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

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

The Head Doctor chuckled.

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

He paused, then added:

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

The intercom clicked off.

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

Renji's quasi-peaceful mood from breakfast was well and gone by the time he got out to the courtyard. Rather than dwell on the all-new problems with Rukia - and the fact that he had absolutely no idea how to deal with any of it - he tried to occupy himself with a mental checklist of the things he needed to do today. Meet with Roy Mustang at lunch, introduce Hitsugaya around, hopefully speak with Qui-Gon at some point in the day, figure out who would be doing what in the night...

He'd gotten seperated from the rest of the Shinigami during the shuffle out to the courtyard, so he found himself somewhere out of the way where he could work out what else he needed to do.

It wasn't that he was avoiding Rukia, really.

Mostly.

Because avoiding someone in this place, at these times, was pretty much impossible.

His normally grouchy expression seemed just a bit more sour.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[[From here]]

Recluse stopped at the top of the stairs, sufficiently far enough from the flashlight so that he felt a little less jumpy. He scanned the area, trying to make sure there were no unpleasant surprises waiting for him in the dark halls. Satisfied for the moment that the area was safe, he turned to speak quietly to the reporter.

"I haven't been to the chapel before. I assume you know the way?"

[Coming in from here]

So far so good.

The stairs to the second floor should be around here. So far they hadn't run into any of the locals here, which was both a good and bad thing: they didn't have to expend needless energy defending themselves, but, on the other hand, that also meant no food. Brock sighed, searching the walls for the door to the stairs, and tried to not focus on the fact that he was not only starving again for human food (apparently they were still recovering from last night), but he was also getting pretty hungry for some of the fresh, rather socially inacceptable meat that had a habit of walking on two legs.

It would be the first time that he could remember that he'd fed when he wasn't Venom. While it probably wasn't a far stretch to assume that the symbiote took his body on joyrides when he was asleep or unconscious, there still remained the fact that he didn't recall any incident where he'd killed with his bare hands, fed as Eddie Brock only.

The mental image of himself crouched over a corpse and going for the head was a bit nauseating, actually and he had to hurriedly focus on the walls before him, rearing up in the darkness and grainy in their eyes. Being back to near-human apparently made him somewhat squeamish again.

It's just a need like normal eating, Brock thought, echoing the reassurances of his Other. It's perfectly okay. We have as much a right to exist as everyone else.

The blond paused before the stairs, slightly comforted by this, and started up them, careful to watch his feet and feeling along the rails with one hand. Hopefully the Chapel was empty when they got there; Brock was all for feeding outside it, but it seemed wrong to profane that kind of ground with even their very honest needs. It just didn't feel right to pull that kind of shit in a holy place (while it didn't have any religious markers, Brock still felt it was special and deserved the proper respect).

Gin sat quietly on the edge his bed, hands folded in his lap as the doors unlocked.  The knives were still beneath his pillow, where he'd stuffed them before Naoe came in for dinner.  He'd prefer the man didn't know he had them, but if Ran arrived before Naoe left, well, it wasn't that important.

He still didn't know if she was going to show up at all.  He'd wait a few minutes, check and see if her spirit thread was getting any closer, if not... there were plenty of other things he could do tonight.  Jack was reliable if nothing else and wouldn't be too difficult to find.  The disembodied voice of the announcer was right though.  It was possible, terribly likely in fact, that he was not on the grounds.  That he was somewhere else entirely.  It would help if he knew a little more about how their announcement system worked.  Obviously the Head Doctor wasn't the only one who could use it. 

Regardless, he had to focus his thoughts on the here and now and then proceed forward.  He sat patiently,  for now at least, waiting for his visitor.

As the intercom clicked on, one could almost hear a very new, very faint sound emanating from it, and that was the high-pitched whine and scratchy voices on a television. The extra noise was cut short, however, when the Head Doctor seemed to realize he had left his television program on and turned it off so that he could make his announcement.

"And it seems our day has already almost drawn to a close! Ah, well, as is life, eh?"

When he received no response but a cough from his always-present assistant, and he continued.

