damned_institute | Night 67: Main Hallway, 1-West

[from here. HELLO]

Now he really had to make a decision. He could explore the areas of the building he hadn't seen, but there was no telling whether or not there was staff there. And he had to slide past this...kid.... That was a kid, right? Unless the institute was big on recruiting kids for their patient-busting security, the stranger probably wasn't a staff member. (And if he was, Ryusei hadn't done anything that 'but the door was open' couldn't cover for, if he played it innocently enough.)

He flicked on his flashlight. "Seems I'm not the only one who has one," he said aloud.

[From here.]

As Castiel slowly made his way into the main hallway, he heard a voice and squinted through the darkness (his flashlight was in his coat pocket, and his vision wasn't as good as it should have been) to see a pair of patients. One of them was a boy he'd spoken to briefly, but since it had been the first day after his surgery, the conversation hadn't really gone anywhere.

In other words, this wasn't any of his concern. Instead of continuing on down the hall, though, Castiel realized that he had to take a break. His arms were burning with pain from using the crutches, and he doubted he'd be able to go further without resting first. He sighed and moved the crutches into one hand so that he could lean himself against the wall.

He just needed a few seconds to catch his breath and let his arms relax, and then he'd keep going.

[For Lust!]

There was a light suddenly near to him, and Mikado turned toward it (not jumped, which he should be grateful for. It seemed that not every interaction would begin in embarrassment...). The owner of it seemed to be a boy around his own age, maybe a little older. Mikado was beginning to wonder if everyone he came into contact with would be that pattern.

He angled his flashlight down politely. "It'd be strange if someone didn't have one," he replied, trying for brevity. It came off slightly awkward, a beat too late, but by now he was becoming used to this.

[from here]

The stairs were at end the end of the hall... Kyousuke wasn't particularly looking forward to climbing them like this, but it couldn't helped. At least the painkillers were doing their job, for now, although he was sure he'd be feeling the effects of so little rest tomorrow.

He scanned the hall just as he had the last, and after a moment of hesitation, he ended up leaning against the wall. He still didn't know where Kratos was, and though this wasn't where they were supposed to be meeting, he felt like he should at least give a small grace period, just in case. Normally, he wouldn't have, but he owed the man, and even though he was already convinced of what the result of this little expedition would be, he was beginning to grow agitated, uncertain if he really wanted to face that. For that matter, why was he the one doing this...? It wasn't that he minded, but there had to be better choices than a near stranger. Someone who had been closer, maybe.

... Well, whatever. It was too late to be thinking that now.

[for Link eventually]

That probably meant Ryusei could safely conclude that the doors had been unlocked intentionally. He hadn't had to worry about any staff, then. Who was that that Ryusei had avoided earlier? Probably another patient. Where had the other patient been going?

"—Right. Where are you headed?" That comment about the flashlight made it sound like he'd been here awhile, and every person Ryusei had spoken with had been here longer. Then again, nearly every person he'd spoken with had seemed, uh...unreliable. But at least they were consistent, and Ryusei had to wonder how much of that was due to the weirdo on the intercom. If he hadn't already needed to get out of here as soon as possible for other reasons, he'd be trying to. But who ever heard of people not trying to escape from an insane asylum?

[from here]

Still, it seemed an eternity from one corridor to another. Her boots sounded too loud in her ears, ringing against the floor. But here was the main line of halls! Now which way? A silly thing to question, as she came the same way every night, but sense of direction went to madness in the dark...

Left, it should be. Lust paused, finger at her lips, peering up the hallway to confirm for herself that it was the way to the main part of the Institute. She was aware of other presences in the hallway, but for the moment ignored them.

"Of course it's left," she snapped quietly, irritated for allowing herself that moment of doubt. Perhaps striking out on her own hadn't been the wisest of ideas....

[From here]

Link somehow found strength in his legs once again, dashing through the largest hallway toward the women's blocks. He needed to focus!

But it was so difficult, with people dropping dead around him and nothing he could do about it.

[To here]

Edited 2012-12-01 00:27 (UTC)

Just as Castiel had reached a point where he thought that he could put his crutches back into place and keep moving, he heard a familiar voice and watched as another patient drew closer.

The one named after a sin, an attempt to replicate humanity, and here she was wandering alone. That didn't surprise him much. For someone like Lust, chances were she would always feel like she was at least slightly ostracized from the rest of the people here. Castiel felt that way too, though for different reasons.

He didn't know what she was talking about (could she really be lost this close to the rooms?), but seeing how both of them had struck out on their own tonight, it might be a good idea to pool their efforts. It was true that he'd treated her with suspicion when they'd first met, but he'd worked past all of that already.

"Where are you headed?" He called out to her from his place against the wall as he shifted the crutches around. Maybe she already had plans, or maybe she had no interest in searching for those flowers. But there was only one way to determine that.

No, not lost, only distracted and foolish, as she tended to be when certain stakes were on the line. Lust turned at the voice, recognizing the man. The interesting man who wasn't quite human. And he looked as though he were already having a bad night.

