damned_institute | Nightshift 27: Courtyard

Luckily, Omi was already over the wall, though not by much, when the blood moon rose. He glanced at it, uneasy for some reason, and next thing he knew the pond was... was...

He held the sleeve of his sweatshirt over his nose and mouth, falling back against the wall and sliding down into a crouch, barely able to avoid retching, but unable to look away from the pond. Blood. So much blood. And the smell of it...

""

Well shit. Riddick stood, frustrated by the shakiness of the action, but adrenaline was fast fighting the shock left over from the damn force field blowing him off the wall, not to mention the actual fall. The smell of blood was everywhere, hard to tell at the moment where it was coming from as he was still between building and wall, but he'd heard the frothing of the pond and it didn't take much to put two and two together. Besides, he could see the moon over the wall now. Not good.

He took the few steps required to reach the edge of the shack next to him, now on his left. From here he could see the pond, its texture wrong in his enhanced vision, and he could also see someone had just come in from over the recreational field wall. They were still quite a ways away though; looked a little young to be out here all alone. The Furyan suppressed the urge to shout a warning. That thing from last night could still be out here. Or... something else. Now would be a good time to move, fast.

The pond had stopped churning, settling into a smooth, placid pool of crimson blood. But ripples marred its surface, spreading out in deceptively peaceful waves. From the depths, something rose.

Slick blood cascading down her pale hair and strange tinted skin, a beautiful woman emerged from the water. In the pale pink light of the red moon, she seemed to glow. She was naked, her long hair covering the swells of her inviting breasts. She was frowning, her cupid's bow lips curved down in fear and confusion that was mirrored in her wide, blue eyes. Looking alarmed at the blood that surrounded her, she slowly began to move through the water, towards the edge of the pond.

(fey)

A thought had just gone through his head: he should try throwing something at the force field to see how high it was. But the Furyan was still looking out into the courtyard when he saw... a mermaid? Sure... why the fuck not? He had a feeling this one wasn't the friendly, prince-rescuing type though.

Riddick edged along the wall, unsure what this new creature was capable of, or how well it could see. The killer was heading towards the kid who was much closer to the cafeteria door, much closer to where Riddick wanted to be at this point. If this new monster was the only thing in the courtyard right now, that might not be so bad. But the thought was there, that where there were one, there might be more.

He was half way between the shed and the kid now. He'd already drawn the shiv from his pocket, ready in case of attack from the thing in the pond... if the stinking cesspool could even be called a pond anymore.

Omi pushed himself back to his feet when the wa- the blood in the pond started moving again. He blinked at the woman who appeared, close to equal parts curious and frightened. She certainly didn't look like a monster, but she wasn't a patient, either, and expecting something that belonged to Landel's to be friendly was just stupid.

Movement out of the corner of his eye drew his attention. Another patient, it looked like, moving in his direction. He drew his knife carefully, keeping it hidden with the sleeve of his sweatshirt and sliding a few steps farther down the wall toward the building. Even he wasn't quite sure whether it was because of the man or the woman in the pond, but either way he was going to be careful.

The woman in the pond made no motions of threat or violence. Rather she twisted in the blood, a disgusted expression on her face as she struggled to the edge of the pond. Her eyes were very wide, almost childlike.

She didn't speak, but held out one delicate, slender arm as though pleading for help from the two men on the land.

Yeah right. Well, if the mermaid thought he was that dumb, he'd play along for now. Just until he was close enough. He still had something he wanted to do in this area, and he hadn't had the pleasure of killing Kimbley either. If this thing wanted to die that badly, he'd see to its wish. And at the moment, there didn't seem to be anything else in the courtyard. Convenient. He wasn't about to misjudge the creature by the side of the pond, but at the same time he was tired of fighting the urge to kill. Time to play.

The Furyan still kept one eye on the rest of the pond as he changed course, heading towards the woman who glowed quite brightly in his enhanced vision.

The smart thing to do would be to take advantage of the fact that the woman would probably be drawn to the closer target and run for it.

Right.

Omi started a step forward when the man changed course, heading toward the pond. That really didn't seem like a good idea. "Hey!"

He winced a little at how loud his voice sounded in the relative quiet of the night, especially breaking a little as it did with nerves. Giving away his position like that felt more than a little unnatural, but this guy could be new or something and not know how dangerous that woman might be.

