Night 64: Main Hallway, 1-Center

[thecamellia]

_{[from here]}

She paused again by the Sun Room, probing the darkness. There were no flashlights around to break up the shadows, and no natural light to guide her eyes. After all her many nights moving around the building without her own flashlight she’d become more than adept at navigating in total darkness, but caution still pricked at the fine hairs on the nape of her neck every time she reached an area that was not heavily populated with foot traffic.

If Landel had half a mind to prevent them from reaching the secret in the Medical Wing, now would be the time for him to act. Tsubaki couldn’t trust that he hadn’t heard I.R.I.S.’ relay, if the intercom’s abrupt cut-off had been any indication.

As she passed the doors leading to the entryway, she once again felt her eyes wandering toward them. Would what had happened there happen again? To someone she knew next time?

Would someone be injured because of the transformed prisoner?

Keep going, the assassin in her said. No time for doubts.

_{[to here]}

Comments

[envy_the_sinners]

_{[From here]}

Scar picked up the pace. He didn't feel much like being surrounded by a massive rush of patients as he made his way to the medical wing. There didn't seem to be anything going on in the Sun Room, but there was a younger girl in the hall, as well. Scar frowned to himself. There was still something that bothered him about children being taken to this place.

_{[To here]}

[skeletonenigma]

[From here.]

...And here was the Sun Room, doors as wide open as they were during the day, but revealing a room far less warm and inviting. Skulduggery came to a stop just outside and glanced in, but he couldn't see or feel anything strange in the darkness. The air currents from within drifting against his hand were perfectly normal, and felt like they had been for at least an hour - no one had passed through recently.

Yet, he elected not to go in just yet. Rita had said something guarded this place at night, and Skulduggery didn't really fancy the idea of picking a fight alone with... whatever that something was, not when his magic was so limited and his body so unwieldy. He was breathing heavily from a short walk, for God's sake. A walk. He would have given his lungs a stern lecture, if he could, as well as some advice on toning the noise down.

With no one else in the hallway yet, Skulduggery folded his arms and leaned against the wall next to the Sun Room doors to wait for Rita. He had plenty of thoughts to occupy his time, most of which seemed to have been thrust upon him within the last five minutes.

[overlimit]

[from here]

And there he was, waiting just where she told him to. That was good to see, at least.

Rita walked over to the man, her movements far smoother than they'd been earlier in the day, when she was practically hobbling about in pain. She'd left the sling where it was, though - despite the healing spells' effects, Rita wasn't confident that her shoulder was healed entirely. Best to stay on the safe side.

"Looks like you made it," she commented by way of greeting, then looked to the Sun Room. "Did you see or hear anything while you were waiting?" It could give them an idea as to what, if anything, awaited them beyond that doorway.

[skeletonenigma]

He glanced up as Rita came near, no longer limping or protecting herself so gingerly. The arm was still in a sling, but this time she didn't seem to care if it bounced around a little bit. All in all, the teenager looked a lot better, and perhaps even a bit taller, than she had just a few hours ago. Were injuries simply less painful at night, or was this what had delayed her? If Skulduggery were a gambling man, his money would have been on the latter.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," he answered her, just before a slight pause. "Unless screaming counts as ordinary. But I didn't hear any screaming either."

Normally, Skulduggery wouldn't have mentioned the apparent healing - he was no stranger to watching bones knit in a few minutes, after all - but Yomi had been looking for something to do just this, and she'd given the impression that it was difficult to come by. "How did you heal yourself just now?"

[his_legacy]

[From here]

Link continued to follow Sora into a much bigger hallway. There was definitely an eerie silence about these halls, a sense of foreboding. It made Link slightly tense, sharp eyes scanning every nook and cranny as they walked.

"Should there be more people coming out as well?" There was certainly no fear in his voice, despite knowing that monsters were known to roam the corridors. Link was fairly certain that he had fought worse. And even without his weapons, he could still fight.

[lighthearted]

It didn't take them all that long to reach the main hall, and Sora was once again relieved that he'd been around to show Link the ropes. He wished that he was feeling better so he could have been a more enthusiastic guide, but at this point he was just glad that there didn't seem to be any sign of him turning into something else.

"Other patients, you mean?" Sora asked, turning to Link when he voiced his question. "There should be some around, yeah." As they continued down the hall, he even spotted a familiar face -- Rita, who he'd played with in the Game Room that one time. And she was speaking to Mr. Skulduggery, too! Sora made sure to wave to both of them as he walked past. "See what I mean?" he said to Link.

There wasn't time to stand around and chat, though, and so he moved past them and continued down the hall.

[To here.]

[madeinthehrl]

[from here]

Soma finally stopped for a breather just before the Sun Room doors. From here it was a straight line to the medical wing, and she was fairly certain she'd seen a sign for the X-ray room when she and Kratos had last explored the wing. So that was all right then.

