damned_institute | Night 66: Main Hallway, 1-Center

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Night 66: Main Hallway, 1-Center

[from here, skipping a few halls]

Here it was. Skulduggery wasn't around yet, but Rita expected he would show up soon. He'd been punctual up until now.

If what she'd been hearing was right, she was going to need to look out for both monsters and patients tonight. Seemed simple enough. Rita stood with her back against the wall opposite to the Sun Room doors, and waited.

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Lloyd might have cared if he'd known that Karkat wasn't what he seemed to be, but as it was, he only knew of the one immediate problem: the location of Ishida Uryuu and what might be happening to him. Unfortunately, it didn't look like Ishida's roommate really knew much beyond the fact that Ishida had been taken. Lloyd let out a breath, frustrated by the situation.

"Okay, we'll just have to go with what we know, then. We know where he was taken from - or, well, you do." He gestured toward Karkat. "I don't know where your room is, but that's where we need to start. Unless one of you has a better idea, or knows where the doctors take people for... whatever they've taken him for?" He didn't want to say experiments, but the word hovered in the air anyway, ugly and harsh and all too possible, and impossible to ignore.

"I'm Lloyd, by the way." Because he'd realized he didn't know the other boy's name. The gesture he'd used to point at Karkat turned into a held out hand. If they were going to work together (and he assumed that they were, didn't even think to question it), they should know each other's names. "Lloyd Irving."

Hivemate. Fluid injector. Inexplicably strange was the way this new boy spoke. And of course she noticed, of course she realized that it was probably not his problem, that a roommate that he'd likely just met was drugged and then taken away with little ceremony.

Which was honestly at odds with the bigger picture. After all, he had waited for her, hadn't he? Following Ishida-kun's request, no doubt (if the excuse -- changed his plans -- when he was really sedated and taken captive was of any indication). Still, it was ultimately something that was very much the boy's choice to do.

He was kind. Even though he was so casual about the entire situation, Orihime could tell that much. And although it was difficult, when tunnel vision still had her focusing on Lloyd-san's pause -- take people for... -- she knew that it wasn't fair, to unload onto strangers.

"I'm Inoue Orihime," she chimed in after Lloyd-san had introduced himself. Her voice was quiet, but a little brighter now that she was able to smile. "Thank you very much for waiting for me... it put a bit of a dent in your plans, didn't it? I'm sorry, but -- thank you. Very much for coming here, and for telling me the truth."

She paused then, squeezing her fingers, forcing away the creeping blackness that sometimes came in from the edges of her vision.

"I," Orihime started, tone careful and uncertain as she kept her gaze trained on the floor, "will be going to look for Ishida-kun. After I heal Lloyd-san, of course, but-

"He's my friend, so," she looked up, trying her best to square her shoulders and smooth out the worried expression on her face with a crooked smile. Honestly, it wasn't wise to go about it on her own, when she still didn't know what she could do, when three heads were better than one, and yet- "I don't want to trouble the two of you. I know you-- probably have other plans!"

These people were way too friendly to be companions of his roommate. But then what did he know, given the odd mix in the players of his session? He was mostly just inwardly complaining at this point, because the friendlier they were, the more difficult it was to be irritated at them.

Or perhaps he could be irritated at them simply because they were so friendly. It wouldn't be the first time he'd done that.

He wasn't sure he should be amused or embarrassed about how they kept bringing up how they were interrupting his 'plans' when he had no other plans to speak of. This had literally been it - get the bat, bring the bat to the girl. His roommate's abduction had thrown him off so much that he hadn't even thought to make plans beyond that point. What else was he going to do without someone else to wander with after he'd been told so many times not to go out on his own?

When Llyod spoke up, he was able to focus at least a little of his annoyance. "The fuck is the point of going back to my room? It's not like they left bright glowing tracks leading out."

No comment was made about how they were or weren't taking up his 'precious' time. He could act like they were a burden on him for now.

"Whatever plans I had aren't as important as this," Lloyd reassured Inoue. "Ishida needs us. My plans can wait." The only thing he'd even really been planning to do was search the Institute for the rest of his things. It was nice to have his clothes back. It made him feel much more confident somehow to have boots on his feet instead of thin slippers. Still, he'd feel even better if he had his swords back and not just the dagger hanging from his belt.

Speaking of his clothes, though, now that Inoue wasn't healing his arm, he pulled his jacket off from where it was draped over his shoulder and started shrugging it on, juggling the flashlight as he did so. The movement pulled at his half-healed wounds, but his ribs and arm still felt so much better than before, easily something he could deal with. "Don't worry about healing me the rest of the way," he said. "I'm okay now, and that looked like it tired you out. You should conserve your mana in case Ishida needs it." He kept his tone firm, letting her know that he wasn't going to argue on this.

