For the first time since Kyousuke arrived, waking up didn't feel the slightest bit strange or out of place. It was still like night had suddenly stopped, with nothing in-between then and now, but instead of being disorienting, or like there was something missing, it was like waking up from a nightmare. His breaths came heavy and anxious, everything flooding back to him, but unlike last night, he had more mental clarity, and he actually understood what it meant.

Sora... was dead.

After a moment, his breathing seemed to ease up, and he sat up slowly, and simply stared down at his blanket. The motion hurt quite a bit, a lot worse than it had yesterday morning, but he seemed to be in decent shape, all considered. Sore, battered, a little faint, but compared to worst of it...

He wondered if he should feel upset right now, or want to yell, or cry, but the truth was, he didn't. If anything, he was just numb. Tired and listless. He wasn't sure what to think or feel about anything, but somehow it seemed distant and disconnected, like something that hadn't actually happened. Yet, if he lingered on it too long, the lifelessness grew into something nauseating, heavy and constricting in his chest, and he didn't even notice until he realized he was gripping his bedding unnecessarily hard. So he forced himself to relax, and not focus on it too much. ... He preferred the cold sort of nothingness.

When the nurse arrived, she wasn't empty-handed, unfolding a wheelchair by his bedside and looking at him expectantly, as if she wanted him to settle himself into it. Looking at it was strange and uncomfortable, and he found himself refusing automatically.

"... I can walk fine. I don't need—"

"What you don't need," the nurse said sternly, "is to be overexerting yourself. You got to walk around yesterday, and what do you do? You go and reopen your injuries! Honestly, Mr. Taylor, you might be young, but you need to take better care of yourself! Today, you're resting, and if you're good about it, we'll see about maybe taking the chair away tomorrow."

That was bad enough, but then she wouldn't even let him wheel himself, and pushed him along from behind. This was totally unnecessary... But though it made him feel helpless, Kyousuke didn't have the energy to argue, so he let her do what she wanted. She asked if he wanted to make a quick trip the bulletin, first, but... Would the news be there? There were people who deserved to know, but there would be reactions to it, questions he didn't want to answer, and feeling his stomach give a lurch, he decided he didn't want to deal with it. Any of it.

Once in the cafeteria, the nurse asked him about breakfast, but Kyousuke insisted he wasn't hungry. ... He wasn't. Sensing he wanted to be left alone, she wheeled him off to an easily overlooked portion of the cafeteria, but quickly returned, setting food and some juice in front of him, "just in case." She set a small paper cup with a couple of painkillers on the tray, and after that, she left, leaving the boy to stare down the meal he didn't really want.

[ Kratos! ]

[ from here. ]

Learning process: she knew the monsters were there now, lurking behind every corner, within the shadows her flashlight cast whenever she redirected the beam. Last night had been a blur of confusion and apprehension, and this night was quickly turning out to be the same.

Or perhaps it was even more pronounced in all of its unknowns. A sharp blur of anxiety and fear that crept up on and crippled her more than the supposed limits imposed upon her powers, than her legs that felt like jelly beneath her with every successive step until she worried that they would trip her up as they had done the night before. It took a considerable amount of effort to tell herself that the monsters didn’t frighten her. A Hollow, Dracula, a Godzilla-sized Kon could pop out at her at any moment, but she knew – she was not afraid.

No, the monsters did not frighten her, but her imagination did worse. As Orihime made her way down the corridor, she attempted to instill some confidence in herself, to talk and try to start a conversation in hushed, whispered tones. “Ayame, Shun’o… You two are okay, right?” How apt, she thought, that if this asylum held any credibility to it, then perhaps she really was talking to the voices in her head, to the fairies that lived in her hairpins that allowed her to heal the wounded.

Putting it into perspective like that, she quickly realized she did not like the aforementioned perspective very much.

Learning process: she bypassed the door to the women’s restroom and made it to the door leading out to the bigger hallway she was led down earlier in the day. At the very least, she thought, it was progress.

[ to here. ]

[ F2 ]

True enough, the intercom sounded off like clockwork. The doctor spoke, all pretenses were shed, and Orihime sat in her bed feeling simultaneously refreshed and nauseated by it, by the fact that they were little more than caged animals scrutinized beneath an indifferent eye. After spending the better part of the day distrusting strangers (the nurse that had followed her, the infamous head doctor), it was both a relief and a dread to witness the reality of it for herself – to understand, with an uncharacteristic yet self-aware sort of bitterness, that she had more than enough reason to dislike these people straight off the bat.

