Night 62: Main Hallway 2-West

[rocksthecourt]

[from here]

By the time he reached the top of the stairs, Klavier had a vague melody playing in the back of his head. It really would have been better to have something tangible to listen to. That way he wouldn't lose it as soon as he tried to focus more thoroughly on his surroundings. He stood, quiet and straining to listen for anything unusual in the darkness. Nothing.

He still hesitated in proceeding forward. If anything, the continued silence just made the entire thing feel more suspicious. It was difficult not to feel like one was walking right into a trap or an ambush. He briefly glanced behind him, back down the stairs, before moving forward. Again, he just needed to focus on what he was doing and where he was going. Don't get sidetracked.

The area he wanted to inspect was straight ahead.

[to here]

Comments

[unpriest]

[From here]

Seishin hesitated for a moment as they reached the top of the stairs, gazing into the silent, dark hallway. He had only traveled through that hallway once before, in the presence of soldiers. But the hallway hadn't been shrouded in darkness as it was now, and the current silence only made the area seem more ominous. Ominous, as though each step brought them closer in reach of claws and teeth. The small beam of light revealed little but their own presence to whatever that would await them, but it was a necessary evil.

The former priest couldn't do much else but wait for Silvestri-san's directions. Silvestri-san...he cast a concerned glance in her direction, but he otherwise remained silent.

[avengingfists]

The darkness of the institute had once seemed unbearably oppressive to Ilia. It had frightened her, but it really wasn't the darkness anyone had to be afraid of. Fear of a silent death at the hands (or claws) of some unknown adversary seemed so awful back then, but now she knew better. To die in front of the ones you love, in broad daylight, by the very hand of someone you thought of as a friend; that was true horror. That was despair.

Doggedly, Ilia made for their destination without bothering to look back.

[to here]

[ofthemotions]

[from here]

Snow led them to the top of the stairs, and Mikado looked around curiously, flashlight shining. He had been up the other side a few times, but never this way. What existed on this side of the building? There was a hall nearby, and he peered at it curiously.

That chapel was also close, and if they went there, he could look at the statue again. Honestly, though, Mikado was content merely following for now. He was sure to experience something interesting with these two with him. The boy watched Snow for direction, glancing back and smiling lightly at Celty once as they settled onto the second floor.

For all intents and purposes, the boy seemed more like they were on a field-trip than anything truly dangerous. At the least, it looked as if Mikado was enjoying himself so far.

[tryingtogetahead]

Keeping up with Snow, in both following him and in terms of energy would be difficult as Celty soon realized. "Interesting", he says...! she huffed in her mind after Mikado's observation, all but having to sprint after the man that had already gotten to the top of the stairs. She really hoped that "interesting" did not mean running after this man all night.

Thankfully he didn't take the next area with the speed he'd charged up the stairs. She came up last, not exactly out of breath but panting slightly. This was not something she was used to, and she could not help but miss Shooter. He would have taken those stairs even faster, but she wouldn't have been running at all with him there.

"You know where you're going?" she huffed, mostly at Snow since he had taken the lead. Following Midako's idea to head upstairs was great and all, but if Snow didn't know anything more than to go up for that, following him might not have been the best of ideas.

[heroesdontshave]

Looking at Snow's face, he probably looked similar in mood to Ryuu. He was also searching the area all around them with his light, more out of curiosity than caution. Man, if you just barreled on forward, the place just kind of felt like a labyrinth, didn't it? Which is why he actually hesitated by the time they reached the top.

There were a few ways they could go from here. In one direction, the hallway they were already in stretched onward to who-knows-where. In the other direction, it split off into another hallway and... some more doors, looked like. Kind of like the downstairs format, now that he thought about it. Maybe the prisoner rooms were both upstairs and downstairs? There were a lot of people here, after all. Thinking of it that way didn't make the hallway seem very interesting. They didn't go all the way up there just so they could find more beds and closets. They came to find answers! Or else something else interesting! So that didn't seem like the place to go.

His attention was pulled away from the hall around him and back toward Celty when she asked that question. The response was an immediate, big and confident smile.

"Yup! We're going this way!" he said, pointing toward the expanse of hallway stretching to their right. And sure enough, he went that way.

[going that way]