Nightshift 39: M41-M50 Hallway

[scalyfishman.livejournal.com]

Dinner had been refreshingly quiet after the roar of the music room- apparently Matsuda was sleeping this one out- but even with room to reflect, Depth Charge still found himself at a loss. For one thing, he hadn’t made any plans. For another, he’d dropped his slagging flashlight and bat last night. Three minor issues that, while not exactly worrying him individually, posed a far more formidable problem when put together.

Besides, he had other reasons to dislike the nightshift- like the way it always seemed to lead to thinking about things he didn’t want to think about. Like Primal, and Earth, and the fact that he’d left the entire Pit-forsaken universe for-

I bet you’d love this, X. I bet you’d fragging love it.

No. No, no, no. Not tonight. He’d just have to suck it up unless he wanted to spend the entire night alone, and that just wasn't an option. One look at that bed and Depth Charge knew he’d give himself a far worse time asleep than Martin Landel ever could awake. He left the room swiftly and silently.

[To here]

Comments

[byname-bynature.livejournal.com]

[Currently in M47]

Artemis continued to hold Haku in the silence that followed each announcement, trying very hard not to break his jaw when he heard Landel's snoring. At least have the decency to act evil--even if it required a cup of coffee.

He turned his attentions back to Haku, gently stroking his cheek. "Badou will be here soon."

[faithful-frost.livejournal.com]

Haku blinked at the sound of snores. Really? Snoring? How stupid.

He smiled up at Artemis and moved to pull back slightly. "Company," he teased. "And me without anything to wear."

[byname-bynature.livejournal.com]

Artemis laughed lightly, nuzzling Haku's cheek. "You look beautiful, he'll be impressed no matter what."

...more due to the lighter than Haku's appearance, most likely.

[faithful-frost.livejournal.com]

"Thank you, but you're biased, I think." He pressed a kiss to Artemis's cheek and sat up a bit straighter, combing his fingers through his hair, planning on pulling it back into a braid.

If he was going to be meeting a stranger (and possibly trading with him), he wanted to at least pretend like he was steady.

[byname-bynature.livejournal.com]

"It doesn't matter if I'm biased," Artemis said, brushing Haku's hands away and carefully dividing his hair into three parts. "Because my opinion is always correct. Anyone who thinks otherwise just hasn't seen it from my angle yet."

M49

[never-learns.livejournal.com]

Yohji watched the smoke curl towards the ceiling as he took another drag of his cigarette. He had no plans, nothing to actually do tonight and he wasn't certain, honestly, if he could even be bothered to try to do something constructive. He felt tired. Maybe he'd just finish his smoke and then roll over and go to sleep. It would probably be about as productive as anything else that he could do.

He brought the cigarette to his lips again, taking a long drag and then blowing out the smoke, letting it trail into the room. Maybe he should go and find Ken. Maybe not. He knew his friend's room by now, but he might have gone by the time Yohji got there. A wasted trip. Ugh. He'd finish his cigarette and then decide. Small choices shouldn't be so damn difficult.

Re: M49

[never-learns.livejournal.com]

Finally the cigarette burned down to the filter and Yohji sighed softly as he stubbed it out against the wall. It left a dark scorched mark on the plaster but why should he care? He was certain that come morning it would be gone, replaced once more with pristine white paint. Had no-one ever considered that the perfection of the place was odd in itself. No mental hospital would be so clean all the time, no mental hospital would be so undamaged. Then again, it wasn't as though there were ever any outside inspectors, or he doubted it anyway.

Much as he would quite like to just sit there and smoke the rest of the goddamned pack, he should go and find Ken. After last night, he was even more worried that his friend would end up doing something dangerous.

He grabbed the knife from beneath his mattress and stood up, stretching slightly to get rid of the stiffness in his muscles. It wouldn't be too far to walk and he could head off if it turned out that Ken wasn't there.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/576729.html?thread=48648409#t48648409)]

M44

[full-score.livejournal.com]

It was safe to say that this had been among Claude's weirder days in the Institute (which was saying a lot, really), but this was just the icing on the cake. Was the Head Doctor seriously snoring? He wasn't sure whether to find it funny or just plain irritating. This was the man who held the keys to getting out of this place, and there he was, sitting asleep, with no one able to use it to their advantage.

He sighed and made himself stay on task. Fortunately, it didn't take him long to change into his jacket, pants and sneakers. Dias and Guy would probably be showing up soon, so he needed to be ready. With that in mind, he went ahead and pulled out his flashlight, sword, and an empty pillowcase (just in case they needed to carry extra stuff).

Now it was just a matter of waiting for the others to show up. Claude sat in his chair, doing his best to sit tight until someone knocked on the door.

Before long, though, his thoughts had turned to his dad again, and he couldn't help but wonder what he was going to be doing tonight. He probably wasn't armed, and his heraldry was going to be severely weakened. Claude could only hope he'd find someone to team up with while he got the hang of this place. Maybe he should have asked him to come along, but then what would have happened if Dad had somehow learned more about his future son than he needed to?

