by proxy, anybody who happened to come through it. Nostalgia trip aside, hadn't the Head Nurse said something about a whole new batch of crazycakes? Now she'd feel even more like a sardine than ever. Great.

[ For Cloud? :D ]

[from here]

After visually checking the area and sniffing the air - it smelled stale, musty and wet - Mori stepped in ahead of Mitsukuni. If his nose failed him, then he wanted to be the first to be attacked. Mitsukuni was not only the better fighter right now since he was uninjured, but it also the most important to keep out of harm's way. When nothing jumped out at him, he motioned Mitsukuni forward, transferring his staff to his other hand for now to keep the uninjured one free. They needed to pull or break the pipes off somehow. Mori had never...really done vandalism before though, so he had no real idea of how to go about it.

The faucets and things could be taken, once the water was stopped from below. Usually there was a valve, right? He really didn't want the water to get on either of them. Mitsukuni probably wouldn't like that very much at all. Instead of moving directly to the sinks, Mori hovered by the door, waiting for Mitsukuni to come in. He didn't want to get too far away from him tonight if he could help it after all.

Sai changed quickly. Whether he was less emotionally stable that usual or not, he was far better off than he'd been the night before. He would perform the mission required of him tonight. It was nothing that should put anyone's lives at stake, and holing himself up would only decrease his ability to perform his duties later.

The vial of sedative was secured safely in the sweatshirt he used as a makeshift belt. It was important that he got the item to Sakura tonight. They might not get an opportunity to get hold of a replacement if this one was lost.

M90 was in the men's block in the opposite hall. He should make haste so that his teammate wasn't delayed.

[to here]

Once again, it was Nurse Lydia who took over the daily announcements just after the jingle came on. She didn't seem to waste any time and launched right in.

"Hello, everyone. Dr. Landel will be taking over for the last announcement of the day, but for now, I will continue in his stead. Presently, our nurses will escort you to your rooms, where dinner will be served. Tonight, the menu consists of herb chicken, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and carrots. Dessert is a brownie."

After one of her conspicuous pauses, she added:

"A double-fudge brownie."

It seemed as if someone had been coaching her from the background. At any rate, she stiffly finished the announcement with: "The Head Doctor will speak with you 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. SOME ROOM ASSIGNMENTS HAVE BEEN CHANGED IN LIEU OF DROPS, so please double-check on your character's assignment here. ]

Astor hadn't talked much after introducing himself, which hadn't bothered Terry. With all the crap their little hospital of horrors piled on the patients, he couldn't blame a guy for not wanting to open up to some stranger. Plus, not talking meant he could get a decent meal in, and then check out the bulletin for the latest in Landel's news and gossip. Turned out to be a good thing he did. He'd have missed a lot otherwise: how many people had apparently gotten slagged last night, Spider-boy's unsurprising guilt trip, a note for a too cheery someone named Harley, and another one signed by a lightening bolt that looked a lot like one he'd seen in Wayne's Justice League files. It was pretty hard to know exactly where to start--especially since so far, Terry hadn't seen any sign of the old man in all that mess. Unless that one guy had meant him by the "you-know-who" that made someone else shake in their boots. Inspiring that kind of reaction wasn't exactly a stretch for Bruce.

Terry would've been perfectly content to stay there and watch the developing news, despite the lack of vid screens making the process almost painfully slow. But his dear sweet nurse had other plans for him apparently. Ones that involved crayons and construction paper.

"Oh come on. You can't be serious."

Needless to say, Terry was less than impressed by the offerings. His nurse didn't exactly care about his opinion though, instead firmly asserting her belief that first grade arts and crafts was the key to mental stability. It made Terry eager to get home all over again, just so he could tell the officials at Gotham's mental wards how'd they'd been doing it wrong for all these years. Apparently Batman could retire in peace, just as soon as a bunch of gangsters got their paper mache on.

And they thought he was the insane one. Obviously because he hadn't made enough popsicle houses in his childhood.

Sitting down at least got the woman to stop her preaching, for what that was worth. Of course, now Terry was left with half a glue stick, cheap paper, and scissors that probably couldn't cut air reliably. Terry couldn't say he was pleased. Oh, but they had glitter too! Well, didn't that just make everything perfect? He could make his own Bat signal that would shine with all the colors of the rainbow.

