Nightshift 36: Outside the Institute: North

[akarusa.livejournal.com]

[[From here.]]

Hokuto looked around, trying to take it all in at a glance to minimize the chances of being taken by surprise. The ground sloped upwards from here on out, and was rockier than she'd expected. She was really not an outdoors type of girl, and didn't know what to expect in this kind of terrain.

Then again, knowing I don't know what to expect is better than thinking I do. This was the worst place to get overconfident; she had to remember, no matter what, that the odds were never in their favor here.

It was a horribly depressing way to live, but it was the best way she could think of to survive.

Comments

[hajike-tobiume.livejournal.com]

"Yes, to the north," Momo replied as they moved in that direction. "I've not been this way, just the south. We're to scout and see what we can find. Let's keep our pace steady and an eye out."

Maybe Sora had information on the outside. "Have you been outside the walls, Sora?"

[lighthearted]

Hokuto's comment about his jump off the wall earned a confident grin from Sora. It really wasn't that impressive, but he would take compliments when he could get them. Considering how much the institute strove to destroy their self-esteem, he figured there was no harm in taking credit where it was due.

As for their current path, he had to admit (to himself, at least) that he was wary. The fog made it hard to see where they were even going; the terrain was uneven and sloping and easy to trip over; and he knew for a fact that there were monsters afoot.

They were going to have to remain cautious, take it slow, and be thorough. This area was potentially pretty big, and they didn't want to miss anything. It was a lot harder to navigate than the institute itself, but hopefully that meant there were things of interest to be found.

"Me?" he asked reflexively, glancing to Momo. "Well, not really. I've gotten over the walls, but not actually gotten any farther than that." This was the farthest he had come, in fact. He would have been excited if he didn't expect a huge bear to come after them at any second.

[akarusa.livejournal.com]

"And whatever we do, don't split up." Hokuto had seen way, way too many horror movies for her own good.

As a precaution, she took her shovel off her back and held it like a staff; it would help her stay upright if she stumbled, and make her reaction time that much faster if they ran into trouble and she needed her weapon.

Since it looks like we're going to be here for at least another few weeks, maybe I should get on an alchemist's list myself. As great as her shovel was, a real blade just might be better.

[hajike-tobiume.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, she'd also traveled into the western mountains once with Signum. "Ah, I'd forgotten, but I've also been to the west. There are steep mountains that way," Momo amended her previous statement.

She slowed down to navigate around some bushes. "Hopefully, we will find something of note tonight. I would like to bring some good news to Hitsugaya for a change." A small, affectionate smile touched her lips as she mentioned Hitsugaya, a little of it slipping into her voice.

She shook her head at Hokuto's words; of course they wouldn't split up by choice.

[lighthearted]

"And what's to the south?" Sora asked, if only to complete the picture. He didn't think that Momo had actually mentioned what she'd found in that direction, unless he'd missed it. There was a chance that she had held back on offering that information for a reason, but what was the point in keeping it from other Arts and Crafts members?

The fact that everything was so quiet and it was difficult to see beyond the husks of trees meant that Sora had to keep on his toes. Unfortunately, he was spending most of his time with his head lowered, eyeing the rocky terrain to make sure he didn't lose his footing or trip over anything. This was quite the hike, after all.

"Yeah, let's hope so," he agreed, looking up for a moment to glance at Momo. He didn't want to continue to be the source of disappointment. There were always some lucky breaks mixed in with everything else, right? They just had to stay positive and work hard.

[akarusa.livejournal.com]

"I watch too many horror movies," Hokuto said with a sigh. Sometimes it helped; sometimes it just made her paranoid.

Still, she smiled a little, too, at Momo's reaction to merely mentioning the love of her life's name. It was good to see. Not so gloomily, she added, "Good news would definitely be a nice change."

[hajike-tobiume.livejournal.com]

"There's thick woods to the south and the road that the buses take to Doyleton," Momo answered. "Signum-kun and her team should be exploring that direction, hopefully reaching the town tonight."

The shinigami stumbled a little, having misplaced her foot, and frowned at the ground. This terrain was insufferable. "That is, if they can get through the entry way."

Regaining her footing, the vice captain climbed up onto a rock jutting out of the ground. With the slight added height, she looked around. It looked like there was something in the near distance, but she couldn't quite tell.

"At least there's something out here," she said. "I can't tell what it is from here, though."

[lighthearted]

Horror movies? Sora smiled at the mention of that - he hadn't seen many himself, though he had been to Halloween Town, and that counted for a lot, didn't it? He knew the Pumpkin King personally, after all! Though he hadn't seen Jack around here in a while, come to think of it; he hoped the skeleton (with some newfound skin) was all right.

