The nurse had told Wash he could go anywhere he wanted and the thought Is home included in that? crossed his mind, but that sounded too pathetic to say aloud, even for him. So he silently eenie meenie minie moe'd through his options, ended up choosing the Sun Room, and then promptly decided the Arts and Crafts room would be more interesting. At least there might be stuff he could fiddle with and distract himself.

A part of him couldn't decide if he was relieved or not he didn't get a visitor. He didn't think it would've gone the way a proper visit was supposed to go, but...

He stepped into the room and sat down at an empty table, rifling through the materials absently. This place looked much too cheerful. Although maybe that was better than looking much too scary, but it was so cheerful it was almost scary and now he was starting to confuse even himself.

After a second, he picked up a pair of scissors (these weren't scissors, they were more like plastic chopsticks) and a sheet of construction paper and began cutting.

[hi Badou~]

Armand wearily climbed the steps of the bus. He was less tired than cold, but it made his limbs ache. He hoped they'd actually make it back to the Institute before dark this time. He hadn't seen either Citan or Morrison in town, so he kept an eye out for either one climbing back  into the bus. He still wondered if Morrison had been able to rest today instead of coming to town. Other than a lunch that he hadn't liked and meeting a new face or two, he wasn't sure at all what he'd gained by the day. Oh well, he was more than used to disappointment and failure.

[waiting for Citan if Fey is backish]

(From here!)

Artemis walked into the restaurant and glanced around at the decor. He wasn't impressed, but he wasn't disdainful either. He simply smiled. It was nice... for a town with a population of barely three hundred.

The boy smiled up at the person up front. "Two, if you please."

[from here]

The sound of the dog lead Sheena to a building on the corner of the street. Seeing the name of it and the animals in the windows, she giggled, imagining how if Colette was here they'd never be able to get her to leave. The sweet angel would insist on staying until she held and played with every single puppy in the plac eand given them all names.

She'd only been gone a day and already Sheena was missing the simple things she'd come to accept traveling with her companions. She put her hand to the window, smiling softly (if a little lonely) at the puppy that noticed her and started wagging tis tail and licking the glass right where her hand was.

[Awaiting a chance to run into a sweet-toothed warlord!]

Claude couldn't fight the sinking feeling in his stomach when he woke up. Nightshift was over, and they hadn't even made it into the basement. Man, how tough was that? Sometimes it seemed like the night could drag on and on, and when he actually needed the extra time, it went by too fast. It didn't make any sense.

Too bad he wouldn't have much to report to Ashton. But now the blond's curiosity was peaked, and he had to admit that he was pretty interested in finding out just what was under there. But first things first -- he needed a sword, because walking around there unprepared was probably one step short of suicide, really. The scars in his side were a stark reminder of what happened to people here who weren't ready to face the dangers.

Until that time, the Earthling had plenty of projects to keep him occupied. It really was too bad that they couldn't get anywhere, though. And when Ashton had finally let him borrow a sword, too...

The blond decided not to dwell on that for too long, especially once his nurse came to wake him up. She handed him the same set of clothes he'd worn for the last trip to Doyleton -- a dark, faded jacket, a blue, button-up shirt, some casual slacks, a brown paperboy cap, and a red scarf. He knew he'd have no problems staying warm today, and he didn't really look all that bad, but he kind of wished they'd given him a better pair of shoes than the over-sized sneakers that kind of flopped when he walked around.

As he exited his room, he caught sight of someone sleeping in the other bed, and while he'd never formally met his roommate before, Claude knew it wasn't Asch.

Once he'd boarded the bus, the blond didn't waste much time in finding a seat. There weren't many people here yet, so he opened up his sack and took a bite of his muffin. It was kind of sad how small the portions were for today's breakfast, but he was an adult, so he wouldn't complain about it. At least Landel bothered to feed them at all.

((For Sync, I believe?))

[From here]

Junior left the door open as they got inside, glancing back to make sure nothing followed them in, and then looked around the room. It was hard to see if there was anything waiting for them in here, but it also looked like they had some useful stuff. Might as well take the risk, since they'd taken another just to get the door open.