"In any case, now we will revert to the normal pattern of every evening and have all of you escorted back to your rooms for dinner. Tonight's menu will consist of beef brisket along with cornbread, peas, mashed potatoes, and a cookie for dessert. Starting tonight, however, you will only be receiving water to drink, and as we've found giving too much sugar to patients before bedtime has increased the likelihood of cavities among our charges, each room will also be given a separate, large washing bowl filled with water and two extra glasses of water, along with two toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste, so that we can begin ensuring proper dental care in this facility! We found out a while ago that sending every patient to the bathroom at once was unfeasible with our current numbers, but we hope for this to be an easy solution to the problem.

"We hope for your own sake to receive your cooperation in the act of personal hygiene! Remember: Cleanliness is next to godliness!"

A pause.

"I believe that is all! I will bid you goodnight once dinner is over. We hope you enjoy your meal!"

The intercom clicked off and all was silent again.

[ OOC: Remember the posting format for dinner! You guys all respond to this post with a separate thread for each pair of roommates. Thanks! :D ]

The second the intercom sounded, while the man on the intercom was still talking, Ashton pulled himself off the couch in the Music Room and slowly made his way to the door. He walked, glided even, as if he were a ghost in a dream. The nurses had already filed up to escort the patients to the lunchroom, and one bustled over to walk Ashton those few feet from one room to another.

"You're not looking very well, Mr. Pritchett," she said cheerfully. "Didn't you enjoy your shower?"

Ashton replied with a small, forced smile, then shook his head. He didn't feel like talking now. Though the nurses were pushy and downright annoying, he figured he owed this one at least a little explanation. They didn't know - or didn't believe - what went on after dark, but he owed them the benefit of the doubt. "Bad day," he decided on telling her.

Bad day indeed. The showers and the music had done nothing for his nerves. But then again, what could get that graphic image out of his head?

He glided ghostily through the taco line and settled on two chicken and bean tacos, with chips, a scoop of guacamole, two churros on the side, and a glass of apple juice. He wasn't used to this sort of food (save the juice) and he wasn't even sure he'd eat it, but the chances were high that he'd be able to pass it off on someone.

He was on the verge of tears again, too. What he would have given to just sit down next to a barrel and eat a hamburger.

Thank goodness the cafeteria was bare just now, too. It left all the corner tables open, the tables that shouted 'Don't talk to me, I'm brooding over here.' He sat at one, pushed his food a little away from him, and buried his head in his arms.

Well, that was a complete waste of time.

They were so occupied with fighting that pathetic ape they didn't even got a chance to enter that stupid office. Not even a peek, while the door was wide open. That was just pathetic!

Albel found himself back in his bed. The captain barely had time to wrap his knife in the piece of cloth and stuff it into his pocket before the nurse came in, whining about him missing breakfast. Albel merely glared daggers at her, but instead of taking the hint she just rambled on about the next activity.

The Ellicoorian wasn't particularly looking forward to taking a shower. Not that he had something against personal hygiene, on the contrary. But communal showers were not something Albel was exactly comfortable with, the captain liked his privacy. Part of him just wanted to turn around in his bed and pretend the stupid wench didn't even enter his room, but he knew that wouldn't solve anything. So he allowed himself to be escorted to the showers.

After he had arrived and silently stripped himself of his pathetic excuse of clothing, he walked over the cold, damp tiles. There weren't any of the other worms around just yet, which suited Albel just fine. He picked a shower head removed slightly further from the others. As usual, he wasn't in the mood to socialize. Hopefully, none of the maggots would bother. Showering in the same room was bad enough as it was.

Turning the shower on, he felt the hot water flowing on his body. As he began scrubbing himself, his gaze rested on the ugly but sensitive, burned skin of his left arm. He'd never enjoyed looking at it, it was the mark of his failure, his shame. His mind went back to that incident years back. He remembered the flames, the scream... like it all happened yesterday. And the events a few nights back didn't help any of it.

No, he shouldn't think about it. He couldn't allow himself to be weak, not here. Self-pity wouldn't get him anywhere.