"Wherever you find flowers." Her plan, she decided, was more important than her destination. And answered both questions quite simply. "What happened? I don't imagine you've got those to use as weapons." She lifted an eyebrow at his crutches.

What a strange coincidence. On the other hand, Castiel imagined that plenty of people were searching out the flowers tonight, so he could chalk it up to being in the right place at the right time.

Before he answered her question, Castiel fitted the crutches under his arms again and then hobbled forward so that he was closer to Lust, a silent way of inviting himself into her company. He would be better off with someone at his side who could actually fight in case he ran afoul of something. Relying on someone else wasn't the norm for him, so asking outright didn't strike him as an option.

"I went through the harsher cure, a few nights ago. Someone cut me open -- with my permission, that is." He glanced down at his stomach, which was wrapped tight with bandages, hidden by his loose shirt. "I've decided to search out the St. John's Wort despite that, though. Those who are sick might not be capable of finding it themselves."

[From here]

The main hallway. Link took a glance around. There still weren't too many folks in even the main hall. Were people simply late getting out, tonight? Or maybe they knew that it was dangerous...

One way or another, Link was still faced with what he would do if he did run into the beast that killed that man. Would he be able to tell if it was a patient at all?

He spotted Tsurugi and swallowed uncertainly. He was injured... What was he doing coming out?

"Tsurugi?" Link approached him in his clothes from home, the katana held in his left hand.

As it turned out, someone else approached Kyousuke instead. Sora's old roommate, who'd picked a bad time to try and talk earlier in the day. He'd have to do something to make up for being caught in such a visibly volatile state... But it wasn't the time or place for that.

"Yeah," he acknowledged with a nod. "I don't think I caught your name."

Briefly, he glanced at the other boy's strange outfit and the sword in his hand, wondering where people were coming across things like that, but he didn't offer any comment on it. Clothes wouldn't help him any, and neither would a weapon, for that matter; he'd never been trained to use one properly. ... Straight to business, then.

"You haven't seen Kratos around, have you?" Kyousuke asked. "We were supposed to meet, but I haven't seen any sign of him."

"Oh, sorry... My name is Link." He forced a smile, nodding. "I haven't seen Kratos tonight, but..."

Link glanced over his shoulder. He was on edge, slightly paranoid. He was never one to lose his cool, but that didn't mean he couldn't be nervous. There was something vicious on the loose. Lives were at stake.

"But there's something awful out and about. It got into the M-A hallway. Someone's already been killed." Link's tone was reverent and calm in the heaviness of the situation. He hadn't heard of monsters making their way into the residential areas before...

Kyousuke was about to reply, but the rest of what Link was saying robbed him of any words. He exhaled sharply, turning his head and growing tense as thought he'd just been punched in the gut. Why did this keep happening...? How many people had to die? It was hard to think what to do, when he'd never had to contend with anything like this before. Not even Fifth Sector, with methods that might be considered torture, had ever been this cruel. ... This had to stop.

"... I was planning on going to the morgue," he began, as if he hadn't heard that part, but there was a cold edge to his voice that made his anger more than clear. "Supposedly, people sometimes wake up there after they've passed. I don't know if it's true, or what the chances are, but it might put people at ease to know someone's checked. ... He said to leave without him if he was late, so you can come along, if you want."

Right now, it was the best Kyousuke could offer anyone, so he wanted to focus on that instead of tragedies he had no control over. Horrible as it was... he couldn't bring them back. He just had to keep doing what he could, and hope that effort began to pay off eventually.

"So it does work...." Lust pursed her lips and glared into the darkness of the hallway. Perhaps she should have simple done as he'd asked, that first night he'd asked. But done was done and couldn't be undone, there was no sense in worrying. But there was no sense in most human emotions, when it came down to it. They were senseless, irrational things.

"Well, come along then," she went on, her gaze softening as she returned it to Castiel and his crutches. She'd found a companion after all, precisely as she'd said she would. And despite the hinderance of crutches, he was a familiar face and someone she fancied could possibly understand her.

"Call out if I begin to leave you behind without realizing."

With that, she began to set out down the hallway, slowly, trying to ascertain Castiel's pace.

[from here]

The sounds of conversation grew louder as Lana turned into the main hall, resolving themselves into words and distinct voices. She stopped, for a moment, and pretended to wait while she listened. One man on crutches was following a woman somewhere, but she hadn't heard where, and they were already leaving. Another pair were headed to the morgue, and confirming Mr. Dent's death was not something she felt any need to do. He was dead, or he wasn't, and if he was going to come back to life, she didn't expect he'd like an audience for the process.

There had to be more patients heading for the greenhouse. Maybe she'd just wait a few minutes. Though the worst that could happen...didn't bear thinking about, really. This was, quite possibly, the most dangerous place to wait, not for her, but for everyone else. And yet there she stood, watching the ends of the hallways stay perfectly in line. She might, she admitted, be more spooked by the idea of heading to the greenhouse alone than she'd pretended before. Five minutes, she thought, and then she'd go.

[L & Co.]

