[F21]

If Aigis hadn't been there to see it herself she would not have believed it. Martin Landel, the bane of her existence for the past week, was now gone. Replaced. And she didn't know what to make of the new authority put in place. She told herself it was her inaction that filled her with unease. For a moment, he had been there right where she wanted him. She could have made him pay for all he had done. She could have avenged Heat or repaid him for the time he had returned her body along with a mission of violence. But she didn't. For some reason she had remained rooted in the spot, staring at the spectacle. Now that dinner had passed she wondered to herself, why had remained so unmoved? When she finally had her chance why had she uselessly let it go to waste?

( The rest cut for tl;dring )

The sun rose steadily across the sky, as it always did, but what seemed to move with even more clock-like rigidness were the uniformed personnel who marched alongside the Institute's usual staff as they made their morning rounds. The nurses and even the burliest of the orderlies seemed nervous at the uncharacteristic additions, shooting glances at the black-garbed officials, who seemed undoubtedly military in their demeanor and speech even though they weren't issuing direct commands.

One of the nurses, however, an elderly, matronly woman who was generally assigned to some of the toughest patients, didn't seem so intimidated.

"Will you at least tell us what you're inspecting for, sir?" she asked with a huff, clearly adding the title out of professional courtesy rather than respect. "I don't very much appreciate your following us around if–"

"Orders, ma'am," said one of the uniforms, looking over her shoulder and observing the movements of other staffmembers further down the hallway. "I apologize if you feel we pose an inconvenience."

"What orders?" she shot back, holding her arms akimbo.

"The General," he replied, impassive. "That's all I know."

Suddenly, the nurse seemed to pale. She sputtered, then shouted at another nurse who seemed to have been waiting on the older one to knock some sense into the soldiers.

"What are you waiting for? Go wake them up!"

Although patients might have been oblivious to the hustling and bustling outside their doors, as well as the group of military-grade vehicles that had parked directly in front of the Institute's entrance, they certainly became aware that something was different from the sound of the Head Doctor's subsequent announcement:

"Rise and shine, patients! I hope that the test trials you experienced last night weren't too disorienting and that your Condensed Sleep Cycles were satisfactory. That said, please understand that today's announcements and happenings might seem a bit different from usual – this is deliberate and we hope that it doesn't diminish your enrichment through our extended selection process. Our nurses have been briefed only on necessary details and screened from these specialized announcements, so do not attempt to direct any questions to them during this process.

"Thank you for your cooperation."

The intercom clicked off. After a few minutes, it came on again.

"Breakfast is English muffins. All the usual ingredients, toppings, sides, and drinks. Delicious stuff."

The intercom clicked off again.

[ ALL NEWLY ACCEPTED CHARACTERS MAY POST TO THIS SHIFT. All character introduction should be made in response to this post. Please have your character wake up in a random room, as we have not yet assigned them. Thank you! ]

_[M39]

When the first intercom sounded, it shook Hart at a mid-line level. It was propaganda and suppression of information flow that the institution wanted now, obviously. They'd all have to be much more careful now with the bulletins, especially if the little pet idea of the 'Evil Club' were to ever get off the ground into anything serious. For the sake of the other patients, they'd have to do more than step up and

They.
Recluse. Oh god, the man was going to go for Hart's old room wasn't he? This was horrible! He didn't even know where the other was and HARDLY knew where he himself was in relation to his old room.

"Oh no, oh no." he murmured. Hart hopped off his bed just as the second intercom message began to go off, skidding over to his closet. The static coming through raised the hairs on the back of his neck and made the man shiver. And unable to find any socks, he simply grabbed the boots out from the closet and tugged them on. The coat would come along as well, even if it were too warm to wear it comfortably. Comfort wouldn't be a matter if everything his new friends had spoken of were true.

With a swipe for his flashlight and a root through his desk, he grabbed a few pens and jammed them into his coat pocket, barely remembering to take along with the 'present' for the captain.

"SorryIcan'ttalkgottaseeamanabouta--"

The door closed behind him before he could get the last part out.

_{[to here]}

Breaking down the bed frame after she'd eaten some of her meal had given Teresa something to do while she waited for the night time phenomena to arrive. Having not been conscious when it occurred the previous night, she was curious. She was not disappointed. The overhead words were certainly something different.

