damned_institute | Nightshift 40: F-A Block Hallway

Celes returned Utena's nod with one of her own. "I am, Miss Tenjou." She eyed the girl skeptically - she was as new as a reed, and thin as one to boot (though Celes couldn't particularly throw stones herself). "While we await Edward, what are your specific skills?" Celes said, getting right down to business. Waste not, want not, after all, and time was a fickle thing in the institute.

Ah, so she was a serious one like Juri. That made sense. Leader types (other than certain Student Council Presidents) tended to be like that, and probably made better decisions for it. At least Miss Chere didn't seem as immediately imposing as someone like Juri. "Well, I'm pretty athletic, like I said on the board," she started. "I play all kinds of sports at school. I also run, pole vault, things like that. I don't tire easily, and I'm pretty agile."

She paused, preparing herself to explain the next part, which might or might not be difficult depending on what she was asked about it. "And it's not official, at least not as the school clubs and such see it, but I've also been doing a lot of swordplay lately. Not just play duels, but ones with actual swords. I've got a lot of talent with them, it seems. I've beaten people who have trained with swords for most of their lives, though I'm not quite sure how exactly sometimes."

Celes raised an eyebrow, "Is that so? Well, then we'll have to find you a sword somehow. I'd like to see your skills firsthand." So long as she didn't run screaming into the darkness, Celes would be satisfied.

However, that remained to be seen, her experience with a 'real' sword wouldn't be tested until she had one in hand. Celes, too, needed to arm herself. There were magic-users that were sometimes under counseling, if Celes could just absorb some more magic...

"How is your hand-to-hand combat, Miss Tenjou? It would relieve me greatly to know you've some experience there, as well."

Utena nodded. "That'd be great. The person who normally helps in providing me with a sword is here, but she can't really . . . well, it's complicated. Long story short, she can't help me on that front while we're here," she explained (somewhat). She was still very unsure about how much or how little she ought to tell others about the dueling game and the Rules of the Rose. In a place like this, it seemed like it ought not to matter, but she didn't know how much of a right she had to explain it without Himemiya around, considering so much of it concerned her. That and she was just so used to not talking about it around uninvolved people anyway.

She put a finger to her lips, wondering how to answer the woman's next question. "Sorry to say that I haven't taken any formal training in martial arts or other kinds of fighting. But I have a good sense for handling myself in fights all the same. I've got good reflexes, and I can defend myself if I'm attacked. I pack more of a punch than you'd expect, too," she said, holding up a fist with a little grin. Though she couldn't quite remember when or why, she had a vague memory of punching out and tackling a guy who had really deserved it. It worried her a bit that she couldn't make the memory out clearer, but it felt good when she thought about it anyway.

Celes raised an eyebrow, but kept her observations mostly to herself. The girl was little better than a street brawler, then, which was somewhat disappointing to the young general. She had experience, but... not enough. Celes shifted her weight on her hips and thumbed over her lip. "I see. It may be a bit difficult, I've been much more adept at learning and leading over teaching."

After all, it was genetically impossible for her to teach magic, and it was physically trying to convince another body to move as quickly as her own did. It was lucky, then, that being in the institute leveled the playing field for everyone. "Perhaps another night, I will see how well you can handle yourself hand-to-hand. We've little time for that tonight, unfortunately."

Utena was disappointed that Chere didn't seem entirely satisfied with her skill level, but she supposed that was understandable if the woman was a professional fighter of some sort. Even though she had beaten the likes of the kendoist Saionji and the fencer Miki in duels before, she could see a lot of practised skill in their movements that she could never hope to achieve without the same level of practise. It had mostly been her above-average reflexes and creative, free-flowing attack and defence style that kept her winning against the likes of them.

She nodded at the woman's suggestion. "I'd be up for that another time, sure," she answered. "I'll do my best for whatever's in store tonight. I promise, I won't disappoint you."

Celes flashed Utena a rare, toothy smile, "That's what I like to hear. Just know that I will not go easy on you under any circumstances and I think we'll get along just fine." Celes pointed the beam of light down the hall a little further, becoming impatient with Edward's tardiness.

"That boy..." she huffed and looked back at Utena. "I suppose I should tell you why we're gathering together, as you'll be with us anyway." She lowered her voice to an intimate level to avoid someone overhearing them. "The Brigadier General has not shown up at all today, and with no news from the nurses that he's vanished, we're going to go look for him. It is important that we find him; there have been too many disappearances and rank changes in the clubs lately."

