[from here]

Hallway? Check. Toolbox? Check. Flashlight turning him into a walking target? Check.

Destination? Shit, he knew he'd forgotten something.

The thought of going back, finding his beer, and seeing if there was enough left for a mild buzz was tempting. Really fucking tempting. Pull the covers up over his head and let the world spin without him. But he'd done that last night and he hadn't woken up with his face pressed to a shag rug. Trying to climb inside a hefty bag because someone had turned down the thermostat and attached as much of a diatribe as would fit on a post-it about foreign oil.

[to here]

Shinji hesitated at the threshold and after a moment of horrific indecision and fear he forced himself to take the step out of his room and into dim and darkened hallway. It was all strange again. The people, the appearance of this hallway - so much for hoping that last night might have been a fluke. With a start, he realized he still didn't know where Kaworu and Asuka were being kept and with that realization came the idea that he would have to go and find them (or someone; anyone) by himself. He shivered, wrapping his arms around himself. At least he had his flashlight.

He flicked it on, playing the beam of light over the floor, the walls. He hated this place at night. It reminded him of dim nightmares about hospitals, of being alone without anyone to help or hear him. At least during the day it was clean and white and safe, like a hospital ought to be. Here, it was simply surreal and twisted. He swallowed nervously and took another step down the hallway. Then another. He had to get out of here. He had to find someone.

Shinji forced himself to walk. He wouldn't run. He mustn't run. He still needed to find someone though. He couldn't just sit in his room and pull the covers over his head, as much as he would like to.

Alone and afraid Shinji pressed on into the darkness.

_{[[To here.]]}

[from here]

So far, so good; Junpei wasn't feeling any compulsion to go someplace he wasn't intending to. It was a relief to know that Evangeline wasn't going to vampire him to her side that night, despite the implications from earlier. Then again... what if where he was heading was where she wanted him to go all along, so it just didn't feel like a vampire compulsion?

Oh man, this whole vampire servant thing sucked. Junpei wasn't even sure if he'd be able to tell when Evangeline decided to call him to hold her hair while she prayed to the porcelain god or something worse - carrying her damn books.

[to here]

[from here]

Beatrix had walked this path to the Sun Room so many times, she could do it in complete darkness. Which was exactly what she was doing. Knowing the way, there was little need for light as it would only draw creatures and other unwanted attention. Silently counting her steps, at the right number, the assassin headed left and down the hallway.

[to here]

The intercom jingle went off, mirroring the cheery voice that came out of the speakers soon after it.

"Hello, everyone, and I hope you found productive endeavors in both your music-making and your therapy sessions! Now, our nurses will be escorting all of you to your rooms and to your delicious dinners. Tonight, we're serving moist slices of turkey breast covered in gravy and served with mashed potatoes and grilled artichoke. Also available are our usual salad and drink choices, as well as a to-die-for devil chocolate cake dessert!

"...Mm, yes, I do think I'll have to partake in some of that myself! I trust you'll all enjoy it as much as I do, and I'll speak with you again shortly!"

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. ]

Peter woke up suddenly, his body twisting in the bed and then forcing him to catch his breath in pain. Pain, which was coming from his middle because of the thing that had scratched him last night, and after that...

After that, Zach had jumped in front of him like some kind of martyr, like the exact opposite of everything Sylar stood for, to take the next hit for him. It got pretty fuzzy after that, so night must have ended right around then.

The man let out a pained grunt as he straightened himself up in bed. For some reason, he got the feeling that he'd slept in. There was no way for him to really tell without a window in the room, but he just knew. The fact that Sam's bed looked long since vacated was another clue.

Sam, but was he Sam again? Had the brainwashing worn off, as he and Roland had hoped, or was he going to have to go through this nightmare for even longer? He didn't know how long he could handle "Zach" and "Harrison" before he started going batty himself.

