damned_institute | Nightshift 33: F-A Block Hallway

[from here]

Like the night prior, she moved against the wall. There was no need for light yet. She strained her heightened hearing to its limits. No time for surprises.

Focus your breathing. Calm your being. Listen. Learn. Move.

The mantra ran through her head.

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/395153.html)]

This place...

... It was dull.

That was the only way Yuffie could think to describe it. Walking down the hallway, footsteps quick and light, flashlight trained on the ground in front of her...

Well, okay. Maybe this place was a little creepy, and maybe she was just a little on edge. Just a little! And it wasn't like she'd never been in places that creeped the hell out of her before- she spent most of her time in places that were creepy! And so far, Landel's Institute was barely even registering on the creep-o-meter.

Still, she'd learned from her mistakes in the past; complacency could lead to one's ass being kicked. Yuffie was alert, observant, and anything that that thought she'd make an easy target...

Well, she'd show them.

[Going here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/394449.html?thread=31740113#t31740113)]

Edited 2008-07-09 17:10 (UTC)

Another quick move through the hallway and he was at the other end.

[Coming from here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/395676.html?thread=31750044#t31750044)]

Claire slipped out into the hall, making her way farther from her room. She made sure to check there was nothing nearby that would be dangerous before continuing on. She didn't want to keep her dad waiting, if he was already on the move.

[Going here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/394449.html?thread=31751377#t31751377)]

Edited 2008-07-09 18:53 (UTC)

Lia hadn't had a chance the night before to see this area in anything but the distant and diffuse light shed by other travellers. Her nervous mind had conjured vague horrors, enough to make her skin prickle. Somehow, the reality was worse, eerie enough to put her on edge without providing a clear target for fear that could either be escaped or dispelled. She steadied her breathing and brought her unease carefully back into line, taking those few seconds to get her bearings. She didn't know if keeping calm would truly give her any sort of edge, but she could be relatively certain running scared would not.

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/395676.html?view=31756700#t31756700).]

Another hallway. Esmeralda placed her tambourine inside the sash (which was still just a spare shirt, but it would do) to keep from making much noise and quietly made her way to the next area.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/395153.html?thread=31747473#t31747473)]

[in from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/395676.html?thread=31758748#t31758748)]

Melissa kept her back to the wall as she edged towards the corner, all senses alert for... well. Monsters, if every single thing that pointed towards them being real was true. She had to assume, at this point in time, that it wasn't just crazy talk. After all, that statue last night had certainly been real.

The bathroom she'd been to earlier was dead ahead. Melissa veered her course to stay as far away from it as possible. It was creepy enough during the day, who knew what it was like at night?

A kind of nervous, controlled fear was rolling off of someone in front of her in waves. Melissa had already begun to notice her mindcasting was stronger at night, but she was in no way prepared for that onslaught. Gripping the wall next to her to keep from falling, Melissa gritted her teeth together and tried to move around the woman. It took a surprising amount of willpower to keep from snapping at her, considering Melissa dealt with people just like her in huge amounts every day.

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/399959.html?thread=31758935#t31758935).]

Toph skidded to a halt at the adjacent hallway and ran a nervous finger through her bangs. What is with this place? she thought. Monsters and magic were one thing, but disembodied voices were something beyond her experience.

The girl's senses suddenly noted the presence of other people, one who was too close for comfort. In reaction, she hardened into a defensive stance. "Who's there?"

Though Lia kept a careful leash on her own psychic senses, locked down as tightly as she possibly could to avoid picking up or reflecting too much of the chaos she was certain surrounded her, discomfort passing so near wasn't something the witch could miss. She frowned, emotions shifting and resettling into a low hum of sharp concern as she turned toward the other woman.

The other girl, she noted, eyebrows rising in faint surprise as she noted yet another person held captive who was younger even than she. "Are you all right?"

The child's voice that spoke (for it was a child, Renamon was sure of it) seemed as on edge as she was. Her protective instincts won out over her anxiety, and she stopped to calmly answer, "I am Renamon."

She switched the light on, pointing it at the direction of the speaker's feet. The light threw shadows, but showed a very small child, female. She looked even younger than Rika. Every child she'd met so far was in their teens, but this one wasn't. How old could she be?

She analyzed the girl's stance, and gave a light smile. She seemed to know how to defend herself at least, if that was any tell. "And may I ask your name, young one?"

