[From here.]

The room was mainly empty when Michael reached it, which was fine by him. It wasn't that he didn't feel sympathy for the other patients, but he also didn't know if it would be helpful for him to talk to them. The staff seemed to think that forming bonds amongst themselves would lead to recovery, but to him it felt more like they would end up feeding on each other's delusions.

Of course, being reclusive was a problem of his in general. He threw himself into work, into dealing with the scum of the Earth; rape, murder, assault. Someone had to deal with those people and make them pay for their misdeeds, of course, but --

No, he was thinking too much like Castiel. Thinking in a vocabulary that most normal people wouldn't. As he found a couch and fell onto it, Michael winced his eyes shut and realized that the shower hadn't helped as much as he would have liked.

Either way, he couldn't say he was in the mood for talking to anyone.

[For his bro.]

Anise woke up feeling lucky to be alive. She still felt a bit waterlogged, even though her skin, hair, and clothes were completely dry. During last night's adventures, she'd swallowed a lot of water, and it still felt heavy and disgusting in her stomach. Her arms and legs were tired from treading water. Lying still in her bed, she still kind of felt like she was floating and bobbing in the water.

But she was alive.

Knowing how close she came to death last night, and remembering the lengths her friends had gone to in order to save her, there was no way Anise could let a little discomfort get her down. She had to be at her best today so she wouldn't seem ungrateful to Guy and Claude. On that note, she had to remember to thank them properly, now that she was better able to express herself.

While getting ready, Anise was surprised to actually run into Claude that morning. He came to her room asking for the notebook he stored there (or maybe it was an excuse to see her cute face again), so Anise happily located it and handed it over. She was pretty tired, but the big smile she gave him was genuine. Who wouldn't be happy to see her savior so soon after a dramatic rescue?

After he left, Anise finished re-tying her pigtails into a low position so the military beret would fit on her head, and then she was ready! Even though her stomach wasn't feeling that great, she figured sitting down to a decent meal would help normalize it. And luckily for her, she was among the few who had the privilege of eating such a meal. Anise filled a plate with french toast topped with syrup and fruit, accompanied by small portions of each of the available side dishes.

It looked like she was early, which meant there weren't a lot of people around. That was okay, though. Anise could get a good head start on her meal before any company came around. She sat down at a table by herself and started on her sausage first.

[for Tolten!]

She still hated experimental psychologists. Whether they lied or not, they only cared about results, and not the people that were their test subjects. Aguilar was just like the ones who'd created her -- if he really wanted results, he'd tell them what he expected. Not what to do;only the worst commanders had no use for initiative, and that was because a pants-wetting recruit could out-strategize them.

There was still a gaping hole somewhere about there, she thought, pressing her hand to her torso. Right in her middle, and it had nothing to do with her metabolism. They'd tried to rip her heart out, not once, but twice, and she didn't know why! She took a deep breath. It didn't make any sense, if they were trying to run this like a cell-culture lab, with subjects that didn't have feelings. If they didn't have feelings they couldn't be hurt, but then trying would be worthless.

Did the visitors give them something they couldn't do alone? They were isolated, but even in hard vacuum word spread.

She packed in the dark, quiet and determined. There wasn't much to bring. She wore the claw, and strapped the throwing star to her arm again. The materia went in a pocket, rather than her bag, and that was all. Travel light, travel fast, and hope that her companions would do so too.

[to here]

Aw, poor Aguilar. You could hear the big, wet pout he had going on through the fuzzy speakers.

Yeah yeah yeah, the military treated them with such wondrous respect and reverence for their special snowflake individuality. That's why they had them in identical military uniforms. That's why they kept going right ahead with the brain washing and the experimentation and the pepto bismol sludge that may or may not be recycled kittens from the sun room. Because they loved them for who they are.

Douchebutts.

Well, Peter certainly knew better than to follow the orders of a faceless man telling him to run up to a hospital and try out all the pills he liked. That only had two endings: rivers of tears and surprise superpowers. Having achieved both results at the same time, Peter figured that he would pass and carry on with his totally independent quest for suicide. The basement awaited.

