Today was really trying to rain on her parade, wasn't it?

Well, it wasn't gonna work! Hanna was determined to stay strong and cheerful, in spite of Kenshin throwing a mega bitchfit and that the chick from the library being… Yeah. Her flightiness had been bad enough, but the half glossed-over memories had bordered on terrifying. Had she really been that far gone? It had to have been the meds. Just the meds. Yuffie was a douchey, semi-sociopathic klepto ninja thing, but even in that imagined world of hers, she hadn't gone around slashing people to ribbons for fun. Had she? Ugh, Hanna didn't even know anymore. Crazy people were capable of crazy stuff

Hanna's gut clenched just thinking about it, and she turned determinedly back to her lunch. The food wasn't exactly great, but it was better than some of the stuff she'd eaten. Like Stan's Deep fried Twinkie and mashed banana hot pot. Or, y'know, the normal stuff that teenage semi-runaways ate. Craptastic sandwiches and super economy potato chips, when she could get them, and whatever was in Tiffany's fridge when she couldn't. Dignity was dignity, and dignity was important, but being able to scratch a living from a rock was a handy life skill to have.

Stuffing another few chips in her mouth, Hanna did her best to ignore the door—and, by proxy, anybody who happened to come through it. Nostalgia trip aside, hadn't the Head Nurse said something about a whole new batch of crazycakes? Now she'd feel even more like a sardine than ever. Great.

[ For Cloud? :D ]

As soon as she had the chance, Sheena ninja'd herself out of the cafeteria and away from the conversation she'd been semi-forced to have. She probably could have just clammed up and told the boys to go away, but she'd kind of owed at least Endrance some kind of explanation. It wasn't everyday the embodiment of darkness pops up and delivers a mighty bitch slap.

She stayed close to the door, out of immediate sight, as people left the cafeteria. As soon as she saw him, the ninja grabbed Soubi's sleeve and pulled him quickly to a corner away from the general area where there were only a few chairs. When she let go and turned to say something to him, words failed her and she just stared at him, a little lost about how to talk about what she wanted to talk about.

Then again, did she really want to talk to Soubi about Yukari and what had happened? Soubi obviously knew about these kind of things, but he'd tease her about them. Sheena idly played with the small round bell at the end of a string hanging about her neck, a bright red ribbon that was clearly not her usual pale pink ribbon holding her hair back.

"Umm... Hey."

[closed to Soubi with a later thread-crashing youkai]

[from here]

As they approached the top of the stairs, Alkaid took the natural exit, and turned to face the right. She'd already sorta been down what was there in the left corridor, but she wasn't sure where to go from here.

"...Hey, Badou? Speaking of sane... don't pay any attention to me if I talk about items and item screens and equipment. It's kind of a really old habit, so if you go thinking I'm crazy, I won't forgi--"

Just then, out of the corner of her eye, a wall seemed to peel back for a split second, revealing the rusty, drippy pipes within. She flicked her flashlight over to it just to see the normal, if dirty, wall. Nothing was there, but...

"Huh. I take back what I said earlier... I'm starting to think this place is glitching."

It would make sense, especially if he had already seen something similar. And with the intercom screwup, it seemed totally obvious.

Touya sat on his bed with his hands folded, listening to the announcement, hearing the doors unlock. He hadn't been paying much attention, though--his mind was elsewhere.

For one, Jaime was gone. The bed across from him was unoccupied, and there wasn't any sign of his stuff anywhere. He'd been a nice kid, though Touya couldn't help but feel like he had been hiding something. Considering the events of last night, Touya didn't want to think about what might have happened to him. Tomorrow, he should post something.

His lack of roommate, though, had caused him to be left alone to his thoughts. They ran circles in his head, wearing a beaten track in his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about what Nakuru had said.

What if he had taken those pictures? What if he was stalking Yuki? What if he was an obsessed, crazed teenager, bent on getting his way just because his hormones said so?

He had to talk to Yuki about this--and in private. Sakura shouldn't be there if her brother really was a stalker. He quickly gathered his necessary items for the night and struck out for Yukito's room.

[from here]

Even distracted as he was, Suzaku remembered to stay on his guard as he passed into the main hallway. He would only be here for a moment, but there could still be a monster lurking in the darkness. And it was so quiet and deserted just now that he would make easy prey.

[to here]

[from here]

The halls were empty so far, which was probably a good sign. Suzaku was hoping to get a move-on quickly, so they could hurry up and get Yuffie's sword made. The first night he'd been here, he'd been pulled back to his bed the instant he made it outside, so they'd have to move fast if they wanted to make any decent progress. And right now he couldn't afford to focus on anything but just that, making progress.

