damned_institute | Nightshift 30: M81-90 Hallway

"Right," she confirmed. "Those were in the same hallway as the sun room entrance if I'm remembering right." Yukari frowned. "... Maybe we should grab your map for the way."

Ken nodded and went over to his desk for the journal. It was probably a good idea to bring at least one copy along. He was glad Yukari thought of that.

The map was soon folded neatly into his pocket. "I've got it," said Ken, his face suddenly professional. "Ready when you are."

Yukari took in a breath. "Heeeere we go."

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/305655.html?thread=24729079#t24729079).]

Edited 2008-02-29 05:56 (UTC)

Finally. M85.

The boy nearly collapsed passing through the threshold. Fortunately, he caught himself in time as he would have made a very good obstacle for anyone trying to get into the room behind him. Namely, Yukari.

"That's my side of the room," Ken spoke, indicating to his bed and desk. This was his way of saying the girl could sit anywhere on that end. He hoped she would take the more comfortable spot (the bed); she looked more exhausted than he felt.

Only, that was his bed, and Yukari didn't want to take it, no matter how comfortable it looked. She opted for slumping down on the floor beside it instead, leaning her back against it.

Maybe now she could relax without worrying about anything that would come after them in the halls. This was really one of the worst days someone could have-- it didn't rank as the worst, they were okay (albeit beaten up quite a lot), and there were definitely crappier situations and events she'd seen and been in. The lack of almost anything comforting wasn't keeping her from feeling otherwise, in the end.

"That couldn't have been any longer than an hour," Yukari determined, trying to figure out how long they'd have to wait. And it was a distraction-- not much of one, but anything would have done.

Ken thought it was curious when Yukari took the floor instead of the bed, but he decided not to ask. The boy was too tired, to be honest. Instead, he collapsed into his desk chair and stared at the darken ceiling.

"Yeah..." replied Ken, although he honestly had no clue how much time had passed. He could never keep track of time when preoccupied; for all he knew, the scuffle could have lasted hours. Probably not, though, since the Dark Hour had yet to arrive.

"It must be ten or eleven," he mused. Not too long of a wait.

At the moment, Yukari didn't mind waiting. The longer it was, the more time they had to catch their breaths and, hopefully, feel less worn out when they could wander around freely again. So far, this was about the only good thing that could have possibly come out of the Dark Hour's existence. Shadows could emerge and appear in the building during this time, but the ones outside of Tartarus were normally not very powerful (and the full moon was only a few nights ago; an exceptionally strong one was not something to worry about)-- the most they did was steal a person's will. But, they were Persona users; it was entirely possible the Shadows would scurry away from them in fear instead. Nobody had to tell them they didn't have their Evokers, right?

Right. So everything would go exactly as planned. Landel may have kidnapped them, but unless he was a Persona user too or had any in his staff, there was no way he could stop them from finding a way out. It was a shame the other patients couldn't use this advantage, Yukari could bet they'd all use it well. She and Ken would just have to work harder, then.

"Your flashlight is still in here, right?" she asked. "We don't have any clocks, so maybe we could use that to know when exactly it hits." It would also light up the room by some; sitting in the dark felt somewhat unnerving in an unfamiliar place. "I'll give you some of the batteries I got to make up for it, if we gotta wait a while."

As they were now, Ken was not objected to holding out for the Dark Hour. They needed to recover; plus, staying still made the boy realize the damage that spider had done to his sense of balance. Everything was still spinning. As a precaution against the threat of nausea, Ken kept his eyes closed and did his best to breathe deeply.

And think. Considering their activities until now, he could not help but feel disappointed at the lack of progress. The best they managed was the entry room, and all it took was a single arachnid to ruin that plan. And he couldn't fend off something like that with an item he should have been able to wield! If anything, it made Ken realize how much they relied on their Evokers. Something he probably should reconsider during their stay at Landel's.

Yukari suddenly spoke again, and the boy opened his eyes to mull on her suggestion. "Oh, yeah. Sure," he said, getting up from his seat to his bed. Reaching under the pillow, Ken pulled out the flashlight in question and switched it on. Light poured into the room, although the angle and the shadows made the atmosphere appear creepier than not.

