At first, the idea of being stuck in this meatbag dwelling sector at night seemed like a wonderful idea. So many targets, such an open field, and so many things that could be repurposed for use as weapons!

...Then he saw all the zombies. After the talk of those 'space barnacles' last night, it was fairly easy to identify them as such. But the only thing was, those things were supposed to only affect droids.

Now there were meatbag zombies. All over the place. And he didn't have a flamethrower. Oh no no no nononono.

In short, HK freaked out.

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]

Celes came to a stop at the firmly locked door at the end of the hall. The general examined the door and put her hand on it, testing the knob. Hm, perhaps not so firmly locked as she thought. It would attract attention if she kicked it, but she did have her hairpins, after all. Pulling one from her hair, and hoping that Locke's little parlor tricks as they traveled together were still useful, she bent two of the teeth on one pin and used her knife for a little leverage. What had that loud mouth said? Gently, like you're making love to it? Did it have to be something that unreasonable?

It was then that she realized she should've brought along some sort of back up, but it was far too late for that now. After fiddling with the lock with for a few long, frustrating moments (from now on, she would definitely leave this to the experts), she heard a click, and pulled her mangled hair pin from the keyhole. The door opened and Celes went inside to the next hallway, quietly.

((From here.))

It was still dark, and unnaturally quiet, when they slipped out of the stairwell. Kira checked the grip on his sword and slipped the map from his pocket, the flashlight making it all very awkward. The pharmacy ... it was to the east of where they were, provided this place didn't shift unnaturally when people needed to go somewhere. He glanced to the east and saw only darkness and silence leading away.

"Are you ready?" he asked. Everything seemed too still for there not to be something lying in wait, but then again, he'd expected something on the stairwell, too. Carefully putting the map back in his pocket, Kira aimed the flashlight down the hall they needed to go through and glanced at Hanatarou.

[From here]

Celes paused at the foot of the stairs and looked up. There was no proof yet that anyone had moved up the stairwell, so did that make her the first of the evening? The general almost laughed. Perhaps it would be an easy night, after all.

She ran up the stairs just as swiftly as she had run through the hall way. Perhaps it wasn't as quick as it would've been if she'd had a pair of sprint shoes, but it was good enough for now.

That really hadn't been the breakfast she'd been expecting, but Yuffie couldn't bring herself to complain. The kid made for good company, and was, if nothing else, pretty entertaining. She could've just done without the whole choking thing. That… That had been embarrassing. A bit. Okay, a lot. Yuffie was starting to get a feeling that this day was -- for once-- actually going to ping on her ‘interesting!’ meter.

Whether or not that was a good thing, she didn’t know.

By the time she’d reached the Sun Room's bulletin board, a kitten on her shoulder and a pen twirling between her fingers, Yuffie was starting to put her finger on why she had that weird, nagging feeling. Though on second thought, it was less like putting her finger on it and more like it had jumped up and punched her right in the nose; the feeling wasn’t just about waffles, magicians, or tricky candy thieves. Sagara hadn't answered her bulletin post; he hadn't answered any bulletin posts. She hadn't seen that stupid, spiky head of his all morning. It was like radio silence without a radio.

Agai-- No, Yuffie cut herself off sharply, frowning. She was just jumping to conclusions. It wouldn't be the first time, right? Right! And yet… instincts were instincts for a reason, and in a dump like this, who knew what could happen?

[for Okita?]

Renamon had spent dinner gathering her things together to bring to the next hall, and was entirely ready to move when the doors opened. Container in hand, and knuckle on, she moved to the door. With a last nod at her roommate, she stepped outside.

[to here]

[From here]

Jack swung the doors open and wandered onto the rec field. The Fable, however, had no plans to stick around. His first nightshift he had come here and discovered a rather unfriendly monster and he had no intention of repeating that encounter. Pressing his back against the wall, he moved as quickly as he could to the other pair of doors that led into the mens' halls.

He didn't waste time. As swiftly and suddenly as he had entered the field, he was leaving it.

[Running along non-stop to here]

[From here. Unknowingly waiting for Star Dragon Sword, so please don't interrupt without permission unless you're a nightshifter]

As Scar stood in the door opening, he found himself to be quite surprised to inhale the outside air. Being in a prison, he hardly expected part of this Landels to be outside. Not that the former lion minded; it was certainly something he preferred. Unlike the small spaces and hallways, outside seemed to be less of an confinement. More of what he was used to, even though it was still quite the difference.

Shutting the door behind him, he swept the lights-tick across the area. The darkness made it difficult for only his eyes to see what kind of area it was. He noticed the area was made out of grass. He could also see the faint outlines of things further on the area; things he couldn't quite identify.

He hesitated to move further. If he proceeded, there was no wall to support him which would make walking all the more difficult.

[From here]

Scar stumbled into yet another empty hallway. The nurse had taken him into the right direction this morning, which had led to the sun room and all the other connecting rooms. He wondered what happened to be located in the opposite direction.

