damned_institute | Night 56: F01-F10 Hallway

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Night 56: F01-F10 Hallway

A night off. Odd concept, though Taura wasn't fool enough take the silence on the intercom as implying that Aguilar had bought into this plan. That second click hadn't escaped her attention -- recording? Throwing some plan into motion, just loudly enough to let them all wonder?

If it was the latter, someone had finally given this place a lesson in psychological warfare. She shivered, and went back to thinking about what she should do with her mostly-free night.

She came to the conclusion that vacations were a lot more fun when she had someone to spend them with. Though the planet to explore had put in an appearance.

Maybe Rita would have some ideas, if she could be pried away from magical science once the experiment was over. Science people were like that -- if you didn't fit in, you were a puzzle, not a problem, even if it got just as tiring being poked and prodded, whether with needles or just with words.

Her things were all ready to go; she had decided to take the radio tonight. If Aguilar didn't have anything to say, someone else might, and if they decided to run out towards hostile territory, she could leave it behind. The materia and her claw she tucked into her purse, and the shuriken she carried. She didn't need a flashlight on familiar ground.

[to here]

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Ahh, it felt good to get out of the second-hand junk they'd had her in earlier and into her actual clothes. The bandages on her thigh were a little more conspicuous under these pants, but you could count on Guybrush to be the king of Obliviousland, so Morgan wasn't too worried about awkward questions. The only problem was how far she'd actually be able to make it easily on foot--and even that wasn't much of a problem. If it meant making some decent progress, Morgan'd walk all the way to the coast.

All she needed were the folders and her sword. She grabbed them from the box, tucked the folders under her off-arm and eviscerated a few invisible bad guys, and set off to get the heck out of here.

[to here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1105943.html?thread=77995543#t77995543)]

Edited 2011-05-31 01:06 (UTC)

Wasn't there supposed to have been an announcement? An address? Huh. Must not have had anything important to say.

Anyway. First order of business was to get her clothes on, second order of business was dithering over whether or not to take the knife...again. She was beginning to think having it was a pretty useless endeavor—there was no place she could put it where it wouldn't jab someplace fleshy. The ring was a different matter; she slipped that on her finger just because she could.

The hard part was figuring where she wanted to go. She sat at her desk as she opened her journal to the map, mentally filling in the places where all she'd taken down were a bunch of lines. Looking at the map reminded her... How was Scarecrow doing? ...How was the Entry Room guy doing?

[ffff so sorry about the wait! work ate me. D:]

It wasn't until the Doyleton visit every week that Soma was reminded of how much she needed Arts and Crafts to keep her busy, to keep her distracted during the night. The last few weeks had been all right--somehow, even fighting the undead in the middle of a town had been welcome compared to this sudden lack of assignments. Now, with few plans made and increasingly fewer friends here to make them with, she was beginning to wonder if perhaps they would have been better off stuck in Doyleton for the night.

She sat and turned Senna's katana over and over in her hands, lost in thought. Mele seemed preoccupied as well; evidently neither of them had any definite intentions for the night.

A glint of something caught her eye--Mele was putting a ring on her finger. Soma hesitated, then checked the metal box again--that was right, she had one as well. They worked as portals, she remembered from the bulletin board, but she still wasn't certain what that meant.

"You have one of those too?" She held up her own ring for clarification. "I'm still not sure how they work."

"You too? I got it off some guy, but I don't know where he got it." Mele hadn't seen Yakitori since, either. Maybe he was trapped in this ring? ...Nah. Besides, it was broken, and Chise and Soma had them. If Yakushiji's life was tied to it, it meant he was working for the institute.

...On the other hand, he had seemed to know what the rings did, even though none of the people Mele had talked to hadn't. Not that Mele had talked to many people but that was beside the point.

"He used it, and we...went away somewhere." Where had she ended up again? Definitely not a hallway, even though Mele thought she could tell those apart by now. Someplace she'd been surprised to end up. —Ah. "The...cafeteria." Why the cafeteria? Mele had just thought Yakitori had been hungry at the time. Given the pink stuff they were now being fed, maybe there was some merit in the idea. Yakushiji's ring was broken, though. "How's your ring? Still whole?"