Arguing on something else, though... He frowned at Karkat's response. "Well, where do you think we should start, then?" If he was going to shoot down Lloyd's suggestion, he should at least have one of his own. "Maybe there's something you missed. Maybe Ishida left a clue."

It came as both a relief and a slight disappointment, but she tried not to let it translate into her smile, as brittle as it was already. A strange feeling indeed, when she faulted herself for her lack of confidence, for being even the slightest bit apprehensive and afraid. After all, Orihime had learned by now how dependence could cripple a person, a group of people, and how frustrating was it to her that old habits died hard and she feared for the moment that she'd lose Lloyd-san's company.

There was no good in thinking that way, though. And by the time she truly smiled at the other boy, she had steeled herself in, standing straight and firm (even as her vision blurred before her). "Thank you, Lloyd-san." I'm sorry, she almost said, but there was no need -- she'd find a way to heal him all the way, too, in the end.

"Or," she ventured hopefully, turning towards the boy with the bat, "maybe he left his journal?" But that wouldn't help, she figured; if Ishida-kun had drawn a map, then he would've given her directions around the place earlier in the day.

"... Eh... maybe it'd be quicker if we just asked someone for directions."

"What, you think if we just go up and ask someone where to find the rooms they torture people in they'll be able to show us the way? Is that like a commonly known location around here? Because all I've been hearing is how no one is able to escape from this place, and being able to just walk in and rescue someone would kinda go against that."

That was certainly a defeatest way to look at things, wasn't it? Perhaps he shouldn't have been so mean about it, but Karkat commonly suffered from the inability to filter his thoughts before speaking them. Sadly, knowing this didn't keep him from doing it often anyway.

He looked just a little apologetic after that, mostly due to how stupidly innocent they both seemed. "Whatever. If you want to go back there, then fine. I don't know what all he had anyway. I don't just go poking around in other people's stuff."

Usually.

"...And then maybe you can sit down." He raised an eyebrow at the girl. "You look like shit."

Something about that pessimistic tone was starting to get on Lloyd's nerves. People who gave up before they'd even tried everything made it sound like they didn't even want to succeed. "How do you know it's not as simple as that?" he shot back. "Just because we haven't heard of someone making it out doesn't mean it hasn't happened. It just means we haven't heard about it yet."

As though to prove his point, he swung his flashlight around to scan the rest of the hall. The girl who'd been there before was gone, though, and as far as he could tell, no one else was around. Undaunted, Lloyd turned back to face the other two.

"Even if it hasn't been done yet, that doesn't mean it's impossible. Dwarven Vow number sixteen: You can do anything if you try. We should still give it a shot."

Defeatism? Meet idealism. I'm sure you'll make wonderful friends.

"So, you'll take us back to Ishida's room?"

Rooms they torture people in--

That was an awful, awful feeling that dropped into her stomach at the sound of those words. Orihime swallowed, and it was a relief to say the least, when Lloyd-san had picked up where her voice had failed her, when the reality of it had been too terrible to even try to imagine. But then again -- Frankenstein easily came to mind. Or perhaps the image of a man strapped down to a doctor's table. He'd have woken up in the middle of the night only to find that his doctor was dressed in a tuxedo and magician's garb, a chainsaw in his hand and a manic grin on his face as he intoned, trust me, I'm a doctor.

(The reality of it was, she was not new to it. There had been a time and a terrible moment when the air smelled like blood and burnt flesh, when there was a man, a murderer, who stood in front of her and Ishida-kun, offering her the opportunity to become a test experiment.

But she'd buried the memory. Now, she tried not to let it reach out and grab her from where she had last left it.)

"Y-yes!" She squeaked, holding her hands up defensively. "We're going to have to turn our frowns upside down and... Well, at least we can't sit around and mope. If we really sit here thinking something like, 'what's the point!' Then of course we're not going to get anywhere." Those dwarves really knew what they were talking about...

But um.

"I'm really fine," she lied -- fibbed? -- insisted as she shrugged her shoulders, clasping her hands together. "So- maybe we can check Ishida-kun's journal. Or ask around? If we see someone in another hallway, perhaps..."

Maybe if she tried hard enough, she'd be able to feel him... see his reiatsu, or maybe catch wind of one of his arrows.

Dwarven? Did that make this guy some other species originally too? And that wasn't even a vow. That was a statement. But really, correcting this guy on something like that wasn't going to get them anywhere right now.

And that girl? Totally not 'fine'. At least not when it came to her state of well-being, as she was certainly attractive enough to be considered 'fine' in another sense. He made sure his expression let her know just how wrong he found her assurances to be, but honestly he wasn't going to push it much further than that. At least not yet.

If they were going to insist on heading back to his room, then there was no point in standing around and discussing it further. He pulled away from the way and shoved his way past the other boy.

"Alright, you wanna talk until your seedflaps fall off, or do you want to search for your fucking clues?"

> ==>

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Night 66: Main Hallway, 1-Center

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