Night 70: Main Hallway, 1-West

[freewill]

[From here.]

And here he was.

Castiel had made it to the meeting spot without any complications, which also meant that he was the first to arrive. Not only out of him and Kratos, but out of the entire patient body. There wasn't another soul here, and Castiel wasn't even in a position where he could sense if others were close or not. With no other recourse, he leaned against the north wall and pulled his new radio out of his trenchcoat with his free hand.

He glanced down at the three numbers printed at the bottom -- 77.7. It caused him to twist his mouth, because he knew the meaning behind it, at least from a human's perspective. It had to be a coincidence -- there was no other logical explanation for it -- and yet he still had to wonder.

He turned it on, but there was still only static. Castiel imagined that the radio wouldn't be of much use unless he had someone else's number to switch it to.

[For Kratos.]

Comments

[asteroidbelt]

[from here]

He stopped at the entrance into the next hall. He was sure he'd seen a staircase near here. He didn't have to go through the—

He could go up the staircase but it wouldn't have anything to do with wanting to avoid that hallway. Nothing at all. It was just he didn't know the layout of the second floor—it might take him to the entirely wrong place and then where would he be?

He would have discovered the layout of the second floor. Still, Ryusei hesitated, head down, aiming the flashlight at the floor and tapping it against his leg. He hadn't had a destination to begin with. Rationally, which way he went depended on where he wanted to go, but the problem was that he didn't only have one thing to do, and he could try to get them all done, but that entailed going through this next hall. He'd deal with it if it came up, he thought forcefully.

[Korra!]

[rebonding]

[From here]

Korra stepped silently into the main hallway, keeping a close eye out for other patients. She didn't intend on crashing into anyone else today, so when Ryusei was suddenly right in front of her, she stopped suddenly, eyebrows raised.

"Woah! Sorry 'bout that." At least she'd avoided a head-on collision. Again.

[asteroidbelt]

He turned as he stepped aside, shining the light into the stranger's face and then quickly moving the flashlight away again because he was certain no one wanted or liked a light beaming right into their eyes.

"It's, uh, okay. You headed somewhere?" Someone showing up right as Ryusei had determined to go down this hall.... He didn't know if that was a good sign or not. Or if it meant anything at all. "Out of curiosity," he added.

[rebonding]

Maybe this guy would be just the prison-mate she'd been looking for! Not that things were ever that lucky, here, but...

"Not really. I was actually just looking for someone to hang with tonight. I've got no plans."

[asteroidbelt]

Multiple people had told him not to go out at night by himself, but he'd been with two other people the other night and it hadn't helped. Ryusei glanced at the next hallway—they'd just have to move quickly to avoid the ghost, but how fast was 'quick'?

And it wasn't like using someone else for his own ends wasn't a little dangerous, but from the sounds of it she wanted to use him too, so it was fine. It couldn't lead to any backsliding. Couldn't possibly.

"Do you normally 'hang with' at night...?" he asked anyway. "What happens if you make the wrong choice?" This is an asylum, you know, he thought but didn't add.

[rebonding]

Korra tipped her head and slightly raised an eyebrow.

"Make the wrong choice in what? Allies?" She hadn't met anyone here yet who didn't seem trustworthy, other than the staff of course. Sure, Kurogane wasn't exactly friendly, but he was a good guy.

[ever_loyal_dog]

[from here]

As he continued, he thought he caught a glimpse of Castiel and the boy he'd run into a couple nights before. He had no interest in drawing either's attention though, so he was careful to keep his head down as he turned toward the main hallway.

He couldn't help wondering, as he skirted his way along the wall through the darkness, just how much of the doctor's message was truth, and what was bluff. He couldn't be the only patient with secrets to hide since he'd arrived. If the nurses found his stash of weapons or items he'd found along the way, he'd be in a fair bit of trouble, but the doctor allowed it to continue because...? He enjoyed watching them struggle? Sounded more like the sort of thing his previous master would be interested in, but on a much grander scale. Soushi let out a quiet sigh and peered into the darkness.

[to here]

[asteroidbelt]

To say yes would be to cast suspicion on himself, so he didn't.

"I ran into some trouble the other day," he said instead. She didn't need to know that the trouble hadn't been with the people he'd been traveling with that night.

"I'd rather not repeat it." Which was true. He glanced into the other hall again. "You... haven't had any trouble going through there—" He gestured with the flashlight. "Have you?"

[rebonding]

"Down there?" Korra glanced over her shoulder, raising her eyebrows once again.

"I headed down there last night without any trouble... I know sometimes monsters can hang out toward the middle, though." She shined her flashlight down the hall, though nothing really jumped out at her.

Figuratively and literally.

[asteroidbelt]

If it happened on alternating nights, then it would be dangerous. But there was no telling for certain. 'Monsters,' she had said, in the plural. "We'll have to go quickly."