First, though, was the nigh unsolvable problem of Brainiac 5 and how to keep him from kicking the bucket. This was more difficult than it seemed.

Peter had the customary pillow case slung over his shoulder, this time with the radio included in the swag, as well as the extra flashlight and radio he'd found in Brainy's side of the room and the sword-lite from the basement conquest. He tied the ends together to fit his arm through it, shouldering it like a clumsy purse. Duffel bag. Yes, duffel bag. Purses were for girls. He needed his arms free to gently scoop up his roommate from the bed. Which, creepily enough, still wasn't enough to wake him. It was difficult to not immediately imagine a thousand terrible causes for this. Should he be watching out for suspiciously placed spinning wheels?

Whatever. The important thing now was speed. Peter jolted Brainy closer, carrying him bridal style (because even asleep, he knew the boy would hate him if he threw him over his shoulder and let his face bump into his butt the whole time) and reaching out with all the dexterity of a T-Rex to fiddle with the doorknob. He cautiously slid it open, peering into the dark as he waited for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light. He didn't want to be caught. A flashlight at this point would be an idiot beam.

Silently and surprisingly nimble for such heavy cargo, Peter slipped into the hall with his sleeping roommate in his arms. No sign of Grell. No sign of anyone. He tiptoed to the opposite side of the hall and examined the number plates there with squinted eyes. Last time they had found an empty room, it was M78. The patient population hadn't seemed to suffer any huge influx since their little rendezvous with Dr. Creeptastic, so with any luck the room would still be empty.

The perfect place to hide your comatose pal from a scalpel enthusiast on the warpath. Should Grell sashay his merry way down to M71 and find it free of persons on his double whammy hit list, he would assume both had left for the night and stomp off in a totally fabulous rage. Probably while swearing in British, calling them limey gits and loads of tosh and other such adorable epithets.

How was this now his greatest nemesis?

After a number of haphazard grabs at what was clearly pure wall, Peter's hand finally wrapped around the cool metal of a door handle, the shadowed number above reading M78. He swiftly clicked it open, forming a sliver of a window into the room.

No sound. No movement. And soon enough, there was nothing in the hall either.

Moments later, Peter emerged alone, clutching at the strap of his pillowcase bag. He was down a roommate and a spare flashlight and radio combo, but his confidence reserves had now doubled. If he'd had to leave Brainy in the room when Grell was on the prowl, Peter would be about as useful as a squid on land the whole night. He'd flop over and cry, and that would be the end of it. At least now his friend had earned two more survival points, which should put him at a two on a scale of fifty. Short of carrying him down to the basement with them, there was nothing more that Peter could do.

He hurried on his way, hoping the note he'd left on his chest would suffice for explanations. He'd done it for the greater good.

[To here.]

Somehow, he'd managed to eat all of his food, and grudgingly, Niikura had to admit that he felt a lot better after brunch. That pink stuff tasted like crap, but it did its job, which was to keep him alive. Still...what did he have to do around here to get some food, short of raiding the kitchen at night? Not that he couldn't do that, it was just that he liked to reserve his evenings for more productive things...

...food was productive.

Niikura growled under his breath and shook his head. He really needed something to take his mind off things right now before he started daydreaming about burgers or something. Maybe a nap or...a movie sounded nice. He'd seen the suggestion box at the board, but hadn't really been in the right state of mind to answer it, too caught up with some other conversations. But really, the more he thought about it, the better it sounded. Alright then, off to the Sun Room--

--or not. The soldier pushed him straight through toward one of the lobbies, calmly explaining that today, he had a visitor. The news was so stunning that Niikura couldn't find it in himself to complain until he was already sitting down in one of the chairs by himself - at which point, it was kind of useless to complain.