Continuing, the king eventually noticed the door at the end of the hall. Fiddling around with the handle, he managed to push it open and felt the cold breeze from outside on his skin.

[To here]

[From here]

After figuring out how to open the door, Scar carefully peeked into the hallway. The hall was dark, but the former lion couldn't see anything move. Closing the door quietly behind him, he slowly moved further down the hallway while using the wall as support. He found that he could retain his balance better while having something to lean on.

[To here]

Dinner had been... uneventful. As uneventful as listening to the violent thoughts of his roommate could be, but Naoya supposed that it could have gone worse. He shivered for a moment at the thought as grabbed his flashlight and began searching the room. He hadn't given this room a thorough search when he had first arrived; the first time because he had overslept and the other two times due to the urge to get outside-- whether because of desperation or determination, it did not matter. But now that he had time he could easily search every nook and cranny.

The result didn't produce much, keyrings and pens, enough pieces of the puzzle to motivate but still leave the players (or puppets) confused and wandering the dark. Naoya sighed, plopping down on his bed. Where was niisan? Was he okay? Was the map Naoya had made helpful? Naoya closed his eyes. His brother had said he was unable to talk to him telepathically, but it couldn't hurt to try anyway... Right?

'Niisan.'

He waited a long moment. Nothing. His brother was right, they couldn't reach each other that way anymore. Naoya sighed once more and reopened his eyes, it looked like he would have to just wait.

[From here]

622 methodically swept the light from his glowstick across the hall, carefully watching for hostiles. After having to act 'normal' during the daytime, this was almost a relief. Even though he had no armor, no real weapons, and no back-up, at least he didn't have to pretend to like it anymore.

[to here]

[ from here ]

So close. So very close. The flashlight-wielding, ponytailed asshole's door was the first one in the hallway. He hadn't seen the guy's tail end on the way here, so a few more steps was all it would take.

_{[from over here]}

Although, he didn't need a room number to know where he was going, that much was true. The blood scent was strong, stronger than the average person's. And even if it wasn't, he was still competent enough to track it - a vampire's senses were superior, after all. They had no true weaknesses beyond a hunter's weaponry.

The tattoo stung him in rhythmic intervals, reminding of all the little things that made him doubt. Today along two people had called him weak, both children, both with their own visible injuries. And yet they'd both had the

Shut up, he spat in his own head, and kept moving through the shadows.

The only reason he hadn't outright refused Bella's request was that he had been planning to head in that direction all along. Where the humans went to the cafeteria for their food, Aidou went to the female cell block. It was the only place to find a good meal; that girl Claire had to be around somewhere.

_{[and making his way down the hallway to here]}

Momo's mind was turning over all the possibilities surrounding this "field trip" to the surrounding town when she settled down in the corner of the Sun Room away from the Arts & Crafts room. She curled her legs underneath her as she waited for Shouko-san to find her. The shinigami had no idea what she looked like, so she kept an eye on all those entering the room.

It was still very cold, or at least she was cold, and the momentary thought of getting her coat from her own room passed through her mind amidst the field trip thoughts. She pushed it away and decided to deal with it being as cold as it was since she'd already been late to one meeting today and didn't want to start making it a habit.

As she waited, she pondered the next day's possibilities. Maybe, just maybe, once away from the institute the shinigami will have access to their full reiatsu. And if not, maybe they'll have a better idea of how they are being limited so much. Maybe Aizen would be able to find her then. He'd save her... right? Right?

Renji wasn't so certain what this grilled cheese thing was all about, but he liked the sound of some soup. Even if it was strange western soup, well... there wasn't anything bad people could do to soup, in his experience. His good mood was starting to fray at the edges, a little, from the strain of dealing with the Ichimaru issue, and even more from what had been on the bulletin board earlier.

He'd never had difficulty simply writing something before. But...

He shook his head as he entered the line. He didn't want to think about it. He wanted to hold on to the tenuous equilibrium he'd managed to find.

Renji got himself a large bowl of soup, water, and even one of those sandwiches, just to try it. Old habit, recently awakened, had him over to one side of the cafeteria, where the fewest people possible would have the chance to pass behind him. He sat there with his back toward the wall and started eating.

The Head Doctor seemed a little exhausted as he gave orders over the microphone this shift, though he didn't seem to have any qualms about explaining why.

"And I do believe we're at the last few pieces of paperwork involved in obtaining and accounting for all of our new patients! Wonderful, if... somewhat exhausting!" The Head Doctor laughed, rapping his knuckles on the surface of his desk. "In any case, I'm sure our patients both old and new want to know what's on the menu for lunch, and so, here it is!

"Today, we'll be having grilled cheese sandwiches--big ones!--with cheddar cheese and mozzarella melted between two buttery, toasty slices of white bread. As sides, we have french fries, cole slaw, and a bowl of chicken noodle soup, and of course, the usual choices in both drinks and the salad bar are available as well.

"And that's all for now! ....Oh! Could our nurses escort the Group 3 patients to the cafeteria? Thank you very much!"

And once again, the intercom clicked off.