With the nurse's guidance, Rinali was the first one into the room.  Along the way she did her best to make note of what she saw, but everything seemed to fit what the nurse had said.  This looked for all intents and purposes to be a mental asylum.  Still, everything was off.  Why did the nurse say her name was Mei Dianfu?

"Here's everything you need to get going," the nurse said with a warm smile, leading her to a table with cheap scissors, glue, and an assortment of glitter and other tools to draw or build.  "I'll be right over here if you need anything, hun," the nurse said with a warm smile.  "The other patients will be coming in shortly.  Try and make some friends."

Rinali smiled slightly to the nurse in thanks.  The nurse seemed genuine enough, so there wasn't any point in being rude until she understood what was going on.  "Thank you very much," she said, then took a seat at the table.  She didn't bother to look at the art supplies, instead waiting for the rest of the 'patients' to filter in.  Maybe one of them would know why she was here, or better yet, where her brother was.

Brother, she thought.  Where are you?

[from here]

...he ran right into the counter inside of the room. The sudden object startled him, but otherwise didn't hurt him. He stumbled back a few steps but actually stayed inside of the room this time. Grumbling in annoyance, Ichigo kicked the door closed behind them so that if anything were to attack from the hallway it would have to open the door first at the very least.

That taken care of, he shifted and pushed Keigo back up as he'd slipped a little during the ramming of the door. That taken care of, he looked around the room. It wasn't very big, but it from the light of Keigo's flashlight it seemed to be a lot like the small pharmacy in their clinic. He really wasn't sure what they would find here that would be useful other than more drugs.. But it wouldn't hurt to look.

"See anything?" He asked as he began to walk around the shelves in the room containing all sorts of drugs, bandages, and other things.

[from here]

...and now that he was in the room, he finally shoved Keigo off of him. "You idiot, why'd you have to do that?" He scowled at the obnoxious teen before he shined his flashlight around the new room they were in. "You got here last night too? I must have just missed you.. What room are you in?" He asked while he looked around, and his tone wasn't nearly as annoyed as he was trying to be. In truth he was happy to see Keigo too, any Keigo really. Anyone from home was a pretty welcome sight, and Keigo wasn't acting weird like Rukia and Renji were.

All this clinging and other behavior from Keigo was almost welcome because it was nomal.

The room was pretty small, but it had a lot of lockers in it. They were all locked, which was a problem. They could probably be forced open if Keigo and he tried hard enough. There was a potted plant in the room, too, but he had no idea what they would do with that.

"... Help me break one of these open." He said to Keigo finally, before he made his way to the nearest locked to start wailing on the stupid thing with his radio. It's not like the radio was useful anyway.

[coming from here]

Ichigo went down the hall he had recalled Rukia had gestured to the night before. He tried to take a look down the hall, but it was rather large and thus it was hard to see the end of the hallway. Still, coming up on his right was a doorway and he figured he would check that out first.

He tried to door handle but found it locked. With a scowl, he put the flashlight in his pocket and then backed up to the railing over the sun room before running at the door full-force and smacking into the door.

Ichigo heard something snap, which might have been the lock or his still-abused ribs, but either way the door swung open with a loud bang and he fell into it.

Yuber had gotten the items from Cloud previously, before the shorter blonde had disappeared back in the hallways. Where ever they had gone was of no matter to the knight considering he had received what he needed, and if he was trusted enough with these potential weapons Yuber wasn't certain if he should consider this Cloud to be a fool yet or not. Yet again that would depend on just how inventive Usopp could be with what was provided. It would be interesting to say the least.

Toying with the few long blades in his possession, Yuber remained casually sprawled out on his mattress as the radio clicked off after the doctor’s announcement. If he had heard it correctly, Yuber summarised that the locations given were of some form of interest, and it left the knight wondering just what way this interest fell.

Was if towards Chaos or more towards Order?

The fact that it was now the night time lead him to believe that it was more the former than the latter, and with an amused smile pulling at his lips, Yuber elegantly pushed himself up from the bed. He stretched out his muscles before turning his attention down to his pillow, and after withdrawing the flashlight from beneath it Yuber set out with one destination in mind.

He needed to meet back up with Usopp.

_{[from here]}

Aidou paused for the second time that night, listening half-heartedly to the radio announcement. The volume was painfully low, so that it didn't attract any unwanted attention. None of it interested him, even as the riddles came easily enough. None of it was useful to him. So far nothing the monkey on the radio had offered had caught his eye, and he doubted that would change.

Stepping into the stairwell, he glanced to the floor. He was willing to bet the other three stairwells on this floor were the same - no stairs leading to the basement, and no stairs leading past the second floor.

So where were the access points? It was a good question.

[From here.]

