damned_institute | Night 65: F11-20 Hallway

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Night 65: F11-20 Hallway

To die for...

Was that idle chitchat? A red herring? The nausea making a convincing case for the chicken's immediate release and acquittal on all charges? Her stomach did a little flip as the gavel came down, pronouncing it not guilty. But wouldn't that mean it wasn't poisoned? Objection, your honor. This case makes no sense. She fell back onto her pillow for a second, head spinning. She was lightheaded, and giddy, and in no shape to be gathering her things in the dark -- she'd landed on the flashlight -- and heading out into it.

Nevertheless, she eased the flashlight out from under the small of her back and switched it on. A circle of light flickered into life on the ceiling, as the Head Doctor's voice came back on the intercom.

Five. How many were sick? She held the gun up into the light, probably thoroughly freaking out Ilia, even as she kept it pointed only at the near wall. What made a human? Guilt. Or innocence. A lawyer's answer, to pick both, but it was true. Animals didn't know what they did. Humans did. Temporary insanity, turned into a monster. It was a defense on legal grounds, but not on ethical ones. She wouldn't let it come to that.

Harrington's little interjection cut into the path her thoughts had wandered down. Another clue. This time, she was going to see it for herself. As long as she was still herself to do so. A good reason to hurry.

[to here]

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To say Rapunzel was torn was like saying lava was kind of hot. Her first instinct was to get up off her rear and head straight for the X-Ray room. If there was another clue to the cure there now and the humanity of five patients was on the line, then finding whatever was in there was a no-brainer. However, she also had at least four other patients counting on her to be in her room tonight. Two or three of them would have injuries that needed treating right away, and the last, Castiel, could very well be as much a key to finding a cure as another clue might be. Staying would also be a no-brainer.

Tsubaki spoke first after the announcement, making the choice for her in the process. Rapunzel was almost relieved, if no less tense. "Okay," she answered, unconsciously gripping a fistful of bedsheets in one hand. "I'll be here. Hurry."

It wouldn't have been the first time she was stuck in one place with nowhere to go.

[Scar, The Once-ler, Flynn, and/or Castiel.]

Edited 2012-08-17 11:25 (UTC)

_{[from here]}

Almost, almost... Her sense of relief only grew the closer she and Scar got to F15, where she knew Rapunzel was waiting. Almost home free!

When her room came into view, Tsubaki pulled back on the handles a little, causing the wheelchair to slow. "Here we are," she announced. Raising her voice a little, she said, "Rapunzel, I'm back!" before pushing Scar across the threshold ahead of her.

Their room looked just the same as she'd left it, which she was glad to see. Not that she'd been gone very long, but anything could happen in a short amount of time. After she'd brought the wheelchair to a stop on Rapunzel's side of the room, she stepped out from behind it and offered both Scar and her roommate a smile. "This is the friend I told you about," she said to Rapunzel with a gesture to Scar. "Scar-san, this is Rapunzel."

Scar was snapped out of his thoughts as Tsubaki spoke again. They had traveled quite a distance without him even realizing. He blamed it on the sickness. It was easier that way.

He glanced up at the young girl Rapunzel, giving a nod of acknowledgement. And there Tsubaki went with that word, again. He had hardly known her twenty-four hours and he was apparently already her friend. Despite Scar's cynical disbelief that there was truth in that statement, it was still warming to be cared about.

"Tsubaki tells me that you can heal people." He watched Rapunzel, hoping he wasn't being overly intimidating. (Though, no one looked intimidating from a damn wheelchair.)

Rapunzel tensed slightly when the door finally opened, but recovered quickly. In came Tsubaki, wheeling a man she could only assume to be— Yep, the other girl confirmed it to be the friend she had described on the bulletin board. She and Scar were introduced, and Rapunzel waved them over closer to her bed. She would have gotten up, but she had to do whatever small things she could to conserve her energy tonight.