"Looks like most of what they've got in here is pills," he said to Wash and Atoli, opening his pillowcase so he'd be ready to dump some things in it. "Let's see what they've got, and what might be useful to the patients for ingredients or actual medication. You see anything live that shouldn't be here, lemme know."

The redhead paused in his quick search as something in the corner caught his eye. Was that a computer over there in the corner? An older one, looked like, but definitely a computer. Junior was overjoyed; it had been way too long since he'd been around a computer. He'd have to take a quick peek before they left, see if they could find out anything interesting or important from it. But first, what he had come here for. Since it didn't seem like they had many bandages, the next thing he could go for would be the pain relievers. Those would definitely come in handy, and could always be ground up as ingredients for something else, couldn't they? Worth a shot, at any rate.

[From here]


There was no ignoring the impending struggle in the Sun Room below, nor how it must have been indicative of far worse cruelties in places unseen, but Anthy did well to separate herself from it.  A darker instinct of hers; one she had supposed would shed as she grew, blossoming in the freedom of the world outside, following in Utena's path,  but here, she reasoned, that habit of indifference served its purpose.  Caring too much about every person within sight was what had lead her brother to fall to begin with; what had caused her to be crushed in his wake. 

And yet, even as she looked away and pretended to see nothing, she could not help but scold herself.  Utena, ever the idealist, would have expended all her energy in a struggle to right all the wrongs, save all the innocents. 

But Anthy was helping.  In a sense.  Or, she would be when she discovered the secrets of the chapel, of the inner workings of this institute; whether they held close ties with the tales of martyrdom she had known and lived in.

After all, Utena, in all her wisdom, had still been naiive.

And Anthy, in all her enlightenment, still could not find it in herself to return to that.

[from here]

Leon was still debating his options when he reached the second floor. Again, it was more or less empty. He shined his flashlight down the hall, trying to see if there was anyone (or anything) else around. The weak beam couldn't penetrate the dark shadows. If someone was lying in wait, they were pretty well hidden.

With a sigh, Leon leaned against the wall, trying to call up a mental image of his old map. He'd have to try and find a new copy tomorrow, or Sunday, as his previous one had gotten ruined. Bleeding all over things did that. He knew how to get to the janitor's closet, but he recollection of how to reach the kitchen was a bit fuzzier. In theory, he could head in the general direction of where he knew it was and start trying random doors, but that didn't seem like the best plan.

But neither did taking on whatever might be waiting for him in the darkness down the hall.

Indecision kept Leon where he was for the moment, deep in thought.

Wolfram had debated slowly as to whether or not he should go out for the night. He was still really worn out from the night before, Aidou was busy, he had no idea where anyone else was that he should be looking for, and quite honestly... staying in and sleeping was more than a little tempting. But his mind was troubled, and he felt a bit restless at the same time. Maybe he could just explore the patient room hallways, see if he could figure something out from there.

Stepping out into the hallway, he carried nothing but his flashlight. The bat and his other possessions were kept inside, since he had no plans of going out too far.

It wasn't long before he found himself moving down what was becoming a familiar hallway.

[To here.]

[from here]

It felt weird entering this particular men's block without going to see Hitsugaya. It felt even weirder heading to Mustang's room. Since Kimbley's death was posted on the board and what some of the others had said about him, Momo wasn't so sure anymore about what the alchemist had told her about the colonel. Maybe he wasn't as ruthless as Kimbley made him out to be.

maybe she was just looking for something to keep her mind on other than how much she just wanted to burn her way out of this gigai and destroy this place. Not that she could feel even a thread of Tobiume at all. And then there's that shinigami that no one knew that seems to know some of the others. She could feel her presence, as well as Hantarou's, but she also needed to think of other things.

Like getting the key back to Mustang.

[to here]

[from here]

The shinigami padded silently down the hallway, keeping to the left-side wall and her hand upon her sword's hilt. Her eyes scanned the area surorunding her as she continued on to the next hallway, especially the nurses' stations as she neared them. This would be a horrible time for her to get attacked by a nurse or two. Thankfully, the halls were empty, btu she didn't drop her guard. She knew better.

Almost there.