As the door opened, Teresa finished wrapping shredded bedding around the bottom portion of the six foot long metal bar that had once been a main side support of the bed's frame. It wasn't good quality metal by any means, but it was better than nothing. At least, she didn't think it'd break the first time she hit something with it given her reduced strength. As she hefted the weapon, she swung it around to get a feel and decided that it would do for now. Should she manage to find the right kind of stone or a file, she could even work a rough edge onto it.

A few more strips of cloth and the hybrid tied the makeshift weapon across her back, the 'hilt' sticking a foot and a half above her shoulders, and fashioned the cloth so she could pull on the knot by her right shoulder for a quick release. That done, Teresa took her flashlight and exited the room.

[to here]

When Momo left Hitsugaya's side, she felt both relieved to be away from him and disappointed that the nurses had separated them. Either way, she felt like she was suffocating, that she had too much building in her mind with all this on top of the message she'd been given by the undead knight on that rooftop the night before. There was only one way for Momo to relieve the pressure.

After leaving a note on the board for Senna, Momo headed into the Arts & Crafts room. She was still in a lot of pain, but Hitsugaya's healing, though minor, did make it much less painful to hold things. Taking all of the special markers, she stood before the large white board and uncapped the lightest of the colors - yellow.

Save thyself.

Those words would echo in Momo's mind for a very long time. She had much to thank the knight for, the least of which was leaving her right arm relatively undamaged. She needed it for many things, being her primary hand, but right now she needed it for one thing.

Momo began to draw.

[reserved for Senna]

Kibitoshin left the cafeteria in what could only have been described as a state of sheer, unleaded anxiety. Why did he have to be the one Dory had spoken to first? With everything he’d said and failed to say she’d probably ended up with a reverse education. He wouldn’t have been surprised if she came out of it knowing even less than she had when she arrived.

Hopefully- and he really did hope, more than anything- someone else would be able to start over and tell her what she needed to know, especially since she hadn’t exactly seem altogether… well… there. To be fair, she had been a fish until today. Expecting her to be perfectly normal was maybe a little much.

What he needed now was some peace and quiet. Maybe if he had a chance to calm down he wouldn’t make such a fool of himself in his meeting later that afternoon. The library would do for that, right? If he was lucky (which he never was, but he had to be positive) they’d have that book he hadn’t quite finished in Doyleton (even if he couldn't think of the town without shuddering), the odd one about Lady Esmeralda (which hadn't been very good anyway, but...). A quick scan of the shelves on arrival didn’t turn anything up, but he did manage to find a battered old book called ‘Alice in Wonderland’ to settle down with. Apparently, it was about a girl finding herself in a strange new world. Why did that ring a bell...?

Satisfied, he took a seat and began to flick through the pages.

[free for unlimited poking!]

When the shift changed, HK stayed put. Even after a long night of zombie killing, he had no interest in meatbag fuel, especially after all the discussion of chocolate with that rather strange meatbag. It was just making him crave the stuff even more than he had previously, if that was possible.

Oh, right. He was supposed to be looking for someone who was "VERY LARGE, WITH DARK HAIR." And also seemed to not know what lower-case letters were on the bulletin. As if that would help. He'd seen a likely candidate last shift, but talk of chocolate had distracted him.

Snake jerked his head away from Fox's hand and shot to his feet, disorientated slightly by the sudden shift. The grout in the tiles was black with what looked like old blood, and the stench of rot heaved in his throat. Something was badly wrong. He sensed threats - left, faint shapes in the dark outside the large windows - Fox - something creaking in the ceiling - a long groaning voice off to the right, past the walls - and something moving in the back of the room -

It staggered towards him, and before he fully knew what he was doing he ripped the match from the book and struck it with his left hand alone, popped the cap off the hairspray, and blasted a tongue of flame at the aggressor, aiming for its face. He saw, in the flickering light, long hair and long nails and the skin on its rotten face peeling and cracking and bubbling in the heat. It gave a long, screaming cry, and toppled to the floor. Its arms and legs writhed and kicked furiously, an automatic, animal gesture, before it finally lay still.

"Here?" he snapped at Fox, wrapping his fingers around the can of hairspray. "This place gets better and better. It's like a theme park." His voice quaked with anger. The place now stunk of something far worse than rotten meat, and for a fraction of a second he thought he could hear Big Boss's voice saying something he couldn't make out before he realised that it had come from inside his own head.

