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damned_institute2007-06-03 04:16 pm
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Nightshift 24: Hallway outside entry room
The giggling and the stinging scent of pepper faded as Gin and Jack changed their route to the second set of stairs near the doctors offices. It was Gin's first time leading, usually Jack took that job, letting him take up the reasonably safer rear guard. He kept his flashlight trained on the path ahead of them, his knife in the other hand. With any luck, they'd be able to move as quickly through the halls as they had their first night.
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She didn't profess to know anything about this Subaru person, or organization, or country, or whatever it was. The brother Hokuto had spoken of, perhaps. But she knew the gravity of duty, and she knew how it was to be needed desperately. She'd left Aquaria to embark on a much more important mission, to save her entire plane of existence, but she knew the Queen needed her. She knew Clair needed her.
Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that somehow she wasn't needed after all. After all, Albel had mentioned that he remembered Nel returning to Elicoor with her group. Was she.. possibly.. another Nel, a different Nel who had arrived here at the same time that the Nel that Albel had known had returned to Elicoor?
She reached out gently, weakly, to brush her hand against Hokuto's leg, a gesture meant to calm her. "..I don't mean to presume, but I've a theory that you might still be in your home world. After all, my comrade had memories of me that had to have occurred after the last point I remember. It might be different with you, though - you say.. you're a ghost?"
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"Where in Japan are we?" she asked finally. It didn't really matter if they couldn't get out to go anywhere, but she wanted to know. It sounded like the staff here would make excuses for why she couldn't call home, but... she hoped they were still in Tokyo. At least then she'd still be close to home.
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She thought for a moment at the word 'Japan,' then the look in her eyes grew a little stark. "I've never heard of Japan, but that doesn't mean it isn't where we are. Where is that?"
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Landels was a mental hospital, Nel had said? Well... Hokuto certainly couldn't deny that the place was insane! "Uh. So, what country and planet are you from?" she asked dryly.
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How much had changed since she'd been ordered to track them down.
She paused for a moment before answering definitively. "I'm a soldier of Aquaria, on the planet Elicoor II." That was only part of it - she didn't feel like offering her full title, though. "Our home planets share a galaxy and similar traditional food, but not much else. I've never been there, but I've been to Moonbase, which is quite close."
She didn't expect Hokuto to have heard of Elicoor - as it turned out, most of the people she'd met didn't. It was, after all, supposed to have been an underdeveloped planet. How much confusion that had caused between the outsiders and herself! How many lies had to be so quickly fabricated.
"Though there's a chance you've never even heard of Moonbase - I don't know how old of a structure it is, and this place seems to pull people from vastly different times."
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It should have sounded a little far-fetched, even for the sister of an onmyouji, but right now she figured she should keep an open mind!
"So, you know magic?" she asked thoughtfully. She'd seen those ice needles. "I know a few spells, but my power levels feel lower than they should--right now I don't feel all that confident in anything higher-level than Barrier." She looked at the door to the Sun Room as she spoke; she was really getting worried, the others should have come out by now. She was curious about Nel's magic, but more than that, she was hoping they could somehow combine what they had to end things quickly. It had been, briefly, five against one... and the one had still been winning. Not good.
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Somehow she doubted that.
And then there was the question about the magic. She supposed 'magic' could be a broad term for it, though she'd never really known runology to be anything else.. "I'm a runologist - it's a bit like magic, but not really reducible to parlor tricks. As a weapon, it's quite useful, though it shouldn't be completely relied on, especially in a place like this. It's no crutch, and it's no substitute for physical ability. Am I right in assuming you know mostly defense spells?"
If so, that would tell Nel a lot about her new friend's personality. People usually did, after all, study the sorts of spells that would suit them most. Unless, of course, they were made to learn them whether they liked it or not.
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She'd considered learning kendo once, but standing there in the dark hallway of a place she still knew next to nothing about, Hokuto was glad she'd learned to fight in the style she did; it meant being unarmed didn't bother her. Every second that passed made her want to go back into the Sun Room and see what was happening, and if they did, she was going to be prepared.
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Her leg was feeling better by now, though the pain had dulled down to a strange, dark ache. So she strained against the wall for a moment, sliding back up to a standing position.
"Well, at least you know your limits." The words were spoken with a tinge of bitterness - she knew that the icicle she'd created was going to make her bleed, but she didn't know it would make her as weak as it did. Still, she was getting her druthers back.
She clenched and unclenched her fists. "I'm worried about what's going on in there. Do you think that perhaps we should return?"
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Still, though--there was no reason to charge in blindly when they didn't have to. "Should we just try to distract the guy long enough to get everyone out?" The problem with that plan: the only real distraction she could think of was attacking him, and they'd tried that already. And though Hokuto was a good fighter, she had a feeling she wasn't quite fast enough to just run up and clunk him on the head with a flashlight.
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Nel looked hard at Hokuto, then threw open the door and pushed into the room without a second thought.
[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/122217.html?thread=8545641#t8545641)]
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And Nel was more wildly successful with her mission than she could possibly have known.
The goddess was dragged by the arm right back out the door, softly whining as she realized that she had been taken away from her holy duty to dispel evil. Indeed, it would not have been difficult to imagine the drooping ears and limp tail that should have accompanied her doleful face.
...but she was alive, as was everyone else. Was that not the important thing?
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To the goddess, "Sorry, Amaterasu-sama--we got worried. Are you okay?" Despite the honorific she still used, she noted with some amusement that her speech style had gotten very casual very quickly...
She looked around the hallway again, wondering if there was a point in the night when they had to rush back to their rooms. She hoped not, since she didn't know where it was... well, this was a psychiatric hospital. She figured she could pretend to be a little out of it if she needed to!
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Although there was the danger of that man following them out of here, so she was a bit antsy to leave. "How are those boys? I didn't see them," she said hurriedly. "Tell me on the way - we should get out of here."
She wasn't sure herself where to go, but hopefully the goddess would pick a direction and stick with it.
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"I'm fine," the goddess confirmed with a weak smile, "and at least the boys got out alive. All of us did." And so far as Amaterasu was concerned, that was the important thing. If only she had more power! If only she was more god-like! Then that demon would not have been able to hurt so very many...
With a distinctly lupine droop to her features, Amaterasu started leading the way. While normally she was as radiant as the sun, her failure yet weighed heavily on her heart. How could she cleanse the Institute of evil when she couldn't even defeat one youkai? She didn't have enough praise to purify that one soul... she would have to try harder and ever harder to become as powerful as she would need to be.
"Let's go this way," she said, "I won't go without a weapon again, and maybe that will help the next time I fight a demon."
((Off to here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/124816.html) ))