The creature - though she appeared completely human from what could be seen of her - seemed to be having difficulty in the blood. As though it dragged her down, or was too dense to swim through.

When a voice called out across the Courtyard, she froze, her wide blue eyes turning to the sound.

Nice one, kid. Although it wasn't smart to give away the position of a second person in the courtyard, this was the sort of distraction that could prove useful. The mermaid was close to the shore now, maybe five feet from the edge, and Riddick was closing in quickly as well. He had no interest in stepping foot in the murk. He had no idea how deep it was, plus he knew better than to assume the creature was actually out of its element. If he could just get her to come a little closer. He would rather have thrown his shiv into the thing's skull by now, but he still wasn't comfortable with the limitations that had been placed on him by the unknown powers running this crazy joint. And he wasn't interested in losing his one decent weapon.

Riddick stopped by the edge of the pond and crouched, reaching out his left hand as if he wanted to help the eerie fish-woman with her apparent struggle. The shiv was in his right hand behind his back, conveniently out of the thing's line of sight.

Why did no one ever use common sense in this place?

Omi froze when the woman turned her attention to him. She still didn't seem dangerous, but... He started closer at a jog, hand tightening on his knife, warily keeping track of both figures. He wasn't planning on getting any too close until he knew more about the situation, but it wouldn't hurt to be close enough to... something. Help, maybe, whoever might need it.

The woman in the pond was obviously having some trouble with the blood. She struggled towards the outstretched hand, her expression turning from helpless and frightened to angry and distressed. Now her tail flashed out of the surface, spraying blood as she pushed herself closer to the edge.

She opened her mouth as though to speak, but all that came out was a musical, entrancing sound.

Interesting, the mermaid was giving more natural reactions to her situation than Riddick would have expected. Honest reactions. Probably a trick. And then the sound she made... it would take more than that to affect the Furyan, although he might have been in trouble if he didn't already distrust her.

Riddick grabbed the creature's hand, still keeping his other hidden behind him. If she wanted to be on the ground, fine. Even if she seemed to dislike the transformed pool, solid ground would be a much less tactical position for a water creature. Perfect. He kept the rest of him as far away from her as possible while attempting to 'help' haul her out of the murk; he was also watchful for any attempt to pull him into the pool.

The courtyard was becoming a regular circus, with people dropping over the wall left and right. No one coming from the cafeteria, though, which a small part of Omi's brain filed away as worrisome.

Which small part was swiftly ignored when the woman, mermaid, whatever 'sang.' Omi was only human, and more than that, a teenager. He was no stranger to the occasional hormonal brain-jack. Years of training made him stand his ground, but his eyes widened as he watched the scene. Hopefully the guy wouldn't be expecting help from Omi any time soon.

The creature didn't seem to make any attempt to attack as Riddick grabbed her. This close, the gills on her silvery tail, near where a human woman's hips would be, were clearly visible. And clogged with thick, black, clotted blood.

Now she made another sound, musical and haunting, the crystaline notes dropping from smiling lips. It was a siren's song that went straight to the brain, triggering chemical reactions to induce a feeling of pleasure and relaxation. Any telepath in the courtyard would be aware this wasn't mind-control or the manipulation of thoughts - this was something far more dangerous.

There were a damn lot of people in the courtyard now, two of the voices familiar, but Riddick was a little too focused to acknowledge them. Especially now. Just when he'd been planning to knife the thing and get it over with, the creature's weird song changed.

His brain shut down. That had always been a problem with beautiful women, and this one was definitely beautiful. Sure, he was picky as hell, but the tiny nagging voice in the back of his mind that said something is wrong was shoved aside. Yes, beautiful. He'd managed to help her get onto solid ground now, the exotic tail still trailing in the bloodied pond. The Furyan knelt beside the woman, dropping the shiv in his trance. He was feeling good. Real good. It was a much-welcomed change, and he'd do anything for her right now.

The song was so beautiful. Omi hoped she wouldn't stop singing. He would quite happily listen to that song for as long as it continued. The knife in his hand was forgotten as he moved closer, the better to hear the song.

