How one's body could maintain a waking schedule when sleep came unnaturally and in a room without windows, must surely be a mystery. Yet, as if working on cue, Natalia stirred well before her nurse arrived. That was normal. Less so, the weight that sought to press her eyelids closed again, the heaviness of her limbs that made lifting her hands to her face an effort. She put her wrist to her forehead with a frown, then attempted a jolt of energy – to swiftly dig her hands into the mattress and shove herself into a seated position, and from there, to her feet.

Not to overexert herself once again, but to refuse that it could be possible after sleeping. Happily, though all still felt leaden, her head did not swim. Encouraged, Natalia put on her slippers, rearranged the bedding, and waited. There came the announcement (reminding her, suddenly, of what she had last heard, and the guilt that had twisted in her gut, Jill--), and her face wrinkled with disgust at the hacking sound. Therapy and breakfast. Food would surely help.

Natalia did not wait long before her nurse opened the door, and after exchanging cursory “Good Morning”s (with rather more enthusiasm on the other woman's part), they began the walk to the Cafeteria. With, of course, the essential rest room stop, where water was splashed and scrubbed over her face, and her hair toyed with to no great satisfaction. At least the shower had renewed its body.

Separating in the Cafeteria, Natalia took her place in line and loaded her plate: eggs, fruit salad, fried “tater tots” (potatoes?), and curious meat wrapped in cooked dough. Some of everything, with juice and water. She thanked her servers, collected utensils and napkins, and found a seat at an empty table. It was early yet.

Sparing a brief look around to be sure no one she recognized had arrived – though she remained eager to greet every patient, at the moment she chose to focus on the possible strength gained from the meal – Natalia began to cut up the items and eat with a refined gusto. Entirely possible!

[Claude!]

[M96]

Like another time, Nigredo dreamed of stagnating indifference and an empty room. To awake to a voice growing in proximity and recognition. And what developments had Dr. Landel achieved now? It must have been sufficient; he sounded too close to his father when the man caught scent of a viable trail. Trait of a doctor, perhaps. At their core, they must all sound the same.

It faded, soon replaced by doors unlocking in unison. Soon accompanied by murmurs of patients making preparations for the night. In a previous instance, Nigredo might have bothered to do the same. A mind laced in chemicals, however, killed whatever need for a nightly venture. He couldn't recall the events of dinner or if he had actually slept, or whether the emotions that had blossomed at his own confession subsided in the rise of apathy. To put efforts in movement proved too much--he would rather stagnate.

He would rather rot.

The haze of sleep shifted to another sort, and Nigredo ran a hand over his eyes. Lines blurred and crossed, but overall, he had his senses intact. The staff must have corrected the dosage this time: not a single trace of nausea existed in his system. Just an overwhelming silence. Nothing.

Breathing across the room indicated the presence of his roommate. It was taken like everything else; Nigredo couldn't be bothered to leave his bed for someone such as Sync. The other was free to do as he wished.

Edward was glad to wake up to a period of respite. While he had been conscious during breakfast, he'd requested to remain in his room for extra "sleep", which had consisted waiting until the room was vacated to ingest the vial of Venom's blood. The vampire had lost his chance last night, but that might have been for the better; this way he wasn't in a rush to examine the flavor, as somewhat repulsive as that sounded. Even though he was primarily concerned with getting a meal instead of trying to divine what chemicals could be in the patient body as a whole - if any were at all - he was taking his job seriously, as he knew the risks Venom was already taking with him

He didn't like debts, after all. He was still trying to make up for his first transgression against the assassin.

The blood was familiar to him, but he could find no difference in it from the first time he had drank from Venom. Though his sense of taste was probably lacking compared to what it had once been, Edward couldn't sense any chemical that shouldn't have been a part of it. It was just... blood.

After the vial was emptied, he'd been sure to shove it back into the pillowcase stashed in the closet, as long as shoving the shotgun under his mattress. He was actually surprised the weapon was seemingly so easy to hide; unless the nurses never entered the rooms to search through them, there was no way it should still be here. In a way, he was beginning to think of the rooms as a safe haven.

Though that thought couldn't be necessarily true. After all, when he awoke, Bella's blood wasn't staining his fingertips, and the bandages on his face had been removed as the cuts slowly healed themselves. Someone was changing them, and if he assumed he hadn't gained the ability to sleepwalk as well as sleep, well...

Lunch had already passed for the vampire if Venom's blood was anything to show for it, so he took his usual route through the line, promptly pushing the tray of whatever-the-hell away from him as soon as he sat down. This time he'd brought his journal with him, and though his memory was perfection itself he wanted physical evidence of what he had found in the institute after all. Mostly he was making a note for Bella - a picture of the blond man, the not-Zato, and sketches showing the way its form had changed subtly to reveal the nature of the beast. Assuming it was a beast, of course.

