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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[theroadsofar]

So Dean hadn’t got a chance to crash Sam’s party yet.

That didn’t mean Operation: Kill Sam Winchester In His Sleep still wasn’t on table.

‘Course his brother would see him coming. No doubt Sam had figured out that maybe, just maybe, things weren’t cool between them. Maybe he’d try to change the subject or try to turn this back into being about The Job, like Dean would be willing to turn a blind eye to this again just ‘cause it gave him a sick feeling to think Sam was less than human. Sam kept doing that at him; this time Dean wasn't going to roll over. He wasn’t sure exactly what old Yellow-Eyes did to the kid when he’d been in Lawrence. Wasn’t sure he even wanted to know. But none of that changed the fact that Sam was plain different than he was and it kinda freaked him out. Humans simply weren’t supposed to be able to light people on fire with the power of their minds, dammit. Sam wasn’t supposed to be rocking black eyes, either. The kid used to be normal

[sociopathology]

The act of following people from room to room was already becoming tiresome. Conformity at its best, with strict time sheets, similar clothes and nurses moving the day along whenever they got their say so; Sherlock hated it all, but he especially hated his nurse. She chattered mindlessly as she lead him through the corridors, a constant wail of conversation that Sherlock simply couldn't care less about. He barely even responded to her, having discovered that she refused to answer the questions he deemed useful, and would instead move it onto more small talk. When the opportunity presented itself, Sherlock broke away from her and left her talking to herself, ducking through crowds of people until he could finally see the room everyone was beginning to gather themselves into

[theroadsofar]

It didn't take too long for Dean to figure out someone was actually staring at him.

He turned.

With the room filling up with other patients - prisoners, same thing at this point - he didn't spot the guy immediately. When he did, Dean was startled to see the guy staring right at him, this really pale dude who looked like he could stand to take a step outside or something. Dean glanced down at himself, half expecting one of the cats always around the Sun Room to have thrown up on him or - nope, he was clean, and he still couldn't figure out why the other guy was staring at him. Dean thought about ignoring him. For all he knew, there could be a good reason he was staring. Maybe he recognized him? It wasn't exactly the first time he'd run into someone in Landels who acted like they knew him and he guessed technically they had, pre-brain wipe or whatever they were going to call it.

Dean finally got up and approached the other patient, taking a seat without asking and flashing him one of those friendly grins that weren't that friendly

[sociopathology]

Sherlock was unreasonably good at hiding himself. This time, however, he just didn't see the point - there was a room full of people, some looking particularly at ease but most of them looking somewhat distant, or even distressed in some cases.

As soon as he's recognised he realises the natural rhythm one goes through when realising someone has been watching them for what could be full minutes. First, they wonder whether there's something on their face or on their clothes, sometimes they question whether it's in their heads but usually they fall onto ignoring whoever it is (because that is, as far as Sherlock could understand, what polite people do). Admittedly, their actions would be stiff and wary, because they know that someone's watching, and sometimes it would be about that time that Sherlock would watch someone else. Usually, though, he kept his gaze on them. What intrigued Sherlock was how certain cultures reacted to the attention - some would be offended, some would be uncomfortable and others would welcome it. It was

[bodhiandspirit]

Ridiculous

[witchdetective]

Her morning conversation with Sync did little to refresh Erika's mood, despite their agreement to never speak of the revelations they learned about each other last night. Probably because the detective was burning with the desire to find out exactly what transpired last night and smash it apart, so show Landel that he was wrong. That spark of hate was enough to motivate Erika to finally begin her normal morning routine, and this included checking the bulletin board

[bodhiandspirit]

There was a flicker of annoyance in her expression when Rita looked up at the person who had interrupted her, but it subsided when the stranger stated her purpose. The truth behind the events of the previous night was something Rita wanted to unravel herself, but at a glance, she couldn't tell whether this person was interested in facts, or if she also believed all that supernatural garbage. If it was the latter, then this conversation was going to be a headache

[witchdetective]

As soon as the word "trick" escaped the girl's lips, it was like Erika's morning was brighter already. It even coaxed a smile from the detective's lips as she made her way around and sat down on the seat next to the girl's, even if she wasn't invited. They had a common goal, so it was best to get comfortable. It would assist her thinking, at any rate.