Orihime listened, fingers pressing indents into her mattress and trembling as she kept her composure, as she refused to let the careless message (if you don’t die) get to her. It was, still is, a learning process: she learned how to worry without so much of the weeping and the unnecessary bemoaning wails, the prying when she figured that her presence would be more of a hindrance than a help. And so it occurred to her that she should say something, to try to reassure Flora-san before she headed out (a high-five, perhaps? thumbs up?), but there wasn’t very much she could – can – do.

There wasn’t very much to say, was the thing. How horrible and what a heartless person were on the tip of her tongue, but she had no confidence that her voice wouldn’t shake (stammerwhisperbreak) if it committed to such loaded statements. Instead, she jumped out of bed the moment the door unlocked, grabbing her flashlight from underneath her pillow and pulling open her closet for a pair of sneakers, swallowing down the uneasiness that had clumped in the middle of her throat. The cold sweat was unavoidable though, even as her sweatshirt served as some form of comfort, even as she pretended that it was OK to let herself get away with it – with the sense of new hero empowerment that came with the responsibility she had assigned herself for the night. Pretending she didn’t know better.

“I’m sorry I can’t stick around. There are some people waiting on me,” she said, keeping her tone perfectly neutral even as she wondered to herself when exactly she’d picked up such a nifty trick. “But we’ll meet back here later, right, Flora-san? We will, and then we’ll-“ We’ll have a slumber party, we’ll have a pillow fight, I’ll teach you the secret of playing Monopoly.

Because we’ll be alive and okay.

She smiled, facing her new roommate. “We’ll get to know each other even more.”

With her flashlight in hand and her pins tucked along the right side of her hair, she ventured forth, opening the door and heading out into the hallway without a faltered step, a hesitant look back, even as the darkness swallowed her whole.

[ to here. ]

[From here.]

That hadn't taken long. So much so that it looked like he was the first person to make it this far. Harvey took a moment to scan the hall with his flashlight, including near the stairs, but he didn't see (or hear) much of anything. It was the sort of thing that set him on edge.

Since he couldn't do much else, he leaned himself against the wall by the stairs and then grabbed for his gun, holding it near his side as he waited. Normally he didn't take the weapon out unless he planned to shoot it, but when there was a possibility that some transformed patient might come barreling down the halls in the next few seconds, he wanted to take precaution.

Hopefully Scott and Sangamon would haul ass over here before all hell started to break loose. If things got too hairy, Harvey was ready to make a run for it on his own. That was the logical thing to do.

[Waiting for S.T.]

As the sun began to inch closer to the horizon, dark clouds gathered overhead. Even so, the Head Doctor didn't let that damper his enthusiasm.

"Good evening, everyone! I hope you've all had an enjoyable day, particularly our newcomers. Here at Landel's Institute, we're eager to welcome you into our big, warm family, so make yourselves right at home!

"For dinner, we're serving teriyaki & tempura, with our usual assortment drinks, including water, milk, and several kinds of juices. Enjoy your meals!"

As the nurses escorted patients to their assigned rooms, thunder rumbled in the distance, and the sound of rain tapping against the outside of the building echoed through the halls. Some of the staff would comment about the sudden change in weather, but no one let it interfere with their duties.

((Respond to this post with your character's room number in the subject line. New room assignments are listed here. If you have any questions, let us know!))

After breakfast, Yomi felt no need to move from the cafeteria; after so many days, all the rooms looked the same, anyway. The only thing that ever varied about them was the state of the company, and Yomi was content to pass on that for the moment. The low, murmuring tones of the staff on supervisory duty were just as informative as any babbling on the part of over-friendly prisoners.

As she sat alone at her table, she let her gaze wander to the window, cheek propped against her fist. The sunshine made everything seem so normal. One could easily start to believe the illusion.

After a while of listening to the two nurses nearest her talk, she shut her eyes. Yomi might have looked like she was dozing much like a sunbathing cat, if not for the fact that she didn’t sleep.

Another clue in the X-Ray Room. That was surprising and, if Soma was perfectly honest with herself, a little frustrating. She'd already mostly convinced herself the surgery was necessary. But if there was still more information out there...

The operating room in the medical wing would have most of the supplies Lingormr would need tonight, she decided. It was probably too much to hope the power would be on, but they'd have to make do with what they could find. If she was quick about it, she'd be able to run across the hall and find the next clue, too.

She packed hurriedly: flashlight, radio, handgun. The katana would likely only get in the way tonight. The faster she moved, the better. Her symptoms didn't seem to be any worse right now, but she wasn't leaving anything up to chance.

She stripped the pillowcase from her bed and tucked it into the waistband of her pants. Then, with an attempt at a smile, she nodded at Leanne and was out the door.