Light or no light, Yukari wasn't liking their surroundings at all. Now that they could see, she took a glance around the room. Thankfully, there were no other crawling things on the walls or the ceiling, and from her level spotted nothing on the floor either. Perhaps it was time to stop wandering into new rooms without first carefully checking if anything else was in it, first. The rooms felt to be relatively safe for the most part, but it hurt to make extra sure.

Now that they were completely weaponless, Yukari had remembered her earlier conversation during breakfast. Obviously, only a broom didn't get them very far at all; the dumb thing was broken like it was nothing. She needed something, too, so she didn't have to watch things break and actually fend off an enemy for next time.

"This morning I got to talk to this guy," she began, straightening her posture. "He tossed me the offer of making some weapons. We uh, kind of got interrupted thanks to the fight, but at the rate we're at I think we should consider that option. He did mention spears..." Yukari trailed off; that part should have sounded promising for Ken.

Walking back to the chair suddenly did not seem like a good idea. The added visual elements heightened the dizziness, and Ken was forced to make do with where he was. Setting the device on the dresser, he then sank into the spot on the floor next to Yukari. The bed might have been a smarter idea, but he did not want to risk falling asleep and miss the Dark Hour.

As his teammate mentioned someone, breakfast, and the possibility of weapons, Ken gave her a surprised look. "He did?" he repeated. An actual spear... It sounded too good to be true. If it wasn't Yukari, he probably would have said as much.

"What do we need to do?" asked Ken instead. Offers usually included payments, right?

Ken still wasn't looking to good-- before, that much was obvious, but she could really tell, now-- which made Yukari reconsider going back out at all. At worst, she was feeling weary and sore, which with a little rest she could probably get over. Ken, on the other hand, got the worst of that attack, what with the pinning and the stabbing...

She'd wait and see. For now, she simply nodded. "Yeah," she replied. "Apparently they can make things out of some materials given to them, so we'd need to find the stuff it's made of first. If there's more places like that closet, it shouldn't be hard to find them, right?"

"Right." Ken bowed his head thoughtfully. The offer was extremely tempting; weighing the pros and cons yielded a good deal of advantages. First, both he and Yukari could receive their weapon of choice. Second, they knew where they could obtain supplies. Third, no monetary compensation was required. The list went on.

The only disadvantage he could consider was that they would have to obtain those supplies without a defense plan. Well, one that did not involve running. If they managed to be careful and fast, though, they wouldn't need one. Right?

The boy's head was now spinning from more than the slight concussion. "I guess that's something we might have to consider," Ken finally answered, "if we're to stay here a while."

[UNACCEPTABLE. You're sleeping on the couch tonight!]

"I'll try to get in contact with him," Yukari said with a single nod. "Maybe through the bulletin..." During the day, that thing looked to be pretty good when it came to communicating-- most of everyone must have payed close attention to it, and if Ken's maps and monster list from earlier proved anything, it was for a good reason. She'll have to keep doing that, herself.

"Anyway, I'm not sure about all the details, so I'll see what I can do." She turned her head towards the flashlight, unsure of when to expect it to flicker off. Not knowing the time was a little annoying, perhaps inquiring about a clock was in order, too.

"Thank you." Ken smiled, although the action required some effort. The thought of gathering supplies still troubled him.

Any further worry, however, ceased when the intercom came to life, filling the empty room with laughter. Disturbing laughter. By the time the Head Doctor trailed off into static, a creeping sensation rested on the back of Ken's throat, every hair on his neck stood on its end.

Sadly, the boy was right to react in that way. Although barely anything in the tirade made sense, he understood the basics: someone had died--killed, from the sounds of it. And the good doctor was calling for spectators to the body.

Not the best thing to listen to right now. Ken stared at the direction of the broadcast in shock, before sharply bringing his head down in disgust.

Yukari had opened her mouth to say something more when the static interrupted her, the loud noise rendering the girl speechless. It was hardly calming; if anything, it did the very opposite. It belatedly struck her that was probably the doctor's intention the whole time, but it was hard to feel otherwise.

In all their excitement, she had nearly forgotten all about the first broadcast of the night-- about the man he claimed to kill. She wished she could continue to forget. It was like he was trying to rub the both of them the wrong way, and unfortunately it was working.

