Night 64: West Wing, South Hall 1-A

[dualistic]

[From here.]

Still no one. Harvey imagined that before long these areas were going to be flooded with sick people who were going to follow that clue, so he was glad that he'd beaten them to the punch. It wasn't that he thought it was contagious anymore -- by this point, they would have known -- but he didn't need to be surrounded by a bunch of miserable, sniffling people, either.

Relieved that he'd dodged that bullet, at least so far, Harvey reached the end of the hall and took a right toward their regular meeting spot.

[To here.]

Comments

[envy_the_sinners]

_{[from here]}

Getting into the more public hallways, Scar noticed one other man in the hall, but he didn't seem to be in such a rush. Perhaps he was healthy. Glad that he seemed to be out before the others made their moves, the Ishbalan rounded the corner into the main hallway.

_{[to here]}

[skeletonenigma]

[From here.]

If there was one thing Skulduggery missed, it was his revolver. The comforting feel of it in his hand was something that he'd grown far too used to over the years. But even in the world of sorcerers, guns were useful. There wasn't much that could stop a bullet unless you were planning on getting shot, and Skulduggery was nothing if not unpredictable. It was one of the qualities he prized himself on.

It was amazing how such an empty and quiet hallway could set his teeth on edge. Skulduggery was beginning to hope he'd run into someone, friend or foe, just to break the suspicious monotony. That probably wasn't healthy. Hopes like that were what led to hallucinations and madness.

[skeletonenigma]

[To here.]

[unpriest]

[From here]

Seishin absently noted he had been moved closer to the main hallway, but he guessed it didn't really matter as much. It would have been convenient had he set out with some sort of purpose like his roommate had, but that was clearly not the case. Wandering around aimlessly in such dangerous hallways quite possibly made him an easy prey, but the former priest was too shaken to truly care whether he inadvertently wandered into a a monster's awaiting claws or not.

[unpriest]

[To here]

[toxicspiderman]

[from here]

A party was an awful idea tonight. Too many contagions. Not that Landel couldn't whammy anyone he wanted. Whatever the sweet, possibly computerized, siren on the intercom said, this was his show. From opening act to drunken Beatles covers with half the words replaced by "fuck".

[to here]

[age_of_kings]

[from here!]

It wasn't terribly far to the other block of rooms, luckily. Tolten wasted little time in making his way up the halls, busy as far as this place went at this time of night. He felt charged and ready to act in ways he hadn't recently. Perhaps he was simply done being frightened and sad. And after that was the anger, which Sed had always told him to hold fast to and use.

Anger was a force. It lent strength and courage. Tolten wrapped it around him like armor and he longed for the sword he knew was waiting for him.

[oneman_onekill]

[from here]

Almost there...! Niikura was about as close to flat out running as he'd ever been. There weren't that many people in the halls, so he could probably run without crashing into anyone or having to pull up short all the time, but something held him back. He needed to save his energy, or something like that.

[to here]

[nobleman]

[From here.]

Still no Anise here as far as Guy could tell, so she was probably waiting closer to the main hall. He wasn't going to jump to any conclusions about her whereabouts until they got there. She was already sick, so he doubted the institute wanted anything else with her. Not that he could assume anything.

It probably wouldn't be long before they reached her, though, which meant that if Guy wanted to tell Claude about Okita, it had to be now. He slowed his pace slightly and glanced over his shoulder at his friend.

"There's something else I need to tell you," he admitted. "Today at dinner, instead of Okita, someone else showed up." Guy moved his head back around so that he was looking straight forward again, not sure he was ready to observe Claude's expression in response to that. "I asked the nurse, and she said he's been released."

He tried to keep his tone even as he delivered the information, but Guy knew he couldn't completely fool Claude. His friend had to know how much this was affecting him.

[earthling]

He could tell from Guy's body language, and from the way he slowed slowed down, that there was something on his mind. Of course, that wasn't so surprising, considering the sickness going around, and Claude had been willing to let it go. But when his friend specifically mentioned something else, he knew it was serious.

At first, he'd wondered if maybe Luke had been released again, and so he braced for the worst.

The last thing he expected was to learn that Okita was gone.

Claude's pace faltered, and he was unable to hide his pained expression. "Okita?" he echoed in disbelief. "No way..."

The news felt like a punch in the gut. He hadn't been as close to him as Guy, but he would never forget the kindness Okita showed to him in light of the tragedy in the basement, and his genuine interest in Guy's well-being. The thought of losing him so unexpectedly made his heart hurt, not only for Okita, but also for Guy, who was undoubtedly taking the man's absence even harder.

"Hey..." Forcing himself to take a few larger strides, he reached out to place a gloved hand on Guy's shoulder.

[hairraising]

[From here]

Rapunzel's hair flew and her heart pounded, but only because she was running as fast as she could down the halls. Even with her not being in any one place long enough to hear much, she caught the sounds of people coughing and being nauseous almost the whole way. All the more reason to get moving faster! Move! Go legs, go! she thought, flinging open doors as she went.