[to here]

[From here]

It was eerie, how empty the halls were. They seemed somehow larger at night, the darkness swallowing his magic torch's beam within little distance. Link was very attentive, knowing full well that something could pop up at any moment.

He refused to slow down, though.

[To here]

[From here]

The main hallways. Good. And the coast seemed to be clear, so far. Link briefly wondered if the new clue would help the situation, or only make it more grim. He would know soon enough.

[To here]

As some of the clouds from earlier began to clear, the intercom jingle sounded over the intercom once again.

"Hello, patients!" came the Head Doctor's cheery voice. "I hope you're all feeling fresh and clean this evening! To top it all off, we've prepared a scrumptious herb chicken dinner for you to eat before bed. Of course, we have vegetarian options available, so please don't hesitate to ask the nurse if you're interested in that.

Also, since we have the pleasure of welcoming a few new patients into our family, some of you will be receiving new roommates. Let's do our best to give them a nice, big Landel's Institute welcome, shall we?"

The Head Doctor gave a friendly chuckle. "Well, anyway, enjoy your dinner!"

With that, the intercom shut off.

[Note: All dinner threads are posted in response to this entry. Be sure to check the Roommate Assignments if you're not sure what room/roommate your character has! Thanks.]

[From here]

Once again, he was dumped out into this spacious room that was pretty, sure, but wholly unfun. He stared up through the glass ceiling above them, soaking up the rays of sun that seemed like he would never be able to bask in freely again.

Three meals a day and some entertainment at night was enjoyable enough, but he was starting to get bored with this routine. Spontaneity was the spice of life and Goku was starting to feel suffocated by this constant rhythm. The little boy may only have room for a few goals at a time in his head, but they were just as important as everyone else's, even more so in some cases! He needed to reclaim his grandpa's treasure and continue his training! The witches in white just couldn't understand this, girls as they were.

Huffing, the young boy set out to look for one of his furry companions for any new information on the secrets of the institute. He got down on all fours and began crawling around the couches, looking here and there for any signs of his accomplices.

[For Taura~!]

[from here]

Aigis arrived at the rendezvous point in good time, her mind still whirling with thoughts on the I.R.I.S. She was thankful for the distraction from the rash that blushed her arm and caused her heart irregular palpitations, though the transformation was always tickling at the corner of her mind. If she did change she only hoped it would be after she managed to help her fellow patient. And also, she hoped it would be slow enough to give her time to track down Aidou for his assistance in the matter.

Taking a deep breath and attempt to still her mind, Aigis moved to the sinks and turned on the faucet. To her dismay, the water that poured out was dingy at best. No good if they actually did have to flush a wound. Unfortunate.

There were words for mercenaries who had a gun under not only their pillow, but a knife between every sock in their drawer. Taura's arsenal hadn't hit that stage, but it was getting a little embarrassing. Especially without anything more than a belt and a fraying, delicate purse. Well, not delicate by normal standards, but it was intended for shopping, not carrying what amounted to a bundle of blades. She put the stunner in it alongside the materia, and tucked the strap-on claws back in her box. The throwing star she could just carry -- it wasn't like she had far to go, and two weapons would be plenty while she was just waiting for Rita to get out of bed and stumble down to the hall.

Really, the only reason she even needed the throwing star was to have something to fidget with without looking like she was just waiting for an ambush. The radio could come along as well.

[to here]

When the cheery jingle sounded over the speakers, the Head Doctor could be heard humming a song that suspiciously sounded like pieces of "Superstar" from today's movie. Then, as if realizing people were listening, he abruptly cleared his throat.

"Good evening, patients!" he greeted after a quick recovery. "I do hope everyone had a pleasant day. And what better way to end things than with a scrumptious steak dinner? We'll be including fries on the side, as well as offering our usual assortment of water, milk, and juices. Of course, we also carry vegetarian options for those of you who don't eat meat. Enjoy!"

The intercom turned off, leaving the nurses to escort patients to their rooms.

((Please make all dinner threads under this post with your character's room number in the subject line. For updated roommate assignments, refer to the latest Lounge Post. Thanks!))

Exchanging life stories with a being she had no personal attachments to? Yomi could do better. Once her nurse came to check up on her at the end of shift, she excused herself, leaving Skulduggery to his own devices. He had gotten some answers out of her, which was more than she owed him. Let him count that as a success.

As for herself, she didn’t feel any more inclined toward company than she had before Skulduggery had found her. If there was no amusement or payoff in spending time with others, there was no point. And in truth, there was some company in particular she would be happier avoiding.

