damned_institute | Night Shift 23: First Floor Cafeteria

"A 'cyborg'?" Kyouya muttered at Reinforce's offering, disbelief slipping into his voice. He'd been here for a little over twenty hours, and in that time, had accepted magic and mutant creatures and alternate dimensions and time travel, but there was a line. Cyborgs with energy blades, how ridiculously sci-fi — it was bad enough being here without bringing in even more improbabilities and inconsistencies and...

No, no. He wouldn't lose it. Honestly. Kyouya couldn't remember the last time he'd been so on the edge, and that was saying something. His irritated thoughts slowed down as he listened to River's slightly disjointed review, and tried not to get worked up again when she mentioned dangerous patients.

It wasn't surprising, really, considering his current company.

By the time Homura issued his command, Kyouya's hands were steady. He shone his flashlight beam across the room, eyes sharp for any small movements. "I don't see anything," he said at last, but he was open to correction.

"I don't either," Raine admitted, looking around. Despite her curiosity, that was a good thing.

...still, though. "I'd be interested to hear about those cyborgs later," she said to Rein. "I'm familiar enough with energy blades, but I don't think I've heard of cyborgs before." Again, familiarity did little good--her previous experience with energy blades didn't mean she really knew how to defend herself against them--but, well, she was a scholar! She just liked knowledge for its own sake... and there was a lot to learn here.

"A humanoid-form mechanical weapon with some biological components. Its eyes, and probably its brain." Reinforce expanded once satisfied the room was clear. "It was exceptionally fast and strong, and too well-armored to damage with weapons, but had no magitech systems and suffered damage when attacked by... supernatural methods." In her reality it would have been an aberration; no one would engineer a weapon with such impressive physical capabilities when for the same cost you could build a magically armed and shielded flight-capable drone that had no need for them. She wondered what sort of world had produced it...

Like Raine, her interest and goals in describing the cyborg were purely academic. While the eyes and susceptibility to magic represented points of vulnerability, with its strength and skill she was loathe to encourage an attack on it. The group she'd been with had been full of skilled fighters but had been outmatched in their fight with it.

As they all discussed the topic of cyborgs, an aspect of science fiction River might've scoffed at had she not been psychic, the girl found her focus being drawn elsewhere. As Kyouya shined his flashlight into the corners of the facility, sweeping it along the walls and the floors, she stepped away from the group. Her steps did not stray more than a few feet from the rest of them, and she fiddled with a pen in her left hand almost absent-mindedly. She lacked a flashlight, but she moved through the darkness slowly but surely, every footfall certain of its destination.

It was the way or things. It was the way of her kind.

River's vacant gaze was focused on the counter, or so it would appear if anyone were to look at her. Her head titled to one side curiously, but she said nothing.

Knowledge itself was a very good thing, and with purpose, it was better. While Raine's and Reinforce's interests may have been academic, Homura's goal in the question was quite obvious: to learn what he would have to face, and defeat, in order to escape this place.

And there seemed to be no end to the things that could pop up, cyborgs and spiders, and who knew what those things were that Homura fought last night. Which only served to remind him of the goal of the trip, because while he may not be able to reclaim most of his powers, he could have a sword.

The pauses in speech were just long enough to let Homura hear River's steady footfalls, the light barely enough to let him make out her movements away from the rest. Brave girl, perhaps foolish, perhaps not, depending on her power. She moved towards the counter that they would have to go around to get to the kitchen, so focused on it, as if it had enchanted her.

"Do you sense something?" River had already proven beyond Homura's doubt that she had abilities beyond what most mortals possess, and even beyond most gods.

And in this room where sight was so limited, any forewarning to danger was welcome.

Kyouya was trying very hard not to join the conversation with comments along the lines of "this is so unbelievable"—some irrational part of him suspected the hospital might throw a cyborg at them just for that. Then again, this whole place was irrational. Maybe thinking irrationally was the only way to keep from going insane here.

"I hope you didn't have to fight it anywhere near here," he said, managing a rather light-hearted tone.

