Brainiac 5 had been planning to spend some more time in the sun room in order to check up on his attempt to gather more information about the different technology levels people were familiar with and to think about what his ancestor had said to him (not to mention try and keep an eye on Peter's activities before he did something else monumentally stupid), but his nurse seemed to have something else in mind for him.

He frowned as she pushed him into the game room, hoping she wasn't thinking he would actually want to entertain himself with another piece of archaic Earth technology, but instead found himself deposited in front of a chess set.

"You liked playing it on the bulletin, Michael," she said before he could ask, "so why don't you try playing it face to face. You might even make some more friends!" And then she left him there. He was beginning to think she preferred him in the wheelchair; it meant that he couldn't leave on his own.

He sighed, absently lining up the pieces that were slightly out of place and feeling grateful that the room was currently empty as well. It made him feel somewhat... safer. He knew Luxord wasn't likely to be intruding on him any time soon. Not to mention that there wouldn't be any major distractions. But then again, he was a twelfth level intellect, so playing a complex game against himself while thinking about what he'd heard earlier would hardly be difficult. Even factoring in other eventual distractions - such as others who would no doubt arrive later or the lingering effects of his medication - he'd be able to play at an advanced level while maintaining a watch on his surroundings and contemplating what was bothering him.

He just had to hope that his nurse wouldn't decide to interfere and force him to spend time with someone else as well. He had more important things on his mind.

[closed for a chess rematch with a certain other boy genius]

The temperature was starting to cool down, but that was okay with Akihiko. It wasn't that much different from winter evenings back home. He was feeling better, having been outside most of the day, but still. That niggling stress from the previous few days was still getting to him. He sighed, looking up at the darkening sky and thinking about it all.

Just need to focus. That's all.

[Adel? Boxing Club folks? SEES?]

Of all the places Jaime thought he might be hanging out around town, a grocery store ranked pretty low on the list. But seeing as it was the only place with a noticeboard - one that other people from the Institute were already putting to use, he noticed with a wry smile - and any way of getting in touch with others anonymously or otherwise, he didn't really have that much of a choice.

The morning had passed pretty quickly, all things considered. After the buses had arrived, Jaime had accepted his book of coupons and then taken a look around town, but there hadn't been any sign of pay phones or anything else he could use to try and get a message out, so that idea had fallen flat pretty early on. Maybe if the Scarab had been able to do anything during the day he might have tried hijacking a phone line, but as it was? Yeah, he was pretty much stuck.

"We could try hot wiring a car," he mused to himself, leaning against a wall close enough to the noticeboard to keep an eye on it but not enough to be that suspicious. Or at least that was what he was hoping for anyway. "But I'm not sure if that would work so well. Besides, we don't even know if there's anything like the JLA or anything here at all that could help us. It'd be better to try and find out what they did to you first. See if we can undo it then go from there."

[for Daphne]

[continued thread from here]

Hahaha~ Poor Sheena. At this rate, she was doomed. At least it was a playful kind of doomed. Sheena was her friend after all, and if Harley actually felt the girlie was in any danger, she wouldn't have been as nice to little miss youkai over here. Sheena was so dramatic sometimes, heh.

Harley made an excited Oh! noise when she heard this was Yukari's first trip. Fun! "Place is small and boring, but you can have fun anywhere if you know how. We're all dolled up with nowhere to go anyway. Let's hit the town!~" Dusty, little Nowheresville town, but still. Might as well take advantage of whoever's tax dollars were funding this little trip.

She turned away from Yukari, leaned forward, and held a hand up above her eyes as though she was concentrating real hard on looking far away. She turned her head back and forth eagerly as she spoke. "I just been down this street before. Not a whole lot. There's a burger joint and some beauty places and a grocery store and some place with TVs and ya can't really see it from here but there's a hardware store waaaay down there, too. Also heard there's a toy store somewhere around here!"

Harley wasn't a really picky person when it came to the where. If it was up to her, she'd be picking up a big mallet, some machine guns, and a flamethrower... some snacks, too. She hadn't had anything high in sugar in a long time. Since even she knew those weren't an option, well, there had to be some place that was fun.

After the way night had ended (Miku wasn't sure if they'd ever get the smell of charnel out of her clothes), and morning had returned with its clockwork weirdness. She was hurried onto the bus in her dark red long coat and the dark, knee-length, slightly full dress beneath it. It was surprisingly warm, Miku noted, but that could've just been her body lying to her legs, which were going to be undoubtedly chillier through the day. As always with these trips, her nurse had taken the opportunity to channel Little Red Riding Hood into her patient's life.

Oh, well, she didn't mind that much. It was just clothing.

