To die for...

Was that idle chitchat? A red herring? The nausea making a convincing case for the chicken's immediate release and acquittal on all charges? Her stomach did a little flip as the gavel came down, pronouncing it not guilty. But wouldn't that mean it wasn't poisoned? Objection, your honor. This case makes no sense. She fell back onto her pillow for a second, head spinning. She was lightheaded, and giddy, and in no shape to be gathering her things in the dark -- she'd landed on the flashlight -- and heading out into it.

Nevertheless, she eased the flashlight out from under the small of her back and switched it on. A circle of light flickered into life on the ceiling, as the Head Doctor's voice came back on the intercom.

Five. How many were sick? She held the gun up into the light, probably thoroughly freaking out Ilia, even as she kept it pointed only at the near wall. What made a human? Guilt. Or innocence. A lawyer's answer, to pick both, but it was true. Animals didn't know what they did. Humans did. Temporary insanity, turned into a monster. It was a defense on legal grounds, but not on ethical ones. She wouldn't let it come to that.

Harrington's little interjection cut into the path her thoughts had wandered down. Another clue. This time, she was going to see it for herself. As long as she was still herself to do so. A good reason to hurry.

[to here]

As some of the clouds from earlier began to clear, the intercom jingle sounded over the intercom once again.

"Hello, patients!" came the Head Doctor's cheery voice. "I hope you're all feeling fresh and clean this evening! To top it all off, we've prepared a scrumptious herb chicken dinner for you to eat before bed. Of course, we have vegetarian options available, so please don't hesitate to ask the nurse if you're interested in that.

Also, since we have the pleasure of welcoming a few new patients into our family, some of you will be receiving new roommates. Let's do our best to give them a nice, big Landel's Institute welcome, shall we?"

The Head Doctor gave a friendly chuckle. "Well, anyway, enjoy your dinner!"

With that, the intercom shut off.

[Note: All dinner threads are posted in response to this entry. Be sure to check the Roommate Assignments if you're not sure what room/roommate your character has! Thanks.]

The library was the quietest option, and so, after collecting a grilled cheese she didn't plan to eat, Lana made her way there.

She still felt guilty for not making an effort to see what was in the X-Ray room, even when it had clearly been either a red herring or a clue which had the dual virtues of being both true and useless. That was very like Landel, but knowing how he operated didn't give her any ideas on how to stop it. Except for the most drastic option -- stopping it on the small scale before she could hurt anyone else, but that wasn't much of a solution. She was avoiding thinking on it more than she had to; she would do what was necessary, dwelling on it wouldn't make it anything other than harder.

Though, hmm. If she did, would she wake up convinced like Damon had, that she was Shirley Franklin, slightly disgraced but well-loved detective? With a sister who'd never had think she'd killed a man, and a partner who'd never been abandoned to run the tightest large-scale investigation Lana had ever seen. And a superior who had, at least, recognized that some risks were too high, and that the truth could be surprisingly powerful, when properly applied. That wouldn't be so bad, would it?

Except that she would know it was a lie. Or, more precisely, Ms. Franklin wouldn't; Lana would, but she would be more thoroughly trapped than ever before. It wasn't as appealing when she put it that way.

She hadn't bothered to get out a book, just claimed a chair and part of a table and was looking at her carton of apple juice like it might hold the answers to the rather existential questions she'd been pondering. Either someone would risk talking to someone who was visibly ill, or they wouldn't, and she'd get at least a bit of rest.

[L]

After all the energy spent worrying and running and healing the night before, it was amazing Rapunzel only slept through one shift. Her head still felt woozy upon forcing herself out of bed, bringing on a bit of nausea with it, but she had confidence that she would be fine if she walked around for a little while. A shower, her nurse convinced her, would probably help to wake her up as well. True, she still felt uncomfortable going to the showers, but she would rather be clean and embarrassed than dirty and embarrassed-for-reasons-of-stink.

Before leaving her room, she found a note from Tsubaki on their night stand:

( Note from Tsubaki )

She could definitely understand someone wanting to keep his weaknesses private, Rapunzel thought. Though she still didn't quite get Eugene's reasons, she got that he had those reasons for, well, reasons. The same probably went for Tsubaki's friend.