[For his killer bff.]

They actually listened to some of the suggestions people put in that box? Anise thought the Head Doctor had to be joking when he said that, but she soon heard him mention something that she herself had suggested: sewing supplies. They were really going to get some? Anise could finally get a real needle, so she could make repairs to Tokunaga whenever she needed to. She swiped one of their blunt, plastic needles before, but using that just left big holes in the fabric. Using it on Tokunaga made her feel bad, like she was hurting the poor doll.

"Isn't that nice, Dolores?" The nurse must have caught Anise's hopeful look. "But remember, you'll need to be on your best behavior until then."

"I know, I..." Anise began with her usual dismissive reply, but quickly remembered that the intercom had said 'behavior and attitudes', and instantly changed her tune. "I'll do my very best! Hee hee!" She forced a smile for the old hag.

Unfortunately, the sewing supplies weren't here today, so Anise had to find something else to do for now. Stepping inside the Arts and Crafts room, she quickly found that several tables already had paper craft ('origami,' they called it?) supplies laid out for them, so she guessed she'd just occupy herself with that. The girl sat down at one of the tables, opened up one of the books, and started looking through it.

Cranes, frogs, horses, turtles... There were lots of familiar animals, and a few unfamiliar ones, too. The rabbits looked kind of cute.

[For Ilia!]

Yuffie Kisaragi, indomitable bouncing ball of sunshine and unfathomable ebullience, was tired. It'd been a long night full of gibberish and getting nowhere fast.

"Can't I—"

Plucky, who had been busily loading a plate full of French toast and bacon, tittered. "I'm afraid not, Hanna, darling. A chat over a nice, hearty breakfast would do you a world of good, don't you think?"

"Aaaaactually—"

"Come on, let's find you a seat. Plenty to choose from this morning!"

For a long moment, Yuffie seriously considered doing something—anything—to act out. Punch her nurse, rub jam in an orderly's face, climb a wall and hang off the ceiling, jump on a table and parody Loveless… A ruckus like that would definitely jolt her back into gear, right? Sedation aside. And it'd turn Plucky's good day right on its head, which was always a bonus worth shooting for.

But, by the time she'd reached a decision—and it was an epic decision, a really awesome one; everybody'd appreciate the genius, she was sure—she was already alone. Her breakfast tray had been set down neatly by the nurse, who had left with an infuriatingly winsome smile.

"Wow," Yuffie muttered. Shaking her head, she picked a chair at random and threw herself into it. She kicked back, one arm slung across her eyes, to wait. For what, she wasn't totally sure. Some moron to decide that she looked like good company? That was how it usually went.

[From here.]

As expected, nothing had really changed since the last time he was there. Sync took the time to shine his flashlight throughout the cramped space in case any monsters were hiding in the darkness, but in the end there was nothing.

There was no doubt that they probably restocked his files as soon as he took them, but it wouldn't hurt to see if they updated anything. It was convenient that Spike had opened the right room, even. 'Stephen Lansky' wasn't it? Without a word the God-General moved passed the brunet, searching for the proper cabinet.

However, it was hard to when the cabinets themselves were organized by unidentifiable symbols...

[From here.]

As he entered, Castiel confirmed that this room, unlike the one he'd checked before, was empty. That was preferable; the less people he needed to deal with, the faster he could find what he was looking for. What the room had instead was a plethora of doors. The one to the right most likely led into the room he'd previously checked, but the other (he did a slow turn to count them all) four were mysteries.

Granted, the double doors that were straight across from them seemed the most intriguing. "Check the other doors," he said, glancing over to Orihara with a blunt stare before he strode over to the double set.

However, they were locked tight, probably as tightly as the door out of that room had been before it had inexplicably opened. Castiel considered repeating the methods he'd tried before (kicking and bashing at it, in others words), but then he was struck by an entirely different idea.

"Do you know how to pick locks?" he asked, sharply turning back toward the boy.

[from here]

There was no one here yet. And wasn't that strange? If she remembered correctly, there was a male patient block here. Even if it was away from the others, it should still be fairly well occupied. Were they all just staying in for the night? It was also odd that no one from the female block had come up this way yet either. Either it was just too early, or something had happened in her absence that kept others from coming this way unless they had a larger group with them (or not at all).

Callisto stopped to shine her light down into the adjacent hall, seeing if she could pick out anyone heading out of their room. She thought she heard the sounds of people moving about on the other side of the wall, so it couldn't be completely empty. Was there any point in waiting around? She didn't need someone to accompany her, and it had only slowed her up in the past anyway.

She would wait a bit, perhaps, if only to sate her own curiosity before moving on.

