damned_institute | Night 67: Group Therapy Room 6

Entry tags:

Night 67: Group Therapy Room 6

[From here.]

While Guy had been on guard even while exiting out into the greenhouse yard, there was no way he could have prepared for what came next. For a split second it felt like he was falling straight down, and in the next moment he got hit with a wave of dizziness that caused him to sway in place. Why did this feel... strangely familiar?

When he opened his eyes and saw a plain, indoor room around him instead of what he'd expected, Guy had to stare at the surroundings in confusion for a few seconds. This looked like some kind of lounge or therapy room, maybe even one he'd been to before. It was so unremarkable that it was hard to remember. The only things that stood out were a few pictures on the walls and a water cooler.

Wherever they were, this made no sense. How had they ended up here?

Guy placed a hand to his head to try and dispel the dizziness, and then turned to the rest of his friends. "What just happened?"

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Claude opened his mouth to add to to everyone's words of gratitude and assurance, but nearly choked on his own spit the moment they passed through the door. Stomach jumping into his throat, he stumbled and regained his bearings. The light from his hat illuminated the plain...indoor carpet beneath his feet.

"No way..."

Disoriented, he blinked rapidly and rubbed at his eyes with the heel of his free palm. This sensation was all too familiar. Claude remembered the time he had stumbled through the dark, alone and scared, and his chest constricted.

Thankfully, Guy's words cut through his thoughts, bringing him back to the present. Tonight was entirely different, and the odds were stacked in his favor by sheer numbers alone. That knowledge eased the tight knot in his stomach, but he still didn't have to be happy that they were dealing with this in the first place.

Anise was pleased to see that hint of embarrassment on Luke's face, and both his and Guy's words were kind of touching. Even though they'd made it clear a long time ago that they counted Anise as a trusted friend, it was still amazing to her in a way. She didn't bring up her past betrayals much these days - she already knew how annoying it could be to hear someone whine and mope about their own guilty feelings - but it was rarely far from her mind. She knew she was lucky to have friends like these.

But that was enough mushy stuff. It was time to move on! Anise quickly followed the others out the door... and stumbled a bit as she found her feet stepping onto an unexpectedly soft and even surface. She made an awkward hop to regain her balance, then got a look at her surroundings.

"Whoa, what?" Eyes wide, Anise looked around the unfamiliar room, not fully comprehending what she was seeing. "Where are we?" They definitely went the right way, didn't they? Not only was this room not supposed to be there, but she had no idea what room it was! Was this what the Head Doctor's taunting was about?

Okay, whatever made his stomach catch in his throat needed to stop. It was was one thing to lose your lunch over Noel's questionable piloting skills, but with two feet on the ground Luke demanded an explanation. What he got for an answer was not what he expected by any means. The slight nausea gave way to a flighty heartbeat and a tingle of trepidation. What he had expected to end in moonlight was just as dark as the rest of the institute. It was a very disorienting feeling, especially when he had seen the moonlight creeping through the cracks in the double doors.

"Uhm, guys...?" he asked, though he wasn't sure what question would be most appropriate. Instead, he let his mouth hang open as he looked at the others. Everyone had the same expression, so it looked like he was going to be short one explanation. "We didn't take a wrong turn, so...?" Taking a look at the room, the replica turned his attention to the doors they had come through. They were completely different looking. "Guys! The doors!" He pointed. "Why're they different?"

With all of them similarly baffled about this turn of events, Guy quickly decided that they needed to get to the bottom of this. The fact was that they'd gone through the door into the greenhouse yard and ended up somewhere else entirely, which meant...

"It looks like this is Landel's way of stopping us from getting where we want to go," he said with a sigh. "I'm pretty sure this happened once before." He'd heard stories on the bulletin about how people had been bounced to different places all over the institute. Guy hadn't experienced much of that himself, seeing how he, Anise, and Luke (before his memory loss, that is) had ended up in Baticul.

"If we end up in the greenhouse, it'll be by pure chance." In other words, it didn't seem very likely. "Still, this room doesn't have much to offer us, so..." That meant going back the way they'd come, right? Except it wouldn't really be "back the way they came" at all, he was guessing.

The other's comments only further cemented Claude's intense suspicions. Great, he inwardly groused. Now how were they going to get to the greenhouse? Out of all the nights for this to happen!

Then again, that was probably exactly the point.

"Well," he slowly said in response to Guy's words, "I guess there's just one way to find out where we'll go next." After sucking in a breath, he turned toward the door, opened it with a gloved hand, and led on into the only direction they could go.

[To here.]

Edited 2012-12-15 00:21 (UTC)

[From here.]

Just like before, that strange sense of disorientation hit Zero hard when he passed through the doorway. This time he was able to cope with it a tiny bit better, as he'd been expecting it to happen...but even so, he wasn't able to stop the feelings from happening nor was he able to prevent them from throwing him off momentarily. (So he wasn't an expert on human bodies and how they worked. Sue him.)

