Yet another intercom jingle sounded, and the nurses, anticipating the Head Doctor's orders, already began grouping around the patients as he began to speak.

"Good evening, everyone and I trust you all enjoyed your fun day of physical activity! I sure wish I had! Aha! Anyway, our dinner tonight is some spaghetti with our ol' homemade Landel's marinara sauce, served with garlic bread and a Caesar salad. Our usual assortment of drinks and vegetarian alternatives is available, and our dessert for tonight is vanilla gelato ice cream with chocolate sauce.

"I do hope that sounds palatable to everyone! I will be speaking with you again shortly!"

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. Find new room assignments here. This shift's intro group is here. ]

268   //  WENT MAD

The day could have been a lot worse, and Mohinder was incredibly grateful that it hadn't been. There was still another problem patient he'd have to deal with the next day, but for now he just had to deal with...

...his brother. Huh. It was an odd coincidence, the man who thought he was Peter also having an older brother in the Institute. Would his case be similar to his brother's? If so, he might have one troublesome patient on the mend only to gain another with a similar problem. He would have to find the connection between these men, and then see if he could approach the higher-ups about it. It was worth pointing out, if they weren't already aware.

For now, all he could do was wait for this patient to arrive and hope that this session didn't go horribly wrong.

0   //  WENT MAD

It wasn’t until Daedalus was done eating lunch that he turned his attention to his computer, where he had updated each of his files accordingly. Paper texts were troublesome in that sense: they could be difficult to alter, went missing often, and decayed like everything else that bore the test of time. But data was cleaner, more advanced, more alterable.

True enough, and at the same time, he’d thought before that such perceptions were part of people’s problem.

At any rate, Daedalus much preferred his computer documents over the paper copies in his desk drawer, and it was the latter he selected to peruse once more while the shift change got underway. One more patient for the day. One more child. In as far as he could make predictions, he didn’t foresee any difficulties. None over the usual.

3   //  WENT MAD

Something about making patients act accordingly was disappointing in the long run. Drugs were just too easily used. He would much rather have his patients follow an act, answering not because they had no option, but because they felt safe. Each specimen needed different treatment, he knew, however deception was far more satisfying.

His next patient was likely not to give him any more pleasure than the first two. With Mr. Malloy he never knew what to expect, but that was part of what created the doctor's interest in him. The other part was how much he resembled Cain. Jizabel could only imagine the results had he provided medicine to him rather than Mr. Cross. How much the boy would have resembled Cain then.

But the fantasies would have to wait for a later time. He could hear the nurse knocking at the door and knew it was time to begin.

10   //  WENT MAD

The machine was well and fully tucked (more like tossed) into his drawer by the time fourth shift rolled around, having been completely useless for his first patient and too mean for the second. He only had one patient to worry about for fourth shift anyway, so there wasn't really a need to speed the session along, much as he maybe would have liked to. Spending a whole shift with someone who had emotional suppression issues and thought that he was a space alien wasn't exactly what Venkman called a day at the beach.

Oh well, he thought. Maybe it won't be so bad. I could ask him what spring is really like on Jupiter and Mars.

4   //  WENT MAD

It was nice and sunny outside, a great contrast to yesterdays clouds that had threatened to rain on everyone. So of course Stein had spent lunch shut in his window-less office. Well, at least there was enough ambient nicotine in the air now that he didn't feel the urge to puff his way through more than one cigarette during that time. Besides, it got in the way of eating.

That out of the way now, Stein looked through his files for the afternoon. One of his morning patients had never shown up and he hadn't gotten a straight answer on that. Maybe he'd just be coming this shift instead. The other was a teenage boy... well, Stein was used to working with children, but it's not like was looking forwards to it. Sometimes they were just so predictable.

Well, nothing for it. Sighing and resisting the urge to light up again when a nurse could peek in and scold him at any moment, Stein idly rotated in his chair, the room spinning around him as he waited.

