damned_institute | Night 67: Main Hallway, 1-Center

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Night 67: Main Hallway, 1-Center

[From here.]

They'd already neared the Sun Room and the door that led to the building's exit, but Castiel wasn't aiming for either one tonight. It was still quiet on this side of the building, which seemed strange to him. He was using crutches, after all... He would have expected that plenty of other patients would have beaten him and Lust to this point.

It didn't matter. If their path wasn't littered with obstacles, that would make it easier to reach the greenhouse. As for Lust's question...

"There is one person I know who I believe is still ill," he explained. "Her name is Aigis. She used to be an android, though she's been made human here." Just like him, and perhaps just like Lust. Though she was a created human, so he had no idea if she could ever be the real thing. Did she even have a soul? There was no way he would be able to feel for it in this place; he didn't have that kind of power at the moment.

"We have a few things in common, but she hasn't been taking her illness very seriously." Which frustrated him, especially since she had struck him as the goal-oriented type. Did she really have that little concern for her own well-being?

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"Why?" he asked, training his flashlight on the doors for a moment. They didn't shake or shudder, there was no evil lurking behind it, not that he could tell, at least.

"Is there something in there?" he couldn't help a bit of curiosity. The room had only held couches and kittens earlier. What was beyond? It was possible, he reasoned, that some of these monsters all the patients were so frightened of were some of his friends, but perhaps that would be a journey for another night.

[from here]

"I've been warned that there often is," Loki said quietly. "Fairly often, prisoners are taken from their rooms during dinner and... hm. Placed under a sort of mind control. They spend that night attacking other prisoners using the power and skill naturally at their disposal."

His lips thinned to a displeased line. This was not a topic he liked.

[To here]

Edited 2012-12-07 08:24 (UTC)

[From here]

As they moved further down the hallway, Luke was surprised to see such a lack of patients. "Where is everyone?" He figured there would be a herd of them coming down this way, but it was practically silent. That only made the dark even more creepy, especially now that he had ghosts on the brain.

Why in the hell had he gone and said something like that? Now he was all concerned about the safety of their group from some angry spirit form beyond this world. It wasn't a good way to start a journey.

Guy was glad that everyone agreed on going to the greenhouse. Anise made a good point about how four healthy fighters would be an asset when there was a good chance the area would be swarming with monsters. Besides, while Guy hadn't promised Leanne that he would go, he still felt like it was his responsibility to grab one of the flowers for her.

They were going to need to get back to working on the caverns at some point, and Guy knew that. But Luke coming along presented a problem there, one that they couldn't even explain in full detail. It was something they could figure out later, though.

And while Guy wasn't hoping that they got attacked, now that he had a sheath for his sword he was pretty intent on making use of it. He hadn't showed his craftsmanship off to either Luke or Anise, since he doubted they would care that much. And Claude's praise had been enough to embarrass him on its own...

Luke brought up a good question, though -- it was pretty deserted in this hallway. "I'm not sure," Guy replied. "A lot of people are sick, and... if there was a body in one of the halls, that might have deterred people from coming this far." Guy made sure to keep his flashlight shining in all directions, since he knew there could be a dangerous killer on the loose.

He hadn't expected everyone to agree to his idea so readily, but Claude supposed there weren't many other options for them at this point. Besides, they couldn't just forget about the other patients, either. The fact there was one less person alive was a stark reminder of their shared circumstances.

As they passed further into the hallway, though, there was an uneasy feeling lurking in his gut. It wasn't until Luke spoke up that he realized part of the reason. Guy had his ideas as to why the area was so empty, but Claude wasn't convinced.

"That wouldn't explain why there aren't more people coming from the other blocks, though," Claude pointed out. "I mean, I guess, it's possible a bunch of people are just plain sick, but..."

He still sounded skeptical. Considering what was on the line, he doubted that maybe patients would be sitting on their butts just because they didn't feel well. There were a lot of stubborn people here.