A visitor, huh? Had Hazama or Takasugi or someone figured out where he was? He wouldn't put it past them, although he would've liked it more if they'd managed to swoop down for the rescue a little earlier - like, say, a whole week earlier. Other than that, he couldn't think of anyone who'd actually take out the effort to visit him. Some cop? A classmate? This was almost getting nerve-wracking. Niikura's foot tapped as he stared anxiously at the door. Who was it going to be...?

Edgar's charming company had raised Anise's spirits enough that not even the Head Doctor's voice could bring them back down. Besides, she was feeling pretty sure that Landel wasn't actually around. To begin with, it wouldn't make sense, and secondly, his announcements sounded suspiciously like ones she'd already heard before. While Anise wasn't very familiar with Earth technology, she'd seen the little devices in the Music Room that could play recordings of people's voices. This had to be something like that.

It wasn't long before Anise was escorted to the Cafeteria, and then to the section where edible food was being served. As she filled her plate with waffles, fruit, and sausages, she looked to the other side of the counter with a look of sympathy. It was hard to enjoy her own meals while knowing what the other patients had to suffer through.

She wasn't about to refuse her meals just out of guilt, though. Anise needed her strength for tonight. There was still a bit of a nervous twist in her stomach whenever she thought about what could happen down in the basement... but she wasn't going to back down. Not after promising her friends they'd go together.

With her tray in hand, Anise seated herself at an empty table in the middle of the room. She preferred to have company while eating, but it looked like she was one of the first patients there, so there was no one to sit with. Maybe if she minded her manners and tried to look her cutest, she'd attract someone handsome! Holding her utensils delicately, she began to cut her waffles into smaller pieces.

[For Battler.]

Anise was actually sleeping well for once. When morning came, she was curled up on her side, her arms tightly hugging her pillow in the same way they would usually hold Tokunaga.

All was peaceful... until she was awakened by a hateful voice.

Her eyes snapped open, and she jolted up into a sitting position. The Head Doctor... that bastard Landel was back! Those were her first thoughts, but as the haze of sleep gradually left her mind, she began to question whether that was actually true. There was something weird about the intercom announcement. She couldn't put her finger on it exactly, but... wasn't it a bit too much like another announcement she'd heard before?

"Did you sleep well, Dolores?" a nurse asked as she let herself into the room. No... she wasn't a nurse. It was that woman from yesterday - a soldier. Anise didn't want to start any trouble with her, so she merely answered with a nod as she pulled herself out of bed.

Wait a second... this wasn't her uniform. Well, it was, but it wasn't the one she was wearing last night. It looked like Anise was dressed in those gross-looking gray rags again, with only one noticeable difference: a pair of star-shaped stickers on the front, just above the smiley face on the left side. What was that for? And did this mean they weren't going to be treated like soldiers anymore?

Anise didn't have much time to wonder, as the "nurse" urged her to quickly finish getting ready, and to choose a place to go. As usual, Anise chose the Chapel. There was a bittersweet familiarity about the place. It reminded her of home, but it also reminded her of how far she was from home.

Once she was left alone, Anise sat down on an empty pew. She didn't feel much like praying today, and she still wasn't sure it would do any good, besides. Instead, she occupied herself by looking around at the decor and the staff, and then by picking up a hymnal and glancing through it. She really wanted to know what was going on... but it didn't seem like any clear answers were going to come right away.

[Edgar!]

[ From here. ]

Deserted.

Regardless, Lightning took several steps into the large room, looking about and listening intently. Most importantly though, she was also trying to get a feel for the air there. She remembered quite clearly how it had seemed her first and second nights, how someone else going through ahead of her had caused the oppressive air inside to be stirred slightly, and figured that would be the best way for her to tell if anyone had already beat her out the door.

However, that didn't seem to be the case here, and as far as she could tell without walking all the way over to it, the entrance at the other end of the room hadn't yet been opened. Taking a hasty step backward, Lightning was quick to retrace where she'd come from as soon as she was sure of the possibility being struck out--

And then the sound of static from the radio trapped in her jacket, harsh and almost deafeningly loud in the darkened silence, nearly caused the already wound-tight l'Cie a heart attack then and there. Pressing her lips together in annoyance, she moved to retrieve the thing, immediately recognizing the first voice and then...

