Nightshift 20: Block M41-M80 by Men's Bathrooms

[forgot-my-life.livejournal.com]

((coming from here ))

Takaya frowned while he walked. He hated not having anything to defend himself. The blond guy he was following didn't look very promising either.

He was already sick of this crap, and he'd only just gotten started. He really wanted out, and it didn't look too bad right now. If they could avoid trouble and meet up with this person, then maybe Takaya could learn something useful. He clenched a fist around his still off flashlight while following Ginji.

He really hated this whole mess...

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[repolarization.livejournal.com]

Ginji peered around the area they found themselves in. He couldn't see anything, just a much as he couldn't see anything in the hallway they had been walking down. He shined the light down both ways. "I think we gotta go down this way to get to the other block since Kura-kun's room is over there." It seemed like a really long way now that he thought about it.

[forgot-my-life.livejournal.com]

Takaya just nodded. "Okay." He hadn't been paying much attention when he was being dragged around the hallways during the day. He could handle following the hyper-friendly blond for a bit more.

A thought occurred to him and he grimaced. What if this 'Kura-kun' was like Ginji? Two hyper guys? Takaya might have to bail if that happened. One, he could handle, two? No way in hell.

[damned-ivy.livejournal.com]

The whole place seemed quieter at night, eerily so, but it provided less to confuse what little his chi could pick up. A plus, though a small one. He had no specific goal in mind, other than Sanzo, so when he saw the two younger men, he smiled cheerily and approached. "Ah. Hello. I do hope I'm not intruding on anything?"

Excessive politeness? Check. Cheerful, perhaps to the point of creepy given the circumstance, smile? Check. An air of someone who knew how to defend himself? Also check. Safety in numbers, after all.

[repolarization.livejournal.com]

Ginji jumped when a new voice spoke to them and shined his flashlight at the new person, but the smile meant that he was friendly... right? "Hi," Ginji said, switching back to the language that everyone in this place seemed to speak. "Uh... It's okay. More people is good right?" He smiled, still a little scared of the idea of monsters but already feeling better. "I'm Amano Ginji. I'm trying to get to room M36."

Did he realize he had just told Takaya a different room number a while back and that neither of those were the correct one anyway? No.

[forgot-my-life.livejournal.com]

Another person? At least he looked like he might be able to hold his own in a fight... well, better than Ginji anyway. He nodded his head at the new man in what could be taken as a greeting, despite the scowl.

Suddenly, something occurred to him and he whirled on Ginji. "Wait, what?!?" Didn't you just tell me it was M-37?" Had he really been following this guy?!?

[damned-ivy.livejournal.com]

He blinked in the beam of the flashlight, holding up one hand to shield his eyes. The smile meant nothing, really, but he wouldn't discourage anyone from thinking it a gesture of friendship.

Dissention in the ranks, it seemed. Ah well, not like Hakkai was unfamiliar with that. He nodded at the dark-haired boy before turning back to Ginji. "I'm Cho Hakkai. More people is usually good. Staying in one spot for extended periods of time, however, usually isn't. M36 and M37 aren't so far apart, are they?"

Cho Hakkai: Mediator Extraodinaire.

[repolarization.livejournal.com]

"I did?" Ginji asked as Takaya protested. He thought about that. He nodded when Hakkai spoke but that didn't mean he wasn't a little troubled by it. Had he already forgotten the room number?

"Hmm... M36..M37..M34? Oh I know!" He said, grinning. "It's M35. Definitely M35! We should be heading out, though, or else we might get caught by something bad!" He really didn't want that, he wanted to get to Kurama's room as soon as he could.

[forgot-my-life.livejournal.com]

Takaya sighed, but nodded slightly. He had no idea where he was anyway, so he had nothing else to do but trust Ginji. "If you're sure...." Something told him he might come to regret that....

And he really wished Hakkai (what kind of name was Hakkai?) would stop smiling like that. He fought back a shudder.

[damned-ivy.livejournal.com]

Hakkai would be more than happy to explain the origins of his name at length. Being a school teacher would do that to you. Unfortunately, he was also quite unlikely to actually stop smiling, though he did tune it down a bit now that they were getting somewhere.

"I'm afraid I'm a little new here, so after you?" This might very well turn into a case of blind leading the blind.

[repolarization.livejournal.com]

"Hmm..." Ginji thought for a moment again. If that room number wasn't the right one it was at least very, very close. "I think we go this way!" he said, smiling again but trying to keep his voice low in case anyone heard them that they didn't want to hear them. He remembered the nurse would take him this way to get to his room so it had to be the way out of the block. Things looked different in the night but he could figure it out. It couldn't be that hard to get to the other men's block. Then it was only a matter of finding the right hallway and then the right room! They could do this, especially with the three of them. "I'm sure Kura-kun won't mind more visitors," he added as he started to walk out of the hallway. "The more people the stronger we are!"

[forgot-my-life.livejournal.com]

Takaya had no choice but to follow the blond. He half hoped this wouldn't turn out bad, while the other half... well the other half was being oddly quiet for such a situation. He glanced at Hakkai with a frown.

