[From here.]

The deserted hallway meant this was either a place that wasn't worth going or that patients simply didn't know to check here. Sometimes the most interesting things were hidden in plain sight, which meant that Roy wanted to look around despite the fact that it might not amount to anything.

There certainly were a lot of doors to check, after all. He let out a small sigh as he looked over the rows of them on both sides of the hallway.

At least this place seemed relatively safe. He tried for the first door on the left and found that it was locked, so he automatically started grabbing for his keys.

[From here.]

The silence in the stairwell was slightly eerie, and Roy tried to catch snippets of conversations from either above or below them as he went step by step.

"Now I have to try and remember where I left off," he said to both himself and Hughes with a small smile, doing his best to lighten the mood. He had made some steady progress with searching the second floor's locked doors, but it had been a while since he had gone on this particular "mission."

Still, he trusted in his memory. He would know where he needed to go once he was seeing it with his own eyes again.

[from here]

Siegfried led the way along the main hallway and past the balcony looking down on the Sun Room, constantly on the lookout for anything that might sneak up on the two. He expected that they would hear something before they were attacked, but that may not always be the case. It was better to be safe than sorry.

As they walked, Siegfried spoke quietly to Xelloss. “There’s a storage room at the end of this hallway where they keep the batteries. We can search there first.”

[from here]

There was no one in the hallway at all when the two reached the second floor. No sign at all of anyone, which struck him as strange since usually there were at least voices or light from other patients’ torches.

Siegfried did not want to linger in the hallway, not when it would put he and Xelloss at risk of being attacked.

“Stay close by,” he said, looking back over his shoulder at the dark-haired man.

[from here]

The top of the stairwell led to... another hallway. It looked a lot like the one they'd just left, complete with looming shadows and a sense of impending doom. Wally was starting to get really sick of it. If he was going to have to walk everywhere at this insanely slow speed, he could at least have gotten something slightly more interesting to look at. Or course, 'interesting' in this place seemed to mean 'monsters about to kill you', so maybe he shouldn't complain that much. Besides, at least he could keep talking at Tony while walking. "So, I don't suppose you've got a weapon on you at all? In case we do get attacked?"

Mello did not have high expectations for the evening.

If the previous night had been any indication, they'd get about thirty feet before Near's obsessive observation habits ruined any hope of beating the time curve, but without the bulletin to find a new group he had no choice to repeat the effort.

Normally, he waited several minutes to set out into the hallway, but this evening he had no time to spare.  He closed the door behind him and stepped quietly down the corridor, flashlight focused a few feet before his slippers and ears focused on the silence that surrounded him.  His other hand clenched his knife, which he'd modified by wrapping the metal grip in surgical tape.  In the unlikely situation that his hand was slick with blood, he couldn't afford to have it slip from his grasp.

He reached the end of the hallway and turned, glad that Omi's room was nearby.

[to here]

[Coming from here]

So they still had to deal with one of the brainwashed patients tonight; the rest were being carted off for experimentation. Something had changed in the routine. There'd been a pattern earlier, one night to those "trials", the others for the brain-washed patients. But tonight was different for some reason.

So what made it change?

Sanzo was suspicious of sudden change, mostly because it always signaled something was up.

Was it because of that "Jill" pissing Landel off? Or just pure whim?

Whatever the reason, it wouldn't do the patients any favors.

[From here]

He moved as quickly as his leg would allow him to, taking the pain for what it was and letting it flow through him and out of him. Qui-Gon knew how to get to the Main Hall from here and didn't anticipate any trouble.

[to here]

Unlike the week before, the buses pulled in to the front of the Institute before the sky became dark, and so the departure was a very organized situation rather than a chaotic one. Nurses and orderlies escorted patients off the buses, and just as the front doors to the Institute opened and the patients were taken back to their rooms, the intercom clicked on with its usual jingle to the sound of the Head Doctor's cheery voice.

"Hello, patients, and I hope you all enjoyed a delightful day at our neighboring town! I regret that last-minute duties prevented me from joining all of you on your trip, but I'm glad I can talk to you a bit now before you retire for the night!

"As far as dinner tonight, we have a wonderfully exotic meal of tasty, spicy lamb curry for you, served on a bed of steamed rice and with a side of seasoned vegetables and plain Indian flatbread. For desert, we'll be having sweet rice pudding, and we'll be offering our normal assortment of juices, milk, and water as drinks. As always, for vegetarians and for those of you with mild tastebuds, a large, fresh garden salad is always an option.

