[[from here]]

It didn't take long to scurry down the short hallway and into the main block one.  His flashlight bounced along as he went, not quite a run, not quite a walk.  He'd feel much better once he was clear of most of the people here.  At least, that's what he told himself.  The truth was, as much as it scared him to face Kurogane or the others, it scared him a lot more to think of facing the things that lurked here in the dark by himself.

[[to here]]

The cafeteria was all but empty when Zelnick got there. He was a little disappointed; he had gotten the impression that patients usually ate dinner in their rooms, so he hadn't arranged to meet anyone, and there really wasn't anyone to sit by and engage in conversation yet.

Quietly, he collected dinner and a big glass of orange juice, and chose a seat near the food-serving counters. Talking for so long had made him thirsty... and, well, fruit juice was a luxury he had missed.

[Stalk away, my dearest Admiral. <3 ]

As though his conversation during the last shift hadn't been terrible enough... the way that girl had treated him like a child, it was just another nail in the coffin to be herded along to the showers with all the other children.  Allen knew he must be dirty, but he was far from enthusiastic about the idea of public nudity. 

When he arrived, however, he was relieved to be the first one in the room.  Perhaps he could get this over with and get moving before very many others showed up.  He was too tired to argue with the nurses, but at least they were kind enough to help him get the water to a decent temperature before leaving him to his business.  He was a little unsteady, but better than this morning.  His shoulder ached, though after a few minutes under the warm water, he could feel it starting to relax.  If he could just tune out everything else around him, this shift might even be a little bit pleasant.

[[waiting for captain pedo pants hitsu]]

The last intercom had spelled out everything.

Misbehavior. Someone had started a riot - quickly quelled from the sounds of it. He didn't want to say it was good thing he'd be stabbed, but from the looks of it, it was probably best he was absent from whatever shift this had happened during. The warning siren, and all of the habub about it; blood had probably been spilled. In his current condition, he might have been tempted.

Well, there was no might in that. He would've been.

Despite protests from his nurse as well as his own body, Edward politely asked for an escort to the music room, wanting nothing more than to get out of his little cell. The cream-colored music room was quiet, spacious, and had plenty of seating.

He was surprised to see it empty this time, and made no hesitation in moving to sit at the large keyboard. It was no parlor grand, but it was accessable. Couldn't really complain about it.

Edward sat for a moment, lost in his memories. It had been a while since he had played anything... something old sounded satisfactory. Maybe a song from his childhood? Popular song, maybe. Gus Edwards?

Nodding to himself, he let his fingers settle against the keys, keeping his back straight for the hole in his chest. Without an entrance, his fingers began dancing along the keys to the tune of By the Light of the Silvery Moon. A quirky little tune, but a personal favorite.

[[from here]]

At least it wasn't far to Keman's.  He knocked on the door a couple of times then waited for a response.  Yes, it would be much better to spend the evening inside and far, far away from anything that might be lurking outside, whether it was in his imagination or not.  And if the conversation got awkward or anything came up, he could always back out, run away, just like all the times before.  It was an effort to make his smile feel relaxed and friendly as he stood at the door, ready to meet his friend.

[m88]

It had not been a good day. Not the morning, nor the afternoon, and now the sun was setting and evening had arrived, and he'd barely gotten anything done.

It was his own fault, he supposed, for allowing himself to sleep late and then not associating with anyone. At least one nightshift had been somewhat successful and gotten them a weapon ... although one without much in the way of ammo. Still, that could be remedied.

Crawford decided that the library would be the best bet. If he couldn't get any information out of it, then he would at least have some peace and quiet to figure out what to do tonight. Whether or not he succeeded in formulating a plan ... well, the nights tended to be screwy anyway. He'd see what would happen.

Idly, he began to search the shelves for something he could at least pretend to read. A lot of the titles were familiar, but he'd either read them all or had never held any interest. His fingers rested briefly on the compiled works of Poe, frowning - he'd never really had the taste for that man's writings, given the melancholy tone of most of them.

Still, he likely wouldn't actually be reading anything, just holding the book open and pretending he was focused. Still, there had to be something else available ...

