Huh, her plan to run past the monster actually worked. Go figure.

If the others wanted to fight it, then that was their problem. She had other plans for the night, and all of them involved making it to the kitchen, alive, and with all of her body parts.

Her heart was still racing, but she couldn’t stop now. All that remained was to make it through the cafeteria.

Unfortunately, Raven was also well aware that it was never that easy.

[From here.]

Sousuke rushed into the room, immediately turning around in a circle, his pole at the ready. It didn't look like anything was in there, but Sousuke still felt uneasy. His soldier's sense was prickling. But maybe it was just his imagination...

"Let's go," he muttered, moving ahead urgently. He kept turning, as to avoid blind spots, all the while moving towards the Cafeteria door.

[from here]

Good, everything still looked familiar. Or as familiar as was possible in the darkness. Rhode still had yet to discover the joys that belonged to the flashlight nestled beneath her pillow, but her eyes were so accustomed to the darkness of her own dimensions that the hallways did not bother her. A little light would have been welcome, if only to flash against her golden eyes and scare away whomever had the misfortune to stumble onto her. She smiled at the thought of someone screaming as they ran away.

Only a little farther now.

[to here]

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.

With the nurse's guidance, Rinali was the first one into the room.  Along the way she did her best to make note of what she saw, but everything seemed to fit what the nurse had said.  This looked for all intents and purposes to be a mental asylum.  Still, everything was off.  Why did the nurse say her name was Mei Dianfu?

"Here's everything you need to get going," the nurse said with a warm smile, leading her to a table with cheap scissors, glue, and an assortment of glitter and other tools to draw or build.  "I'll be right over here if you need anything, hun," the nurse said with a warm smile.  "The other patients will be coming in shortly.  Try and make some friends."

Rinali smiled slightly to the nurse in thanks.  The nurse seemed genuine enough, so there wasn't any point in being rude until she understood what was going on.  "Thank you very much," she said, then took a seat at the table.  She didn't bother to look at the art supplies, instead waiting for the rest of the 'patients' to filter in.  Maybe one of them would know why she was here, or better yet, where her brother was.

Brother, she thought.  Where are you?

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.

A breath of fresh air, and another clear night sky. Though nothing here felt so interesting as the creature in the Sun Room had been, at least he was getting a better sense of the layout of this place. And that 'fresh air' had another scent attached, something he recognized--though the tingle in the back of his throat at the cloying scent of decaying flesh was new. It didn't seem to be coming from the serene looking greenhouse, though.

He paused at the entrance for Seishirou to pass, though his thinly clad feet were on dirt rather than institutional tile now. That smell should not be from fresh corpses; not damage from tonight, but a previous night? Or something else entirely. The smell was distant, anyhow, only a whisper of death on the wind. It merged with the faint scent from the greenhouse and the faint sensation from the Sun Room, giving the evening scene an arcane and subtle feeling of dark.

Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood... He smiled widely at Seishirou, only a faint difference from his usual expression. "Please, after you." He gestured generously. Following was generally a stronger position than leading.

[from here]

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.

So three people had been taken again tonight, but not for experimentation, it seemed. Rukia had heard people mention others being brainwashed and turned against their friends. It seemed that this was the case tonight. The last description made her think of Ichimaru, but she shook her head, ridding herself of that thought.

Double-checking to make sure she had everything she would need for the night, Rukia bid Kairi good luck and slipped quietly into the hallway. Flashlight leading the way, she padded quickly down the hallway on her way to the men's block.

Miranda, Miranda, she had to be cleaned of every, last spot of dirt, prettied up before she was sent off to die a bloody, messy death in the heat of battle.

Or at least, that was the tune River hummed happily to herself as she was led off to the showers. The words were kept inside, however, and the lady in white even remarked that she seemed in a favorable mood. Long had it been since Miranda had smiled en route to another shift, another act in the play. Perhaps she was on the road to recovery, on the road to being well again.

River's smile secretly had little to do with the nurse's praise or the morbid rhyme in her head. Lunch had been nice, and there were all manners of things to attend to before night fell and dinner was served. Maybe a last meal for some, a first in the case. Regardless, there was much to be done, so she was quite cooperative about removing her clothing and setting about to cleaning herself. The cleansing would have to be a swift one.

There was a boy in need to see to.

Scar felt cold and sick, though more the latter than the former. As he rose from his bed, he didn't quite know which way was up, and the artificial light coming from overhead seemed as hot and as blinding as the Ishbal sun.

