The doors had unlocked, and Albel the Wicked didn't waste any time with moving out into the hallway. It was still early, so no one was around just yet. Not that the warrior was going to complain about that...

He didn't plan on wasting any time on reaching Fayt's room, so he moved quickly. If the night was going to end again before he had even so much as reached the stupid door, he was gonna be pissed.

[To here]

The whole not-bursting-into-flame thing was still a perk Angel could get used to. He ended up sitting just beneath a tree by a patch of sunlight, hoping maybe he'd go undisturbed just this once. The courtyard was more relaxing during the day, with its distinct lack of hyenas.

Journal on his lap, he plucked a blade of grass between his fingers. It was nice. He didn't think he'd ever just sat on the grass for no apparent reason before. Except for the couple of dates he'd ended up having with Buffy in the cemetery, but those always got interrupted by the undead.

The fact that he sort of counted those dates, anyway, probably said a lot.

[for Harley :D]

[starting off in M13]

The last part of the night was little more than a blur in Homura's mind. The men had rushed in, but not joined them, instead staying off to themselves. Before any of them had a chance to react, however, a voice sounded through the air, mocking some other person Homura had never heard of, and the patients themselves.

To Homura, whoever that man was, he sounded a great deal like a god.

But before he could ask questions, the demi-god found himself no longer in the chapel, but some strange room on a bed. Is that what Kenren had meant from his earlier warning? Homura sat up, glad at least that the world didn't spin when he did so. Then the same man from before began to speak again, with a completely different tone. It was confusing to hear him talk that way, calling them patients instead of prisoners as he had before. Homura listened quietly as the announcement was made, then got out of bed.

Maybe he wouldn't have to go anywhere yet. It wasn't like Homura knew where to go anyway, and that meant he had time. If this was his room, and if he had been here as long as Kenren had said, there was a chance he could find something with answers. The Taisho had even told him that Homura had seen Rinrei. Certainly he would've written something down, made a map, something that could let him find her again! He started with the desk at the end of his bed, first finding a small stack of notebooks. Picking up the first, he flipped through, turning the pages with quickening desperation as he found each one to be blank.

That announcement had been... interesting, to say the least. The result of the new people over the radio? It was something worth looking into when he'd be more capable of defending himself and others. Right now his wounded arm made too much exploring a bad idea. He'd head to Usopp's tonight and see if the pirate needed any help.

The fact that his roommate hadn't showed up was worrying given the happenings tonight. But if he'd been taken for either Special Counseling or the CM-US sessions there would be no means for him to stop it at this point. It wasn't good, but the boy should return the next morning.

Then again, hadn't he just been taken to be brainwashed not too long before? It was strange that they'd take the same person more than once, especially this soon after the last time.

That was more than Sai needed to worry about at the moment, however. Itachi should have plans, according to the bulletin, so there shouldn't be any reason to wait around and see if he'd be stopping by. He'd simply head to the pirate's room before the usual rush.

[to here]

The intercom clicked on and the Head Doctor spoke with his usual fervor.

"Good evening, patients and staff! I am pleased to announce that the arrival of nearly all of our new patients will conclude this shift. In addition, we have a very delicious dinner in store for you: carved Turkey with a side of mashed potatoes and steamed, seasoned vegetables. For drinks, we have our usual assortment available, and as a dessert included with your dinner, we will be serving a slice of warm apple pie with each meal.

"I trust that those of you enjoying the company of new roommates will give them a warm Landel's welcome, and I also hope that those of you who participated in therapy today were able to find a productive time with their doctors.

"That's all for now! Enjoy dinner, everyone!"

The intercom clicked off again.

[ Please respond to this post with all dinner shift threads between roommate, putting your character's respective room in the subject line. While we have none scheduled for this shift at this time: all introduction posts for this shift's group of new characters should be made in response to this post; the introduction may then continue on to be a regular roommate thread. ]

It had been so sudden, though welcome, when the announcement had said they could go to the Music Room! Brook was at least ten steps ahead of his nurse, too excited for words. What would there be?! He should be able to find that strange piano thing Luffy had mentioned, right?! "Here, it's here, isn't it?" like an excited child, he pointed into the room while waving at the nurse behind him.

"Yes, yes, you're welcome to go in, Mr. Rousseau," she breathed allowing him to go ahead in. There were already others in there, and she was running out of the energy to deal with him.

"Yohohoho!" Brook sailed in with a high laugh, then stopped dead and looked round. No, no violins, just like Luffy'd said. Not even another member of the string family. As for the piano... there was indeed something that looked similar, only far smaller. And on a stand! Whatever it was, it certainly hadn't been around when he'd been alive, but he could still pick it out as piano-like. Perhaps it had the same notes as well?! He went over and had a seat, carefully trying out the Middle C and finding it to be perfect! Not the exact same sound of a piano, but enough of a mimic. He could work with this!