In any case, the note inspired her to leave one of her own, except this one was on the bulletin board. If she was going to be healing someone tonight anyway, she might as well make a night of it, especially when she knew so many people had been hurt the night before. The more people she could help get back on their feet, the better. Who knew? Maybe she could convince Eugene to heal up more as well and then stay in with her afterward; she knew he could use a night off as much as she could.

With that out of the way, she let her nurse lead her to the showers. As always, she was careful with her towel and hair, try to keep as much of herself covered as she could for as long as she could. She took deep breaths as she approached the showerheads. Okay, today I'm gonna do it: I'm going to drop the towel. No one likes a soggy towel, she thought, biting down on the inside of her lip. She reached out for the shower knob, hesitating.

[Soma]

As soon as the patients entered the dark room, the first thing they might have noticed were a couple of short bursts of static from the intercom. But no voices or cryptic messages greeted them.

Instead, their eyes would undoubtedly be drawn toward the strange picture of a human stomach carefully painted onto the southern wall, its paint casting an eerie green glow that cut into the darkness.

Although the artist had done their best to make the picture as clear as possible, they had apparently decided to leave a sharp kitchen knife perched on X-Ray table to compensate the patients for their troubles. Hopefully whoever picked it up would be able to make good use of it and the clue created for them.

[In M39.]

As it turned out, Kobayashi hadn't been very interested in talking during this particular dinner. Castiel didn't know if that was because the man was struggling with his own problems or if he had simply been here long enough that he wasn't bursting with questions that needed answers, but with how he was feeling, Castiel had been relieved to have some peace and quiet, even if it was short-lived.

He forced himself to eat a decent amount of the steak, and the fact that his vessel was so open to it made it much easier to get down. After he'd done that, he went to lay on the bed, trying to get as much rest as possible before he'd have to force his body up and out into the halls.

If Kratos didn't show, would that still be his plan? He wasn't certain on that until the intercom came on and he learned a number of things. Firstly, that someone would supposedly be turning into a monster tonight. "At least one," Landel said, which left room for more. If he was in that number, then it was possible Kobayashi might be in danger, depending on how fast the effects kicked in.

It was beyond his comprehension to think he could go from being himself to something that wanted only to kill in the matter of a few minutes, but Castiel wasn't about to underestimate this place now. What he learned next, however, through what seemed to be Harrington's doing, was that there was supposedly a cure. That was enough to get Castiel moving, off of his bed and gathering his things. Even if Kratos didn't show himself, he would be heading to the medical wing tonight. There was no question of that now.

Harrington really had come through in the end. Castiel had to admit that he was surprised. It didn't take him long to grab his blade, flashlight, and radio, which meant that once Kobayashi left, all he could really do was sit on his hands. That wasn't easy for someone like him to do, but he had to at least give Kratos a short window in which to come collect him.

_{[From here]}

Looking around, Scar wasn't quite sure what to expect upon this returning visit to the medical wing. It was silent, for now. Scar shined his light around each corner as he moved silently through the room, ready for something to jump out at him at any moment. He wasn't sure of what to expect, but he held his scalpel at the ready with his free hand. It was feeble protection at best, but Scar was a sitting duck without his alchemic arm.

He still wasn't sure if he would actually want it back, though.

_{[From here]}

Scar continued through to the easternmost end of the hallway, finally reaching the door to the medical wing. Grumbling at the damn thing being locked, the Ishbalan bashed it a few times with his flashlight until it broke, and he pushed open the door somewhat cautiously.

_{[To here]}

[From here.]

Still no one. Harvey imagined that before long these areas were going to be flooded with sick people who were going to follow that clue, so he was glad that he'd beaten them to the punch. It wasn't that he thought it was contagious anymore -- by this point, they would have known -- but he didn't need to be surrounded by a bunch of miserable, sniffling people, either.

Relieved that he'd dodged that bullet, at least so far, Harvey reached the end of the hall and took a right toward their regular meeting spot.

[To here.]

Tsubaki’s preparations for nightshift had entailed precise and deliberate concentration; without her noticing, a frown appeared on her brow as she changed clothes and gathered her supplies, growing deeper with the Head Doctor‘s announcement.