[Coming from here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/395153.html?thread=31772049#t31772049)]

Shana moved at a steady pace, keeping her ball of magelight over one shoulder and her staff at the ready. She didn't want to get waylaid on the way to Valyn's, and she'd never hear the end of it if she showed up looking as if she'd narrowly missed being something's dinner.

Melissa was about to mutter a brisk reply and continue on her way when the woman's full mind touched on her tongue. She froze, but not with surprise. How many more people was the mindcaster going to meet who went against everything she'd grown up with?

This time, there weren't any thoughts. Emotions, definitely, quickly changing from the earlier fear to a much less welcoming concern. But there weren't any thoughts underneath the taste. It wasn't the simple emotions-drowning-out-thoughts either, but more like... a sort of psychic barrier.

Melissa turned to face the woman. "Okay. First off, I'm fine, you can stop with the concern." It was one of the most annoying, bitter emotions Melissa had to deal with from her friends besides pity. "Second. What are you?" She doubted the woman was another telepath, but she must have some experience to have any kind of a barrier up. Not even Rex had managed to do that, and he grew up with Melissa.

[Skipping a few halls to here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/393089.html?thread=31774593#t31774593)]

Lia's eyebrows rose in sudden sharp surprise that dove swiftly into wary evaluation. It did, at least, have the effect of dispersing her concern. She let her senses slip the leash a little more to test the other woman's psychic scent, and frowned. Not Blood, though the question had given indications in that direction already. And yet that same question alone marked her as something other than a landen.

"I could ask the same of you," she replied. "I'm a witch. A Queen, to be exact." The inflection she gave the word made it a statement of specific designation rather than a claim to royalty.

Another hall down. Sighing, Bella mentally retraced the path to Edward’s room in her head, her eyes keeping watch for anything.

She didn’t realize her grasp on the pipe was so tight until she tried to flex her fingers and her bones ached.

Edited 2008-07-09 22:24 (UTC)

Growing silent as she continued to make her way down the hall, Kairi brushed a hand through her hand nervously. She really did need a weapon of sorts – even a pipe would do, really. Just something so she could stop feeling jittery while alone.

Melissa tensed slightly at the woman's sudden change in emotion, not used to that intensity without the underlying thoughts. She actually had to put forth effort to get past that barrier, not exactly something she was very interested in doing right now. She was about to add to her question when she was stopped by a strange sensation on the edge of her mind.

The feeling of someone else touching her mind with the intention of finding out what she was when Melissa wasn't touching them... that was very, very new to her. She physically drew back, fearful of the non-control of the brief contact.

The mindcaster purposely ignored the implied question and addressed the next part instead. "A witch." She said it with a hint of disbelief in her voice, but that earlier feeling pretty much convinced her it was at least part of the truth. And as much as she didn't want to admit it, Melissa was intrigued by the idea of another sort-of-telepath that didn't feel... wrong.

Halfway through the second hallway, Rhode suddenly thought something that, thanks to her run in with that Phibby brat the previous night, had slipped from thought. Why couldn't she just talk to Tyki? It wasn't as though she was stuck as a human right now. Her skin was dark, there were crosses lining her head, and it would have been easy to mistake her gold eyes as a monster's glowing through the dark.

She was a Noah right now, so she should act like one!

Tykiiiiiiiiiii she began whining mentally, searching for her family member's mind Tyki, I'm booooooooored

Her strain lessened at the woman's response, causing the earthbender to slump out of her position. Anyone who gave out their name so easily probably didn't mean any harm, though the name itself sounded odd in Toph's head.

"It's Toph." The girl paused thoughtfully while trying to regain her bearings. "Renamon, you say? I've never heard of that name before." Normally, she wouldn't remark on such a trivial matter, but Toph had the tendency to babble when nervous.

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/399959.html?thread=31815255#t31815255)]

Meeting outside the women's rooms was at least easier than meeting in a crowded hallway, if they were going to check and make sure everything was distributed the way they'd intended last night. Seiya leaned against a wall and waited, figuring it would take Leon a little longer to reach her even if she had paused to check over the items in her own room.

Her eyes wandered over to the strange little girl standing in the hallway, but the girl didn't seem to be attacking. Everyone here had something strange about them, right? Seiya just happened to be one of the lucky few whose 'something strange' had been stolen. She went back to watching the door to the main halls, for Leon.

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/395153.html?view=31819665#t31819665)]

Rangiku stormed along the corridor, running as quickly as she could at a maintainable pace.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/394449.html?view=31824081#t31824081)]

Nightshift 33: F-A Block Hallway

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