It had all been going so well!

Seeing Cloud and Aerith(!) again had brought a now unfamiliar lightness to her shoulders. Work would be harder from here on out, but she wasn't on her own anymore. She was getting a second chance she'd never thought was possible. And then, then they'd trekked outside, totally ready to face the fog and the unknown (privately, the ninja had been a little worried; it couldn't happen again, it just couldn't, but what if it did?)—only to wake up. In their beds. As usual. Gaaaaaawd—!

"I just want you to know," Yuffie informed her nurse, grabbing her journal from the desk on her way out, "that your hair looks spectacularly god-awful today. What did you do, stick your tongue in a socket? I'm not exactly hip on fashion, too busy badass for that fluffy stuff, but—"

Plucky looked ready to plant her face in her hands. Or to plant her hands somewhere else. To her credit, and much to Yuffie's eternal disappointment, she did—tried to do—neither. "One of those days, is it?" the nurse sighed, disapproval incarnate. "Well. You're just going to have to behave; the new batches of patients are due today. We don't want to make a bad impression."

"I am feeling so completely convinced of my wrongdoing," Yuffie confided. They stepped into the cafeteria, practically empty as of yet. The chocolate cake last night had worked a treat, whetting her appetite. Honestly, she was getting sick of pecking at scraps like a runt Chocobo in the snow plains—but not literally, of course. Ew. She got more than enough of that on those damn buses once a week. Now that AVALANCHE really was dropping onto her lap—and remind her to get the hell out of dodge if Barret ever took his turn—she couldn't afford not to keep her strength up. For one, she'd be a liability. For two, she'd get her spine chewed out.

"Fruit," said Plucky, hovering as her charge picked out her choices for the day. Rolling her eyes, Yuffie grabbed an apple, slinging it onto the tray alongside an 'English' sandwich. "That'll do. I'll leave you to your breakfast, now." Somehow, that sounded about as comforting as 'My name is Don Corneo and I am raiding through your panty draw', and Yuffie was stopping that thought right there. Oh, god. Eurk. Bad, bad, bad! Bad, brain. Bad. That—yeah, no. Just, no. 'Sides, the guy was as dead as a doornail, splatted across Da Chao's feet. Dirtying them, really, but somehow Yuffie couldn't bring herself to be sorry about that.

(And it wasn't like the creep'd ever end up here, right? Right!)

She took to a seat, dropping her tray and her journal both onto the table. The book fell pages-down; Yuffie flipped it over, thumbing through to the middle as she worked through her apple. An almost finished map of Gaia stared back at her, neat as she could ever manage. Dots for major locations, squiggles for mountains. Stars for the materia caves, Chocobos for the tracks. All labelled in Wutaian. It was just a little piece of the home she absolutely had to get back to, 'cuz Leviathan knew what kind of trouble they'd be up to their necks in without her.

[For Donna]

The game room made Heath feel more like he was being treated as a child than any other place in the Institute. It might have just been the selection they had to choose from. A deck of cards was a safe choice and would hopefully keep him from attracting much more energetic company. Yet as he sat down and began shuffling them between his hands he was surprised to find that he couldn't remember how to play a single game. At a loss, he blamed it on his current state of mind.

The red-head sat back in his chair and began looking through the deck one card at a time, if only to have something to do with his hands. The kings, queens, and jacks blurred together despite suits as this did nothing to distract him from the pangs of his still somehow empty stomach.

The deck was eventually tossed to the floor in front of him, free for anyone who felt like a game of 52-card pick-up.

Heath swore under his breath and slouched where he sat. This whole ridiculous matter was more than wearing thin. He'd have to get the involvement of a nurse before dinner. There was nothing else for it. Still, more than one came close enough to stop and he did nothing. Something deep within him knew there wasn't anything any of them could do.

[for Argilla]

Today was really trying to rain on her parade, wasn't it?

Well, it wasn't gonna work! Hanna was determined to stay strong and cheerful, in spite of Kenshin throwing a mega bitchfit and that the chick from the library being… Yeah. Her flightiness had been bad enough, but the half glossed-over memories had bordered on terrifying. Had she really been that far gone? It had to have been the meds. Just the meds. Yuffie was a douchey, semi-sociopathic klepto ninja thing, but even in that imagined world of hers, she hadn't gone around slashing people to ribbons for fun. Had she? Ugh, Hanna didn't even know anymore. Crazy people were capable of crazy stuff

Hanna's gut clenched just thinking about it, and she turned determinedly back to her lunch. The food wasn't exactly great, but it was better than some of the stuff she'd eaten. Like Stan's Deep fried Twinkie and mashed banana hot pot. Or, y'know, the normal stuff that teenage semi-runaways ate. Craptastic sandwiches and super economy potato chips, when she could get them, and whatever was in Tiffany's fridge when she couldn't. Dignity was dignity, and dignity was important, but being able to scratch a living from a rock was a handy life skill to have.

Stuffing another few chips in her mouth, Hanna did her best to ignore the door—and, by proxy, anybody who happened to come through it. Nostalgia trip aside, hadn't the Head Nurse said something about a whole new batch of crazycakes? Now she'd feel even more like a sardine than ever. Great.