Quatre was thankful that his "name" wasn't called to be visited, but there was always the next shift. He knew he probably should have hunted down his comrades to see if they were safe this shift as well and if they could think of a plan to escape. It was strange being in captivity, Quatre had never been caught by OZ and when one of the remaining White Fang factions had attempted to assassinate him, the action had resulted in the deaths of many innocent politicians and bureaucrats; people who had families and who had honestly been hoping to do the best with the peace that Quatre and so many like him had tried so hard to obtain.

There were a few things that could completely take Quatre's mind off even the most horrible of facts, one of them was music. So when the nurse mentioned that he could go to the 'Music Room' he couldn't help but want to at least look in the room. There was an assortment of instruments for him to choose from. There were no classical pieces to speak of, but Quatre considered the fact that an attentive enough patient could use a number of the pieces of a piano to kill someone. That and you couldn't really use headphones on a real flute.

He ran his fingers over the electric keyboard before sitting down to it.

He had once told a good friend, Noin, that he played what he felt and at the moment his anxiousness was overwhelming. If he played at least a little bit of it, it might release from him, might take some of the pressure from his heart.

That, and it would be reassuring to be doing something he loved to do. He placed the headphones on his ears, trying not to allow his emotions to affect any of the patients that might enter the room after him, and started to play.

The sound was dulled, probably for safety reasons, but that was probably for the best. If anyone spoke to him he would be able to hear, even if he let the music that his fingers played with electrical sound take him away from Landel's prison walls.

((From here. ))

Claude held the door open for Guy before stepping inside himself. Pausing, he gazed around at the variety of gadgets that were set up around the shop -- old radios and televisions, portable disc players, headphones, speakers, and all sorts of other things he didn't entirely recognize right away due to the sheer age of all these designs. But with the great condition everything was in, Claude felt less like he was walking into an antique store and more like he was stepping back through time...

Oh. Right. He kind of already had, hadn't he?

"There sure is a wide variety of things in here," he softly remarked after a moment. "But these models are all ancient where I come from. Like something you'd find in a museum or something. It's so weird, seeing them all for sale like this."

The swordsman caught sight of some packs of batteries that were on display, and he couldn't help but sigh to himself. Too bad they didn't get any coupons for this place. They sure could have used the things in here a lot more than some facial or a burger. Of course, that was probably the point, but still! Dangling things in front of their faces like this...it was downright cruel!

And after Claude had promised himself he wasn't going to try stealing anything, too. Damn.

"I know this stuff is probably different from your fontech, but do they have anything similar back on Auldrant?" Claude asked Guy at length.

Momo tugged on the collar of the light blue sweater she was wearing as she followed her nurse to wherever these buses were, winding her hair up into its customary bun as she went. It was an odd feeling, knowing she was about to go outside of the institute's borders. Maybe the Head Doctor was about to make an error and the shinigami, as well as everyone else, would no longer be limited and they could finish what they started several nights back.

That was probably too much to hope for. She was feeling better this morning, even with the blood moon, and was mildly looking forward to the bus ride. Captain Jack said he was going to be here this morning and even if it wasn't customary breakfast in the cafeteria, she's be satisfied with him sitting next to her on the bus.


The nurse handed her a muffin, some napkins, and a small box with a straw. She stared at this box for a moment before shaking it. From the sound it contained liquid. How odd... Momo wasn't sure why they would but liquid inside a small paper box - it didn't make any sense to her and she wasn't sure how one was supposed to get it out of the box.

Clambering onto an empty bus, Momo chose to sit in the very back near the emergency exit. Maybe she could force her way out of it as they were moving and escape the limiter enough to come back and level the institute, freeing everyone. Or maybe she just wanted to be able to see everyone that was on the same bus as her. Wishful thinking versus reality.

[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]

[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]

The hallway was empty here as well. Just how much earlier had she headed out tonight? Probably not by much. The absence of others in the hallway barely bothered Rhode as did the presence of others. Her mind was usually so dead focused on getting somewhere or finding someone that she had never really paid attention to what other things happened around her.

