Snow doubled in number as the day transitioned into the evening hours. Unfortunately, none of the patients were allowed the time to enjoy the weather changes. They were instead greeted by the telltale jingle of the intercom, signaling their cue to return indoors.

Once again, they heard the voice of a familiar female. She sounded unchanged from her previous announcements, her intonation as clear and as flat as ever.

"Attention all subjects and personnel. All subjects are to return to their assigned rooms for their evening meal. Lights Out will commence shortly after."

The woman paused, seemingly for effect.

"All personnel: you are to report to your stations. Thank you."

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. ANY NEWLY ACCEPTED CHARACTERS MAY POST TO THIS SHIFT (but are not obligated to if you would like to wait for Nightshift or Dayshift); please refer to the new room assignments before posting. Thank you! ]

Having to be around food that he couldn't eat hadn't been nearly as bad as it could have been considering what that food was, and so Zack felt fairly decent as he left the cafeteria and headed through the Sun Room into the showers. Actually, it was his feet that were bothering him more than his stomach. He hadn't been allowed to sit down all day (he might have been able to in the courtyard if he'd thought about it, but he hadn't felt the need then). Even someone like him was starting to feel a soreness in the bottom of his feet after all this, but the showers weren't going to give him a reprieve from that.

He'd just have to hold out until dinner and then make sure to rest his feet before night came. He wasn't going to let something that simple stop him from heading out, after all. Zack realized that he needed to make better plans, but at this point all he wanted to do was find Cloud and have a proper talk with him.

It bugged him that he hadn't seen his friend all day, and he wondered if there would be any point in leaving a message on the bulletin for him. Seeing how Cloud was so new, he probably hadn't heard about the board yet.

Searching the rooms would probably be useless, but if he waited around in that same hallway where he'd run into him before, that would likely be his best bet. And maybe they could go hunting for weapons, too.

Even though his feet were bothering him, once Zack got undressed and was positioned under one of the shower heads with warm water pouring down on him he started to feel a little better. There was nothing more soothing than getting clean like this.

[For Snow.]

After what seemed like an eternity of being amused, irritable, bored, in pain, in excruciating pain, and any combination of those, Guybrush was met by the same soldier who had led him to the cafeteria. He wasn't offered a trip to the Sun Room to check the bulletin board, but didn't push for it anyway. That would have been more walking, and moving was one of those many, many physical activities he didn't feel like doing in any capacity. Not today... or until next week, or whenever he'd stop feeling like he'd been on a date with a rough manatee named Large Marge. There was a slow minute of him feebly getting to his feet, then he followed the soldier without comment.

The comment came when Guybrush was handed a leather jacket on his way out the door. "A fine leather jacket... hah." He hissed as he pushed his right arm through the sleeve, settling to just leave the left draped over his shoulder. It was then he noticed the embroidery. At least Aguilar had a decent budget for clothing. If the pants worked, he'd be set.

There was something to be said about the General's methods, though. Why make the people who hadn't been in the food fight do the cleaning, while letting the guilty ones stand around? Sure, he wanted everyone to know who was responsible for the punishment, but wouldn't that just-

Oh. Wow, now that was a new level of crafty manipulation. Even LeChuck could be proud of it, if he wasn't behind it in some way. His disappearance made it possible- even probable- that his showing-up-and-playing-innocent-human-kidnapee routine had been an elaborate rouse, one even more diabolical than creating a carnival with which to recruit unsuspecting tourists into his undead army, more time-consuming than using a Mighty Pirate™ to look for a voodoo-sucking sea sponge so he could... get his mojo back? Oh yeah- Guybrush had died before that one reached Chapter 5. But if Landel's Institute was something LeChuck had cooked up so he could woo Elaine From The Past and change the future, then it was way, way more complex than his previous schemes.

And if it wasn't some incredible plot LeChuck had hatched because he finally grew tired of having his plans foiled? That made things even more complicated.