[To here]

[baniichan]

((From here.))

As eager as they were to get to the X-Ray room, Barnaby knew they couldn't afford to do anything careless, either. He still hadn't discounted the possibility that they were walking right into a trap, after all.

There wasn't any reason to tell Kotetsu to keep his guard up, though. The man was always on high alert to help others, almost to a fault. The damage fines said as much. Thankfully, no one here seemed to be keeping track of that kind of collateral damage, which meant he didn't have to worry so much about reeling in his partner at night.

His focused faltered for a moment when he remembered that, technically, they had both retired from the Hero business, but Barnaby promptly squelched that thought. Doubting his abilities right then wasn't going to do anyone any favors.

[oyaji]

East, that seemed easy enough. So far these hallways really had only one way to get in or out, but now there was this pesky thing called an intersection with several doors that went more than one way.

Shining his light down the new hallway, a pretty big group of patients clustered to the right and then the rest of it was rather empty. Huh. Stroking his beard, Tiger stopped because, since he was the leader of this outfit, he had to pick a route. East, obviously, but which way was east? His suit would have told him that, but ha! Yeah, he was a bit suitless so that pretty much took his one solution away from him.

"Hmmm..." Well, he couldn't stand here all night! They had to get there, like, as soon as possible so no civilians got in over their heads! Okay, he had to think, and logically! He repeated the rhyme never eat shredded wheat in his head before finally jumping to the most likely conclusion. East came after north, so it was obviously going to be on his right! And that was exactly where he began to walk off with obvious determination.

[ham_fisted]

[from here]

Gumshoe jogged faster when he heard the distant echoes of coughs between the sound of his heavy footsteps. Time wasn't on their side. If Dr. Landel got to the X-Ray Room before them, they might never find a cure!

[ham_fisted]

[to here]

[fallenbeanpole]

[from here]

Now this looked promising. This hallway actually was inhabited, and the Once-ler could hear the sound of activity at the far end of the hallway. Picking up the pace, he marched briskly to the next intersection, swinging left as he reached an even larger hall.

He was going to get answers.

[to here]

[forsworn]

[from here]

Now that they had gotten some momentum by actually leaving their starting point, it was time for introductions.

"Castiel, this is Rapunzel and--Flynn." Kratos caught himself just in time. Although he knew the man's true name, he'd noticed that Eugene preferred to use "Flynn" on the board, and presumably with other people who were not his golden girl. In fact, the only reason he knew about the name "Eugene" was because Rapunzel had let it slip while they were battling their way down the road last night; if they'd bothered to introduce themselves earlier, the story might have been otherwise.

Personally, he didn't see anything wrong with "Eugene", but the man deserved his privacy.

[hairraising]

So they were all on the same page and ready to go — all the better. On the off chance very very likely chance that there was something nasty waiting between them and the cure, she was glad they were a group of four instead of just two. Three of them had been enough to take out a giant bird with no weapons the other night. She didn't know how much of a fighter Castiel was, but he couldn't be worse than she was, and if she could handle herself in a fight, then she was sure Castiel would be a great help too.

"Nice to meet you, Castiel. Sorry for kind of just rushing past the introductions before," she said with a faint laugh while re-looping her hair around the crook of her arm. "I just wanted to get moving as fast as we could. I have a few friends who are sick, so..."

She ran her teeth along the inside of her lip. "Yeah, sorry about that."

[idolism]

_{[from here]}

The route out the cellblock was clear for the most part, offering no interruptions. If there were drooling beasts around, previously prisoners or not, Aidou couldn’t locate them.

“Were you on the field trip?” he asked as they walked. For all that Sasuke assured he was simply sleeping during his absences, how long could one person remain unconscious for? The boy seemed to spend more time in his room than anything else, of late. “I had my eye out for you.”

[firewhichrefines]

That Aidou's next object of concern resided in the female cell blocks would have been more inconvenient without the shortcut provided by the ring -- if Aidou wanted to raise objections about its use even after this much time had passed without noticeable negative consequences (and here, that was good enough for Sasuke), Sasuke was prepared to simply grab the vampire's hand and take him without preamble. After all, it wasn't as if there were any witnesses left to the hideous and deliberately-fueled misunderstanding that had arisen from their one unpleasant sortie with Naruto.

Not that that was a name that bore remembering after this much time (not that any of those were names that intruded no matter how much time). Sasuke turned his attention to the question Aidou posed with a tensing of his features.

"To town? I was. I was on the bus that attempted to riot." With predictable consequences.

[stellarregions]

[From Here, skipping M-A Block Hallway]

It looked like there were a decent number of people out this evening, as opposed to previous nights when he'd been greeted with virtually empty halls.

"Wonder if everyone's trying to get to the medical wing." It seemed like asking for a disaster akin to last nights, to him, but who was he to judge other people's decisions.

[vinesofregret]

Hakkai followed Gren, trying to focus on what was around them rather than the thoughts in his own head. Easier that way. And Gren was right - it seemed like there were far more people out and about than usual. Though as to why... Hakkai raised one eyebrow slightly in confusion. "The Medical Wing?"