"And... I believe that's all! I hope you all enjoy dinner and that you're able to wind down from the excitement of today's excursion."

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! ]

Nny was beginning to suspect that he wasn't dreaming. Interestingly enough, it wasn't the length of his stay that was starting to convince him. It was his goddamn headache. You didn't get headaches in dreams, you just didn't. Not unless you'd been drinking the night before, which he hadn't experienced in, well, a really long time (and that was it's own sort of hell). He had to be awake to feel this shitty.

He didn't even go into town with the rest of the patients. He got off the bus, stood around for a few minutes, said "fuck this", turned around, and ran back into one of the other buses. Luckily for him, the nurses had been understanding once he brought up how he felt. They even refrained from bugging him while he desperately tried to wish his existence away. He spent most of the day with his head glued to the back of the seat in front of him, not quite aware, but refusing to fall back asleep.

All in all, his day had gone from okay, to completely horrid.

[Renamon, I think?]

Rukia filed out of the bus with the other prisoners, shivering a little in the cool autumn air. She was a little irked that the nurses hadn't given her mittens on this trip. Forced to stuff her hands in to the pockets of her jeans, Rukia hunched her shoulders and wandered to the edge of the park before turning around to look for anyone she knew.

Nurses and orderlies were already milling about, supervising and watching the prisoners. Rukia's plan was to get a hold of something - anything - that she could use as a weapon when they returned to the Institute that night. It would be difficult with so many staff members around, but she was determined; the last thing she wanted was to be trapped on the buses again with no weapon.

Sanji woke up groggily to find his nurse already in his room. He gave a sleepy and half-hearted "Buh?" before realizing that nurse meant dayshift, and he'd fallen asleep after dinner.

"Shit!" He sat up abruptly, which gave his nurse a start. "Nami-swan!" How had he allowed himself to sleep through an entire night? What if she'd tried to return to the basement? What if she'd been waiting for him to appear and protect her? He'd let her down!

"There, there. Calm down." His nurse set a familiar flannel shirt down on the bed and Sanji eyed it with confusion. The last time he'd worn that had been... "Sorry I didn't knock or anything, but I was so excited~!" A pair of jeans followed the shirt. "Today is the field trip into town! Aren't you looking forward to it?"

The chef had to admit, the town had been an interesting enough place the last time he'd been. If he could find Nami early on he might even be able to lead her around... So he didn't complain too much as he changed into the other outfit (which he really wished they'd let him keep - anything was better than the regular gray) and was led out to the first of the buses.

He took a seat near the front, hopefully easily visible to any of his crew - especially to a certain member of his crew.

[for Usopp!]

[from here]

[M1 specifically]

The small shinigami padded down the hallway to M1. Clad in her uniform, she blended in well with the darkness until she reached the far end door. There she turned her flashlight on, the light muted by a piece of cloth tied over it, and let it hand from her sash, illuminating the small circle of her immediate area. Since Mustang didn't know she was stopping by, she figured she'd turn the light on.

Face solemn, Momo knocked on the colonel's door. "Mustang-san? It's Hinamoro Momo," she identified herself.

Albel had wasted an entire night, but he couldn't quite figure out how he had actually wasted it. He had left his room early, didn't stand around doing nothing and no pathetic worm had dragged him down. Finding Fayt's room and smack the foolish maggot against the nearest wall shouldn't have taken a full night, but yet he found himself back in his bed before he even had so much as located the right door.

What the hell?!

But he didn't have much time to think about it, as one of the wenches instantly stepped into his room as soon he sat up. Had she had been waiting behind the door or something? He ignored her useless babble along the way to the showers. Apparently, he had slept through most of the day. Perhaps the lack of sleep was taking it's toll, though the warrior wouldn't even think about admitting that thought. And who cared about it anyway? The days were useless!

By the looks of things, Albel was the first one to arrive. Not that he cared. After stripping himself of his clothing he stepped inside the shower area and picked a stall by random. It took some fiddling with the knobs before the water temperature was good enough, but he eventually let the water wash over his body.

[Free!]

Yuffie bounced all the way through collecting her lunch, all the way to a good seat- one with a nice view of the whole cafeteria, which was something she'd been missing out on during the past day or so that she'd been stuck in the Institute- and hell, she even bounced into her seat.

A good mood? No, really?

