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]

Hello! I.R.I.S. here once more to announce to you, our honored guests, that you have officially made it through a day of our typical Landel's treatment. Of course, it isn't quite over: we will now have you retire to our designated patient quarters with one of your agency partners to inspect their sleeping area and the tools that we provide them with for the true bulk of our behavioral testing. On an added note, we would like you to notice once again that the meals we provide to our subjects are of the highest quality.

For those of you feeling apprehensive about taking part in our more intensive methods, please be aware that we would never imagine putting all of you in any danger whatsoever. This last shift will be your last at our Institute; afterward, we will escort you to our Head Doctor's personal observation station to survey some of our test Next-Wave participants in the rigorous trials we put them through – all for their betterment, of course.

Once again, we hope that you are satisfied with what you find, and as always, direct any questions you may have to your console.

The nurses began to escort the patients to their rooms. They didn't even seem to be brought to awareness by words such as "testing" and "subjects."

[ 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 all of the newly changed room assignments and shift introductions here.) If you are introducing your character during this shift, you may either choose for them character to wake up before their roommate gets back, or after. ]

"Now you just have a seat and wait for your visitor like everyone else."

As the nurse went away from him, Kurogane huffed out some agitation but refused to have a seat. Hearing that he had a visitor had been one of the last things he'd expected. It was always the magician who got one, not him. And who the hell would want to visit him anyway?

During his first protests, the nurse had been telling him to behave since it wasn't nice to be sour to girls, so he knew it had to be a girl that was visiting. There were a few of those Kurogane knew could show up as a "visitor" for him, all of which were annoying. Some were worse than others too. He could probably handle if Sohma showed up, and maybe Amaterasu, but when it came to Tomoyo-hime... she was already hard to handle normally, no matter what world she came from. The Piffle version had been pretty much the same, just raised differently. If he saw her, even a fake her, she would probably be just the same and he'd have to at put up with it no matter what.

Eventually he chose to take a seat, knowing that he would not be leaving any time soon. Of course, he picked the one that was furthest into the corner to avoid unwanted conversations. He would already have to deal with a visitor; he shouldn't have to deal with anything more.

Why does this place always have to spoil my fun? was the first thing HK thought when he realized he was back in his cell in the Institute. Oh well. This meant his nurse would be coming soon to lead him off to whatever boring place he was supposed to go to now.

The meatbag arrived a few moments later, asking him in an overly cheerful tone if he slept well. HK responded with and equally cheerful "Statement: I was having the most wonderful dream. A dream of killing all humans." He managed to make a facial expression for best effect: A happy, terrifying grin. "And I think you were in it," he finished with an especially gleeful note.

The nurse nearly dragged him all the way down to the Sun Room. Success! He took a seat in one of the chairs, feeling smug.

[Free!]

Jamie was not surprised to find that the problem he'd been experiencing all morning was only getting worse as the day progressed.

The sensation clouding his brain had intensified from a vague sort of distraction to a feeling akin to being watched constantly, and he knew that in this instance it was not because of the nurses and other staff monitoring the patients throughout Doyleton. It was too...intimate, too strange, like the entity observing him was sizing him up, exploring him, pushing at the boundaries of his mind. And there was still the bizarre feeling of having another set of emotions running parallel to his own - the confusion was fading, now, giving in to the anger and indignation of being...

...TRAPPED.

His stomach twisted with dread; he was sure now of what was going on but, strangely, had no clue how to react to it. All he knew was that it had never happened this way before and it shouldn't be happening, and that on some level he could not identify, the thought terrified him.

The exploratory mental prodding paused, ceasing for a split second; then it redoubled its efforts, growing more agitated and purposeful, latching onto his fear and following it like a beacon.

Jamie's pace had been picking up as he made his way down Main Street, and now he all but bolted the last half-block to the overgrown little park at the end of the line of shops. The area was empty for now, and in this secluded spot he paced agitatedly from one end of the park to the other, nerves jangling with apprehension, waiting for the inevitable.

[for Skuld.]

The bus ride had been uneventful. Tim was more than a little annoyed at the shirt he was wearing. He was sure it was a girl's shirt, but the nurse had assured him it wasn't, and had refused to get him anything else. The way too tight pants weren't really any help, and he was sure the color coupled with the tightness was some not-so-well-hidden hint that they knew exactly who he was. At least the coat covered up the stupid shirt. It was unnecessary, maybe, but it served it's purpose. And he could do worse than worn out blue Converse. Why they were blue and completely refused to match the rest of the clothes he'd been brought, well, who even knew.