Energy blades, cyborgs... so both women were very obviously not from Earth. Delicate-looking River too, by her own admission, had been capable of taking down three other patients (how? Kyouya was almost intrigued, despite himself). Homura claimed to be a demi-god that rebelled against heaven.

And as for himself, well... Ootori Kyouya was a high school student. But by no means a regular one. He supposed he had that much to comfort him.

Kyouya smiled wryly as he scanned the room again, noticing River's movements at the same time as Homura. Somewhat assured of their safety, he also stepped away from the group, slowly walking in the general direction of the kitchens and the girl.

"River-kun?"

"I'm still hoping to start classes soon, preferably tomorrow," Raine said to Reinforce; if they kept their voices down they should be able to have a conversation without worrying about being caught by surprise as a result. "Beyond the other obvious benefits, I'm looking forward to having a group that meets regularly just to talk--it's almost staggering to realize most of us literally know nothing about each others' worlds." In her mind, that was a wrong that needed to be corrected as soon as possible. "I'd like to open the first class on that topic, but I'm not certain where to start." This was entirely new to her, but she suspected Rein thought differently. Having her as essentially a co-worker sounded entirely beneficial to Raine; working with a living book would be... well, Raine kept slipping into something akin to Ruins Mode at the mere thought of it. Which she mostly managed to keep to herself, but her eyes kept lighting up as yet more possibilities occured to her. She'd kept quiet about--most of those.

"Although for practical reasons, I would like to find out what lifeforms everyone is familiar with; it seems the most efficient way to discover the weaknesses of the monsters here." She was also... curious to know how other races were treated in everyone's respective worlds, but that had to come second to more practical matters.

She hadn't forgotten where they were or what they were doing, but you certainly couldn't tell that by listening to her. Regardless, she spoke without looking at Reinforce much; like the others (save possibly River) she was straining to see in the dim light, gaze constantly flicking from spot to spot in an attempt to not let them be caught by surprise.

"It was on the second floor." Now that Reinforce had decided to take Kyouya's affected levity as a way to deal with the nightshift environment she was all cool confidence, even as Homura read unseen danger into River's move forward; she even responded to Raine's broaching of her lesson plans as a topic, though a hand moved to her pocket to withdraw her enspelled bullet.

"Do you intend on a forum or lecture format?" Having open discussions without the feeling of give-and-take bartering that went along with many of the conversations she'd had here was to Reinforce's taste, and Raine's words suggested that was what she wanted, but Rein didn't want to box her in. Open discussion would probably inevitably drift to their current situation, if it even ever started anywhere else, while lectures could be address the mundanities of arithmetic as easily as the more pressing matter of their mysterious collective captivity. Which best served Raine depended on what she wanted to achieve... "Before that- what's your goal?

Truth be told, Reinforce was no pedagogue. Her powers had made her knowledge instantly available to her masters... and their corruption had made the knowledge of those she consumed instantly available to her. Traditional learning was not something she had much experience with. A change in methods, though, was no reason to lose her enthusiasm.

River didn't immediately respond to the inquiries regarding her sudden journey into another world. In another world, she couldn't hear them. Or at least it was nice to pretend that she couldn't, nice to pretend that there were options. Brown eyes flew open, more alert than they'd been just a moment ago. Maybe ever.

"It's not a monster, if you're scared. I don't... I don't think." River tilted her head slightly to the other side. "Or maybe it was once. Maybe there is," she mused quietly, turning to regard Kadaj and his brother. With his brother by his side, the girl could only wonder if he would attempt something in the form of petty vengeance. It would be met easily enough, and yet it wouldn't be at all ideal. No, he seemed to merely want to be left alone. Tempting and yet.

"Unstable. Almost had to be put down," she elaborated, raising a finger without directly looking at the pair to point. Kadaj and his big brother. "Pieces and wholes. Neatly assembled and then broken apart. Should keep an eye on the short one. We had a nasty argument."