It was interesting to know that some others would be trying to get all the way to town - that was pretty far to try and go on foot at night when there were monsters about, but Sora still wished them luck.

When Momo almost tripped, Sora's hand instinctively reached out to grab her and steady her, but he paused when the shinigami was able to right herself on her own. He made extra sure to watch where he was stepping as he followed her up onto the rock.

He squinted, looking through the fog to see what she meant. There was something other than more uneven nothingness out there, which hopefully meant they were on the right track. "I guess there's only one way to find out, right?"

[akarusa.livejournal.com]

"Yeah." Hokuto was trying to move at a decent pace, but she didn't want to twist her ankle and the ground made it hard to avoid that. The shovel helped, at least.

From here, the thing up ahead of them was kind of looking like a crater or something. "If something crawled up from the depths of hell here..." she shuddered. It wouldn't surprise her all that much, but she still didn't want to think about it!!

[hajike-tobiume.livejournal.com]

"Now, Hokuto-chan... try not to be a doomsayer," Momo teased. "Let's think positive."

It took the shinigami a bit to get down off the rock, but she managed and gave a nod in the direction of whatever it was in the distance. "Stay sharp and let's go see what it is."

[usoppsenchou.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/492738.html?thread=40391362#t40391362)]

Brook did seem to be following along a little easily, which was a tad strange. Didn't he know Usopp better than that? On the other hand, Brook had also not known there were two sheds, and seemed to be scared of perfectly ordinary cute little spiders, so maybe Brook was one of those types that needed good leadership.

... Again, didn't he know Usopp better than that?

Well, either way, there was something a little refreshing about just climbing over the wall to go out. After a moment's thought, Usopp realized it wasn't refreshing so much as it was cold. Abruptly grateful for his own good planning (of course he made a good leader) he opened his bag, pulled out the sheet he'd taken from his bed, and wrapped it around his shoulders for protection. That it kind of looked like a cool cape, blowing in the wind, was just a pleasant side-effect.

[promisedawhale.livejournal.com]

Brook hadn't exactly been with the Straw Hat Pirates for a long time like the others aboard, less than a week actually, so no, he really didn't know Usopp better than that. And it wasn't as though Brook had any reason to ever doubt what someone said to him even if he should know them better than that. Usopp was a nakama! Why would a Nakama lie?

"We were able to get out of the basement though. Archer-san and me, that is," he explained as he got up and over. "Though I don't remember how exactly. Yoho, I just woke up in my room somehow!" But that happened a lot. Still, they had gotten out because of it!

The shivers from the outside air, though chilly, weren't as much of a problem for the former skeleton. It was a wonderful thing being able to feel the cold so completely! "Where to explore then?" he looked down at the now caped Usopp.

[usoppsenchou.livejournal.com]

"Waiting until morning is dangerous, though. What if you get killed before they send us back to our rooms?" Usopp pointed out. He vaguely recalled hearing something about some way to avoid being sent back or something like that, somewhere out here, but didn't have any hopes of looking for or finding it with such a hazy memory. In fact, finding anything at all other than rocks would be promising, though...

Right, rocks! Usopp stopped abruptly, and leaned over to start picking some decent-sized ones up off the ground, putting them in his bag. "We can just look... around." Was that too vague? Usopp thought he heard the sound of other voices echoing over the wind, but it could have been his paranoid imagination, or their own voices echoing back to them, or... "We'll look for the least dangerous-looking places out here!"

[promisedawhale.livejournal.com]

Brook grinned brightly despite how morbid the idea actually was. "Yohohohoho! But, Usopp-san! I've already died before!" He could still be dead really, but he wasn't so sure with the skin and all. Testing it wasn't such a good idea either.

[usoppsenchou.livejournal.com]

Usopp shuddered at the reminder, and gave Brook a sour look that wasn't very obvious in the dark, considering the distance between the standing man and Usopp crouching to grab rocks. "Don't say things like that! Just--assume you can't die here. I mean, assume you shouldn't die here, but you can, but you won't because you shouldn't! Okay?"

With those orders in place, Usopp stood up again, trying not to make a complaining noise at the added weight to his bag. He could unload some into his closet later. "Hey, Brook, you don't mind if I store things in your closet sometimes, right?"

[promisedawhale.livejournal.com]

Brook only laughed more at his friend's babbling. "I shall do my best!" he promised, but he wasn't exactly what he was promising too. Whatever it was, Usopp didn't want him dead, and that was probably a good thing.

"My closet's still open," he nodded, "You may use it whenever you wish."