[to here]

[from here]

The streets hardly seemed to be a better alternative to the pet shop. In fact, it seemed like there were more zombies on the street than where they were originally. Sakura glanced around the town in a frenzy. Zombies were everywhere! Where were they supposed to find somewhere safe?

She picked up a rock and pitched it at a zombie approaching them from behind. "Fai-san, where do we go?" she asked, looking up at him once more.

[from here]

Being stuck in a small room with those monstrosities didn't seem the safest option. Being outside, with more space to see and move sounded far better. But when Klavier actually got outside, he suddenly thought maybe the small room didn't seem so bad.

THEY. WERE. EVERYWHERE. Crowded worse than LA during rush hour on even the worst of days. Rushing and moving like a writhing, anguished mass. So many. Where had they come from?! Stupid question. What were they?! Monsters, people... How could this-- AHHH!!!

He was frozen in place for a few moments before he realized staying in one spot wasn't the best idea. He frantically looked around. He needed to find somewhere safe! He needed to get out of here. Where was safe?! Somewhere high? Were all of the buildings infested? Maybe he could lock himself in somewhere and--

WAIT!! NO! What was he thinking?! What about everyone else? He couldn't just barricade himself somewhere safe and sit around while everyone else was ripped apart. And... KRISTOPH! Where was he?! Had he been swarmed, too?! He had to have been. But in this mess, he didn't even know where to begin looking for him. Or how long he would last searching. Maybe he would have to trust that his brother would find a safe place... No. He couldn't spend the entire night not even sure if he was safe or not. What if he needed help?

....Holy-- It looked like HE needed help!! "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Again he swung the lamp anytime any got too close, moving with his back toward the walls. Where to go?! Where to go?!

Being inside a building, the setting of the sun was not as prevalent as it would have been outdoors. Beatrix had enjoyed a pleasant meal alone after she had left the elf and her companion outside. She'd just been getting up, folding her napkin to set on her plate at the behest of her nurse, then the change came. Being right next to her nurse, it wasn't hard to miss.

"Fuck," the Bride stated, realizing that she was currently bereft of her sword and other armaments. That did not mean she wasn't still deadly. The assassin wasted no time, immediately grabbing her nurse and snapping the woman's neck while she was still in the twisted throws of change. The body went limp and hit the ground, laying still, once she'd let go.

More, there were more. Cold eyes darted around the restaurant, noting the other prisoners remained the same, though many were already frightened and others moving as she did, but the wait staff had all changed. They'd become...

"Zombies?" What the hell was this? Beatrix felt like she was in a bad adaptation of a George Romero film. This lead her to wonder if these were Type I or Type II zombies. Best to find out.

When the first zombie waitress came at her, Beatrix met it and , after blocking its attempt to bite her (duly noted), she grabbed its head and twisted sharply. The zombie's neck snapped and, just like her nurse, the creature went limp and fell to the floor. Type II it was. This was most beneficial as she didn't have anything sharp to...

The kitchen.

The Bride fought her way to the restaurant's kitchen, snapping a few more zombie necks along the way, and shoved the swinging double doors to the kitchen open with enough force to knock the zombies trying to come through back. She snapped the largest zombie's neck, the chef from the tattered remains of its clothing, and then headed further into the kitchen. Jumping up onto the stainless steel counter, she quickly crossed the kitchen amid the sea of the zombified kitchen staff. On the far wall, she could see the magnetic board holding the knives.

Kicking the nearest zombie in the head to get it out of the way, Beatrix jumped the aisle between the two counters and grabbed the knives. She was glad for the jacket she was wearing as it had large inner pockets (thank God for bad eighties fashion) and stuffed three of the knives into the pocket after wrapping them in a cleaning rag that had been on the counter. She then took the two largest knives left (there was no way she'd be able to take all of them) and brandished them at the advancing zombies.

Yes, a bad George Romero film. With a narrowing of her eyes, the assassin watched the small horde before leaping to the opposite counter to give her more maneuverability. She needed to find her associates, but clearing the restaurant to make it something like a safe-house would be a good idea. The children needed someplace safe to hole up in, after all. Zombie-killer was never a title she ever thought she'd have tacked onto her name.

The zombies in the kitchen didn't last long.

Luffy was in good spirits by the time evening rolled around. There was nothing like some music to liven up the day! Then again, who'd ever heard of a pirate who didn't like music? It was the main reason he'd been hoping for a musician ever since he'd managed to get a ship of his own. If his musician position hadn't already been filled, Luffy might have asked that guy with the guitar to join up with him. But Brook was everything Luffy could have asked for and more, so he didn't think on that for long.

