Nightshift 39: Main Hallway 1-West

[mind-the-sukima.livejournal.com]

[From here]

Belatedly, Yukari yawned in response to the doctor's own repose. She'd been awake for more than half the day; it was no surprise she was tired. Youkai were nocturnal, after all. But there were so many things to do, so many people to see, so many new and interesting phenomena.

Maybe she'd catch up on her sleep in a few weeks. Just sleep a month straight. Yeah, that sounded good.

Yawning again, Yukari headed onwards.

Comments

[mind-the-sukima.livejournal.com]

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/577452.html)]

[idolism]

_{[from here]}

Aside from one figure entering the other male cellblock, the hallways were nearly devoid of life.

That suited Aidou just fine. The lack of voices, of flashlight beams, and of clumsy attempts at being stealthy by creatures who were not as skilled as they thought they were wasn’t something that bothered him. That there were no enemy presences was an added bonus.

The noble carried on.

_{[to here]}

[gald_digger]

[From here]

No trouble so far. Anise used her flashlight to illuminate each corner of the hallway, and found no sign of movement from anything besides her fellow patients. Good! Convinced that nothing was going to leap out at her, the girl proceeded, turning to enter the hall leading to the men's blocks.

[gald_digger]

[To here]

[whos-da-man.livejournal.com]

[from here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/577452.html?thread=47966380#t47966380)

These hallways were boring. At least Tartarus had, like, interesting stuff to look at when there weren't any shadows trying to eat his face.

Except for that one block...

[to here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/576846.html)

[traitors-smile.livejournal.com]

[[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/577452.html?thread=47975084#t47975084)]]

There weren't many out yet, roaming the hallways, but Gin kept a careful eye for any suspicious movement as he hurried along. Ran didn't seem to be anywhere in sight, which meant she was probably still getting her things together.

[traitors-smile.livejournal.com]

[[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/583393.html?thread=48338913#t48338913)]]

[lady-general.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/574090.html?thread=48028042#t48028042)]

The hall showed some signs of passage already; Celes' destination was the stairwell closest to her. It would be easier to run from one side of the second floor to the other than it would be to go up the stairs on the other side of the first floor.

With this in mind, Celes broke into a run.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/581085.html)]

[toobothersome.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/577452.html?thread=48032940#t48032940)]

And only one person in this hall. Shikamaru kept the beam of his flashlight focused on the ground before him, but he still took in every detail of the walls and doors as he walked past. The ability to make out detail in dim light was something he'd always been good at, probably a Nara clan advantage, but 'dim light' was the operative phrase there, so he maintained a steady and very slightly protective grip on the plastic and rubber casing of the flashlight. The matter was irrelevant if the institute blocked his abilities, but complete blackness always made the shinobi mildly uncomfortable.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/576846.html?thread=48033358#t48033358)]

[scalyfishman.livejournal.com]

There were still people in the hallway, but that didn't mean that Depth Charge could let his guard down. He'd had enough brushes with his own vulnerability in this body to know that he couldn't afford to relax. A mild rush of frustration bubbled up inside of him. What was he, a rat running a fragging maze? To the Pit with that!

[scalyfishman.livejournal.com]

[no-barbarian.livejournal.com]

Even when he did have his flashlight, there wasn't much to be seen in this corridor; it was just too big. Without his light (which doubled as a handy bludgeon) he felt even more exposed than usual. The only good part about being without his armor was that he could walk silently. Small consolation.

[no-barbarian.livejournal.com]

[littlestrawdoll.livejournal.com]

_{[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/577685.html?thread=48056213#t48056213), and unknowingly waiting for Leon]}

Right, well, here was where plans got a little iffy. There was no one waiting in his general vicinity, which was around the nurse’s stations, the closest thing to a rendezvous point they’d hashed out. So the servant followed the wall until he hit the back of the first male block’s nurse’s station, and could make out the locked door of the other across the hall. There, he waited.

Hopefully he would spot the other person, or vice versa. If someone else came around and acted like they were waiting for someone for a while, he‘d be better off approaching, no matter the potentially bad combo of sharp weapons and jittery nerves. In any other situation, when you had two people standing in some busy area, waiting for each other without knowing it, a lot of humans seemed to find asking the other the obvious question awkward enough that they’d rather wait to be approached instead. Funny how many times he’d seen it happen. With Landel’s, and its unpredictable monster attacks, the doll could hope that social convention got put on the back burner.