"At least I don't have to be the only thing here back from the dead," he growled. The woman zombie was leaking something he didn't want to think about. He guessed that the decomposition must have trapped methane and other flammable gasses inside the body, hence why it went up like a candle.

That said, he didn't really think he could burn anything else again. For a while.

The shift was familiar enough, in it's own way, but it came too soon. He wasn't sure if any of the others in the group aside from Stefan had been around long enough to witness this before, but he wanted to reassure them that this was just like the changes the institute underwent at night.

Except it wasn't, this time. Marcus could hear them before he could see them, clawing through the dirt, and paused with his mouth open, losing what he'd been about to say. Then the first hand popped out of the ground, much like the zombified followers of the Banished Pantheon often did. Marcus didn't wait for them to start pulling themselves out of the ground entirely before he spoke, loudly but clearly. "It's time to go. Stefan, Scourge and I will head to the Sheriff's office and secure it, you three get people in Magus Park and down South Street to go there, we'll have it cleared and safe to use as a rallying point. When that fills up we'll take the hardware store," He could hear the moans of the undead off in the distance.

"I suggest you only go halfway down South Street and then go up to Main Street to arm yourselves in the hardware store if you need it, that will also take you past the Sheriff's office so you can drop anyone off. I have extremely good hearing so if you shout loud enough I may be able to hear you if you get in trouble and need reinforcements," Marcus decided it was time to wrap things up when the undead were finally all the way up out of the ground. "Try not to get bogged down in too many fights if you can avoid it. Go!"

He didn't waste any time either, and took off at a brisk but not all-out pace for main street.

((Closed to the Grim Heaper))

Heh, it seemed like he'd riled up Sho Minamimoto well enough from that one comment. It was refreshing, really; while the Reaper was certainly capable of coming up with innovative strategies, his basic core was still the same. It was a challenge each time, but not a serious one; something that Joshua could enjoy without putting too much effort into it.

Of course, now he was the one at the disadvantage, and Minamimoto was the one who could end this game as he pleased. Even still, the thrill of the Game filled Joshua as he strolled down the lanes of the park, waiting for Minamimoto. 'Magus' Park, a high class of men who revolutionized the field of astronomy and mathematics. He was sure that Minamimoto would think to search their, considering how he knew Joshua's flair for the dramatic. And if not, it certainly wasn't an unpleasant wait, now was it?

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]

After the way night had ended (Miku wasn't sure if they'd ever get the smell of charnel out of her clothes), and morning had returned with its clockwork weirdness. She was hurried onto the bus in her dark red long coat and the dark, knee-length, slightly full dress beneath it. It was surprisingly warm, Miku noted, but that could've just been her body lying to her legs, which were going to be undoubtedly chillier through the day. As always with these trips, her nurse had taken the opportunity to channel Little Red Riding Hood into her patient's life.

Oh, well, she didn't mind that much. It was just clothing.

Miku slid into a seat with her bag of breakfast and her camera in her pocket. She couldn't help shake the feeling of oncoming dread that had started with the end of the night's bleeding walls. Maybe she was just being silly, maybe she shouldn't listen to the alarm ringing in the back of her mind.

But still, she couldn't help but to wonder what it was leading to.

[Waiting for Peter]

[From here]

Sousuke and Miku broke into the Sun Room first, and Miku stopped herself by pressing her free hand against a book shelf to keep from running into Sousuke's arm. They'd made it! No one had been hurt yet! It was a small, but important, victory as far as Miku was concerned. She reached into her bag and pulled out her camera.

"We made it here before anyone else, it looks like," she murmured to Sousuke as she turned on the camera and waited for it to boot up. Washu's smiling, super-deformed face greeted her on the digital screen. Miku wasn't sure if she'd ever get used to that. It hadn't been very long ago that they'd met Jack in this very room, where she'd given away her first kiss in return for a camera while Sousuke had inspected everything Jack had handed her. The only things different about the room now was that the smell of books was musty and old, Jack and his rotting cat were no where in sight and it was much darker than it had been that night. "I'll start taking pictures, alright?"