There were enough distractions jostling for position in her mind that any one of them could easily derail her focus, and if she was going to go out searching for answers with Lingormr, then she needed to be clear-headed. She couldn’t be thinking about her brother, or her friends, or the sick prisoners and the people she hadn’t heard from all day. And definitely not Landel’s threats, even though they were rather impossible to ignore. But she couldn’t--she couldn’t give in to her worry about the people Landel claimed were set to transform.

But when Landel’s voice was suddenly drowned out by another kind of message entirely, Tsubaki felt a flicker of hope. It burned brighter the longer I.R.I.S. went on.

They were meeting at the medical wing! Lingormr’s suggestion had been luckier than either of them had thought!

There’s a cure.

Those were the only words Tsubaki cared about. After bidding Rapunzel a quick goodbye, she made her last adjustments and slipped out of the room. A sense of urgency lent her speed to her feet. They could do this--assuming the message was true, there was a definite chance. She didn't want to leave Lingormr waiting even for a second.

_{[to here]}

When the cheery jingle sounded over the speakers, the Head Doctor could be heard humming a song that suspiciously sounded like pieces of "Superstar" from today's movie. Then, as if realizing people were listening, he abruptly cleared his throat.

"Good evening, patients!" he greeted after a quick recovery. "I do hope everyone had a pleasant day. And what better way to end things than with a scrumptious steak dinner? We'll be including fries on the side, as well as offering our usual assortment of water, milk, and juices. Of course, we also carry vegetarian options for those of you who don't eat meat. Enjoy!"

The intercom turned off, leaving the nurses to escort patients to their rooms.

((Please make all dinner threads under this post with your character's room number in the subject line. For updated roommate assignments, refer to the latest Lounge Post. Thanks!))

... ... ... ...

It was shock, like failing to recognize some heavy injury following a traumatic accident. Zero's mind was reeling, still trying to accept the fact that Ciel - or else, someone who looked and sounded exactly like her - had been standing right before him, calling him by a different name. She'd spoken untruths, supporting the Institute's idea that he was mad, but her face, her voice, her mannerisms...! It had undeniably been Ciel!

No, his mind couldn't accept that. Not yet. The so-called superior thinking power of the human brain couldn't do anything to help him.

And so the once-Reploid slowly walked out of the visitation room as if in a trance, following behind his forever cheerful nurse. She, of course, thought that there was nothing wrong and began chattering to herself about how healthy that visit must have been for him.

'Healthy'.

On any other day, he would have let out some sort of displeased grunt or, better yet, some rude remark about just how 'healthy' such a visit had been for him, but any sort of response became impossible when his brain was too busy just trying to process simple facts. So he simply stared past the nurse instead, only vaguely aware that she even existed. (Not that she seemed to notice. In fact, she probably took his lack of rudeness as a good sign. Wouldn't be surprising.)

Thankfully, it was only a very short walk back to the Sun Room and, therefore, only a short amount of time spent with that woman. Zero abandoned her and then slipped into the library in order to find some peace and quiet. He could sit in a chair somewhere and try to think about what just happened...

...He ended up standing in front of a random bookshelf mindlessly staring at the rows of paper-made novels in front of him rather than sitting, but oh well. His mind was in the same place either way.

[Long Hair Brigadiers UNITE!]

Scar had spent the morning napping in the Sun Room. Brunch had been skipped, as the nausea was still persisting. He would have been happy to lounge around all day and catch up on sleep, but his nurse had continuously been suggesting that he would be happier if he did something with himself. Fine.

So, Scar had meandered into the Arts and Crafts room. Sitting at one of the tables, he absentmindedly fiddled with the supplies at the center. The scissors were disappointingly dull. He had been hoping for something useful, but apparently they really did think of everything.

He may as well take his time to sort his thoughts. But he wasn't really sure where to begin. He looked down at his injured hand. The bandage didn't cover the rash entirely, but at least he had received medical attention.

He still wasn't at ease with this whole "illness" thing.

[For Murphy!]