And in less time than it had taken to cross the room, things seemed to have exploded in their own way. Voices filled the silence, both familiar and not, and those that he did know had begun chatting about something entirely irrelevant to their current situation. It could be confidence, or it could be fear; Homura's only concern was that he knew neither well enough to know which.

And then there was River, wandering away with her whimsical step. As a weapon, she could likely defend herself, and Homura had little doubt that she could sense approaching danger. Of all of them, she caused Homura the least annoyance, except that again, he didn't know this for sure.

Kyouya, however, did know, had admitted to Homura that his fighting abilities were nonexistent. He of all people should be cautious and focused, and that did not mean wandering out of Homura's range as he pleased. Now the war god began to wonder if his decision to take the boy had been too much of a careless one; he may have liked Kyouya's attitude, but he also liked common sense on the battlefield.

In all, it amounted to a frustrating situation, one that threatened to distract Homura, to give the man another entirely unnecessary weakness. A pang of longing struck him, remembering the comfortable way he fought with Shien and Zenon at his side. Each knew the other, knew his movements and knew how to fight with the other two without instruction.

But of course, that had only come with time, which Homura didn't have the luxury of now. And if worse came to worse, he could abandon all of them here and continue alone. Not what he preferred in his unarmed state, but he had been the Toushin Taishi, and he had fought impossible battles alone.

There was no reason he wouldn't do the same now, should it come to it.

But perhaps it wouldn't, as River's declaration held promise. While he of all people was not scared, he was cautious, and it was good to know that what had drawn her away was not a monster. From the sounds of it, it had been another patient, perhaps even one in this room, though River didn't make that clear.

What was best about it, however, was it gave Homura an opening to press forward. They had spent enough time here, and any further delay risked the group coming apart completely.

"I'll keep that in mind." Really, the random phrases had sparked Homura's curiosity, and he intended to ask River about it should he see the woman during the day. But this was night, and better suited for action than casual conversation. And act he did, heading around the counter, the confident pace making it clear that he would leave any who lagged behind there.

"We've spent enough time here. Let's move on."

((To here.))

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/landels_damned/98413.html?thread=6275949#t6275949)]

It looked like the Cafeteria had a few fellow patients inside, but none of them were the person Naminé was looking for. She sighed, resting at a table at the entrance for a moment as she took a look around the unusually empty area.

Here too, without the light and people, looked dark and scary. Naminé was glad that she had other things to distract her at the moment from actually noticing how foreboding the Cafeteria looked at night.

"Not here, is he?" It figured. He could point out his 'Alice' from before, but ignored her for now. Now was for something more important, something he'd rather have this instant than continue with withdrawal.

It wasn't fun, after all.

He wrapped one arm around Naminé's, shining the flashlight here and there as if looking for something. "Must be something useful around, in any case."

Naminé blinked, getting up as she held onto Luxord's arm. What was he looking for? She couldn't see anything too useful in the Cafeteria, though now that she thought about it, maybe there could be some kitchen utensils in the back where the workers served the food.

Well, perhaps getting some would be a good idea. Ashton did have that ladle he carried around, so he must have been through here at some point.

"I guess. Maybe we should look behind the serving area?"

Though not as pronounced, the smell had yet to completely leave Raven, even with a fresh change of clothes. She couldn’t waste any more time, though, and choose to leave it like that, hoping that nobody would notice or that the next people she ran into would have stuffed noses.

She would stay on the first floor for the rest of the night and continue her expedition through the Institute. Her next destination was the cafeteria, the kitchen to be more specific. Having regained her abilities, Raven already had something in mind to improve her chances of surviving any future monster encounters.

The walk there was relatively uneventful, and several people were already inside, Naminé being one of them.

“Hey.” She said, standing beside her roommate. “How are you?”

"I suppose so," he nodded, glancing around the darkened room with distaste. It seemed another group had already ventured to the area, which meant fewer items to acquire (or perhaps more bodies for monsters).

Hm. He frowned at that.

The intrusion of another, though… well, at the moment, he could not say he cared at the moment- she wasn't important. Luxord gave her an indifferent glance before looking down at Naminé for an answer.

