damned_institute | Night 56: Main Hallway, 1-West

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Night 56: Main Hallway, 1-West

[From here.]

He had reached the meeting point in less than a few minutes and there was still not another patient to be seen. Castiel paused, standing near the wall as he moved his flashlight up and down the corridor. There was nothing, not the sound of a shadow slipping through the dark; not the whisper of something less than human.

The only sound was the static that periodically came from his radio. He couldn't seem to get it to let up, and he wondered if it was reacting to him or if he'd been given a faulty one.

He would have preferred the former option, but he had been knocked down too many notches when it came to the loss of his abilities, his divinity, the very things that made him him.

Castiel let out a breath that had been caught in his chest and then lowered his flashlight. He wondered how long this whole process would take, but he supposed that all depended on how well he did as a student. He fashioned himself a fast learner, but he had never been able to grasp things like popular culture.

He imagined he would do a bit better with lockpicking, though. Leaning himself against the wall, Castiel stood there quietly, waiting for Orihara to show himself.

[For Izaya.]

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Luke paused, face set in a frown as he swept his light over the hallway. Where was he supposed to go from here? He wasn't afraid - just point him in the right direction and he'd be off like a shot. He half-turned as he heard someone coming up the hallway. A woman, apparently.

"Hey!" He called out, light lowered so he wouldn't blind her, "You're a prisoner too, right?"

When the light fell on her and what she could only assume was a young man's voice called out, Donna stopped her walking and peered through the darkness, calling back, "Prisoner's one way of putting it."

Her own torch made it's way to him, keeping low as well since she had no real reason to blind someone she didn't know (yet), and found by his pants that he was dressed as a patient would be. That left he no reason to doubt that he was a patient, at least for Donna's mind. Only a person who didn't have any other option would be wearing that terrible outfit.

"You lost?" Or maybe new. "Prisoner" wasn't exactly what most of the patients would have called each other by, but that didn't mean it wasn't on the list. Still, she didn't want to assume.

"I wouldn't say lost," Luke replied, keeping his own light down. Blinding a possible new friend wasn't high on his list of things to do either. "I'm trying to find a way out. You know how we can get out of here?"

He paused - finding Han was on his list of things to do as well. Probably more important.

"What about finding someone? Know anything about that?"

The more he spoke, the more Donna could not shake the feeling that she heard his voice before. There were so many people in the place that recognizing voices that carried say, in cafeteria conversations shouldn't have been possible, but Donna definitely found something familiar about the kid's voice.

She shook her head a bit, chalking it up to coincidence as she pointed her torch light off at the center hallway. "Easiest way's out the front door," she told him in a matter-of-fact way, "It's not locked, which is really weird for a place like this, but I'm not going to go complaining to management for it."

And then he mentioned looking for someone. Donna knew a thing or two about where missing people went in this place, but also knew that there were only a few ways to be sure of that kind of thing. "Did someone you know go missing? Or did you see them taken?" If he hadn't seen it, then things were up in the air.

The front door was just unlocked? Just like that? That was too easy. Unless they were kilometers away from anything flight capable, in which case he was still stranded on a strange planet without any idea of how to get off this stupid rock. "Why would they just leave the front door unlocked? If they want to keep us locked up..."

He trailed off with a frown. "This whole place is weird."

The question about his friend grabbed his attention and he let out a little hiss of consternation and frustration. "They're here, but they don't recognize me and don't think they are who they should be! It's like they've been brainwashed."

"As weird as weird gets, let me tell you..." Although that would only waste time, as Donna quickly realized. Especially since by the way he kept speaking she was sure he was new despite sounding so darn familiar. No wonder he was upset about the insanity that was formerly known as Landel's Institute.

She brought a hand up, waving it slowly towards the ground. "All right, just calm down a minute. It'll be all right. First off, you should get used to people calling you a name you're not, because that's just how they work here. I'm apparently Jane McAvoy by day, though my moonlighting name is Donna Noble. Just Donna's fine." There went some quick introductions. "Next... you said your friends are brainwashed, right? Did they try to get you back to your room or anything?"

Must've been one of those that had gotten taken. Because here she was thinking he was familiar when his friends couldn't even recognize him? Yeah, that reeked of this place's doing.

He remembered that he'd been advised against using his real name. Sort of. But he didn't think this woman was going to turn on him. Use an alias. That's what he'd been told. He was wanted, of course, but his name was just as likely to bring assistance as make him a target. There were a lot of rebel sympathizers in the galaxy. Still, he'd leave out the last name for now.