This time, when Rita awakened, the drowsiness and disorientation cleared much faster than it had during the night. Being in a familiar room with traces of light helped with that. Instinctively, she tried to pull herself up, but the motion sent a piercing pain through her chest.

"Oh, Paige, let me help you!" a nurse cried from the doorway as she rushed to Rita's side. For once, Rita wasn't about to put up a fight, though she grumbled a bit as she was eased upright and to her feet. Her right arm was in a cast, which was kept immobilized in a sling. Wherever skin was visible, bruising could be found, and a particularly deep shade of blackish-blue could be seen peeking out from the edge of her shirt collar.

As they began to walk to the Sun Room, the nurse continued talking. "I hope you're not too disappointed at missing the field trip. But I have good news for you! The doctors say you'll be good as new in no time, so long as you take care and don't aggravate your injuries." The woman went on to list a number of activities the mage should avoid or ask for help with, as though Rita couldn't figure those things out for herself. Finally, they reached their destination and Rita was left in peace.

First things first: the bulletin. Since it was early in the day, there weren't many messages from patients yet. That was fine; it would mean her own message would be more visible. First, she needed to notify Taura of her situation, and then there were a few magic-related topics she wanted to inquire about...

Rita picked up a pen and a slip of paper, bent over one of the tables near the bulletin, and began to write... but the letters came out jerky and illegible.

"Dammit," she hissed, scrapping the paper and beginning again. Using only her non-dominant hand was more difficult than she imagined. This time, she wrote very slowly, taking care to write each stroke of each letter neatly. The result was still awkward-looking, but at least it was a readable start. She just needed to be patient... though that was a virtue Rita certainly lacked.

[Taura!]

[From here.]

But being outside was probably just as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than it was being trapped inside the bus with that nurse.

Besides the many other deformed nurses that were roaming around here, Zero caught sight of numerous forms flying overhead, casting large shadows on the ground as they passed by. They looked like...eagles. But deformed and horrific-looking, just like the nurses. At first, they seemed content to simply circle overhead, screeching, like vultures swarming above a carcass. But then many of them suddenly swooped down and headed straight for some of the prisoners running in the street.

Kind of like the one flying at Zero right now.

"Kh--!" The once-Reploid barely managed to dodge the monster as it dived for him by falling to the ground and rolling back onto his feet. The bird flew upwards again, slowly flapping its wings, then circled around as if to try again, another eagle joining it. To avoid them, Zero quickly moved out of the open, where he was obviously a target, and circled around one of the buses, keeping his back to it for cover. But he knew he wasn't going to be safe here...not when there were nurses on the ground and so many eagles above.

Not since the night he had become temporarily stronger had there been so much visible chaos... And if that one prisoner hadn't started a riot, this wouldn't be happening right now...!

As he stood contemplating the best route for escape, Zero glanced around quickly, searching the fleeing prisoners for anyone familiar or anyone who might need help. He was defenseless, so protecting someone else would only get him so far (and he certainly didn't want a repeat of two nights ago), but they all might have a better chance of survival if they grouped up...

[Leanne, Lana, and Harvey, WHERE YOU AT.]

Okay, so. Books? Books Eugene could deal with. He had a great fondness for them, in fact. A book had introduced him to Flynnigan Rider; you could say that practically his whole life had been shaped by that one story.

More importantly, though: books were familiar. They weren't exploding self-propelled carriages or directionless--and, even more perplexingly, flameless--lights. They weren't like the piece of paper that had somehow paid for Rapunzel's unfamiliar meal or the impossibly smooth roads. Books were, well, books. So when Rapunzel had suggested that they visit the bookshop next, Eugene had jumped at the idea.

He had his sealegs under him, thanks to his nap earlier, but he didn't tell her that. He liked the way she held onto his arm, guiding him around town. He liked it so much, in fact, that he didn't dare broach the question that had rankled him for the last hour or so until they were safely browsing through volumes amidst the familiar smells of paper and ink.

"So...that guy. Friend of yours?"

With Eugene in need of some time to just rest up and let more of the drug get out of his system, Rapunzel had to wonder what she was going to do for lunch. It would be too loud and crowded in that Tasty Burger place, but she doubted he had the energy to sit down to a full meal with her either. In the end, they compromised. Eugene came with her to the Twin Pine Restaurant, but opted not to eat just yet. There would be other opportunities for him to get food later, when he was more ready for it.