Guybrush made his way toward one of the benches, sprawling across it as he leaned his head against the backrest. Was the wall higher today? Maybe that was the aching in his chest talking. Either way, he didn't think he'd be going over it in an attempt to Escape from Aguilar's Institute™ that night unless they added a wheelchair ramp.

[Morgan]

To the individuals who participated in this morning's insubordination: know that you're in part responsible for what happens tonight.

"I wasn't even here then," Alaric sighed under his breath, feeling under his pillow for the flashlight he'd found during dinner. He was starting to catch on to the game, if that's all this really was - this kind of showed that someone wanted them to go outside. He imagined no one was really going to say no to the mystery, which was the perfect draw. Mystery and a little push out the door.

At least he'd gotten one answer to his questions; what he'd been waiting for was the audible click of the door as soon as another announcement started ringing through the room. A timed system, then? He didn't know anything about prisons outside of riots that had actually led to something (and maybe a little fascination with the Bastille), so it was all guesswork on his part.

Well, at the very least, he didn't have to worry about sticking with Indiana Jones or wondering around in the dark all night until he got eaten by bloated rats or whatever. Having a plan was good. It wasn't exactly solid, but that's how he got things done, whether lesson plans or plans for dinner. Alaric barely needed the push to make the step outside the door frame, flipping the switch of the light on and taking a moment to realize... everything looked goddamn different.

Great.

F30... f for female. His deductive skills were only going to get him so far, considering he had no idea where the female block was. At this rate, he would've preferred a map over a flashlight.

He had a start, though; he'd obviously need to leave the block his room was in first. Alaric had been paying attention to the path his nurse (and later, the guard) had been taking to bring him to and fro from the room (M17 he repeated in his head a few times), so he turned right from outside his door, tentatively beginning his slow walk through the darkness in nothing but slippers.

Slippers which failed him after only seven steps. He caught the tip on something, tripping forward and dropping his flashlight. The light cracked against the tile, sputtering pathetically before clicking off.

Surrounded by complete darkness, Alaric just stared at where he thought the light had landed. Surely God did not hate him this much. There was no way his luck was this bad, and he was thinking that after his wife had dumped him to be a vampire. "You have got to be kidding."

[From here.]

Judging from that announcement, the man who had spoken was not the general himself. Whoever that was had spoken about the general as if it was another person, so who did that make him? Was he just one of the officers? And if so, what made him so important that he got to make the announcements? These were the thoughts running through Sora's head as he moved from his own hallway into the one that would take him out of the block.

He was sure that more and more would be explained as the night went by -- or in the morning, if they really wanted to make them wait that long. But if crazy stuff was going to be happening tonight, then someone was probably going to chime in on the intercom.

Then again, could Sora even assume that much? Everything might work differently now that Landel was gone. Those same patterns didn't have to be followed. It was definitely disorienting.

Though one thing that hadn't changed was the layout of the building. (And he certainly hoped that didn't happen again.) The boy headed right for the door, knowing his way to the stairs like the back of his hand by this point. He might as well have been sleepwalking.

[To here.]

Badd ate his dinner in silence and his roommate afforded him the same courtesy. Tomorrow he'd give the nurses the slip, recapture Kay, give the nurses the slip, and go hunting for the way out of this dump. He had no idea what part of the country they were in but they'd have to run into reliable authorities eventually if they just kept walking. As for tonight, there was nothing to do but sleep off his confusion and go over escape plans in his head. He stretched out on the bed as the head doctor did his final ramble of the night, closed his eyes as the lights went out--and opened them again as the ramble continued.

Well. It sounded like the esteemed Dr. Landel was losing a bit of his marbles too. Why did criminals always have to gloat when they thought they had no chance of getting away with it? It occasionally made his job easier but it was also endlessly annoying until someone caught them in a lie and then took them away.

(Though after having Gant on the receiving end of a good hard gloat this morning, Badd was starting to see the appeal...it had been a bit immature, but it had felt damn good.)

