[With mod permission]

Sanzo jerked awake, cheek pressed against the floor. The monk immediately went for the gun. He hadn't gone to sleep that last shift, not while he hadn't made a decision about Takasugi. What the fuck? Had they drugged the food? He was curled on the floor - and he definitely wasn't in that cell any longer - his fingers around the Smith & Wesson. Sanzo pushed himself up.

He flicked the flashlight on, and looked around. An island in the middle, pots and pans above, a familiar metal door. What the hell was he doing in the kitchen?

Sanzo rose, the gun scraping against the floor with the movement. Something was going on here. He'd only woken up like this once, and that'd been that time in the morgue.

What was going on here?



[To here

[from here]

It looked as though they were the first ones in the room tonight, but the others wouldn't be far behind. Callisto didn't intend to dawdle long. It was simply a matter of remembering which door led into the cold room. The more solid-looking one, wasn't it? Right. It would have been so much more beneficial to the others to join them, but she was through trying to convince them at this point.

"Don't suppose you're hungry," she teased as they continued in. She didn't actually intend to stop for him if he was. They served them enough during the day anyway. "It's just back here - the way down, that is."

[from here]

Junpei slammed the door shut behind him, hoping it would keep Invisi-girl out. She hadn't been there when he came to, so maybe she'd gotten bored or something and wandered off. He eyed the small crack at the bottom of the door, hoping that she'd just been invisible and not like a cloud or something, cause it'd suck if she just slipped under the door like something from a creepy mist movie.

Finding a table nearby, Junpei sat down at it, bat placed on the table top, and took a few good long minutes to catch his breath and enjoy wonderful, beautiful air. While he caught his breath, he examined the rip in his pants, noting the rock he'd hit had cut his knee and there was some blood soaked into the grey fabric. It kinda stung when he poked it. Stupid rock.

So, he was in... like a cafeteria or something from the looks of it. Picking his bat back up, Junpei shined his flashlight around to get a better look at the room. Boring. There wasn't even any food out - just a bunch of tables and an empty buffet line. With the awesomeness of the food he'd had for dinner, he'd kinda wanted a bit of a midnight snack.

Oh, he shouldn't have thought of that. Midnight was when the Dark Hour was and a midnight snack was, like, what that scary chick was helping herself to outside. Did she have to like floss to get the fur out from between her teeth? Oh no... Junpei covered his mouth as he gagged, really hoping he wasn't going to throw up at the whole evil-Koro-chan-eating-pink-chick-of-ubercreepiness.

[from here]

Spider closed the large double doors carefully behind him, still unsure as to whether the figments outside would transform into snake-toothed dogs and devour his liver. They did not. Elated, and recovered from his previous sprint, Spider let out a loud hoot and launched himself into the massive room.

This was the first room he'd managed to find in this white-tiled antiseptic-smelling prismfuck and by god he was going to make the most of it. It was like the architect had smashed all the rooms in the place into one to make more room for his beloved hallways. It was huge. He took a running jump and landed on a nearby table, crouching. He surveyed the room like a predator, grinning so widely it looked as if his head was about to spawn a swarm of infernal bicuspids. He took stock of exits, windows, tables, chairs ... and there was a bulletin board! He had pens. This could prove extremely entertaining.

Whistling merrily and tunelessly, he leapt from table to table on his way to the massive bulletin board.

He came to feeling perfectly fine, but knowing things were not well.

Qui-Gon's eyes opened. At first he couldn't see anything. But he didn't need to see to know he wasn't in the room with Vlad. He was somewhere else, and, he touched his hand to one arm, not even in his Jedi robes. Qui-Gon remained calm even as the ramifications settled in that he was in a place he didn't recognize, in clothes he hadn't been wearing prior to this and, reviewing things, was probably missing a chunk of his memory. He didn't remember anything after entrusting Vlad with his journal. Perhaps the room had been bugged, his plans overheard. But if they had tried to mind-wipe him, they had failed. He still intended to go to the basement again and find the truth. He still remembered the arena, Martin Landel, Sanzo's death.

But now he wondered how long he had been missing. There was no way to tell aside from heading back to the patient cells and contacting Obi-Wan with his commlink.

Qui-Gon got to his feet. They didn't wobble, nor did he feel light-headed. Perhaps that was all the more worrying - he expected to feel some side-effects, but there were none.

Reaching around him, he tried to collect the Force about him. Most of it seemed to trickle out of his grasp, but some of it he was able to sense. Keeping a hand on the wall to guide him, the Jedi Master headed forward, trying to get a feel for where he was. As usual, the darkness pressed in on him, but something about it felt...wider. This was a larger hall, like the Main Hall. He could be upstairs or downstairs. As he continued forward, he spotted points of light in the distance.

