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]

Sanji woke up groggily to find his nurse already in his room. He gave a sleepy and half-hearted "Buh?" before realizing that nurse meant dayshift, and he'd fallen asleep after dinner.

"Shit!" He sat up abruptly, which gave his nurse a start. "Nami-swan!" How had he allowed himself to sleep through an entire night? What if she'd tried to return to the basement? What if she'd been waiting for him to appear and protect her? He'd let her down!

"There, there. Calm down." His nurse set a familiar flannel shirt down on the bed and Sanji eyed it with confusion. The last time he'd worn that had been... "Sorry I didn't knock or anything, but I was so excited~!" A pair of jeans followed the shirt. "Today is the field trip into town! Aren't you looking forward to it?"

The chef had to admit, the town had been an interesting enough place the last time he'd been. If he could find Nami early on he might even be able to lead her around... So he didn't complain too much as he changed into the other outfit (which he really wished they'd let him keep - anything was better than the regular gray) and was led out to the first of the buses.

He took a seat near the front, hopefully easily visible to any of his crew - especially to a certain member of his crew.

[for Usopp!]

Someone was just being naughty now.

Another break in, this one far more obvious, greeted him as he entered his office. It did not seem as though anything had been stolen however, merely left sitting out on his desktop for all the world to see. Hardly a place for his precious research to be. "Really now," Jizabel shook his head as he walked over and returned the glass jars to their proper place. At least neither had been damaged or he'd have been in need of a replacement pair. Had this been as a warning? The execution of it had been terrible if that was the case. Creative, but nothing that would rattle him. In any event he had no time to worry over it now. A little extra work had gone into his newest toxin and had caused him a bit of a delay in getting to the facility this morning; his first patient would be arriving shortly. After slipping the vile in with the jars, Jizabel closed the drawer and locked it tight. He then took a seat and fished out his files for today.

With Thursday came the last of his patients. Finally. It was about time Jizabel knew more than what he'd by now thoroughly read over on paper concerning these last two. After all, he couldn't make a decision for his favorite until he'd met all listed. Currently though, he still held a particular fondness for his youngest.

But that was also something he'd have to think on at a later time. For now his focus needed to be with another teenager, a one Terry Conason. Older than the boy he'd been thinking on just then but far closer to the age of whom Jizabel usually dealt with. Perhaps he would be entertaining. Perhaps not. The doctor could only hope for the best. There had been mention of parental issues pertaining to the father in his file, after all. Always a great topic of discussion, family.

And there they were now. He returned the files and after once again finding no reason to answer the door personally, Dr. Disraeli called for entrance.

[From here.]

For all the hype he heard up on the bulletin, Sync had to say he was somewhat disappointed with how dull these halls have been. Maybe these ‘monsters’ only attacked when there was less traffic around, but his guess was as good as anyone’s.

Regardless, even if he did keep to one side of the wall, the God-General was anything but impressed. He’d barely seen anyone, and the only person he did see was some guy limping around on crutches! How pathetic could they all possibly be?

He didn’t bother to hold back a snort, keeping straight until he disappeared around a corner.

[To here.]

[From here]

As she followed Zelgadis up the stairs, Amelia willed her little Lighting spell to fly a bit higher to better illuminate the stairs. As it moved, however, the ball of light seemed to grow a bit dimmer. It looked like her magic was even weaker than she thought.

But who needed magic when she had a strong heart filled with justice!? There was nothing for Amelia to fear here! Should evil rear its head, she would need only strike it back down with the Hammer of Justice. It was all very simple, in the princess' head.

With a little more bounce in her step than most would find appropriate in such a place, she cheerfully continued the ascent.

The cafeteria was all but empty when Zelnick got there. He was a little disappointed; he had gotten the impression that patients usually ate dinner in their rooms, so he hadn't arranged to meet anyone, and there really wasn't anyone to sit by and engage in conversation yet.

Quietly, he collected dinner and a big glass of orange juice, and chose a seat near the food-serving counters. Talking for so long had made him thirsty... and, well, fruit juice was a luxury he had missed.

[Stalk away, my dearest Admiral. <3 ]

Burly orderlies and agile Calm Effect nurses flooded the cafeteria from the Courtyard while regular hall nurses filed in from the Sun Room and ushered out those not involved in the rebellion. It indeed seemed as if Landel was sending out all the cavalry, and an effective cavalry they were: The riot didn't continue for much longer after the alarm sounded, though it seemed strange just how quickly all of the mutinous patients fell, even the ones who hadn't been injected with anything.