Then the doors clicked open and a lot of things clicked in Badd's head. Kay had mentioned the doors opening at night, as had Wally, and apparently it hadn't just been a delusion. All that talk on the bulletin board about meeting at some unspecified later and going places in dreams and having bad dreams...it was code. Easily deciphered code but perhaps not for an ignorant nurse or orderly. They were planning after-hours activities under the authorities' noses, and ridiculously complex ones at that.

If 'dreams' was code for 'nighttime', Badd didn't want to find out what they meant by 'released'. He hoped it was code for 'escaped' but from the prisoner reactions he doubted it.

Badd put aside the confusing whys of this newest weirdity and focused on the whats and the whos. The who was Kay and the what was an insane asylum full of wandering loonies and god knows who else. If she was smart she'd stay in her room, but when had Kay ever been smart? She was probably going out to find 'Gummy' or some other imagined friend of hers, or maybe going to steal the truth from some place she wasn't really supposed to be in.

Badd heaved himself out of bed and picked up the flashlight he'd found earlier in his desk drawer. He'd have preferred his gun but you made do with what you had. "I know you'd never forgive me if I let something happen to her, Faraday, but I wish you'd trained her to make my job easier," he muttered. Time to go play hero again.

[To here.]

[ from here ]

She'd kind of been expecting to run into someone by now -- hell, with the amount of people who'd been in the cafeteria? But maybe they were hiding out from the monsters that they weren't equipped to handle. After all, if Ruby hadn't been through what she had and lived as long as she had, she'd probably be curled up in her room for safety, too. It wasn't like she was excited to tangle with these freaks.

But, it was a necessary evil, just like most of what she was doing these days. The nurse's station that Roxas referred to was on her right as she headed down the hall with slow, purposeful steps, following the path that the nurse had taken her out through while the lights were up.

A part of her wanted to know how aware they were of this shit -- of the fact that they were basically leading the patients through the paths they'd need to know to screw them over. Probably. Judging by Landel's taunts, they knew a lot of what went on. Security cameras, maybe? She hadn't seen any -- yet -- but she couldn't eliminate the possibility.

[ to here ]

Sleep came and left Kaworu easily. He couldn't remember most of the time he had spent there in bed, but he acknowledged the absence of experience. Nothing had happened that day. A person had told him to sleep, and laid a hand on his head. He had felt nothing. He only stayed still, and waited for the bleed of identities that did not come. He was instead left there alone, until the silence led him back to sleep.

At times he stirred, reacting to a noise, reaching out to its source. Before, it had escaped him, and he would forget his desire to know what was happening outside of his room, outside of his own awareness, which was shallow and tired. Now, though, it was more than just the murmur of life outside, or the hinges of the door. It was a voice, full of familiarity but without any warmth. It was routine to hear this man, to be spoken to by him every day. Never, though, would Kaworu speak to him. An individual who was significant to him through exposure and his control over Kaworu's life. And yet, Kaworu was only a piece of a whole. Like the Lilim. They were all one.

Kaworu rose from the bed. Blankets fell off his body as he went to engage in more familiarity. More habits. The tone of Landel's voice had told him where he was, in which world they existed now, although Kaworu couldn't recall his words. He believed their meaning was the same as it always had been.

He found the flashlight. It was weak now. It faded to yellow, and made the shadows in the room watery and uneasy. The gray surrounded him and framed a sliver of blue, drawing his eyes towards the only thing that had changed. The door was cold and unwilling, and seemed to ache under the weight of Kaworu's push, but it yielded. His fingertips still hovered over its sharp edge as he stared at the shape of the plugsuit in the closet. Even empty and dead, its relevance removed, Kaworu reached for it. He was conscious again of how his hands were bare and he was exposed, not to that which was tactile under his fingers, but to the others that they would allow in with little discretion.

Kaworu discarded the clothing he had been wearing, and stepped into the plugsuit, one bare foot, then the other. It hung unnaturally off his hands, distorting the outline that he knew existed. Even when it sealed itself tightly around him, his hands didn't seem to be his own.