"You wake up here today too?" Stupid fucking smile...

[not-classified.livejournal.com]

[Coming from here (http://community.livejournal.com/landels_damned/33097.html?thread=1656649#t1656649).]

A few hallways and about four doors later, Ari found himself in another room sort of like the one he'd just come from down the hall. This one, however, had people in it.

The boy passed just past the doorway, his hand dropping from the wall as he stood near the corner and watching the three men. A blond and two brunettes... All looking far older than he was. Had Beiloune brought them here, too? Or were they more people the madman had classified?

At least they weren't ghosts. Ari wasn't in the least bit sure what he was going to do if he ran into one of those. He didn't have Stan or his friends or his sword... So, probably flee.

[mr-magician.livejournal.com]

Just as Epros had finished his dinner (quite delicious, by the way, for food in a mental asylum) and was preparing to sleep, the intercom came back on. It was the same man as before, but his voice had changed - Epros was more than easily able to tell that. And he was speaking in such a cryptic way ... good girls and boys?

And then the doors unlocked.

More than just a little intrigued, Epros had gone and opened his door, seeing the empty hallways and faint lights of other people exiting their rooms ... with flashlights. They had flashlights? Interesting! There was something about this place, and Epros' faint fear of being harmed (physically or mentally) was washed away in the wake of that scholarly desire to Learn, and Figure Things Out.

It took him a little longer than he'd thought for him to find the flashlight, because for some reason, it was under his pillow. He cleared his throat out of embarassment upon finding it (nearly five minutes of searching every inch of the closet and bedside table), clicked it on, and exited his room - he still couldn't hover, blast and damn it all.

He was about to approach the other three men in the hall when a fourth, much smaller figure caught his eye near the end of the hallway. Red-brown hair and ... those strikingly green eyes ... that look of utter confusion that, perhaps, the world was out to get him ...

"Ari!" he called, rushing down the hallway to find his former friend. "Ari! You're here! What a delight! And here I'd thought I was alone for this fright!"

[not-classified.livejournal.com]

The poor boy nearly jumped in fright when he suddenly heard his name shouted. Eyes wide, he jerked his head to look towards the sound, instinctively backing up, though his heel met with the wall.

It was a blond man in similar clothing as everyone else (including himself, though he wondered how he'd gotten into it). There was something distinctly familiar about him, despite the change of clothing. It clicked when the boy heard the poetry-like speak, and all he could really do was stare.

"Epros?..." he asked quietly, though he knew it couldn't be anyone else because no one else talked like that. "What are you doing here?.." There was a pause as something else clicked in the boy's mind, a reason he hadn't immediately recognized the other. Something entirely irrelevant, but was still cause for concern considering how Ari knew Epros to be. "...Why weren't you floating?"

[mr-magician.livejournal.com]

It was Ari! Epros had momentarily feared that he'd mistaken some other brown-haired green-eyed boy for Ari and scared the living daylights out of him, but there was no other boy in the world quite like the utterly overshadowed little Ari. And when he'd turned around and called Epros by name, then yes, yes! It was all good.

What was he doing here? Well, that was a good question. By all of their standards, he was insane. But Ari clearly wasn't - so why was he here?

And then that question. Epros frowned and sighed, irritation spreading across his features.

"They claim to be my doctors of mind, and a cause for 'insanity' they do claim to find. As for my self, I know not what's wrong! My powers, diminished! My magic, gone!"

[not-classified.livejournal.com]

Ari was a little alarmed to hear that Epros didn't have his powers. So that was why Epros wasn't floating? That wasn't at all normal. 'That' being not floating, of course. He hadn't even thought to check his own abilities.

"Stan's gone, too. I tried calling him, but he won't appear," the boy replied, frowning slightly as he brought up a closed hand to rest against his mouth. Before all this started, he would have been relieved for Stan to disappear like this. Now, he was just worried. "I don't know where any of the others are, either. I thought I was all alone again after Beiloune used that spell..."

[mr-magician.livejournal.com]

"Of course Stan's gone, forgetful boy! Have you no memory? I'd thought this to bring you joy!" Epros frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "Beiloune is gone, he's fled the scene. Returned, he has, to his ridiculous dream. Ari, speak true! Lie not to me. Have you forgotten how life used to be?"

Epros hadn't spoken with too many people so far, but he had already come to the conclusion that there was something more than just distinctly Wrong with this place. Perhaps Ari's memory had been altered - surely he knew that Beiloune had been defeated, and Stan given back his true form?

[not-classified.livejournal.com]

Ari's frown only deepened at this. Stan was gone? Beiloune was gone? No.. that wasn't right. "What do you mean 'gone'?" he asked, now seeming even more unsure. He'd never really had too much trouble deciphering Epros's speech...not unless he was trying to be cryptic. But the words seemed plain enough... He just didn't understand.