"It's good to meet you, Scar. And I can, though not as well as I could back home," she admitted, looking Scar over with no small amount of dismay. If he was to the point of having to be wheeled around, she wasn't sure just how much she could help. "I can do a little bit to help whatever's been hurt the most right now, though?"

Rapunzel tried to gauge what that might be. Probably the legs, she was guessing, but other things could put a person out of commission like this too. The wound on his wrist looked pretty serious, so if he was cut like that anywhere else...

She didn't need to be told twice. With a nod at Scar, Tsubaki got behind the wheelchair again and brought it to rest beside Rapunzel's bed where the other girl would have no problems laying out her long hair.

The man was better able to answer Rapunzel's question than she was, but there was obviously a personal element to how and why Scar had obtained his wounds in the first place. As merely an observer, Tsubaki thought maybe her clinical detachment might help to smooth things over, so she moved back to Scar's other side and used her finger to start measuring out the general lengths and positions of Scar's gashes. Getting to the root of the medical problem would hopefully keep everyone focused.

"I think there are knife wounds to the muscles here and here that are causing the worst problems," she started to explain, pointing toward the affected areas on Scar's back and the backs of his thighs. "Is that not right?"

Scar frowned slightly when Rapunzel mentioned that she couldn't heal as well as she could back home. What sort of power did she have? This place cut the abilities of everyone, then? Its physical effects on people hadn't been something Scar had considered, until now. Lust had had problems with her claws that time, but he had filed it away as some kind of homunculus issue he knew nothing about, and he was unaware of any supernatural abilities among his other acquaintances.

It didn't affect him, though, so he didn't bother thinking on it too long.

"Yes," he said stiffly, "There are slashes on the backs of my legs and on my back." Scar did not know what kind of limitations Rapunzel was talking about. Did the power sap her own energy? Or was it limited in its healing effects? There were others more deserving of the limited power. This much, he knew. "If you could fix my legs enough to make me walk, I would be grateful." It hurt too much to move efficiently, right now, and although the wound in his back made many movements difficult, he wasn't spending another moment in this chair.

That was more than enough information. Rapunzel didn't want to know how Scar had ended up with knife wounds, and in such vital places, too. She didn't want to think about how something that could think had done this to him, something that knew enough about the human body to take one out of commission like this. Had it been one of the patients under Landel's control? The Ram Man, Lingormr? Or did Landel have more than just shambling, vomit-inducing monstrosities on his side?

For now, Rapunzel nodded, gesturing toward Scar's legs. "Yeah. Yeah, I can do that. Tsubaki, can you roll up his pant legs?" she asked, already getting her hair prepared.

Once the wounds were exposed, she would be able to wrap sections of hair around them and begin the incantation song. Thinking about what else she would be doing tonight, she figured she could close the wounds and fix the inner workings of things just enough to let Scar get up. It would be a delicate fix, a splint of twigs and leaves on a bird's wing, but it would be better than nothing.

"Thanks for your help, Rapunzel," Tsubaki piped up with a smile, "and for trying your best on this."

Rapunzel had such a strong heart, but she knew that the other girl was also terribly new to… situations like the Institute. The struggle and the confusion. The badly hurt people who might depend on her healing gifts. She wanted her friend to know her efforts weren’t in vain.

After what had happened to him, it was clear enough that Rapunzel’s power would find a good home in Scar. With a look at the man, Tsubaki followed up on Rapunzel’s request by saying, "If that’s all right with you. Her power is in her hair so she’ll have it touch the wounded areas directly." Granted, it was a little strange, but Tsubaki had seen stranger. In a logistical sense, the most difficult thing to contend with was the awkward placement of Scar’s injuries, which almost required them to remove the clothes entirely, but she sincerely doubted Scar would want to do that.