[From here]

Unlike the western section, the central portion of this hallway was completely deserted. On any other night, von Karma would have used this to his advantage to arrive at one of the upstairs locations before anyone else did. The Janitor's Closet, for one, contained a large cache of metal that he could use to compensate Mr. Geeste for the work he would do for him three nights later.

But for now, von Karma merely had to go as far as the very first doorway to his right, which led straight into Waiting Room 1. This was far more important -- though less pleasant -- than his prospective metal scavenger hunt. Besides, by the time he had replied to Mr. Geeste's notice, Ms. Taura had already accepted an assignment from that blasted History Club. He would simply have to try to contact her tomorrow morning as soon as possible before she could accept another one.

Shaking his head, von Karma turned the door knob, expecting to have to jimmy it open, but instead discovering that the door wasn't locked after all.

[To here (with Court's permission to just go on ahead <3 ) ]

[In M93]

Heiji hid under the covers until his roommate left, dinner untouched, hands clamped over his ears. He had been pretending to sleep all throughout dinner, but in reality he'd just been listening to the wet footprints run the length of the room. It was looking for him, it had to be. But why could he hear it through his hands?

He couldn't go out like this, he was going to kill Himura, he knew it. Someone was going to get hurt, at the very least. Honestly, he didn't know if he could stand both survivor's guilt and hurting someone else against his will.

Though the idea was that no one would have to be hurt. Himura might be able to keep him in check. He might be worrying over nothing.

He might snap Himura's neck from behind.

[from here]

It looked like the hallway opened up over here. Guess he couldn't expect to just run around and follow a linear corridor forever, but now he had to figure out which way he wanted to go. Normally, he'd just run down whatever hallway he happened to lay eye on first, but again, he was running a liiittle blind here.

He still wasn't seeing any people anywhere. Maybe everyone was hiding. If everyone knew the staff turned into monsters and tried to eat them, then it'd make sense that they'd try to keep low. Thankfully, he'd be taking care of whatever was wandering around this place, so they wouldn't have to stay hiding for long. Once that was done, they could blast their way out of there and he could find his way back to the others. Couldn't keep everyone waiting on account of him, right?

[running across Rita, The Trickster, and hopefully, a freaking flashlight]

[from here]

Was she really the only one out in the hallway right now? Minako certainly couldn't hear anyone else, and she didn't see any flashlights out there in the darkness. Brr. That was kind of... creepy. When it was dark the hallways seemed a lot more echo-y, and she couldn't help but think about the stories about monsters and things that might be lurking where she couldn't see.

"Stop being a scaredy-cat," she muttered to herself, then turned to her right and resolutely marched onward. Out to the main hall there, down a bit, then left. That would take her to the hall where she'd run into Arthur and the fake-Alfred the night before, which thought reminded her that she hadn't talked to either of them today. Maybe she should've left them a note or something on that bulletin. Oh, well. Tomorrow.

[to here]

[From here.]

It was a sad thing to know that Sync had experienced more in the four years he lived than most people did in their entire lifetime. He'd long since been desensitized to the idea of death, and anything associated with it was often met with a scoff or sneer.

Falling wasn't a foreign concept either. After all, he'd left the world like that once already, so there was no point in getting worked up over it again. In the end there was very little that could shake the God-General, and he preferred to keep it that way.

But this? This he didn't expect in a million years.

Sync was suddenly hit with another wave of vertigo as he moved out of the closet, vision momentarily blurring the moment he stepped outside. His stomach lurched forward when his foot connected with nothing but air, almost as if the whole floor had just given away beneath him. Sync had lost his balance, twisting out of reflex in order to grab hold of anything nearby. However, his hands grasped nothing but air, and with that the God-General fell backwards entirely.

"GAH!"

But it didn't stop there. Everything had disappeared, the once cramped hallways having already transformed into something else entirely. The next thing he knew the wind was rushing past his ears, hair whipping angrily against his face as he plummeted from the sky. Sync looked about wildly, for once shock and horror marring his features as his brain desperately tried to catch up with everything else.

Just what the hell was going on?!

[ from here ]

It looked like this was the right hallway to take, since Rolo saw nothing but doors. At first glance, it looked like the first set of doors were locked, but another look at the locks was enough to tell Rolo this wasn't so. He recognized the rusted locks, though he really didn't want to break it with his flashlight again. There was the thought of asking for the flashlights of Greta or Stephen, but neither of his companions probably were willing and Rolo didn't want to waste time with a fruitless argument when he was so close.

Finally, something he could help Lelouch with. Rolo seemed more focused than ever, inspecting the doorknob with narrowed eyes. He had to break it, but... there wasn't much else he could use but his flashlight. Lockpicking wasn't his forte and there was no need to waste time jamming one of the scalpels in the lock when he could just raise his flashlight and -

A few whacks, and the knob became loose with a satisfying snapping sound. Rolo wasted no time in grabbing the knob and turning, venturing into the dark room without a second thought.