His head hurt, but that was nothing new. After all, the last thing he remembered from the night before was fighting a homunculus off of Lust and then having a conversation about events best left forgotten. The man hadn't been his brother. He just hadn't. And if what Lust had said they'd done to her was true...

Scar stood with shakiness that he wanted to attribute more to a bizarrely weakened physical state than a mental one. Had he been knocked out by some kind of lurking monster before the morning had come? He felt as if he had been out for days, being a veteran of such circumstances, though as he took the practiced role of being an obedient follower behind the nurse and orderlies that came for him, it didn't seem as if much had changed.

This place was probably just playing tricks on him again, and he was tired of being the man left out of the loop. He grabbed some food he didn't really care for and sat down, not seeing anyone he knew already seated. On one hand, he wished he had someone to talk to, and on the other, it scared him that he was no longer used to being alone.

He dug his fork into his food and tried to block out any related thought.

No matter how much Rukia wanted to stay unconscious and forget everything that was going on, her mind wouldn't let her do so. Not long after the nurse and orderly put her in bed, she stirred, looking around her room and blinking slowly. Things were still blurry from the sedatives, and her vision still dimmed from the strange child the night before; things looked fuzzy and grimy.

She sat up slowly, and made her way to the door even more slowly, completely forgetting to bring her notebook and a pen with her. She fumbled with the door knob for a while before she realized it was locked, but it opened shortly, a different nurse coming in to see if everything was okay. Rukia managed to mumble that she wanted to go... somewhere; her brain was foggy and she couldn't quite seem to decide where. The nurse, smiling patiently, led her to the sun room and helped her sit down on a couch.

Frowning, Rukia looked around, trying to decide what she had been wanting to do. It wouldn't quite come to her, though, so collapsed slowly onto the arm of the couch. Anyone who saw her would notice that her eyes were red and puffy, hair messy, and her right hand freshly bandaged. She didn't seem to care, though; all she could think about was wanting to see Renji, or Ichigo.

“Like something had pierced her heart.”

Weird.

Naminé seemed to be in good shape, so it was odd for her to be experiencing those kinds of health problems. She distinctly remembered leaving her and Soma alone in the room last night. His lack of information on how it happened wasn’t helping much either. Regardless, Raven had told Soma that she would check on her roommate’s condition, as she was also curious about it as well.

Cutting her breakfast short Raven told the nurse where she was going. Once that was out of the way, she left the cafeteria and headed towards her room. Inside, she saw that Naminé was still sleeping.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary…

Sai awoke rather groggily, which wasn't a good sign for a ninja. It meant he was probably ill. He'd need to get checked up with a medic-nin before he did very much more that day. Eyes blinked open slowly to stare at the ceiling and then narrowed in confusion. Not his ceiling. Was he already at the hospital?

"Mr. Pastello... wake up, hon."

Turning his head to the side revealed a vaguely familiar woman in a white uniform. A nurse? ...Oh yes. His nurse. Landels. He sat up at her direction, feeling mildly dizzy as he did so, and glanced down at his arms as he folded them in his lap. They were covered in clean bandages, no longer bleeding. The dizziness told him he was still suffering a bit from the blood loss, however.

When had he passed out? The last few events of the night hadn't been very clear. He didn't know what had happened to the two pirates and, looking around, the mess of blood they had left seemed to have been completely cleaned up. It was amazing, really. He smiled at his nurse, too weary to do much else but let her lead him to breakfast at the moment.

She helped him to his feet, where the light-headedness was even more apparent. It didn't seem to be anything he couldn't put up with, though. The nurse seemed to know a bit about what he suffered from, but made no mention of it aside from telling him to avoid lifting heavy objects and to drink lots of fluids as they made their way to the cafeteria. The subject of blood-sucking leeches never arose, and he figured if it had she'd surely feign ignorance.

It wasn't until they got there that he realized just how absolutely starving he was. He'd had what, corn for dinner? The smells were simply enticing, even though he had no idea what waffles were supposed to be. He was sure anything edible at this point would be fine, and made his way out of his nurse's grip and to the line with more speed then he'd probably ever gone after food at.

Dinner shift seemed to drag on forever. Rukia had finally given up trying to finish her dinner and resorted to pacing the room, fists clenching and unclenching as she waited for the doors to unlock. Really, she was happy that Kairi was asleep; Rukia was in no mood for friendly conversation.