[[From below]]

It wasn't her finest moment. It wouldn't be hard to justify later, of course. Riddick was in obvious danger; this sort of attack was the quickest way to get him out of it. But that reasoning and Riddick's well-being weren't what moved her. She just couldn't tolerate outside control from anyone but her master.

She walked as she drew power from the battery, shaving a few feet off the range, formed her projectiles- four crackling spheres in the scintillating yellow of pseudoelectric magic- and released them, split seconds apart, against the undine.

The distance stole some of the strength from the shots- no matter how carefully she cohered the energies and wrapped them in their barriers, the air at Landel's seemed to eat at any magical power she released- but as long as it ended that accursed song she didn't care whether they killed the thing or merely wounded it or knocked it out.

[[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/225299.html?thread=16682259#t16682259)]]

Both patients were armed, and the woman in the pond still hadn't made a sound. It was all very suspicious, but Statesman didn't want to charge in and aggravate the situation.

"Are there monsters here that can look like people?" Statesman asked in a low whisper.

Recluse made sure to stay close enough to Marcus so that he could be grabbed if he tried to run off. Why do I feel like a child minder? "Yes. And with a facility full of dangerous creatures, and inmates," he was sure Marcus would jump to his own conclusions about that, "I personally find it just slightly improbable that someone would jump naked into a pond full of blood with innocent intentions."

Especially when the person in question was made to look like a stereotypical distressed damsel. He didn't feel it wise to mention that Riddick was in his employ, but he did quite approve of the fact that the man's intentions towards the probably-monster were completely hostile.

Reinforce had been about to say something about mere improbability not being sufficient reason not to see if the woman wasn't just one of the more... unstable prisoners in need of assistance when what was obviously her tail broke the surface of the blood-filled pond.

Her mouth, just beginning to open, abruptly clamped shut. Knowing she'd been wrong in this case didn't change her position, but... for some reason she really, really didn't want to put her fallibility on display in front of Recluse. The very thought annoyed her in ways she wasn't at all used to feeling.

So, there was a mermaid in the blood-filled pond. Marcus wasn't sure if that was normal for this place at night. Though he was fairly certain the 'blood' part was unusual.

"Alright, you can take point now until we get to the kitchen, Recluse."

"Fine." Recluse continued to watch the scene near the pond. The creature--Mermaid? Oh, please. This is worse than back home--seemed to be trying to use its singing as a form of hypnosis. Recluse just found it irritating, but it was unclear as to whether Riddick was being affected by the noise.

Recluse took up his position, keeping an eye on the other prisoners and the surrounding landscape while still watching Riddick. He idly wondered what would happen if Mako was here to deal with this... The most likely prediction was that the mermaid would be turned to chum in under thirty seconds.

Reinforce's body was perfectly human, and the effects of siren song on it were the same as on any other human's. Her mind, though, was anything but ordinary. She was the proverbial ghost in the machine, whose consciousness was more than the racing firings of synapses, and she had to her advantage some distance from purely physical sensation.

And she had to her advantage a fear bordering on paranoia of manipulation and anger to match for any who would try to forcibly bend her to their will. Her face might flush to hear the undine's voice, but her eyes burned cold. Her defense was the same she'd used against Schuldig; fall back into the self as the Book, as the weapon and administrator of data she'd been designed as, away from the guise, and more importantly the thoughts, of a human.

Ordinarily that wasn't the smartest thing to do at the start of a fight. It made control over her body more difficult, her reactions sluggish, but at this range that wouldn't matter. From here all she needed to do was be able to form her magic.

And at that, she had always and would always excel.

[[Moving up to the mermaid thread.]]

Marcus had almost followed after Reinforce, but not to go fight. He had a distant look in his eyes as he headed towards the beautiful woman. So beautiful, he should go to her, he should-

He had barely taken two steps when he snapped out of it. "We need to get out of here," As much as Statesman wanted to go help Reinforce, if he was affected by the mermaid song he would only make things harder.

Recluse had started to reach for Marcus to pull him back when he snapped out of it. "Then let's move." Recluse only felt a slight, odd tug at the back of his mind in response to the mermaid's singing. It was irritating, but it didn't have much effect. He had done away with most of the feelings that others were having manipulated.

He waited for Marcus to lead the way. I'm still on point, remember?