Actually, he had to hand it to his future self for being lucky enough to run into such an awesome guy like Brook and pouncing on the opportunity. If Luffy could, he'd shake his own hand, or slap himself on the back, or something. Obviously a big piece of meat was in order. Not that there wasn't an occasion when meat wasn't a great idea, of course!

It hadn't been too hard to get directions to the nearest restaurant. The way was a straight shot from the shop he'd been at earlier, and as tempting as it'd been to wander down one of the other streets, the call of food was a strong one for Luffy. Thankfully, it didn't take him long to finally reach Twin Pines -- a name he vaguely remembered hearing during his last two trips here. Now that he thought of it, wasn't he supposed to get something to eat here with Nami that day they'd pulled a heist at the hardware store?

Not for the first time, he wondered where Nami and the others had gotten off to. He trusted them enough to take care of themselves, but it was still strange the way some of his nakama drifted in and out of this place.

The aroma of delicious food pulled him out of his thoughts once he stepped into the restaurant. Someone seated him in one of the booths, and Luffy wasted no time in picking up a menu to look over. Oh man, everything looked so good!

Music was, above all else, an art form. Arguably the ultimate art form. It was able to transcend languages and immerse the listener in any kind of atmosphere, painting mental images and dragging forth memories. Happiness, sadness, anger, sorrow, regret, absolution, peace, joy, love... A clean melody could overwhelm the heart with any number of emotions. So was an audience's fate. So was their joy.

And so too was the performer's heart laid bare when he played. As any musician knew, their emotions were as key to their music as the instrument in their hand. It was the perfect form of expression. Thus, as Klavier's mood lifted over the course of the day, so did his music. As opposed to the more articulate, beautiful melodies of the morning, he was now playing far more energetic music. Or as energetic as an acoustic could be.

Enough with this dreary atmosphere. Five days in this wretched place. Far more for others. In a place where will power was all one could survive on, the slight chance of lifting a few spirits was a worthy cause. If he could do that, then he was happy.

[Free. Limit: Any. People are free to enter and exit the thread as they wish, etc.]

When the intercom's jingle sounded, there seemed to be some kind of tapping in the background noise, like letters being punched into a keyboard. It stopped and the Head Doctor chuckled.

"Hello, everyone! I'm actually taking a break from paperwork for once – everyone needs some recreational time, you know! – and of course, now we can all look forward to a scrumptious dinner from our cooks. Tonight, herb-seasoned grilled salmon is on the menu, served with buttery mashed potatoes and asparagus. All our regular drinks and vegetarian options are available, and for dessert, we will be serving yellow cake with a whipped cream icing.

"...Well! I can hardly wait to get my own dinner after saying all that. Good bye for now, everyone, and enjoy your delicious food!"

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. (Find all of the newly changed room assignments and shift introductions here.) If you are introducing your character during this shift, you may either choose for them character to wake up before their roommate gets back, or after. ]

Just as von Karma started to enter the doorway leading to the Courtyard to look around for anyone remotely resembling his daughter, that pretentious lunatic's voice rang out over the Intercom, heralding the approach of lunch time. Right away, the damned nurse practically dragged him back into the cafeteria and towards the serving tables, telling him in that cloyingly cheerful tone that he could get his fresh air after he had had his meal. What rotten timing!

His mood worsened as he saw what was on those tables. "Nurse! This is the same greasy, disgusting, perfect-artery-ruining swill that was offered for lunch the last time I was in here! Does this Institute serve nothing else? How is any of this healthy for someone whom you claim has recently suffered from a stroke?!"

"Why, you're right, Mr. Fuchs! Here, I'll fix you a nice, big, healthy salad." Before he could protest that he wasn't hungry anyway, the smiling nurse loaded a heap of greens and some fruits onto a plate for him. Then she led him to one of the tables and seated him there. "Now, be a good man and finish all of that. You will do that just for me, won't you?"

The look he shot her in response indicated that he would never do anything "just for her." Certainly, not consuming this entire mountain of lettuce and carrots. As much as he approved of salads, the portion she served him was nothing short of ludicrous. Glaring at her in silence, he made no pretense of even starting in on this ridiculous travesty of a meal. Finally, she seemed to take the hint, excusing herself to attend to the other patients... but not without admonishing him that his "plate had better be clean" by the time she returned to take him to the Courtyard.