[knightspirit]

[from here]

Kyousuke tried to keep a close eye on his surroundings as he walked, and outwardly, it probably looked passable, but the truth was, it was taking most of his focus just to drag his exhausted limbs and control his breathing. This was ridiculous. He couldn't even remember the last time it was so hard just to walk.

The hall had some life in it, though, and unlike like their encounter from before, nobody seemed to really pay them much mind. They must have been like them. Kyousuke took this as a cue to feel safe; if something came, someone was bound to notice even if he didn't, and they could probably use numbers to their advantage. He leaned against the wall again, casually watching people talk or come and go like he was deliberating, but that wasn't quite the truth. They hadn't even walked that far, yet he needed a small moment to make it feel like his extremities were less on fire.

Was this going to happen every small distance they traveled? If so, they weren't going to get anywhere very quickly. This ... might not work.

[stop_the_rain]

Murphy just shrugged. It had looked pretty great to him. and neither of them were dead, though Tsurugi looked like maybe he was fading fast. Either from the fight or from fear, and the ex-con considered both valid reasons.

"This isn't really a hospital," he offered, attempting the conversation thing again. "But they've got medical stuff. If you need anything. I still don't have a map, but...sometimes you can find your way around without one. I haven't been here that long, just...woke up here last night."

He figured he shouldn't ask 'are you okay' again, since he'd probably just get the same answer. And he didn't want to push this kid away. He knew he fucked up, had a habit of doing the exact wrong thing, but he was determined.

"So...where are you from? I'm from Boston."

[lovesthepain]

[From here]

An acute sense of frustration was starting to bubble underneath the steely calm composure Harpuia usually maintained. This was the first time he'd ever been so thoroughly and utterly... blind. No GPS to check, no access to a teleportation network, no way to simply download a map of the area, and nothing to go off but the narrow little beam of vision that the flashlight afforded. Trying to explore the place without any of the technology that had always been at his disposal was gratingly inefficient -- Harpuia never had been fond of situations where he didn't understand what was going on, and witnessing firsthand just how fragile these bodies were did nothing to make him comfortable with this. The sooner he found someone who could attend to X, the better.

Upon reaching the hallway, he gave another cursory sweep with his flashlight. To the left, the hallway seemed to go on for quite some ways. Further than the flashlight's beam could reach, anyway. To the right, the hallway seemed to end at a three-way stop; the outline of a staircase was just barely visible.

He supposed he couldn't necessarily bank on the assumption that they weren't underground, but he much preferred to think that wasn't the case; staying on the ground level would probably be the wisest course of action. They were much more likely to encounter either an exit or a map here; if this was the ground floor, then it was obviously where visitors entered. He could only guess what lurked at the other side of the hallway to the left, but it still struck him as appearing like a more likely choice.

...Still, he wasn't the one in charge here, he reminded himself. He looked over his shoulder to X. He would trust in his master's judgment; he'd overstepped his place enough already, and the last thing he wanted to do was further reinforce the idea that he didn't trust his leader to be competent.

"Left or right?"

[maverickhunterx]

That was a tough question. The area to the right seemed a wise choice, with the multiple stops and even a staircase, but with that many doorways, it was easy to get lost, and harder to retrace one's steps. At the same time, though, there was a more likely chance to find a room with needed supplies, or at least find...someone.

Empty hallways were just that...empty hallways.

And if something happened, the hallway didn't offer much in terms of cover in case something went wrong.

But on the other hand, the hallway was easy to navigate, and in case they reached a dead end, they could reach their previous position easier without a map. Perhaps the longer hallway was the best choice, since neither of them were equipped with any means in which to trace their steps outside of their own minds...

X let out a sigh and kept his hand on the wall.

"Left. It'll be easier to retrace our steps if we take the less complicated route first."

[ryuuzaki]

[From here.]

Outside of his new room, out into the main corridor, and to the spot where he had arranged to meet the others... this was normalcy, as it went, for a night in the Institute. No one was waiting yet. He took the bat in his free hand and leaned it against the wall, then rested against the wall himself, idly sucking on the lollipop.

[Edgar and Nina, where are you?]

[mirrorimage]

[From here.]

Nina was right. She'd found the place they'd agreed to meet, and without any serious trouble at that! She felt mingled worry and relief that she wasn't the last one there. Worry that something bad had become of Edgar; relief that she hadn't been asleep after dinner for as long as she had been afraid she might have.

"Ryuuzaki?" Nina called out softly, as she approached him, just in case he hadn't realized she was coming yet. She didn't want to startle him although chances of that were probably low with the way the white light from her flashlight preceded her. His being injured meant that he'd probably need as much protection as she and Edgar could give and he was willing to accept.

"I'm here."

[kings_thief]

[From Here]

This, at least, was familiar. If they went right, there was nothing but stairs, if they went left then there was the Sun Room and whatever was past the Sun Room. He led them left.

[To Here]