"Stan was just here with me... We were just about to fight Beiloune, and he said he would turn Stan and Rosalyn against each other. Then, he used some kind of spell, and I woke up here, alone." Was there something that he'd missed? Had he been out for a few days, maybe? But Epros was acting as if he should know what happened... And yet, he had no clue what was going on...

[mr-magician.livejournal.com]

Even though it was all utterly confusing, what Ari was saying was familiar. Epros remembered the situation the boy was describing - just before the battle with Beiloune. The battle that nearly got them all killed, but ... they had survived, right? And here they were now.

Only Epros only recognized the situation, and Ari had ... come from it. Time, altered by whatever was running this asylum. Interesting ... very, very interesting.

"A conundrum, I say, is what this may be. That thou think what I know, and have come from to see." Epros considered it. That the people in charge here could control even the flows of time was unnerving. And from the tone of things, he was liking it less and less. But if they could control time, then perhaps he could glean the secret from them ... the ultimate knowledge!

He smiled then, and set a hand on Ari's shoulder.

"So it is, then, and so we shall proceed! Let's find our way around; that's my goal, indeed!"

[not-classified.livejournal.com]

And..this was one of those times Ari considered Epros as trying to be cryptic.

Still, the other seemed to have a handle as to what was going on. Seemed to know where he wanted to go. It eased Ari's mind just a little bit. It would have been better to be able to see the rest of his friends, but he could settle for this much for now.

Feeling the hand on his shoulder, Ari let his hand fall back to his side, nodding. He was fine with following Epros wherever he wanted to go.

[grabby-hands.livejournal.com]

[ From here (http://community.livejournal.com/landels_damned/36130.html?view=1788962#t1788962).]

"Well, there's people here," Greed replied in response to Schuldig's comment upon seeing that there were quite a few more fellow patients in this section of the hall, something that Greed wasn't sure he liked. On one hand, the word recruits echoed loudly and overbearingly inside his head (much like Schuldig's WAVE OF PAIN the night before), but on the other, he was sick of being stuck around the same old bathroom and the same old crappy cells. One might have called passing up so many possible possessions an exercise in resisting one's temptations, but for Greed, there wasn't any such thing as resistance; just going for something better.

Of course, nothing could be better than Greed himself, so Schuldig's intimation that someone's brain was more up to snuff than the homunculus' caused Greed's violet eyes to narrow even as he put his hand on the door that the nurses took them through to the hall.

"The hell's Ling?"

[k4t4str0ph4l.livejournal.com]

Schuldig heard the trace of resentment in Greed's voice and reveled in it. "A woman," he replied, casually, as if he weren't nearly as interested and amused by the conversation as he was. "Looking to recruit, like you. She's got a mind like a bear trap, and when I called her last night, she came and helped me." After the fact, Schuldig added in the privacy of his own mind; Ling hadn't done much more except help him get up and numb some of his pain, help him regain some coherency when what he'd really wanted was for her to show up in time to stop the surgery altogether. But the possibilities of shoring up a rivalry over him between Greed and Ling - the deliciousness of having two such people fighting over him - was too tempting to defuse with a minor detail.

To add fuel to the fire, Schuldig took on a tone of false sympathy. "Still, her mind has some real power. It's not that surprising that she'd have stronger mental defenses as a result."

If this didn't pique Greed even further, rather than reassuring him as the comment seemed to be intended to do, then Schuldig knew nothing at all of human nature.

[grabby-hands.livejournal.com]

"Well," Greed growled as he got to the door that led out to the hall and twisted the knob. "Sometimes mind shit isn't any kind of match to real power."

As if to prove his point, Greed took the unnecessary step of kicking the door open rather than simply pushing it with his hand, but the only thing that accomplished was proving he was frustrated. Greed didn't like sharing unless there was something in it for him, and given the fact that Schuldig was about the only fucking thing he'd managed to gain in this place, the prospect of being nice didn't sound too good.

Still, Greed thought as he assessed his cards in play and stepped out into the hall, it'd be stupid to ask Schuldig to chose sides. Doing so would only be detrimental to him, as Greed had a feeling that the mindfucker wasn't too keen on loyalty, seeing as he'd gone to other people in the first place.

It was a little too much like Kimbley, but at this point, Greed didn't have much of a choice when it came to allies--especially the useful ones.

[k4t4str0ph4l.livejournal.com]

"True," Schuldig agreed, suppressed laughter curling through every syllable, following Greed through the stricken door. "But you must admit it has a certain finesse.

"As for loyalty," he added, as an afterthought, entirely unconcerned that he was answering thoughts instead of words, "I'm loyal to those that earn it from me, as long as it's beneficial. What more could you possibly ask?"

He might have continued, might have gone quite a bit farther in rubbing the potentiality of Ling in his face, but some rather imperative thoughts from down the hallway riveted his attention. The phrase giant scorpion, with accompanying visuals, was impossible to ignore. "Ah," he breathed, a sound more than a word. "How are you with giant, poisonous insects?" he inquired of Greed, sounding deceptively casual.

[grabby-hands.livejournal.com]

[ To here (http://community.livejournal.com/landels_damned/42632.html). ]