Day 60: Cafeteria

[gald_digger]

Anise had been lying snug in bed, only vaguely aware that she was awake, when her rest was disturbed by the one sound in the world she'd never wanted to hear again.

"Good morning, everyone!"

The girl's eyes shot open and she immediately sat up straight. There was no doubt about it. That was the Head Doctor, that bastard, and he was back! Now that

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[full_score]

And just like that, the night ended, leaving Claude to wake up beneath the same sterile ceiling that greeted him every morning. He'd been trying to process what that last announced had meant, why Landel's voice was blaring into his room now, but the sudden shift from night to day always left him feeling at least a little disoriented. They'd been talking to the skeleton, right? And then...

Claude suddenly scowled. They hadn't made it across the lake in time. "Dammit!" he hissed as he sat up, throwing his feet onto the floor beneath him. And it was then that his eyes focused on the pair of slippers staring back up at him. "The hell...?"

"Thomas, you don't want to be late for breakfast, do you?"

Claude's head snapped over to the source of the voice, and he was treated to the sight of none other than his old nurse. "Wait, what are you doing here?" he blurted without thinking. "Why are we wearing the old uniforms again

[age_of_kings]

Damn, damn and damn

[full_score]

When he heard someone approaching his seat, Claude looked up from his plate and swallowed the food in his mouth. "Oh, hi!" he brightly greeted. "Tolten, right?" Extending his hand out, he gestured to the chair in front of him.

"Sure, take a seat." There wasn't any reason for him to be shy. They were all in this together, after all. With that in mind, Claude glanced over the other man and was relieved to find that he didn't seem to have any serious injuries. "Crazy time last night, huh. It's good to see you're all right."

Even though they didn't know each other that well, it was still comforting to get a chance to talk to someone more than once. Claude had, unfortunately, been here long enough to know that sometimes things didn't work out that way.

[age_of_kings]

"Oh gods, it was madness!" Tolten shook his head as he settled in across from Claude, frowning. But the smell of the food kept him from frowning more than thoughtfully. "It was like...like a terror house or some such. Not that it isn't always, I suppose, but more so than usual! And I finally bore witness to the nighttime creatures myself."

He'd heard all about them, but had remained particularly blessed. As he'd predicted, his luck didn't hold out for long.

"What happened? I understand the military oppressors lost some manner of control...." But he only partially understood the differences between the military and the medical tormentors. Only that apparently there was a difference, and now they were under control of the latter.

He hoped he wasn't bothering Claude with silly questions, but he had a hard time keeping everything straight in his mind.

"And why did they take our clothes away?" he went on, grumbling a bit. "I feel practically naked in this."

[pullstrung]

Woody jolted awake at the cheery announcement. "Ah--!" Before he could register what happened, he bolted upright, dark eyes darting around the room. Where was Mack? And that...other guy? (He hadn't even caught his name.) Come to think of it, his mattress was still in place, and everything looked normal. He wasn't even wearing that uncomfortable military uniform anymore!

Honestly, he never would have thought he'd be glad to see his nurse again. But when she appeared in place of the soldier who'd pulled him around over the past several days, he could have hugged her. Instead, he was unusually cooperative as she took him to the cafeteria. Of course, the fact he was preoccupied with keeping an eye out for Mack, the new guy, or Buzz helped him keep any smart comments to himself.

After grabbing a tray of food (real food, Woody noticed), the nurse directed him to an empty table. Normally she'd try to find friends for him to eat with, but not many people had made it to the cafeteria yet. That was probably just as well. Woody's

omg the tl;dr i sorry.

[blowfishing]

It had sent a major chill down his spine, that voice on the intercom. Whoever was doing this to them was actually enjoying this sick game. Jesse couldn't even recall what happened after that, except that he'd never gotten any smokes -- and suddenly he was waking up in a different room, with different clothes on and different faces to greet him. A friendly looking nurse called him 'Mr. Paul' and told him it was time for breakfast.