He started walking, but stopped and turned back. "—If you wouldn't mind?"

If monsters sometimes hung out in the middle, it must be guarding the room that led to the front door, he thought belatedly as his mind caught up to the implications. But he and Ryuugamine had gone there once, and hadn't met anything. It was possible that the door to that room becoming a portal had short-circuited the monster program, but the problem really was that Ryusei didn't know how it worked. The intercom announcements seemed to imply that the nighttime occurrences were deliberate, maybe arbitrary. No point in trying to guess it. Still, he was torn between the options of going straight through and stopping to check the door. That depended on whether anything was there in that hallway tonight, but there was also the possibility that the ghost needed time to manifest—time they would be giving her by taking a detour. "We could take the stairs instead...."

[rebonding]

"Sure!" Korra shrugged, giving Ryusei a friendly smile. "I've never been upstairs, so I've got no idea what the best way of getting up there is. I guess it's worth a shot." If they ran into anything dangerous, Korra was certain she could take care of the both of them.

Of course, she'd yet to face any of Landel's true horrors, yet. This may have been her third night, but she hadn't exactly gotten a proper feel for the severity of their situation yet.

"I'm Korra, by the way." She bowed casually.

[asteroidbelt]

"Sakuta. Nice to meet you."

Decision time. Stairs or hallway? "This way it is," he said as he gestured to the hall. When he'd been here with the others, Miketsukami hadn't known the layout of the second floor, either; he'd just picked the route that didn't seem to be in the way of the mysterious noise. In that case, the hallway and the stairs led to the same result: Ryusei didn't know what lay behind either. He just really wanted to test his theory, and maybe he even wanted to go through it out of a sense of bravado because he'd been afraid all day and going through the hall would put a rest to them if nothing happened. Or it could make it worse by happening a second time, but in that case, Ryusei had the chance to observe the ghost's weakness. If it didn't kill him first, but Ryusei simply wouldn't let that happen. Simple.

"Ready?"

[to here]

[forsworn]

[from here]

Soon enough, Kratos was in the main hall, exactly where he and Castiel had arranged to meet. He looked around with his flashlight, seeking the other man along the edges of the hall, and finally found him, dressed in a long coat and fiddling with the radio.

"Castiel." As he approached, he could hear the sound of static coming from the radio. It made sense, since presumably, it hadn't been tuned to a valid channel. "My apologies, I wasn't able to find anyone else to join us." He nodded toward the radio. "Listening for anything in particular?"

[freewill]

Castiel glanced up when he heard his name. He took in the clothing that Kratos was wearing, but beyond looking it over, didn't comment on it. He'd received his own clothing -- or Jimmy's, rather -- so it didn't seem out of the ordinary for another patient to have been given the same treatment.

As he'd expected, they would be going at this alone tonight. Both of them were armed and he imagined they had more than enough experience when combined, so he was going to hold on to the hope that they could make it past whatever obstacles stood before them.

When the radio was mentioned, he looked down at it and shook his head. "I would need the number on someone else's radio to be able to hear anything, from what I understand." And seeing how he hadn't asked for Orihara's, the only other person who he could test it with was Kratos himself, who was standing right in front of him.

Castiel placed the radio back in his pocket. "We should go."

[knightspirit]

[from here, assuming Kratos and Castiel have already left ]

It sounded like Lloyd didn't know much about where they were going, which didn't come by much surprise, since he'd said something to similar effect that morning. He hadn't heard that Kratos had found him, though... Lloyd didn't seem very happy about that, but not exactly upset, either—Kyousuke couldn't seem to get a read on the expression that flashed over the over boy's face as he mentioned it. He wondered what that meant, but he didn't say anything. Having some complicated feelings toward the man himself, he understood that poking around unnecessarily would be uncomfortable.

"... It's fine," he shrugged. "We'll just have to look around for some clues. If we can't find it, maybe we can ask Kratos where he found you."

He frowned as he said that, hoping that it didn't come to the point. To tell truth he didn't want to get Kratos involved at all, even if he was also trying to help him. Or more because if it. But he kept that to himself. The reasons were all selfish, so if it did come to that, he couldn't let that get in the way of helping Lloyd, or either of them.

Still. He wondered how all this was connected. Why would they take either of them to begin with? He turned back Lloyd, and asked carefully, "Do you mind telling me what happened that night? ... You don't have to answer if you don't want to." If it was too hard, he wasn't about to push him.

[forsworn]

"Mm." Castiel's observation reminded him that he had Ishida's number if he wanted to test the radios later. It was probably a good idea to get Castiel's number as well, just so he could increase the number of people he could contact.

Kratos nodded as Castiel put his radio away. "Right." Time was of the essence: if they wanted to get anywhere tonight, they needed to move quickly.