He sighed, rubbing his head. But such random thoughts weren’t good for keeping focused, either.

[for-marian.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/576846.html?view=48157774#t48157774)]

... of course. Of all the people Leon could be meeting with, of all the hundreds of people in the Institute, it just had to be someone he knew and didn't care for. No wonder the meddling ass hadn't signed his name to the note requesting company! Leon seriously considered, for at least a moment, pretending he hadn't seen and continuing on alone. But even armed properly, that would be extremely unwise--Leon's powers were still sorely limited, and alone he was a target.

Gritting his teeth in irritation, Leon approached the nosy bastard he was apparently travelling with tonight. "... You."

[scarabspeak.livejournal.com]

There were a few more people out and moving around, but still no sign of the supposed zombies or anywhere that Jaime could see that would give him some cover to activate the armour.

"This is great," he muttered. "Maybe I should see if I can get back to that bathroom again..."

[blacksustenance.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/581725.html?thread=48113245#t48113245)]

They forgot all about Parker soon enough.

There wasn't a lot out there that could distract them from the Spider, but finding out that there was a "patient" out there who might have been infected by the Reach was one of them.

Brock only knew what the symbiote thought and felt about the Reach: he had images, impressions of a competing alien species, and a deep rooted, almost instinctual hostility toward this Reach. The Other hated competition, even if it was unusually "soft" for a symbiote - it didn't ride its Hosts hard until the bodies dropped dead, but that didn't mean its non-existent hackles didn't rise just at the thought of one of the Reach being here on Earth. Even one was bad news. It meant more were coming. It sounded like a bad sci-fi movie to Brock, but if it got his Other spooked, then it was probably a good idea to start getting spooked himself.

They had hit the Main Hall when his Other suddenly hit the brakes for the two of them and while Brock trusted "his" alien, he wished he would've had some warning before his feet rooted themselves to the spot like he'd been encased in concrete.

The Reach. We feel...not one of us, but..

Brock got the point, especially when enemy enemy enemy kept projecting from the symbiote, in its typical voiceless, wordless way of communicating with him. He just knew what it meant. And it was pretty clear that one of the patients nearby was probably possessed - or whatever you called it when you were host to an alien - by this so-called "Reach".

Brock hovered for a second in the t-junction before the hall widened out, filmy white eyes searching for one of the patients in the darkness, debating if they should attack and go for the kill.

[mitase.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/578775.html?thread=48079575#t48079575)]

Even though he hadn't really hurried in moving out, there still weren't a whole lot of people wandering the hallways just yet. Although one of those people happened to be Ichimaru himself, so Hanatarou had even better reason to move down the hall as quickly as he could without risking some kind of embarrassing accident.

[mitase.livejournal.com]

[going here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/574374.html?thread=48080806#t48080806)]

[maskedsunflower.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/577452.html?thread=48084908#t48084908)]

He hadn't traveled down these hallways that often yet, but it was enough that even in the dark nothing called to his attention immediately. He did become slightly more wary, in case some monster or controlled patient did arrive, but there was still no sign of that. That was especially good because he wasn't sure how far his King would have to travel to reach their destination, and an obstacle like that at this stage would require the Commander to investigate and be sure Porky hadn't somehow been caught in it.

[maskedsunflower.livejournal.com]

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/583393.html?thread=48141537#t48141537)]

[missedfortunes.livejournal.com]

Just a few steps away from the staircase! All Kaiji and Scarecrow had to do was cut across this hall and they'd be at the staircase he promised. "Right there," he said, pointing in the dark at the staircase ahead. Something about his tone and manner was so casual that he may as well have been giving someone a tour of his hometown. "We'll be up the stairs and to the top floor before you know it."

[missedfortunes.livejournal.com]

[loyal-despair.livejournal.com]

This hallway wasn't particularly busy, either. Still, it was a main one, so Kira made sure to check it out and listen carefully before passing through it in the direction of the women's block.

[loyal-despair.livejournal.com]

"Are we headed upstairs, then?" he said as they slipped into the main hall, his eyes making sure nothing was happening around here. He'd gotten a glimpse at the bulletin board once, before the nurse had herded him off to another senseless activity, and seen that Hanatarou needed to get upstairs. If his map was correct, the Pharmacy was there. Still, he wanted to make sure, and could only hope that nothing too dangerous was waiting for them there.