0   //  WENT MAD

Somehow he'd managed to have a very calm morning. It wasn't often that Wilson met with two cooperative patients one after the other (a difficult one usually managed to work their way in somehow), so he was feeling refreshed and ready for his afternoon session.

Which happened to be Jude Davids, or Allelujah-slash-Hallelujah from last week. Seeing how Jude was one of those tricky patients, it seemed only fair that he'd been given Ms. Morales and Mr. Jenkins earlier. So long as he had a balance, Wilson could keep a proper composure with those patients who wouldn't given him even a bit of slack.

Still, he had a large task ahead of him, and he wasn't even sure if he'd be able to accomplish it. He wanted to make Allelujah see that his other personality was a danger to him, but he was so tightly bonded that it was a daunting prospect.

There was a reason that people with second personalities weren't able to function in the real world, though. There was always going to be that moment when the other took control in a situation where it wasn't safe, and then the person ended up in trouble somehow. Jude had a long way to go, and Wilson could only hope he'd somehow made progress over the past week.

He wasn't holding his breath, though.

20   //  WENT MAD

Ema let the nurse lead her through the facility and out into the recreational field. She wished the nurse hadn't have taken the journal out of her hands to be left in the room--there was quite a bit to take in and Ema's hands were itching to record every little detail. If she was, in fact, kidnapped in order to prevent Lana from being proven innocent, then she was going to have to pass along everything she possibly could to Mr. Wright the instant she managed to get free.

However, that hypothesis was starting to fall apart, as much as Ema wasn't quite ready to let it go. The nurse had called her "Marie," for starters, and it was becoming increasingly obvious that Ema was not the only prisoner. This was a rather large facility, and there were several cells (dormitories?) that lined even the halls the nurse led her through. And then there was that comment that her family had admitted her. That made the least sense of all; Lana couldn't have done this to her to get her out of the way of the trial.

Could she? Lana was really well-connected; it wasn't likely, but it was possible. The thought made Ema a bit sick to her stomach. The two of them didn't get along these days, sure, but to have her kidnapped and locked up somewhere? That was just cruel. Her sister was not cruel. She hoped.

Maybe it was better that Ema didn't have her notebook. She was too lost in her own thoughts to really take in her surroundings. Before she knew it, the nurse opened the door to the recreational field, smiled down at her, and told her to go have fun. Wearing the same smile, she gave a warning not to try running off--there were people watching, and this place was for her own good. There went that idea.

New plan: talk to other prisoners (patients?) and see what the heck was going on. Ema strode past the nurse and into the field, hoping that she wasn't going to be forced to actually do anything physical while outside. Sports were not her thing, and that was the last thing she wanted to be put through after the day she'd had so far.

[Free~!]

100   //  WENT MAD

The nameplate on her desk wasn't quite even. Makiko frowned at it as she returned to her office for the afternoon session, then paused to put it back in the right spot, carefully aligned with the edge of the desk. It must have been knocked askew by her morning patient, he of the smart mouth and aggravating attitude. No matter, though. She'd dealt with him, and now with the mess he'd made, and it was back to business as usual -- even if her temper was all the worse for being denied the opportunity he'd given her.

There was a new patient this afternoon, though Makiko had greeted his file with somewhat less enthusiasm than some of the others. Luke Howard had little interesting about him, and he seemed quite content to leave it that way. Still, though, her opinion could change once he walked in the door; she had to keep her mind open and reserve judgment, without letting her mood affect her thoughts.

She turned the CD player on in preparation for the young man's arrival, grimacing slightly at the annoyingly inspid concerto that began to play, then put it out of her mind. She flipped open the file to read it over once more, ignoring the faint demands of gnawing hunger within. Hopefully he wouldn't be too tedious to deal with.

20   //  WENT MAD

Entering the greenhouse was almost like coming home, and Hanatarou had been looking forward to this shift for that reason. Everywhere else in the building was strange and confusing (and often dangerous) but in here was the familiar scent of soil and sun-warmed plants with the musty sort of enclosed-space smell overlaying it. His expression turned into something approaching a smile as he glanced around, moving ahead of his nurse for once.