... That was-- was that the 'head doctor?'

Now almost outright scrambling, she quickly lifted the radio to not far from her face, first bending her head so that pieces of her pale hair fell forward as she listened, then promptly shaking it back, turning her back to the wall and leaning there, determined to keep an eye on her surroundings at the same time despite her surprise.

Much of the message went right over the ex-soldier's head still, but... they were working together- not even a child could miss that. Shaking her head in disgust, she started putting the noisy device back in the jacket pocket almost before the broadcast had come to an end.

A night off. Odd concept, though Taura wasn't fool enough take the silence on the intercom as implying that Aguilar had bought into this plan. That second click hadn't escaped her attention -- recording? Throwing some plan into motion, just loudly enough to let them all wonder?

If it was the latter, someone had finally given this place a lesson in psychological warfare. She shivered, and went back to thinking about what she should do with her mostly-free night.

She came to the conclusion that vacations were a lot more fun when she had someone to spend them with. Though the planet to explore had put in an appearance.

Maybe Rita would have some ideas, if she could be pried away from magical science once the experiment was over. Science people were like that -- if you didn't fit in, you were a puzzle, not a problem, even if it got just as tiring being poked and prodded, whether with needles or just with words.

Her things were all ready to go; she had decided to take the radio tonight. If Aguilar didn't have anything to say, someone else might, and if they decided to run out towards hostile territory, she could leave it behind. The materia and her claw she tucked into her purse, and the shuriken she carried. She didn't need a flashlight on familiar ground.

[to here]

Despite the rough start and the heavier snowfall, the buses managed to stay on route and on schedule. With minutes to spare, they arrived at the gates of Landel's Institute, back to the waiting arms of the military. All pretenses seemed to drop at this point, and the soldiers again took on their patented gruff exteriors. Patients were filed out of the buses in an orderly manner, eventually being escorted to their rooms for dinner in much the same. There, as promised by the personnel, well-behaved patients found their purchases among their returned possessions. A few even found new faces, though whether they brought as much joy as bought goods remained unseen.

The woman manning the intercom seemed to have missed the notice about the day's trip as her announcement remained no different from the usual. "Attention all subjects and personnel," she said. "Lights Out will commence within the hour."

A pause.

"I repeat, Lights Out will commence within the hour. All personnel: please report to your stations. The General will begin his address once preparations are underway. Thank you."

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. ANY NEWLY ACCEPTED CHARACTERS MAY POST TO THIS SHIFT (but are not obligated to if you would like to wait for Nightshift or Dayshift); please refer to the new room assignments before posting. Thank you! ]

As the day came to a close, Claude's conversation with Tear weighed heavily on his mind. All the implications hadn't quite sunk in yet, but it unsettled him that she'd been able to feel and experience his time in the basement in such a strong way. Was there some kind of significance behind the fact she'd lived the moment he ran toward Guy in a panic? Maybe it was because Guy was Tear's friend. Or maybe it said something about Claude himself.

He wasn't sure he'd ever move past what happened that night -- not as long as there was a chance it could happen again, and not as long as Guy's memories remained incomplete. He'd never gotten a chance to patch things up with Dias, either, and Claude supposed he'd never get the chance now.

On top of that, he hadn't seen Leon at all today.

As a result, he was in low spirits by the time he made it to the bus. He cooperated with the body search and let the staff take his batteries once the "nurse" explained he'd get his things back later. Once that was done, Claude stepped onto one of the large vehicles and took a seat.

It would have been nice to find Guy and spend the ride back talking with him, but it looked like he picked the wrong bus again. Inwardly sighing, Claude leaned back and gazed out the window.

There was so much snow outside. He still remembered all the golds, reds and oranges of the autumn leaves the first time he came here. That seemed like years ago now. What would his life be like by the time the first sprouts of spring appeared? What would happen to the rest of his friends?

He didn't know, and that scared him on days like these. That didn't mean he could let it consume him, but it was difficult to shrug off like it was nothing. At least the scenery in Doyleton gave him something different to look at...