With stronger strides than she’d managed last night, Yomi veered away from the common activity areas, letting her feet carry her out into the hall and up the stairs to the second floor. She felt closer to her old self--which old self, she wasn’t sure--when she was moving with purpose, even if it was only an illusion.

But often illusions had proved themselves more comforting than reality in Landel’s domain, she had to admit. Reality had been nothing but a burden the last few days.

At the end of her walk, she found herself in the Chapel, which was appropriate, since it was the last place she remembered before blacking out the night prior. The fountain, though, that was gone. She stood looking down at the spot where the inscription had been and wondered if she should make the Chapel her destination again in a few hours, when the sun had gone down. Now that Skulduggery was off her case and all.

With how he was feeling between the wound on his shoulder and the overall body aches the illness was plaguing him with, Castiel hadn't minded the opportunity to eat on his own. For once, no other patients came over to speak with him, possibly because the pain he was in was noticeable somehow. Either way, he'd managed to eat enough to quell the twisting in his stomach and had then, against all attempts, fallen asleep.

It was the first time such a thing had happened when it hadn't been forced on him, and it was only when a nurse shook his shoulder that he woke up, half in a daze, and realized what had happened. While it was disturbing to realize to what extent his body was shutting down on him, the nap had at least eased up some of the pain that he was in.

With the second shift having passed far quicker than expected due to that unexpected doze, Castiel now had to decide where he wished to go next. It seemed that he wasn't due to see a doctor or a "visitor" at this point, but when Castiel stepped into the Sun Room he was told that they would be playing a film called "Jesus Christ Superstar."

In other words, remaining in that room wasn't an option.

As usual, his first choice in such a situation was to go to the library, and so that was where he ended up. The silence was even more of a relief than usual, due to the state he was in, and he quickly found himself a book to read -- Dracula -- and took a seat.

[For Izaya.]

Well, that went well! Anise had gained herself a gorgeously handsome new friend. She just hoped that weird illness didn't get either of them killed before she could get to know him any better.

... Yeah, that was morbid. It was hard not to think about, though.

Before going to the Cafeteria, Anise made a stop at her room to grab her journal, maps, and a pen. Once she finished eating, she could get a start on copying the maps for Barnaby. He was going to be so glad he met her!

With that done, Anise made her way to the Cafeteria, where she picked up an assortment of food, making sure to get some meat, vegetables, and milk on her tray. She then sat down at a table and set her notes aside while she started on her meal. It was hard not to feel self-conscious about the rash on her arm, though the makeup she used had blended the discolored part enough that it couldn't be seen from a distance. Anise just hoped no one would come specifically looking for it.

[Ilia!]

_{[from here]}

Yomi didn’t know what she was looking for, but if there was a chance she could find a means to speed up her healing in this place, she was willing to try. The downstairs infirmary was another option, but conventional healing methods would only go so far.

A creature like her needed something drastic. She needed something now.

(There were those creeping, menacing fingers again, almost a physical touch on the back of her neck.)

Slowly, she took one step forward, then another, the sound of water drawing her forward. She remembered coming here during the day, but everything felt different now, slightly askew. Tarnished. More or less like she, herself.

[From here.]

The dark hallway opened up further ahead, with a balcony on the left-hand side overlooking a much larger room downstairs. Skulduggery resisted the urge to lean on the railing as he and Yomi approached. He'd been alive once before, for God's sake, it really shouldn't have been so difficult just to remain standing upright. Unfortunately, it was no longer just a matter of balance - now his weak and disused muscles were also conspiring to help him make a fool of himself.

He glanced down over the balcony railing into the lower room. It was difficult to see in the dark, but it looked like some sort of lounge. The ceiling that towered above it was made of glass, a fact Skulduggery only knew because of the bright stars and half-moon visible through it. It was as dark outside as it was inside.

A large and foreboding door on the far side of the railing stood wide open. It was the only open door he'd encountered thus far, and so Skulduggery held his hand up warily. The air currents drifting against his palm from that direction were mostly still, but Skulduggery wasn't sure how much of that he could trust.

"I'm going to take a guess," he said quietly, "and say that that is where you're going."

[From here]

Bursting through the stairwell, the young boy ran into the hallway with the intention to beat on something, but the sound of the intercom froze Goku in place. That voice! He knew that voice better than anyone now. A stubby hand unsheathed his red staff, wide black eyes narrowing. It seemed to come from all around him and Goku had a hard time catching up as he spun around in a dizzying circle, threatening the empty darkness.

"Show yourself, you demon! Give me back my friend!" He sniffed the air, trying to find where he was, but Landel was nowhere to be smelled. He was like some kind of evil voice wizard.