She seemed encouraged by his enthusiasm, and stopped him long enough to offer him a tray of seedlings, with the suggestion that he go ahead and transplant them into an empty space in the herb bed. He bobbed his head in a vague sort of nod and settled down, almost cheerfully digging a small hole in the indicated spot and reaching inside to test how dry the soil was. Maybe if he didn't look around, he could pretend he was back at work in the 4th Division headquarters....

[free]

207   //  WENT MAD

[For Yuna!]

Fish and chips weren't his favorite thing ever, but he did make sure to eat it all. He just liked to think of the fish as the Filet'o Fish without the bun and it made it easier to eat. The french fries had been pretty well cleaned off and he'd even managed a bit of fruit, although he avoided the oranges and other sour things his nurse had insisted on putting on his plate. But the fries had been good and he felt a little better having eaten something. With everything that had been going on lately, Ritsuka had been shirking on his meals more than usual and it'd all but made him sick.

Now, as he flopped onto a sofa in the Sun Room, he felt sick in a different way. He really shouldn't have eaten as much as he did, but there was no helping it. He'd been hungry. Wasn't hi fault the grease was starting to get to him.

Pulling his legs up onto the seat cushions, Ritsuka leaned back and asked his nurse to bring him the book he'd checked out from the library last time. She returned soon enough and he curled up with the book, ignoring her curious looks at his choice in literature. He hadn't seen Soubi at lunch and now that it was the fourth shift, he figured most of the men would be out in the Greenhouse. He'd have to catch up with the Fighter later, now that he'd calmed down.

186   //  WENT MAD

It had been a long day already, it seemed like. Was it this long normally? The doctor couldn't remember - she was so used to being in operating rooms at odd hours. Maybe that had made the time pass faster than it should have.

Regardless, she opened her files with a few taps of the keyboard. After these two, she planned on getting tea on the way home.

[OOC: I'm going to be *slow* due to medical stuff on my end, but will backthread. I mean it this time. T_T]

2   //  WENT MAD

Despite Head Nurse Lydia's earlier announcement, the Head Doctor was the one who next spoke after the ring of the intercom jingle.

"Ah – I apologize for that, everyone! I am feeling quite better now and I hope that this trend continues! ...Ahem. This shift is fairly similar to 2nd's: women in the Rec Field, men in the Greenhouse, and specially selected patients in their doctor's offices – promptly, please.

"I believe that's all. Plant well and play safe!"

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 character wake up in a random room as we don't have roommates sorted out yet. Putting M??/F?? in the subject line is fine. ]

6   //  WENT MAD

Heat was able to ignore the still faintly throbbing spot on his head as he was led back into the cafeteria for another meal he had no intention of eating. He kept himself from rubbing at what he knew would be a small bump because dammit it didn't hurt that much. It was embarrassing, was what it was.

At the fishy odor filling the room when he entered, the demon wrinkled his nose. How that was supposed to be the slightest bit appealing he had no idea. Then again, it wasn't always the taste that mattered. Whatever this cod was, it could very well taste better than the rotting flesh he'd gotten down the night before.

His nurse made some comment about his lack of appetite, but he wasn't paying attention. She could eat his damn lunch if she was worried about it going to waste. It wasn't his fault they didn't inform their staff properly of their patients' eating habits. The room was fairly empty too, so Heat wasn't picky with where he sat. He just hoped one of his tribemates found him before he was stuck with some other pest for the duration of the meal.

[Sasuke?]

766   //  WENT MAD

It was already obvious that the Head Doctor was frazzled this particularly day, and so it would probably come as little surprise that the third announcement of the day was given by Lydia instead of Landel himself.