Pulling himself out of bed, Peter lifted his shirt and saw that he was tightly bandaged. The scratch most likely wasn't nearly as bad as the bite that "Zach" had received, but it still smarted. He let his shirt fall and then had to deal with a nurse chiding him for sleeping through the morning announcements. Not that Peter really cared at the moment. He was too busy thinking about last night and the fact that in a way, he now owed something to Sylar. Except it hadn't been Sylar. That was something he was sure of now.

Lost in his thoughts, Peter reached the Sun Room right as the rest of the patient populace was trickling in from breakfast. Sighing to himself, he headed over to the bulletin board and then saw a note written in familiar yet unpleasant handwriting. Holding his pen in a vice grip, Peter scribbled out a reply and then stalked over to an armchair and fell into it with a huff.

While Sylar was maddeningly frustrating, there was one good thing about the fact that he was himself again. It meant that Nathan was too.

[For Spock!]

[From here]

Tyki headed through the double doors into the next hallway, still not seeing anything or anyone around this place. The area was still as empty and boring as ever. He'd almost wish for the head doctor to switch around the lay-out of the place a bit, if only it weren't for the fact that figuring out what was where would be a real pain. Especially on the rare occasion he would need to be somewhere, and considering the guy's excellent sense of timing...

[To here]

Time to stretch his legs again. Abe set the white bishop aside--he'd spent most of dinner staring it down, in lieu of anything better to focus his attention on. His mind had never come down from that fluffy cloud land of speculation it had been hovering in ever since he got over being terrified of Beatrix, and he spoke only a food-muffled greeting to Statesman.

Scarecrow's suggestion that he find the third floor seemed to be a good one. The problem came in finding a way up there. As far as he could tell the path to the third floor never crossed that of the stairwells between the first and second floors. The area he had explored with Mr. Smith seemed fruitless even without that small creepy child making advances at them, and if the rest were that easy to find someone surely would have found the stairs by now.

Experience and training told Abe that if you were looking for something important it was probably hidden in a place you wouldn't expect. Putting stairs right next to stairs made too much sense, you had to apply some unhuman thinking to figure out where they'd put it. Somewhere people wouldn't go but disguised as somewhere completely normal--of course. The cafeteria. There were doors behind it but there was no reason for people to go into the cafeteria at night because there was nothing of use there. Abe wished he had the emotional energy to feel proud of himself for his cleverness.

He checked the closet before he left intending to see if anything had been put in there since last night. No weapons, no tools or notes, just a single dark wetsuit hanging forlornly from a clotheshanger.

His wetsuit.

Abe took the dark material in hesitant hands and turned it--Sapien was imprinted on the chest. The breathing apparatus was gone, as was the gun, but the belt had the familiar red and gold emblem on it that he'd seen so many times it had been burned onto his overlage retinas. How and why were futile questions to ask here even if it was real, Abe would find no answers from this mad place, but it was here now. Perhaps someone friendly had chosen to give it to him and remind him of what he used to be and of the frail human that he wasn't--for better or for worse, Abe's enthusiasm at being a normal human was severely flagging.

It made sense to take it. The wetsuit would give him a minimal amount of padding and wouldn't be nearly as heavy without the bulky breathing apparatus, the pouches on the belt would help holding anything useful he might find, the goggles might come in handy at some point...he'd be a fool just to leave it in the closet. But it still, in some twisted way, felt as if the BPRD had managed to suck him back in without him even knowing it. Abe donned the top part of his uniform but kept his lightweight pants, then carefully folded the goggles and tucked them into his belt pouch. Snapping the red sword-and-fist belt buckle around his midsection felt like donning a dog collar and he did it without looking down. Necessity only. They didn't own him anymore.

[To here.]

[from here]

Junpei found himself a spot not too far from the door leading out to the hallway. Seriously, if Yukari waned the damn Evoker, she needed to run her mini-skirted ass down here to get it since he wasn't going much farther. It was only fair since he'd trucked down to her block last night.