"I'll do it," he grumbled, shifting painfully in his chair and attempted to roll the legs of his pants up past the bandages, but the fabric caught and pulled on the wrapping. Scowling, he slipped the waistband of his trousers down below his bandaged thighs. Scar was in boxers, which were loose and decently long, but he still felt terribly wrong pulling his clothes off in front of these young women.

"I apologize." But the wounds were too tender to get the legs of his pants rolled so high and over the bandages. Scar stood slowly, teeth grit and eyes narrow as he moved to lean against the wall by the bed.

Still, though. Magic hair? He half believed that this was some kind of joke as he unwound the white strips of cloth, revealing the ugly stitched gashes. The Ishbalan sneered, not wanting to look at them.

"Wait, no, let Tsubaki—" A scowl from Scar as his pants caught on his bandages, forcing him to go for the waistband of his pants instead. Rapunzel's face flushed deep, deep pink. "...do that."

Really, she shouldn't have been so flustered, especially not when there were more important things that needed doing tonight, but... Well, it was her first time seeing a man even partly naked. Mother Gothel had never said much about what lay below the belts of those "brutish, violent men", and the one anatomy book that had ever graced the tower's presence only really told her about certain... "parts" that were different between men and women. And pictures in a book were always nothing compared to seeing something in real life.

At least he still had his underpants on?

"A-apology accepted," said Rapunzel, hoping the darkness of the room would hide the redness of her cheeks. It was doing a decent job of helping her to not focus on Scar's bare legs, at least. That was something she needed after getting up to wrap the sections of hair around the wounded calves. Once a loose wrap was done (she did her best not to agitate the injuries), she shuffled back maybe a little faster than intended, sitting back on the bed.

Rapunzel took a few moments to breathe, closing her eyes. When she was ready, she began the incantation, and soon, the room filled with a familiar warmth and glow.

Edited 2012-08-28 23:08 (UTC)

As seemed to be his way, Scar was quick to take on the task himself. To Rapunzel's embarrassment, the uniform pants had to be pulled down to get at the injuries, and Tsubaki glanced at her for a moment before hurrying to Scar's side when he started to stand by himself.

"There's nothing to apologize for," she assured him, shadowing him closely. "Put your weight on me if you need."

Between yesterday and that night, the wounds were in much better condition, mostly because they were no longer raw and bleeding freely. The Institute's treatment, despite its sinister underbelly, was at least efficient when done right. Tsubaki held her breath, waiting as Rapunzel twined the coils of her hair about Scar's legs and settled back to work her magic.

She'd seen it in action a few times already, but it was always the visceral memory of Rapunzel using it on her that struck her first and foremost. Golden light carried on song notes that seemed to sink into the hurt spots, soothing, warming, strengthening... Magic, beyond a doubt.

Maybe there was no need to apologize to Tsubaki, but he had certainly succeeded at making Rapunzel extremely uncomfortable. He was decently covered, he had thought... And Scar had stricter measures of 'decent' than most people!

Scar shook his head silently at Tsubaki's offer to help him stand. He was sick of using her as a crutch. He watched, eyes narrowed, as Rapunzel wrapped her hair about his legs, unsure of the exact moment his mouth fell open. It was unlike anything that existed in Amestris, and could really only be described as magic. That girl's hair was definitely glowing, and Scar could feel the muscles knitting themselves back together. It was becoming easier to stand with every passing second.

It became easier to focus the longer she worked (and the longer her eyes remained closed). After running through the incantation, she kept the glow going, carefully trying to pinpoint the exact moment when too much energy had been used. She had never tried to be this precise with her healing times before, but it would be necessary tonight.

It took about five minutes before Rapunzel gave out and let the light fade. She knew if she went on much longer, she was going to get seriously woozy. At this point, in combination with what the Institute had already done for him, the man's wounds were just under half healed — closed, but with angry red scars still in place. He would be able to walk without much trouble, but running and jumping and other kinds of intense activity were going to be tricky.

"How do you feel?" asked Rapunzel, a slight faintness in her voice that wasn't there before. She hadn't realized yet that her eyes were still closed, either.