The sack lunch was a ridiculous touch, as far as he was concerned. And the way the staff was littered all over the place, was this really necessary? It sure as hell wasn't like any hospital he'd ever heard of. Letting mental patients run around a town? That was crazy in and of itself.

He hadn't shaken the feeling he'd gotten last night. Blood all over the place, and he hadn't been able to reach Kon right away, and...

He stood on the street corner, unable to push the thoughts completely out of his head. All that blood, and it smelled real, and he couldn't save anyone because he couldn't be Robin and he wasn't cut out for it...

Dad, I'm sorry.

He forced himself to open his eyes. This was not the time or the place for that. Kon wasn't dead (well, okay, maybe he was, but he wasn't dead again), and the blood wasn't his fault. It wasn't like some other things, and it wasn't something he could have prevented or helped. It was just...something that had happened.

But he hated feeling like he had no control. He just couldn't stand that. So he stood there, fists clenched inside the too-long sleeves of the coat, and told himself to breathe. He had a few short hours to find something useful in this town. There was no sense in wasting the trip.

[Waiting for Alfred. He just doesn't know it yet.]

Before anyone could come to any decisions for their next move, the room suddenly filled with a thick fog. Faster than he could realize what was happening, it had filled up the entire room and swallowed every single one of his friends. Then there was that undeniable stench of iron, blood and... he last remembered taking a step back and feeling that slippery skid and the realization of what that was. By the time he yelled, he was sitting straight up in his bed like he'd bolted awake. Like it'd been nothing more than a bad dream. ...What the hell just happened?!

"Oh! Good morning!" The nearby voice made him yelp with a half squeak-like noise. Oh, for hell's sake. It was one of those freaking nurses again. She was beaming at him like nothing had happened at all. Before he could so much as ask one question, the hag started blathering real fast about some field trip and buses and getting changed and hurrying up before everyone left without him and... OH MY GOD, WHAT WAS SHE DOING?! She was grabbing at his shirt like she was about to start helping him get dressed (or undressed in this case).

He flailed in a desperate attempt to get away from her and yelled his consent to go along if she would get out and let him change HIMSELF. What was the matter with her?! Thankfully, she left but told him to hurry. Hell if he knew what she'd do if he took too long. So for the sake of not getting freaking stripped, he quickly changed into the clothes she'd left on the bed. Clothes being the ugliest looking white-and-black track pants he'd ever seen and a bright blue sweatshirt with a cute little penguin design on the front. This was some kind of joke, right? ...Not to say the penguin wasn't cute or anything but there was no way, no way, he was wearing something like this in public.

But the nurse had burst right in again, and before Kanji could offer much protest, he was being pulled down the hallways and through the doors of the bus. He'd yelled some things her way, but she totally wasn't listening at all. By the time they stopped, he was standing at the front of the bus with a paper bag and the nurse had run off to cart another poor sap along. Frickin' PERFECT. For the sake of not standing up there like some kind of zoo animal for everyone to stare at, he plopped himself into one of the seats by the front and sighed in complete exasperation.

[Free. No limit.]

Franziska did not trust her roommate, which was just fine with her, since it seemed that Maki Shouko did not trust Franziska either. There was something about her protective nature that brought out the worst in Franziska's investigative nature. Pulling the truth from Maki Shouko would have to wait, however, until Franzika was better armed with evidence and proof that she was, in fact, something more than a mere unemployed, ex-psychologist homemaker. Taking her journal, her flashlight and her radio, Franziska made a note of the night's announcement and then headed outside.

Only to find it entirely blacked out.

So this was the night that people spoke of with such terror? A little bit of dark wasn't going to kill anyone. Pathetic. Flicking on her flashlight, she noted that the beam was unusually weak against the dark and scoffed. Giving the inmates sub-par equipment would need to be added onto the list of complaints when she lodged her class action suit against Martin Landel.

Heading down the hall, Franziska recalled the map she'd seen in her head. She needed to go and find the second floor, get to the patient possessions room, retrieve her whip and then she'd take this place by storm.

[to here]

Other than the single person who was apparently "200 years from his future", no one had replied to his message on the bulletin board. Tenzen couldn't be certain whether it was a good thing or not, but this meant other Iga or even those damned Kouga were not taken captive along with him. This begged the question of why they had captured just him, though it could be easily explained because of his own death (which naturally meant the remaining ninja had gone ahead). But to take a corpse captive, they must have known he would come back from death. Otherwise, there would hardly be a point.

