Heat was able to ignore the still faintly throbbing spot on his head as he was led back into the cafeteria for another meal he had no intention of eating. He kept himself from rubbing at what he knew would be a small bump because dammit it didn't hurt that much. It was embarrassing, was what it was.

At the fishy odor filling the room when he entered, the demon wrinkled his nose. How that was supposed to be the slightest bit appealing he had no idea. Then again, it wasn't always the taste that mattered. Whatever this cod was, it could very well taste better than the rotting flesh he'd gotten down the night before.

His nurse made some comment about his lack of appetite, but he wasn't paying attention. She could eat his damn lunch if she was worried about it going to waste. It wasn't his fault they didn't inform their staff properly of their patients' eating habits. The room was fairly empty too, so Heat wasn't picky with where he sat. He just hoped one of his tribemates found him before he was stuck with some other pest for the duration of the meal.

[Sasuke?]

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. ]

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]

...why didn't the locks in this place operate by some other mechanism? It wasn't that Endrance really minded having to break the lock, but...it was just so messy. He supposed kicking around small imaginary creatures for the lights atop their head and then using those to unlock doors wasn't really much better, though.

He stepped into the hallway, sword pointed forward. If he had thought the previous hall was too quiet, that was nothing compared to this one. He could hear his own footsteps echoing against the tile floor, each of them seeming louder than the last. The strange part was that he couldn't hear anything from most of the rooms. That was a blessing and a curse, he thought - blessing because he wasn't sure he wanted to hear anything, but a curse because he couldn't tell which room Haseo was in.

That is, until he reached the end of the hallway. One door was open, and he hesitantly stepped inside, more than a little afraid of what he might find.

[to here]

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]

The intercom's words grew more and more telling as the day neared its end. Faize now understood that to those running the institute, he and the other captives were the subjects of some sort of reeducation program, one which was responsible for the brainwashing of patients, visitors, and doctors alike. Next Wave, the announcements mentioned often. Whatever it referred to, it seemed important.

Shortly after Faize finished his dinner, the automated voice seemed to malfunction, repeating a single word as though trapped in a loop until the doors finally unlocked. Without hesitation, Faize took his newly copied maps, stuffing them into the waistband of his pants at the back, where they would be out of the way. With his flashlight in hand, he took to the halls.

The moment he stepped out into the hallway, he thought he saw a door on the opposite side of the hall, but after a blink, it was gone. It wasn't unusual for one's eyes to play tricks on them in the dark; when trying to identify obscured objects, the mind often attributed a familiar shape to them, such as a human figure or a face. Perhaps that was what happened just then. It showed that Faize needed to be more focused.

The Eldarian's pause lasted only a second, and soon he was walking again, making his way over to the next hallway.

[to here]

Well, today was certainly turning out to be... interesting. A few things seemed to be going as planned, for once! Soon, he might not have to deal with so many actual meatbags quite so often! It made his personality core very nearly glow with excitement.

And the latest comms message was intriguing. So, he was going to be meeting a 'graduate' of this wretched place? This all confirmed the theory he'd had within his first minutes trapped within this facility: brainwashing was one of the goals of this place.

Well, whoever he was supposed to meet, he would make sure they'd leave trailing shattered pieces of their composure and sanity! HK settled down in one of the chairs in the lobby to wait expectantly.

Lockdown had seen some pretty weird stuff in his lifetime, but this took the grand prize.

Everything suddenly becoming dirty and run down was strange enough, but the rotted flesh creatures nearly killed it for him. They reminded him of the stories of the mutated space barnacles, only these humans didn't seem to have any of the slimy creatures on them. Lockdown shook himself and decided to think about it later, preferably when he was actually armed.