[F01]


Another night, another wait. This time, Miku made herself stay put. It was hard to do much without her flashlight, but she was sure Sousuke would bring her bag with him. She'd have to see about reinforcing it, and finding proper sewing needles and thick thread. With a little sigh, Miku rested her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. She wiggled her toes as she waited, feeling the nylon of her stocking stretch up and down.

The waiting always seemed to be the worst part of the evening. Were you eaten tonight or not? Would someone come after them? Would it be a friend?

I can't think like that. I need to think positively, Miku worried her lip. Because I made a promise for tomorrow. She nodded to herself and watched the doorway. Sousuke would be coming soon and she'd have to be ready. Idly, she found herself watching her roommate. It was better than nothing.

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. ]

The idea of a shower was so pleasant that Sheena never once thought about the potential consequences such a setting could have. The ninja was Mizuho, so she was used to communal bathing settings, though she wasn't exactly the social type when it came to sharing a bathing facility. She certainly had nothing to be ashamed of and it wasn't like Zelos there was any guys around to try and peep on her. After the previous night, Sheena just wanted to be clean and scrub away the grime from her battles as if that would cleanse the lingering heaviness she still felt, both emotionally and as far as her mana went.

Being one of the first in the shower area, Sheena grabbed a towel and a washcloth before choosing a shower head to the side by the wall. Hot water cascaded down on her injured body, the showers making it impossible to hide the unsettling bruises that spread across her right side where her ribs were injured and the few angry red welts on her back from Raine's photon spell that contradicted the earlier misunderstanding a certain youkai had that they were light, as in minor, burns. They weren't bad by any means, but definitely not something to discount.

Her fist order of business, before she could really enjoy the warmth seeping into her skin, was to wash her exsphere. Thankfully, cleaning it just made it look like she was washing the area directly beneath her left breast and not a gem-like substance set into a metal crest on her skin. Even though she knew its current dormancy had to do with the field effecting everyone here, she didn't want to remove it. Which really sucked because after last night's adventures with a pond, she really wanted to clean underneath it. Oh well. Her hair was next, just as important. Sheena may not be a girly-girl, but she liked her hair being as soft as hair as thick as hers could get. Plus, pond. Cleaning the rest of her body was a quick process, once she was efficient at, despite the pain washing the injured areas brought her.

Now, Sheena could just enjoy the shower. This was normally the time she would have just left and found something to do in the Sun Room, but she wanted to indulge in the hot water and breathe in the steam. Knotted muscles slowly relaxed as she focused internally on her own mana and the way it felt - the barely lingering heaviness that had been slowly going away as the day progressed. What had Reinforce done to her? She wanted to know, but she didn't want to even acknowledge what had happened. Not ever yet, at least. She needed time.

Right hand against the wall to support herself, Sheena closed her eyes and let the water run over her body.

[strictly closed to the molesting youkai]

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. ♥]

[From here. Outside F3]

Because she needed to get to Orihime and Shiki's room before either of them left, Ururu had practically run the short distance down the halls. Normally she might not, since she knew better than to run inside. Tessai-san didn't like it when Jinta-kun did that at the shop especially, since something usually ended up broken because of it. In this case, though, Ururu decided to take the risk if it meant getting their sooner.

Plus Ururu thought that trying to walk right then would be even harder than running.

It only took a few minutes for the girl to get to the door of F3. She'd been there a few times, so that helped. Ururu knocked hard, then tried to be patient and not knock again right away. There were a lot of possibilities. Maybe her friends were asleep, or maybe they had left before she'd gotten there. Ururu didn't think they could have, but she couldn't say they didn't, either. At least not until she saw inside the room for herself.

But she couldn't do that yet. Ururu had to be patient, so she began to fidget outside the door. Then she knocked again, just in case they hadn't heard her the first time. And in case they hadn't heard her then, she called out too.

"Um, Orihime-san, Shiki-san? It's Ururu. Are you okay?"

[from here]

Endrance took one slow step inside the Sun Room, then another. He stood just beyond the doorway for a moment, sweeping his flashlight from side to side. There were too many shadows for him to scan them all; if he did that, he would be there all night. That was the last thing that he wanted.

He didn't see the false Mia lurking behind a couch or under a table, and that would have to do. He couldn't dwell on it too much. I can't...I have to let her go. It's the only way to move forward.

With one last, resolute nod, he moved through the room and through the cafeteria doors.

[to here.]