Something is wrong, something is wrong, something is wrong...

She couldn't shake the feeling, and the knot of cold tension in her stomach was making her want to scream, or punch something. What had happened to Renji?? She had assumed they would just bring him to the sun room after what happened in the cafeteria, but (and she KNEW she shouldn't have let him out of her sight, unconscious like that; this was all her fault!) that was obviously not the case. She had felt him pass out, or something very close to it, twice more during fourth shift. But he hadn't just passed out; it was different. Something...

Rukia reached down to yank on the makeshift belt that had become her standard gear during the night. The sheet was already tightly wound and knotted, but she needed something to do until the doors opened. She checked her pockets again - pens - and her notebook was still safely tucked into the waistband of her pants. She had rolled up the now unnecessary sling and tucked it into her other pocket; it could come in handy. The flashlight was on the desk, waiting as impatiently as she was, it seemed.

Back to pacing.

And it wasn't just that Renji had passed out. The messages on the bulletin board were not like him, drugs or no. Bad reaction? She wasn't buying it. She might almost have bought it if it hadn't been for what he wrote to Adel: Had to fix Rukia's shoulder.

Something bad had to have happened to frazzle the red head so much. Implicating that fixing her shoulder had put him in such a state would no doubt make her feel guilty. Renji would know this, so of course he wouldn't say that. He would say something like, "I ate something at dinner that didn't agree with me", or simply, "I'm fine", or... or something! But he wouldn't be dim-witted enough to actually link Rukia to what had happened, even if it was her fault. Which told her that it had to be something much, much worse. Something bad enough that the best excuse Renji could think of was healing Rukia's shoulder.

It was complicated and hardly made sense, even to Rukia, but she felt it down in her gut.

Whipping around again as she reached the wall, she went to her desk, sliding the drawer open with more force than was necessary. Hanging open at an angle, it revealed the book she had swiped from the library a few days ago. She stared at it for a long moment, then slowly reached into the drawer. Her fingers ghosted over the worn cover; she started to open it.

Then the telltale click of the locks broke the silence. In the same motion, Rukia closed the drawer and grabbed her flashlight. She was out of the room a moment later, sprinting down the hallway on quiet feet.

[continued from here]

Tonight was a bit different as far as Naminé's usual nightshifts went. This time, she was actually waiting for someone instead of having it go the other way around. Which meant she had a little extra time for herself, which was a bit surprising. She wasn't really sure what to do while she waited for Riku to come.

Luckily, Raven also had nothing to do, so at least she wasn't lonely. Naminé decided to organize her small collection of medication as they spoke.

"Would you like to come with me tonight, then? I am going to try to fill out the second floor of my map. I was able to fill out almost all of the first floor today, if you'd like to have a look," She explained, also offering her makeshift map to Raven. She wasn't sure how much the other girl had, and maybe she could even add on to it.

The intercom clicked on with its usual jingle, the Head Doctor's voice carrying with a bit more authoritative ease than it had earlier.

"Good evening, patients, and I'm pleased to announce that we've finally finished organizing when our new batch of patients will be introduced, and unfortunately, it'll have to be tonight while you're all in bed. Truly sad, that, as I'm sure all of you are eager to see our new faces as soon as possible!

"In any case, the dinner that will be brought to you tonight will be herb-marinated pork roast with buttery corn-on-the-cob and fluffy mashed potatoes. Of course, we have our usual vegetarian salad available to those who request it, along with our regular assortment of drinks."

He paused and sighed. After all, it had been a long day.

"Oh, of course--Some of you may be unhappy to hear that Dr. Crane and Dr. Jiyani will no longer be serving us here at Landel's Institute. For those of you who were scheduled to have sessions with them, we'll be providing a substitute group therapy session in upcoming days. More details on that tomorrow.

"I believe that's all for now. Enjoy your dinner!"

The intercom clicked off.

[ As always, post to this entry with separate threads for each set of roommates. Thanks! ]

Renji had mostly been ignoring what the head doctor said, until he got to the magic r-word; that certainly captured his attention. The prospect of rice made him a little more willing to let the nurses separate him and Rukia.

In the lunch line, he piled his plate to the maximum with steamed rice, adding a little chow mein, balanced precariously on the side, as an afterthought. That and tea was all he needed.

He sat somewhere he'd be pretty easy to spot from the door and started wolfing down his rice. He wondered if Hisoka and his friends would show up before he headed to the lunch line to get seconds.