Not even bothering to explain herself anymore, the head nurse instead went into the typical details of the upcoming shift. "All patients should be pulled from their therapy sessions and activity areas and taken back into the cafeteria for lunch," she said as an alert to the other nurses who would soon start gathering up the patients as always.

"Lunch today consists of fish and chips - that is, cod and fried potatoes. There is an assortment of condiments to choose from, and for sides there is egg salad and fresh fruit. Please enjoy your meal."

The intercom switched off promptly. Perhaps the nurse had a hungover superior to tend to?

[ All introduction posts for this shift's group of new characters should be made in response to this post.

Have your character wake up in a random room as we don't have roommates sorted out yet. Putting M??/F?? in the subject line is fine. ]

4   //  WENT MAD

Damn it damn it damn it damn it

Late, late! If there was anything peaceful or quiet about the day, it was pretty much ruined by the frantic power-walking and various attempts to get a key through its damn lock echoing through the hall. Damn it, damn it. She felt like a kid who just missed first-hour biology! It was even a wonder how she managed to sleep in when she barely slept anymore, but there you go.

She needed to stalk up on No-Doze. Maybe call up Doc, see if he had any new and exciting drugs on his side of the country.

But while it was hell and annoying to get through town and the building on full rush, finally getting inside her office made her feel a little better about it. Files, notepad, documents, coffee... Okay, good. Sink down in chair, spin a few degrees to the right with mug in hands. Relax. Okay. Alright.

Thank god she only had one patient this shift. She didn't think she had enough coffee yet...

4   //  WENT MAD

This should be a relatively easy visit. Brendan Blake, who had shown some signs of recovery earlier before a relapse. The question that came to Dr. Weaver's mind was why - why the sudden recovery, and why the immediate relapse? That was highly unusual for someone with the kind of symptoms that were in the young man's file.

She also noted the family history - his sister had just been admitted, a half-sister had been here for some time, and...yes. She would normally want to run a few blood tests just to check for some kind of parasite, but she didn't entirely trust the labs here for accuracy.

And so she waited, wishing she had access to a lab of her own. Well, no matter. She would do what she could with what she had. She stared at the whiteboard for just a moment, looking at her own notes - BLISS. Paraskevi, Triti, GUILT. Infection outbreak to blame for some symptoms?

5   //  WENT MAD

In beginning his day in the Institute, Daedalus had stayed to his office, immersed in quiet work. There would be no wandering outside for him today; he found he rather preferred the bland, wintry days over the sunny ones. Perhaps he was just trained to.

That, and there was more to occupy him in the hospital than outside it when he was still tethered to the Institute and his state of employ. Also to his employer, who Daedalus was curious about, in that way he was curious about all things that flew higher than they should. But those thoughts, Daedalus neatly put aside. For now, he had a patient to attend to, and for all his hidden faces, there were some he wouldn’t entirely take off, even if it was his choice to. He was still a doctor.

By the time activity shifts began to change, and the female patients passing sounded through the door on their way to the greenhouse, Daedalus was prepared for his next visit. It was almost entirely silent in the room, except for the hum of the computer, and the faint tapping of his forefinger against the armrest.

12   //  WENT MAD

Mohinder sat at his desk with his arms crossed over his chest and a calm that somehow managed to cover the inner turmoil he had over that day's short list of patients. One was just going to grate on his nerves, if this time was anything like the last. He could deal with that. It was the day's other patient that had him wanting to call in sick.

At the same time, he'd clearly been given that patient for a reason. None of the other doctors would be familiar with the man Zachary Blaine believed himself to be. He was the only one with that connection, and somehow he was going to have to use that to help this man pull free of his delusions. Even if nothing added up properly in the end, it was his duty to at least try.

9   //  WENT MAD

There was something invigorating about getting back onto a proper work schedule. That weekend had just been far too long, especially when he'd had to spend it in the sort of town where everyone knew everyone and therefore didn't have much of interest to talk about. There was something that was just too Pleasantville about the whole thing, and while Wilson knew that was judgmental and even snobby of him to think, he couldn't help it.