He never stopped peering at her like he was waiting for a shank in his side, but he followed her directions with a wary eye and careful steps. All the carnage from last night had disappeared, somehow. Somehow. The sudden lapses in his memory were the most alarming parts. He stared at the back of his nurse's head with the same mixture of confusion, anger and fear that had been heavy on his mind since he woke up in this place

no worries! <3

[pullstrung]

Well, it didn't take the newcomer long to show himself. Woody couldn't help but give a relieved sigh to see him alive and in one piece. That hissing from last night had been so terrifying that he didn't think he'd ever forget the sound. And this poor guy had been sent here on the worst night possible.

No wonder he was so freaked out. Just listening to him made Woody's stomach knot up with anxiety. He was right, it shouldn't have been possible, none of this should have been happening, and yet--

"Okay, listen...I know this is hard, but you've gotta try to calm down for just a few minutes," Woody told him as he raised his hands in what he hoped was a reassuring sort of way. It sounded ridiculous (like anyone could keep calm in a place like this), but this new guy was going to waste his batteries at the rate he was going. "The daytime is usually quiet, so you're safe for now." Well, probably safe for now, but some things were better left unsaid.

[blowfishing]

Try as he might to stop it, Jesse's anxious gaze kept flitting back towards the Landel's staff. It was probably making him an obvious weak link to them, even he knew that, but he just couldn't quit it. In between that and a distracted attempt to focus on Woody's advice he chewed on his thumbnail, mouth hovering around his fist. Leaning forward in his chair now, he glanced back at his fellow inmate with fearful blue eyes.

This guy was kind of reassuring, in a weird way. He was older and he knew more, and he had the same name as that toy cowboy from one of Jesse's childhood movies. Sort of looked like he might look if he was a person, too. It was a funny coincidence, but he didn't have the brain-space to be reminiscing right now or to comment on it.

Daytime was safe. Well, that was a small relief. Jesse sighed into his fist and tried a more active attempt to relax. He did need to calm down and try to think. If Mr. White was here right now he'd be able to think up some kind of plan -- but even more than Mr. White right now he

[complicatedliar]

Loki followed the woman - nurse, apparently - to the cafeteria. As if he was some sort of idiot that couldn't figure out how a feasting table worked on his own, she dragged him along in her wake and made certain he was laden with waffles (whatever those were) and fruit, as well as a glass of milk despite his (mostly polite) protestations that he was really tall and strong enough thank you, and he'd much prefer tea.

Then she deposited the tray at a table across from a young human and told him to sit, indicating that his unasked-for breakfast companion was named Tyler and wouldn't it be lovely because they were all going to be such good friendsThat was the point where Loki carefully picked the fork up from his tray and contemplated just where he could insert it into her body that would stop her talking

[complicatedliar]

Loki waited patiently while the sticky and annoying human finished chewing, staring in a sort of horrified fascination as the entire process ran its course. He idly twirled his fork around his fingers.

So apparently there had been bad food before. Not that Loki was prepared to make value judgments on the current fare, since he didn't know what most of it was. Though it seemed agreeable enough to 'Tyler.'

The fork snapped to a halt in his fingers, and he pointed it at the decimated plate in front of the young man. "You seem to be enjoying these food items. What are they?" It was not the most important question, but one often started conversations with as many inanities as possible to lull one's opponent into a false sense of security. "The... nurse seemed to think we ought to talk. Or rather that we will be the best of friends. I wonder why that might be, disregarding the possibility that she's mentally deficient. Which I admit may well be the case."

[lustful_thing]

How odd. One moment she had been with Brooke in the women's quarters, the next she was waking up again in that first bed. Dressed now in cotton plainclothes that seemed to be a prison uniform with a sense of humor. It had to be the mental institute facade.

A woman in hospital garb came and babbled at her, calling her some name she didn't know and blathering excitedly about breakfast. The urge to spear the woman was a dull ache in Lust's mind, like a low headache. Though on closer inspection, she did seem to have something of an aching head. And she felt tired. Drained. That wasn't normal....

She followed the woman through the building, having little other choice. She didn't feel right. She could remember something like a wave of tiredness passing over her the night before, but....

