It had not been a good day. Not the morning, nor the afternoon, and now the sun was setting and evening had arrived, and he'd barely gotten anything done.

It was his own fault, he supposed, for allowing himself to sleep late and then not associating with anyone. At least one nightshift had been somewhat successful and gotten them a weapon ... although one without much in the way of ammo. Still, that could be remedied.

Crawford decided that the library would be the best bet. If he couldn't get any information out of it, then he would at least have some peace and quiet to figure out what to do tonight. Whether or not he succeeded in formulating a plan ... well, the nights tended to be screwy anyway. He'd see what would happen.

Idly, he began to search the shelves for something he could at least pretend to read. A lot of the titles were familiar, but he'd either read them all or had never held any interest. His fingers rested briefly on the compiled works of Poe, frowning - he'd never really had the taste for that man's writings, given the melancholy tone of most of them.

Still, he likely wouldn't actually be reading anything, just holding the book open and pretending he was focused. Still, there had to be something else available ...

He was about to retort that he hadn't hit his head - Tenku's helmet prevented that for the most part - when the intercom came on not once, but twice. The voice seemed like it had come from the same person, except the second time it sounded almost a little sinister. A door in the kitchen, trips to a town? Maybe Arago had spent a lot of time when he was a spirit to create such an elaborate world.

Then again, why make a world where Touma would have a crazy roommate who thought elves and dragons where commonplace. Which brought him back to head injuries. "I might have hit my head, but not hard enough to make mythological creatures come to life. You haven't gotten into the sake or any mind-altering drugs have you? Because they could really mess with your head."

[From here]

Recluse stopped at the agreed upon meeting spot, scanning the halls for any sign of Marcus. Typical. Of course he'd be made to wait. He found a spot that was darker than most, hands clenching and unclenching as he waited, seething.

[from here]

Good, everything still looked familiar. Or as familiar as was possible in the darkness. Rhode still had yet to discover the joys that belonged to the flashlight nestled beneath her pillow, but her eyes were so accustomed to the darkness of her own dimensions that the hallways did not bother her. A little light would have been welcome, if only to flash against her golden eyes and scare away whomever had the misfortune to stumble onto her. She smiled at the thought of someone screaming as they ran away.

Only a little farther now.

[to here]

[from here]

The hallway was empty here as well. Just how much earlier had she headed out tonight? Probably not by much. The absence of others in the hallway barely bothered Rhode as did the presence of others. Her mind was usually so dead focused on getting somewhere or finding someone that she had never really paid attention to what other things happened around her.

A left at the next hallway and down a bit for the doors on the left. That should be right. She hoped the ghost woman's influence on her wasn't messing with her memory.

[to here]

_{[from over here]}

Although, he didn't need a room number to know where he was going, that much was true. The blood scent was strong, stronger than the average person's. And even if it wasn't, he was still competent enough to track it - a vampire's senses were superior, after all. They had no true weaknesses beyond a hunter's weaponry.

The tattoo stung him in rhythmic intervals, reminding of all the little things that made him doubt. Today along two people had called him weak, both children, both with their own visible injuries. And yet they'd both had the

Shut up, he spat in his own head, and kept moving through the shadows.

The only reason he hadn't outright refused Bella's request was that he had been planning to head in that direction all along. Where the humans went to the cafeteria for their food, Aidou went to the female cell block. It was the only place to find a good meal; that girl Claire had to be around somewhere.

_{[and making his way down the hallway to here]}

Though the taunts of the man on the radio offered new places to be searching that night, Sai already had plans in mind. Unless Usopp was up for changing them on his own, the ninja wasn't going to do so himself.

He stepped outside his room warily, flashlight in hand and burdened with the numerous supplies he had to return to his friend, hoping that setting out as soon as he could would lower the risk of running into anything along the way. One could only hope. So he didn't wait to see if he would see Sasuke again, coming from his own room, despite the fact that he hadn't caught him for a couple nights now. He simply went into a run towards the next hall.

[to here]

The intercom gave its cheery jingle just before the Head Doctor's equally buoyant voice rang through the halls.

"Ah, and finally, our day is coming to a close! Rooms and roommates have been reassigned with care, though what great partnership can start without a good meal? Ah, yes, after the nurses escort all of our patients, new and old, back to their proper rooms, everyone will have the chance to enjoy a savory chicken pot pie, full of peas, carrots, potatoes, and of course, chicken. On the side, we'll have buttery corn on the cob and green beans, and to drink, you may choose from the regular slew of water, milk, or assorted juices, which your nurse will bring to you.

"I believe that's all for now! Phew, long day, huh? I know I'll be happy to get some sleep, and thank you to all our vigilant doctors and nurses, although Dr. House seems to have gone AWOL... Hmm... Well, in any case, have a good dinner, everyone!"

The intercom clicked off again as the nurses began organizing the patients for the small trek back to their rooms.

[ OOC: Remember, room threads go in response to THIS post, and please put your respective room number in the subject line of your first post. Thanks! ]

Libraries, he'd found, were rarely as dull as people made them out to be.  Though he felt no magic in these tomes, they were still full of useful information.  Maybe some of them could tell him a little bit more about this world he'd landed himself in. 

For that matter, why hadn't he run into any of the others yet?  They'd all been fairly close together when they'd left Rekord, but he hadn't seen a trace of any of them.  He was able to communicate easily with the people here though, which led him to believe Mokona was within a mile or so.  Unless the ones running this little game had some other way to let all these other-worldly people communicate amongst themselves.  In which case, the others could be very far away indeed.

The library had that wonderful smell of old books, and Fai traced his fingers along the shelves, skimming titles and pulling books that struck his fancy.  Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The War of the Worlds, and with a smile, he found Bram Stoker's Dracula as well.  Raven had been telling the truth then, in spite of his own lies.  Ought to be a good start.  He sat leisurely at one of the tables and began flipping through his selections.

[waiting for Tamaki~]

The intercom clicked on amongst the sound of conversation and eating in the cafeteria.

"I hope you all enjoyed that hearty lunch and are ready for our next shift!" The Head Doctor said cheerily. "Our next activity will be in the Library, as our schedule is going to be changed in lieu of our expanding patient population, and I'm pleased to announce that all of our new patients' files have been cleared, and that the nurses will be introducing Group 4 of our new patients to all of you shortly.

"However," the doctor began a new sentence, his chair squeaking from under him as he seemed to lean back in it. He seemed pleased, content. "Tomorrow will be a fun day indeed, and something new will happen that will give greater--if temporary--freedom to all of you and give all our patients a break from the admitted tedium of daily shifts. Why yes--tomorrow, we'll be having an Institution-wide trip to Doyleton, the nearby town outside of the valley and hills that this institution is surrounded by. Of course, the field trip isn't mandatory, and patients should feel free to stay here and enjoy a special day of special recreation should they desire."

The Head Doctor paused, as if weighing how much he could reveal about the events of the next day, and then seemed to decide that a quiet tease was better than nothing at all.

"I should let you know, patients, that I too will be attending the field trip! Oh, yes, indeed, and as I'll be personally chaperoning one of the buses into town, I do hope to meet some of you in person and become familiar with the faces that I'm always so busy taking care of but never really becoming friendly with. Yes, tomorrow will certainly be an interesting day..."

He trailed off, then finished the announcement:

"In any case: Next shift will be in the Patient Library, though, of course, the option of staying in the Sun Room is always available. And that's all for now!"

The intercom clicked off, though conversation had now dwindled to hushed and excited chatter.