damned_institute | Night 40: Outside the Institute

Aki took a long look out over the horizon from the top of the wall. He couldn't gauge the distance to the town, though - too much fog. It was like something he'd seen in a movie or something before. Regardless, he didn't want to stay up there too long. After making sure Yukari had gotten down safely, he dropped down himself. "Okay. That was the easy part, now let's head on out."

The way down wasn't too bad; with a bit of an "oomph", Yukari made a decent enough of a land, brushing off the bottom of her skirt and the sleeves of her cardigan once she fully stood up on her feet.

Easy. Yeah. As much as she wanted this entire process to stay easy, it was only wishful thinking. Exhaling a breath, Yukari pulled her bow out from over her shoulder, holding it up carefully. She considered readying an arrow, regardless if they had only just jumped the wall or not, but it was better than waiting until something got too close. Distance was her advantage, after all.

"So, uh..." Yukari trailed off, her eyes wandering despite the limited amount of the area they could see well due to the fog. A single step was taken, but after that, she didn't dare to make any more without the other two. "Which way should we start going?"

"Good question," Junpei replied, shouldering his bat again as he peered into the fog. "So where's this ghost town we're heading to, senpai? Cause I can't see shit."

Akihiko squinted, trying to make out shapes in the fog. "It looks like west of here's nothing but mountains, I think. So I'd say our best bet is to head east from here."

He was glad the others had weapons out and at the ready. If he was honest with himself, he would have liked a set of claws or knuckles, but he'd deal. It was more important for the others to have them right now.

As he started moving forward, he couldn't help but wish someone with scanning ability was here, or was supporting them. He hadn't realized exactly how much he really appreciated Yamagishi's backup until it wasn't there.

"Got it."

Yukari moved on as well, stepping ahead of Akihiko like he instructed her to. If only their vision wasn't so clouded... It was bad enough it was already dark, which would have been a little okay thanks to the minimal amount of light the moon provided, but now they were walking utterly blindly out into... into wherever the world beyond the institute lead.

It was too bad this kind of freedom was only temporary. This would be a lot nicer if it were daytime.

But the fog wasn't the only thing that felt heavy; the silence was, too, which only made an unnerving feeling swell up inside Yukari. Expectantly, she glanced up at Junpei, waiting for some sort of remark or another. Anything he'd say would be better than this.

How the hell could Akihiko even see mountains in this fog? Must be those super senpai powers ~~or paying attention to the bulletin~~ or something.

Junpei nodded and started leading the way toward the east. The dark sucked. The fog sucked. That damn bush he'd just tripped over sucked. Hell, he wanted to hear someone tell him there are four shadows right in front of him if there actually were four right there, since this time he'd actually not be staring right at them, watching them contemplate his doom a few seconds before Captain Obvious remembered they were only telepathic when she willed it.

And it was too quiet. The quiet sucked.

"So... anyone else really missing Fuuka right now?"

"Tell me about it," he replied. "I didn't ever think I'd miss hearing the Shadow counts, or that there were more of them than usual somewhere."

He wouldn't bring up the topic of missing the warnings about the Reaper being around the corner, not when the wind blowing through the tree branches could be so easily mistaken for the sound of rattling chains behind them. That was a sound he definitely didn't want to hear.

"Damn fog doesn't help, either. Someone needs to invent some kind of glasses or something that make it easier to see in it," Aki added, biting back a loud curse when he proceeded to stub his toe on a rock.

"It's better that she's not here," Yukari quickly interjected, although she felt inclined to quietly agree. With her ability to navigate, she'd be able to tell them where to go. They could still make do without that advantage, though-- if anyone else here could, it was possible for them, too. "I don't want any more of us showing up."

"...yeah."

Right. Having more of SEES here wasn't a good thing. Even having Ryouji here wouldn't be good. The Chairman... okay, Junpei wanted him AND Takaya here so he could burninate them, but that was it.

"Hey, senpai? If Revolver Jesus shows up, I get first dibs on burninating him before you beat his face in, okay?"

He paused in his steps, nodding. "Yeah, you're right." They were about to turn a corner, and he paused just long enough to gather his thoughts before gesturing to everyone to make the turn.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/613253.html).]

Edited 2009-04-19 17:05 (UTC)

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/608974.html?thread=51098574#t51098574)]

Allelujah landed quietly on the ground in a perfect crouch and he paused, looking around himself carefully for any immediate threats before he straightened up. The trees blocked out much of the light from the moon and stars, and the fog lowered the visibility between them. Strange that there was so much fog here when there was none within the walls. It made him shudder unpleasantly, the wrongness of the place seeming worse out here. He still remembered the cloying fog from the night that he and Sousuke and Miku had tried to reach the town. The lights... Well, he'd just have to ignore them if he saw any.

He rested his hand on the wall and then set off at a loping pace which he could keep up for a good long while if he needed to.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/613253.html?view=51189125#t51189125)]

[from here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/608974.html?thread=51161294#t51161294)

Senna stayed in the crouch she had landed in for a moment, again looking through the scenery for anything that seemed off. As the previous nights, nothing seemed out of place, and she relaxed, straightening.

She waited for the two to drop down, and wished suddenly that Peries had been assigned elsewhere tonight so she could figure out what was up with Momo. That thought immediately made her feel guilty. It wasn't the new girl's fault, after all, and the night wasn't the best of times to be discussing things. Senna sighed, walking a few paces ahead before stopping. What was she doing? She could at least try to lighten the mood here.