[ For Cloud? :D ]

There was something fishy going on in the Institute today. All over the bulletin board, people were talking about having "woken up", having been "cured"... and it seemed as though ZEX was one of them. Tanaka wouldn't have recognized the note at all if it hadn't been signed - his wording, his handwriting, even his name had changed - and a part of him still wondered if it had been an imposter, trying to pull the wool over the Captain's allies.

But it'd be easy enough to find out the truth. Whoever it was had agreed to meet him, and Tanaka was waiting for him just outside the cafeteria doors, ready to catch him as he came from breakfast. If "Max" was an imposter, then he'd discover the identity of a hidden enemy. And if he was really ZEX...

...well, he'd have a whole new set of things to worry about.

[for a spoiled rich brat brainwashed Admiral]

Mori woke with a start. He lay on the bed for a moment, staring up at the ceiling and sighed quietly. Another day, another round of shifts and people and-- Wait a minute. Breathing in carefully, Mori's brow knit together as he realized that his ribs were no longer broken. After testing his collarbone, he found that it, too, was healing faster than it should have. Not that he was complaining, but there was something odd about broken bones setting so quickly. Pushing himself up out of bed, the teen shook his head, knowing that he'd have another day or two of the sling and then he'd be free from it.

But more important than that was finding out how Mitsukuni was doing. The last thing he remembered was the bathroom and gathering metal. Since they were together at the end of the night, Mori was certain that Mitsukuni would be fine, but...well, he still liked to confirm such things with his own eyes. With the twins gone and Tamaki still missing, Mori didn't want to take any chances anymore. Especially not with the strange announcements this morning.

As usual, his nurse came to collect him and helped him into his sling. Then he followed her quietly into the cafeteria, taking notice of the unusually empty bulletin board. They really were cracking down on it already. Weird. Even weirder? For once, he was the first into the room. Picking up a tray, he pointed out what he wanted, making sure to take double of the pancakes (asking to keep them away from the sausages for now), double of the strawberry jam and biscuits, and an extra helping of fruit. To top it off? Milk. It'd help his bones mend. Hopefully.

Going to a nearby seat, Mori took a look around the empty room and shivered. Kind of eerie in here without anyone else but the nurses. Someone was certain to come sooner or later though, right? He hoped so at least.

[for Chihaya]

[from here]

...why didn't the locks in this place operate by some other mechanism? It wasn't that Endrance really minded having to break the lock, but...it was just so messy. He supposed kicking around small imaginary creatures for the lights atop their head and then using those to unlock doors wasn't really much better, though.

He stepped into the hallway, sword pointed forward. If he had thought the previous hall was too quiet, that was nothing compared to this one. He could hear his own footsteps echoing against the tile floor, each of them seeming louder than the last. The strange part was that he couldn't hear anything from most of the rooms. That was a blessing and a curse, he thought - blessing because he wasn't sure he wanted to hear anything, but a curse because he couldn't tell which room Haseo was in.

That is, until he reached the end of the hallway. One door was open, and he hesitantly stepped inside, more than a little afraid of what he might find.

[to here]

[From here]

Unsurprisingly, the stairwell appeared to be empty.

There was, however, no excuse to allow himself to be caught off guard. Now that he had gone further away from the patient blocks, the chances of an ambush would naturally only increase. Not that such a thing would stop one of the Ten Chosen Iga, of course.

His eyes peered into the darkness above, concluding there was nothing of note, before silently ascending the staircase.

[To here]

[From here]

There didn't seem to be any of the typical night-time traffic. It was a little weird, but then again, she had practically thrown herself out of the door this time. No wonder she'd managed to beat the rush.

After everything that'd happened in the past few days, Yuffie couldn't shake herself back into her old mindset; the trek through the corridors was still mind-numbingly boring, but horrifying potential pricked constantly at the back of her neck. Any minute now, something crazy could happen—mutant zombies, grotesque ghosts, and super (annoyingly) psychotic Remnants crawling out of the woodwork sprang immediately to mind—and there was no way she was gonna get caught with her pants down, no way, no thank you.

[To here]

"Stop calling me Greg, it's weird!" Raz protested, but predictably his words were ignored, and the nurse left with his roommate without a sound. The door closed shut, and he was alone once again.

The events that occurred this dinner shift played through his mind over and over again, though he very much didn't want them to. It was bad enough that he got trapped here in the first place, but couldn't he have at least got a friendlier roommate? Really? Was that so much to ask for?

As he contemplated how to deal with this problem, it seemed that all he did was blink, and then the room was dark. The lock unclicked, and Raz knew what that meant.

"Time to get to work," he said to himself, as he grabbed his flashlight and headed out the door.

[to here]

Once again, it was Nurse Lydia who took over the daily announcements just after the jingle came on. She didn't seem to waste any time and launched right in.

"Hello, everyone. Dr. Landel will be taking over for the last announcement of the day, but for now, I will continue in his stead. Presently, our nurses will escort you to your rooms, where dinner will be served. Tonight, the menu consists of herb chicken, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and carrots. Dessert is a brownie."