She leaned against the wall, half-closed her eyes, and willed her head to stop pounding.

[Once-ler!]

[fallenbeanpole]

[from here]

...well, he'd certainly thought he'd heard activity out here. As it were, there was only one other person in the hall, and she seemed to be... armed? But she also wore the same smiley face shirt, so perhaps they were in the same boat after all.

Walking over, the Once-ler leaned down to bring himself closer to the girl's height. "Excuse me, miss? You wouldn't happen to know where we are, would you? I just woke up in a weird room and..." his voice trailed off as he noticed the large rash on her arm.

"Are you all right?"

[madeinthehrl]

It was, Soma thought grimly, a sign of how ill she felt when she couldn't even sense someone coming up from behind her. She looked up at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. Then she kept looking up, because the stranger was...tall. Very tall.

And new, from the sound of it. Soma pushed herself off the wall with a grunt. "I'm fine," she said, despite all evidence to the contrary. "It's probably not contagious." Then, because the last thing she wanted was more attention directed at her glaring weakness, "You said you just woke up here?"

[nobleman]

[From here.]

The hall emptied out as they continued down it, which, as always, meant one of two things. Either they had beaten everyone else here, or they were running behind the other groups who were following the clue. In this case, Guy had a feeling it was the latter, since it had taken some time for them to meet up.

It should have felt nervewracking to know that he had two ticking time bombs following after him, but Guy wasn't scared. The threat of his friends turning into monsters didn't seem quite real yet, but even if they did, that was just another obstacle they had to deal with. He couldn't believe something like that would be permanent, after all.

Maybe he was fooling himself, but regardless, it was something that had to be addressed. "If either one of you starts feeling really weird," he told Anise and Claude as he looked back at them, "make sure you say something and we'll try to deal with it." Even if it meant tossing them into a random room and locking them in until they figured out something better. Landel had said at least one person would be changing tonight, so they had to be ready.

[gald_digger]

Guy’s request was uncomfortable to hear, but Anise knew it was necessary. “... Okay,” she agreed, not looking up when she spoke. She wondered what that would even feel like, turning into some kind of monster. From how the nurses on the bus looked, it had to be really painful. Anise hoped more than anything that she and Claude wouldn't have to go through that. She wouldn't even wish it on her worst enemy.

“You two haven’t been there before, right? The Medical Wing, I mean.” This was an easier topic to talk about, and one that was probably useful to bring up. “I went there once, but I don’t know where the X-Ray room is.” At the time, she didn't imagine any rooms besides storage ever being useful to herself or her friends. But at least she knew where the room wasn't, which was a start.

Not a good start, but still.

[brokensmolder]

[from here.]

Well, that had been awkward. Eugene kept sneaking looks at Rapunzel's dagger--really, her mother's dagger, and wondering how she'd managed to get her hands on it. She looked so out of place with it.

He followed Kratos out into the main hallway, watching warily for the 'monsters' that he'd been told to look out for. He would mind hefting a dagger himself.

Or a frying pan.

[freewill]

In Castiel's opinion, that knife was likely to do Rapunzel much better than the frying pan, but he realized this wasn't a topic on which he should argue. His guess was that Flynn had brought that up to draw their attention away from the knife itself, as there was clearly some sort of story there.

It was a relief that they decided to leave it for another time, however, as they were on a time limit and couldn't afford to waste any of it with ancillary conversations.

As they walked, nearing closer to the medical wing, Castiel glanced back at Rapunzel, still curious to know if she had really let someone climb up a tower with her hair as a rope. But instead of saying anything about that, Castiel asked another question. "You said you have friends who are sick," he remarked. "How many people do you know of who are suffering from the illness?" He wanted to get an idea of how widespread this affliction was.

[baniichan]

((From here.))

As they kept walking, Barnaby's gaze shifted toward the Sun Room. The Entry Room was just across from it. He remembered passing through there the morning the nurses escorted everyone to the buses for the trip to Doyleton. Hopefully they wouldn't have a repeat of last night anytime soon.

Of course, there was a chance they were going to become the next transformation victims unless they did something to stop it. If they were lucky, there would be a clue waiting for them in the med wing. If they weren't, they'd have to deal with the consequences then, whatever they may be.

Barnaby just hoped there wouldn't be too many civilians caught in the potential crossfire. This place threw enough curve balls at him without having to deal with that.

Spoilers here

[oyaji]

Just like his partner, the Sun Room doors fell under the same heavy scrutiny from the older man as well. It was hard to forget what had transpired on his first night here--Almost savaged to death by a long-haired cat girl NEXT creature thing and unceremoniously dropped two floors on his head--Well, almost.

He couldn't help the wistful snicker that escaped his grinning lips when he remembered how damn lucky he had gotten. All alone in this creepy place and then suddenly his former partner--No, Barnaby said they would always be partners no matter what, hadn't he?