Provided that it wasn't some sort of illusion created by one of the aforementioned Kouga, of course. Though he knew the rivaling clan a little better than most Iga thanks to his history (and life span), he was by far not aware of all of their techniques. It could very well be possible that one of them could pull such tricks. Of the ten chosen Kouga, only four remained. There was only one Kouga he didn't know the ability of; the woman Kagerou. Even though the issue remained the same; they must've known he would come back from death. No Kouga (that hadn't died) could have known, unless a member of the Iga had gone around telling them.

There were various possibilities, one of them being a certain mimic. Either way, he would need to find a way to properly test both theories, he supposed.

According to the voice from what was called the 'intercom' (the manner this place made announcements still sounded as if it was coming from the walls itself), there was no need for him to follow the other patients to the 'showers'. Judging from the rest of the announcement, these showers were used to clean oneself.

Either way, he was instead brought to the area called the Sun room. The ninja took a seat on a couch rather close to the bulletin board, mostly to keep an eye on it in case someone wrote something of interest. Not that he expected in a place filled with madmen, but there was hardly anything else he could do right now but wait until nightfall.

[Free, limit: any]

Skuld had slept through dinner, so Ururu did her very best to be quiet, even if she didn't like it much. It was harder not to have someone to talk to, especially when Fai-san and Kurogane were fighting on the bulletin again, and she still hadn't heard from Orihime or Shiki. That was why, when the doors opened, the girl was quick to head out. With Skuld still asleep, Ururu didn't feel too bad leaving the other girl on her own. Right now, it was important that she get to F3 before Orihime or Shiki had the chance to leave--especially if they were still sick.

[To here]

[From here]

Yukari peered up and down the hallway, deciding against shining her flashlight this way and that; she didn't particularly want to attract any monstrous attention. Mentally going over the maps, she tried to remember where she was going. Ritsuka had said M35, right? So that was the next block over... she'd have to go through the West Hall, but hopefully could get through without getting attacked her first night.

M35... why did that ring a bell?

Giving a shrug, the youkai headed on her way.

...Now that was ridiculous. The guy was supposed to inspire fear, and he was sleeping? Well, that was just.... Senna shook her head, moving to the closet to switch into her Shinigami uniform quickly, and grab the wooden spear she still had.

She had no idea what Momo had meant by placing her name first, and no idea what mission they were going to do tonight, but if she got there quickly, Senna might be able to find out before the others arrived.

[to here]

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~]

That really hadn't been the breakfast she'd been expecting, but Yuffie couldn't bring herself to complain. The kid made for good company, and was, if nothing else, pretty entertaining. She could've just done without the whole choking thing. That… That had been embarrassing. A bit. Okay, a lot. Yuffie was starting to get a feeling that this day was -- for once-- actually going to ping on her ‘interesting!’ meter.

Whether or not that was a good thing, she didn’t know.

By the time she’d reached the Sun Room's bulletin board, a kitten on her shoulder and a pen twirling between her fingers, Yuffie was starting to put her finger on why she had that weird, nagging feeling. Though on second thought, it was less like putting her finger on it and more like it had jumped up and punched her right in the nose; the feeling wasn’t just about waffles, magicians, or tricky candy thieves. Sagara hadn't answered her bulletin post; he hadn't answered any bulletin posts. She hadn't seen that stupid, spiky head of his all morning. It was like radio silence without a radio.

Agai-- No, Yuffie cut herself off sharply, frowning. She was just jumping to conclusions. It wouldn't be the first time, right? Right! And yet… instincts were instincts for a reason, and in a dump like this, who knew what could happen?

[for Okita?]

Ururu hadn't talked much during dinner. Talking to Yukito during fourth shift had made her feel a little better, and she'd eaten something, but she still wasn't happy. She wasn't crying anymore though, and that was a good thing. She had promised to meet Kurt that night, and Ururu knew it was important. She wanted Kurt to know that he was still her friend, no matter how weird he said he looked.

Ururu was quick to leave when the time came, waving goodbye to Skuld. She still didn't have a flashlight, and she felt a little bad about it. She'd have to talk to that person from the board soon. She didn't mean to keep putting it off, especially because he'd been so nice to offer it to her at all. But for now, she focused on what she had to do tonight, and that was find Kurt.

Despite it being dark, the little girl took off running once she was in the hall.

[And dashing to here!]

Celes had disdained taking food that was so alien in texture and consistency, and instead had taken her meal in her room. A room, she quickly discovered, did not hold any trace of her roommate’s belongings. It was troubling, very troubling; Celes remembered a promise of protection to the girl, which had fallen by the wayside. Guilt stabbed her between the eyes and she made a note to tell her roommate’s loved ones – should there be any left in this place – the news.