Other patients.

[To here]

After dinner Depth Charge had drifted over to his bed and collapsed onto it, feeling disturbingly fragile, as if a strong breeze could shatter him and blow away the pieces like they were nothing but dust. Matsuda’d tried to help, but the human had no idea He’d never felt so helpless, so useless, so slagging vulnerable. What was he supposed to do now, just sit around and wait? What if X had survived? What if he was still out there?

Maybe that’s the point. There’s got to be a reason you’re here and not him. Think about it. Five stellar cycles of ceaseless hunting, and for what? Petty vengeance? Don’t give me that ‘justice’ smelt either. You know this is personal. Ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe he’s not the monst-

The doctor’s announcement buzzed hollowly overhead, splitting his thoughts in two. Depth Charge, as grateful as he was for the distraction, barely noticed the change in tone, nor would he have given a slag if he had. Why the Pit should he have done? X had pulled out the ultimate get-out-of-jail-card on him and left him to rot in the mutant’s place and he was supposed to care about something like that? Slag that!

In fact, the more he thought about it, the more cheated he began to feel. The more angry. And anger was always preferable to despondency; it brought with its frenzy a blinding effect that, while it lasted, removed him entirely from his thoughts. The thoughts that, otherwise, would have eaten away at him all night. It would hurt like frag afterwards, of course, even more than if he’d never bothered, but he was hardly thinking straight enough to care.

The rage continued to bubble and seethe within him, until, finally, it forced him upright and out of bed. Grabbing the bat from under his mattress and the torch from his drawer he wrenched open the door and burst out into the hallway.

[To here]

[From here]

Quite thankfully, Ophelia had made it to the entrance of the Sun Room with no interruptions. She leaned against the wall on the right-hand side of the room's entrance, making sure to stay in the shadows and keep an ear out for any sudden noises.

Now there was naught but to wait. She crossed her arms, a self-satisfied grin crossing her face. Apart from their basement mission, Ophelia was looking forward to mentioning a little interesting something that Kio had pointed out to her during their bulletin board exploration earlier. She was certain that she would get a fun reaction out of at least Arlene, and perhaps the others too, though she didn't know how well acquainted HK and SubZero were with the other woman.

[From here]

Ophelia slowed back to a walk as she entered the main hallway. It was a ways off in the dark, but she could just make out a small patch of light further down in the center of the hall, presumably streaming in from the Sun Room's glass ceiling. She didn't see anything yet, but there was no telling when something might suddenly jump out at her. That large glowing thing before had seemed to come out of nowhere, hadn't it? Who knew how Landel inserted his creatures into the building when night fell. For all she knew, he had some sort of magical location abilities, transporting creatures to wherever he desired on a whim. Power great enough to bring so many types of beings to a place like this was surely great enough for such feats.

Keeping her wits about her, Ophelia moved slowly down the hallway.

[To here]

"And I believe it's time to start wrapping up the day," was what the Head Doctor said after the intercom's initial jingle. "Now that everyone's all cleaned up, I think it's time for some... that's right, dinner!

"Tonight, we're serving some scrumptuous rotisserie herb chicken, seasoned with rosemary, lemon juice, and other delicious seasonings. On the side, we have cooked asparagus with bits of grilled onion, as well as small roasted potatoes with garlic and butter; for dessert, we'll be serving vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup on top. Our normal assorted drinks and specialized diet alternatives are available.

"Some of you might find that you have new roommates since your old ones were fortunate enough to recover and leave us. Hopefully, you'll be able to see them again the next time we have visitors if you wish, but in the meantime please treat your new bunkmates kindly.

"I believe that's all for now. I hope you had a wonderful day and that you have a delicious dinner! ...Well, you'll definitely be having a delicious dinner, but there's nothing surprising about that, is there? Hahaha..."

With a seemingly good-natured chuckle, the Head Doctor turned off his mic.

[ All introduction posts for this shift's group of new characters should be made in response to this post. Find your character's room assignments here.

All room threads go in response to this post; please post your character's room number as the subject line of the initial post. Thank you! ]

Kio had been having quite a time with Kunzait. He couln't really believe that one of his childhood characters was here. Well... characters. Some guy with a lot of time on his hands and cosplay. That was all there was to it. He had hoped, as people filed into the Sun Room, that he would glimpse Soubi. No luck.