[Free!]

Right now, Lightning couldn't decide if walking alone was better or worse than wandering the town's stores with Snow had been. She had no issue with going solo, of course... but it was a little uncanny to be doing it somewhere she had no information on- everywhere she'd ever been before, whether it be on a mission or otherwise, she'd always known something, but this wasn't even Cocoon, so...!

On the other hand, she wasn't having to deal with the other l'Cie's uniquely-irritating comments, nor the near-constant reminder of what the institute had apparently done to him somehow. It was something that, as terrible as it was to acknowledge it, she had no idea how to fix yet... and that he obviously didn't understand the scope of himself at all.

She let out a long sigh that quickly condensed in the air in front of her, very much still annoyed at the steady downfall of flakes clinging to her hair and clothing. At least she was quickly learning how to deal by now, keeping her hands firmly in coat pockets this time- that way, it was a little better when they hadn't had the chance to get cold in the first place.

Not that she was just wandering aimlessly, or had time to be concerned with something like the cold or... distinctly non-waterproof quality of the shoes she was wearing. She stopped, briefly frowning straight down at the snow lying gathered around her feet, before turning her gaze down the length of this latest street instead. She knew perfectly well that she was being followed by the soldiers still (it was hard not to tell when the already-sparse crowd had thinned to almost nothing at all), but couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she just made a break for it here and now. How far would she even get, equipped as she was...?

[ "...But I do know that we can't lose Hope." ]

Peter didn't know if he and Firo had left on the best terms, if only because the younger man was still so confused about what was going on in this place. The change in time period had a lot to do with it, but it had also sounded like he'd had a lot going on in his life before ending up here. Then again, who hadn't? Peter had just exploded before his arrival.

It was hard to think back to that night, to the way he'd stood in Kirby Plaza while burning up with nuclear overload, when he was in this quaint snow-covered town. This was the sort of image you'd see on the Christmas card; it wasn't supposed to exist.

Still, his walk with Firo had been rather long all things considered, and so Peter finally decided to leave the teen to his devices and go warm up somewhere. The best way to do that would be by putting some hot food in his stomach, and so he ended up backtracking to the Tasty Burger. He could have gone ahead to the Twin Pines, since the food was obviously better quality there, but the walk was longer and his face was starting to get numb.

Letting out a small sigh of relief as he stepped into the lively fast food place, Peter fished the proper coupon out of his pocket and went to stand in line, eyeing the two young girls at the counter as he waited for it to be his turn. Once he'd eaten, he could really start searching the shops for what to buy.

[Claire Bennet.]

Getting to check up on Neku had been good (even though Sora realized that he was the one who'd been approached, rather than doing the approaching), but when the buses finally made their way through the snow and into the town, the boy was completely distracted by the view that followed. It really did remind him of Christmastown. There were no lights up and he wasn't going to stumble on Santa's factory anytime soon, but it was still beautiful and he couldn't wait to get out into it.

So, the moment that the bus came to a halt, Sora waved a goodbye to Neku, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder for a moment as reassurance before he made his way down the aisle and eventually out the door and into the cold weather.

Sucking in a breath, he spun in a slow circle and grinned to himself. It was so pretty out here! And there was a whole thick layer of untouched snow that was just asking to be played in. Sora realized that his priority should have been finding a place where he could spend the twenty-five dollars he'd been given, he figured he'd have all day to work that out. Right now, he wanted to make the best of this weather, since he doubted it was going to be like this next week.

And so without delay he headed across the street and right into Magus Park. It also occurred to him that he'd finally broken his pattern of being injured whenever he came to town, which meant he had all the freedom to play around as he wanted.

The first order of business was making one of those snow angels that he'd learned about; it would be way easier than trying to make a snowman, he was guessing. Making use of the winter clothes he'd been given, the boy threw himself on the ground and started to fan out his arms and legs.