As she left him, von Karma looked all around him to see whether Franziska had come into the cafeteria yet. Unfortunately, as he had already arranged to meet his former roommate at this time, all he could do for now was to attempt to visually confirm her presence in this hellhole. As much as he hoped that the author of the replies to this S.T.'s note was nothing more than an impostor -- in which case, he would make that person pay for brazenly impersonating his daughter -- he was not entirely certain of that right now.

In the meantime, he had other practical matters to attend to. He still needed to speak to Javert to find out what had truly happened during the time he was unconscious. As he surreptitiously scanned the stream of arriving patients for the face of his daughter -- or those of his enemies -- he patiently awaited Javert's arrival, hoping that the man could still recognize him after all this time.

[Closed to Javert]

Endrance turned his head to look at the intercom, giving it a look that would wither an entire rose garden in an instant. He would never get used to ending up in his room again from somewhere else in the Institute.

He brushed his bangs out of his eyes, not sitting up just yet. He could tell already that his torso had been heavily bandaged, even more so than it had been the night before. The cuts on his arms were covered with fresh bandages, and the one on his cheek seemed to no longer be there at all.

Endrance had been expecting to wake up in a lot of pain, but even that seemed numbed. "They must have given me something," he murmured quietly, as he slowly sat up.

At that moment, his nurse came to get him, pushing a wheelchair along with her. "Peyton, dear, good morning. I've come to take you to breakfast, so..." He shook his head. "I'm fine. There's no need for that...I can walk perfectly well."

She sighed. Well, if he insisted, she wasn't going to stop him. She motioned for an orderly to take the chair away, and walked him to the cafeteria. Once they had gotten there, she pointed him toward a seat, then set a full tray of pancakes covered with syrup, a bowl of fruit, and a glass of orange juice in front of him. "Now eat all of that, Peyton, or else you won't be strong enough to keep walking like that."

He glared at her back as she walked away, then stopped suddenly. There was that faint pulse he'd felt the night before...it was exactly the same.

And so he completely ignored his food in favor of staring at the cafeteria doors, looking at every patient that came in.

[thread will be closed to Haseo. ♥]

*hobble wobble*

"Damn that SCOURGE!" Starscream cried out, the slowly-filling cafeteria producing a jarring echo of his raspy voice. His limping, already bad enough from not knowing how to properly use his crutches, was now exacerbated from the injuries he'd received the shift prior. Despite the gauges in his non-casted leg so lovingly provided by the aforementioned 'patient', Starscream could still put some weight on it, but not so much that he could really stop and rest; relieving the soreness under his arms was out of the question. The nurse that walked behind him with his tray, already upset at having to deal with yet another troublesome inmate, was growing rather impatient as his charge slowly made his way down the food line.

"Just...give me a standard serving of the aquatic creature's flesh, some of those fried potato slices, two bananas, and three bottles of juice," Starscream sighed, his anger from just a moment ago assuaged by the physical exertion needed to move the way he did. "I'm going to sit down here...bring it to me when you're done."

He was hardly surprised to find that one of the bananas was completely bruised along its inner curve, or that the handful of 'chips' on his plate were all on the small side. Tired and frustrated as he was, however, he could barely muster a 'damned flesh-creature' before moving his fingers to the plate, picking one of the longer 'chips' and shoving it into his mouth listlessly.

There was an unusually high concentration of sodium chloride crystals on it. Of COURSE.

[For Tony Stark]

Kio's breakfast ended on a much happier note than it had started. However, for once the announcement truly surprised him. He blinked as his nurse came to pick him up. Recreational Field? But.. but if they had a greenhouse, he wanted to go there. The prospect of gardening was a truly liberating one, an island of joy in this hellhole. He thought about going to the Sun Room and lying down, but it occurred to him that he hadn't had proper fresh air since being here. With a cheery goodbye wave to Honey, he followed his torturer outside.

It was much better than he had expected. The sun wasn't too hot (what time of the year were they in, anyway?), so he walked slowly along the walls, fascinated by the size of the field. He wondered if Sou-chan was alright. He hadn't even checked the board. Well, if Soubi wanted to apologize, Kio would be willing to listen. The place was so crisp and clean. He had to think if anyone had ever gone over the walls. What was out there? Freedom? Or a different sort of monster?

Leaning against one of the walls, Kio took as much advantage of the sun as he could. He desperately wanted a lollipop. One was quietly nestled in his pocket, but he would need to wait until the nurses were busy with other patients before he tried anything. Soubi had gone to some trouble to get them, the least he could do was make sure they didn't get confiscated. So with bated breath, Kio waited for a shift in the mood. He was, for once, content. Not happy, but not going crazy either.

[Sou-chan! Team Loveless deploy!]

