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It's okay, let her get used to it. For some reason, the light was brighter than what it suggested outside? Oh, no, it's just amplified by the white walls, white floor, white windows. Of an entire room of people sitting up in their beds, fixing her with silent stares. The room is bigger than it should have been, but the space she had to move was just this little bit in front of the door, everywhere else had either a bed, a person, or both.

Shh.

Let her get used to it. Her pursuer's calling, then a loud wet bang on the door. Oh, it shook, slightly, but did not give. And muttered cussing in pain and frustration with that smell muted, but wafting in. All while the patients in the room fixed their blank stares on her as one. Adults, little kids, elderly, all in white gowns and white sheets and white faces, not even a single blink or shift or breath taken. Except for a flash of brown darting away with muffled footsteps, further into the sea of white.

They slowly turned to look at each other with their dilated eyes, then turned back to stare at her some more, this red in the white. Blind to her exact situation, looks like.

"Who?" they all chimed in unison. Hard to not draw a parallel against a choir of owls, if owls were only as loud as the breeze in their tree. Good thing too, she could keep tabs on just how safe she was, now that there was hasty knocking and muffled shouts on the other side of the door. But also enough for soft whisperings and mutterings to reach her ear from a corner deeper in the room.

But the children, however, burst into smiles. Bright, cheeky smiles. One had the gall to pipe up "Is it Doctor Scarlet?" and giggle. Another swooned and squealed, "Miss Bunny's come to see Doctor Scarlet! How romantic, just like his knight in shining armor! We've got to help her!" Closer the kids come towards her, a mess of spotless gowns and happy faces and soft hands grabbing at her own, nosing a path through the rest of the patients towards the only wall with windows and sunlight streaming in. "Where is he? Let's look for him! Let's!"

Now that the noise was in the room, the noise outside turned into a deathly silence, punctuated only by bated breaths and a scrabbling at the lock.

The children hesitated, looking at each other. Oh yeah, they were all in here for a reason, and the reason was simple. Reminded of the consequences of disobeying the hospital staff, all of them fell quiet again with gentle 'aww's and 'but...'s, disappointed.

"But guys! We can't just not help Miss Bunny! Doctor's gonna be useless without her!" Hmm, Little Miss Romantic sure had a smart mouth. Grabbing as many of her peers' hands as possible, she pulled them further towards the back. "And we can all go on a secret field trip too!" Her enthusiasm certainly was not going to get them all outside in an instant, even if it brightened up a few faces. "Field trip, field trip!" they chanted, "field - "

The sound outside the door had completely ceased all of a sudden. No wait, there's something... a cold, snickety snick of a key, and off all the children go running, ducking back into their beds and huddling under the sheets! Save the brave little miss and her friend that was pulling at her dress and trying to get her back into bed. Oh no, and they end up squabbling, one worried for safety and the other for happy endings!

Now, with most of the children in their beds, there was enough floor space for her to walk up to the window, or to the back of the room where the dabs of colour fluttered around behind the white veil.

"But it's so boring to stay in here," whined the girl, following after her with courageous stupidity while her sensible coward of a friend continued pulling at her and shooting distressed looks at the door. "We don't ever get to go out, and even then nearly nobody comes to visit..." So why was she pulling the doe-eyed trick on Amarante? Did it work on the doctor as well? It was worth a shot, anyway.

Whoever had the bright idea to cram all the beds near the front of the ward, anyway? It certainly was a lot more roomy in the back than in the front, so much so that there was only one bed against the furthest wall. But no other doorway in sight, nope. And even in this room, where there were no cameras, she was still being watched. Although more openly, and by a very visible duo rather than an undescribed entity. One male patient in bed with a white face mask, and a young girl in a school uniform beside him, glancing between the red visitor and the faint blue wisp floating next to her own head. Any fainter and the only trace that could show the wisp was ever there was the floating cookie that was somehow eating itself.

"Alyssa, we've got to get back into bed," pleaded the little girl's friend, eyes widening at the door swinging open without a sound. "E-Everyone else is already in bed! We're going to get scolded if we don't get in too!" He's right, on one count, but the adults and elders still were up instead of in bed, their eyes following Amarante. What a bad example for the kids.

Poor girl, she looked so disappointed! "Awww.... It's okay, it's nice of you to have offered in the first place, Miss Bunny. Doctor Scarlet has to really take care of you!" But still caught up in her mini romance drama, of course. "Then we'll have another big happy family to play with!" Even her friend seemed exasperated at her cheery shipping.

Aww, it was a nice view of Durem from up here! The roads trailing from outside in, the tetris blocks of buildings, the clock tower chiming in the distance with clouds hovering just above. Wait, this room was on the fifth floor, right? Could a building's fifth floor really be this high up? That made no sense, the view should be more at home on the thirtieth floor rather than the fifth, yet the hospital on the outside certainly did not seem to extend all the way up like a skyscraper. Regardless, the windows were locked tight with grills, perhaps for any ah, adventurous patients who might think climbing out the window was a good idea.