His life partner--Wow, no that carried way too many connotations!

Okay, he had it now! His uncontractible and willing participant of--Okay, you know what! Life partner worked for now! So his life partner shows up out of nowhere to save his old ass as usual. It couldn't be helped any longer; Wild Tiger's amber eyes moved through the dark and stuck to Barnaby Brooks Jr.'s face, pinched from focus and caution. What a guy, that partner of his! It made him lament the good ol' days they had shared...

[To here]

[a_sin_for_him]

[from here]

Lust didn't go too far beyond the good man she'd found in the hallway. She wasn't trying to get away from him, simply leave no doubt in his mind that arguing with her or attempting to convince her to stay away or go elsewhere was pointless. It wasn't safe for either of them to be alone, so why not travel together?

She slowed, glancing over her shoulder to see if he was coming as well.

[ham_fisted]

L-Lust?

"B-But..." Gumshoe trailed off hopelessly. He'd known her for less than a minute and he'd already done something wrong. No matter what he did, he always seemed to make a fool out of himself in front of women like her. She didn't know he was a detective, either; he shouldn't have expected her to listen to him.

Not that it would have made any difference.

He sighed and went after her. It didn't take long for him to catch up to her, but when he did, he was a little tongue-tied. He hoped he hadn't offended her, which was pretty obvious by the way he was frowning at her.

"Okay, sure, why not?" he said dully, giving her an apologetic look. "We'll go together."

[vinesofregret]

[From here]

There really did seem to be a lot of people out tonight - almost as much bustle as during the day, though the nurses were absent. After last night, though, that was a blessing, Hakkai thought.

"You're probably right," he replied to Gren. "It may very well be a trap. Someone more daring can find out whether it is or not, I think." He wasn't sure he felt up to that challenge tonight.

[stellarregions]

"If it really is helpful, someone will pass the news along." At least he hoped so. People could be secretive with information sometimes, but it seemed like something like this, where so many people were potentially affected, should be shared. He hoped whoever was chasing after this clue felt the same way.

He paused as the reached the doors of the sunroom.

"Ready?"

[purgatio]

[ from here ]

He moved in silence through the night, focused only on the simple fact of movement. There was no ring for quick transit, only feet and legs, and Albedo continued moving, continued his focus on his brother's location.

[ to here ]

[knightspirit]

[from here}

Somewhere in the course of conversation, Kyousuke had managed to put aside how completely exhausted he was, so when he moved again, he put no particular thought into it. The problem was, the normal amount of effort wasn't nearly enough to support him right now, and he staggered forward, nearly falling, but able to right himself by placing a hand on the wall beside him. He forced himself to stand upright without any assistance and clenched his fists. ... It was hard to believe standing around like that had helped so little. At this point, maybe it was better he go rest somewhere, but though he knew he wasn't doing himself any favors, he wasn't ready to admit defeat quite yet.

He clicked his tongue, and then as if that hadn't happened, made himself continue forward with all of the control he could muster.

[stop_the_rain]

It was hard for Murphy not to reach out to offer a steadying hand. But he could tell it wouldn't be appreciated, no matter how much the boy's body was betraying him. Why did the young have to insist on presenting such a tough face? Hell, he'd done it, when he was a teenager.

"I don't have a map yet," he man pointed out, instead. "What are you looking for?"

Since wandering around with no goal and no map was the last thing Murphy wanted to do.

[thecamellia]

_{[from here]}

As soon as she shut the door behind her, Tsubaki made a right and started running.

The second floor was on the same side of the building, but she didn’t think the risk of getting caught in a monster attack was worth tramping around in strange places. The cell blocks were at least safe, as well as familiar. The chances of running into an opponent were significantly less if she re-tread her steps.

Less but not impossible. With luck she wouldn’t find that out, though!

_{[to here]}

[kings_thief]

[From Here]


Once they got to the main hall, Locke slowed a little. He didn't want to go tearing through here when they didn't know what they were looking for. Although, logically, it was probably past the Sun Room; Locke had never been over there himself and if it was supposed to be on this floor, then that was their best bet.

He gestured ahead of them with his pipe. "The other end of this hall, you think? Does that seem familiar at all?"

[age_of_kings]

They made swift work of the hallways, determined and driven. Tolten was unusually silent, his mind wrapped up in a haze of need. He needed to do something. To set this right, fix it, whatever needed be done!

It helped keep his fear - and the pain of illness - at bay.

When they slowed, the young king peered up the hall, frowning. 'Familiar' was a subjective term in this place. But he was not about to allow doubts to assault him this night! He was a king and a king acted with surety.

"I think you're right," he agreed. "Let's...catch our breaths for a moment. We don't know what we'll be facing in there."

It felt better to say that then to ask 'are you ready?'.