Statesman had to wonder if Recluse had some ability that shielded him from hypnotism or if it was just the fact that he was a psychopath that saved him from the mermaid song.

Still, he didn't want to stop and ask, instead heading towards where he assumed the door would be.

When he found it, it was locked, so he stepped back out of the way. "Break it down, I'll watch our backs."

It would have almost been better to take the hinges off and pocket the hinge pins, but Recluse didn't have the patience for it right now. Over three hundred pounds of muscle was always handy when persuading a door to open. It only took one hard kick to break the door clean away from its lock.

Not bothering to wait and see if Marcus was following, Recluse headed into the cafeteria.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/239545.html)]

((From here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/225299.html?thread=16878867#t16903443) ))

Xigbar hadn't quite calculated on one thing. Namely, that Luxord was perhaps a bit bigger than Xigbar himself was, and moving both of them taxed his powers a great deal. Especially now, with the high from the previous night having burned entirely away.

So, with a warping of space, Xigbar was deposited face-down on the other side of the wall, and a quiet groan escaped his lips. "Oh, man... that's a bad trip...

Luxord had been expecting a few things to have happened, namely removing the girl from his lips, chastising her, and conning her to never do such a thing again.

He was not, however, expecting Xigbar to warp them to the other side of the wall.

He would have been disoriented were he not used to such a thing, so most of his concentration went to helping the other off the ground and sit him against the wall. "You'd not have to do that," he said, only the slightest bitter. He could take care of himself, thank you very much. II'd not needed to help. "Now what, oh illustrious Senior Memb-"

Perhaps there were worst fates than the ghostly child- namely the mermaid in a pond of blood that Luxord currently had his eyes on. …dear god, if she started to sing…

Xigbar's response might have been cutting, sarcastic, and completely usual for the Number Two of the Organization... but it was mumbled into the grass, Xigbar deciding that he didn't really want to get up if he didn't have to. Luxord could be his canary in a coal mine.

But didn't the canary usually die first? Huh.

Still, it wasn't often that Luxord stopped talking in the middle of a sentence, so Xigbar took notice when the blonde stopped. He took even more notice that Luxord actually helped him to sit up against the wall- considering that they'd been spending far more of their time sniping at each other and basking in general ill-will, that was a gesture that didn't go unmarked.

Neither did the mermaid in the lake. And really, how could Xigbar resist the opportunity? He started softly whistling a jaunty tune, something along the lines of "Under the Sea~!"

If Xigbar thought Luxord would be the preverbal canary, he had another thing coming. II was, after all, closer to the floor- well, at least until the Tenth took a seat next to the man, which mattered not, really. He could still run if he needed to.

So Luxord merely frowned to himself for now, the stinging from that cold kiss on his already swollen lips becoming a particular annoyance. X pulled his coat closer to himself and curled his legs to his chest before eying the moon. "What do you think it is," Luxord questioned, vaguely interested in the redness and complete lack of stars.

He hadn't planned to leave his room at night ever again, yet here he was. He gave off an exasperated sigh.

…and promptly smacked Xigbar in the shoulder for his whistling. How dare he…

At the smack on his shoulder, Xigbar just grinned. Luxord was always fun to rile up, and after the downer of a day the Freeshooter had had? It was good to just chill with his ~~homie~~ friend and enjoy the show. "Off-hand? I'd say it's a mermaid. Sure hope it is, anyway."

Sure, he knew that X was talking about the moon overhead, but Xigbar didn't know what to think of that. Lack of Light, and how the moon had changed to that strange color? Not to mention the smell of blood and the change of the water as well? There was usually a correlation between the moon and water, but... the Freeshooter, for all his knowledge, was drawing a blank. But why draw attention to that of all things?

"You know what I meant," he responded with a glare. After taking a glace at the aforementioned mermaid a second time, his gaze wandered back to the sky and distinct lack of much there.

Time and Space were always together. Time affected Space and Space affected Time, two empty entities believed to exist only as theory and with one another. If something were wrong, the other would instantly know; Luxord knew something was very wrong.

"What of the stars? They should be there," Luxord spoke once more, one arm moving to cross against his chest while the other hand cupped his chin. II had to have known something- contrary to what X enjoyed believing at time, the Freeshooter was not completely without his use.