Tsubaki hovered close to Scar, gaze traveling back and forth between him and Rapunzel. She didn't know how badly Rapunzel's power had been repressed or how many people she was planning on trying to help with what energy she did have, but it undoubtedly had to be taxing. Sharing power with someone else had a cost.

As the glow began to dim, she exhaled, absently mimicking the slow departure of energy from the room. Her first instinct was to ask Scar the same thing, and she cocked her head questioningly. His body language definitely seemed less tense.

"I'll undo Rapunzel's hair if you want to try walking," she offered before starting to bend down.

Scar nodded to Tsubaki, waiting curiously as she pulled Rapunzel's hair away. He immediately pulled his pants back into place, testing his legs. They still hurt, but not so much that he could no longer walk.

"That's..." He looked up to Rapunzel, mouth slightly agape. "You have my thanks." He wasn't going to ask for anything else. The girl seemed tired from that, and there were more people who would want to be healed, he was certain.

Scar gave a nod to both girls, thanked Tsubaki for bringing him here, and left the room.

[To here]

Edited 2012-09-03 23:27 (UTC)

"Thanks," she said to Tsubaki, glad to not have to bend down to grab her own hair. She would need a few minutes to recover, and then hopefully she would be fine enough to continue with the night.

To Scar she said: "Don't worry about it. Come to me anytime, don't be a stranger." She gave the man a faint grin and a thumbs up as he left.

Once they were alone, she turned back to her roommate. "Thanks for bringing him here. Sorry if I'm holding you up from being anywhere."

“Of course,” was her response to Scar. There was more she would have liked to say, and she had her mouth open to do so, but he was so quick to leave that the words were left hanging. Was he going to be all right? Did he want extra company for the night?

Tsubaki was sorely tempted to go after him and ask him what his plans were, but there was still Rapunzel to think of.

She looked away from the door to give the other girl a smile. “No, no, thank you for helping. I know he’s grateful even if that was a bit abrupt.” Rapunzel was another person who was going to need all the help she could get. Crossing to her own side of the room, Tsubaki picked up the cup sitting on her desk and brought it over to Rapunzel. “I’m sorry, you must be tired from doing that under these conditions. Here’s some water. I didn’t drink any.

In answer to the girl’s question, she smiled a little brighter and added, “It’s okay, I’d rather see you settled first before I go. Do you want me to wait with you?”

[From here.]

As they moved down the hall, Castiel went about answering Gabriel's earlier question. "I've only met her once." It was shocking that the girl had been so willing to offer her help, but Castiel also realized that his situation was both urgent and severe. That didn't make Rapunzel's generosity any less surprising, though.

But humans were puzzling in that way.

He wasn't sure how many times Kratos had interacted with Rapunzel, but he imagined the man would answer for himself if he wanted to. Once they reached the door, Castiel looked toward Kratos, quietly asking him to knock it. If Castiel pulled away from Gabriel, he might end up stumbling into the door instead of rapping on it.

Knocking ended up not being necessary. In the quiet of her room, Rapunzel could hear the footsteps approaching outside the door and had enough of her strength back by now to get up and answer the door herself. The group was greeted by a welcoming face as the door opened for them.

"Hey guys," she said, inviting them in and walking back toward her bed, careful to step over her own hair as she did so. "If you didn't show up in a few more minutes, I was going to go find you. The other guys who were supposed to come tonight didn't show up." Which worried Rapunzel a lot more than she let on; Eugene was supposed to come tonight, and the Once-ler maybe too. "Is everything okay out there?" she asked, hoping that there wasn't some kind of Institute-wide disaster that everyone was getting caught up in.

After a few moments, she turned to the man in the group she didn't know. "Sorry, I didn't get your name? I'm Rapunzel."