When the dizziness faded (and after listening for his friend's footsteps to ensure he had followed), Zero took the time to check out his new surroundings. They...weren't earth-shattering or even the slightest bit interesting to look at. No, it was just a room with some chairs, a table in the center, and another table against one of the walls covered with what looked to be food. The only thing of note that seemed to be worth investigating was the sole window on his left...otherwise, this room was rather pointless.

A waste, but not checking the window would be more of a waste, perhaps. The once-Reploid started to head in that direction, though of course he kept his eyes and ears open for any sign of danger. (Including certain humans who shouldn't be crossing his field of vision right now.)

Zero's words echoed through X's mind (though they also were sudden and cold, much like a slap with a wet towel) even as he stepped through the gateway that Zero provided.

Ugh, that feeling again! X's stomach lurched this time, and he bit his lip, biting down on his lip hard enough to draw blood in his attempt to stop himself from vomiting right there on the floor. Though the blood itself had its own side-effects, the coppery taste making his insides squeeze with a disquieting disconnect that he couldn't quite put into words.

Actually, it was much the same when he got a stomachache, or felt his throat constrict, or...

...that sensation of something white-hot stabbing him in his frontal lobe and constantly twisting, as though his body was cooking a rotisserie chicken inside his skull.

Wait, what?

He blinked his eyes, trying to stave it off.

Maybe if he leaned against the wall for a moment...yeah. All he needed to do was rest a moment and get his bearings.

Breathe.

Hopefully X wasn't expecting Zero to stop and wait for him. On the contrary, the blond-haired soldier was far more preoccupied with that window than anything else at the moment. It helped that things seemed relatively safe in this room; the more time that passed with nothing malicious showing up, the safer it felt being in here.

...But despite his curiosity about his surroundings, there remained a temptation to look back, to make sure X was doing alright. Zero could hear X breathing from across the room, even though there wasn't another soul about...obviously something wasn't right with him. But he couldn't. He knew he couldn't look. Not anymore. Not when there was that feeling, that risk, that knowledge that his restraint might fail him...

What if eventually simply not looking wouldn't be enough? He had to consider that, too...

Zero shook his head, trying to keep himself calm. I won't let anything happen to him. And just because he couldn't look didn't mean he was mute, or that X was deaf. "X?" he called out. His tone had finally returned to normal - certainly a dramatic departure from the way he was just speaking a minute or two ago. He reached the window just as he'd spoken, so he began silently checking it as he waited for a reply. Outside, he could see...not much, but at least a few things were clear: the window looked outside, and this room was on the ground floor.

Hmm...wonder if it would be possible to open this...

Hey, he was right. His nausea was starting to ebb away, and his stomach was beginning to feel the placid calm that it had before stepping into the portal again.

...His head, on the other hand...

Shaking it made him feel like there was a hot poker lodged into his right eye, and the back of his head was on a bed of spikes. Clearly, sudden movements were the last things that it needed right then--

"X?"

And Zero's voice, regardless of its different tone (its far, far different tone than before) made it want to split open. It wasn't even all that loud, either; was this normal?

"I'm okay." Came X's strained whisper, in hopes to not aggravate his headache anymore than it already was. "Just needed to catch my breath."

It was a lame excuse, but it would do. It was far better than complaining, at any rate. With a small sigh, X started walking about the room, glancing about at the...admittedly not very interesting surroundings, careful to avoid Zero who was investigating the only real thing of note.

Unexpectedly, the window opened without much trouble when Zero tried it. Hmm...curious. He would have guessed that Landel kept such things as tightly closed as possible, but apparently his guess was wrong. Oh well...this just made things easier for them. They could go out this way rather than back through that door, and hopefully they would get outside and not end up in a completely new place. Windows weren't the same as doors, after all.

X's voice filled the room as Zero mostly closed the window (to keep anything from coming in before they were ready to leave). It was a bit of a relief to hear that voice, to confirm its owner's continuing existence, but at the same time it was worrying when one could hear the obvious strain in it. He still refused to turn around, though, despite whatever concern came to mind. Footsteps could be heard now, so maybe X had been telling the truth and nothing more. He was just catching his breath, and he would be fine in a moment.

Better off than if Zero actually looked at him.

"...It looks like we can get outside from here." He opened the window up again in case X was looking this way. "There's nothing for us in here. We should keep moving."

An exit: Music to X's ears, even with his pounding head.

There was nothing for them in this closed up space: no supplies, no information, and most certainly no other exit than the way they came and the window that Zero had slid open. Biting his lip, X took one final glance-over of the area before standing a short distance behind Zero at the window.

"Sounds good to me." He still spoke in a strained whisper, but he was starting to adjust to his headache, at least. "Let's go."

Would a window have the same reaction as a door? Surely there wouldn't be instant transmission installed into the windows, too...

...

Right?

Zero nodded to himself, and then, without waiting for X to get too close behind him, proceeded to move through the window on his own. He moved a bit swiftly to make sure he was ahead, just in case X was wanting to go first. (Go first? And therefore be directly in front of Zero in a tiny space? As if he would allow that to happen.)

He was hoping they would at least be somewhere he could recognize...or better yet, out of the Institute entirely.

[To here.]

Edited 2012-12-22 21:52 (UTC)

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Night 67: Group Therapy Room 6

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject