Senna stepped off the bus to wind blowing through the clothes she was given. A sad face at one of the nurses allowed her a long red scarf as well, and once she had draped it around her neck and let it hang down her back, she had trotted off.

The park she had saw last time seemed a good place to be on the look-out for the chicks from last night. It was close to the buses, and a big enough place that if they remembered that they had a race date, it would suit its purpose. The girl ran to a place in the middle of the field and waited there, shifting her weight from side to side. After a while, this wasn't enough, and Senna traded back and forth between jogging in place and acrobatics--the easy flips and cartwheels keeping her warm.

Her mind had changed in the night before. She had gotten a taste of what leadership entailed, and she wasn't sure she had rose to the occasion or not. She knew she had tried her best, and had been willing to give as much as she had, but it hadn't been enough. She knew this. Hokuto, at least, had gotten hurt, and in the end, they still hadn't explored more than the schoolhouse. They really needed a different approach with that place.

She went back and forth internally, body going through the motions and reflexes of her movements.

[for... Falis, Hokuto, Meche, and Soma?--and down to here]

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

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

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

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

[waiting for Youko]

[from here.]

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

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

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

[to here.]

[from here]

As she neared the big doors to the Sun Room, Anise's pace slowed to a stop. This part of the hall was eerily quiet. Could she really be the first one there? It was a good thing, since it meant she had probably gotten there well before that Wonka guy, but it also made her a little nervous. If there were monsters lurking around, she was likely to get targeted, being the only one there.

It didn't sound like there were any around though, so she stayed where she was. She wouldn't get anywhere if she let fear hold her back, would she?

Anise stood quiet and still as she waited, though her flashlight moved around to illuminate the corners of the east side of the hall, just in case something was there. It was creepy being alone in a dangerous place like this, especially when there were normally a lot of people around the Sun Room. Whether it was friends or strangers, she hoped more people would show up soon, just so she'd feel less like a sitting duck.

[from here]

No, really, where the fuck was everyone? Shit, someone needed to be out and about. The rescue-mission post had had a dozen or so eager-beaver volunteers, so where were they? He hoped they were around when he got back with the gear, because he wasn't planning to spend the night as a poor man's on-call EMT.

O.K., so he didn't have other plans beyond the appeal of going back to his room and seeing if falling asleep by design yielded better results. But the idea of turning around and heading upstairs himself was marginally less appealing than a solo night dive. I.e. absolutely dumbfuck moronic, given his current mental state. He could admit to something resembling shellshock, here in the dark, by himself. Nothing a few beers and a few good nights' sleep wouldn't cure, provided he could get them.

[to here]

Well, that was interesting. He'd just watched Lockdown being escorted out of the room by some of the staff. That meant one of two things, and he quite hoped it was the same as what it had been for him. A night of terrorizing meatbags was always fun, although HK did hope that if this was the case for Lockdown, the former droid would be able to escape maiming if he ended up within targeting range.

But there were more important things to do tonight- HK was going to get a blade! A real edged weapon, not just the pair of scalpels he'd been using for almost 15 days now. He wanted to leave his cell immediately after the doors unlocked, but he waited until his limited, irritating meatbag eyes got used to the concept of focusing on the infrared wavelengths that his extended spectrum could pick up. It was only a tiny fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum, but it allowed him to travel without needing the glowrod.

He stepped out into the hallway after a moment, the surroundings lit with colors that human languages didn't even have words for. He felt much better after that defrag he'd done on his brain. Now, to go find the rather odd RV point the meatbag had told him to go to...

[to here]

[From here]

For the first time all day, von Karma was now in an area that was somewhat familiar to him. The last day that he had had full consciousness, he had passed through this hallway on his way to the recreational field. Oddly enough, although there had been a number of patients meandering through this hall last time, it appeared that he was the first one here tonight. Gingerly, he walked close to the wall in case something non-human emerged, until he reached the doorway to the north.

Carefully, he opened the door and looked outside. The grassy field lay before him. A cool breeze drifted in; this was actually the first breath of fresh air that he had received all day, despite his blasted nurse's nagging. Steeling himself for the trip to the activities shed on the far end of the field, he stepped outside.

[To here]

[From here]

After a few minutes, von Karma arrived at the main patient block hallway. Although it was nearly identical to that of the one in which he was formerly assigned, it felt different to him. Certainly, the trip from his room to the hallway was somewhat longer than it had been for him previously.

Right now, he was the only one in here, but that would soon change as more patients left their rooms. Wanting to avoid inviting any kind of trouble by tarrying here too long, he cautiously peered out the door to ensure that no threats existed. Satisfied that there were none, he went through the door to enter the main hallway.

[To here]

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. ]

Other than the single person who was apparently "200 years from his future", no one had replied to his message on the bulletin board. Tenzen couldn't be certain whether it was a good thing or not, but this meant other Iga or even those damned Kouga were not taken captive along with him. This begged the question of why they had captured just him, though it could be easily explained because of his own death (which naturally meant the remaining ninja had gone ahead). But to take a corpse captive, they must have known he would come back from death. Otherwise, there would hardly be a point.

Provided that it wasn't some sort of illusion created by one of the aforementioned Kouga, of course. Though he knew the rivaling clan a little better than most Iga thanks to his history (and life span), he was by far not aware of all of their techniques. It could very well be possible that one of them could pull such tricks. Of the ten chosen Kouga, only four remained. There was only one Kouga he didn't know the ability of; the woman Kagerou. Even though the issue remained the same; they must've known he would come back from death. No Kouga (that hadn't died) could have known, unless a member of the Iga had gone around telling them.

There were various possibilities, one of them being a certain mimic. Either way, he would need to find a way to properly test both theories, he supposed.

According to the voice from what was called the 'intercom' (the manner this place made announcements still sounded as if it was coming from the walls itself), there was no need for him to follow the other patients to the 'showers'. Judging from the rest of the announcement, these showers were used to clean oneself.

Either way, he was instead brought to the area called the Sun room. The ninja took a seat on a couch rather close to the bulletin board, mostly to keep an eye on it in case someone wrote something of interest. Not that he expected in a place filled with madmen, but there was hardly anything else he could do right now but wait until nightfall.

[Free, limit: any]

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]

Haseo's steps were heavy with the weight of righteous anger as he was escorted into the Sun Room, his posture so sullen and reluctant you could almost hear the nostalgic cry of an electric guitar. He was seething, and though perhaps it was a bit harder to be intimidating while wearing the uniform of an insane asylum and flanked by a bored-looking orderly, it was not for lack of trying.

Unfortunately, his nurse seemed unaffected by the act, and even with the cloud of failing to keep "Kai" away from "Peyton" hanging over her, remained determinedly cheerful. She merely said something about receiving a lecture later on, ignored his retorts, and assured him that it would be alright even though his internet stalker was in the same building. For the most part, Haseo tuned her babbling out after that, dismissing it as hopeless.

"...and usually this would be the time children would be taking showers, but you don't have to worry about that right now. Now then, le--"

"Wait. What?"

"Oh, all the children seventeen or under are separated right now while the adults go to the courtyard..."

"Hey, I'm not a kid you old--!"

"Oh of course you aren't dear, but you're not eighteen yet either, now are you?"

Haseo resisted the urge to do something rash, literally biting his tongue to keep quiet. But upon having the bulletin board pointed out to him, he shrugged off his anger for the most part and headed that way, fully intending to get more answers than he'd had time to receive during breakfast.

Well... at least Endrance is in another shower group, he thought, Thank god.

[Closed to Tsukasa, for now!]

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. ♥]

Just like usual, the intercom came on soon after dawn, pulling most patients out of their "sleep" to start a new day.

The voice was Lydia's, and she was quick to explain her presence. "I apologize for the Head Doctor's absence, but as he was busy doing paperwork all night long, he's feeling a bit exhausted this morning. He should be around for the next announcement."

With that taken care of, there was a slight sigh and then a shuffling of papers.

"Some new patients will be joining all of you this morning, so please do your best to make them feel safe and welcome. Breakfast will be pancakes with sides of tater tots, bacon, and scrambled eggs. There is also a salad bar and drinks such as water and juice available."

She was all business, not even taking the time to throw in a quip or side comment. Instead, she rushed to end her announcement.

"I hope you all have a good morning."

The intercom shut off.

[ All introduction posts for this shift's group of new characters should be made in response to this post.

Have your character wake up in a random room as we don't have roommates sorted out yet. Putting M??/F?? in the subject line is fine. ]