Link took his lunch into the Sun Room, preferring a quiet place to think rather than going into one of rooms he had yet to properly explore. He felt tired, physically and emotionally, but he needed to devise a plan for tonight. Tracking down Soma would be for another day; curing the other patients came before basement exploration.

He settled onto a couch with his lunch, picking out his sandwich and drink. Tuna fish- finally a food he could recognize!

[Soushi!~]

[ from kansas ]

Pulling open the door that had shut behind Vantas-kun, Uryuu moved back out and grit his teeth against the jolting, an inexcusable effort needed to keep from swaying on his feet, his vision blurring as bile roiled in his gut and throat. He swallowed, resisting the telling impulse to steady himself with a hand on the wall or door frame, and blinked a few times, eyes clearing on a dark... bedroom?

He stared across at two beds, one made and one with what looked in the dark like white sheets disturbed, half torn from it. The air felt -- not stagnant, but enclosed, and moderately cool, befitting what looked like stone walls. Tall walls, he noted, stepping further in and then to the side, again lifting his hand to press it to a wall, to feel the texture. Stone, of a different sort from that which lay in large tiles underfoot. A lack of windows wasn't necessarily a sign of being underground -- it had been in Hueco Mundo, but wasn't in the institute's rooms, obviously -- but Uryuu suspected they were regardless.

They weren't in the institute. The extreme difference in decor suggested it, but more than that, this made him absolutely certain: the concentration of spirit particles in the air had thickened, and they felt different. The door had opened here, so he could hardly think of them as having escaped.

Mason-san had spoken of something like this, too. Only, this absolutely wasn't Tokyo. It might not even be Earth, with the reishi so odd.

"I don't suppose any of you recognize this place?"

[ from here! ]

"I intend to--" talking as he walked through the doorframe, Uryuu's voice stopped along with his movements. The first sign of something off had been the abrupt sense of disorientation, a dizzying nausea that did little to ameliorate his already augmenting aching, slight but pervasive discomfort in his skin, and the ceasless headache. The ground felt as if it rocked beneath his feet, as if his vestibular system had been tampered with, and he grimaced as he attempted to orient himself.

The next sign: the ground beneath his feet, the smooth hardness (not carpet) that met the soles of his boots as he stepped forward, and the slight echo, that which carried his words. His eyes adjusted onto tile, and he fumbled to retrieve his flashlight, which he shone over the room that smelled of moisture, soap, and mildew.

As he passed the beam of his flashlight over the showerheads, dispensers, stacked stools, and red and white tiles, Uryuu realized that not only was this a showerroom, but having seen that the men's showers had blue tiling, it was a women's showerroom. Blood shot up his neck and swamped his cheeks, and he would have pivoted hard and attempted to march right out of there, except for the blocked doorway behind him, and the obviously more pressing issue of how the door to the entry room had led here.

"This, uh," he tried, using the flashlight to try and push up his glasses, "...isn't right."

A lame finish.

"Goodness, is it really already time for dinner? Time certainly does fly! And such a lovely day, too. I certainly wouldn't mind having a nice cup of cocoa out on the patio or something..."

That was how the Head Doctor greeted them, although it apparently didn't take him long to realize he'd gotten a little off topic.

"Now then, it's time for the nurses to escort you all back to your rooms, where you'll have the opportunity to tuck into a scrumptious plate of turkey and gravy. And, of course, we always carry vegetarian options for those who don't eat meat. We also have our usual assortment of water, juice and milk.

"Also, some of you will be receiving some extra help in warding off whatever bug some of us have been catching. Please take care, everyone, and be sure to wash your hands! I'll talk to you all again later. Enjoy your dinner."

The intercom clicked off, leaving patients with the prospect of preparing for yet another grueling Nightshift.

((Respond to this post with your character's room number in the subject line. New room assignments are listed here. If you have any questions, let us know!))

Speaking with Orihara had become uncomfortable ever since Castiel's day spent as Michael Collins, and that was only doubled when he had to talk to him while he was post-operative. Still, he'd managed to get through the conversation, and while Castiel didn't like being a captive audience, so to speak, the change in shifts meant that he would never be stuck speaking with someone for too long.

Orihara was more of an annoyance than anything, though. They'd worked well enough together before, but there was something about his interest in him that left Castiel feeling uneasy. In the end, though, it wasn't a threat he needed to consider for any long period of time.

With the choice of any number of outside options for the lunch shift, Castiel's nurse suggested that he spend some time out in the courtyard. "Getting some sun might do you good, Michael, don't you think? Especially since it's gotten a little warmer today."

He didn't have much reason to protest, and so he didn't argue the point, instead watching the activity of shuffling patients around him as he was pushed out into the courtyard. Though he was one of the first patients to be brought here, as the area itself was empty for the moment.

The nurse wheeled him so that he was sitting near the pond and then smiled down at him. "There you go! Enjoy the fresh air, all right?" She placed the sack lunch in his lap and then took her leave.

Castiel nodded and watched as she walked away, and actually did his best to forget the pain and the nausea and instead observed the rippling of the pond water.

[For L!]

[From here, and for the robutt gang!]

The nearly empty block hallway did nothing to relieve Zero's growing suspicion that something wasn't right. Why weren't there more people around? Perhaps Landel was using some of them, as he'd been used. Or others were transforming, just like that prisoner from the night before - Sora - and the one mentioned on the board...the one who'd attacked two children before being taken down. Landel had said to 'watch your back'...

...well. Empty or not, at least Zero was in the right place to find his allies now. He slowed his brisk walking pace for a moment as he wondered if he should try to go to Harpuia's room directly or wait out here for him to show up. (Hopefully X would be with him.) If this were simply a matter of him getting here too quickly, then they should be coming out of their rooms soon...