The hall nurses were quick to escort their well-behaved charges back to their rooms, praising those who hadn't joined in and chiding those who muttered under their breath in response. There were some exceptions, of course: One nice young man had even defended one of the nurses from the violent patients! Now, wasn't that exemplary behavior? Dr. Landel would be so proud to hear about it...

Within half an hour, all of the so-called "loyal" patients had been safely deposited in their rooms, and it was then that the alarm finally stopped and the true difficulty of the situation was tackled. There certainly weren't enough rooms in solitary to accommodate such rampant disobedience, and yet measures would have to be taken to ensure proper consequences for each and every patient involved. After all, something like this couldn't be allowed to happen again!

Different options were considered. Perhaps they should make an example out of the girl who had sparked the riot, but then again, perhaps not. This certainly wasn't the first case of patients attacking nurses or their peers in a crowded area, but what had been different this time was the sheer support that the other patients had shown for her. Should the staff then make examples of all those who had tried to "protect" her from the well-meaning nurses? No, there were too many for that...

In the end, it was decided that the best immediate solution would be to treat the rebellious patients in the Medical Wing while they were unconscious and then move them back to their rooms to await punishment. To ensure the safety of both their roommates and the patients themselves, however, the staff decided to securely fasten their limbs to their beds and keep them heavily drugged. Such a sad sight they were to see, but... it was necessary.

Finally, when each and every patient had been escorted back to their respective rooms, the staff hurried off to an emergency meeting upstairs. Strangely, Head Nurse Lydia was the one taking care of the proceedings in the Head Doctor's stead. She calmly told them that he was preoccupied with more urgent matters, and as she began to speak to the crowd, the staff could only wonder what could possibly be more important than an unprecedented patient riot...

[ Comment to this post with separate threads for each patient room, and please put your character's room number in the subject line. Thank you! ]

[from here]

Mason stepped into the kitchen, hoping to find a convenient stack of waffles lying around. Or at least a better weapon than his empty whiskey bottle. But nothing really leapt out at him.

... Hopefully nothing was going to literally leap out at him. Mason gulped. He really didn't want to run into any monster-type things.

"Zel?" he called. The kitchen was a bit eerie, and he didn't want to be all alone in the dark. Without a flashlight. Why hadn't he brought his own flashlight?

[from here]

Zel's arm still over his shoulder, Mason pulled the teenager into the cafeteria as quickly as he could. The reaper pressed his back against the wall, where hopefully no one in the Sun Room could see them, and glanced sideways at Zel.

"You okay?" he whispered.

Zelgadis entered the sun room, severely shaken by his conversation with Rezo despite attempts to ignore it.
The man he had spent half his life trying to please had been there, alive, telling him all the things Zelgadis wanted to hear. And it was all a lie, a waking dream. It hurt.
Zelgadis settled himself into a soft chair, hoping that sleep would take him.

When the nurse suddenly appeared after the intercom's announcement, Ritsuka could only stare at her. He had a visitor? He knew that Miku had one, but to think that he would get one? He couldn't imagine who would come to see him. Seimei was gone, Soubi was here... Or so he hoped. It had been almost two shifts since he'd last seen the older man. Seimei had disappeared in less time than that. As he was led to the waiting room, Ritsuka closed his eyes and tried to listen for that strange high pitched note that rang whenever a Fighter was around or calling.

He couldn't hear anything, but that wasn't any different from normal. Maybe Soubi just wasn't in the area, or he wasn't calling, or...

"Here we are, Jordan."

Ritsuka glanced up as the nurse opened the door and ushered him in. He turned and looked at her, searching for some sort of clue. This woman wasn't as talkative as his former nurse, however, and she only smiled at him in response. It was the first time he found himself missing the old chatterbox.

Being the first into the room, Ritsuka had little choice but to wait until the visitors began to show. Picking up an old copy of The New York Times, he moved toward one of the chairs lining the wall and sat down. The cushions weren't the most comfortable, but they were chairs and that's all that mattered. Never one to get nervous, Ritsuka was surprised to find that he couldn't help but tap a nervous rhythm out on the chair's arm as he waited.

Zelgadis was not happy, at all. Not that this was any change, but the events of the past few hours had given him more to angst about than usual. Nightshift had been dreadful: first he was attacked by a small green man and then covered in leeches, neither of which lead to warm fuzzy feelings.

And now this.