"Already noticed them being gone awhile back," Xigbar quietly stated, shifting his one good eye up to the blood-red moon. It was definitely not a natural phenomenon; it kinda looked like blood. Blood, just like in the lake... what was the correspondence there? How did Landel's powers change the very Space around them? For Xigbar, this was a mystery that he had to get to the bottom of, one way or another.

"'course, if you're far enough in the Darkness, you don't get any stars anyway; no Light, no stars. Maybe we're way out in the boonies of the Darkness somehow." And then the Freeshooter indicated the black expanse above with a sweeping gesture, his voice musing and yet intrigued. "Seems to me, though, that there's some kinda deal going on with the moon. Curse, maybe? Prolly somethin' like Kingdom Hearts, just with blood insteada normal hearts."

Luxord blinked at Xigbar's statement for minute before he turned his head to the sky, thinking over the image.

"Ew."

He slouched against the wall afterwards, eyes still focused on the space above. "Be that as it may, were there to be no stars and we were truly left in such Darkness, there would also be no sun and therefore no moonlight, red or otherwise. Unless you meant something I've not to grasped onto," the Gambler admitted. It had happened before, after all, and there was no need to hide the fact that he could have taken II's words to mean something they did not.

A nice knee-slapping, gut-shaking laugh was the response to Luxord's disgust. Hah, now wasn't that a lovely mental image? Especially with the Superior, going on and on about it like it was the bee's knees... but hey, he had to get his laughs where he could.

But Luxord did have a point. The Freeshooter pondered for a moment, then made a motion as though he was pulling something inside-out. "Always Darkness in the Light, always Light in the Darkness. Maybe, if you go deep enough, there's a single bit of Light, something you can only see real far away. Or maybe the Darkness just hasn't gotten around to finishing the job. It's real hard to say; if I had the Doc's notes, then I'd be able to see what he's doin'. Or..."

And here Xigbar just had to grin. "If I had another dose o' blue, an' I could get him alone for a coupla seconds, I bet I could make him sing for me."

'Dose of blue?' That must have been the vial II had a few nights before. If that was how the second had acquired his powers once more, Luxord was almost shamed that he'd not taken it for himself. On the other hand, however… ugh.

"I recall taking notice of them before, II," the Gambler stated quietly. The day they first saw one another in this hell he and Naminé had been loitering in the upstairs patio; Luxord saw the stars. "If they were untrue and you alone could see through the deceit, that still would fail to explain the brightness of day."

And Luxord was not even going to mention how the 'Light in the Darkness' bit had stung so, but it may has well been evident in his face.

"Huh, were there?" Xigbar hadn't been out on those nights... sadly so, as he normally was all about the outdoors and stuff. But the walls were too high to climb, and Xigbar knew that trying to teleport through something when he didn't know how thick it was would be... a very bad thing.

Or was it just that he was being contrary?

Nor did he really seem to notice how Luxord had betrayed his not-feelings; it was weird, how the mind would recognize that something had to be offensive, and the body reacted to that knowledge, but there was no heart to make it real. Luxord's expression, as real as it looked, was just as false as most of the Organization's motives. It was almost depressing, thinking about it.

So he didn't. Instead he chirped, "Hey, smart money's on the mermaid getting shown the front door. An' I won the last time I bet with someone about it, so I'm on a winnin' streak!"

"You clearly saw me on the second floor; how could you have not seen the stars?" It was illogical, really. Unless they were unreal, there was no plausible way II could have missed them… then again, this was Xigbar he was thinking of. II could miss a pink elephant were it to casually dance his way, and the neophyte had actual proof of such an occurrence.

Luxord's face notably brightened at the proposed offer, however. He grinned and offered a hand to the Second, "a wager, then. Should the two men best her-"

…that singing, sweet and innocent, would have attracted anyone and sooth their mind, calm the soul. Unfortunately, Luxord was not anyone; he was a Nobody. The singing did nothing for him and his inability to process chemical signals into emotions, only bringing memories of (ugh) Atlantica to resurface. The Nobody visibly grimaced at the grating sound of a mermaid singing.

With only a glare and precise aim, Luxord grabbed a rock off the Courtyard ground and proceeded to throw it at the demon's skull. Could he not speak with his friend without distraction? Truly, it was irritating!

Nightshift 27: Courtyard

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