Work, on the other hand, at least took his mind off of the fact that he'd been ditched in this job without even a way to get into contact with his colleagues, let alone his boss. He almost felt like he'd been exiled, and it was starting to wear on him. At this point, his biggest reprieve was in knowing that he had a small chance of really helping the patients here.

Though even that was an obstacle, considering the attitudes that most of them had, but it was at least an obstacle he was used to dealing with. Difficult patients were part of the package no matter what kind of doctor you were, oncology included. If anything, cancer patients were particularly tricky to handle -- their lives were falling apart and they were emotionally unstable, depressed, and angry. Sometimes at him. Often at him.

That was one of the only reasons why he felt like he had any experience in working with the patients here at Landel's. It was far more severe here, but at least it wasn't completely foreign to him.

Wilson entered his office, dropped his suitcase, and started to arrange his files. He had one follow-up session and a new patient this morning, so it looked like he'd have his hands full.

20   //  WENT MAD

Why couldn't she get it out of her mind? It was a stupid white dress. So what if it was visual evidence that she was a princess? It should not be bothering her this much. It was a just a dress.

Falis didn't protest when the vultures herded her outside to the greenhouse for some quality time with Mother Nature, or something like that, as lost in thought as she was. Her headache had subsided to a dull throb in the back of her head, but she still stared at the plants and dirt wondering if they really expected her to bother. She had no talent for such things.

Turning her eyes to the others that had been herded along with her, Falis looked for someone she knew. Someone who might... No. She wasn't going to start questioning herself. It was just a stupid white dress.

[Soma and eventually Hokuto]

125   //  WENT MAD

Someone old, someone new, Makiko mused, looking at the schedule for this shift. Mr. Riedel would be returning, it seemed, and wouldn't that be interesting. She certainly owed him for the week before -- no matter that the broken nose had healed before even her next session that day, no matter her own slight revenge, the fact remained that he'd broken it. And that simply couldn't be allowed.

The new one, though, she knew nothing about, except for the fact that he believed himself to be living in a setting directly out of science fiction. It would be best to save any judgment for when he actually arrived; she'd already had that proven enough here so far. Those dismissed as uninteresting might prove to be otherwise, as the session with "Ritsuka" just yesterday had reminded her. Still, though, it would be nice to have a female patient. Someone with a bit more depth to them.

To complete her usual ritual of preparation, she turned the CD player on, not really paying attention to what was playing. She pulled a pad of paper onto her desk and began writing, waiting for the nurses to escort the next patient into her office.

22   //  WENT MAD

Second day working here, and already he was breaking the rules.

Well, the nurse's rules, anyway. No where in Stein's contract had there been a "no smoking" clause. Still, every time one of those women poked their heads in his office and saw a lit cigarette, there was a stern reminder that, even if they had no right to regulate what he did to his own body - Stein snorted; smoking was hardly the worst thing in that category - they asked that he kindly refrained from subjecting the patients to second-hand smoke.

So now Stein had taken up stealth-smoking as a hobby, quickly hiding the cigarette right before the nurse came in to tell him about this or that. Of course, by the smell in the room, it was obvious he had been smoking, but the nurses apparently didn't wield the authority or the bravery to admonish him for smoking when he wasn't caught red-handed. Still, after the fourth time one of them looked in with nothing in particular to announce but a reminder that patients would be arriving in so-and-so many minutes, he suspected they were trying to catch him in the act.

Amusing. He wondered just what went on in those heads of theirs. His fingers itched just thinking about it.

Stein sighed and exhaled. Right, no, that had been a problem yesterday. Calm down. Breathe. Ignore the noise. He couldn't go around just cutting people up, now could he? Looking at his notes from yesterday, he was reminded to better assess the physical conditions of his patients better before starting; it had been a real killjoy when Frank had almost popped his stitches. Well, live and learn.

Smoking his cigarette and going over the files, Stein read up on today's patients, ready to hide the focus of his addiction the moment the doorknob so much as began to turn. There was no way they'd catch him again.

