The intercom jingle rang out both inside and outside the institute on speakers loud enough to broadcast clearly across the recreational field.

"It's been a busy day, hasn't it? Well, fortunately for all of us, it's nearly over, and we can all look forward to some rejuvenating shut-eye--that is, after dinner, of course."

The Head Doctor chuckled.

"Supper for tonight is going to consist of individual servings of chicken pot pie, with mashed potatoes and peas as sides. You may ask your nurse about the usual selection of drinks, and... Oh! Some of you might find that you have some new guests in your rooms belonging to... Group 5, I believe...? Please see to it that our new patients spend their first night at Landel's Institute as peacefully as possible!"

He paused, then added:

"Oh, and Nurse Hondor? Could you please report to my office? Thank you."

The intercom clicked off.

[ OOC: Remember how dinner shift works--everyone posts to this post with individual threads for each room. New characters waking up during this shift will do so in their respective threads, though if your roommate's player is unable to play with you during your intro, feel free to work something out so that your roommate is taking a nap or something. XD; ]

Lunch had gone by all too quickly, and suddenly it was time for Nii to play a bit more. It wasn't a good thing, really. Too much effort so soon after eating could cause stomach cramps, said some nonsensical voice from his memory. But he did have a job to do, and if the ones who came in were like Mr. Adams from that morning, well...

A few stomach cramps would be worth the fun.

Aidou Hanabusa, a vampire, was one of the first into the cafeteria, which was swimming in dim sunlight. A grey morning suited his mood.

The fact that his biological clock was pitching fits was only the cherry on top of the cake; the last thing he wanted to do was sleep. "Waking up", once again, with no memory of how or why he'd been brought back to room M52 infuriated him, on top of getting absolutely nothing done during the night. In the (miniscule) self-deprecating part of his mind, he thought it served him right for making concessions for humans. He wasn't going to make that mistake again, no matter how alone he was.

Aidou secluded himself in a corner. Solid food couldn't replace what he was missing, but it would keep his appetite in check. For a while. If his better sense told him not to repeat yesterday's mistakes, then at least he could forget tablets and go hunting tonight. It wasn't like Aidou was required to follow protocol during Landel's fine nightshift. No one else did.

No one from home would think less of him for cutting corners, either. If they hadn't been able to find him by now, then things were worse than he imagined. With a table piled high with food, he cupped his chin in his hand and let his gaze wander. He had a fair idea where the female cell block was. It wouldn't be difficult to overpower a young girl...

Eventually grabbing the knife, Aidou poked at one of his many bagels. He'd been right about to find a suitable instrument in the mail room, something long and sharp enough to cut into a bat and allow him to see what similarities remained on the inside... The plastic blade sank through the bread, went through the paper plate underneath it, and finally snapped in two against the plastic tray.

More new "patients". A day of "doctor consultations". It was nothing he'd ever experienced before, nothing he'd ever heard about before, and it was seriously driving him nuts. For the first time in his life, he just wanted to be left alone, without feeling a set of eyes on him.

[[From here]]

The quiet and darkness were almost unsettling, in their own way. He couldn't even hear his own foot-steps as he stalked quietly along, and his breathing was silent as well.

The darkness and silence reminded him too much of memories he'd only recently regained. Fox would've felt slightly less uncomfortable with the whole situation if he'd known that there were guards, or some other opponent to avoid, anything to get rid of the feeling of isolation.

At the same time, part of him was glad for the darkness and silence, moving quietly along the wall of the hallway. This was his element. When the radio crackled on in his coat pocket Fox nearly jumped.

He didn't dare turn it off in case something important was revealed, but at the same time he hoped the noise didn't attract anything. The radio man's speech, at the very least, gave him something to think about as he made his way slowly to his destination.

That hadn't felt like an entire night.

And his goddamn head hurt. Pounded, even. Enough that he wondered if he was going to end up playing another round of "Christen the nurse" this morning.

Maybe it was because he'd spent so much time and energy trying to find Nowe. That could be the reason behind both those problems. Just the thought of it made his stomach turn, made him want to fucking choke something.

Still, there was shit to do. He forced himself out of bed to put away his pens and the other leftovers from the adventures that didn't happen last night. He'd have to try to talk to Sora today, to see if they could just do tonight what they were going to do last night... and to see if the kid was doing alright.

...he just wished his head would stop hurting. That was probably the result of just how badly he'd overreached himself the previous morning.

The nurse that showed up to get him was cheerful. He grunted at her, listening to her with only half an ear until she mentioned all the excitement, about someone pretending to be a patient, all that crap that Landel had mentioned.

Renji gave her a narrow-eyed look. "Dr. Landel is a goddamn lying coward, and he's lying about that, too," he said. Whether it was true or not, there was only so much good cheer he could take on a shitty morning. "I hope he chokes on a cock." No matter how much venom he put in that statement, it wasn't enough.