Edited 2012-12-02 16:36 (UTC)

Link's jaw dropped when Tsurugi mentioned the possibility of the morgue.

"Of course it's worth the shot." His hand tightened around the hilt of the sword and he nodded. If there was any sort of chance that Sora could come back to them, they had no choice but to take it.

"Do you know where it is?" Because Link certainly didn't...

"The second floor," Kyousuke responded. "I've never been there either, but I have directions, so it should be fine."

But that was enough of that. If Link was coming, they could discuss anything else along the way. Kyousuke pushed his sore body back off the wall, and began to lead the way to the stairwell with slow steps, trying to conserve his energy as best he could. It wasn't too far, after all, and no good would come from rushing while he was like this. ... He just hoped his pace didn't turn them into targets.

[ to here ]

Castiel thought that Kratos had made an effort to inform the rest of the patients that surgery was a viable, if dangerous, option. Apparently Lust hadn't seen those notes for herself, and while it certainly made him curious, he suspected that she wasn't searching for a cure for herself. He remembered how much of a toll those symptoms had taken (were still taking, in fact), and he couldn't see any of that on her face.

But just like that, she had invited him along. No discussion had been necessary, and Castiel preferred it that way. Maybe because neither of them had any need for human manners or customs, it was easier to cut to the chase.

"I will," he said after a pause, and before long he'd gotten into a rhythm with the crutches in order to follow her. It was going to be slow-going, but Lust was going to have to accept that.

"We need to keep on straight down this hall," he offered, because she'd seemed uncertain of where she was going earlier.

[From here]

Luke made it to their designated meeting spot without any trouble. Frankly, he was surprised since he would think something that made such a mess of a man would be a bumbling tirade throughout the rest of the institute. With no tracks to follow, the only conclusion the replica could come to was that another person had done it and wiped away any evidence.

It frustrated him to know that people were fighting among themselves instead of at the real terror in this institute. The redhead kept a keen eye on each patient around him, wondering if the perpetrator was right under his nose.

[Abysmal peeps!]

[from here]

So far, so good. Knowing that some people were nearing the late stages of the monster illness, Anise had to be even more cautious than usual as she passed through the patient block halls. Who knew when someone might suddenly transform and attack everyone around them? Anise couldn’t even describe how relieved she was that she didn’t have to worry about doing that herself. Hopefully Claude was in the clear, too.

When she reached the main hallway, there were already a few people loitering about. Anise squinted through the dim light of her miniature flashlight, searching for a familiar face… and she found one! Looked like Luke was first to arrive again. He was being surprisingly reliable lately!

“Luke! Hi!” Anise called, waving excitedly before bounding over to greet him. Anise was more or less back to her usual cheery self, but upon drawing closer to Luke, she noticed he had a grim look on his face, like something was bothering him. “Um, did something happen?” she asked, dropping her smile for a questioning look. It was possible that she’d just caught him while he was lost in thought, but it was best to make sure.

[From here.]

There were several other people in this hall, but as near as he could tell none of them were Kratos. Any minute, though, the man would probably show up, and the others all looked busy, intent on their own goals for the night. Lloyd picked an out of the way spot and leaned against the wall, keeping an eye out for who came and went. Any minute now...

Any minute.

Edited 2012-12-03 16:09 (UTC)

"Oh! Anise..." He hadn't even realized she had entered the hallway. Not to mention the fact she had pretty much snuck up on him. Luke guessed he was distracted. For a moment he thought about brushing it off, but everyone and their moms knew he was horrible at lying, and if they were going to walk through the institute it was best they knew about a possible killer on the loose.

"Someone was killed outside my room. I think--" Before he gave his own theory, the young man lowered his voice in case someone around them overheard. It would really suck if he tipped off the murderer right in the hallway. "I think it was another patient...!"

[From here.]

As expected, Luke and Anise were both waiting for them. Guy approached with a smile on his face and waved, as this was the first time they'd all been gathered together since Anise and Claude had been cured. It was a good feeling, to not have this heavy dread settled over everyone.

Though as Guy got closer to the pair, he realized that both of them had serious looks on their faces. Maybe the dread wasn't quite gone, then... What was going on now?

"Hey... is everything okay?" he asked as he came to a stop, moving toward the wall so that the four of them wouldn't crowd the hallway for any other patients moving around.

Lust glanced over her shoulder with a small sigh. Mostly for herself.

"I know. I'm afraid my attention drifts when my mind's distracted." Which it was so very often lately. Too often, and by far too many different subjects. Most of them men, terribly different men and for terribly different reasons. This whole mad venture tonight...

Again, she found herself threatened with becoming lost in her own thoughts. It was maddening, the way a simple thought could call forth such strong emotions. But she set it aside as best she could, keeping her pace slow and easy for Castiel to keep up with. She didn't mind - they were certainly less likely to be taken by surprise, this way. Better than to be rushing, spurred on by emotion and ignoring obvious signs of danger...

"Is there anyone in particular you're looking to cure?"

Night 67: Main Hallway, 1-West

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