"I found it in my desk one morning--I think it was the morning after all the doors in the institute led to the wrong rooms. Portals, I think people were calling them. I know how they're supposed to work," she clarified, picking up her own. "You smash them, and then you're transported to wherever you were last night. At least, that's what I've read on the bulletin board."

And the key to resetting them was blood. She remembered that, too--like some sort of arcane ritual. It seemed like something Landel would do.

"The problem is, I haven't actually used mine since I got it. All the doors led somewhere different that night, so I don't know what room I was in last before night ended."

Well, that explained it. Landel's trick again. Did they even still work? Huh. At least it was easy enough to test; just prick her finger.... While she reached into the box for the scalpel, she directed a question to Soma, "Wasn't anywhere dangerous, was it?"

Had she waited until now to check it out? That was cautious. None of Mele's business, though.

There, and now to prick her finger— Ugh, what an ordeal. Wherever Landel was (hopefully somewhere dark and cold), she hoped he was happy with this self-harm stuff. On second thought, maybe she should prick the bottom of her palm instead. Or was it? Mele had no idea; it wasn't like she'd ever done this kind of thing on purpose. "...Hm. —Wait, you said the bulletin board? Is that trustworthy?"

"No--just a room full of filing cabinets, I think. We didn't get a chance to look through them--I wonder if there was anything useful in there."

Now that she thought about it, a room full of filing cabinets sounded promising. It wasn't something she would normally have taken interest in, but here, where information was worth its weight in gold, even a page about the institute might prove helpful.

"I don't know if it is for sure." She shoook her head. "But I don't know anyone else with a ring, so there's really only one way to find out."

Filing cabinets just had papers in them, didn't they? Mele doubted it'd be worth it; they were just papers. "What would be written on them?" A record of brainwashed patients? They already knew that happened. Might be worth it to test if the rings still worked, though. They might not, with Landel gone.

Which would mean Mele had pricked the base of her palm for nothing. Ow. At least now she knew the knife was sharp enough to break skin. Still pretty useless though.

"What do you mean?" Mele asked as she grabbed her shirt and pressed it against the teeny new hole in her hand. At least it wouldn't bleed for long. —Oh. "To just do it? Yeah, probably."

Soma shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe private correspondences between Landel and Aguilar? Documents about what this place is really for? Those could definitely be useful. I heard that patients got teleported out of the institute entirely that night and into the mountains. That room could be anywhere. I don't have any plans for tonight--I might as well give it a try."

She furrowed her brown in faint concern as Mele pressed her shirt against her bleeding palm. "Does that even work? I read about how to reset the ring, but it seemed like something out of a novel to me..."

"Doesn't look like it." Unless Mele was supposed to do something other than wear the ring while she was bleeding. Or if she was supposed to bleed a certain amount before anything happened. Ick. Well, she wasn't going to test that one. Lifting the shirt to check on her palm—the blood wasn't welling up too quickly; she should be fine—Mele added, "You're going, right? Need some company?"

Her tiny little knife didn't hold a candle to anything she'd seen Soma carrying, but if there was anything in that room, better to have two sets of eyes, right? Or at least, two flashlight beams. Four arms. Stuff like that.

"I'll ask again tomorrow. It's hard to get in touch with people during a Doyleton visit."

She nodded once, quickly, at Mele's offer, something around her eyes softening a little. Mele. At least her roommate was still here. And--she felt a little guilty at the thought--they'd taken her for Special Counseling that night, so she had to be a decent fighter.

"I'd like that, if you want to come along." She looked down at her small arsenal and gestured at the spear, trying to keep her voice relatively neutral. "Do you want this? People keep disappearing and leaving me with their things...I can't carry all of it anyway."

In the midst of getting up, Mele looked over in surprise at the offer. Sharing weapons? That was...a really strange concept. "I couldn't use it," she responded as she continued to the door. "Thanks anyway."

Should she carry the knife after all, though? she thought as she stuck her head out the door and looked both ways. If it came to it, she could use the flashlight as a bludgeon; with two people, they could use the other flashlight to see. And it left her hands free!

That decided that, then. "Ready when you are," she said with her hand still on the doorknob, thinking they'd still need to go through the door. Ingrained habits died hard.

Soma nodded once, standing up to take stock of her things. She'd exchanged her boots for the sturdier pair in her closet and discarded the beret; it would only get in the way. Tucking the handgun into her waistband, she strapped the katana to her back with her strip of bedsheet, then picked up her flashlight and ring in one hand.