There was nothing else he needed.

[To here.]

The commotion just after the intercom's jingle displayed the same kind of erratic energy that the Head Doctor had been exuding all day.

"Come on, get those papers out of the way – no, I don't...! Ah! Good evening, everyone, and I hope you all enjoyed the activities we had to–"

Someone whispered something in the background. The Head Doctor sighed and muttered: "Yes, Lydia, I know we don't have many organized activities...

"...But anyway! Next up is dinner with your roommates! Tonight, we'll be having turkey and gravy, which will consist of some moist slices of turkey breast and garlic mashed potatoes, garnished with steamed broccoli, grilled asparagus, and topped with delicious gravy. We'll be serving the dinners with small side salads and our dessert will be pumpkin pie – as per usual, we have alternate meals for alternate dietary needs."

The Head Doctor took a long pause. Lydia mumbled something in the background.

"No, I'm not dawdling–! Er... I'll talk to you shortly, everyone!"

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. Thank you! ]

When the intercom came on to announce the shift change, the feeling of dread returned. Anise had calmed down considerably since the morning, and she felt more ready to discuss the previous night with Ilia... but not as ready as she wanted to be.

Since the Music Room was bound to be noisy and crowded, Anise opted for the Sun Room instead, hoping that Ilia would come to the same conclusion. She took a seat on one side of a couch in the middle of the room, and waited there. If Ilia didn't show up after a while, she'd go try the Music Room.

Even though this talk had been on her mind all day, Anise still didn't know what she would say. And if she explained the truth behind her shadow's words last night... what would Ilia think? On the one hand, Ilia had shown herself to be a compassionate person, and it was hard to picture her treating Anise differently. But on the other hand, Anise hadn't known Ilia that long... and Ilia was a soldier. She would understand the gravity of Anise's actions, and the sorts of consequences that usually waited for people like her.

With these worries weighing on her mind, Anise leaned against the arm of the couch as she waited.

[For Ilia.]

There was little to be said of the daily business that went on. He allowed himself to be shuffled, mind embedded too deeply in things he shouldn't be dwelling on. The night was over, the shadows had vanished, and there was little more than bad memories to be left in their stead. This was logic, pure and simple, and should have been reassuring but for the whispered accusations made by his own. Of all things that his mind moved to unconsciously focus on, it was one of the first things spoken. That he could kill himself and nothing would stop him.

Which was pointless. In the whole of its entirety. Gaara had not truly moved in that way for time past--And now, even, he had goals and aspirations that he would see come to pass before he gave anything of himself away. He was working for what he believed in; he was working to become acknowledged by others as himself, and not as what he was created for. And there was no point to anything that thing had said.

His thoughts shifted, moved over the night, each dark statement echoed by an internal vow of his own, a denial of returning to what he once was. He still had yet to seek out Temari--his sister, too, would have been confronted by her demons, and there was a edge of concern in that thought. Considering all of this, he seated himself in a place near the wall, glancing at the doorway every few moments.

[sister dear.]

With breakfast finished and a new acquaintance made, the Scarecrow's mind turned to his other friends. The disappearance of Depth Charge's friend had brought back memories of how he'd felt when Kaiji went missing: helpless, useless, as though he should have and could have done something more to find him. If only he had his brain, then maybe he could have thought of something!

As much as he didn't like to admit it, it was unlikely his former roommate was still within the Institute's walls at this point, though the Scarecrow wouldn't know for sure unless Kaiji returned to visit him as Dorothy had, encouraging his supposed recovery. There was still the concern that Landel, despite his vile methods, was actually right and he was suffering from the delusion of having been a scarecrow in Oz. After all, that movie had been a pretty elaborate trick. Would he have planted it in town on purpose, knowing the Scarecrow would be taken there the night of the enchanted doors? And how could he guarantee that once he did find it, he'd take it and actually watch it? There was so much guesswork involved- it seemed the Wizard Landel either liked coincidences or he had more power on his side than any of the patients could have guessed.