All Yukari could do was grit her teeth through out the broadcast, hands gripping tensely at the floor below her. Nobody in their right mind would actually go after somebody's body, would they? That... that was sick, not a single person needed to go looking for it. It wasn't right. Then again, nothing about this place was.

"Bastard," she muttered, just as the voice cut off and the static began to fade into silence once more.

Sick, indeed.

The earlier tune of Taps made perfect sense now. Why else would it have been played except as a tribute? And the boy had never known this "Alec". That lack of knowledge made him feel pretty guilty. One couldn't respect the dead in ignorance.

Ken sighed and gathered his legs and arms toward his torso. All this death... A part of him was tempted to turn in for the night; he was not sure if he was ready to face the Dark Hour with this new twist. It had only been a few days since the full moon, and if others were going to be murdered like Shinjiro...

The hospital's nighttime was quickly proving to be no different from the Dark Hour. Worse, even. There was no Persona for protection.

... Definitely right about rubbing the wrong way.

Beside her, Ken almost looked like he was about to be sick. She was right, he definitely wasn't in any condition to go back out there. It was a bad idea to suggest waiting for midnight, no matter how badly she wanted to hurry up and find a way to escape this place. They could wait for tomorrow, at least the daytime was safer... although not by much, if this earlier morning showed her anything.

That wasn't the point now-- there was no need to complain when someone else was most likely feeling worse off than herself.

With concern, Yukari turned towards Ken. Why did that doctor have to pick out now to ever bring that topic up, if he had to at all? "Ken-kun," she started, but she wasn't sure how to continue for a long moment. "We should call it a night." A pause, though much shorter than her previous one. "You're not..." No, maybe pointing out how unwell he looked was another bad idea. "Never mind, let's stay here."

Several objections sprang to mind. They had to do anything to get out of this place. Yukari couldn't let him slow them down. He was being selfish. The list ran on.

All of them, however, never touched Ken's lips. Instead, he offered an apologetic expression to his teammate. "I'm sorry, Yukari-san," he began, his voice barely audible. He had to admit he needed the downtime. The dizziness managed to pass by now, yes, but it was replaced with an altogether different ailment.

Between the awkward silences, the boy tried to piece together some sort of explanation. Each attempt to voice them, however, failed. Ken simply could not excuse himself. He could not even distract them both. The subject was frankly unavoidable, especially when combined with the dinner conversation (which he remembered at the worst possible moment).

This was bad. At this point, he'd rather face the spider again.

"Stop apologizing." The words escaped her before she could find a more appropriate way to put it, but there was little regret afterwards. "It's not your fault."

Yukari sank some in her spot, resting her shoulders and head against the edge of the bed once more. "I'd rather see you okay than to rush into things because we want it."

Ken nearly apologized again but fortunately caught himself. (Yukari would be annoyed with him if he did.) To his surprise, he didn't mind the actual words. Just being born with a highly rigid superego meant endless guilt for even the most inconsequential.

"Thanks," he said instead. With a slight shift, he brought his chin in between his knees and watched the glow from the flashlight. "Guess I'm not really fine right now."

That, she knew.

What she didn't was how to respond. Yukari wanted to help him, but what did someone say that really helped? She couldn't find anything looking back at her own experiences; nothing except bitterness came out of those when it came to this situation, and it went without saying that was not needed now.

Where was someone that was better at this than she was?

"That's okay," she replied in a softer voice. "I understand." More than he realized, probably.

Ken remained silent. Much like Yukari, he was not sure of what to say. Most people he spoke about death to had no idea what they were talking about. Their consolations had often sounded bland in his ears.

This, however, was not the reason for his loss of words. Yukari was different. In fact, a good number of the SEES members held experiences he could relate to. But death... It simply was a bad foundation for rapport. Every word spoken was pain from both sides. Ken had no desire to bring more into their situation. If they were home, it would be another thing, but here, there were other worries.

A heavy frown tugged at both ends of his lips. This was perhaps a giant lie, but it was something he felt he had to say. "I'll be all right," assured Ken. "I just need some time."

Nightshift 30: M81-90 Hallway

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