But what to play?! Ah, what else?! Setting his fingers to the keys (what a feeling it was with skin again?!), he started playing out a softer version of "Bink's Sake", wondering if anyone else may recognize the tune. There had to be other pirates around here, right?

[Waiting for Daemon and Renji.]

After spending the last shift in discussion in the library, Rukia had a lot on her mind. Speaking with Captain Harkness had been somewhat informative, but only increased her worry. How easily were they all being controlled by Landel? And by what means? Too many questions.

Since she was still confined to a wheelchair, Rukia asked a nurse to get her some fruit, salad, and a big bowl of rice. She could have easily done it herself, but wanted to find a spot in one of the corners near the door to wait for Renji. She hadn't spoken to him for long the previous day, and had been very upset at the time. Maybe they could just have a nice lunch together.

Rukia thanked the nurse who brought her food and began to eat, looking up at the door every so often.

And then he was back in his room again. Sai frowned at the ceiling momentarily, but was soon sitting up. He was back in the Landel's uniform again, which really saved him the trouble of having to change, didn't it?

It was disappointing that he hadn't had the opportunity to finish his discussion with Usopp, but luckily they'd already made plans for the morning meal - to include their new cohort, of course. Hopefully whatever had been responsible for making Usopp act the way he had the night before had worn off with the sunrise. Otherwise things would get troublesome.

The moment his nurse came to get him he was ready to leave, and as usual she was pleased with how willing to go along with the daily routine he was, though he hardly offered her any attention. Breakfast was... unpleasant looking, so Sai stuck to milk and fruit. Finding a table, he didn't yet take a seat but stood so that the two men he'd be meeting with could spot him easier.

Time to get down to business.

[waiting for Usopp and Mello]

[ inside f7]

“What?” Kairi had been in the middle of getting off of the bed when she heard the announcement the head doctor made, surprise overtaking her face. Hadn’t the man on the radio been well known? Hadn’t he helped all kinds of people?

Her look of shock slowly turned into a sad frown as she moved across the room, not saying a word other than the “what?” she had muttered before. This place was so horrible –

Moving to her dresser, Kairi pulled open the doors in hope of perhaps finding another flashlight. What she found instead was something much better (in her opinion, anyway) and much more useful!

“Oh!” she exclaimed happily as she pulled the pink dress out of the wardrobe, a grin crossing her lips. It had been such a long time since she had seen the pink dress she usually wore, and to see it now just randomly sitting inside the large wardrobe was a pleasant surprise! Before she could really even think, she slowly began to change into the outfit, pausing once she was done to look down.

She looked like herself again! (Minus the bandages, anyway)

Pumping her fists, Kairi did a quick hair flip and let out a happy giggle.

Now all there was to do was wait for Axel.

After a few moments of waiting, Kairi decided that perhaps it would be better to wait in the hall. After all, nothing would happen ... and if something suspicious came, she'd just run back into the room.

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 ]

((Reserved for Dias.))

The shower shift had been a bit brief for Claude's liking, though he figured it had more to do with the fact they didn't get to bathe very often, and less to do with finding the shower rooms enjoyable. Then again, did anyone really enjoy communal showers?

...Wait. Maybe it was better not to think on that too hard. Yeah, he'd just leave that train of thought behind at the door, for his own sanity's sake.

Claude hadn't been here as long as some of the other captives, but even he thought the Head Doctor's absence was pretty jarring. He knew it was likely related to the stuff involving "Mr. Radio" from the other night, although whether it was a good or bad thing had yet to be seen. Who knew? Maybe it wouldn't really change much of anything in the end, but he'd try saving any hasty conclusions for when Martin Landel decided to come out of the woodwork again, whenever that was.

In the meantime, he was still keeping his eyes peeled for his friends. Well, mostly friend, by this point. It'd make sense he wouldn't run into Leon just yet, seeing they were divided up by age, and he'd seen Ashton and Luke for himself during the last shift, which was always a relief. Asch and Guy were, of course, accounted for, so he didn't have to worry about them.

So that just left Dias.

In truth, Claude intended to at least have a look around the music room while he was in the area, seeing that it was one of the places he planned to explore during a nightshift, preferably the upcoming one. But he knew if he slipped into one of the side rooms, it'd be a little more difficult for anyone to spot him. So, for now, he lingered beside the music room's entrance, his gaze moving towards the sun room's doors. He'd wait for a little while, just in case.

It was then that the crazy events from the night before and today began to truly catch up to him, and after giving a heavy sigh, he leaned against the wall. "Oh boy..."

Hitsugaya woke with a start.

His entire body ached, but the pain was nowhere near as bad as it had been the night before. His injuries had been tended two with clean gauze and bandages, and he found every movement wasn't agony. He wasn't in the best of shape, but thanks to the miracle of landel's strange time distortion, he had mostly recovered from the vile poison without having to waste anyone else's talents.