When the nurse had come into his room with new clothes he had a small glimmer of hope-- some thief had taken his normal Landel's wear in the night, so perhaps this was a change in luck. However, it was not the godsend he had hoped for. Minus the threat of sedation, there was nothing in the universe that could make Zelgadis wear a bright lemon-yellow shirt. There was a jacket of a slightly more tasteful variety, so Zelgadis made good us of it-- he put all his coupons in a pocket and pulled up the hood. It was almost as good as his cloak. Well, no it wasn't, but it would have to do.

With mild protesting, Zelgadis was lead to a large yellow vehicle. He climbed the stairs, took a seat towards the back, and readied himself for another frustrating day of being attacked and threatened with spoons.

[from here]

As he opened the door, Dib cried out in disgust. "Eugh! It REEKS!" Clamping his nose with his free hand, Dib scanned the place with the flashlight. The light wasn't as strong as Dib would have liked, but he could still see the rusty sinks and stalls. "I think it's safe to say we're in a bathroom," Dib remarked sheepishly, his voice plugged up comically. "That'll explain the horrible smell. But even the Skool bathrooms don't smell this bad. Casually, he walked up to one of the sinks and turned on the faucet.

Instead of rusty bathroom water, rusty blood came out.

Dib jumped back in shock. However, he swiftly then took out the notebook he had been carrying in his coat and jotted down some notes. "Maybe the institution is a feeding ground for vampires," he speculated, with both terror and excitement, "or maybe it's haunted by Chupacabra ghosts from the beyond! Man, if I live through this, the Swollen Eyeball Society will have a field day with this... and maybe Agent Dark Booty will forgive me for annoying him yesterday!"

[From here]

622 methodically swept the light from his glowstick across the hall, carefully watching for hostiles. After having to act 'normal' during the daytime, this was almost a relief. Even though he had no armor, no real weapons, and no back-up, at least he didn't have to pretend to like it anymore.

[to here]

With the nurse's guidance, Rinali was the first one into the room.  Along the way she did her best to make note of what she saw, but everything seemed to fit what the nurse had said.  This looked for all intents and purposes to be a mental asylum.  Still, everything was off.  Why did the nurse say her name was Mei Dianfu?

"Here's everything you need to get going," the nurse said with a warm smile, leading her to a table with cheap scissors, glue, and an assortment of glitter and other tools to draw or build.  "I'll be right over here if you need anything, hun," the nurse said with a warm smile.  "The other patients will be coming in shortly.  Try and make some friends."

Rinali smiled slightly to the nurse in thanks.  The nurse seemed genuine enough, so there wasn't any point in being rude until she understood what was going on.  "Thank you very much," she said, then took a seat at the table.  She didn't bother to look at the art supplies, instead waiting for the rest of the 'patients' to filter in.  Maybe one of them would know why she was here, or better yet, where her brother was.

Brother, she thought.  Where are you?

"Goooood morning, patients!" The Head Doctor's voice said cheerily over the speakers across the Institute. He seemed to be in a particularly good mood, humming as he paged through the topics he had to cover in today's morning announcement. "How are you all on this fine day? Good? Good!"

A feminine voice, probably his personal assistant, seemed to cough. The Head Doctor cleared his voice in turn, his tone becoming a bit more professional.

"In any case, I'm sure you want to hear what's on the menu for breakfast! Today, we'll be having the old favorite of buttermilk pancakes! You have your choice of having them plain, having them with chocolate chips, or having them with fresh fruit toppings and whipped cream! We of course also have melted butter and hot syrup for those who want to go the classic route, and, as always, our sides of tater tots, sausage, bacon, and toast are available. Assorted cereal and fruit salad are also options, as are our normal choices of water, milk, or juices.

"As far as shifts later on in the day, we will be concluding our therapy sessions for this week today, as we had to wait for Doctors House and Wilson who had left for an emergency medical consultation.

"Oh, and as has become custom these days, we have more patients that will be joining our roster today! Why, yes, if the nurses would be kind enough to escort Group 1 out of their temporary rooms while we prepare and organize all the new assignments of roommates? Thank you very much!

"I do believe that is all for now! I hope you enjoy today and all the productive activities it will include!"

The intercom clicked off once again.

[ Those whose characters belong to the First Shift group posted on the lounge, please post your character's introductions in response to THIS POST ONLY and then move on to the breakfast post once your characters are on their way there. Also, like the Head Doctor said--we're still working on getting the new roommates sorted out since we still have people to accept, so all the characters will be waking up in temporary rooms where the other bed is empty. Thank you! ]