Luke had a point. There were a few groups out and about, but the crowds grew thinner as they moved forward. There was barely anyone ahead. “Maybe… we’re still early?” she offered, trying to sound hopeful, though there was a hint of doubt in her tone.

The less optimistic side of Anise was wondering if the reason for the lack of patients was that for many of the remaining sick people, it was already too late. She saw the death announcements on the bulletin, the talk of people who’d gone missing. There was no telling how many of them were sick or were killed by sick people who’d transformed, and she couldn’t help thinking it played a part in some of those cases.

Of course, those thoughts were much too dark to voice to her friends, and Anise didn’t want to think too much about what could have happened if she and Claude hadn’t been cured in time. She just had to keep moving.

[to here]

Lust, too, was a bit put off by the lack of activity. She had assumed that dozens would be heading to the outsides. Her entire plans for the night had revolved around that - luckily she'd run into Castiel immediately. If she hadn't...

Well, what-ifs hardly mattered. And surely there was some reason for it - perhaps other routes had been taken. There was no sign of mass struggles or great carnage...

"Some aren't," Lust agreed, her expression tight. Better to focus on the conversation than varying reasons they were mostly on their own in this part of the institute. "Taking it seriously, I mean. Or as seriously as they should. Android...I've heard that word before..."

Androids were something like what she was, weren't they? Only made with hard sciences, not the esoteric sorts. How many ways would man come up with to try and replicate itself?

Castiel couldn't understand how someone could be told in no uncertain terms that they would eventually turn into a monster and attack other people, and not immediately want to do something about it. He was guilty of putting certain people before himself, yes, but when he could become a danger that changed things.

He pushed forward on the crutches and ignored the way that his stomach pulled and seized from the effort. So long as he didn't tear anything open, he would be fine.

"An android is... essentially, a robot meant to imitate a human, with its own thoughts and feelings. Or that's the idea, at least." Once again, Castiel didn't know if Aigis truly had a soul, or if the things that made her who she was could be attributed to data and coding. That wasn't an area he knew much about to begin with.

It would be interesting for Lust and Aigis to talk, when they were in such similar positions, but Castiel kept that thought to himself as they reached the next section of the hallway.

[To here.]

[from here]

There didn’t appear to be any obstacles worth worrying about on the way to the Sun Room, and Rita reached the main hallway without incident. There were a few other patients in the area, and Rita caught a glimpse of Guy and Claude, who appeared to be passing through with a few other patients. After her conversation with Guy that day, Rita had a feeling she knew where he was headed. The rest were, for the most part, strangers, and Rita ignored them as she drew near the Sun Room doors.

All that was left was to wait. Rita stood by the doors, her back to the wall, and crossed her arms. She hoped the old man wasn’t going to make her wait too long this time.

[from here]

They moved further down the hall, the door to the entry room coming into view. Holding the flashlight steady, Mikado glanced to Sakuta. "Is there something wrong, that you're in such a hurry?"

Not that it was any of his business, but this person had a single mindedness Mikado hadn't seen in a while. "What are you expecting to find?"

"Nothing."

No, wait. "It's— I." He put a hand on the door. What lie had he prepared for this? He couldn't remember now. "Nothing important," he finally said, opening the door.

[to here]

[back from here]

And here they were again. He turned around to examine the door. No, this was definitely the right door. Was his memory playing tricks; did this door lead straight outside after all?

"Where were we just now?" he asked. He didn't remember a lawn when he'd been admitted. A wall, maybe—it might have been just out of his field of vision; he'd been looking down the whole time. Just now, though, his flashlight had reflected off some kind of glassy building. "And what do you remember from the entrance?"

The main hall was right where they left it, like nothing had happened. The boy was flabbergasted. It took him a moment to realize Sakuta was speaking, and it took a moment for Mikado to move his gaze from the door to the other. Where were they? Mikado couldn't even guess. "It looked like... it might have been the way you take to get to the greenhouse. But that's..." He turned, and half-pointed in the general direction. "Down there. It's definitely not on this side of the building."

