Edgar Roni Figaro (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
girlsandgadgets) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
damned_institute2011-02-15 03:12 pm
girlsandgadgets) wrote in damned_institute2011-02-15 03:12 pm
Night 54: Main Hallway, 2-East
[From here.]
"It's lucky for me we're headed this way, actually," Edgar continued as they crossed the threshold into the hallway. He didn't wait for Ryuuzaki to lead this way this time, taking a few steps in the direction of the storerooms. "I've been meaning to return for the last couple of nights, but I've been unable to get as far as I..."
Edgar trailed off, pausing as he turned to look toward the western end of the hall. There was that odd feeling again- the same one he'd felt as they passed the Sun Room. It wasn't instinct kicking in, not years of keeping on his toes in delicate situations giving him warning. It wasn't the battles he'd fought making him aware of the presence of monsters lurking in the darkness, forcing him to keep his guard. It was an unfounded knowing. He couldn't prove it in any way, but he simply... knew there was something there.
More specifically was the distinct knowledge it was one of the brainwashed patients, someone who had been taken for the "special counseling." But how could he have known? Edgar listened carefully, trying to hear through the stifling atmosphere that pervaded every hallway. Aside from the murmuring of other patients, there was nothing outstanding: no sounds of intense fighting, no unnatural feel of magic coursing through the air around them, nothing to clearly indicate that it was one of the brainwashed sentries. And yet, he somehow knew.
But how? He disliked second-guessing his own judgment, but simply knowing sounded ridiculous in this situation. He kept his eyes down the hall a moment longer- he couldn't deny what he felt. He was absolutely certain there was someone there, another in the Sun Room, and two more outside.
"It's lucky for me we're headed this way, actually," Edgar continued as they crossed the threshold into the hallway. He didn't wait for Ryuuzaki to lead this way this time, taking a few steps in the direction of the storerooms. "I've been meaning to return for the last couple of nights, but I've been unable to get as far as I..."
Edgar trailed off, pausing as he turned to look toward the western end of the hall. There was that odd feeling again- the same one he'd felt as they passed the Sun Room. It wasn't instinct kicking in, not years of keeping on his toes in delicate situations giving him warning. It wasn't the battles he'd fought making him aware of the presence of monsters lurking in the darkness, forcing him to keep his guard. It was an unfounded knowing. He couldn't prove it in any way, but he simply... knew there was something there.
More specifically was the distinct knowledge it was one of the brainwashed patients, someone who had been taken for the "special counseling." But how could he have known? Edgar listened carefully, trying to hear through the stifling atmosphere that pervaded every hallway. Aside from the murmuring of other patients, there was nothing outstanding: no sounds of intense fighting, no unnatural feel of magic coursing through the air around them, nothing to clearly indicate that it was one of the brainwashed sentries. And yet, he somehow knew.
But how? He disliked second-guessing his own judgment, but simply knowing sounded ridiculous in this situation. He kept his eyes down the hall a moment longer- he couldn't deny what he felt. He was absolutely certain there was someone there, another in the Sun Room, and two more outside.
no subject
"What's the matter?" The question was flat; it expressed interest rather than concern.
One way that Aguilar's regime mirrored Landel's, so far, had been the vague threat during the most recent announcement: Know that you're in part responsible for what happens tonight. Landel had made similar comments two nights earlier, when their shadows had come to life to taunt them, and on previous occasions, too. It's your fault, it's Jill's fault, I had to do this, Jack didn't care about collateral damage, and so on, said to people who had been abducted and imprisoned without their consent, as if they would ever have chosen to be in this situation and to put their well-being into Landel's hands. Whatever Aguilar had elected to do--whatever Project 2911 was--he bore sole responsibility for it. But Edgar's distraction was too reminiscent of Tuesday night's events to be ignored, and L wondered if it signaled the opening stages of what had been planned for them.
"We shouldn't stop for too long," he added. They had yet to check the hall that was their destination.
At that moment, the radio in the pillowcase crackled to life.
no subject
He looked to the radio, pulling it from his pocket, then down the hallway again. Maybe the effects weren't those one would have expected. Perhaps the project was testing something else entirely. He couldn't guess what the purpose could be, but using kidnapped "patients" as test subjects didn't settle well with him. He'd seen what experimentation could do to the mind; it wasn't a pretty sight.
There was no certainty, but it did help to explain the strange sense he was getting for those undergoing the "special counseling." Edgar only hoped he wasn't imagining the entire thing. He smiled wryly- now wouldn't that be a story to tell? How the king lost his mind, and that a fake asylum drove him to legitimate madness?
"Word travels quickly," Edgar remarked aloud, returning the radio to his pocket, passing on Ryuuzaki's initial question for now. He still wasn't sure he trusted those on the radio, but it seemed they were on the same side for the time being. A part of him wanted to travel outside the walls to see if they would cross paths with the broadcaster; however, they had other plans for the evening. "Come on. You're right about staying in one spot for too long." With one check of the area around them with his own light, he led the way to the side hall.
[To here.]
no subject
That answer had not been what she'd been asking about the powers—she should have worded it better, perhaps, but that would have entailed explaininf—but Senna's revelation distracted Maya from that line of questioning at the moment.