It would be cold comfort, of course, but Celes had never been very good at that. Comfort was for barmaids and nurses, lovers and wives, and since Celes practiced none of those professions, straight talk it would have to be. With a sigh, she wrote a quick note in her neat, masculine script and flourished the signature, just as usual. There was still worry in her heart over the location of Noah and Luxord; the act in and of itself something she chastised herself over. What was the point in worrying over two men that would be unlike to mourn over her own death or disappearance? Especially the literally heartless man.

Celes alighted on a couch and looked up at the afternoon sky, crossing her legs and forcing herself to concentrate on the evening ahead. She hummed one ditty or another – marching songs, none of that foolish, tavern-born, romantic ballad trash – and looked down to her journal, pen poised above paper and waiting for her composition.

[For one Judge Magister]

Matt had to bite his tongue hard to keep from insisting he would be perfectly comfortable in the library, really, and could he please stop being led around like freaking cattle? As the nurse drew him into the empty Sun Room, the answer to that seemed to be a resounding 'No'.

Great.

He was given the usual talk of 'be nice', 'maybe someone will come back and you'll have someone to talk to' and the strangely sincere 'we're getting a few books in braille, they just haven't arrived yet'. He was sure he believed that one, but it would be nice to not be singled out for a change.

Reminded him of grammar school actually.

What a coincidence, he hadn't been fond of grammar school either. Settling back on the seat he'd found himself in, the Daredevil closed his eyes and debated on the merits of a nap as he listened to the occasional person stop by and scribble something down before leaving. A message board or something? He'd have to ask someone about that.

(Free to any and all!)

What a singularly delightful evening he'd had. It was dampened, of course, by two things, but those were small things and he supposed he could overlook them for now. First was that his powers had still not returned. If he truly were on punishment as he thought, though, he couldn't very well expect those to come back. Second was that the little brat had gotten away and was likely gearing up to blow his cover. That was something a little more concerning, but he had a story he could use to sweep all that under the rug. Still, he'd gotten a beautiful box of scalpels out of the deal and even with the annoying pain of his skin being irritated by the drops of acid, he wasn't any worse for wear.

And just as he thought that, Grell woke up in his bed, disorientated as he had been the previous night, still cluthing the box of blades, but no longer in his own clothes. The indecency of it all! Honestly! To strip a lady when she was unconscious was just unheard of! Stupid future and its stupid lack of any sort of propriety. At least it seemed someone might be dead according to the last announcement. That brightened his day a bit.

Getting out of bed before Mr. Grumpyface did, he hid the box of scalpels in his desk and sighed. His old glasses were gone, replaced with the ruddy circular pair and his clothes had been all but ruined the night before. He doubted he could do much for them either, since he'd been the one to rip the sleeve off. Such a shame, but it had kept him from getting permanent scars on his arms.

It wasn't long before the nurse came and Grell once again put on his lovely little play for her. Confused, bumbling and asking for a hair tie, he was perplexed by the little round elastic thing he received in return, but used it anyway to put his hair back. Led into the cafeteria, Grell realized he was the first one and took a bit of breakfast before finding a seat.

[free]

Celes's meal had finished itself by the time the General got to dressing in her proper clothing. As an afterthought, she put on the overcoat to hide most of it. It would be in her best interests anyway; if some overzealous, fool patient tried to attack her while she was perfoming her tasks, the General would be quite incensed indeed. Besides, if they needed to go outside for any of the Radio woman's clues, then she'd need the coat anyway.

Celes tapped the toe of her boots against the floor and checked her corslette's ties for the last time. She was ready, it was time to go to the men's halls and ask for Xigbar's whereabouts.

[To here]

"And I believe it's time to start wrapping up the day," was what the Head Doctor said after the intercom's initial jingle. "Now that everyone's all cleaned up, I think it's time for some... that's right, dinner!

"Tonight, we're serving some scrumptuous rotisserie herb chicken, seasoned with rosemary, lemon juice, and other delicious seasonings. On the side, we have cooked asparagus with bits of grilled onion, as well as small roasted potatoes with garlic and butter; for dessert, we'll be serving vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup on top. Our normal assorted drinks and specialized diet alternatives are available.

"Some of you might find that you have new roommates since your old ones were fortunate enough to recover and leave us. Hopefully, you'll be able to see them again the next time we have visitors if you wish, but in the meantime please treat your new bunkmates kindly.

"I believe that's all for now. I hope you had a wonderful day and that you have a delicious dinner! ...Well, you'll definitely be having a delicious dinner, but there's nothing surprising about that, is there? Hahaha..."

With a seemingly good-natured chuckle, the Head Doctor turned off his mic.

[ All introduction posts for this shift's group of new characters should be made in response to this post. Find your character's room assignments here.

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! ]