"This is just slagging great."


[Free as a bird bat!]

Yuffie had died.

No, really. Seriously. She had actually died. Bleeding all over the place, making a horrid, sticky mess and scaring the hell out of Suzaku; she remembered it clearly. Kind of. Sort of. Through the blood loss, the pain, and the visions. Through Aerith's voice whispering in her ear, Cloud's stricken eyes, and her own panic. As bad nights went, it had been Bad, capital B and all the trimmings, and oh, god. She sat, trembling on the edge of her bed, eyes closed and hands pressed hard over her racing heart. The by-play between Landel—Landel!—and Lydia barely even sunk in. There was nothing in the whole world, any world, that could prepare you for something like…

Had it all been some kind of hallucination?

Had she imagined the whole thing?

No… She didn't think so. Nightmarish or not, Yuffie knew reality. But if it had been real, how was she alive now? That kind of pain wasn't something you could just cook up, was it? She thought about it all the way to the cafeteria, drifting behind her nurse without focus or intent. Maybe if she tried to stay clinical, tried to step back… But she'd never been good at that when things got personal. And every time she closed her eyes or blinked, she swore that the scenes played back to her, like an overused commercial on a crappy channel on a crappy TV, in a run-down dump of an inn that smelled like mothballs and yesterday's breakfast.

The scent of blood and damp, rotted wood clogged her nose. Disgusted, Yuffie shoved her bowl of cereal—handed to her by a clucking Plucky—off to the side so that she could melt into her chair, palm heels scrubbing against her eyes. Too much. This was… Too much. She couldn't even paste a plastic smile on her face to make herself feel better. Her usual shield, the white noise of inane babble that could filter out almost any crisis, was in tatters all around her. Five minutes, she gave herself.

Five minutes (not) to think, five minutes to get her act together, because there was no way she could let herself shatter here. No way…

[Closed to Sheena]

Hello! I.R.I.S. here once more to announce to you, our honored guests, that you have officially made it through a day of our typical Landel's treatment. Of course, it isn't quite over: we will now have you retire to our designated patient quarters with one of your agency partners to inspect their sleeping area and the tools that we provide them with for the true bulk of our behavioral testing. On an added note, we would like you to notice once again that the meals we provide to our subjects are of the highest quality.

For those of you feeling apprehensive about taking part in our more intensive methods, please be aware that we would never imagine putting all of you in any danger whatsoever. This last shift will be your last at our Institute; afterward, we will escort you to our Head Doctor's personal observation station to survey some of our test Next-Wave participants in the rigorous trials we put them through – all for their betterment, of course.

Once again, we hope that you are satisfied with what you find, and as always, direct any questions you may have to your console.

The nurses began to escort the patients to their rooms. They didn't even seem to be brought to awareness by words such as "testing" and "subjects."

[ 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 all of the newly changed room assignments and shift introductions here.) 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. ]

Brainiac 5 had been planning to spend some more time in the sun room in order to check up on his attempt to gather more information about the different technology levels people were familiar with and to think about what his ancestor had said to him (not to mention try and keep an eye on Peter's activities before he did something else monumentally stupid), but his nurse seemed to have something else in mind for him.

He frowned as she pushed him into the game room, hoping she wasn't thinking he would actually want to entertain himself with another piece of archaic Earth technology, but instead found himself deposited in front of a chess set.

"You liked playing it on the bulletin, Michael," she said before he could ask, "so why don't you try playing it face to face. You might even make some more friends!" And then she left him there. He was beginning to think she preferred him in the wheelchair; it meant that he couldn't leave on his own.

He sighed, absently lining up the pieces that were slightly out of place and feeling grateful that the room was currently empty as well. It made him feel somewhat... safer. He knew Luxord wasn't likely to be intruding on him any time soon. Not to mention that there wouldn't be any major distractions. But then again, he was a twelfth level intellect, so playing a complex game against himself while thinking about what he'd heard earlier would hardly be difficult. Even factoring in other eventual distractions - such as others who would no doubt arrive later or the lingering effects of his medication - he'd be able to play at an advanced level while maintaining a watch on his surroundings and contemplating what was bothering him.

He just had to hope that his nurse wouldn't decide to interfere and force him to spend time with someone else as well. He had more important things on his mind.

[closed for a chess rematch with a certain other boy genius]