[i-dont-paint.livejournal.com]

The main hallway seemed surprisingly sparsely populated, and Tony wondered briefly if it might have been earlier than it had seemed, judging by the traffic in the other halls. Or later. That would be damned inconvenient.

There seemed to be a couple of people waiting for a rendezvous of their own, but none of them were familiar. That was a bit of a surprise; he'd grown used to being the last one there for any given meeting. He made his way down to the stairwell, keeping an eye out for any sign of the institute's night-time denizens. There didn't seem to be anything prowling the halls yet, at least.

Tony made his way to the stairwell designated as an impromptu meeting spot and settled in by the door, leaning back against the wall, arms crossed. The beam of his flashlight wavered in time with his breathing. He could shut it off, he supposed. It wasn't as though he was likely to run into anything while standing still. But even though it didn't cast much light, the slight increase in visibility was welcome.

[wing-head.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/581152.html?thread=48127008#t48127264)]

After arriving in the main hallway, Tony wasn't very hard to spot, standing next to the stairs with his flashlight on. There was no sign or Peter or Harry yet, so Steve made his way over to wait next to Tony.

"Have you been waiting long?" Steve asked, giving Tony a little wave as he approached. He didn't think he'd taken very long to get here, but time seemed odd here, especially at night.

[not-rly-fai.livejournal.com]

[[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/579076.html?thread=48097796#t48097796)]]

At least moving in the dark wasn't as hard as he'd thought. This early in the night, plenty of people still had lights enough to see by. He didn't spare a moment to thank them for their light, but left a smile on, just in case they caught it as he passed by.

[not-rly-fai.livejournal.com]

[[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/577452.html?thread=48099500#t48099500)]]

[trapdetected.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/576846.html?thread=48103246#t48103246).]

More tricky decisions. There was nothing here, save for a small handful of people going or lingering about, so she would have to keep moving on. But where? Which direction would lead her to results? Naoto paused in place, once again thinking back as to what rooms she remembered were where. Last night, nothing in particular stood out to her, and she traveled across most of this floor. The doctor's offices were said to have nothing worth looking into on the bulletin. The sun room and anything adjacent to it hardly stood out, quickly deemed as nothing beyond normal.

However, in the other direction, there were those stairs she had noticed before. Ones that led up, of course, into rooms that had been labeled into far more relevant sounding ones on the maps, and then ones that had nothing marked on them at all. Naoto wondered why they hadn't been, especially when there were some who had been around long enough to be able to break into every room and spread the word; something else she would have to find the reason for.

It would be straying off from the familiar route, but she knew she couldn't stick with it for long. The areas beyond couldn't stay foreign to her forever.

[sheisthecause.livejournal.com]

[skipping from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/582367.html?thread=48308191#t48308191)]

Good with directions she was not, but Meche had been through the women's blocks enough times that she could get out to the main hallway without too much trouble, especially with the map on hand. It looked the same as ever. No one with a gun here.

She was in the market for a likely-looking traveling companion, which preferably meant a friendly one and almost certainly meant one who was in slightly better shape to defend him- or herself than Meche was at the moment. The hallway was almost deserted, but there was that short-haired young woman hesitating over there. Well, she'd give it a shot. Most people were probably up for some company at night.

"Good evening," Meche said softly as she approached the girl, trying to set herself up right away as nonthreatening. "Need a map? I've got one here somewhere if you want to look for anything particular." She produced it.

[onefellbeast.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/577452.html?thread=48120236#t48120236)]

It was starting to get more and more difficult to tell the hallways apart from one another. Takasugi made a mental note of the exact directions he was turning as he went along, though his destination was still uncertain. Without knowledge of the entire layout, he could only continue to explore until something of interest caught his eye.

His feet slowed down even more as he encountered another area that was familiar to him from earlier. Scanning around to make sure there weren't too many inhabitants lurking in this area, he continued onwards, heading towards the door to the sun room.

[onefellbeast.livejournal.com]

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/582408.html)]

[16hitmagnum.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/574720.html?thread=48119040#t48119040)]

More strange people going about their own businesses, just like back home.

Licking her lips, Kagura moved on.

[16hitmagnum.livejournal.com]

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/582408.html?thread=48122888)]

[icy-demise.livejournal.com]

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/576178.html?thread=48125618#t48125618)]

There weren't very many people out in the halls, so SubZero suspected he had made it out earlier this time than he had the previous night. He wondered what sort of test awaited them in the basement tonight, and was reminded of the temples to the four elemental gods.