"Death God?" She resisted—barely—asking whether that was true. Asylum, she told herself. No, this wasn't a real asylum. A different question, then. "Landel has such power?"
no subject
[to here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/1052773.html?thread=76165221#t76165221)
no subject
After having seen the fight in the alternate hall, Venom knew better than to exit the way he came, not while carrying an injured girl. Briefly, he peered down at her from under his hair, examining the barely covered wound on her throat. It appeared to still be bleeding in the darkness of the hallways, but he'd need to wait until they were in a safe area before making sure and checking the extent of the damage on her. So long as she stayed conscious and coherent, he was not going to begin panicking. Unless she had done something particularly stupid (more so than collecting blood alone in a place like this), she would be fine.
Though speaking of the girl staying awake, he hadn't missed her nodding off previously. There hadn't been many situations in the assassin's carrier that he needed to keep an injured person speaking with him--that was usually a job for the Guild's medics, not him. He could have given her a shake, but the movement would have disturbed her wounds and regardless of whether she could feel the pain, the damage would still be there.
He'd just have to rely on speaking, then. "Would you like to explain yourself?" It didn't sound as if anything she could say would make the tone of voice he was using any less like an angered professor. She shouldn't have run off alone like that!
no subject
However, even as the man carried her, Bella couldn't help but nearly drift off here and there. Have I lost that much blood? she thought to herself, horror dawning on her - for a moment, at least, before it was washed away by how tired she was. But wasn't it bad to sleep after losing so much blood? Think, Bella. You know better than that. Focus. Focus on anything. Focus on him.
At the sound of Venom's voice, Bella looked up at him through her lashes, unable to focus on his face. "I was getting blood for Edward," she told him simply. Even though she was lost in a wave of something (she was sure the pain was still there, even if she couldn't feel it. Maybe that was what she was feeling?) she could still hear the anger in the sound of his voice, and she could feel her fight coming back to her. "When the nurse said you were gone, I decided to go and do it myself. Edward went out hunting tonight, so it was the perfect time ...
"And I was almost there," she told him in a soft voice then, frowning at the memory she was about to recall. "But. ... I saw a child. It was crying, so I went to help ... and that was when all of the trouble started."
no subject
Though it wasn't as if he found her reasoning to be particularly sound. In the very least, it explained Edward's whereabouts.
"Bella." The name turned into more of an exasperated sigh than anything else, the assassin's hands twitching in the urge to leave their duties and rake through his bangs. "Your fiance is capable of taking care of himself. The only reason I chose to supply him was due to a situation where he couldn't. If he's in enough shape to hunt on his own, there's no need for you to endanger yourself like this, especially if the blood will only rot from lack of use." Which he'd had to unfortunately experience the sight, smell, and touch of firsthand. The less he remembered the incident, the better. "My absence is not an excuse."
But... "Did something attack you before I got there?" A child?
no subject
"So? It's always good to have something on hand, regardless if he needs it or not, or if he can go out or not. Last time he was injured, I came upstairs and got bandages so I could fix his wounds," never mind the fact that he had done it himself, but still. "I'm trying to help in any way I can, so he doesn't starve this time."
At least she was grateful for the change of subject. ... For the time being, anyway.
"Yeah. The ... the child. ... Wasn't really a child, it turns out," she said with a dark laugh. "It ... it was crying. Had sunken eyes ... it screamed at me, and I couldn't move. All I could think of was -" Edward leaving her. Failing her family. Failing him. Everything she didn't want to remember. "Terrible things. I ... I couldn't move. It screamed, and ... it was like I went numb. When the screaming stopped, I could move ... and I had these on my arms."
At this point, she lifted her free arm, meaning to point out the horrific burns. "I don't know how I got them. When I came to my senses the second time, they were already there."
no subject
If she was away from the source of cold, it was most likely to not cause lasting damage, therefore not being as much a serious cause for worry as the wound on her throat was. Even still, Venom's pace grew more hurried, determined to get to the woman's cell and ensure she'd be properly taken care of.
"We're going down the stairs," he informed her, readjusting his grip slightly to keep from seeing her take a fall down the steps as well as having been burnt and bitten. The vampire would most certainly not be pleased with that development. "Hold on tight."
[To here]
no subject
Down the hall here. He remembered this place faintly from when he'd come this way with Soubi so long ago. They'd gone looking for the possessions room, but had found everything else instead. And in the end, the items in their boxes hadn't really belonged to them at all. Their foray had taught Ritsuka a lot about the Institute, however, including the fact that he needed to be careful when it came to going into rooms that seemed safe in the beginning. He still remembered the rats that had appeared and the memory brought with it a new wave of sickness.
"Last hallway," he said, quietly enough that only his companions would hear. Of course, it meant he couldn't hear, but he was fairly certain he was saying the right words. The smell from Peter's burn was beginning to get to him and Ritsuka had to take a few steps away. The memory connected to the smell was simply too strong to ignore. Putting a hand to his forehead, Ritsuka pressed onward, trying to give directions as they walked. "On the right... Can't remember which door."
no subject
He swallowed, trying to remember what he had been thinking before. Something of.... Though it didn't really matter, did it? Not now anyway. His fingers curled around the other boy's.
[to here]