The bounty hunter dashed up from his seat and bolted out the door, heading out to find the hardware store, and HK-47

[to here]

Okay, so it looked like there was no point in trying to get through a TV. It figured. It was either because their abilities were sealed off or the world inside the TV simply didn't exist here. It wouldn't have made much sense for the Head Doctor to bring them there when they had such an easy method of escaping/hiding out anyway. Yousuke told himself he shouldn't be surprised, but he couldn't help but be disappointed anyway.

Well, whatever. He hadn't eaten since breakfast on the bus, so he figured it was about time he put one of his coupons to good use. "Tasty Burger" sounded like a generic chain out of a kid's show or something. Some place the main characters would meet up at after school. In any case, it couldn't hurt to see if the burgers really were as tasty as advertised.

He pulled out his coupon and got in line. Looked like he was stuck with the basics...

[Mitsuru]

The sun was starting to set, and it was with a heavy sigh that Edgeworth stepped out of Twin Pines and out onto the street. The tea had helped, but there was still a sense of worry that he couldn't shake. There was, of course, the entire situation with Franziska, but now both Javert and this new person calling themselves 'Justice' were in the picture. Had it been a bad idea to reveal that room information? Possibly, but as far as he could tell, it had gone unnoticed. There was only one way to find out now.

...and on top of all that, there was Dahlia Hawthorne to worry about. She was high on his list of least favorite people, but so far, he hadn't seen her personally. He tried to push the thought out of his mind as he looked around, but couldn't shake the worry entirely.

[closed to Phoenix and any cute things he may have in tow.]

Already, it was well past noon, and von Karma had yet to accomplish anything of significance during this "field trip." Now that he had finally gotten rid of that apple-obsessed madman, he was now free to visit the bookstore he had seen earlier. Glancing around himself to ensure that there were no other potential hindrances on the way, he headed directly for the establishment that called itself "The Bookworm." Hmph. Such a 'charming' name for a store, he thought sardonically as he looked at the sign. This had better be one instance in which the adage of judging a book by its cover holds true.

The instant he set foot inside the store, he discovered right away that exceptions did indeed exist to that cliche. A cloud of dust greeted him, causing him to sneeze. As it settled, he saw the piles upon piles of books that were haphazardly organized -- if one used the word in its loosest meaning ever -- without any rhyme nor reason. What manner of bookstore was this?!

"Clerk!" he finally demanded at the peon working behind the counter. "Has the concept of categorization eluded you? How is anyone supposed to find anything useful here?!"

The clerk just smiled at him in a rather patronizing manner. "I'm sorry, sir. Can I help you find anything?"

von Karma just glared at the clerk for a moment. "I am seeking informational materials. Books on law, in particular. Or at least the history of this region. But all I see here are frivolous romance novels, flimsy children's stories, and books pertaining to the 'metaphysical sciences.' They are all useless to me."

The incompetent clerk just shrugged. "Sorry, but as you said, we don't have those here. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Do you at least have newspapers here? Preferably ones that don't pre-date my eldest daughter's birth!" von Karma's patience was obviously wearing thin.

"Nope, sorry, sir."

"Bah." von Karma said nothing else, but proceeded to take his leave. The one place in this miserable little town in which he had hoped he would find real answers, and it was even more of a waste of his time than anything else he had done thus far.

[Somewhat open for harassment for now, but tagging back will be slow at best, and I may have him eventually move to the antiques store at some point. ALSO: I have never posted top-level to Doyleton before, so please let me know if anything in this needs to be fixed, and I shall do so. Thanks in advance.]

The nurse pointed him to the bulletin as soon as he left the bus, but after a few seconds of consideration, Shikamaru decided that he didn't feel like leaving a note asking the other Leaf-nin to check in. One of them should do it eventually; he'd written it in the notes he'd given Naruto and, if he remembered right, underlined it a couple times. He'd check again later, or not. Probably not. It wasn't his job. Kakashi or Jiraya could deal with it.