A left at the next hallway and down a bit for the doors on the left. That should be right. She hoped the ghost woman's influence on her wasn't messing with her memory.

[to here]

The intercom gave its cheery jingle just before the Head Doctor's equally buoyant voice rang through the halls.

"Ah, and finally, our day is coming to a close! Rooms and roommates have been reassigned with care, though what great partnership can start without a good meal? Ah, yes, after the nurses escort all of our patients, new and old, back to their proper rooms, everyone will have the chance to enjoy a savory chicken pot pie, full of peas, carrots, potatoes, and of course, chicken. On the side, we'll have buttery corn on the cob and green beans, and to drink, you may choose from the regular slew of water, milk, or assorted juices, which your nurse will bring to you.

"I believe that's all for now! Phew, long day, huh? I know I'll be happy to get some sleep, and thank you to all our vigilant doctors and nurses, although Dr. House seems to have gone AWOL... Hmm... Well, in any case, have a good dinner, everyone!"

The intercom clicked off again as the nurses began organizing the patients for the small trek back to their rooms.

[ OOC: Remember, room threads go in response to THIS post, and please put your respective room number in the subject line of your first post. Thanks! ]

Libraries, he'd found, were rarely as dull as people made them out to be.  Though he felt no magic in these tomes, they were still full of useful information.  Maybe some of them could tell him a little bit more about this world he'd landed himself in. 

For that matter, why hadn't he run into any of the others yet?  They'd all been fairly close together when they'd left Rekord, but he hadn't seen a trace of any of them.  He was able to communicate easily with the people here though, which led him to believe Mokona was within a mile or so.  Unless the ones running this little game had some other way to let all these other-worldly people communicate amongst themselves.  In which case, the others could be very far away indeed.

The library had that wonderful smell of old books, and Fai traced his fingers along the shelves, skimming titles and pulling books that struck his fancy.  Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The War of the Worlds, and with a smile, he found Bram Stoker's Dracula as well.  Raven had been telling the truth then, in spite of his own lies.  Ought to be a good start.  He sat leisurely at one of the tables and began flipping through his selections.

[waiting for Tamaki~]

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.

Day came too soon.

Sora hadn't been able to find Rena, had instead been forced to crumple onto the grass of the recreational field and bleed all over himself, and hadn't even accomplished what he'd been sent out to do. What he'd been entrusted to do. He didn't know how he was going to be able to face Renji and the others, but he also knew he wasn't going to hide from them, either. That would just be low, after all, and he was ready to face up to the consequences.

He didn't try to make excuses for himself. Even though there had been a Special Counseling patient, they had managed to take her down by sheer numbers. The fact that he hadn't seen any sign of Rena was what had him the most worried. He hoped he could find her today.

The boy laid in his bed for a good while that morning before his nurse finally came in to collect him. She clucked over the bandages wrapped tightly around his chest and leg, and asked him if he was okay to walk.

Once Sora assured her he was fine (he didn't really want to use crutches, as that would just attract attention to himself, and he didn't need others worrying over him), they made their way to the cafeteria. Sora yawned and winced against the bright light of morning - it seemed even earlier than usual, and he realized why when they entered the cafeteria and found it empty.

The boy shuffled over to grab a chocolate chip pancake, a bowl of cereal, and a glass of milk (good for the bones, or so his mom had always told him) before settling at a table. He kept an eye on the door, hoping he would see Rena walking in soon.

From here.

Logan recognized this hallway from the night before. He gave pause to think about Keigo, about how the kid might be faring tonight, and whether or not he'd found anyone he knew, or at least, anyone to run with. There was no time for that now. As much as he would have liked to be able to keep all of the seemingly helpless kids from harm, he didn't think he could do it alone. Maybe if he could develop a network from the more talented and reliable 'patients' in this place, he could begin to feel better about those who were less adept at fending for themselves. He didn't slow as he moved through this hallway; he knew where he was going now.

From here

Logan stepped into the hallway. He was sure that Parker would be fine by himself. There was no time to wait around, he had a rendezvous to keep. Moving swiftly, silently, he all but tore down the hallway.