It was around that time when Jade's pace slowed considerably, almost to that of a snail's. Even though it involved a woman of some sort, he was certain that he'd have more than enough time to dwell between the halls while still making it back before his Majesty reached his own destination. He walked the halls with more ease than he held moments before, swinging his fontech back and forth as he wandered along.

The rail caught his attention almost instantly, and Jade found himself looking over the edge in practically no time. Even at this height he was able to make out the shapes of chairs and couches that lined the Sun Room's floor. This area seemed to awaken some nostalgia inside him, reminding him of the very bridge that overlooked the first floor of the Cathedral back in Daath. If he remembered correctly, it was where Luke came to him after seeking whatever moral support he could squeeze out of his allies. Life was more hectic back then, and they were facing dilemmas that no person could keep to their own.

Jade chuckled at those memories, letting himself relax in the darkness.

[To here.]

[From here.]

By now the Colonel was just surprised.

From everything he'd heard earlier that day, he was expecting monsters to pop out of every orifice of this Institute. Instead, it remained all but blissfully quiet, and in a way it was a big disappointment. Though as they say, knock on wood or he'd regret what he just said (or thought). Yet the silence gave him time to think, a small bit of time to contemplate to himself without the loud chatter of other patients around him.

By then he was venturing in territory that left him alert despite whatever bit of introspection came to mind. Eventually, Jade chose to hug the wall, fingers pressing lightly against the cold surface as he continued along his way.

[To here.]

[From here.]

Rounding the corner by the nurse's station, Rukia shined her flashlight around and went through the door to the first M-Block.

This corridor looked almost the same. Still quiet, though now he noticed more people about. At least that meant he hadn't run into any monsters. He ran along the hall until he saw the door that had caused him and Dr. Birkin so much trouble. From the day now, he knew that at the end of this hall was almost a lobby with the hall to the Sun Room and Cafeteria to the left. He didn't want to go there, so this was the end of the blocks. Right? No bathroom. He must have missed something.

Armand backtracked until he found another door that opened easily.

The intercom clicked on with its usual jingle, the Head Doctor clearing his throat before he made his last shift-changing announcement of the day.

"Well, now that everyone is clean and having fun, I suppose it's time for everyone to be escorted back to their rooms for dinner! Yes, yes, I know the game room can be entertaining and doctor sessions can be fulfilling, but we only have so much time in the day, don't we?

"Ah, and speaking of dinner, tonight, we'll be having an old favorite--seasoned steak, a baked potato, and peas! Yum, yum. You also get a choice of vegetable soup or caesar salad--just tell your nurse which you'd prefer--and may also choose from our usual variety of drinks."

He made his usual pause, perhaps contemplating what the night would have in store once the sun fully set. Now, however, wasn't the time to reveal such musings, and so he ended on his usual cheery note:

"That's about all for now! I hope you all enjoy your suppers."

And again the intercom turned off.

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]

ZEX should have been making a map. Figures that only now that would occur to him. He made a mental note to take some pages from his journal when he returned to his room... for now he'd simply have to rely on his memory.

The darkness and solitude were beginning to wear on his nerves, and his human body did not make it any easier on him. Still shaking like a leaf, legs unsteady and ZEX again cursed human adrenaline, that fear that made it so hard to focus and keep his hands from shaking, the flashlight's beam from jumping to one side or the other. How humans survived so long when they became so weak when frightened was beyond him... he had no idea the human body was such a slave to its emotions. As a VUX he'd been able to weather this kind of stress and worse without his grip slackening or shaking in the least.

Frustrating.

Rooms and hallways, locked and they all looked the same. ZEX's hand brushed over another door, securely locked... useless without a key. Nothing to do but keep searching.

[From here]

Xemnas briefly paused as he reached the staircase, his orange eyes slightly narrowing as he gazed upwards, trying to determine whether something above waited, or not.

The Darkness didn't provide him the slightest moving shadow, nor any sounds broke the everlasting silence. For now, both the stairs and the immediate area around it were void of anything remotely sentient.

With that, the Nobody silently climbed the stairs.

[To here]

After what had seemed like forever, there was the familiar click of the doors being unlocked. Ignoring a certain maggot over the intercom and his useless rambling (at least it was useless rambling to Albel), he quickly headed out of his room into the dark hallway. No one was out just yet, which suited the Captain just fine. No scum would be slowing him down, at least.

Carefully, he proceeded through the hallway, keen on reaching his destination as fast as possible.

[Sneaked off to here]

Homura was as eager as his roommate to get things started, knowing that there was much to do, and so little time. The frying pan that had been his makeshift weapon before still in Kenshin's possession, Homura got his flashlight once again, hopefully for the last time as a fighting tool.