Shikamaru wasn't sure what his job was, actually. He'd tried to pull the others back together by giving them something to focus on that wasn't a bunch of miserable deaths, but the plan for his own group had been terrible and, as seemed to be a running theme in his life, they'd had to rely on luck. He had no idea what happened to the other team. Worse, on top of basing everyone's safety on a fundamentally flawed strategy, he'd given it as an order rather than a suggestion, when he had no authority to be issuing commands. It was a hell of a lot of work to be doing without being forced into it, Shikamaru realized with an irritated sigh, but that too made the list of stuff to deal with later. He knew that he should take this as an opportunity to learn from his mistakes, but there wasn't margin for error here and, despite his efforts, he obviously hadn't learned from the last one. Maybe the best thing to learn was to keep the hell out of people's way.

Which he ought to be more than happy to do.

The town wasn't large, but it still took him a few minutes' walk to find a park, and when he saw that it wasn't empty he walked until he found another. Also occupied. It seemed impossible to get a moment's peace in this place--either people were more extroverted here, or he'd developed an aura of please-talk-to-me when he wasn't paying attention. He hoped it wasn't the latter. Figuring there'd be some place along the edge of town where he could lie around without being bothered, Shikamaru continued on until he met an empty field. Uncut grass suggested that it'd only be of interest other people who didn't feel like being found, but the nurse wouldn't let him out of her sight, and with a heavy groan, he gave up when she yelled for him to stop. Geographically speaking, this was probably the furthest he could get from the institute. It didn't change the fact that he was trapped here, but it was still a pleasant thought.

[why more work, Kakashi?]

One second he was in the hallway, dizzy and sickened and barely able to focus as Youko picked him up (and he'd thought for a moment to warn her to be careful before remembering his shirei couldn't hurt her anyway, even agitated as they were) and then the next...in bed. Back in the sterile hospital room, with only the sharp scents of cleaners and laundry soap from the sheets, but nausea and a lingering pain behind his eyes still reminded him of the close call the night before.

Before he had time to think about it for long, though, the door opened and the nurse arrived with a bundle of unfamiliar clothing; she fussed over him briefly, trying to feel his forehead (from which he automatically grimaced and ducked away) and cooing over him like he was an invalid child. Of course he was a little feverish; it would only have been worse if the blood had touched him as it came so close to doing.

But the woman only bundled him into the clothing she'd brought without paying any attention to his protests, and he was hard-pressed to decide whether or not the shirt she gave him was any better than the bright yellow smiling face. And then he was led out to the front yard, through what he noted didn't look anything like the "holy ground" of the night before, and given a brown paper bag before being herded onto a bus with admonitions to "take it easy" ringing in his ears.

He dropped into the first empty seat he found, leaving the bag sitting next to him unopened as he leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes. Food was most definitely not interesting at the moment, and he had things to think about anyway.

[waiting for Youko]

[from here.]

Nathan moved quickly through the doors and into the Sun Room, pausing for a moment to stare up at the ceiling, through the windows to the sky beyond. The sky was clear, with bright stars -- not a sight Nathan necessarily expected to see in New Jersey, considering the pollution in the air. He'd never seen a lot of stars in Manhattan -- one had to go further upstate to really appreciate the sky.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been standing there, staring up through the windowed ceiling before he finally turned his gaze towards the large bulletin board he'd briefly talked to someone on earlier that day. It was full of tacked-on messages with hundreds of different scrawls -- Nathan even recognized a few different languages, though none he actually spoke. Having nothing to write himself, he stepped away, turning his gaze towards the back of the room. Through those doors was the cafeteria -- and he was pretty sure that was where he needed to be.

Still... this room felt so quiet and peaceful, and Nathan lingered for a moment, leaning against the wall beside the bulletin board, his gaze shifting back onto the sky above.

[to here.]

There wasn't any jingle as the intercom came on; it sounded like the Head Doctor was still having issues with the system, and it also seemed like he was none too pleased about it.

"Well, everyone, I hope that you all had more fun this last shift than I did! Hahahaaa..."

His weak laughter trailed off. His office chair squeaked.