"< Good! > I would also like to figure out what sort of tricks were used last night. And yes, I experienced the same thing. It seems like others have had too." Of course, her main assumption was that the events last night happened to everyone who was out in the Institute, but perhaps this girl knew of exceptions. Not that Erika was expecting any, but she had to be careful with her assumptions. Without the red and blue truths, she had to make sure to be thorough in her searching and make sure not a single clue was left unexamined

[thecamellia]

[free]

Suddenly waking up back in bed solved the problem of navigating Doyleton, but it also meant that somewhere Fai was doing the same, the nurses ready to go about their business like nothing outwardly had happened. "And when you wake up in the morning, you’ll be able to neatly pack it away again and stash it where your allies and enemies aren’t able to see. Unless, of course… they have already seen it."

But Tsubaki wasn’t really worried about herself or what Fai had "heard" about herself. That could wait, could be unpacked calmly later. She wasn’t worried about what she had heard regarding Fai, either, because according to her, she hadn’t heard anything. At least nothing that affected her opinion. She trusted--had to trust--that people would feel the same. Fai’s condition and what he thought of her having been witness to his shadow was what concerned her the most

[tsunagari]

Sai awoke to find he'd missed out on breakfast. He didn't mind this so much, as he doubted he would have been up to eating anything just yet anyway. Still, he didn't like losing track of any period of time, no matter how inconsequential. He followed his nurse to the sun room silently, mulling over the events from the night before

[thecamellia]

The animal she held was soft and she could feel its heart beating against the arm she used to brace it in her lap. How were these tiny kittens affected by the nightly transformations? When she thought about it, they were probably the most innocent creatures she’d come across in the Institute. "You can’t talk, though, can you?" she murmured a little wistfully to it, drawing her fingers through its slick coat of fur. Unfortunately, there were no magical cats to confer with here. Home was a long ways away and so was the wisdom of all her companions and mentors. Even Professor Stein’s, despite the fact that he was here.

Tsubaki cuddled the cat some more, every now and then scanning the doorway. She hoped she could catch someone, if only to say hi, and at the most, figure out what they were going to do about the radio situation. Last night had… opened some wounds as well as complicate things

[tsunagari]

The ninja had no interest in dealing with any of the kittens himself and he watched the one in her lap with a detached expression. Would these be real kittens that turned into monsters at night through some outside source or were they genetically altered to begin with like the creatures he'd come across on the second floor. Perhaps the one he'd taken out of its cage had once been a simple animal like this one

[windsome]

Breakfast had been...

It had been something all right, something truly beyond her own comprehension. Just what happened there? If it hadn't been so incredibly jarring Yukari would have called it surreal, so much that she didn't know what to make of it.

If anything, however, Yukari just wanted to stop thinking. It would have been nice, but her train of thought was scrambling around in incoherent circles, and it felt like nothing she could do would make it stop.

This place was too much. She wanted to go home already. There had already been enough completely crazy happenings in her life, so why couldn't things have stayed normal for a change! She was very nearly there, right? There was moving into that new dorm soon, and looking forward to her third year, but before that she was attending cram school, and that was the worst she needed to worry about-- so what the hell happened? Why this?Yukari wasn't feeling so good, and the nurse that plucked her away from the breakfast table took notice in this

[foolishmessiah]

He had slept in. His nurse had tsked and looked him over, but allowed him to head to breakfast just a little late; she was concerned about him coming down with the cold again so soon after recovering, and he said nothing to alleviate her worries. It was all the same to him, after all; cold or no cold, he was going to eat his share of the breakfast buffet and breeze through the rest of the day

[windsome]

The longer she sat, the more she realized being able to calm her line of thinking wasn't happening; Yukari hugged the pillow close, like a lost child clinging desperately to their security blanket. It was like some shield between her and everyone else who were quickly gathering into the large room, and while she simply wanted things to start making sense (or at least, start making progress on leaving), she was reluctant to have anyone else approach her. What if someone else came up and started talking to her like they've known her all this time, just like yesterday and today, speaking of all sorts of stuff that should have been impossible for a stranger to know?