And in his hand, still...there was the key.

He dressed quickly, sliding the key onto the key ring from his desk drawer and stuck it into his pocket. Whether the key stood to gain them anything or not, it stood as a vital reminder that they could succeed in this place. There was hope, as insignificant as it often seemed. They could beat this place.

That small shred of hope made getting up worth it.

The nurse who escorted him to breakfast was cheerful, and commented idly about how wonderful it was to see young Tommy Winters up and about again after his unfortunate run-in with a bad case of food poisoning. He smirked slightly, knowing that any lies the institute forced into their heads were only that: lies. He wouldn't buy it for a second. And on top of that, the concept of muffins sounded almost appetizing. While he still preferred his authentic Japanese cuisine, the food here was slowly becoming more and more bearable. He would have preferred a warm bowl of sweet nattou over rice over the mufffins, but they would do. The plain yogurt and fruit, on the other hand, was excellent. He piled his plate high with fruit as usual, and got several small bowls of yogurt as well.

Finding the most convenient table to the end of the food line, he took a seat and scanned for the new arrivals. New arrivals meant people who would be lost and confused. Renji did a good job of making a bulliten post last time...he should recommend abarai-fukutaicho do the same again this time.

[Waiting for Angel]

This was no night to be lingering; Aidou sealed up M52 in his usual fashion and left hurriedly enough. He ignored the intercom beyond noting, with not a little suspicion, that 'wandered off' meant the usual babbling idiot was possibly planning something else. Who knew. The disgusting, rasping nurse's words weren't worth thinking on.

'Everyone dies in the end' was a mistaken assumption.

About the only thing worth paying attention to was the presence of even more new prisoners and learning there were four in store for experimentation, but tonight wasn't the night to do anything about that. After having half a day to consider his options, there just wasn't any way around it: rather than split his time between two different tasks (risky business), he'd have to deal with the little vampire wannabe and investigate Akatsuki's disappearance at the same time.

At least keeping Kyon with him allowed plenty of time for explanations, and being able to get out of those grey rags, even if it was just his school uniform, was comforting.

_{[to here]}

Having nothing else to do during the daytime, Recluse opted for the library. Upon arrival, he remembered how pathetic the selection here was. Would it really be so difficult for them to at least get a decent science fiction section? All but one of the books available in that genre were ones he’d already read before he'd joined the army to fight in the Great War, now more commonly known as World War I. Recluse made an irritated hiss. Whoever put this library together seems to think science fiction became a lost art after Edgar Rice Burroghs died.

Recluse sighed, picking up the most recent science fiction book he could find--Brave New World, published in 1932--and started reading.

[From here]

Apart from the anaemic moonlight, it was pitch-black, and the weight of the darkness pressed down on him, exaggerated the blindfolded absence of that sixth sense they'd given him. He was amazed at how much he'd come to rely on it, but then he realised; he centred his life around using whatever he was given without thinking twice.

He was thankful for the cold of the night - he'd always been fascinated with cold places, cold things, and this was an uncharacteristic one dog night in a place where you should only need a blanket. He was quite substantially dressed thanks to that nurse, but the bite of the wind through his arms and against his bare face was comforting. The cold raised your heart rate - in theory, he should be better prepared for the fight he was waiting for.

Damn Axel. Cursing him with ideas that he knew were probably right.

Wasn't it a bit too coincidental that his sixth sense chose now to flake out?

Momentarily, he sneezed in the cold, strangely paranoid about the fraction-of-a-second loss of vision. He idly recalled an old game he'd seen Otacon play. Maybe the reason he couldn't sense anything was because they'd filled the air with SNOW-9. He wouldn't put it past them to use something like that.

The only thing that kept him from heading back was the fact that paranoia was better than confirmed danger. There couldn't be anything out here worse than there was in the hospital. He suspected that the bus incident hadn't gone entirely to plan, and that meant they weren't omniscient.

And that, he decided, meant they had a chance.

[Dropping down from Bus 3.]

Shana dropped into the darkness from the open window above, keeping her back to the carraige as she waited for her eyes to adjust to the pitch blackness surrounding her. It must have been a cloudy night, for she could make out no stars or moon above. Eerie sounds filled the night and she shivered, not liking the sound of it, nor the fact that she was out here alone with no idea of what could be lurking in the shadows.

Shadow was still trapped in the bus somewhere above and behind her, and she had no idea where Valyn and Keman were. Focusing her magic, she tried to reach out and feel for them, wondering if they'd felt her cast her magelight spell, wondering if they'd cast anything in return for her to find them. She had no desire to spend the night separated from them, especially since she hadn't been here long enough to know her way about the place, let alone the extent of dangers it could hold