Maybe he was the leader of the Arts and Crafts club and maybe he'd fought against the Heartless and almost all of the Organization members during his journeys, but sometimes Sora just felt the need to be a kid again.

[For Tsubaki.]

Rita awakened in a cold sweat that morning. What the hell was that all about!? It had to be a trick, like the moving shadows from the other night... It just couldn't be real.

In the end, no progress had been made. How much longer was Rita going to be trapped in this dump?

Speaking of dump, that was about the moment when a male nurse entered the room, carrying a pile of worn clothes that looked like they came right out of the trash. He dumped them unceremoniously on her bed, and with an unfriendly glance, ordered her, "Put these on."

"Would it kill you to ask nicely?" Rita sneered, pulling herself out from under the covers and crawling over to where she could look through the pile. There was a dark blue knee-length skirt, a pair of purple stockings that came up to about the knees, a pink blouse, blue jacket, and a pink scarf. This was for that 'field trip', then? Well, whatever. They didn't look as stuffy as the military uniform, so Rita put them on.

Once she was finished, she found herself being led outside to some large machines - no, vehicles? - which several other patients were being made to board. Rita had heard very little about the Doyleton trip, other than the fact that they were apparently going to visit some Earth town. There was something intriguing about that - being able to see something that perhaps no one else from her world would ever see - but it was also a distraction that was going to further delay her escape, and that was irritating.

The vehicle that Rita was brought to was empty at the moment, so she sat herself down by a window and started looking through the various items she had been handed upon boarding. The money card was especially curious, and she wondered how much the allowance would allow her to buy. She assumed very little, but she hoped ten dollars were at least worth more than ten gald.

[Free!]

.....Ow. Okay, uh. Was all that static really necessary? If that guy was hoping to give everyone a migraine, he was certainly on the right track. He excelled at being annoying as much as he did delivering creepy, cryptic messages. Alright. Good for you, whoever you were.

But no matter. The strange speech over the intercom was the least of the prosecutor's concerns. He hastily finished  writing and then slid the journal inside his desk, leaving his empty dinner tray right where it was. Yeah, somehow he'd managed to eat all of the pink sludge. He should get an award for that. No, actually, he'd deserve an award if he was still alive when morning came. Hopefully Badd had come to his senses by now and wasn't still assuming Byrne was a spy or something. Hopefully.

Oh yeah! Flashlight, yeah, that'd be really helpful! Byrne opened the desk drawer again to peek inside, but then frowned when he couldn't find the elusive flashlight in there. Aww, man. For a moment he'd hoped that these soldiers would have been merciful enough to leave him one. It wasn't really fair that everyone else seemed to have one except for him. They just had to torment him, didn't they? Sigh.

Well, if he had to go without one, he had to go without one. No use whining about it. He'd survived the previous night without it and he'd gone on several heists without needing one, either. Tonight would be no different. Byrne reassured himself with these thoughts, then, with a quick "see ya" and an added "be careful" to his roommate, he headed out the door and into the dark hallway.

Right. Time to go pay Badd a little visit.

[M41; to here]

They'd taken her to a new room at dinner. Her roommate wasn't there. Instead, there was an unfamiliar figure wrapped in blankets, seemingly dead to the world.

There had been a box as well. Beside it was her axe, and inside there was her bag and her knife, and her old clothes. Claire had stood in front of it for some time, wide eyed. Anger boiling, scarring her insides. They had it the whole time...they had...

So nothing mattered then. Did it? They knew all along that she had this stuff. They knew she had weapons, that she had gone to Doyleton with Andrew to get them. They knew this whole thing was a stupid joke, and they could take her from wherever she was and drop her wherever they wanted. Could give her stuff from before. Claire had pursed her lips and clenched her fists around the musty flannel shirt. It was all just a joke to them. They had total control of their lives, and they could just...

Shocking how good of a sleeper her new roommate was. Claire could have sworn the fit she had thrown after finding the box would have woken the dead. Her desk lay in splinters, gruel spilled upon the floor amongst the shattered remains of dishes. Even her bed was slashed to ribbons, the knife drawn through the mattress and sheets until it looked as if a wild beast had been set upon it. The box, being metal, was impervious to the axe and the knife. But it did make a rather large dent where Claire had hurled it against the wall.