Miku slid into a seat with her bag of breakfast and her camera in her pocket. She couldn't help shake the feeling of oncoming dread that had started with the end of the night's bleeding walls. Maybe she was just being silly, maybe she shouldn't listen to the alarm ringing in the back of her mind.

But still, she couldn't help but to wonder what it was leading to.

[Waiting for Peter]

[Currently in M47]

Well, that was a little different. Either the head doctor was still having trouble with his intercom, or something was interfering with the broadcast. Artemis frowned at the ceiling, then looked at his radio. Something told him that a battle was going on over the airwaves.

But now wasn't the time to worry about that. He had to get ready for Momo to stop by, which meant that he had to disentangle himself from Haku and look presentable and professional when his mission was presented to him.

"Hinamori-san should be by soon," Artemis said, squeezing Haku's hand one more time and getting up to change. "If anyone knocks, it will be her."

[from here]

No, really, where the fuck was everyone? Shit, someone needed to be out and about. The rescue-mission post had had a dozen or so eager-beaver volunteers, so where were they? He hoped they were around when he got back with the gear, because he wasn't planning to spend the night as a poor man's on-call EMT.

O.K., so he didn't have other plans beyond the appeal of going back to his room and seeing if falling asleep by design yielded better results. But the idea of turning around and heading upstairs himself was marginally less appealing than a solo night dive. I.e. absolutely dumbfuck moronic, given his current mental state. He could admit to something resembling shellshock, here in the dark, by himself. Nothing a few beers and a few good nights' sleep wouldn't cure, provided he could get them.

[to here]

[from here]

The main hallway was empty, too. The quiet was broken only by squeak of S.T's shoes on the tile floor and tiny creaks of metal as the toolbox swung as he walked.

This was the part in the horror movie where the cheerleader took a knife to the throat. Good thing he'd left his pom-poms at home. As long as he was the idiot friend or the brains (hell, both) he should make it at least to the third act.

He hurried along, hugging close to the left-hand wall.

[to here]

[From here]

For the first time all day, von Karma was now in an area that was somewhat familiar to him. The last day that he had had full consciousness, he had passed through this hallway on his way to the recreational field. Oddly enough, although there had been a number of patients meandering through this hall last time, it appeared that he was the first one here tonight. Gingerly, he walked close to the wall in case something non-human emerged, until he reached the doorway to the north.

Carefully, he opened the door and looked outside. The grassy field lay before him. A cool breeze drifted in; this was actually the first breath of fresh air that he had received all day, despite his blasted nurse's nagging. Steeling himself for the trip to the activities shed on the far end of the field, he stepped outside.

[To here]

Haseo's steps were heavy with the weight of righteous anger as he was escorted into the Sun Room, his posture so sullen and reluctant you could almost hear the nostalgic cry of an electric guitar. He was seething, and though perhaps it was a bit harder to be intimidating while wearing the uniform of an insane asylum and flanked by a bored-looking orderly, it was not for lack of trying.

Unfortunately, his nurse seemed unaffected by the act, and even with the cloud of failing to keep "Kai" away from "Peyton" hanging over her, remained determinedly cheerful. She merely said something about receiving a lecture later on, ignored his retorts, and assured him that it would be alright even though his internet stalker was in the same building. For the most part, Haseo tuned her babbling out after that, dismissing it as hopeless.

"...and usually this would be the time children would be taking showers, but you don't have to worry about that right now. Now then, le--"

"Wait. What?"

"Oh, all the children seventeen or under are separated right now while the adults go to the courtyard..."

"Hey, I'm not a kid you old--!"

"Oh of course you aren't dear, but you're not eighteen yet either, now are you?"

Haseo resisted the urge to do something rash, literally biting his tongue to keep quiet. But upon having the bulletin board pointed out to him, he shrugged off his anger for the most part and headed that way, fully intending to get more answers than he'd had time to receive during breakfast.

Well... at least Endrance is in another shower group, he thought, Thank god.

[Closed to Tsukasa, for now!]

Endrance turned his head to look at the intercom, giving it a look that would wither an entire rose garden in an instant. He would never get used to ending up in his room again from somewhere else in the Institute.

He brushed his bangs out of his eyes, not sitting up just yet. He could tell already that his torso had been heavily bandaged, even more so than it had been the night before. The cuts on his arms were covered with fresh bandages, and the one on his cheek seemed to no longer be there at all.

Endrance had been expecting to wake up in a lot of pain, but even that seemed numbed. "They must have given me something," he murmured quietly, as he slowly sat up.

At that moment, his nurse came to get him, pushing a wheelchair along with her. "Peyton, dear, good morning. I've come to take you to breakfast, so..." He shook his head. "I'm fine. There's no need for that...I can walk perfectly well."