Utena felt a lot more comfortable when the woman finally smiled at her. If she had been talking to someone like Juri, she knew she would likely never have gotten such a smile, no matter what she'd said.

Her gaze followed the flashlight beam. Wasn't there supposed to be someone else joining them? Hope he didn't get held up or something, she thought with some worry for the unknown person.

She turned back to the older girl and listened to her description of their objective. The Brigadier General, huh? What was his name again? Hughes something? No wonder it had taken so long for the Cooking Club to get a message posted, Utena thought. She had almost been set to accept Hinamori's invitation to Arts & Crafts before Miss Chere had posted the call.

She nodded again when Chere was finished, and replied in an equally hushed tone. "I don't know him personally, but if he's in charge of a club like this, then I agree that it would hard to lose someone like that. Where were you thinking we'd start looking? Is there a place that people who have disappeared have wound up in before? Places where patients are held sometimes?"

"I'd say: start with his room," Celes answered smoothly. "We'll know if he's been taken starting there. However, because they've moved patients around again, we might have a bit of digging to do. I am not going to simply give up because he's not in the right room; I'll keep looking until the night ends." He was their charisma, after all, and effected certain people - of that she was sure.

"Makes sense," Utena responded, crossing her arms and turning off her flashlight for the moment to save the batteries for when they started moving. "If he's not in his normal room anymore, you think someone who might know where he was moved to might still be around? And if there isn't, would we just have to start opening as many likely doors in the male patient block as we can?"

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/604759.html?thread=51052887#t51053399)]

Ed pushed open the door to female block and looked around for the women he was supposed to be meeting. He spotted Celes fairly quickly, talking with a pink haired girl whom he didn't recognise. He walked over towards them, still looking just a touch grumpy.

Celes looked thoughtfully down the hallway, and realized that Ed was ~~the teeniest, migety thing since Gau~~ adjusted her gaze to look closer to the floor. "There are too many blocks, I say that we comb the first tonight, and if there is any time remaining, try the next. His room was originally in M6; let us hope that he wasn't moved much further from there." Celes stretched and rolled her shoulders. They'd not even gone anywhere and already she was tensing.

Turning to meet Ed, Celes lowered her head a fraction ~~to see him~~ in greeting. "Thank you for coming. Miss Tenjou, this is Edward Elric. Edward, this is Utena Tenjou, she'll be joining us tonight." The boy certainly had a look to him, didn't he?

Edited 2009-04-26 23:29 (UTC)

Utena looked up when Celes turned, but didn't quite see who she was looking at in the darkness until she shifted her gaze down a few inches. The boy looked to be about her age, maybe a year or two older; he didn't seem to be in the best of moods. Regardless, Utena gave him a soft smile, hoping that a little friendliness would help that mood somewhat. "Good to meet you," she said, nodding her head in Elric's direction. She thought it was interesting that all three of them were dressed in their own clothes from home, considering the semi-constant trickle of people still mostly in grey that kept going by them through the hallway. She still wasn't sure what the rhyme or reason was behind who was granted a personal outfit and who wasn't, really.

"Hughes isn't there?" Ed asked, his eyes narrowing and a near savage expression appearing on his face. This was bad. Really really bad. He knew as well as anyone else what it meant when someone wasn't in their room. But no, he couldn't believe that Hughes was gone. Really he couldn't. He folded his arms over his chest and looked at the two women fiercely, expression only softening for a moment when the pink haired woman greeted him. He nodded back, but his attention quickly turned back to Celes.

"He didn't show up at all today, not even to write a missive," Celes replied coolly. "And there were quite a few reports of patients being moved around today. I'm not going to give up hope that he's gone, so let us hurry. We'll look at his room first; if his roommate hasn't gone out for the evening, we'll see what they know." Celes didn't allow that hateful feeling of unknowing that whirled around in her heart show on her face.

They had a job to do, and they would complete it. "We'll start with his block," she said quickly and turned heel to start down the hallway, one bright blue eye taking measure of Ed. "If that's agreeable. Afterwards, I suggest splitting up for maximum efficiency. Tomorrow, if we find nothing..." Celes trailed off. "We'll improvise."

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/603473.html?thread=50573649#t50573649)]

Nightshift 40: F-A Block Hallway

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