"Name's Luke, but the guards are calling me George Hamill. And I'm calm, alright? I'm just worried about my friend. I met him in town and he didn't recognize me. Didn't even think he knew me."

He was almost sulking, but that wouldn't do him any good here. "I haven't seen him tonight."

Luke was a normal enough name, if he was using his real name. Donna knew well what it meant to keep an alias in some places and was smart enough to think that others would use one when needed as well. So when he said the guards were calling him George Hamill, no red flags went up either. It was a better fake name than having to be Jane McAvoy.

"Ok, fine, you're calm. No need to get huffy," she conceded, holding up a hand and hoping the darkness hid her otherwise contrary expression. No one really stayed calm when they were worried for their friends. "So Luke, this friend of yours... was he a patient or...?" If he'd been someone in town, there wasn't much to be done, but another patient (who might've been really crazy) could have explained things. Or an honest case of mistaken identity.

Everyone had a twin or something.

"If he's a patient, he could be around. What's his name? Or I guess what name he gave you. Might know him." Doubtful though.

"I think so. He said he was, anyway..." Luke replied, frown creasing his features. He still didn't like any of this. He glanced away, flicking his flashlight beam back down the hallway, still paranoid about possible guards or surprises.

"...his name's Han. But he told me his name was Jones. Indiana Jones or something like that."

He glanced back at his new acquaintance. "I guess you haven't seen him."

"Then if he said he was..." she said, but trailed off since stating the obvious was 1. stupid, and 2. shouldn't have been needed. Donna was not an obvious captain captain unless someone needed a good dose of sarcasm. Luke definitely did not.

"Han, huh?" That was a stranger name than the others she'd heard for the night, but she shrugged it off since he'd given one at least. "Don't know him, but..." she started, looking off towards the patient hallways, before finding reason to pause in his next words.

Has he just said Indiana Jones?

It was one thing for a fake name to be that - the Doctor went around as John Smith, for crying out loud - but by the way Luke was speaking, it sounded as though his friend had actually thought he was Mr. Raiders of the Lost Arc. That had to be some kind of crazy Luke's friend was carrying around if he seriously thought that. Though for a guy named Han originally, she couldn't think he'd be that on the ball.

"Indiana Jones is a patient here? That's a laugh," Donna jeered as she looked back with a grin. She could just see it now: Harrison Ford making his way through the tunnels that were Landel's Institute with a Beret instead of a Fedora. Now that was one hell of a mental image! "But if he looks like the one I know, that'll make him easy to spot."

"...you know him?" Luke asked. He sound quizzical - she apparently knew who Indiana Jones was. Maybe he was some sort of local celebrity. Luke had certainly never heard of him before in his life and he was starting to wish he hadn't. Han not being Han made getting out of her a lot more complicated.

"Well, maybe that's some good news for once," he finally muttered and then shook his head. "Look, forget about for now. Let's just try and find a way out of here, alright?"

"You don't kno..." Donna started, but stopped just as quickly and made a face. Well right, if he'd taken the guy seriously when he'd said his name was Indiana Jones then chances were he'd never seen the movies. Definitely not from Earth. Or at least not from the time that Donna knew best.

"... let's just say I've come across him a time or two." Or four if you weren't counting television shows. Of course Donna wasn't an avid fan of those kinds of things, but any idiot on the street should have at least heard of Mr. Jones and his issues with taking things that don't belong to him.

Cue rolling boulder.

Since Donna very much did not want to end up in a similar situation, she took no issue when Luke brought up simply heading out. "But yeah, if you want out, it's just down the hall and to the right there. Might be something in the way though, but I guarantee the front door's got nothing locking it," she explained as she once more turned the flashlight down the way, "I'll show you if you want."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" He gestured with his flashlight, a grin lighting up his face. And then it turned back into a concentrated frown.

"Wait, no locks? So they keep us locked up during the day and just let us run around once night hits? What kind of crazy people run this place, anyway?" The whole concept seemed so strange and alien to Luke that he had a hard time wrapping his head around it. Even the Imperials weren't that incompetent about prisoners.

Donna could tell this guy was really enthusiastic and would probably work incredibly well as a Doctor substitute for the evening in terms of energy. Though if he pulled a souped up cabinet tool out or started techno-babbling she might have to reconsider helping him. "Let's walk and talk then," she suggested and started leading him towards the next hallway.

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Night 56: Main Hallway, 1-West

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Sorry for the delay. :x

Re: Sorry for the delay. :x

Re: Sorry for the delay. :x

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