That hadn't felt like an entire night.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[from here]

Ashton let himself into room M18, shutting the door behind him, already fearing the worst. His flashlight was on, and instantly illuminated the side of the bed where Dias' body lay. “Dias, I...”

“Dias?!” All his fears seemed to have come true.

The other man wouldn't be sleeping at a time like this – would he? No. No, this was nightshift, and - .. it was true. He had to have been sedated. He had to have fought against seeing his dead family, and the staff had won. At least he had gotten what he wanted. Ashton could only hope that the staff hadn't ...done things to Dias while he had been sedated. The rumors he'd heard.. of what happened to some patients... they made him sick.

The brown-haired swordsman seated himself next to his friend, flicked off the flashlight, and a gentle hand raised to brush the man's wild blue bangs to the side of his face. The silver-blue hair was softer than he'd imagined, and Ashton had to fight the urge for now to touch Dias' face.

He was in no position to notice if someone else was even in the room.

Gin gave the door a gentle push.  Just as they'd said, it opened easily now.  He peered out into the hallway; it was still quiet.  No monsters, no patients either.  He ducked his head back inside and picked up a few things he'd set aside earlier.  The room didn't contain anything particularly useful.  The dog... no, Yoshiaki, might have been hiding something, but Gin didn't have the time to interrogate the man.  He planned on being far and away by the time most of the others saw fit to creep from their beds. 

Stiff bed sheets, a handful of pens, and a flashlight.  Not the most threatening of weapons, but if the wound on his neck was any indication, they could certainly inflict pain if used correctly.  He fancied the idea that Tousen would be laughing his fool head off, if Tousen ever entertained the notion of laughter.  Aizen would certainly be amused to see him like this, of that he was certain. 

It was only a moment before he was out the door and rounded the corner of the hallway.  It was dark.  Wait for his eyes to adjust or use the flashlight, making his position known?  He tensed as he entered the main empty hallway, peering through the darkness and listening intently for any signs of life.

As the intercom switched on, the shuffling of papers was the first thing that could be heard rather than the voice of the Head Doctor. It seemed he had been going through a lot of them today, a fact which could perhaps be attributed to the fact that so many new patients had flooded the halls of Landel's on this particular afternoon.

Of course, the day was almost over, which accounted for the slight tinge of fatigue that could be heard in the Head Doctor's voice as he finally pulled the microphone towards him.

"Ah, yes, and it seems we have arrived at our final junction of the day!" He said, sounding slightly preoccupied as he looked for what he needed in his files. "I am pleased to announce something that many of you might have already guessed: In order to promote good behavior and friendly interaction among our patients, we have set as many individuals as possible up with roommates! Yes, yes, we all hope that you get along with your new friends, and upon the shoulders of patients who have new patients as their roommates, we put the responsibility of tutoring our newcomers about their current way of life. Speaking of which, I have a list of new introducteés this evening: John Bull, Arthur Hurley, Arthur Dent, Cole Li, Philip Hunt, Henry Kobayashi, Elena Taylor, David Barrows, Tobias Prince, Keanu Reeves, Brian Jones, Regina Dawson, and Matt Sherrow."

Just as the Head Doctor seemed ready to wrap up his short announcement, he seemed to remember one more thing.

"Ah, yes, and how could I forget dinner? Tonight, you'll be served trout fillets fried in a garlic-butter sauce, complete with sides of peas, cooked carrots, macaroni & cheese, and a baked potato. To drink, we will be serving a choice of water, milk, or apple juice, and for dessert, each patient will have a slice of chocolate cake all to themselves! Yes, a wonderful end to a wonderful day, don't you think?"

He paused for a final time.

"I believe that is all for today! I do hope you enjoy our dinners and that you look forward to our next Sunday excursion. After all, something special might again be in store. Ta-taaa!"

The intercom clicked off.

Despite the disturbing revelations and rather depressing mood of brunch, Tamaki was looking forward to Hosting once more. And he knew that at least two girls would be coming! He really did need to find a lady-Host, or a few. It wasn't very likely that every man who attended would be amenable to the usual Host attentions. No, they'd need some girls.

Real girls, not Haruhi-girls. Oh, Haruhi... Tamaki both missed her and was pleased she seemed to be keeping to herself and out of danger.