"I think you have to be touching the person in order to take them with you," she said, reaching out and taking Mele's arm with her free hand without preamble. "It makes sense, anyway."

She considered the ring for a moment--what was there in this room that could possibly smash a stone?--before she knelt and brought the ring down sharply against the floor. There was a faint shattering noise, and before she could react, the room had dissolved around both of them.

[to here]

Well, there she was again. Elena sat on the edge of her bed (her new bed, third one now. What was that about?), trying to decide if she should stay inside and play it safe, or have a look around the grounds by herself. She knew it wasn't the best idea, had enough experience of this place to know first hand just how fast things could go from mildly quiet to completely screwed up, but, well. The headache forming in the back of her mind was a clear indication that if she didn't get out, she would probably be setting herself up for another night filled with riveting episodes of Memory Theatre, alone in her room, and that just wasn't appealing at all.

It was getting easier to deter the memory dumps, if she could distract herself with reality enough. Which seemed basic, like stopping herself from having a day-dream, but of course her... issue was much different.

She wouldn't go far, she decided right away. No staircases and no rooms with doors that could shut behind her - that way if she did find anything or anyone that could hurt her, she knew she could run. Nevermind that Dr. Acula could outrun her without even trying, but that wasn't the point. What kind of doctor would be roaming the halls anyway? Elena needed to know more about this place, and with the map Damon gave her, she was confident she could find her way around without losing track of where she had already been or her sense of direction.

Right! Yeah! The more she thought about it, the clearer it became that she'd be just fine on her own. It just took a little common sense, that's all.

And so, with her map tucked up the sleeve of her uniform and flashlight in hand, she headed out.

[To here.]

Edited 2011-06-02 19:23 (UTC)

Sakura felt at least slightly productive after the day in Doyleton, though... when she hadn't been able to find anything she'd be able to sneak on the bus, even if she paid for it, she wound up getting some completely frivolous hair products at the salon just before they left. When she went to the box of her things, she was surprised to find that not only were her purchased shampoo and leave-in conditioner there, but there was also the shield and her old clothing from Konoha and- everything that had gone missing last night.

Okay, that was weird. Why was it not there last night, but suddenly everything was all better tonight? Did it have something to do with the new regime? Were they just trying to screw with her?

She let out a frustrated grunt as she dressed and packed up her medical supplies and weapons. At least she'd be well prepared for the night. Sakura gave one last longing look at the hair products before taking a moment to finger-brush in some of the leave-in conditioner. That texture, that scent, the soft feeling it left behind in her hair... it was glorious. Before she knew it, a few minutes had passed, but it was so very worth it.

[to here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1105943.html?thread=78193943#t78193943)]

Rapunzel was honestly at a loss for what to do tonight. There hadn't been any way to get in contact with Sora or anyone else in Arts & Crafts all day, and Lenalee was already asleep by the time she had gotten back for dinner.

She thought about looking for Soma, but realized quite quickly that she didn't know the other girl's room number yet. Besides, she thought, it would be unfair to force the girl to devote too much of her time to Rapunzel. For a girl like Soma, with so much training and experience, there were probably a million more productive things she could be doing besides helping someone bumble around the Institute. Maybe she would ask after Soma tomorrow instead, then, she thought.

Staying in the room didn't sit well with Rapunzel, but what else was she going to do? Going out without a plan was just stupid and dangerous. And so, she did stay in the room for a while, taking time to change into her dress while puzzling out a plan.

Eventually, she decided that simple exploration was as good a course of action as any. Exploration was part of the Arts & Crafts goals, right? So wherever she went tonight, she could report it back to Sora in the morning and see what he made of it. If it was something the club already knew about, then it would be a learning experience for her. If it was something new, then she would be contributing something useful to the group. So long as she didn't get herself killed, it seemed like a win-win situation.

The key part being "not getting killed."

Rapunzel swallowed nervously.

Having learned from her mistake the previous night, Rapunzel added a heavy brown coat and boots to her ensemble. She wasn't completely positive that she would be headed outside yet, but if it meant avoiding another instance of running through the snow barefoot, Rapunzel was willing to put up with a bit of heavier clothing. As well, she tucked her map into one of the coat's pockets, just in case she got lost.