After one of her conspicuous pauses, she added:

"A double-fudge brownie."

It seemed as if someone had been coaching her from the background. At any rate, she stiffly finished the announcement with: "The Head Doctor will speak with you 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. SOME ROOM ASSIGNMENTS HAVE BEEN CHANGED IN LIEU OF DROPS, so please double-check on your character's assignment here. ]

A shower sounded good, but the fact that he was placed with the children annoyed Hitsugaya to no end. He was a centuries old shinigami for heaven's sake. The idea that he'd be sharing space with a number of naked children running around like idiots unnerved him a little. Someone up there had to be laughing at him.

Nonetheless, he needed to shower. Because he'd been at the institute for several days without a chance to bathe, he was beginning to smell, and after last night, he was especially anxious to wash off his body. There was no telling what kind filth had become attached to him in that strange hallway of flesh.

Thankfully, he was the first one there. He could get this over and done with quickly, and get the hell out of here before the brats came in.

[to here]

That had been a very frustrating shower. For many reasons. At least Raine was going to at least look at Forte. Hopefully, she'll actually heal him. The showers had also succeeded in making the ninja feel like a pervert. A mild one, but still... It was as if Yukari had picked that spot in the showers because she knew the ninja could easily see her.

Ugh! Damn youkai.

Squirreling herself away in a corner of the cafeteria, Sheena finger combed her wet hair before pulling it back with the bright red ribbon. She so needed her own hair ribbon back. She was attempting to formulate her plan of acquisition - she was ninja after all - as people started trickling into the room. The plan was put on pause, though, when her stomach rumbled.

Food now - plan later.

[Closed to Haseo and Endrance]

[from here]

The halls were empty so far, which was probably a good sign. Suzaku was hoping to get a move-on quickly, so they could hurry up and get Yuffie's sword made. The first night he'd been here, he'd been pulled back to his bed the instant he made it outside, so they'd have to move fast if they wanted to make any decent progress. And right now he couldn't afford to focus on anything but just that, making progress.

[to here]

[from here]

Suzaku made his way out of his own cell block at a brisk pace, even though he wasn't quite sure he could take Yuffie's presence right now. He didn't want to talk to anyone, least of all have to pretend everything was fine again -- because he didn't want to bother her with the details of his life, and even if he did there was only a limited amount he could tell her. He was sick of pretending.

On the other hand, talking to her reminded him a bit of being with the Student Council. No matter how miserable he felt, he couldn't help relaxing a little around such cheerful people. Even if he hadn't spoken to Yuffie in person, maybe it would help to be with someone so. . . perky. And it would definitely help to beat the shit out of any monsters they ran into outside. He needed to feel like he was doing something proactive, actually accomplishing something useful, and since fighting was the only thing he was good for, he was looking forward to it for once.

[to here]

[from here]

Raz trudged on forward over to the Sun Room. Still no monsters...

[to here]

[from here]

As he scurried through the corridor, the boy started to notice something was off.

"Where are all the monsters?" Raz wondered aloud. Everyone else was stressing the fact that this was a terrifying place crawling with giant snakes and zombies, but none were to be seen so far.

But then again, that was... probably a good thing.

[to here]

Raz opened his eyes. The room was now completely dark. Night had arrived.

He felt something hard under his pillow, and he lifted it to discover that it was a flashlight. "Where did this come from?" Raz inquired, obviously not expecting an answer. Still, it was definitely going to come in handy, so he took it in hand as he hopped off the bed and sneaked out of the room. He turned on the flashlight and walked down the hall uneventfully.

[to here]

The princess felt a little better after her talk with Soma. It cheered her up to have made a friend - from what she was quickly learning about this place, the more friends you had, the better off you were. It gave her a little more hope, after what had been said about the Head Doctor. And if there was anything in this world she was good at doing, it was holding on to a spark of hope as long as possible.

She didn't particularly pay attention to what room she walked into as she crossed the Sun Room, and was a little surprised that it looked like the room her art classes took place in back when she was a student. Well, that could be a little fun, couldn't it?

Euphy took a few pieces of brightly colored paper and a set of markers and sat down at one of the tables, then started idly doodling.

[free for playing with glitter with.]

Good morning, and welcome to your personalized tour of Landel's Institute! My name is I.R.I.S. and I will be your automated guide during your stay here. If you have any specific questions during our tour, please direct them to the personal console in your welcome bag. We will do our very best to address any concerns you may have.

Today, we will be showing you what a normal schedule for one of our patients will be like by putting you in their shoes. Please go wait for the nurse who will greet you in your room and take you to the cafeteria to have breakfast. On the menu today is: FREE CHOICE. BRUNCH. Since today is Sunday, for this shift, you may GO TO CHAPEL. GO TO SUN ROOM. EAT BRUNCH IN CAFETERIA.

Thank you for considering Landel's Institute as a candidate for your federal training sponsorship. We are glad for the opportunity to serve you and our country!

Goodbye!

The nurses went about their daily duties as if the Head Doctor had made one of his usual announcements.