Kratos's answer to Gabriel's question was a tad more vague: "We associate." By that, he meant, "I've known her long enough to trust her", since he'd come to believe that Rapunzel was incapable of possessing a mean-spirited bone in her body, but it was his habit to avoid elaborating on his relationships, particularly when talking to someone who was mostly a complete stranger.

He caught Castiel's small cue as they finally came to Rapunzel's room, and stepped up, one fist raised to knock, just as the door opened: it seemed Rapunzel had heard them coming. Kratos recovered swiftly, lowering his fist and stepping inside as if nothing had happened.

"We nearly ran into a monster on the way here," he said, removing his gloves and rolling up his sleeves in preparation. "If you heard the broadcast earlier, more people have been transformed tonight. One such person was lurking just inside the men's blocks, but thankfully, we were able to avoid a confrontation. I'm afraid that might have been what caused the delay, though. It was a...disturbing scene." He avoided mentioning that it was Sora; it was better to not distress Rapunzel prior to the operation.

Kratos glanced at Castiel as he replaced his gloves, frowning briefly as he tried to get the leather to go smoothly over his Crystal. "How do you wish to go about this?"

Gabriel allowed Castiel to guide him, because really, he had less of an idea where he was going in comparison. Right here and now, his main job was as Castiel's leaning post. He helped his brother inside Rapunzel's room and made sure the other angel was seated and situated before turning to Rapunzel herself.

The hair was nearly the only thing she had in common with the Rapunzel Gabriel knew. In the first instant, that was relieving, but a moment later Gabriel checked and scolded himself. He didn't know this girl, not really, but that didn't meant she was a good replacement for his Rapunzel's suffering.

Instead he smiled warmly. "I'm Gabriel; I arrived here earlier today. It's my pleasure to meet you, Rapunzel."

It was a relief to see that Rapunzel was ready for them, as Castiel wouldn't have wanted to interrupt while some other patient was being healed. Though the news that some people hadn't showed up was worrisome. Was Flynn, Rapunzel's friend, part of that group? Castiel didn't know how to offer any condolences, and so he hoped that the frown on his face and a slight nod got the sentiment across.

Gabriel helped him to sit, and Castiel was thankful to no longer have to lean on anyone. He watched as Kratos switched out his gloves and assumed that it would help the process somehow. They were all looking to him for guidance now, but in reality he barely knew how human surgery worked. He had hoped that Kratos would know where to go from here.

Still, the first step seemed to be removing his shirt, and so that was what he did. His sleeve almost snagged on the stitches on his shoulder, which looked rather sloppy after his encounter with Lingormr last night. But that was really the least of his worries.

Castiel then leaned back on the bed until he was laying flat on his back. He looked to Rapunzel first. "You'll need to remain close enough that your hair can wrap around me, is that correct? But we'll have to make sure that you stay out of Kratos' way as he works." Hopefully they could coordinate their positioning among themselves. Castiel looked to Gabriel next. "What sort of help will you be providing, exactly?" The other angel had made mentions of being able to strengthen him somehow, but he was clearly a different brand of angel, and so Castiel didn't know how it all worked.

"..." Rapunzel didn't know quite how to react to Kratos's news. She knew patients would be transforming tonight, but hearing it from people who had seen one of those patients firsthand made her stomach want to crawl up into her throat. What if it had been Sora out there? Could it have been? No, she told herself. He was still going strong. He had to be — he had a spirit that wasn't so easy to break down. She was sure he would hold out until she could cure him.

She could still feel sickened on another patient's behalf, though, whether she knew them or not. All the more reason they had to work fast, find out if this worked or not. If it was too late for some, they could still be in time for others. Castiel was proof of that.

"I... I can imagine. I'm really glad you all got away safe, then," Rapunzel answered Kratos, remembering to breathe after her stunned silence. "You didn't have to fight or get hurt any further, right?" she asked, looking up at her friend with concern in her eyes. She wanted to ask where the monster had gone after they left it, or if it had been out to find any other patients. However, she already knew the answer to that. If the person had been turned into a monster, it was almost a certainty that it would go after patients at whatever chance it got. All she could do was hope that the patients it went after had the kind of luck that these three had just now.