The Scarecrow stopped by the bulletin board before heading for a seat, considering writing a note to his friends to check on them. He'd heard from Depth Charge, Remy, and Kibitoshin within a day's time, so he figured they were probably fine (as fine as Depth Charge could have been after last night, anyway). He'd seen Mele and Scar the day before. He put a finger to his head, thinking- he'd not heard from Abe or Sangamon in a day or so, but being professionals, they were probably very busy. Perhaps a note would be best for them.

[Kibby]

With sigh that toed the ambiguous no-mans-land between soft and explosive, Yuffie collected a plateful of waffles with all the toppings. She was sure that, if nothing else, it'd making a pretty satisfying splat if—when?—she launched it at somebody's face, and that was all that counted.

"Hanna, isn't that a little much?" Plucky asked, doubtfully.

"Uhhm. No. About, like... a little while ago, I managed five caramel apple pies with ice cream and berries and, y'know, I think there was a gallon of soda involved at some point." It wasn't the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. There really had been five caramel apple pies, but Cloud had ended up wearing two and a half and the third had taken a vacation to Boobsville (Tifa had loved it. Really. Really). The moral of the story (as she'd told Marlene and Denzel later) was that anything was game, just as long as you could run fast enough afterwards.

The nurse nodded slowly. "I… suppose. Well, I'll leave you to it. See that you behave, won't you, dear? You need to set a good example for the new batch of patients."

"My examples are the best examples," Yuffie proclaimed, with the dark-bright grin that still came so easily, no matter how little she felt really felt it. It lingered even when the nurse had flitted off to deal with another charge, but there was an edge to it. What the edge was, Yuffie couldn't say. Didn't want to say, after what'd gone down last night. Nah, she had better things to do; things like sitting down and waiting, just waiting, for Cloud or some other sucker of an easy target to walk through the door.

[HARLEY HARTWELL o/]

(From here.)

Touya felt a little sick as the feeling of distinct disorientation set in. It was the same feeling he'd felt during the night when the doors all led to different places (or at least similar to it--he felt pretty damn disoriented).

He straightened up and looked back for Yue and Sakura, to make sure they were still there. But were they still there because they had been together during that night, or because they had been in the same room? Once he had a handle on where he was and Yue and Sakura's state, he took a look at the ring. The stone was gone. He remembered something about replacing it, but he'd get to that soon enough.

"We were here before," Touya said, looking around at spindly shapes formed by dark shadows of furniture and kitchenware.

The mines tonight. Indy dressed quickly in his usual clothes and picked up his flashlight, machete and whip. He added his journal and a pen to one jacket pocket, so he could map the area as they went. Thinking of the minotaur from the other night, he was half-tempted to bring a ball of string, but of course he didn't have one. The journal would just have to be enough.

He took a last glance around the room to make sure he hadn't missed anything, then headed for the door. He had a lot of ground to cover before morning. Better get started.

[to here]

[Currently M36]

Touya had thought that the last vestiges of his exhaustion due to the drain of his power had all but vanished, but apparently it had made one last stand. Touya awoke briefly when his nurse had brought in dinner, the last thing he remembered being talking with Yue in the hall.

Talking with Yue in the hall?! He sat up abruptly, noting the meal left on his desk and groaning. So he had slept through the entire day and no doubt both Yue and Yuki (possibly Sakura as well, though she didn't come out of her room very often really) were petrified that something had happened to him. They always met for lunch, after all.

Way to be, Kinomoto, he thought crossly. He'd decided that the best move now was just to get the last vestiges of this exhaustion out of his system, then go to meet Yuki right after the doors unlocked.

Which would have been a great plan, if he hadn't slept through the doors unlocking as well.