Then he had to listen to a lecture about language and gratitude for the rest of the walk to the cafeteria, so maybe it wasn't worth it after all. She dragged him through the breakfast line, and he ended up with granola and toast and tea and a cinnamon roll, because not even a shitty fucking night could ruin his sweet tooth. Though that thing was looking a little too sweet.

The cafeteria was pretty much empty; he had his run of the place. He sat himself about as far from the doors as he could get, and proceeded to stare at his breakfast.

[coming from here]

Tifa listened to Namine explain the Nightshift to the smaller brunette, deciding to toss in what she had learned today as well.

"Not just monsters," Tifa added. "They have a way of controlling patients. Making them harm anyone who gets in their own way - even their own friends." She swallowed back the lump in her throat and kept walking, alert in case of any threat. Yuffie had been her longer than her, and she trusted her friend to have made it there in one piece. She was tough.

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.

Cid usually liked sleeping in, especially in a place as messed up and uninviting as this, but this happened to be one situation where he really wished he hadn't.

Right there, on the bulletin board. The Head Doctor and he'd fucking missed it? Some part of him wished he'd been there to take his eye out and another part of him knew he wouldn't have been able to. No man that powerful who hid for so long went to dangerous places without some kind of entourage.

Brunch sounded like it'd be filling, at least, though he nearly stopped in his tracks when the bastard announced TEA. TEA. It'd been a damn long while since he'd had some fucking tea, though with all the stress this place had found fit to rain down on his fucking head, it hadn't really been the first priority on his mind. Kinda nice, even if Cid was sure this was just some game the mother fucker was playing to get them all stuck neck-deep in Stockholm Syndrome.

He scanned the mostly-empty room for any sign of a familiar face once he'd piled waffles and sausages and syrup on his plate, though the person he really wanted to talk to was that Reynolds guy. "Spaceship" was the last word he remembered clearly before waking up in his bed, and dammit if he wasn't going to keep it stuck like glue in his mind.

He found a table where he could watch people come into the cafeteria and grabbed for his mug. The steam rising from his drink and the bag of herbs in it was nearly enough to make him grin despite it all, and it was with marked leisure and a little relief that he drank his goddamn tea.

When the intercom clicked on, the voice that echoed throughout the halls was far too fresh in the minds of too many people.

"Hello, again! I told you I'd be speaking to you again soon! And for those of you who aren't aware of the big surprise in the Chapel, I highly advise you to see the notice posted up on the bulletin board to be caught up on our recent events!"

The Head Doctor laughed warmly, but the impression it gave was newer, different than usual.

This time, people could picture it.

"In any case, I believe I've already spoken quite enough this morning, so I'll get right to the point! We have a new batch of patients ready to be introduced: That is, Colin Noble, William Berret, Corwin Piers, Ethan O'Dell, Darryl Jones, Alice Rhodes, Amelia McCraig, Jennifer Hill, Aubrey Hill, and Jun Moreau."

He sighed, seemed to shake his head.

"Phew! Quite a few new faces, eh? I'm sure you'll make them feel welcome, especially in the setting of our lovely Landel's All-You-Can-Eat Brunch! Yes, that's right! You get one plate that you can pile up with as much as you fit on it, as many times as you like! Of course, you may get stopped if a nurse feels you're eating far too much for your health! Hahaha..."

The sound of some papers being shuffled could be heard.

"Ah! Here we are. Our selection includes: A wide variety of cereals, granola, and low fat milk to put it in! If you'd like to add some fruit to your cereal, we have bananas, apples, oranges, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, grapes, and raisins. We also offer chocolate milk, orange juice, apple juice, cranberry juice, and water as far as drinks go. Of course, I'm sure many of you want to know about the heartier selection, and here it is: Waffles, pancakes, french toast, bagels, sausages, sausage patties, bacon, hash browns, and scrambled eggs! For those of you looking for the 'unch' part of 'brunch,' we offer hamburgers with an assortment of toppings, hot dogs with chili available, beef burritos, chicken burritos, rice, and beans."

He took a contemplative breath, then continued.

"Oh, and... contrary to popular belief, we do monitor the Bulletin Board, and we see that there has been some dissatisfaction towards our choice of cuisine expressed by some members of the patient body. However, Mr. Kyle Brothers, due to the foul language and cowardly anonymity you attempted to use when making such a request, such a wish will not be granted at this time, and will be held pending on your good behavior and reformation. Additional patients who wish to be served that food type, perhaps you'd help encourage good behavior in Mr. Brothers? Thank you!"

A pause.

"We will, however, be serving Earl Grey tea, ramen, and a dessert of strawberry cake, as they were requested without unnecessary rudeness. Perhaps, Mr. Brothers, you could learn from their example."

The Head Doctor seemed to sit in satisfaction over appropriateness of his punishment before he gave a sigh and finished his announcement.

"I believe that covers everything for now! Have a wonderful brunch."

The intercom sounded off.