After a moment longer, Rapunzel realized she had almost missed the new person (Gabriel) introducing himself. She turned to him next. "Pleased to meet you too, Gabriel. I know I don't exactly look it, buuut..." Yeah. "Believe me, I am. It's always good to make new friends in here."

Then it came time to see to the patient of the hour. Rapunzel nodded at Castiel's question. "So long as it's touching some of the skin on or around whatever's been hurt, it'll work, yeah," she answered, already coiling up some of her hair and trying to find a good spot to get started. "Kratos just has to be careful not to cut any of it. Any pieces of my hair that get cut loose their power," she warned, trying not to think about the actual kind of cut that Kratos was going to have to make tonight.

"No," Kratos said, making sure to say it as firmly and honestly as possible, which included meeting Rapunzel's eyes as he tried to reassure her. "I did say 'nearly'; we were able to pass by without detection." He could understand her need to ask him a second time, though: he was in the habit of hiding things from people.

He picked up his sword and cast a critical eye over Castiel's bare chest. It would take two cuts, perhaps? One to slice into the abdomen itself, and then another to reach the stomach...the issue was the depth of each cut. Now would be a nice time to have those two scalpels he'd taken from the medical wing, but alas, he'd given them both to Eugene, and Eugene had done who-knew-what with them after that whole debacle with Lingormr.

There really was no time to waste thinking about things that could have been, though, except that right as he he was about to give up on any further possibilities and simply proceed, a thought struck him. Someone else here did have a smaller blade that he could use.

"I should be able to avoid cutting it." Actually, that was the easy part. Kratos looked away from his soon-to-be patient. "Speaking of which, Rapunzel, do you happen to still have that knife from last night? I would prefer a smaller blade to work with, for precision's sake."

"I understand." Gabriel gave Rapunzel a sympathetic smile, and didn't pry. It would probably be best for everyone to focus on what they were doing; they had a task to do, and if they did it right that meant they would save his brother's sanity tonight. Tomorrow, their work may well save someone else's.

The Archangel also turned to Castiel, stepping carefully over Rapunzel's hair to the head of the cot and pulling up a chair. He would be out of the way there, hopefully, but still be near enough to lend a hand and grant comfort where necessary. "I'm going to be lending you my strength," he said, and then glanced up at Kratos. "We've nothing to stop the pain, have we?" Gabe looked back at Castiel. "I won't be able to take it away, but at least I can give you the fortitude to endure it."

He knew he could do it. The link between him and others was still open, whenever he drew near enough for contact. Gabriel only hoped he would have enough to offer.

Castiel remained silent as Kratos reassured Rapunzel that they hadn't received any more wounds, and as Gabriel and Rapunzel became acquainted. This was hardly the best way for anyone to meet, but he had to be grateful to all three of them for giving up their night to help him. So despite the fact that he could feel his own impatience gnawing at him, Castiel let them take their time to get prepared.

He took note of Rapunzel's comment about her hair. The last thing any of them wanted was to strip the girl of her power, so Castiel was certain that Kratos would take care with that.

As for what Gabriel explained, Castiel had to admit that it sounded like it would be a help. He was no stranger to pain, but he was used to a different kind, the sort of thing that targeted his Grace rather than this physical form. He didn't feel scared, but he was somewhat anxious, and having an extra boost of strength would be a help, especially given that they didn't have much in the way of medical supplies as far as he was aware. He doubted that Rapunzel would have collected any when she had her own power to rely on.

"That should be a help," he told Gabriel with a nod. "Thank you." He turned to the others and bowed his head. "All of you." He might as well say it now, before he was in too much pain to get words out.

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Night 65: F11-20 Hallway

Re: F15

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