Naminé smelt Raven first - not that she had a pronounced sense of smell, but the air smelled peculiar for a moment before she heard Raven's voice. It was a pleasant surprise, and Naminé smiled and turned to her roommate.

"Raven! I'm glad to see you're OK," She greeted the other girl, a little sheepishly. "I'm sorry I didn't get to see you earlier, I was... hiding under the bed. I like it under there."

Naminé always knew she was a bad liar (unless she was changing someone's memories to suit her version of the truth), but that excuse was a little pathetic even for her.

"Oh. Luxord and I are going to check the kitchens for possible supplies or weapons. Do you want to come with us?"

Of course, she was under the bed. It was so obvious. “I hear it’s a good place to hide in…?” Why would she have needed to hide from her though? A question she would have to ask her roommate some other time.

However, if she was really headed for the kitchen, Raven saw no reason why she shouldn’t accompany her.

"Okay, let's go."

[From here. (http://community.livejournal.com/landels_damned/98413.html?thread=6266477#t6266477)]

Smirking to himself, he entered the cafeteria and immediately sneered at all of the people inside it-- well, the ones he could make out, that is. The flashlights the other patients had on helped, of course, but-- was that River?!

And there went his good mood. Sure, it had only lasted a few moments to begin with, but it was still annoying to go back and forth from anger to happiness within the space of a couple minutes (if that). Maybe if he just ignored her, that would help. It might not even be her, considering how dark it was, but just to be safe....

Glancing back at his brother, he lightly teased, "You remember the cafeteria, right?" Disrespect always made him feel better.

The people moving about meant nothing to Sephiroth. There were more humans, nothing more. His own flashlight remained at his side and turned off, his mind turning that to his own good. It was hardly his fault that he'd gotten confused about which room they were in. Part of him dared to disagree with that and was quickly squashed. Anyone could have gotten confused as to where they were.

Really.

Annoyed at himself, Sephiroth missed the change in Kadaj's attitudes. Evidentally, self-absorption ran in the family. At the jibe, the former General's nose wrinkled a bit. The question of whether or not to retaliate was settled quickly. Losing what little ground he'd made was unacceptable. Instead, a smile that was more brittle than he wanted came to his lips.

"I remember it, yes. How good that I have you to ensure Mother and I do not become lost."

Nothing like reminding Kadaj just who he was taunting.

"I do not recall metal here. The silverware was plastic. Perhaps the kitchen?"

Once again, he had to rely on Kadaj to know these things, something that bothered him. He should have been self-reliant, not needing anyone, even part of himself.

A small flinch was the only visible reaction Kadaj had to that reminder, but his big brother's aim had at least been partially accomplished in that he didn't really feel like taunting him again just yet. He didn't think he'd be able to avoid it entirely, really, especially since he was sure Mother knew it wasn't her he was taunting at all. She wouldn't take offense at that, right? ... Right?

That was going to be bothering him the rest of the night, he just knew it.

Turning his attention away from his brother, he peered further into the cafeteria and struck out in a direction that would lead them more-or-less straight to the kitchen. Those tables and things in their way really weren't helping them progress any faster, were they? Nothing to do but go around them...

"The kitchen should be through here," he replied, sounding distracted. "Everyone else seems headed for it, don't they? Convenient of them, as long as they leave some things we-- or rather you-- can use too." They'd better. Kadaj didn't think he'd be able to stand another wasted night in this place.

The flinch might have one that was barely there, but it was enough for Sephiroth. Whether or not he even saw it was debatable. Maybe he merely knew himself well enough to know it would be there. Maybe he took it for granted.

What did concern him was that he had to check the reaction to try to pat Kadaj's shoulder. That disturbed him. Why did he care if that part of himself was hurt? It was a weaker part of himself that needed to learn better.

Scowling in the darkness, he kept pace with Kadaj, squaring his shoulders and straightening his back. If they chose not to leave him anything, well then, Sephiroth would merely have to take something from them. He was not walking around another night without the comforting weight of some sort of blade in his hands.