Despite the occasional blip, talking to Sagara had been awesome. He was a fun guy; he wasn't a prude, didn't have a stick shoved so far up his ass it was poking out his eyeballs, and he'd actually had a conversation with her. One that hadn't revolved around doom, gloom or how much life sucked. If she could find other people like that and keep in touch with Sagara, maybe there was a little hope for this place.

After a quick gulp of pink lemonade, Yuffie settled to munching through her food and keeping an eye on the door.

[Waiting for Dean, I think? :x]

The whole not-bursting-into-flame thing was still a perk Angel could get used to. He ended up sitting just beneath a tree by a patch of sunlight, hoping maybe he'd go undisturbed just this once. The courtyard was more relaxing during the day, with its distinct lack of hyenas.

Journal on his lap, he plucked a blade of grass between his fingers. It was nice. He didn't think he'd ever just sat on the grass for no apparent reason before. Except for the couple of dates he'd ended up having with Buffy in the cemetery, but those always got interrupted by the undead.

The fact that he sort of counted those dates, anyway, probably said a lot.

[for Harley :D]

[starting off in M13]

The last part of the night was little more than a blur in Homura's mind. The men had rushed in, but not joined them, instead staying off to themselves. Before any of them had a chance to react, however, a voice sounded through the air, mocking some other person Homura had never heard of, and the patients themselves.

To Homura, whoever that man was, he sounded a great deal like a god.

But before he could ask questions, the demi-god found himself no longer in the chapel, but some strange room on a bed. Is that what Kenren had meant from his earlier warning? Homura sat up, glad at least that the world didn't spin when he did so. Then the same man from before began to speak again, with a completely different tone. It was confusing to hear him talk that way, calling them patients instead of prisoners as he had before. Homura listened quietly as the announcement was made, then got out of bed.

Maybe he wouldn't have to go anywhere yet. It wasn't like Homura knew where to go anyway, and that meant he had time. If this was his room, and if he had been here as long as Kenren had said, there was a chance he could find something with answers. The Taisho had even told him that Homura had seen Rinrei. Certainly he would've written something down, made a map, something that could let him find her again! He started with the desk at the end of his bed, first finding a small stack of notebooks. Picking up the first, he flipped through, turning the pages with quickening desperation as he found each one to be blank.

[From here]

It was cold. But for once, it wasn't the first thought that crossed Wolfram's mind as he was practically thrown into the giant cooler. He was more worried about his eyes than anything. It still hurt to open them, and when he tried nothing would focus anyways. And he could still hear what was going on in the kitchen behind him.

Crawling over to the nearest side, still clinging possessively to his items, he tried to focus on listening for Aidou and "John" as best as he could, trembling more in fear than from the cold. Not that he would admit to being almost terrified. No, of course not. Wasn't like he wouldn't be seeing that ugly thing in his dreams for the next five years at least.

_{[from here]}

The first and only time he’d come to the kitchen, it’d been his first night, and it had started with chocolate cake, too. And ended with fighting off lizards, meeting Sasuke, and being inflicted with Alucard. There weren’t any good memories of this place (if that could seriously be said of any part of the building).

Aidou was certainly more wary entering.

“Be careful not to bump into anything or get near the stoves,” he muttered, looking around the room with a frown. “Giant lizards that breathe fire seem to dwell here.” It didn’t feel as ridiculous saying that, since he’d been faced with the evidence once before. He hoped the newbie, Wolfram, wouldn’t question that beyond simple words, because Aidou really didn’t want to have to rush to break down a door because of stupid monsters. Though maybe he should have been more worried about Jack.

_{[from here]}

If there was one thing that made Aidou the best person in the whole damn Institute to be partnered up with during a night time adventure, it was that he was a vampire. A genius vampire, at that.

The vampire part just meant that he could clearly see that the cafeteria was unoccupied, from his position just inside the doors. The genius part meant that Aidou didn't move farther in until he'd passed a glance over the entire room, listening as well as watching. Making sure his initial once over was right. Or as right as he could hope to be, with his overly sharp senses slightly dulled as they were.

He didn't bother to hide the fact that he didn't have a flashlight, at least not this time. Jack might have still been using his, but Aidou had to admit that complaining about it was rather moot, given that he'd probably see something sooner than Jack, and could tell him to turn it off if he had to. Hopefully the kitchen would be just as unremarkable, he thought, looking over his shoulder briefly to check on the others before starting up the center row.