Yukari had learned to open up a little, and she hadn't been as distrustful toward the world as she used to be, but that didn't mean she was ready for just anyone to know about certain aspects of her life.

The pillow didn't hide her by any (not that she was trying very hard; she was seventeen, she didn't fall back on dumb things like that), but that didn't keep Yukari from

[foolishmessiah]

Many of the sofas were already taken by other patients, so Minato had to walk further away from where he entered to get to one of the empty seats. Before he reached it, he found his shirt being tugged on from behind and to his right -- the side that was harder to see with his hair parted the way it was. He had to turn around completely to look at who was behind him, blinking slowly at the familiar face.

"Yukari."

If surprise made its way into his expression, it didn't last long; after Mitsuru's reappearance, he couldn't say he was too shocked to see Yukari after she had been 'released.' But it hadn't been long at all, had it? ...No, this wasn't the time to wonder about how the institute did things. It didn't really matter right now

[ai_no_minako]

Seriously, just how many people could end up thinking they were countries? It didn't seem like a very common sort of crazy talk, though Minako had to admit she wasn't exactly wise in the ways of the insane. Some people might think she was insane if she tried to talk about exactly what she did back at home, too, so she was trying to be charitable and assume the whole "country" business was a figurative description, like a representative at the UN or something along those lines. Or maybe they called each other by country names for the same reason the senshi referred to each other by planet names? Who knew.

Still, though, she was interested to see that Alfred and Arthur and Ivan had other friends... even one who claimed to be Japan. That was kind of amusing and interesting at the same time, and left her interested in meeting the guy just to see what he'd be like. Hopefully not as annoying as Alfred or creepy as Ivan (and they were dating?). Arthur was nice, if a little cranky. So she'd have to hope for that

[composers_proxy]

Neku wasn't feeling a whole lot better, but at least his stomach was full. There was a lot to be said for that, he supposed. He adjusted the volume on his headphones, intent on checking the bulletin, then taking up residence on one of the couches. Anything more strenuous than a nap seemed like a bad idea with how sore he felt and the injuries to his torso and shoulder.

Unfortunately, there was someone familiar already flipping through the papers. It wasn't that Minako was particularly obnoxious or anything. They'd actually had a reasonable amount in common, even if he would never understand the need for a hair ribbon to be that big

[ai_no_minako]

And hey, speaking of people she hadn't been keeping track of, there was the guy from Future-Shibuya. Time traveler or not, though, he'd been someone Minako actually had something in common with -- unlike a lot of people here. Not only was he a fellow high school student from Tokyo, he seemed pretty sane instead of believing he was a country or a computer monster or whatever. That made conversations a lot easier.

"Oh, good morning, Sakuraba-kun," she replied brightly, then paused and squinted at him a little more intently. Was he hurt? He kind of looked hurt. Though she wasn't quite sure just how loud he had those headphones on and if he was actually listening anyway. "Everything okay?"

[composers_proxy]

Despite the headphones, Neku had never had trouble hearing what those around him were saying. Maybe the noise-canceling type was worth investing in, but he liked his well enough.

"Neku's fine," he told her. No need to get so formal. This kind of situation... it was hardly necessary. Besides, he didn't use them himself half the time anyway. Shibuya was a place of change and sometimes tradition went right out the window. The only ones who bothered much with nicknames were Joshua and Shiki and neither were here.

He scanned over the notes on the bulletin, finally pointing to one with his handwriting.

"Just wondering how they keep get place so squeaky clean every morning when I know I left a few bloodstains on the floor," he shrugged, somewhat lopsided with his injured shoulder, but the gesture was still understandable. "You?"