[to here]

The intercom came on, and as it did, it seemed to carry a little more interference than usual for a daytime announcement, a little more static. While the patients might have thought for a moment that once again the elusive woman on the radio had hacked into the Head Doctor's system, the man himself soon proved that theory faulty as he laughed over the broadcast.

"Hello, hello, everyone, and I'm sorry for the bad quality of this broadcast; we've been having some technical difficulties lately, you see, and we wanted to make sure everything was fixed by tomo...."

His voice crackled out into inaudibility for a moment before fading back in.

"Yes, hopefully that will be done soon. In any case, now's the time that you all head back to your rooms to enjoy a delicious meal... seasoned salmon! Yes, we have filets of very tasty, very juicy salmon seasoned with herbs and garlic; on the side, we have mashed potatoes, peas, and to drink, our usual assortment of beverages. For dinner, you'll all be enjoying vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce."

The intercom's broadcast crackled again. The Head Doctor laughed, seemingly a little nervously.

"Ah, yes, perhaps we'll be able to finish the repairing tomorrow, when all of you are away at... Doyleton! Yes, yes, you're all in for a fun and exciting day, a day whose activities will be new for some and a welcome familiarity to others. You'll be under strict supervision, of course, but... well, I suppose you'll find out all about the circumstances tomorrow, before you set off, mm? Yes! In any case... I hope you all enjoy dinner!"

The intercom clicked off again as the nurses began ushering patients back to their quarters.

[ All introduction posts for this shift's group of new characters should be made in response to this post. (You can find your character's room assignment here.) Remember, everyone responds to this post with their character's room number in the subject line. ]

[One speedster, free to a good home! Plays well with others and has had his shots. Adopt today!]

Wally followed the steady stream of patients from the cafeteria towards the showers, but was prevented from entering by one of the ever-present nurses.

"Not you, dear," she said with a fixed, though pleasant, smile, "you were already cleaned up on arrival. I know, why don't you wait here in the Sun Room and see if you can make some new friends?" She gave him a gentle push back towards the centre of the room. Wally forced a smile in response and made a show of wandering around the room, taking in the paintings before pausing to check the bulletin board.

He wondered what the nurse had meant exactly. Had he been showered and cleaned before he'd gotten here, or had one of the nurses taken care of it while he'd been out? That was an unnerving thought. He added it to the long list of unnerving thoughts he'd gotten that day. Most of the rest had been about monsters, but there was also the whole powers thing which no one seemed to know much about, judging by the bulletin board, and Kal-who-thinks-he's-Clark. It had given him a lot to chew over, which was more than he could say about lunch. He hadn't been game to even grab a snack on the way out with Marcus watching him.

"Well this bites," he muttered to himself. He made his way over to an empty couch and flopped down with a sigh in the warm sunlight. Surely it couldn't be that much longer until he was able to bid this place 'goodbye' as he speed back to a more familiar setting. At this point he'd even be willing to let J'onn beat him at Brawlin' Bots, or go on a completely serious, Flash-please-stop-talking-and-concentrate patrol with Bats, if it would get him home.

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]

"Good afternoon, patients, and I am glad to see our new arrivals are already making such good friends with our current population!" The Head Doctor's words were usual, unremarkable, which meant that whatever had gone out of control these past couple days was evening out into some form of Dr. Landel's nefarious schemes. For now, however, he simply chuckled with good humor. "We'll be bringing in new patients during this shift as well, of course, but what I'm sure most of you are most intrigued by is... food! Yes, although lunch is posted up on the bulletin board on the schedule, I doubt many of you pay attention to it.... Ahem.

"Today's meal is chicken tenders made from fresh, juicy chicken breasts. As sides, we have potato chips, vegetable soup, and cole slaw, and we of course have honey-mustard and barbeque sauce for dipping. As always, our fruit and salad bar is open for anyone looking for a different meal, and our drinks are water, milk, apple juice, and pink lemonade.

"Mm! Sure sounds delicious, doesn't it? In any case, I hope you all enjoy your meal and your new company."

The intercom clicked off.

[ All introduction posts for this shift's group of new characters should be made in response to this post. (Have your new character wake up in a random empty room, as we aren't yet able to officially assign rooms.) Thanks! ]