And suddenly, all of the stares on her were gone. Or most of them. Everyone at the front of the room had turned away to stare at someone else, someone else who just entered the room, silent as a shadow. The same air of being around confined places and death for too long, but without the doctor's signature chill. But his presence alone made quite a few reactions in the room. The two kids ran up to Amarante's feet with headlamp-doe eyes, and the schoolgirl started whispering quickly to the masked patient, and the wisp ducked under the nearest bed.

"... Miss?" Hmm, even covered with black lenses, there was just a hint of recognition in that straight, lined face and that firm, calm voice. "I'm sorry, you're not allowed here at the moment. Visiting hours are... closed, for today. Perhaps you could come by next time, instead."

Silence.... "I understand. However, it is against protocol for you to be here. I can escort you back to the lobby if you'd...." Punctuated by a sigh in return for hers. ".... Actually, whatever I say, you're not going to be leaving until you find him, are you?" Prior knowledge? Ah, only by someone who had kept track of her hospital escapade up till now! But he sounded different from the person in the office, whatever happened to that guy anyway?

Only for the little girl to blurt out her thoughts from the safety of Amarante's side. "Of course not! Miss Bunny can't give up so easily! Doctor Scarlet's counting on her, right? So you can't get in her way of true love!" Cheesy to the point that even her friend starts burying his head in his sleeves. Not like the petulant girl cared! "Besides, you're supposed to be caring for him too, right? Right?" The only response she got was another sigh, but enough to make her retreat and shut her mouth. For now.

But elsewhere, pigtails bouncing with every skip, someone turns up at the coffeehouse. Yes, this was the place, for getting coffee for a friend after a day of exploring! Humming a little tune and squeezing in through the door, a girl with a plastic bag tottered over to the counter. Oops, the top of her head did not even reach up to the counter! No matter, some energetic waving should do. "Haaai, haaai!" she called, standing on tiptoe, just high enough for the tip of her nose to peek over.

Got to deal with the mess, got to deal with trespassing visitors too. The day could not get any worse, could it? So to save himself the headache, he turned back to the door. "Then you're in the wrong place. Or, technically you went through the right door, but the door leads to the wrong area. You'll have better luck on the third floor, that's where he went last." A pause, like hesitation. "Though I'm not sure how you got into the building without a staff member, you'd probably want to leave as soon as possible. We're in the middle of cleaning up, as you probably could tell from outside." Another sigh. "Third floor, last door down the corridor, or actually just follow the dripping mess on the wall there. No one's cleaned that up yet. Afterwards, please try not to loiter any longer, thank you." Off he goes, back into the dark corridor.

"...... He's awfully helpful today." Sure, the kid had to comment, both coming out from their hiding spots. "Eh, I didn't know he's nice. Looks so scary."

To be interrupted by another patient, who pulled down his face mask to speak. "That was the last place the doctor went to, therefore he would still be there. And by extension, the room should still be in the same place as it was when he entered, therefore the directions will be the same." And back to covering his mouth and not speaking. This room must be for the mental patients, clearly.

"Ah... Is the coffee auntie here? I got a special delivery for her." She pushed the plastic bag onto the counter, trying not to let it fall back and drop on her head. "It's really special! But can you keep a secret, auntie? Don't tell her it's me? Please?" For a secret, she sure was giggling a lot. Hopefully the plastic bag did not contain a prank or anything, what a nice surprise to be waiting for her when she got back. "Oh! And um, can I have one cup of that sweet coffee. You know, that really cold one with extra sugar. Da bao, please, I gotta get home before people notice I'm gone." Onto the counter goes a handful of money, too.

Even with the observer presenting his presence to her already, the cameras still lighted her way back down to the third floor, with the same stoic watchfulness. But hey, there was no more scruffy fellow to yell at her on her way, wasn't that great? ... He had somehow vanished too, didn't he. And for some reason the responsible warden had as well. But no matter! Time was of the essence, and there was a prize so precious just in reach!

And what did anyone know, the third floor corridor had windows. Large enough to have the sunlight outside leaving gaps of yellow in the otherwise black, punctuated with that same sick-smelling glop plastered down the opposite wall, floor and ceiling, winding loops around and around, a yellow and black spiral. All with a doorway at the end, blown onto the floor of that room by some unknown force and dripping with yuck. Well, the room was still there, as the patient had said. Hopefully it would not be moving any time soon, that logic might not hold up if it did.

Who is this pale auntie? Must be the coffee auntie's friend that used a lot of facial cream! Maybe one day she could get enough face masks to make her face as white too, but she should put that thought aside for now. "Okay! Just remember, it's a surprise! And tell her to follow the instructions on the tupperware before opening it." Grinning, she pulled the bag down from the counter and pushed it into the pale auntie's hands. "Okay, nothing else! ....." Sure, nothing else, with her eyes trying not to look at those flapping things, how did that work? Ah, don't look, it's rude! And if she stayed any longer, someone might get mad. "N-Nothing else! I just da bao one coffee, can already."