damned_institute | Nighshift 35: Soccer/Recreational Field

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Nighshift 35: Soccer/Recreational Field

[from here]

The warm night air kissed Archer's face as he stepped outside. A half moon was out, giving considerable illumination. On the bright side, it meant that he could see pretty well, even at night, but on the other hand, it meant hiding wouldn't be as easy, especially out in the field, without any cover. Nonetheless, he cautiously made his way over to the shed.

[to here]

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Rather than holding his flashlight up and blinding the stranger, the doll kept the beam turned to the grass. Even without it, he'd be hard put to miss the fact that someone else had a sword around here and obviously knew how to use it.

He only eyed the glint of the blade for a moment before turning his attention away. Fear wasn't what he felt.

"Ah, Archer-san, is it. I've seen your face around. I'm Ichimoto Ren. Pleased to meet you, anyway." Regardless of the fact that it wasn't the best scenario for introductions. That went without saying. "Were you looking for someone?" he continued. Didn't seem like a good rendezvous point, but who was he to judge.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Ren-san, although I wish it was on better circumstances." Now that Ren had mentioned it, Archer had seen him around the Institute too.

"Yeah, my teammate, Dante," Archer replied. The fact that he'd been taken by Ladnel's meant it was likely the Head Doctor knew what Archer's team was up to. It also meant there was no harm in sharing that info with Ren. "We were on our way to the basement."

"Did you lose him?" he asked, thinking this guy must have been one of the ones trying to scale the wall between the soccer field and the courtyard.

Something dangerous in the Sun Room again?

He could always look to see on both counts, weakened second sight or not, but it did drain his energy fairly fast, and if they were just waiting around for this Dante, it wasn't all that necessary. Right?

"But the basement, huh? That's a ways away. Be careful, though, there's usually a few things in the way. And much better down there." His intentions weren't to start up a pleasant night time chat, but mostly just to throw some information out there and see what happened. Old, reliable methods and all that. Either way, he got to warn someone, and if not, he wasted his breath for a second or two.

"No, it looks like the Institute took him. We were talking to him one moment and the next he was gone," Archer answered. He took a cursory glance around every now and then, just to make sure nothing sneaked up on them. "Yeah, it seems like it. You've been down there before? Any information you can provide would help."

This wasn't the time or place for a nighttime chat, but Ren seemed like he'd been here awhile. Perhaps he knew more than Archer did.

That... didn't sound good. Was that how it was starting to work around here?

He blinked once, and somewhere else his other eye did as well, but nothing came into focus. Not quite like certain areas of the building blocked him off, but close. "I haven't heard of that happening before," the doll confessed bleakly. "I wouldn't even know the first place to look." Assuming they were thinking about looking for their missing teammate. That would have been his first guess, though maybe they'd cut losses and continue on.

"Once, a few days ago. Guess I was lucky being in a group, since the doors down there are pretty heavy. We didn't get far." Well, not physically, but the doll had been able to make a map of what he'd been able to see with his eye. "What about you?"

Archer might have been one of those guys taking teams down there every night. The basement was sure to be an interesting place, though probably safer to check out in groups, and Ren hadn't done much of that. He didn't mind going down by himself, if only to complete his map and discover what was blocking his ability, but there always seemed to be something else to do. Like stumble around the wilderness.

"Yeah. Seems like they come up with new rules each night." Plucking Dante out of their group was definitely new to Archer's knowledge, but who knew? Perhaps this was how they took patients for experimentation or brain-washing. Unfortunately, Archer couldn't go on a wild goose chase, searching for Dante. He had an objective to accomplish tonight.

"So you have been down there," Archer commented, though it was mostly aimed at himself rather than at Ren. "I've been down there a couple of times. We're going to explore a new area tonight."

He was a little hesitant to ask Ren to join them, but extra assistance would be welcome, especially with the gap in the team created by Dante. "If you don't have any plans would you like to join us?"

He couldn't see anything. And that either had more to do with his repressed powers, or Landel's prowess. Either way, that couldn't bode well for this Dante person, could it?

"Yeah, it's kind of a circus attraction now. A big chance from what's upstairs, anyway." The doll rubbed the back of his head, inwardly a bit fitful. It wasn't all that satisfying knowing he couldn't do much about tracking down this missing guy. Or anything. At least he had time to spare to make up for it. Even Ojou might have become one of the all-too common missing persons around Landel's, but he didn't think she'd died from it, and he probably wouldn't either.

Then Archer asked him if he wanted to go along, and he paused, dropping his hand a moment later. "Me?" That was sudden. He hadn't exactly proved he wasn't some backstabbing weirdo or someone who couldn't pull their own weight. Eh, maybe that was the whole point. Raise the body count?

Or maybe Archer was one of the ones who could tell the servant was something other than human. He didn't know.

"Well, sure, I suppose. I mean, I wasn't meeting up with anyone else." He scratched the side of his nose, only serving to make his expression more indecipherable what with his hair shadowing the other half of his face. "Safety in numbers, right?"

Truthfully, Archer had sensed something different about Ren, but didn't put any weight in it. His senses were still messed up, and if Ren wanted to keep silent about it, who was he to judge. Although if the stranger turned out to be some kind of dangerous monster intent on harming his team then Archer would shoot him.

"Alright, let's go then," he said, wasting no time, returning to his team.

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Nighshift 35: Soccer/Recreational Field

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