And for the entryway-- "It's just a room. There's six doors, including the one there--" The one they tried to go through, did that even count? What was going on? "And the doors leading outside." Mikado frowned in worry, looking uncertain. "I don't know what's going on. This isn't normal."

Which, honestly, only made him want to test it to see if it happened again.

As he'd thought. Unless both their memories were wrong, which Ryusei doubted because what were even the chances of that? Nevertheless. "Let's try one of the other doors," he suggested, heading back down the hall to the door they'd passed earlier. "What's supposed to be in here?"

Maybe their senses of direction had been thrown off by the dark. Ryusei sure wasn't accustomed to navigating by flashlight. The greenhouse confusion could have been caused by the same thing.

Some of the tension was gone from their interaction, and maybe mutual confusion could be attributed to that. Either way.... "That door? Upstairs, actually. It's a stairwell." If it wasn't, Mikado was really going to have to rethink the physics of this place. Changing doors was interesting, and would likely be for a while if it continued. Things would just be complicated for a while.

He glanced over. "Do you want to try it?"

Stairs? Ryusei was about to say 'no' and then continue on to the other door he'd seen, but hesitated. It wasn't good to be too abrasive; there was still something he needed from this guy and he couldn't risk having Ryuugamine impatient with him. Of course it was all moot if Ryusei could find the front door (or an exit at the very least), but it was a contingency in case he got caught. There was no reason he couldn't try to achieve both goals.

"I'm looking for the front door, but... Do you want to?"

Mikado glanced back at the door that they had tried. "Well, we could try it again, if you wanted. But that leads to the front door." Or it used to. At one point. Maybe it would work again. Maybe the whole outside thing was just a mutual hallucination? He hadn't experienced that yet.

"I didn't have any concrete plans, so I'll follow you, unless you go outside. Then at least neither of us would be alone, right?" Mikado gave a weak smile. He... probably wasn't the most reassuring person to be stuck with.

Good, this was convenient. Probably he didn't have to worry about annoying Ryuugamine but he should be careful anyway. "Okay."

It wasn't like there was anything wrong with being alone. Even if Ryuugamine's claim of monsters was to be believed, it wasn't like Ryuugamine knew Ryusei could fight, so the benefit of being with another person was negligible according to the information Ryuugamine had (or Ryusei assumed he had).

"By the way, I have something I want to ask you," he said as he opened the door and stepped through.

[to here]

[ from here ]

Uryuu stopped in front of the door to the entry room, turning his head back to eye the three down the hall. He would wait half a minute for Irving-san and Vantas-kun to decide, then move ahead.

As far as meetings went, that proceeded more smoothly than she might've liked it to -- if only because it left such a small length of time to gather her bearings and to ask after the small group that had gathered that night. Still, she was the one who was late; it wasn't exactly to her convenience to settle on their pace for the evening.

Which meant that a more thorough greeting would have to wait; in the last hallway, she greeted Lloyd-kun with a matching smile, and Vantas-kun -- well, she tried to wave at him anyway, but he looked away before she could say much of anything. And of course, she wanted to confirm who Lloyd was waiting for...

But -- not to her convenience.

She managed the flashlight, thinking it better to leave it on until told otherwise, and strayed close to Ishida-kun. "We make a nice team," she said, almost absentmindedly, maybe more half-asleep than she should have been considering she was on her feet.

As restless as he already was, fed up with waiting for Kratos, it didn't take Lloyd thirty seconds to make up his mind. It didn't even take him three. He cast a brief glance at Karkat before starting off after the other two. He lengthened his stride to catch up with them.

"I'm tired of waiting for him. If he's going to be late, I might as well do something else. What are you doing?" Anything had to be better than just standing around.