Setting the bag of stuff on the floor, he leaned against the wall after adjusting the Evoker in the waistband of his jeans. He was not happy with having lost the t-shirt he'd had last night, forced to wear the smiley one again, even if it was turned inside out. He sighed and looked down at the square bandage on his arm. Vampire. He'd been bitten by a vampire.

Just to make sure, the junior checked his teeth. No fangs. Good. He probably would have freaked out if he'd found any. Still... curiosity got the better of him and he peeled half the bandage off to look at the bite. Twin puncture wounds with some redness about them. He poked it.

"Ow." Poking it was not a good idea.

[Hey, Yuka-tan... got any garlic?]

[from here]

Once away from the safety of the patient block, Momo slowed down as she traveled along the left hand wall to cover her blind spot. In this position, she could easily draw her sword and deal with issues as they arose. Hopefully, there would be none.

Momo had too much on her mind to want to deal with anything she didn't have to.

The intercom's jingle signaled yet another announcement.

"And our excellent behavior continues! Well, I am extremely impressed indeed!

"In any case, it's time to stop our socializing, unfortunately, and for the patients to return to their quarters for dinner. Be aware that new roommates have been assigned due to our influx of new patients and discharged old ones, so please be hospitable should you find yourself with someone new!

"As for dinner itself: tonight, we'll be serving shrimp and vegetable tempura along with delicious chicken teriyaki. Yum, yum, yum! As sides, we will also be serving boiled, salted soybeans, rice, and of course the appropriate soy and tempura sauces. Our regular assorted drinks and vegetarian substitutes are also available.

"I hope you enjoy your meal!"

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. Find new room assignments here. ]

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]

"Hm!" The Head Doctor gave a small, thoughtful exclamation just after the intercom jingle came on. "It's only afternoon and yet I'm already feeling a bit tired. I suppose it's because I had such a busy night last night. Some rare occurrences that caused a great deal of paperwork, I can assure you..."

He trailed off, as if realizing he'd let some of his Nighttime fun slip into his Daytime facade. He cleared his throat and continued.

"In any case, it only seems natural that such a well-behaved patient body should be rewarded by some very fun activities in the Game Room, doesn't it? Ha ha ha... Remember that today is a day that should be celebrated, not frowned upon, and those of you who are still struggling should be happy for your fellow patients instead of trying to dissuade their progress.

"But now I'm simply being unfair, aren't I? Yes, yes, we all have to go at our own paces, though I am sure some of you will soon be making your way out of the Institute and perhaps be making some more room for the very new batch of patients that has already begun to join us.

"In any case, I've rambled on for quite long enough, haven't I? Enjoy your fun and I'll be back to speak with you later!"

The intercom clicked off.

Momo's mind was turning over all the possibilities surrounding this "field trip" to the surrounding town when she settled down in the corner of the Sun Room away from the Arts & Crafts room. She curled her legs underneath her as she waited for Shouko-san to find her. The shinigami had no idea what she looked like, so she kept an eye on all those entering the room.

It was still very cold, or at least she was cold, and the momentary thought of getting her coat from her own room passed through her mind amidst the field trip thoughts. She pushed it away and decided to deal with it being as cold as it was since she'd already been late to one meeting today and didn't want to start making it a habit.

As she waited, she pondered the next day's possibilities. Maybe, just maybe, once away from the institute the shinigami will have access to their full reiatsu. And if not, maybe they'll have a better idea of how they are being limited so much. Maybe Aizen would be able to find her then. He'd save her... right? Right?

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.

Homura was as eager as his roommate to get things started, knowing that there was much to do, and so little time. The frying pan that had been his makeshift weapon before still in Kenshin's possession, Homura got his flashlight once again, hopefully for the last time as a fighting tool.

He didn't rush out of the room as Ken had, taking time while still in an area of safety to close his eyes, letting them adjust to the darkness. Hopefully this would let him travel easier without the use of the flashlight, save for a periodic check or two.