She sighed. Well, if he insisted, she wasn't going to stop him. She motioned for an orderly to take the chair away, and walked him to the cafeteria. Once they had gotten there, she pointed him toward a seat, then set a full tray of pancakes covered with syrup, a bowl of fruit, and a glass of orange juice in front of him. "Now eat all of that, Peyton, or else you won't be strong enough to keep walking like that."

He glared at her back as she walked away, then stopped suddenly. There was that faint pulse he'd felt the night before...it was exactly the same.

And so he completely ignored his food in favor of staring at the cafeteria doors, looking at every patient that came in.

[thread will be closed to Haseo. ♥]

Yue was all too pleased to leave the cafeteria by the time lunch was over, even if he still wasn't satisfied that Fai was properly taking care of himself. It was clear that Touya hadn't accepted the answers he'd been given and intended to find out just what the guardian wasn't telling him, and being watched so closely was beginning to get uncomfortable.

It was clear that the truth would have to come out at some point, especially if they were going to be spending any amount of time together. Avoiding him was entirely out of the question, but at the same time Yue stubbornly refused to consider the idea of just outright telling him about what had happened in the last week. It was a dilemma indeed, and only served to make him even more irritable than ever.

How could he admit any of it? That he was weak and crippled, betrayed and altered by his creator? That he'd almost broken the promise he'd given in exchange for Touya's power? The latter he couldn't help but be reminded of every time he saw this Touya, who had only just gone through it, and would remember it even more clearly.

Fortunately Yukito was staying silent for the moment, although he could feel his other self's disappointment at being unable to speak to Touya so far, and it didn't make him feel any better.

In the midst of all this Yue was rather dismayed to realize that the nurse wanted to lead him to the music room, of all places: that was the room where he'd met the Sakura-who-wasn't-his-Sakura the week before, and needed neither the reminder nor the inevitable noise in that room. He abruptly halted in his tracks and refused to continue on. The nurse seemed initially disappointed, but finally agreed to let him stay in the Sun Room instead; the guardian found a corner in which to stand, arms folded across his chest and lost in his own brooding thoughts.

[for Sokka]

Lunch had been fruitful. Celes had chosen not to eat, but that was fine enough for her; she’d eaten plenty at breakfast and it was not very good manners to eat while discussing war (for Celes, it’d always given her a bit of a stomachache), or plotting. Especially if one was in mixed company. Her nurse escorted her to the Music room, citing that her ‘sister’ had suggested that musical therapy would be good for her. Celes rolled her eyes. This was no music room, with their ‘electronic’ instruments; where were the violas and the harpsichords and phonographs? She’d been past this room before, but had never been interested enough to go into it.

The general sat down at the keyboard, staring at the odd device before prodding the buttons with a nail. On, off, rumba, tango, Caribbean (what in the world was ‘Caribbean?’), little numbers that changed the tone. It was the first time Celes wished that there was a real instrument before her, instead of this ridiculous thing. Still, it didn’t stop her from curiously stringing notes together with one hand, and the only song she could bring to mind was the Aria di Mezzo Carattere.

How dreadfully delightful.

[for Adel~]

Ah, that was right. He should roll up-- Huh?

Cross blinked his eyes open to stare up at the ceiling, then sat up quickly. That was odd. Hadn't he just been in the hallway? This was the second time he'd woken in a room like this and it was baffling. He didn't even recall anything that would cause him to fall unconscious again. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he took a moment to scratch his head and try to put together pieces of a puzzle that had no intention of fitting.

This was ridiculous.

He wasn't allowed much more time before a boisterous woman arrived saying something about breakfast. Too surprised to put up much of an argument, Cross allowed her to lead him out of the room to a familiar and yet unfamiliar hallway. This wasn't the same room he'd been in the night before.

Trying to ask what was going on proved to be fruitless, and he decided to just take the food he was served and sit down. There had to be someone around here who knew something. And what had happened to Ryuuzaki?

[free]

The intercom rang out, disrupting what had turned out to be a rather pointless breakfast conversation, at least in Brainiac 5's eyes. He couldn't wait to put more distance between himself and Scar's blather of how logic, of all things, might not work the same way in this dimension. It was almost enough to make him believe that the man may very well have been a lion originally after all, as he'd never heard anything so very... ignorant and uneducated.