"In any case, as you all probably know already, it's now time for dinner! I'm sure you've all worked up an appetite after all that repairing – er – exercising, so I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that you'll be served generous portions of spaghetti with delicious tomato sauce and, if desired, meatballs. For sides, you'll be having some freshly baked garlic bread and, if requested, a Caesar salad. Our regular drinks are available, and for dessert, we'll be serving some delicious strawberry gelato.

"And, now, I suppose it's time we get back to this wiri–"

The announcement cut off abruptly.

[From here]

Quite thankfully, Ophelia had made it to the entrance of the Sun Room with no interruptions. She leaned against the wall on the right-hand side of the room's entrance, making sure to stay in the shadows and keep an ear out for any sudden noises.

Now there was naught but to wait. She crossed her arms, a self-satisfied grin crossing her face. Apart from their basement mission, Ophelia was looking forward to mentioning a little interesting something that Kio had pointed out to her during their bulletin board exploration earlier. She was certain that she would get a fun reaction out of at least Arlene, and perhaps the others too, though she didn't know how well acquainted HK and SubZero were with the other woman.

Joe had read some of the larger notes stuck up on the bulletin board when the announcement came on the intercom. All things considered, this Landel guy didn't even seem so bad. Even if these people were held here against their will, he was certainly nice about it.

Apparently, the new patients - including Joe - were to hang around in the Sun Room or go to Arts and Crafts with the kids. Well, there was plenty of information on the board, including maps and descriptions of monsters, for Joe to prepare for the nighttime, when he could seriously get going on fighting his way out. He could look for where the boss would probably be waiting, or where his V-watch might be, and figure out how to fight the monsters. In fact, he had plenty of time to work all that out... but this the first time he'd had to really relax since he got his powers. So it couldn't possibly hurt to enjoy the calm period, could it?

The red-head stepped back from the board, and hopped back onto a comfy-looking couch to digest in the sunlight. He reached up to pull his cap down, and sighed when he realized it wasn't there. "Oh well, nothing's perfect. I still wouldn't call this hell."

[free!]

"Busy, busy, busy day today!" The Head Doctor's voice said, a horrible thing for by patients made weary by the previous night's exploration to wake up to. His words were rapid, as if he was in a rush. "We have Arts & Crafts and showers, and... yes, new patients, of course! It's always rewarding to think of how many people have been able to go home due to the tireless efforts of our staff and the wonderful progress made by our patients; this, of course, also makes room for new groups of people who need our help. Splendid, splendid..."

The usual sound of paper shuffling along the Head Doctor's desk could be heard.

"Ah, yes, that's right! Breakfast! On today's menu is French Toast – syrup, butter, margarine, and powdered sugar are all available, of course – along with a choice of scrambled eggs, sausage links, and bacon. As always, you also have a choice of fresh fruit available, as well of healthy, wholesome cereals and drinks – water, milk, or assorted juices.

"And... I believe that's it! I do hope that all of our new patients enjoy their stay and that you give them a warm welcome."

The intercom clicked off.

[ All introduction posts for this shift's group of new characters should be made in response to this post. (Please have your new character wake up in a random empty room, as we aren't yet able to officially assign rooms.) Thanks! ]

[ From here. ]

"But that's because I know I'm not dealing with soldiers here," Roy continued to explain as they moved into the farthest hallway -- his room was at the very end.

"Most of the patients wouldn't be used to my usual severity, and certainly wouldn't respond to it very well. I have to be a bit more delicate." He wasn't used to working under such conditions, seeing how most of the people who ended up under his command were willing and ready to serve. (Fullmetal was the exception.) He had adapted well enough, however, and had tried as much as he could to use some of his authoritative nature.

He knew it didn't work at times, but at least he was making the effort.

"What I meant, though, was that I was curious about what mission you think you would be best at, so I know what assignments to give you. Whatever talents you have should be put to use, after all."