Although if it was another trial like last night's had been it could get pretty boring in the basement.

[icy-demise.livejournal.com]

[Going here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/583393.html?thread=48129761#t48129761)]

[fourtharcana.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/576846.html?thread=48049742#t48049742)]

Akihiko tensed up a little as he stepped into the main hallway. One hall to go. Then the Sun Room. Hopefully nothing's there tonight.

He tried shrugging off the tension, but couldn't, not completely.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/583393.html)]

[chocomancer.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/576846.html?thread=48145486#t48145486)]

Getting close now; "King Porky"'s rendezvous point was only one hallway away. In preparation for the meeting, Wonka started to go over what he'd gotten from that bulletin post again, double-checking that he had what he needed to (hopefully) avoid any unpleasant mind-control situations. Although most of it was good, solid advice for any sales pitch, really. Strong will, be ready to say "no", make sure everything you're thinking is in character and came from your own thoughts. All right, maybe that last one couldn't be applied to lemon salesmen, but two out of three wasn't bad.

[chocomancer.livejournal.com]

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/583393.html?thread=48147425#t48147425)]

[littlegoblinjr.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/576846.html?thread=48169806#t48169806)]

Harry had finally arrived. Leaning gratefully against a wall he closed his eyes, resting for a moment. He wasn't tired just from walking here but it was grating being stuck hopping pathetically about like this. He knew he should be happy that he was still alive, when there were numerous reasons he shouldn't be, but that didn't stop him feeling sorry for himself. He wished there was some way to force his injuries to heal faster. He was sick of limping around on a crutch and only being able to use one hand.

Sighing, he opened his eyes again, looking hopefully for Peter. Whining wasn't going to help him and he didn't want to let on to Peter just how lousy he felt.

Still no sign of him. Not that he could see that well without any light but Peter wouldn't miss him, right? Switching on the flashlight would help but he wasn't sure he could juggle that and the crutch. He'd just have to keep watch. There were really only two directions Peter could approach from if he was coming straight from his room. Settling against the wall so he was putting as little weight on his injured leg as possible, Harry waited.

[tightsofmight]

[From here.]

Peter's eyes swept through the darkness, failing to catch any sign of Harry or Steve. Maybe they had to move further down - there were some people shaped blobs there, that could be them.

"Harry's got crutches and an arm sling," Peter whispered to Kurt, rising to his toes to get a better look. "Brown hair, about six feet tall."

[nobleman]

[From here.]

There were more people in this hall than Guy would have expected, but that probably had something to do with the fact that new patients had just recently come in. He doubted that most of them had any idea of where they were going, which resulted in a lot of standing around and trying to decide what to do.

As for the three of them, they might be a little too familiar with the path from their rooms to the basement. Guy had definitely made the trip a handful of times, at least. He just hoped that not too many of the other patients here also had their sights set on the basement. They hadn't had much competition last night, which had most likely contributed to it going so smoothly.

They were just going to have to pick up the pace and beat everyone there. Guy wasn't usually so eager to be first, but it felt like they were getting so close to making real progress in this place.

[full-score.livejournal.com]

Getting a little clarification on why Dias had asked something like that was nice. Still, Claude hadn't expected Dias to bring him up in his explanation, and he rubbed the back of his head with his free hand.

It wasn't like he'd sat there gushing to Dias about what an amazing swordsman Guy was. How could he? Guy hadn't even had any kind of blade to fight with until last night, and it wasn't exactly his ideal weapon. But, on the other hand, he hadn't exactly tried to hide the fact that he'd been able to get a lot done whenever he teamed up with Guy. It'd been important to make it clear to his rival that this was someone they could count on if they were in a bind, and apparently he'd done a good enough job.

More or less, anyway.

"Uh, well, I haven't gotten to see you fight with a sword, obviously," he told Guy, "but I remember you handled yourself really well when we fought those monsters in the music room, so..."

Claude glanced toward Dias. "Anyway, do we really have to treat this like some kind of competition? I know you're just curious, but none of us are at our best right now, right?" He smiled a little. "Although, it'd be kind of interesting if we could organize some kind of Tournament of Arms here, for morale's sake, even, but I guess that would be impossible to do."