Finally, Homura left his room, a bit surprised to discover he was one of the first in the hall. No matter; moving alone was best, as it was quickest, and left him with no one else to watch out for.

[To here.]

Rabastan was on a mission to try to please Severus Snape. Someone should really stop and pity the poor Potions Master. So far, Bast had managed to lose just about everyone he had gotten attached to, and he was determined to not lose Severus. Severus was real after all.

Radio tucked into the crook of his arm, he grinned and shook his head when the nurses tried to get him to play, going for the sweet and cute thing. He did seem to be listening to their warnings to stay off the field then so he wouldn't get hit accidentally by people playing their various games. Heading to the sidelines, he began poking around at the grass and other small plants, trying hard to remember Potion classes from back at Hogwarts. Was that a good one? Or a bad one? Maybe it was a weed.

Either way, Bast plucked it gently and cupped it in his hand as he settled down on the grass and began fully inspecting the area around him. His radio was lectured to as he looked around.

"Mr Head Doctor, do you think we could go to the Arts and Crafts room later today? Severus might like some of the things in there. I'd like to get some of that faerie glitter if you don't mind."

[from here.]

Shaking his head at Elfangor's response, the replica opened the door to the waiting room, not expecting much.

Which was pretty much what he got.

He took a hesitant step in, scanning the room quickly with the light. Against one wall was a line of cushioned chairs, with a very casual table sitting in front of them. Next to the door he had entered through was a magazine rack, stacked in an orderly manner with all sorts of magazines he had never heard of. He picked one up, frowning at the title The New York Times. The pages seemed yellowed with age. The room looked like it hadn't been used in ages - or it was the feeling he got from it. Thankfully, it looked empty of bats. Or anything else that might nibble an ear off.

He turned back to the two. "I don't think we'll find much here."

The giggling and the stinging scent of pepper faded as Gin and Jack changed their route to the second set of stairs near the doctors offices.  It was Gin's first time leading, usually Jack took that job, letting him take up the reasonably safer rear guard.  He kept his flashlight trained on the path ahead of them, his knife in the other hand.  With any luck, they'd be able to move as quickly through the halls as they had their first night.

Aidou Hanabusa, a vampire, was one of the first into the cafeteria, which was swimming in dim sunlight. A grey morning suited his mood.

The fact that his biological clock was pitching fits was only the cherry on top of the cake; the last thing he wanted to do was sleep. "Waking up", once again, with no memory of how or why he'd been brought back to room M52 infuriated him, on top of getting absolutely nothing done during the night. In the (miniscule) self-deprecating part of his mind, he thought it served him right for making concessions for humans. He wasn't going to make that mistake again, no matter how alone he was.

Aidou secluded himself in a corner. Solid food couldn't replace what he was missing, but it would keep his appetite in check. For a while. If his better sense told him not to repeat yesterday's mistakes, then at least he could forget tablets and go hunting tonight. It wasn't like Aidou was required to follow protocol during Landel's fine nightshift. No one else did.

No one from home would think less of him for cutting corners, either. If they hadn't been able to find him by now, then things were worse than he imagined. With a table piled high with food, he cupped his chin in his hand and let his gaze wander. He had a fair idea where the female cell block was. It wouldn't be difficult to overpower a young girl...

Eventually grabbing the knife, Aidou poked at one of his many bagels. He'd been right about to find a suitable instrument in the mail room, something long and sharp enough to cut into a bat and allow him to see what similarities remained on the inside... The plastic blade sank through the bread, went through the paper plate underneath it, and finally snapped in two against the plastic tray.

More new "patients". A day of "doctor consultations". It was nothing he'd ever experienced before, nothing he'd ever heard about before, and it was seriously driving him nuts. For the first time in his life, he just wanted to be left alone, without feeling a set of eyes on him.