Finally, with her trusty new frying pan in her right hand, a flashlight in her left, and a bundle of hair draped over her left arm, Rapunzel left the room.

[To here]

Edited 2011-06-05 16:00 (UTC)

The lack of promised address didn't pass Lightning by without notice, but while she also couldn't say it didn't bother her at all, there were many more important things on her mind at the moment. Whatever was going on in the heads of her adversaries, she didn't care-- or at least, didn't care about anything that didn't have to do with whatever they'd done to Hope.

While she'd told Snow she'd meet up with him after they'd each gotten a look around the town, that also seemed far less pressing to her at the moment when she didn't know where Hope was. She'd been counting on finding him again at the buses, but that obviously hadn't worked...

And right now, it seemed to her that almost every bit of control she still had a grip on at all had, like the boy, slipped through her fingers... and while it was a state she wasn't unfamiliar with, that just made it all the more sharply unpleasant.

As soon as the doors came unlocked, she was out of that tiny, blank room and on her way down the hall, dressed more or less in the same fashion as the night before: military shirt layered over one of the grey ones, grey pants, boots, gloves, leather jacket belted around her waist with the long knife stuck into it... at this point, she couldn't have cared less about how it looked, but it was better than being unprepared and, in her opinion, better than wearing one or the other uniforms in completion and unaltered.

In one hand she had the heavy-built lighting device, in the other the short sword she'd received from Kibitoshin. Enough was enough.

[ To here. ]

Edited 2011-06-03 19:52 (UTC)

Long, drawn-out battles could get irritating when someone was constantly talking in your ear--pleading, or taunting, or cajoling--so Yomi had no problems with the silent treatment that once again introduced nightshift. The problem with Landel was that he talked too much--or had talked too much, whichever. She could take his abilities seriously, but not the man. For supposedly being in control of the soldiers, Aguilar was no better (he was still in part responsible for her detainment, after all), but at least he wasn’t long-winded. Harder to gauge his personality with no face and no voice, maybe… though when had the sesshouseki ever needed those to make an assessment?

They were all the same, talking heads waiting to be cut down. If Aguilar had something to say, he’d no doubt say it when it was least convenient; she didn’t waste time wondering what the men behind the curtain might or might not have in store for her. Instead, Yomi focused on preparing for the nightly foray outside her cell. Despite the fact that one of Landel’s Institute’s favorite pastimes was lip-flapping, for once she had no conversation on her agenda. With no History Club assignments, there were no team members to play along with. She had the night to herself, herself and her own demons. If she so wished, anyway.

Taking into account the ring sitting in the pocket of her sweater, the matter of company all depended on who she found along the way. Returning to Doyleton was as good an option as any other, and taking along a distraction to keep the town’s night time residents off her back had its benefits.

_{[to here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1106633.html?thread=78129865#t78129865)]}

While Tifa got dressed in layers, she bid her roommate farewell and good luck as usual. Now, alone in the dark, Tifa moved with all haste to get the rest of her paraphernalia ready. Again, she ignored the flashlight because it seemed likely to be a hindrance more than an asset. If she, slobbering and undead, saw a fluttering light across the street, Tifa was fairly certain she would make a beeline for it.

So yes, no flashlight for her tonight. The moon and piles of snow would be more than enough light for her to lift some bottles of booze.

Along with her ice materia tucked away in her bra and her small knife, the young woman brought along an extra shirt for window punching. It would be really sad if she got the booze and car, but couldn't get back to the institute because she passed out from blood loss.

"Alright..." Psyching herself up, the brunette moved to the nearest wall and busted her blood red ring on the hard drywall and awaited the familiar feelings of nausea.

[From here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1106633.html?thread=78263241#t78263241). Assuming that Tifa is already gone?]

Giving Cloud a moment to let everything he'd just explained sink in, Zack focused on locating F6, which was a simple enough task. He didn't hear any noise coming from inside of the room, which probably meant that Tifa and Lightning were both already gone. Had they headed out together, or did they run off to accomplish separate tasks?

Either way, they were here now so it'd be best to be certain. Shrugging, Zack leaned forward and knocked firmly on the door. "Tifa?"

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Night 56: F01-F10 Hallway

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FFF SORRY IGNORE THIS