So Eugene sat in a comfy chair near the front while Rapunzel found her way into the main seating area of the restaurant. To be honest, she had other reasons for wanting to sit down by herself for a bit. This was the place she had met Facilier the week before, and with any luck, she hoped he would show up to have lunch with her again. She hadn't seen him since the night they had talked to Harrington. Moreover, as much as she wanted to show off her boyfriend (could she actually call him that now?) to people as soon as possible, she doubted either Eugene or Facilier would be up for awkward drugged-up conversation during a meal.

She sat down at a booth, picking up the menu as she had the week before. What to try that she hadn't tried last time, she wondered as her eyes scanned down the page.

[Facilier]

Sora was glad that he'd had the chance to check up with a club member first thing in the morning, and while that in itself helped his mood, he couldn't muster up quite the same amount of energy as he normally did when he was feeling under the weather like this. Eating would have done him some good, but he still didn't have the appetite for it, and so he was still carrying his brown bag with him as he exited the bus and bid farewell to Kratos.

Doyleton looked the same as it always did, except this time it wasn't blanketed with snow. While Sora had enjoyed that the last time, he was glad there hadn't been a repeat this time around. Not when he was already feeling ill.

With his energy levels at such a low, it was hard to figure out where he wanted to go or what he wanted to do. Maybe he should spend his day looking for gifts for friends again? Riku might want something, although Sora was sort of at a loss for what to buy him. The cold air felt good on his feverish face for the moment, but he realized that was probably going to change pretty soon.

He flipped through his coupons, but they were the same as always and didn't give him much of an idea of what to do with his day. He'd never had a massage before, but with how his body felt kind of achy and tired, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea...

[For Tsubaki.]

The night hadn't been nearly as productive as Loki would have liked, though he didn't feel all that upset about it. He had all the time in the world, as far as he was concerned.

He would have to keep an eye out for those showing very visible signs of infection. It seemed to be a very rapidly progressing disease, which was interesting, but not necessarily all that helpful. Of course, the question of humanity was cute in terms of philosophy, but considering that Loki had never been human and had no desire to lower himself to that level, he found it amusing more than threatening. It would probably set the mortals into mental paroxysms, though.

The prospect of visiting the town Soma had told him about, that was certainly more interesting, and possibly useful. Particularly considering they were apparently to be given some money to spend. There had to be a book store in the town at the very least, an possibly something more useful. He had serious doubts that he'd be allowed to purchase anything overtly useful like specialized tools, but the knowledge was far more important and books were the best place to focus.

Loki smiled prettily enough for the nurse when she showed up and took the clothing offered. It was slightly less painful to look at than the normal horrible uniform - jeans and a green flannel shirt, though he wasn't enamored of the plaid pattern. The outfit also included a black jacket and gloves, necessary since the weather was still cold. He made certain to tuck his notebook and a few pens into the jacket, since even if he wasn't allowed to purchase useful books, there would no doubt be an opportunity to take notes.

And he had a message he wished to pass around as well. Hopefully there would be some sort of bulletin board in the town. If not, it could always wait another day he supposed. That didn't tend to make people less dead.

Loki went quietly to the bus, accepting the sack of food and the little booklet of coupons. He examined the card that came with it for a moment - apparently that was the money equivalent - then looked through the coupons. Really, of the choices the massage and the manicure sounded the nicest. He was particularly wary of the 'tasty meal' since in his experience, anything with 'tasty' actually in the name was destined to be anything but.

With his normal air of amusement mixed with despair at the general state of food in this place, he started picking through what passed for breakfast.

[Send me an angel!]

[from here]

He'd managed to calm down enough to continue forward, but the silence was truly becoming grating by this point. And it wasn't doing anything to help with his anxiety, if one were to be frank. It was easier to ignore paranoia than this level of profound silence. There was absolutely nothing from the hallway behind or ahead. And nothing from outside either. Only the steady rhythm of his feet hitting the stairs.

...And if he focused on that, maybe... yes, it was just a little bit calming. If only slightly.

[to here]