Day 53: Sun Room, Morning

[scarefaux]

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

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[autophoenix]

For all of the apologizing that he had deemed necessary for his strangeness, Claire really owed Stefan some serious thanks for the information she'd gotten over lunch. Her unanswered questions about the night before had been, for the most part, set to rest, and it had helped her to feel better that she hadn't been the only one to, at some point during her stay in the institute, be haunted by her own fractured reflection.

Landel had some serious issues if he was really that obsessed with making the patients look at themselves and face their worse qualities in that way, sure, but there wasn't anything that could be done about it for now. Just preparation for what they had to face -- which, apparently, would frequently be themselves. Knowing how guilty she'd felt about getting Bella involved in the scuffle with her mirror image helped her commiserate with Stefan, sympathize with how he must have felt facing down his own shadow, and she could only hope that unlike her, he hadn't had a friend -- or, rather, a one time friend -- there

[hiddenbadass]

[From here.]"You know," the woman spoke after a few moments of walking, "most new patients usually have more questions for us

[oneman_onekill]

Niikura always imagined that meeting a fictional character in reality would be so much more...dramatic and caps lock filled as the universe slowly collapsed following the fall of the fourth wall. Yet, none of that had happened; in fact, this breakfast had been his most somber one yet, even with his standard one or two off-color comments.

Really, with Tomoe, could he have expected anything less...?

Oh well. Such was life. He sauntered away from his nurse as soon as he got in the Sun Room, waving her off with a grin and a promise to behave himself and find a new friend, (How could she expect anything less?) and got down to business with his usual energy. Someone new, someone--oh hey, a cat. Adorable orange fellow that looked pretty familiar, currently taken by--oh hey, someone new. Niikura smiled lightly to himself as he stood a short, respectable distance away, taking in the odd pair. Not everyday he saw a tough guy with his left arm missing petting a cat

[hiddenbadass]

Mike knew he was being watched shortly after Niikura's eyes fell onto him, but that didn't stop him from petting the cat. The guy wasn't being outright obvious and staring, but he wasn't trying to hide himself, either. Mike actually appreciated that. Good to know some people still had 'manners'.

Niikura swaggered over and spoke to the cat that Mike continued petting, not seeming bothered by Mike's appearance or demeanor. It was only when he spoke to Mike directly that he showed a brief moment of hesitation.

Then again, it probably helped that Mike was petting a cat. Giving a guy a cute animal was a tried and true method of making him more approachable. Kid was probably just interested in the disconnect between appearance and action.

"With the amount of drugs this place has, that isn't an issue," Mike observed, glancing up at Niikura.

[oneman_onekill]

Niikura laughed and collapsed onto the nearest sofa, allowing one leg to cross over the other and lacing his hands behind his head. "Guess it isn't, though the only drugs I've ever seen 'round here are the ones they use to sedate folks with."

Short, logical response plus copious, visible battle scars: previous military experience? Otherwise violence-based occupation? Funny that he liked cats, but most people had a soft spot here or there. Probably wasn't worth much to gently tease the guy about it: he'd either make himself a new enemy or just get a blank stare and a vague response that translated to 'bug off, brat'. Neither of those were reactions Niikura wanted; it was therefore the best option to, like he had with Laura yesterday, get down to business.

"So. Ya new here? I figured since, no offense, yer pretty memorable." Niikura tapped his index finger against his temple before leaning forward and offering a hand - his right. "Niikura Shou--just call me 'Niikura', though. 'Shou' is a little too common for my tastes."

[cannotlogout]

Tsukasa almost didn't want to look when he opened his eyes. After last night, with the grime and filth and stains that he didn't want to think about too closely, he really didn't want to get a close look at what the bedrooms could become. The thought made him feel slightly ill and he'd never considered himself a squeamish person before. He rolled over though, and the light filtered through his eyelids. It... probably was daytime then. He opened one eye a crack, relieved to see white paint and linoleum and hating himself, just a little, for being relieved

[feartehreaper]

Don't be ridiculous...

Haseo went from asleep to sitting up immediately, these words ringing in his head and absolutely confused. His hands clenched around swords that were no longer there, tongue biting back retorts he hadn't had a chance to use. He'd been ready to fight Kibitoshin's shadowy copy, and yet... for some reason, that hadn't happened. The last thing he remembered was the man himself insisting he not go at it alone, and then everything abruptly going black. And before that...

Needless to say, today promised to be particularly bad, mood-wise. The next five minutes were spent with his face in his hands, angry at... well, everything. It was obvious, too- his nurse actually found reason to pause when she came in to fetch him, whatever chiding she'd been preparing for his missing breakfast going mostly left aside

[cannotlogout]

The kitten was a little more subdued than most of it's friends. It sat quietly in Tsukasa's lap for a while, sniffing cautiously at him before it curled up against his stomach, a warm furry bundle. That didn't bother Tsukasa much though to be honest. He was quite content to sit there with it, stroking its back and behind it's ears until it began to purr. He could feel the rumble of it against his stomach and he smiled. Maybe... when he got home, he could ask Bear if he could have a kitten. It might be difficult in the dorms but at home? His home. Heh, it still made him smile to think that he had one, a proper one like that

[feartehreaper]

It never really occurred to Haseo that the way he always seemed to approach Tsukasa was odd, and as thoughtful as he was right now, this time was no exception. He just kept quiet until Tsukasa noticed him... but then when he did, needless to say, the teen wasn't much in the mood for pleasantries.