Augh, talk about complicated! Even though it was nice to have a little bit of time to try to figure this stuff out, Claude realized he was mostly thinking himself in circles. Frowning, he debated on getting out his journal to doodle in while he waited, but he figured by the time he got started, someone would have already arrived. No, it was probably best to sit tight and be patient.

M44

[nobleman]

[From here.]

When all was said and done, it hadn't taken that long, and Guy did his best not to worry about the juice as he reached Claude's door. He knew his friend would understand that some of it had been lost in the transport, and there wasn't much else that could be said about that.

Right now, the bigger problem was that he had no way of knocking on the door, or even opening it (which he wouldn't have done even if he could since he remembered the way Claude had reacted to Dias barging in last night). He could have set down his flashlight so that he could knock, but that seemed like way too much effort -- and way too risky, when he'd already spilled who knew how much of the juice.

There was another way to go about this, of course. "Hey, Claude?" he called out, making sure to raise his voice so that it would carry through the door. "I'm here." Claude would understand why he hadn't just knocked once he opened the door, he figured.

M44

[full-score.livejournal.com]

Claude perked up a little once he heard Guy's voice. He almost just told him the door was open, but then he got up from his seat and walked over to the door. Once he opened it, it became apparent why his friend had just called out for him -- between the flashlight, Ashton's sword, and the bag of stuff Guy was carrying, it was a wonder he was able to make it in the first place!

"Oh, wow!" he said as he moved in a little closer. "Here, let me take something from you." Claude smiled a little guiltily. "Sorry, I should have realized your hands were going to be so full."

Maybe it would have been better to meet in Guy's room, but it was a bit late for that now. This was probably something to keep in mind the next time they set up a meeting spot, though.

M44

[nobleman]

"Haha, thanks," Guy said, quickly extending his hand forward so that he could offer the hilt of Ashton's sword to his friend. Once he'd been relinquished of it, he moved into the room (though he wasn't able to close the door behind him), heading for the bed that he knew was Claude's so that he could set everything down. The flashlight went first, freeing up that hand so that he could focus on carefully settling the pillowcase.

"I think some of the juice may have spilled," he explained, tone somewhat apologetic. In fact, it was probably seeping from the pillowcase onto Claude's sheets now, but Guy didn't think it mattered since everything would be back to normal when morning came.

He carefully opened the bag and first pulled out the artifact, which had gotten some juice on it as well. Sighing, he wiped it off on the bed and then put it down before easing the pitcher of juice out. "There's still a good amount left," he said thankfully.

M44

[full-score.livejournal.com]

Claude grasped the sword and stepped aside to give Guy enough room to move past him. Once his friend had gotten inside, he followed in after, leaving the door just a little ajar.

He hadn't thought of bringing the artifact they'd gotten last night along, but it was probably a good thing Guy did. It would have been terrible if they made it all the way down there, only to find out they needed it for something. "I'm sure it's still okay," he assured his friend once he removed the juice from the bag. "You had a lot of things to carry, so..."

Claude reached to take the juice from Guy. "By the way," he added, sounding a little sheepish now, "I meant to apologize for acting like a jerk last night. It's tough enough being trapped here, so the last thing I want is to make it worse for people by snapping like that."

[rides-on-top.livejournal.com]

Emmett slipped out of his room with flashlight in hand, its usefulness as a light source was outweighed by the simple fact that it was a blunt object. The maps he'd copied from the bulletin board were left behind, he'd spent the rest of the evening memorizing them in order to distract himself from other temptations. There were two floors, but he was already on the first floor so there was no reason for him to trek to the second floor. Unless he planned on jumping out a window. Of course jumping out a second story window probably wasn't the best idea when his body was so... human. Humans didn't do so well with falling out second story windows.

Emmett walked confidently down the hallway, he could easily recall which direction to go to get to the main hallway, but his plan was shaky at best. Fight monsters, try to find an exit, kill Martin Landel. He wasn't so sure what the order of those things would be, but he hoped that there would be some fights before he made his way out of Landel's. Since it was dark again maybe he would run into more of his own kind...

[rides-on-top.livejournal.com]

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/577918.html?thread=48608382#t48608382).]

M43

[k4t4str0ph4l.livejournal.com]

Schuldig grinned to himself as he exited his room. He'd been looking forward to this all day; after all, regardless of what he went to Crawford's room for, or what he got out of it, he could still flaunt the fact that he actually had decent clothes to wear while Crawford was stuck with a smiley-face shirt.

The look on Crawford's face alone would be worth trekking halfway across the institute for, really.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/581725.html?thread=48224605#t48224605).]

[purgatio]

The doors had opened but Albedo hadn't moved for a while.

His mind had become a new sort of fractured, caught inbetween his own wants and desires. There was a part of him that had some kind of happiness, small as it may be, overwhelming as it could be, from the kindness of strangers. Of an empty plate and a full notebook. And that made him hesitate.