Maybe it really was all some dying dream. A particularly convoluted and elaborate one

[razing_phoenix]

Before they were even able to make it across the lake, morning had come upon them abruptly, placing Guy right back into his bed. He hadn't expected that to happen so suddenly -- why had they made less progress when they'd had those bracelets to rely on? -- but there wasn't much he could do about it. Getting angry and throwing things wasn't going to do any good.

It was as Guy sat up to the sound of the intercom turning on that he realized something was wrong, though. Well, maybe not wrong, but definitely different. Around the same time that he heard Landel's voice, he took in the smiley face on his chest.

And it only continued. Landel chattered on cheerily about how he was back from a trip and then gave a description of the breakfast meal as if the past few days had just been a bad dream. That was probably what the man wanted them to think, though the real point here was that the head doctor had somehow wormed his way back in

[lustful_thing]

Lust was too busy pondering the fact that she actually felt hungry to notice anyone approach her then-empty table. She had always enjoyed food, simply for the sensation of taste and texture. Hunger of this nature was an unfamiliar thing, food not being her kind's natural sustenance. But she found herself hungering for it all the same

[razing_phoenix]

Almost instantly, the stranger managed to set him at ease. Even if she teased him a little at first, it was clearly not meant in a harmful way. Guy realized that he would need to watch himself, though. Even if the lady seemed charming so far, he couldn't necessarily give that back too much in turn. Luke had always scolded him for giving women the wrong idea by accident and then having it turn into a disaster

[stray_shinigami]

Whatever amount of okay Renji had been feeling the previous night, he wasn't feeling it any more. Having Zabimaru back and feeling like a whole person again had been a good distraction from every other problem wailing for attention.

And then he woke up in the same goddamn bed, in that same goddamn uniform, and his zanpakuto was gone againIt was enough to make him want to punch a wall. Which he did. Twice. Because being angry about the situation was probably more constructive than being depressed, except that he sort of ran out of steam at that point

[scintillatingly]

It had been right in the middle of fighting those frog creatures that Sora had suddenly felt everything fade out of him. As natural as it had been to have his abilities as a Keyblade Master back in place, the way that it had been ripped away from him again had been like losing a limb.

And if any explanation had been given for that whole mess, he and Riku hadn't been privy to it, due to being outside. Sora had just been relieved that the monsters hadn't taken that chance to overwhelm them and tear them apart. He and Riku were strong, but without all of their abilities and against that many enemies, it could have ended really badly.

Morning coming after that wasn't such a surprise. If the military had managed to control their powers again, then it made sense that they could drag them back to their rooms too. That didn't stop Sora from glaring up at the ceiling of his room in frustration, though he was dragged out of that mood when the intercom came on

[stray_shinigami]

Renji was caught up enough in his own thoughts that he didn't notice Sora until he heard his familiar voice.

Yes, he'd known that Sora was still alive; Daemon had said so. But damnit, after waking to find so many people gone, so many people he cared about lost...

The tray fell out of Renji hands and hit the floor with a loud clatter, tea and waffles spraying in every direction. And regardless of the tray that Sora had, Renji snatched the boy up in his arms in a tight hug. And then for good measure, he spun in a circle.

This, he decided, was his reminder that he was actually very glad that he hadn't died. Even if it had put him out of commission for weeks.

Grinning like a complete idiot, he said, "This feel real enough for you?"

[kingdomless]

What a strange night.

Kairi awoke in her bed with a start, clutching tightly onto the sheet that was currently clinging to her body. Last night had been different. Something had changed. What had gone on? What was going to happen to them?

Obviously they hadn't been able to escape. Of course not, Kairi sighed to herself as she rolled out of bed. Of course.

The moment the princess realized she was in her old uniform, her eyes widened and she sprang out of bed, spinning around to look down at herself. The ... the old uniform? And the old announcements were back. Snapping her head towards the intercom in her room, her mouth formed an O as she looked up in pure shock. The general was gone? And ... Landel was back?

Landel was back. Kairi's heard pounding in her chest, and she instantly snapped to attention when the door to her room was opened, a cheerful nurse greeting her - Good morning, Claire! - like she had never left. Following the nurse blindly out of the room, she couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Everything was so