Perhaps it was better to just accept that his friend was gone. Soubi was in Goura, with Ritsuka. Well, sort of. If the bulletin note was anything to go by, Kio had a handful of pranksters on his hands. He could understand it if this were an appropriate time for jokes and such, but it wasn't. However, should that boy prove to indeed be Ritsuka, then Kio had someone from home. He'd hoped that the identity of the other person would be revealed, but other than minor scathing remarks between 'Ritsuka' and the other, nothing Kio could say was Soubi or not.

If anything, it just annoyed the man. When the nurse came to take him away, Kio went silently. He did not remark on how 'Mr Akatsuki' was being friendly already and how that was a great improvement. If anything, Kio was not himself. But he had to try. Grabbing a tray with enough meat and vegetables, he frowned at it.

"No sushi?". The nurse just smiled. No sushi. Sighing, he moved to a centre table and sat down, picking at his salad. He was a bit hungry. But more than anything, he was despondent. He missed Soubi. He wanted all this to prove to be one giant nightmare.

[Sou-chan! <3]

[for Sylar, I believe]

At the sound of the intercom, Wally jerked awake and blinked around at the room. He’d fallen asleep. He should have been up and keeping an eye open for ZEX, but he’d fallen asleep waiting on his bed.

“Idiot,” he groaned, ruffling his hair and sighing in annoyance. “Way to help a guy out, hotshot.” Hopefully ZEX hadn’t dropped by and thought he’d left or something, or wouldn’t be too mad at him for just forgetting about it like that. If he was lucky, he’d be able to catch up with the other patient at some point and explain what had happened.

Rolling himself a little awkwardly out of the bed, Wally took the opportunity to stretch his injured leg and test how well it was holding up. It was feeling a bit better, not so much that he could abandon his crutch or that it didn’t pull painfully if he wasn’t careful, but better. Tony had apparently made it through the night in one piece as well, which was a relief. He really didn’t feel comfortable about the thought of his roommate wandering about on his own with an injured arm. Not when Wally himself could relax and fall asleep in the apparent safety of their room.

Yeah, he wasn’t going to let himself forget that one in a hurry.

It was at that moment that the door swung open to admit one of the nurses. She seemed surprised to find him awake and ready to go already, but smiled warmly. “Hungry, are we Mr. West? Well in that case, let’s get you to the cafeteria. The staff have provided some delicious French Toast as well as a range of other foods I’m sure you’ll like. Now will you be needing a hand with your leg, dear?”

“No thanks, I can handle it,” Wally replied, smiling back. After all, it probably wasn’t the nurses’ fault that this place was so messed up, so it wasn’t like picking fights with them would do anything. With a cheery wave goodbye, Wally slowly made his way to the cafeteria, keeping a tight grip on his crutch all the while. Obtaining a plate of food was only slightly less difficult than it had been yesterday – he didn’t have the painkillers to work around this time – but he managed well enough, coming away from the buffet with a tray containing a plate piled high with slices of French Toast and slathered in maple syrup, butter, and sugar, as well as a glass of juice. Not quite as good as some coffee would be right now, but the sugar would hopefully make up for it. And, with how few people were here at the moment, he could afford to take more food than might have been considered ‘normal’ – he’d have most of it gone by the time anyone came to keep him company, then he could just worry about how many extra serves would be allowed before he aroused suspicion.

Feeling pretty happy with how things were looking so far, Wally hummed faintly to himself as he dug in to his breakfast.

[From here]

Opening the door, Qui-Gon cast his glowrod about the room. He moved slowly, conserving his energy - opening the lock hadn't been as tiring as he had expected and he supposed his brush with death last night might have increased his sensitivity for the time being. Even so, he wouldn't needlessly push himself if he could help it. His Earthian flashlight flickered but he got a decent enough glimpse of the room: tall shelves loaded with boxes with what he assumed where medical supplies, a cart in one corner, in the other a desk.

The Jedi Master stepped to the side to let Leon in, his robes whispering on the floor as he moved. Qui-Gon couldn't sense any imminent danger but he'd learned, especially in Landels, that didn't mean there wasn't trouble incoming. He'd have to be alert, despite what his eyes and the Force told him.

[from here]

She didn't waste time crossing the next hall. Even empty, it was foreboding. Moving carefully, she quickly crossed to the other side.

The inivisibility was more tiring today. She wondered what exactly that meant.

[to here]

[from here]

Brooklyn reached the top of the stairs first, taking another careful look around to make certain nothing was there waiting for him. When it looked safe enough as far as where they needed to go, he motioned for Nate to join him.