He didn't rush out of the room as Ken had, taking time while still in an area of safety to close his eyes, letting them adjust to the darkness. Hopefully this would let him travel easier without the use of the flashlight, save for a periodic check or two.

Finally, Homura left his room, a bit surprised to discover he was one of the first in the hall. No matter; moving alone was best, as it was quickest, and left him with no one else to watch out for.

[To here.]

[from here]

Renji entered the other MBlock without incident, actively avoiding having to go anywhere near other patients. He was quick, even if he was slower than normal; few people were out anyway.

He half expected Rukia to already be there, ready to ask for answers that he couldn't give her. She was quick when she wanted to be, quicker than him, even if the distance she had to cover was greater.

But she wasn't there. He had the half-hearted urge to just keep going to Ed's room in an attempt to escape the inevitable questions. But he stopped and set the bundle down, leaning against the wall as he waited. He didn't want to do that to her; she'd be so angry if he did. And... maybe, maybe she'd just be quiet and let him hold her for a little bit, because that was what he needed. She'd always been his loud, demanding, breathing security blanket.

But he doubted it would work like that. As he waited, he desperately searched for some plausible lie that he could tell her, that she might accept. But he could barely manage to convince other people when he lied; Rukia knew him too well.

With a crackle, the intercom came back on, and with a boom, the Head Doctor began to laugh into the microphone, his mouth so close that his breath rasped out of the speakers. Finally, he spoke, with one word that seemed to mean more than he let on.

"Doyleton."

Another chuckle, this time only slightly more sane as Doctor Martin Landel seemed to fall into the plush chair of his office.

"It's a place nearby, and you might be seeing it soon, though I'm not sure if you want to." He sighed, and one could almost picture him running his hand through hair that was usually tidy. "A field trip, you could call it, to one of the last heavens left on this Earth, as artificial as it might be. Yes, this Earth, not your Gaia, Expel, Ivalice, Auldrant, Radiant Garden, or--God, whatever the hell else you people call your ridiculous playtime lands.

"In any case, this is all you know now, and this is all you will know, and perhaps, in a month or so, it will be all that you have known."

A pause.

"Heh. Our first group of patients to be introduced tonight seems to have finally arrived. We'll see what they think of your personal hell. Who knows? Maybe they'll try to exploit you for information under the guise of making friends. But no matter. This will all be over, someday."

With another rasp and a sharp crackle, the intercom slowly died to silence once more.

It was going to be a busy night. Maes Hughes had no less than three visitors slated for the night - Ed wouldn't take too long to deal with, Alfons he planned to just arm and give a few pointers to, and then.... Roy. Assuming Roy was going to follow through with what he'd said. Who knew?

At least he had a decent roommate. Hughes had to admit that he didn't mind Crawford - he seemed smart and had a good head on his shoulders. Not a bad guy to share personal space with. It was almost like being back in the military dorms.

Armed and with flashlight and radio in hand, Hughes stepped out into the hallway - in case Ed or Alfons had forgotten his room number.

As the intercom switched on, the shuffling of papers was the first thing that could be heard rather than the voice of the Head Doctor. It seemed he had been going through a lot of them today, a fact which could perhaps be attributed to the fact that so many new patients had flooded the halls of Landel's on this particular afternoon.

Of course, the day was almost over, which accounted for the slight tinge of fatigue that could be heard in the Head Doctor's voice as he finally pulled the microphone towards him.

"Ah, yes, and it seems we have arrived at our final junction of the day!" He said, sounding slightly preoccupied as he looked for what he needed in his files. "I am pleased to announce something that many of you might have already guessed: In order to promote good behavior and friendly interaction among our patients, we have set as many individuals as possible up with roommates! Yes, yes, we all hope that you get along with your new friends, and upon the shoulders of patients who have new patients as their roommates, we put the responsibility of tutoring our newcomers about their current way of life. Speaking of which, I have a list of new introducteés this evening: John Bull, Arthur Hurley, Arthur Dent, Cole Li, Philip Hunt, Henry Kobayashi, Elena Taylor, David Barrows, Tobias Prince, Keanu Reeves, Brian Jones, Regina Dawson, and Matt Sherrow."

Just as the Head Doctor seemed ready to wrap up his short announcement, he seemed to remember one more thing.

"Ah, yes, and how could I forget dinner? Tonight, you'll be served trout fillets fried in a garlic-butter sauce, complete with sides of peas, cooked carrots, macaroni & cheese, and a baked potato. To drink, we will be serving a choice of water, milk, or apple juice, and for dessert, each patient will have a slice of chocolate cake all to themselves! Yes, a wonderful end to a wonderful day, don't you think?"

He paused for a final time.

"I believe that is all for today! I do hope you enjoy our dinners and that you look forward to our next Sunday excursion. After all, something special might again be in store. Ta-taaa!"

The intercom clicked off.