Utena's second night seemed to have ended even sooner than the first had, which greatly disappointed her. She had been hoping that at some point, she could have coaxed her friend into telling her what was so horrible that happened in her future. Then again, curiosity aside, she was also somewhat relieved that she didn't have to hear it just yet. She half-wondered if Landel had ended both of their previous nights early on purpose, too, just to make certain that Utena didn't spend enough time with her friend to potentially hear of that future.

Almost as soon as she thought of Landel, Utena heard his voice crackle over the intercom again. Hearing him yawn through his announcement almost made her sleepy as well; she'd had no idea that yawns could be contagious over speaker systems. Physically, she did feel rested, though she certainly couldn't remember sleeping or dreaming between the end of night and her waking up.

As her nurse came to collect her for breakfast, Utena felt conflicted over whether she ought to see Himemiya again that night. On the one hand, she wanted to be there for her friend and try to coax some of the girl's old self out of her. Either that or at least try to console her about whatever was troubling her. On the other hand, she knew that it would be stupid to waste too many nights on talk. She could be helping Seiya or the clubs or finding metal to store for whenever Skuld was ready for her, something that would help her and Himemiya break out faster.

Maybe I'll post a message for her later if I don't see her again during the day. It's not perfect, but at least it'll let us talk and then leave me an opening to go out and do . . . whatever it is that might need doing, she thought as she was escorted into the cafeteria to pick up breakfast (english muffins that morning). Remembering the clubs again, Utena thought about the message exchange she had had with that girl from Arts & Crafts, Momo Hinamori. They were supposed to be meeting over breakfast, right? Utena didn't see anyone who matched Hinamori's description yet, but then, the girl had said that it would be easier for her to find Utena than the other way around. She sat down at a nearby table for the time being and waited, running the previous night's short conversation in her head over and over.

[For Momo]

Along with giving him an idea for a good cover story, Scourge's conversation with the soldier-human on the bulletin board had made the tracker stop and think about his place in the Decepticon hierarchy. More specifically, the fact that he didn't have one. Galvatron wasn't here anymore, there was no one who he was obligated to by virtue of creation. He was a free agent for the first time in his life, and it wasn't as scary as he thought it'd be.

Lugnut and Blitzwing probably wouldn't be too happy with him thinking like this, but who cared? They were both crazy, Blitzwing random and Lugnut stubborn, and without a stabilizing Cyclonus-like influence Scourge suspected they wouldn't get very far. Better to get himself a better footing with someone saner and just give lip service to "mighty Megatron" when it was convenient.

In the meantime, Scourge had to see a Superboy about a virginity. What exactly that would entail he wasn't really sure, but it sounded a lot more fun than raiding the kitchen with pointless idiots who seemed to be liking him less and less as things went on.

The tracker took out the wooden cooking spoon he'd found last night, set it on the floor with his foot on the scoop end, and yanked upwards. The spoon cracked and left him with a long rod with a dangerously pointy and splintered end that would probably at least distract anything with a squishy place to stick it in. Better than nothing. The makeshift wooden shiv went in one pocket, the flashlight in the other--with his eyes he wouldn't need it for anything but small details and it would be easier to hide in the dark. The handle of the pan went in his hand and the tracker cautiously went out into the hallway. Let him be a force to be reckoned with.

Or at least one that made the other guy look like a tastier option.

[To here.]

[From here]

Dark. Creepy. Still empty.

A whole bunch of absolutes with no borders; even if Yukari couldn't actually perceive these factors as she would naturally, her mind still registered them. Nothing easily manipulable.

Not that it mattered, if she couldn't do anything but create her spatial gaps. Out of idle curiosity, she shone her light upon the ground and tried to expand its edge, to change the border between light and dark. She even went so far as to wave her (sad, bent) parasol at the spot of light, but there was no change. It wasn't even a strain; there simply wasn't anything there.

She hadn't expected it, but she could always hope that her situation might improve.

Shrugging, the youkai headed on.

[To here]

The Head Doctor seemed a little rushed as he spoke on the intercom, not taking as much pleasure as he usually did in describing the delicious food that would soon be served.

"Hello, everyone! Tonight is turkey night, which means turkey breast in a great turkey gravy with some nice turkey sides: peas, herb potatoes, a small garden salad, and for dessert, a slice of pumpkin pie. We of course have vegetarian substitutes available, as well as our usual assortment of drinks.

"...I believe that's it! I'll talk to you soon!"

The intercom clicked off abruptly.

[ If you are introducing your character during this shift, you may either choose for them character to wake up before their roommate gets back, or after.

All room threads go in response to this post; please post your character's room number as the subject line of the initial post. Thank you! ]