Though the gargoyle was well used to traveling in the dark without any or much of a light source, these hallways still gave him the creeps - especially now that he was in this weaker human form. A good many of the monsters in this place would be nothing compared to a full-grown member of his race.

[From here.]

He was quick to approach the hallway leading into the Sun Room and consequently, his first obstacle of the night. With an intake of breath, Ken slowed his pace to a walk, his eyes focused on the space between the double doors. Nothing.

That, however, could change once he ventured inside. It happened the same time yesterday; it was bound to happen tonight. Whatever occurred, he would have to follow through with the plan he'd concocted during dinner: run. If not run, fight until escape was possible. That should hopefully get the boy to where he needed to be.

After a close inspection of the entrance, Ken brought his spear into his hands and walked in.

[To here.]

Tempting as it was to just lay down and sleep the night away, pretend that it really was a hospital, that th door was locked and outside were just night-staff checking to make sure that patients were safe during the darkness hours, he couldn't quite bring himself to give up to such an extent, not yet. So once he heard the Head Doctor's announcement, he forced himself to get up and pull his things out from beneath the mattress.

He frowned for a moment, before pulling out his journal and scribbling a note to Ken in it.

In M43, don't worry.

Yohji

Because like hell was he going to give Ken a chance to think the worse. Yohji was much better at taking care of others than he was at taking care of himself.

He nodded to Leon and grabbed the plate with the slice of tonight's dessert on it, before slipping out into the corridor. Schuldig's room was just a few rooms down, thankfully, and he paused outside it, knocking lightly on the door, well aware that he would have a roommate too, and not certain what to expect. He'd seen the telepath out on the field today, looking just as broken as Yohji felt.

"Schuldig?"

[From here.]

For once, this hall was devoid of traffic, though people were beginning to appear in the adjacent areas. Ken simply looked on and ran, seeing little point in staying in one place.

[To here.]

The intercom's jingle rang out and the somewhat uninhibited movement that was going on between the main activity rooms halted as the Head Doctor made one of his usual announcements.

"Good evening everyone, and I'm very pleased to see so many of you in such high spirits after meeting with your loved ones! However, like with all good things, it can't last forever, so I ask now for nurses to escort our patients in the waiting rooms and in the main areas back to their rooms, where they will be treated with a special Sunday... steak! That's right: today, we'll be serving juicy, delicious steak with fries and cooked vegetables on the side – simple enough for everyone to like and good enough for everyone to thoroughly enjoy! (Our patients with specialized diets will receive their alternate meals, of course.) Our usual beverages are available, and for dessert, we'll be serving warm slices of apple pie.

"After all, patients, t's always wonderful to see all of you cooperating with the staff even when given so much freedom, so I'd like to personally thank and congratulate all of you for helping us, your family, and more importantly, yourselves. Hopefully, we can help you to a speedy recovery so that you can see your loved ones more often, but first... dinner! I hope to speak with you all again soon."

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. Thank you!

On an added note, just wanted to clarify to players of characters who are canonly vegetarians and the like that you get to decide (within reasonable and realistic limits) what kind of diet your character gets from the staff. :3 ]

Keman retreated to libraries almost instinctively. He liked books. Books were simpler to deal with, and they didn't change. No matter what, the ending always stayed the same. Even if it was a bad ending, that ending was still a constant. Constants were good. They didn't surprise him, didn't show up out of nowhere and throw everything off kilter.

This had.

His mother. They'd taken Alara and done horrible things to her. Made her forget, fed her lies. He wouldn't wish it on anyone, not even Myre. And that was what would happen to him, too, if he wasn't careful. He'd lose himself completely. He was already slipping, already more halfblood than dragon. How long before halfblood turned to human, and Keman became Calvin?

At any rate, he needed to tell Shana everything that had happened. Alara was her mother, too. Keman left a note for his sister on the board, letting her know where he'd be, and then pulled the largest book he could find off the shelf: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. It looked to be a massive collection of plays and poetry. Good. Opening it to a random page, he settled down and began to read.

[for Shana (and Valyn and Shadow?)]

Miku hurried away from her new friends (and kitten) to the cafeteria. For some reason she was just terribly ravenous. Her nurse smiled, relieved that her patient had finally chose to eat something and wouldn't continue that backslide into poor health. She loaded the girl's plate with French toast and fruit, dusted the bread in powdered sugar and a bit of cherries in red-red syrup and sent the girl to sit.

"There we are, Alice, a nice healthy meal," she cooed, and patted Miku's head. Miku sighed, but carefully cut into her meal and started eating, keeping her eye out for Sousuke.