Now that night had come and the latest ominous message delivered, Claire stood at the ready. She was out of the military uniform, back in her ragged - but familiar - clothes from the island. Her bag slung over one shoulder and axe in hand, she left the room, seething madly.

They had better get something done tonight. Claire had had enough of this.

[To here.]

[From here.]

Yep. Still the only one here. He supposed that could be a good thing. That meant there would be less people to notice the teenage boy strolling into the bathroom and the schmuck in tights that came out two minutes later. He was all for less people noticing that.

[To here.]

Awkwaaaaaaaard.

After about five minutes of radio silence from the intercom, Peter was expecting to hear some heavy mouth breathing or other inappropriate stalker sound effects. Instead they heard nothing. And they continued to hear nothing until twilight hit.

All he could imagine now was whoever this Aguilar guy was just. Sitting there. Staring at the microphone, eyes steadily bulging over the span of fifteen minutes until he attained Muppet status. Fortunately, the beginning of the night was marked with at least some hint of humanity behind the speakers.

'Your actions will determine ours...' In what sense? he wondered. Peter raised a brow up at his speaker. He could hope to god that if the patients spent the night garnishing the trees and decking the halls that the soldiers would give them a Christmas miracle, but that would be a sad waste of hope. Happy wasn't allowed here. They sniffed it out with happy detectors at every entrance and confiscated it before letting you in.

...Though on second thought...if Indiana Jones was real here, did that mean that Santa Claus was too?

Holy.

Shit.

Okay okay, so that was totally ridiculous and he could not focus on that right now. But as Peter excused himself from dinner and gathered his costume into his trusty pillow case, he couldn't help feeling a little giddy. Because...well...it was stupid, but it so could happen here. He'd met the Scarecrow of Oz, for frick's sake. Santa was only like, two steps away from that level of utter silly. Right? Oh god, it was so stupid, but a man could dream, goddammit. There had to be a universe with a freaking Santa Claus; that jolly old blubber ball made a guest appearance in at least half of everything that aired on public television. And other things. He'd shown up in Narnia, right? Was there a Narnia universe somewhere?

Peter slid out of the closet, pillow case full of spandex and suddenly reminded of just how low on his list of concerns the existence of Santa Claus was. Standing in the darkness with a feeble flashlight could do that to you.

"Well. I guess that's as cheery a goodnight we're going to get from this Aguilar guy." Peter shook his head at his roommate, trying to quell the niggling feeling in the back of his head. He already knew that this was 'bad news'. Everything was bad news here. After a while you just had to learn that panicking about it every single second of every day would get you nowhere. Keep on Trucking was the survival motto of Landel's.

He smiled at his roommate's shadowed form and shrugged, then fished his magic ring from his desk. Tonight, he was going to figure out how that doomahickey worked. It was about damn time. Thank you, random bulletin post, for showing him the light.

"Have a good sleep, okay?" Peter gave a wave, swinging the door open and slinging the pillow case over his shoulder. "Lock the door behind me."

There was a click of the latch, and Peter was gone.

[To here.]

Snow doubled in number as the day transitioned into the evening hours. Unfortunately, none of the patients were allowed the time to enjoy the weather changes. They were instead greeted by the telltale jingle of the intercom, signaling their cue to return indoors.

Once again, they heard the voice of a familiar female. She sounded unchanged from her previous announcements, her intonation as clear and as flat as ever.

"Attention all subjects and personnel. All subjects are to return to their assigned rooms for their evening meal. Lights Out will commence shortly after."

The woman paused, seemingly for effect.

"All personnel: you are to report to your stations. Thank you."

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. ANY NEWLY ACCEPTED CHARACTERS MAY POST TO THIS SHIFT (but are not obligated to if you would like to wait for Nightshift or Dayshift); please refer to the new room assignments before posting. Thank you! ]