[to here]

[redcladidealist]

This time the reluctance was clear on Lloyd's face when the suggestion to ask Kratos was brought up. He still hadn't been able to pick apart his feelings about the man. His thoughts were all a mess whenever he thought back on everything between them. Facing him now, asking for his help, when he didn't even know if he should call him "dad"? Lloyd's stomach twisted uncomfortably at even the thought.

Beyond that, though, part of him wanted to prove that he could do this, an independent, stubborn part that wanted to show that he didn't need to run to his father for help. He was eighteen. He should be old enough that he could help people himself. "Maybe," he said noncommittally. "But we can't talk to him tonight anyway, so let's see what we can do ourselves."

There. There was a set of stairs. Tense, remembering the monster that had attacked him in this hall just a couple nights ago, Lloyd scanned the hall briefly before heading for the stairs. He had to resist the urge to take them two at a time.

[To here.]

[repelling]

[ from here ]

Here he deviated from what had become the norm. Right would take him toward the entry room and the file rooms within it, his intended destination later in the night. But, first, left. The main hallways had light spotted along it, patients waiting and moving. The night was young, but given how little ever got accomplished, no one could afford to wait around.

Least of all him. Not yet inclined to turn on his own light, Uryuu simply glanced once in each direction before continuing on. More than half convinced it would be a pointless detour, not doing so simply wasn't an option.

If there was even the slightest chance that either her reiatsu had been tampered with, or his ability to sense had-- that she had the same room, or had not been moved elsewhere (Uryuu had not seen her in the infirmary, when conscious...), that he would run into her on the way, or find her nearby... if any of it was possible, he had to try.

[ skipping to here ]

[thecamellia]

_{[from here]}

How quiet it was. Tsubaki was starting to worry that all of these quiet nights were leading to something new and worse now that the monster transformations seemed to be coming to an end, and as ever, she worried about the few friends she had left in the hospital.

Would they be okay, or would they disappear one-by-one. By next week, would she be all by herself, wondering what had happened to them? Would she still be around?

To distract herself from such thoughts, Tsubaki took a moment to check the hallway before pulling out her toy radio. She adjusted the volume again, although she'd already so during dinner. What if she missed something by accident? She couldn't help hope that the radio might reveal something--a clue, or a piece of information. Something.

[his_legacy]

[From here]

Link's trip through the smaller hallways was quiet, unsurprisingly. He let the end of his sword rest on the ground, keeping an eye out for his usual teammates.

[The Green Team, if it's still on]

[complicatedliar]

[From here]

As seemed to be customary, only Link waited in the big hallway. Well, Loki had to hope any conversation now would be as innocuous as it had been on the bus. Link hadn't pushed him then, and hopefully that would continue now.

He moved to stand silently by the wall.

[mirrorimage]

[From here.]

A quick glance around told Nina the others hadn't arrived yet. It felt strange, being the first of them to get there. She wasn't used to that, and it made her feel vulnerable, almost naked, but she didn't know why.

Well, there was nothing to do now but wait. She sucked in a breath, eyes peeled for any of the three of them to appear around a corner or arrive suddenly. Lana would probably come from the direction Nina had come, the direction of the women's rooms, so Nina periodically kept glancing that way just in case.

Her body felt strangely light. It was bizarre and inappropriate, and she wasn't sure if it was a feeling to try to dismiss or try to hang onto.

But maybe that didn't matter either. Now wasn't a time for philosophizing about feelings. Now was a time for acting.

Of course, she could not act without the others present.

[L, Lana, Edgar!]

[firewhichrefines]

[[from here]]

Then again, he was hardly flush with options for interrogation. There was only so much he could piece together from careful reading of the bulletin board and Aidou's willingness to share.

Sasuke leaned against the wall, a familiar patch of space by now, and swept the hallway with a brief glance (the eyes healed already; Itachi's sight as good as his own -- the real shocker that it was not better) for Aidou. Nothing more than a pair of patients wandering hesitantly toward the Sun Room, seemingly frightened. Probably new.

[[late for Aidou Q_Q]]

[fourstonewalls]

[from here]

Nina was already in the hallway; neither of the men had arrived. Lana might have just missed her in the women's hall, or she could have been waiting what seemed like half the night. It only seemed reasonable to assume either could be the case. "I hope I haven't kept you waiting," she said, as she walked over.

"Do you know what Landel meant, about new areas?" When they'd been allowed into the medical wing at night, there'd been a great rush; there'd been no such hints, this time. Just vague gloating.

[6toleadus]

[from here]

The sound he'd heard really had been from other people! Or, at least, one other person. 6 started to say something, but his voice faltered and all that the attempt produced was a sort of squeak. He was excited, that was true, but also nervous. Was this a nice person? It was hard to tell the difference between someone who would welcome company and someone who would rather be left alone. The last thing he wanted to do was make enemies.