"Tsukasa..." he started slowly, stepping closer, but then launched right into what he thought he'd come over for without further preamble- "Endrance is gone. Thought you should know." However, though the words were blunt his voice was unusually neutral, far lower than how he usually spoke- especially as 'Haseo.'

It was probably inevitable. Kibitoshin had definitely been sympathetic last night, but Tsukasa... would likely understand better what that meant. He'd probably understand 'more' than what it had really been, actually, considering what had happened a week before the night after Haseo had been experimented on. Maybe. After the fact, Haseo still wasn't sure himself.

[boketa]

Goku had enjoyed talking with Kairi and, of course, eating, so when his nurse came to take him into the Sun Room, he was less than pleased. He glowered at her approach and all but grabbed onto the table for dear life so she couldn't take him away. It hadn't worked; the table was too wide for his small hands and far too slippery

[savagesolitude]

Claire had been allowed to briefly go back to her room after breakfast. To 'grab her diary', she'd told the nurse. While the journal was clutched in her hands now, it wasn't the whole reason for the trip. That would be the candy bars tucked into her pockets, the bulk of which was well hidden by the edge of loose cotton shirt just a size too large. She had spent the whole time in the cafeteria weeping onto Bella and talking in hushed tones, so the waffles had gone to waste. Not to mention she still wasn't sure if she could risk poisoning

[boketa]

"Ah--?" Something was in his face! Goku's big, vacant eyes honed in on the strange shiny, yellow rectangular thing. It shifted slightly in the owner's grasp, and the monkey boy followed it with keen focus. The fat cat in his lap looked up and sniffed the wrapping before a paw came up to inspect it.

"H-Hey...!" Pulling it down so the cat couldn't get to it first, Goku held it tightly in his hand, watching it with childish wonder.

".......................... What is it?" He turned it back and forth in his mighty grip.

[savagesolitude]

"It's a candy bar," Claire told him quietly. What kind of life must Goku have led if he didn't know what a flashlight or a candy bar was?

She circled around the sofa to take a seat next to him, still angling herself to keep the sweet from view. "You peel off the wrapper..." She did so. "...and the candy's inside."

It was something called an O'Henry. Not a brand she recognized, but sweets were sweets. There seemed to be a lot of peanuts on it, all coated in chocolate. Claire beamed secretively at the boy, quickly passing it off into his hands and avoiding the curious cat. "Here. Try it."

[thatdemonbitch]

All in all, Ruby could say without a doubt that she was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Even if you put aside all the discomfort she was feeling from being crammed in her vessel with no exit strategy in a psychiatric hospital that would probably just cry self-loathing issues if they knew she called herself a demon, there was still all the messy death, the missing memories and the seriously skewed timeline issues to deal with that Sam had graciously dumped on her over breakfast.

To say her death vexed her would be the world's greatest understatement, and while, all in all, it may not have been Hell, it wasn't really ranking top 10 best days either. Not even close to the best way to start her day. On the way out of the cafeteria, the nurse attempted what she probably thought was comforting guidance by way of putting her hands on Ruby's arm to lead her toward the Sun Room, leading the demon to just forcibly jerk her limb away from the bitch and shoot a dismissive glare

[rischiarare]

Getting out of a bed was a struggle for the Nobody when daylight cracked its way into his room and roughly shook him by the shoulders - which ached. It then lit his legs - also aching - and briefly slipped over his arms before the fake florescence of the overhead lights bled the sun out. Unsurprisingly, they hurt too.

Whatever Scott's shadow had been, it was a lot tougher than a Shadow... or Roxas was a lot weaker. The latter was more a fact than anything else if he considered how he couldn't move like he used to, or summon a ball of light in his hands that would bleed and squirm like a live thing, or even just summon the Keyblade when he needed it. No, now it came when it felt like it, like the weapon had a mind of its own and only came when absolutely necessary. Still, the shadow, the way it had spoken, all of it had unnerved Roxas. The Heartless were monsters, sure, but they still had that small little light inside of them. It could be unearthed. And he knew Heartless; he knew how they moved and how they could be defeated. But

[thatdemonbitch]

Sure enough, it was the Arts and Crafts Club bulletin post -- well, that along with the History Club post and something that was apparently posted by the Spock (it was a clever pseudonym, if nothing else, and whatever friends the guy had seemed to go with it) -- that had caught Ruby's attention most. When she realized that Roxas was asking her to move aside so he could get to that one specifically, her original annoyance at being interrupted shifted to something of interest

[rischiarare]

Roxas just gave her a look - the one where he just stared at the other person, his mouth turned down, trying to figure out what she was talking about. He knew it wasn't exactly anyone's fault that Roxas was so far out of the loop, but he couldn't help but get annoyed with the sheer amount of questions he had to ask to keep up. By this point, he just kind of glanced over stuff he didn't understand, trying to formulate it out himself. Paper cranes... okay, that had to be origami, right? He'd read about how cranes were the "original" shape to fold, but what did that have to do with wishes?

Once she announced her newness, though, any irritation he had vanished. It was bad enough for him, not knowing what half the stuff around him was, but it was even harder being new and not being prepared for what the institute was and would be. "They're groups of patients who work on different projects, but the names are just codes. The staff is kind of picky with what goes up on this board." He wrote a quick reply to Sora as well as Scott, checking