Albedo knew that that was nothing. Knew in his heart of hearts (his heart, or Rubedo's heart?) that those things couldn't stand up to his pain and his hatred (his love and his loss), and for that, he was sorrowful. For that, he faltered for a moment, and wished that it was enough. That it could be enough.

The dull echo, twin heartbeats pulsating inside his chest, made what actually mattered hard to ignore. The boy felt very tired. He just wanted to sleep.

Agitated by indecision, he found himself rubbing his fingers together, and looked down at them. He remembered last night, and he remembered this afternoon--the blood that fell that shouldn't have, the delay in his regeneration. Nigredo. Emotions poured over him, so hot and fast that Albedo couldn't tell what he felt. Was he angry at the youngest for taking away his right to higher powers, or was he thankful at being given that chance. That choice.

The hand he was staring at balled into a fist.

He had no time for indecision, no time for introspection. Whether or not... It didn't matter. Nigredo had done something unnatural yet again, proving his ranks among the other two as monsters. The three of them would be abberations together in that. And Nigredo had taken something from him that was his. Once again.

And the white-haired Variant would not stand silent this time. He was no longer that weak.

Albedo carefully put the two notebooks under his pillow and patted it, longing locked away. Then he picked up the flashlight--torch, whatever--and headed out the door.

[purgatio]

[to here]

[stringless-doll.livejournal.com]

Nataku had been warned of the inane voice across the intercom turning more sinister at night. He was impressed. The Jade Emperor had some stiff competition for who could most accurately imitate an overweight pig at rest. If Landel slept half as soundly, Nataku would be ashamed no one had escaped as yet.

He took a few of the pens in his pocket and a quick glance around the hallway convinced him of the need to carry the flashlight as well. He should be able to handle the hallways without it of course but the rooms would undoubtedly be darker and more dangerous.

He tried one last time to summon his sword, or even a thread of power, but that part of him was effectively closed off. His hand closed around thin air. Nataku relaxed his fingers slowly. So, this was night.

He started down the hallway, silent.

[stringless-doll.livejournal.com]

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/576729.html?thread=48392409#t48392409)]

[totallytheseme.livejournal.com]

Hikaru sat in his room for several minutes after Albedo left, just...thinking. Designer twins. Babies that had been genetically engineered by some sick fuck for...what? Child soldiers? The perfect little army of twelve year old kids with hair and eye colors in every shade of the Skittles rainbow? What the hell for? It made him ill just thinking about it.

He brooded for so long that he didn't realize how late it was getting. Fuck. He was supposed to meet Kaoru and Wolfram!

Getting up, he barely had time to grab his flashlight before he was running down the hall, retracing his steps from last night.

[dashing over here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/583393.html?thread=48528353#t48528353).]

[dualistic]

In the end, Harvey decided that his roommate wasn't worth talking to. The man looked interesting, maybe, but that wasn't enough to keep his attention. Especially when the intercom went off, and while Harvey had no idea why the only sound coming out of it was snoring, he wasn't going to waste time thinking about it.

Granted, the lights going out had taken him by surprise at first, and he had to admit that finding that flashlight (or being told where it was, he bitterly corrected himself) had been a good move.

Leaving his dinner right where he'd found it, Harvey left the room without even a glance over his shoulder at the other man. The hallway looked more or less exactly like it had when he'd been led back earlier, and there weren't any patients around -- though he did hear faint voices coming from a few doors. Did people really just stay in their rooms all night when they could be taking advantage of the freedom to explore?

He was unfortunately reminded of the monster talk he'd been subjected to, but he quickly dismissed it. This place might be dangerous, but monsters? Not a chance.

Nothing was jumping out at him so far, and so Harvey clicked on his flashlight, squared his shoulders, and moved down the hall.

[dualistic]

[To here.]

[hotbitterproof.livejournal.com]

Snoring? Really. A man who worked himself so hard that he couldn't help sleeping might be worthy of respect, but Godot suspected that this was more of the mocking he would come to know and abhor during his stay here. Well, leave the good head doctor to his slumber. Godot had other things to focus on, for better or for worse.

Oh, it was still tempting to go after Trite, even now. But the sleekest cars needed their fool, and though he was a man, Godot followed the same rules. He hadn't had a chance to answer Mr. H's note, but hopefully the man wouldn't wander too far without him.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/577068.html?thread=48694316#t48694316)]

Starting in M41

[vladville.livejournal.com]

Really, the biggest discomfort so far for traveling in Plasmius's form, apart from the horrible way his outfit clashed with his skin tone, was waiting for things to be cleared out a bit so the odds of his being spotted by chance were much lower. After the dark rings of the change passed over him, Vlad peeked out the doorway just to check for errant flashlights, then hurried out towards the main pathways. There were others here who looked stranger at night, and he could at least blend a bit in the darkness.

Carrying the pipe he'd gotten with Daniel a few nights earlier, along with his flashlight, he didn't pause to glance around.

[vladville.livejournal.com]

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/576729.html?thread=48761305#t48761305)]