21   //  WENT MAD

Cloud knew he should be taking the opportunity to check out the rec field during the day. The fresh air would be a welcome change from the crowded stuffiness the Institute usually provided, and he would have a chance to scope out the area when it wasn't all under the cover of darkness. When offered a choice, however, he remained in the sun room. He told himself it was so that he could watch the bulletin, him still being fairly new and needing all the information he could get, but the thought rang hollow.

The real reason he was here, he knew, was because he would be out there. Maybe it was weak of him, but he needed a chance to breathe. Ever since he'd arrived it had been nothing but one shock after another, and seeing Zack standing in the cafeteria that morning talking to Aerith had been the final card that caused his tower to crumble. He needed to just sit back somewhere out of the way and start rebuilding.

Being able to watch the bulletin from here was just a perk. Cloud made himself comfortable on one of the sofas, watching people come and go but not really paying attention to them. He took the time to try and rate this on a scale of the biggest messes he'd ever gotten thrown into.

(for Sheena)

260   //  WENT MAD

There had been no delay this morning for Dr. Disraeli when it came to arriving at work. In fact he had been early, if only to make up for the time he had missed the previous day. Not that many had seemed to care apart from the always gossiping nurses, which was odd. The nurses would say what they would, regardless of Jizabel's actions, however he'd had no reprimand from the head doctor for his tardiness. He had expected a warning at the very least, but he could guess that Landel was a busy man. He probably didn't have the time to bother with giving his doctors slaps on the wrist. A good thing to know.

He had just finished with reviewing his files, following a check of his once again replaced desk drawer, when the usual knock came at the door a bit earlier than usual. There seemed to be no end to the oddities this morning. When a nurse entered without a patient, Jizabel could only wonder what was so important that she needed to bother him when he was preparing. As a doctor though, he was understanding of the interruption and welcomed her without question. Apparently there was a problem with one of his first patients, an injury it seemed. Dr. Disreli could not see how he would need a warning with the state he'd seen some patients in, however the nurse was able to provide a decent enough reason for telling him. More than decent, he decided, once he saw the jar she held and the color of it's contents.

"I'll be sure to take care of things," he assured the woman, accepting both the jar and the documentation brought with it. The reasons she had for providing him such a thing must have been different from what Jizabel would likely do, however he would not be passing up an opportunity like this, or a specimen so well preserved. "If you'll give me a moment before allowing my first patient in...?" he then requested, with the nurse quickly agreeing that she would before leaving him.

The nurse gone, Jizabel found himself in a far better mood. Now wouldn't this be interesting?

62   //  WENT MAD

Second day on the job. Whoop-dee-freakin' doo.

From the looks Venkman had taken at today's files, it seemed like everyone was trying to out-crazy his first-day patients. A paranoid space case who had taken the detective fantasy to a level that would make Jimmy Doyle look like Nancy Drew in diapers. An Andre the Giant wannabe who thought he was a killer robot searching for a bigger, badder killer robot. A guy with a pointy-eared birth defect and unfortunate eyebrows, which apparently gave him license to go full-on Martian space ranger. Oh yeah. Just another fun-filled day at Landel's Institute.

Sherlock Paranoia and Robby the Robot were up first, both in the same shift. They were both going to have to go quick in order to fit the time constraints, and Venkman wasn't going to complain about that one bit. He'd be getting paid the same amount to do half the work on two patients. That wasn't so bad, at least. He had just the perfect way to get this done, too.

Rummaging in his bottom desk drawer, he started hauling out a piece of equipment - a shock machine that had become near and dear to him over the course of his research days at Columbia. It had served him well during several experiments, many of them of dubious quality but immense entertainment value. Babe, never leave me, he thought at the machine with a short chuckle, untangling all the little wires and starting to plug it in behind his desk.