[M11]

After dreading the arrival of night through the entire dinner shift it was almost a relief to hear Landel's self-important evening announcement; the content was somewhat unusual, certainly, though Yue knew little of the woman Jill and had just as little reason to care. Even if he had wished to focus on her predicament, however, his attention was quickly drawn to his own situation. As he'd spent the day in his false form, night meant the involuntary return to the true -- something he'd not wanted to display to anyone, much less one as unfamiliar and distant as his current roommate.

But it wasn't as though the Institute gave him anything so simple as a choice, so even as the door unlocked golden light traced an intricate circle at Yukito's feet; at the same time a glow sprang to life at his back, lifting and expanding to take the form of great wings which wrapped around him in a white-feathered cocoon. After but a moment they spread again to reveal the guardian's true form, his expression set with icy irritation. Without either word or look at his roommate, Yue took up his flashlight and turned away, moving to the door as quickly as dignity would allow. If he simply left quickly enough it would prevent any unwanted questions... for now.

[to here]

"Well, that's it for today's activities and hygiene!" The Head Doctor said with a jovial tone just after the sound system's jingle. He seemed excited and maybe even giddy. "Our nurses will now be escorting everyone back to their rooms, and some of you might find that you have brand new roommates to share your dinner with! That's right: we've gotten a whole new batch of patients, and I hope you all are as well behaved with them as you have – ...well, as most of you have been with our staff. Because of this good behavior, I'd like to remind everyone that they may stop at the Arts & Crafts room to bring their origami figures back to their room and decorate as much as they like!

"In any case, our dinner tonight will be herb chicken – breast and wing or leg and thigh, whichever you prefer – served with hot – well, not too hot – vegetable soup, caesar salad, and lightly fried rose potatoes. Our usual drinks are available, as well as alternatives for special diets, and dessert will be a delicious caramel apple.

"I believe that's all for now. Goodbye, everyone!"

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. ANY NEWLY ACCEPTED CHARACTERS MAY POST TO THIS SHIFT (but are not obligated to if you would like to wait for Nightshift or Dayshift); please refer to the new room assignments before posting. Thank you! ]

Edward was glad to wake up to a period of respite. While he had been conscious during breakfast, he'd requested to remain in his room for extra "sleep", which had consisted waiting until the room was vacated to ingest the vial of Venom's blood. The vampire had lost his chance last night, but that might have been for the better; this way he wasn't in a rush to examine the flavor, as somewhat repulsive as that sounded. Even though he was primarily concerned with getting a meal instead of trying to divine what chemicals could be in the patient body as a whole - if any were at all - he was taking his job seriously, as he knew the risks Venom was already taking with him

He didn't like debts, after all. He was still trying to make up for his first transgression against the assassin.

The blood was familiar to him, but he could find no difference in it from the first time he had drank from Venom. Though his sense of taste was probably lacking compared to what it had once been, Edward couldn't sense any chemical that shouldn't have been a part of it. It was just... blood.

After the vial was emptied, he'd been sure to shove it back into the pillowcase stashed in the closet, as long as shoving the shotgun under his mattress. He was actually surprised the weapon was seemingly so easy to hide; unless the nurses never entered the rooms to search through them, there was no way it should still be here. In a way, he was beginning to think of the rooms as a safe haven.

Though that thought couldn't be necessarily true. After all, when he awoke, Bella's blood wasn't staining his fingertips, and the bandages on his face had been removed as the cuts slowly healed themselves. Someone was changing them, and if he assumed he hadn't gained the ability to sleepwalk as well as sleep, well...

Lunch had already passed for the vampire if Venom's blood was anything to show for it, so he took his usual route through the line, promptly pushing the tray of whatever-the-hell away from him as soon as he sat down. This time he'd brought his journal with him, and though his memory was perfection itself he wanted physical evidence of what he had found in the institute after all. Mostly he was making a note for Bella - a picture of the blond man, the not-Zato, and sketches showing the way its form had changed subtly to reveal the nature of the beast. Assuming it was a beast, of course.

[For his killer bff.]