He quickly finished up the fruit he'd been nibbling on - he was no longer as hungry as he had been - and looked around automatically to see where Clark was. Unfortunately with the press of people around, some being led off to the library and others to the mentioned 'therapy sessions' - if that was what they really were - he had lost sight of the Kryptonian. Still there wasn't many places he could go, so Brainiac 5 would be able to catch up with him eventually to check on his condition and try and learn more about what had happened last night. That the Chapel had healed him - admittedly by passing his injuries to another - was interesting, but far more important in his eyes was what had happened to Clark and his powers. They hadn't been working correctly and that worried the Coluan boy more than he would normally have admitted. Without Clark's abilities... he wasn't sure what they would have to rely on in order to escape.

Another problem he would have to deal with was Grell... or, if he was to believe the notes on the bulletin board, the person pretending to be Grell. But that was going to require more careful planning before he made a move. Come to think of it, he had agreed to meet another in the library today on that same post that had sparked this whole mess. At least then he would have something of interest to look forward to, as he doubted any of the 21st century books were likely to be worthwhile to someone of his advanced intellect.

Following the nurses led him to what must have been the library; a reasonably large room filled with a range of archaic books on tall shelves, a few tables and chairs interspersed around the room. The Coluan boy couldn't refrain from wrinkling his nose in distaste as he entered the room, not liking the cumbersome books and the dust that he knew would have gathered on them; he much preferred the clean arrangement of his C.O.M.P.U.T.O. systems back in the Legion headquarters. It was much more practical then shelves and shelves of books on fictional worlds and dated information.

Trying to avoid as much of the room as possible, Brainiac 5 settled himself down on a chair to wait, keeping an eye out for a tall, dark-haired man with a red... something on his forehead.

[for Homura]

[From here.]

There was a very large pool of possible questions Mikami could start with, but for the moment, he only stepped further into the room, sweeping his flashlight back and forth in search of anything else which might disturb a conversation. He already disliked this room to begin with... the day-time memories he had created in its twin the day before weren't exactly pleasant. In any case, satisfied with his quick search, he then hung back, ready to shut the door. There was, of course, another doorway to this room too, but he didn't think it would be possible to overhear at that distance unless he and the Shinigami purposefully raised their voices.

Down to business. Mikami obviously wanted to ask Ryuk if he knew anything about Kira's current whereabouts, or, if that wasn't possible, any other plans and other information. After that... Mikami recognized a possibility that he could find a way to get back his Shinigami Eyes through Ryuk, and perhaps... even his Death Note. He noticed Ryuk had a twin to his own journal with him, and his eyes lingered on it for just a moment, the implications of getting his hands back on the tool Kira had sent him running through his head.

But for now, best to start with something simple. "How long have you been here?" he asked quietly and, while not quite kindly, not impolite either.

[from here]

Only a few more hallways to go. It seemed almost too quiet, as he stepped through the hallways. That could mean that it was just early, of course, but it could mean that something was there in the shadows.

Oh, well. If there was, Akihiko would just take it down. It wasn't too much of a worry.

[to here]

A part of Ken couldn’t deny wanting to stay in for the night, as opposed to traversing outside and keeping his obligations. Between the arrival of the seniors and the revelation at lunch, the day had completely overwhelmed and undermined any desire to mobilize. Sleep sounded very good at the moment.

Maybe he could ask to be dismissed, perhaps after the S.E.E.S. had their meeting. No one would mind a half-night’s rest.

The boy quickly gathered up the container of juice and cans of corn in one hand and the spear in the other. His first stop was close enough to warrant a bag-less transport. Plus, he didn’t want to explain a random pillowcase if he could help it. With everything in place, Ken moved.

[To here.]

[From here]

As she entered the hallway, Ophelia stopped for a moment to quickly fold up Kio's maps and stuff them into one of her pockets. She had been hoping to take a peek at them at various intervals during the night, but in this dim light, there was no chance of being able to see them. For now, she would have to travel by memory of where she had been taken during the day.

At least this time the choice of where to go was easy. On one side she could just barely see the hallway ending, and on the other it continued for a ways. The path that continued would surely lead to the Sun Room and the areas around it. She started running again with a grin spreading on her face, emboldened by the long, seemingly unobstructed length of the hall. Perhaps she would find her first challenge of the night soon.

[From here]

Ophelia was faced with a choice upon entering the next hallway. The path to her right she remembered would lead to the areas she had visited during the day. The path to her left lead to an unknown area. While the thought of upping the challenge (and thus the fun) by going down an unknown hallway in the dark without her night vision was appealing, she decided to save it for another night, perhaps. Tonight she would try to build off of where she had already been, so she decided to take the right-hand path.

She could see barely there patches of moonlight from a window in the hall up ahead, and sped up to a jog in her eagerness to get to where there was a little bit of light. Despite the danger of running into something in the dark, her growing excitement was getting the better of her.