26   //  WENT MAD

Scott wasn't really what one would call the sporty type, at least not currently. In the past, maybe. He could have called himself a hockey player at one point - in grade two (it totally counted). And he had been a jock in high school, hadn't he (he had at least played a lot of Track & Field for the NES, anyway)? Regardless of what his athetic status may or may not have been, sports weren't really what the Scott Pilgrim of nowadays was associated with. He was a fighter, not a lover sports guy. Still, he was surprisingly excited to be going out to the Recreation Field. Maybe he wouldn't get any games on, but he could still work off those pesky bullet wounds, right?

He walked as fast as the crutch would let him despite the protests of his nurse and his injured limbs. His hand could grip just well enough to keep the crutch steady under his right arm (gravity did most of the work), and he was thus able to keep a good pace. "All right, not doing bad so far," Scott said to himself with a grin as he hobbled quickly across the field, heading for the goalposts on the far end. He had worked up a suprisingly steady stride by the time he got close to them. Crutch forward, then left leg swung out in front of it. Crutch, leg, crutch, leg, crutch, leg. Nothing to it! Sure, his shoulder was hurting like burning. Sure, his right leg was still giving him similar pain on a smaller scale despite not having weight put on it. Sure, his animal brain was constantly shouting, "WHY WON'T YOU STOP?!" Other than that, though, he was a-okay. He was determined to be. Otherwise, it was Game Over, wasn't it?

Soon he reached the goalposts and stopped, much to the relief of his limbs. He hadn't really gone to this spot for any specific reason. He had just wanted to prove to himself that he wasn't that hampered by his injuries. For now, he seemed to have made a good case for the affirmative on that point. He knew that he couldn't just stop at moving forward, though. He had to see how good he was going to be at fighting in this condition. How was his moveset going to be modified with a crutch added and an arm taken away? That was the million dollar ($1176470.59 CDN) question, wasn't it?

He tried something simple to start - a standing kick with his good leg. He quickly raised his left leg while leaning his armpit against the crutch, lightly touching the goalpost with the sole of his foot. Nothing bad so far. He did the same thing again, only harder. A small wave of pain shot from one leg to the other, causing him to wobble on his crutch a bit. Scott grit his teeth, not liking that result at all. This time he decided to try a small jump kick, just to spite that stupid injury. After backing up a good few inches, he pushed both feet off the ground. "Hiiiiya!" With the end of his crutch still on the ground, he gave himself a bit of extra momentum, letting it fling him toward the goalpost with his left leg outstretched.

One didn't have to be able to predict the future to know what that the result of that was going to be. Foot connected hard with goalpost. Rebound pushed him back against the crutch. Center of gravity over the crutch shifted too far back. Pain shot through both his legs and his injured arm again. This and the gravity shift caused him to let go of the crutch entirely. Body flew back over the crutch and crashed on the ground slightly behind it. Bum (among other things) ended up stinging and covered in grass stains.

"Owwwwww," Scott groaned to himself, fumbling for the crutch. It was in an awkward position, just beyond the reach of his good arm. ". . . Well, could've gone worse, I guess," he told himself as he used his left foot to start pushing the crutch back toward his hand.

[For Keman at first, then Peter and Indy later.]

558   //  WENT MAD

"Oh, deary me, it seems I'm running a bit late!" The Head Doctor's laugh was nervous, erratic. "Er – nurses, if you'd so kindly escort the patients to their next locations? That'll be the Recreational Field for the males and the Greenhouse for the females. Oh, and, patients should be taken to their specially assigned appointments, of course!

Steps came in, then out. The Head Doctor seemed to take a sip of something.

"Ah– Thanks, Lydia. Costa Rica blend is the good stuff, isn't it?"

His voice was muted as he took another sip. Then, he said: "And... I think that's all for now. I'll speak to you later!"

The intercom clicked off.

5   //  WENT MAD

It had all been going so well!