[ from here ]

Most people would have been a little wary, or at least curious as to why this part of the hallway seemed to be completely abandoned. However, Rolo was almost pleased by the quiet and stillness, even though he had a feeling it meant something was wrong. So, it wasn't something to be happy about, he guessed, but...

It was nice to keep the distractions down to a minimum. This section of the main hallway was as uneventful as the rest of it, and since his companions were respecting the unspoken rule of silence that the group imposed on itself, this trip was almost pleasant. Almost. Rolo took another glance behind him to see if Stephen and Greta were also following him. Unfortunately, Stephen was, and fortunately, Greta was.

"... Almost there," He muttered, though it was mostly to himself. Once they reached the doctor's offices, as long as he didn't look like he was doing anything too interesting, he was sure Stephen would get bored and wander off. Or he could get bored and start something.

Damn, he hated that guy.

[From here]

As far as Yuffie could remember, the journey was a straight shot over to the central section of the main hallway; that'd put 'em directly across from the sun room, and then it'd be a quick right turn into the only door. Easy peasy. With her shuriken and the two SOLDIER dudes—Cloud totally still counted, only not—in tow, the little ninja led the way through the doom n' gloom.

Past the stairs, past the waiting room. There we go. "It's just through here," Yuffie said when they were close enough. "We'll be in the entry room. There's two file rooms, one on the left, one on the right."

[from here]

Heat weighed his options as he stepped into the hall. He could go left, head outside and see if one of those birds came down for him to make a meal out of again, or he could go right and head toward the main hall - see who showed up. While he was hungry, it was more likely that monsters would be there at any point, while patients would meet up and move on before he could reach them.

It wasn't as if he expected to find anyone. No other Embryon had arrived after he had, and those that had been here when he arrived were all gone now. Still, it couldn't hurt to check. He still hadn't seen Cielo. Maybe he was due for a visit.

[to here]

The return trip had proved inconsequential, no significance beyond increasing rainfall and silence between brothers. If he missed a crucial detail, Nigredo would not have known--the sharpness in his arm had occupied all thoughts, bringing wayward attention to the background. He spent the bus ride leaning his forehead against the window pane, consciousness slipping in and out of sleep.

A nurse who had observed the child's behavior noted the probable cause and took him aside when they reached the front entrance of the institute. Before escorting him back to his room, she administered a dose of painkillers. "Vicodin," she had explained. The lowest available dosage. It still managed to be potent enough to hinder awareness, and before she could properly take him back to his room, Nigredo had drifted away.

Unlike the cold and clammy sleep on the bus, this was warm. Constant. For once, the child who rarely dreamed did so in vivid imagery, events he had once set aside now returning in full vengeance. He dreamed of the time in the Conflict, shortly after he had given up on his search for the eldest to return to their rendezvous point. The decision had been a mistake, Nigredo recalled. The consequences had been nearly fatal. But for all the blood spilled and bones broken, he could only concentrate on a violent glee in his brother's actions, magenta and U-DO and hatred mixed in the expressions.

And he couldn't recall what he might have done to earn such a thing.

He blinked awake as if returning from ordinary rest, and carefully tumbled out of bed. Sounds of rain and thunder rang in the distance as Nigredo situated himself, the dull haze of medicine rendering the task difficult. He was surprised to find no trace of his previous clothes; the nurse, it seemed, had replaced him back in the uniform while he had slept. She even provided a sweatshirt to account for the temperature. For convenience, Nigredo surmised.

A soft sound alerted him to an entity in the room, and his eyes found a dark form on the other side, indicating the presence of a sleeping roommate. Impulse had him reaching in his bed for the handgun (it was only right, after all), but the recall of a brother's face left the weapon unused. Instead, he quietly wrapped the holster around his waist and exited to the hallway.

[To here.]

[from here]

When he rounded the corner into the larger hallway, Kurogane determined to put the thoughts of being the only patient there aside. Even if that were the case, it didn't change his final goal for the night. The magician would have been helpful, but he was confident enough in his own ability to get things done.

Finding the feather remained a difficult task though. The basement had been less than helpful when it had come to locating the source of this place's power. But the third floor... no one had ever been able to reach it, yet they all knew it existed. The outside of the building proved enough. They just had to find the way to get up. If that meant forcing a hole through the floor, then fine, because right now it was the last place to go.

[gone here]

[From here]

Maybe she should go snatch up her patient file? Possessions, too. Yuffie'd never say no to free stuff, even if it was a bunch of crap from a lie of a life. If she was lucky, she'd get somethin' handy. Handy like a cellphone, or, hell, even a laptop! Yuffie wasn't a technical genius at the best of times, preferring to leave all that stuff to Reeve and the guys in R&D, but if she could get 'em up and working, they'd be like a gift straight from Leviathan.

[To here]