"I believe they will. If not, they are only mortals."

That brought a near smile out as he began to walk faster with Kadaj.

Through the tables, then around the long counter where food was usually served. Simple, but ultimately boring. If it hadn't been for the strange noises and that burst of light that had come from the partially open door to the kitchen, Kadaj might have interjected with some comment about how boring this trip was. Not anymore, apparently.

"That's true," he murmured in agreement, his head cocked to one side as he listened intently for any more sounds from the room. "Then again, maybe something else will kill them and take care of the matter for us. That would be even better, don't you think?"

He crept closer, quiet now both because he didn't want to draw the attention of whatever-it-was the people inside were fighting and so that he could hear their movements all the more clearly. Sneaking another glance at his brother, he asked, "Which would you prefer?" He couldn't guarantee he'd actually listen to what Sephiroth had to say, much less follow it, but it was polite to ask, wasn't it?

"We would be best merely going around them or letting what is attacking them kill them."

Close behind Kadaj, he tried to avoid touching the remnant as he peered around him to see what it was within the kitchen. He still hadn't gotten past the disconcerting feeling that he coming apart whenever he was in too close of quarters to Kadaj, although he would have been willing to bet it would have extended to any of the remnants.

"What are those things attacking them?"

It was either the darkness or the alienness of the creatures from what he knew of animals of Gaia. Sephiroth's teeth grit against each other as he found himself forced to reply on Kadaj's knowledge yet again.

It was becoming an uncomfortable habit.

Kadaj weighed their options for a moment, peering into the room along with his brother and finding himself similarly at a loss for what they might be. Sure he'd been here longer, but he had told Sephiroth that he hadn't encountered many monsters, hadn't he? He wished he did know what they were just so that he could rub it in his brother's face, but that honor was one he'd have to do without at the moment.

Instead, he said, "How about both? We're not obligated to help them after all. Besides, if they do manage to defeat those creatures, we can simply say that it looked like they had things under control anyway." Having others do the dirty work for him was his style, wasn't it? If it wasn't Yazoo or Loz doing that work, it didn't matter to him one jot who won or lost.

Almost as an afterthought, he he added, "And I'm not familiar with 'those things,' but we can examine them after you've been armed." All these delays were getting to him. It was time to finish this.

With a slight jerk of his head to indicate Sephiroth should follow, he slipped inside.

[To here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/106545.html?thread=6347825#t6347825)]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/98413.html?thread=6188397#t6188397).]

Larsa hadn't quite expected for people to linger in the Cafeteria, shining his flashlight towards them for a moment before pointing the beam towards the direction of the Kitchen. However, as he took a few steps forward the child had picked up the sharp noises of metal clanking. And it was only moments later when the Kitchen was illuminated by a blast of fire.

Larsa's first instinct was to see if whoever inside was in need of aid, grip tightening over Gabranth's had as he pulled the man towards their destination.

This time, the hound moved.

Instead of obediently following Larsa as per usual, Noah stepped back from the spout of flame that could be seen around the doorframe, jerking his held hand around the boy's wrist instead of the other way around. Needing help or no, he would risk no safety of the boy's for some other stranger's.

"You musn't, Lord!" the judge said tautly, moving the boy away from the kitchen - destroying any hope of entering the room, unless the fire and whatever caused it could be done with - moving backwards carefully as not to trip over a table or chair. Even as empowering as having a weapon may be, there was always a chance of injury. And a good bodyguard always knew when was best to avoid combat.

"I'll not have you dash into a flame heedlessly."

The sudden jerk was an action Larsa hadn't been expecting, nearly stumbling over his own feet when Gabranth pulled him back instead of following obediently. The child only continued to stumble as he was carefully pulled back, twisting his head to give the man a pained look before glancing at the door.

"Gabranth! What of this? T'would be immoral if we do not consult upon the injured at least!" As much as he knew that it was unwise to dive in, Larsa couldn't bear the thought of avoiding battle just to save himself.

Night Shift 23: First Floor Cafeteria

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