[from here, skipping a few halls]

Here it was. Skulduggery wasn't around yet, but Rita expected he would show up soon. He'd been punctual up until now.

If what she'd been hearing was right, she was going to need to look out for both monsters and patients tonight. Seemed simple enough. Rita stood with her back against the wall opposite to the Sun Room doors, and waited.

[From here.]

That hadn't taken long. So much so that it looked like he was the first person to make it this far. Harvey took a moment to scan the hall with his flashlight, including near the stairs, but he didn't see (or hear) much of anything. It was the sort of thing that set him on edge.

Since he couldn't do much else, he leaned himself against the wall by the stairs and then grabbed for his gun, holding it near his side as he waited. Normally he didn't take the weapon out unless he planned to shoot it, but when there was a possibility that some transformed patient might come barreling down the halls in the next few seconds, he wanted to take precaution.

Hopefully Scott and Sangamon would haul ass over here before all hell started to break loose. If things got too hairy, Harvey was ready to make a run for it on his own. That was the logical thing to do.

[Waiting for S.T.]

[From here.]

This was a trip that had gotten old ages ago, and so Harvey tried to make it as short as possible by falling into a brisk walk. He didn't go so far as to jog, since he didn't need to tire himself out before the action even started, but it was a good idea to save time where he could.

All of that was made very easy by the fact that there weren't any other patients around. He didn't know if it was because they were busy going through a painful transformation into some deadly monster, but if that was it, then he also wanted to get to a more open area sooner rather than later.

Harvey reached the end of the hall and rounded the corner into the main hall.

[To here.]

[M7]

Dinner went by too fast, and as the intercom announcement came on and the change to night officially started, Sora pushed himself to the edge of bed, caught in the tight hold of dread. He didn't want it to become night. He didn't want to change again. He'd gone to a lot of effort to make sure that he didn't end up repeating the events of last night, but something could always go wrong.

Landel cut to the chase pretty fast this time around, and no other clues were given out. Did that mean that the rebel group hadn't been able to get through, or had they just run out of clues to give them? Did that mean they were on their own? Sora let out a breath and tried to manage the panic that was bubbling up in his chest.

Link was still here. Sora had hoped that his roommate would make a move to leave the second that night came, but it didn't look like that was the case. Of course not. If Sora was honest with himself, he'd known from the start that someone like Link wasn't going to leave him alone here.

Sora forced out a shaky sigh. He didn't feel anything yet, but he knew that it wouldn't be long before the darkness started to take over.

"I know you're worried," he said to Link, "but it's fine. My other friend should be here soon, so..." He wanted as few people as possible around when the change went through. Hopefully Tsurugi would get here soon, and then Link could leave.

As the sun began to inch closer to the horizon, dark clouds gathered overhead. Even so, the Head Doctor didn't let that damper his enthusiasm.

"Good evening, everyone! I hope you've all had an enjoyable day, particularly our newcomers. Here at Landel's Institute, we're eager to welcome you into our big, warm family, so make yourselves right at home!

"For dinner, we're serving teriyaki & tempura, with our usual assortment drinks, including water, milk, and several kinds of juices. Enjoy your meals!"

As the nurses escorted patients to their assigned rooms, thunder rumbled in the distance, and the sound of rain tapping against the outside of the building echoed through the halls. Some of the staff would comment about the sudden change in weather, but no one let it interfere with their duties.

((Respond to this post with your character's room number in the subject line. New room assignments are listed here. If you have any questions, let us know!))

The game room, huh... In normal, everyday life, it wouldn't have sounded too terrible, but as things were, it seemed like more of an annoyance. Games were fine, but priorities.... On the other hand, Kyousuke seemed to have hit a block in figuring out the clues to the the illness, and just thinking without getting anywhere wasn't very productive, either. At this point, it may have been best to push it aside and come back to it fresh. He had his reservations about it, especially since the end of the day was rapidly approaching, but... Frustration wasn't going to get him any closer.

He poked around what games were there with resignation, still half wondering what he was even doing and trying not feel guilty for needing a break. After a while he came across an electronic device marked "Game Boy Color" and picked it up out of curiosity. He'd heard of those before... If he was right, this thing was older than he was, by quite a bit. Flicking it on confirmed his suspicions; the sound and graphics from it spoke for themselves.

Shrugging, he took it a random seat, wincing at the pain in his ribs as he sat down. He guessed it wouldn't kill him to mess around with this thing for a little while.

[Lloyd!]

What Guy had seen on that scan resulted in some mixed feelings. While he had expected to find something in Claude, seeing how he was sick, it hadn't been quite the same as what they'd seen when they had scanned that other ill patient two nights ago. What did that mean? It was possible that the shape of it just looked different because of where it was in Claude's stomach, but Guy couldn't help but feel that there was a deeper meaning to it.

Yet another thing that he didn't understand, then. With a sigh, he got himself up out of bed and went searching immediately for the single leaf that he'd taken from the X-ray room last night. It was stored carefully in his possessions box, which meant that he didn't have to worry too much about that.

While he wanted to quickly sketch the leaf's general shape to post on the bulletin, Guy wasn't given that chance, as his nurse showed up before he could even grab for his journal. He had to relent and let her lead him to the cafeteria for breakfast. While Guy considered stopping by the bulletin to leave a note, that could wait until after he ate. He suspected that Anise or Luke would try to find him as soon as possible to tell him about their findings, so leaving a note for them would be redundant.

He did need to ask about the clue from last night and see if anyone else had further insight on it, but that might be something Claude wanted to do, seeing how he had a better idea of who that baptist was and what it all might signify.

After collecting a small amount of food onto a plate, Guy took a seat near the cafeteria's entrance, keeping an eye out for any of his friends so he could flag them down as they walked in.

[For Anise and Claude.]