But now it was time to Host! The Courtyard was hardly on par with the gardens of Ouran, but it was pretty. And there were places to sit and flowers and all in all the best option available. Tamaki draped himself elegantly across a bench, and then scrambled up to tack a hand-written sign - done on journal paper - behind him. It simply said:

HOST CLUB

With that done, Tamaki nodded and lounged again, stretching out like the Lord he titled himself as to wait for the others.

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

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

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

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

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

As always, Tamaki woke up in his bed. He didn't know how he got there, but he woke up still in the clutches of fear he last remembered from the night. The fight in the hallway, Ed and Adel, the thing...

He was out of bed immediately, determined to make sure his friends were alright. He listened to the man on the intercom, not liking the idea of some big surprise. He didn't imagine any surprises could be good. And he hoped his friends felt the same way...

When his nurse came to get him, he chose the Sun Room instead of the chapel. He wanted no part of whatever was going to happen. He only hoped that Ed and Adel had the same idea....

They probably didn't. Agitated and worried, Tamaki paced along the window, hands behind his back, and waited.

[[from here]]

Sasuke peered cautiously around the doorframe, ascertaining that there wasn't anything in the halls yet.

Stepping more fully into the frame, he turned back to the two other ninja, gesturing towards the hallway with a quick flick of his head.

"Stairs are this way," he said succinctly. He'd let his grip on the bat lighten while talking to the others -- his guard slipped without his consent. Sasuke gritted his teeth, tightened his hold on the makeshift weapon, and slipped through the door, keeping to the wall.

[[Coming from here]]

“Sounds like a plan.” Yazoo shut the door to his brother’s room and followed Kadaj down the hall, wondering how he was going to know where to go once they reached the outside corridor. Getting to said corridor was easy enough. He eased the door open once they reached it and stepped through, glancing around for any signs of a possible threat even though it was impossible for him to see just about anything in the darkness.

Walking the rest of the way down the hall, he stopped when he reached the nurses’ station and turned around so that he was staring back up the hall. “I only know where this way leads,” he pointed to his right toward the sun room. “We could try there, unless there’s someplace else you want to look?” Yazoo turned back around to face the wall and took a few steps closer to the stairs, his head tilting slightly in curiosity. “Have you ever been upstairs?”

After a fairly uneventful day, Mal decided (once he'd eaten some of his dinner) to take a nap before night officially started. He was a light sleeper and knew that the intercom would wake him up. He probably should have gotten rest during one of the boring shifts (and it would have helped to get his mind off of the way this institute was ordering him around), but hindsight was 20/20.

The long rantings of the head doctor weren't pleasant to wake up to, but at least it kept him from wasting the entire night in bed. He pushed himself up from his mattress, gave his head a few rough shakes to help with the waking up process, and then stood with a yawn.

The rude awakening meant he couldn't remember if he'd had any dreams, but it wasn't important. Whatever was going on in his dreams would probably be better than his current reality, so it was most likely for the best that he didn't remember.

Pulling on his slippers and grabbing his flashlight, he rubbed the last bit of gunk out of his eyes and then exited his room into the hallway. The plan was to get over to the female block so that he could find Kaylee and Inara and River and... whoever else happened to show up. He wished they could have had some clearer communication over the bulletin board, but there wasn't much that could be done about that now.

[ To here. ]

Naminé realized all too late when she returned to her room that she had neglected to ask where Kairi's room was. There was a good chance that she was close by, but at the same time... there was a chance she was all the way in the very last halls. Or maybe she had already left!

Naminé didn't bother eating her dinner, leaving it on the desk with a note indicating it was alright if some scavengers wanted to eat it, and then she went out into the hallway, armed only with her flashlights and a few pens.

There was no way she could fight like River, but Naminé had to have something.

She had half a mind to call out Kairi's name softly as she wandered the halls, but remembered what happened last time. She had attracted some... nasty visitors to say the least. The woman with the poker. Naminé had never seen her again, so it seemed safe to assume that one really could die at Landels.

Shuddering at that sobering thought, Naminé hurried along a little quicker than she intended.