[usoppsenchou.livejournal.com]

"Great!" Usopp was happy to hear it confirmed, anyway, and added, "You know my room number is 33, right?" It was just good to be sure. They should all exchange room numbers, and write them down to make sure they didn't forget, just in case. Maybe they should have another meety.

It made a sort of weird sense that the very night he decided to give his boots to Sanji, he also decided to go hiking. But how could he have predicted that the courtyard'd be too hard to pass two nights in a row? Grunting a little as they started to pass over a rockier area and he had to actually climb a bit, Usopp was jealous of Brook's longer limbs. "I'll bring things by and put them in your closet, then. That'll work out... great." Standing on a particularly large rock, he tried to look around, but between the trees and the darkness, he had no idea where they were, and he couldn't see the Institute anymore either. The cape fluttered some more, and he decided to pause to strike a dramatic pose as long as the opportunity was there.

[promisedawhale.livejournal.com]

"Thirt-- oh, no, eighty-three!" he corrected. It wouldn't work if Usopp ended up going to the wrong room. He could walk in on something!

He walked along without much trouble, only just noticing Usopp's problems with the terrain. Brook would have spoken up except that Usopp had stopped to look then. "Should we be going so far? What about the others?" he asked, worried. It wouldn't do if they managed to escape but left the others back at the dreadful institute. Brook refused to abandon them!

[usoppsenchou.livejournal.com]

"No, you're in eighty-three, I'm in thirty three." Usopp corrected back, speaking slowly. Maybe kind of a Zoro type...?

Looking around at the terrain, it was dangerous in a 'hiking' sense, but not too dangerous yet in the 'magical person with flying little angel and shiny hammer is going to kill you' sense, so he jumped down from the rock and kept on walking. The fact that he didn't know the way back was a side issue anyhow, since people who walked away woke up in the Institute too. "We'll tell everybody if we find anything interesting out here, once we get back. This is the story of our brave exploration, Brook!"

[promisedawhale.livejournal.com]

"Exactly!" Brook nodded, not understanding the mistake he'd made for a few moments. "Oh! You said thirty-three was your room, didn't you?! Yohohoho! My mistake! I should be better with my hearing now that I have ears, right?!" he laughed more.

Brook was sure to listen closer this time, and he thought what Usopp said was smart enough. "All right, then! Lead the way, Usopp-san!"

[intoindra.livejournal.com]

From here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/492738.html?thread=40542402)

This sort of situation wasn't new to Roland, as much as he hated to say that. Himself and one comrade traveling alone where danger could threaten around every tree trunk? Yes, that was something he was unfortunately used to... the only thing that threw him for even a moment was the sheer amount of greenery. Walking through a real forest was still a bit of a shock to Roland; it reminded him of when his traveling companion was someone other than a cannibalistic demon.

Ah well. He couldn't afford to get lost in thought here. Chances were that the changes of the previous nights would continue even outside of the Institute... and considering the chances of bears, wolves, and other wild animals, he didn't want to get caught off-guard. Instead he walked on with full alertness, every sense straining to catch even a sign of danger.

[demon-beast.livejournal.com]

Argilla let Roland help her up onto the top of the wall and then she dropped herself lightly over onto the ground on the other side. She stared around herself for a moment, still taken aback by the sight of so many trees all around them. It was sad that they could only see it during the night really.

She turned when she heard Roland start moving, and followed on after him, treading as quietly as she could.

[intoindra.livejournal.com]

At times like this, Roland wished that he could move wherever he wished during the day. With the wind in the boughs and the warm sun leaving a deliciously soporific scent in the air, this was just the sort of place he'd want to take Argilla. If he played his cards right, maybe she'd fall asleep at his side, and he could be content with that...

...no, no, he had to focus. Poetics could wait until tomorrow. For now he moved on just as quietly as Argilla, relying just as much on hearing and scent as on his eyes to navigate through the darkness. At this rate he was going to find that trail sooner than last night, especially since he now knew what to look for. That, at least, was a good thing.

[demon-beast.livejournal.com]

The leaves and branches made it difficult to move as quietly as she would have liked; she was more used to concrete and stone and metal beneath her feet. The ground was uneven too, making her wish that she had her boots from her usual clothing.

"How far do you think it is?" she asked after a moment, having difficult keeping track of distances in this strange new environment.

[intoindra.livejournal.com]

"I think... that's it over there," Roland muttered, breaking through the thick trees and out into the open area of the mines. It was both fortunate and not that they'd managed to get there so quickly... fortunate because of no monsters, unfortunate because there was no food to be had because of it. But what else could they do? Karma was the one law they obeyed; if it wasn't their fate to fight something, there was nothing they could do about it.

...except hope that the mines would be worth the trip, of course.

((To here.)) (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/507963.html)