Seeing Cloud and Aerith(!) again had brought a now unfamiliar lightness to her shoulders. Work would be harder from here on out, but she wasn't on her own anymore. She was getting a second chance she'd never thought was possible. And then, then they'd trekked outside, totally ready to face the fog and the unknown (privately, the ninja had been a little worried; it couldn't happen again, it just couldn't, but what if it did?)—only to wake up. In their beds. As usual. Gaaaaaawd—!

"I just want you to know," Yuffie informed her nurse, grabbing her journal from the desk on her way out, "that your hair looks spectacularly god-awful today. What did you do, stick your tongue in a socket? I'm not exactly hip on fashion, too busy badass for that fluffy stuff, but—"

Plucky looked ready to plant her face in her hands. Or to plant her hands somewhere else. To her credit, and much to Yuffie's eternal disappointment, she did—tried to do—neither. "One of those days, is it?" the nurse sighed, disapproval incarnate. "Well. You're just going to have to behave; the new batches of patients are due today. We don't want to make a bad impression."

"I am feeling so completely convinced of my wrongdoing," Yuffie confided. They stepped into the cafeteria, practically empty as of yet. The chocolate cake last night had worked a treat, whetting her appetite. Honestly, she was getting sick of pecking at scraps like a runt Chocobo in the snow plains—but not literally, of course. Ew. She got more than enough of that on those damn buses once a week. Now that AVALANCHE really was dropping onto her lap—and remind her to get the hell out of dodge if Barret ever took his turn—she couldn't afford not to keep her strength up. For one, she'd be a liability. For two, she'd get her spine chewed out.

"Fruit," said Plucky, hovering as her charge picked out her choices for the day. Rolling her eyes, Yuffie grabbed an apple, slinging it onto the tray alongside an 'English' sandwich. "That'll do. I'll leave you to your breakfast, now." Somehow, that sounded about as comforting as 'My name is Don Corneo and I am raiding through your panty draw', and Yuffie was stopping that thought right there. Oh, god. Eurk. Bad, bad, bad! Bad, brain. Bad. That—yeah, no. Just, no. 'Sides, the guy was as dead as a doornail, splatted across Da Chao's feet. Dirtying them, really, but somehow Yuffie couldn't bring herself to be sorry about that.

(And it wasn't like the creep'd ever end up here, right? Right!)

She took to a seat, dropping her tray and her journal both onto the table. The book fell pages-down; Yuffie flipped it over, thumbing through to the middle as she worked through her apple. An almost finished map of Gaia stared back at her, neat as she could ever manage. Dots for major locations, squiggles for mountains. Stars for the materia caves, Chocobos for the tracks. All labelled in Wutaian. It was just a little piece of the home she absolutely had to get back to, 'cuz Leviathan knew what kind of trouble they'd be up to their necks in without her.

[For Donna]

1098   //  WENT MAD

"Good morning – ah! Could you... could you close that, please? Lydia? Yeah. Yeah, thanks."

Unfortunately for the Head Doctor, today was particularly clear and sunny, and he sounded more disgruntled than usual as his Head Nurse seemed to do as she was told. The zzzziip of blinds unfolding was about as clear as the sound of her sighing, and one could even picture her rolling her eyes as she exited the room.

"...Anyway!" the Head Doctor continued, obviously trying very hard to keep up the cheerful charade. "Sorry about that – ah, bad night, you see. In any case, our regular rounds of therapy for selected patients will continue today, but first... breakfast! Today, we will be serving English muffin sandwiches with fried egg, cheese, sausage, and... well, whatever else you put on it. Er – for sides, we have tater tots, silver dollar pancakes, and our usual salad and fruit options. Our drink assortment is the usual kind too – orange juice, milk, water... the works and all that!"

He seemed to realize he was being a bit more disjointed than usual. He cleared his throat.

"In any case, I hope you enjoy it. I'll be speaking to you again soon!"

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 character wake up in a random room as we don't have roommates sorted out yet. Putting M??/F?? in the subject line is fine. ]

29   //  WENT MAD

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