Not exactly the best with social clues, it slipped his mind to clarify for Inoue who their conversation was about.

Once Orihime had turned her attention elsewhere, Karkat felt a little better about looking back in her direction. Hopefully she would be better off this night than she had been the night before. She looked it, at least, but it might not be apparent until they'd moved through the hallways some.

He wouldn't bring it up unless she showed more signs of being weary, and this was more because he wanted to avoid talking with her until he got over that previous Gamzee-voiced comment than because he was trying to be courteous.

A follow-up would have been expected at this point, but thankfully it didn't come. Perhaps his own thoughts had been running away with themselves after all.

"Don't look at me." Karkat shrugged at Lloyd's question and jerked a thumb toward his roommate. "I'm just following this busy asshole over here."

His attention down the hall, divided only in small part for Inoue-san's expected following, it took Uryuu a moment to process what she said.

"Er-" he started, then startled, perhaps in part due to the delay in comprehension (or because they'd hardly done much tonight to warrant her saying so), though that did little to explain the color tinging his cheeks. "Really?"

Inexplicable color, and stupid too. He shook his head, as if the movement could shake the excess blood and heat away. "Of course," he said, easily now, "there's precedent." They'd done well in Soul Society, though she might have meant all of them.

Who did choose to come along. Uryuu narrowed his eyes at Vantas-kun's crude epithet, but let it pass rather than stand here overlong complaining pointlessly about it.

"Like I've already said to both of you," he began, opening the door and walking through into the next room.

[ sup detouring to the women's showers ]

Edited 2012-12-27 17:35 (UTC)

[from here.]

Gabriel and Murphy bolted around the corner more suddenly than was probably usual. Or maybe it wasn't unusual. The Archangel wasn't sure, except that he was relieved they were somewhere there was just a touch more light. Just a touch--not much. Enough for Gabriel to realise he'd left his torch behind.

And he didn't dare go back. Maybe later, if they waited for the man to move elsewhere, and hope that no one picked it up.

As it was, the corridor they'd just left was long enough that once they reached roughly the door to the sunroom, Gabriel felt safe enough to slow. There were more people, here. Not many, but a few. Enough that someone would hesitate to attack; the man, or demon, or whatever he'd been, had waited until he got someone alone.

A little startled by the way his side ached, the way his chest burned with a weird need for air and yet dearth of it, the Archangel turned toward Murphy. "Are you alright?" he demanded anxiously, turning the man's hand over in his and peering into Murphy's face, giving him a visual inspection. "You aren't--aren't hurt?"

The loss of air made it hard to speak. Something else Gabe had always known, but never really known. At least Murphy didn't look injured, but that didn't mean much.

Edited 2012-12-27 13:28 (UTC)

"No..."

The man normally known as Murphy shook his head, his throat painfully dry. "You're not real...this isn't real..."

But saying it didn't make it seem so. He was shaking and felt sick, as though he were going to lose his dinner. He wanted to back away but he couldn't with the...man holding onto it. And he couldn't really deny the man's existence, either, when he could feel him.

Nothing made sense. His head ached. He shouldn't be having any delusions. They'd given him something, he remembered clearly, something to help...

But he knew what he'd just seen.

"Don't hurt me," Murphy begged, the tension in his body taut like a spring as if he wanted to pull away but didn't dare. "Don't hurt me, please ..."

Gabriel flinched and pulled back himself, though not enough to actually let go. Instead he cradled Murphy's hand in his, trying to be as gentle as possible. Why would Murphy say that? Why would Murphy think that?

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said, as gently as he could but not without puzzlement and unease. This wasn't the man he remembered. Murphy had been pained at heart and soul, but not timid and terrified. "What's wrong, Murphy? Did they--"

Blinding realisation almost made the Archangel gasp. Instead he went still, studying the other man. "They gave you something, didn't they?" he asked softly. "Like they gave me. Is it making you afraid?"

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Night 67: Main Hallway, 1-Center

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