"Hey, Peries," she called out lightly. "What's the place you came from like?"

The wall was easy enough to scale, and Soma dropped down beside Senna in a matter of moments. The fog made it difficult to see around her, but she quickly took in what was visible - the trees, the unnatural silence - and filed it away. She hadn't expected the institute to be so far out in the apparent country.

She looked up at Senna's question, frowning slightly in thought. She had a feeling the girl wasn't looking for the encyclopedic recitation about the HRL that she had given the others she'd met so far. But how else was someone supposed to describe where they came from?

"It's about three hundred years in the future from now, as far as I can tell. The countries of the world have formed three power blocs; I was a soldier for the Human Reform League, which is comprised of China, India, and Russia."

Momo was slow in scaling the wall, taking her time to make sure the other two would be safely over before she indulged in another mild coughing fit. Spitting the mouthful of blood out, she then made it to the top of the wall. Crouching at the top, she appeared as if she was scanning for monsters when, in fact, she was trying to catch her breath. The climb had taken far more energy than she thought it would. Perhaps a result of her lack of eating the last few days, Momo wasn't about to admit that she was reorienting herself.

Jumping down from the wall, far enough away that there was no danger in coming into unexpected contact with her teammates (she was still afraid that alone would hurt someone), she straightened up and drew her sword. Happy that Senna was engaging Soma in conversation, mostly because then the vice captain wouldn't have to participate, she nodded for Senna to take them out.

Senna threw a thumbs up at Momo's nod, starting off at a trot eastward while keeping up conversation. At least Momo wasn't mad she was making small talk, and hell, it was good to know a bit about the people that were watching your back.

She looked back at Peries a second. "...The future? Seriously?" Wasn't the weirdest thing she had heard here, but it still stood out. There was something about different times here, but to actually have someone that said they were from it. "So, if you were a soldier was there a lot of fighting back there?"

Silence surrounded, and the trees and fog made the air almost stagnant, but none of that seemed to bother Senna. She had been out here for nights, and creepy as the place was, it wasn't something that was bothering her. Better out here than trapped inside.

"Yes, at least as far as I can tell. I heard from Mr. Conklin that it's the late twentieth or early twenty-first century, and what I've seen seems to support that." Soma kept looking around. She hadn't done very much training on Earth, and she wasn't entirely used to infantry missions. It would be best to remain alert, even if her field of vision was severely limited by the fog.

"There was a considerable amount until recently, yes. The power blocs in my world fought between each other for control of the orbital elevators - ah, everyone uses solar energy in order to power machines in my time - that's what the elevators are for." A quick glance back at the Institute before she looked ahead again. "An organization that called itself Celestial Being entered the picture about two years ago, attacking all three power blocs indiscriminately in order to achieve what it called world peace. That's when I was brought in."

The vice captain only half listened to what Soma was saying. Bits and pieces stuck out, like how even in the future humans would be humans and fight amongst themselves. Then again, in the future, shinigami were probably fighting amongst themselves as well, though hopefully without existence being in jeopardy.

Staying silent, Momo kept the most of her attention on the surrounding area while trying to ignore the voice int eh back of her head telling her how broken she was.

Senna glanced at Momo, but the Shinigami Vice-Captain seemed distracted... or focused, depending. Senna watched her for a moment, then looked back at Peries with a smile. "Man. Sounds exciting."

Hey. It was better than an every day existence, she guessed. And at least, Peries was fighting for something and would be remembered for it. A part of Senna winced at that sentiment, but she resolutely pushed it away. Now was definitely not the time for that debate.

She trotted forward, seeing the corner of the wall coming up.

[to here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/613253.html?thread=51285637#t51285637)

[climbing over from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/608974.html?thread=51137230#t51137230)]

As best as she could with one hand, Harley let herself slide down the opposite side of the wall, eventually just letting herself drop. She'd landed well enough despite the circumstances. It was about freaking time she gout out of that rat trap. It was kind of ridiculous that she'd let herself stay cooped up as long as she had. But that was all over, cause now she was out and--

"Hey!" she exclaimed suddenly, looking around. She didn't see much of anything much through the fog except for some bushes and trees. That was the problem. Where the heck was the street? The buildings? The streetlights and police sirens and dogs yapping and the glow from gigantic sign advertisements? "Argh! You're kiddin' me! We're out in the boonies?!"

Great! What kind of person put an asylum in the middle of nowhere? There was a little town nearby, she knew that. But she didn't think that meant the asylum itself was just shoved into the countryside. How the heck were they supposed to find their way anywhere?

Spider's ascent up the wall hadn't been graceful, but his landing was almost impeccable. If there was one thing Spider had learned to do through all his years of unbelievable drug abuse, it was fall down. Spider landed quietly next to Harley, crouching and scanning the fog with his flashlight. Fog. That was interesting.

If this really was the past - a dubious assertion Spider still wasn't entirely comfortable with - the fog might possibly be accidental. But it couldn't be accidental. If they had the technology to suck him back through time, teleport him into his bed during the day, and field flamethrower-wielding robots at night, they could sure as shit control the weather. Which meant this was just another level of bullshit he was going to have to truthfuck his way through. Time to get his journalistic dick wet.

"Come on. There are facts out there in the fog. Stay close to me and we will tear them screaming out of their hidey-holes. And take a pen."

Spider dug into the pillowcase and handed handed Harley a writing implement before stalking off into the fog. Due north was just as good as any other direction.

Night 40: Outside the Institute - North

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