damned_institute | Nightshift 40: Outside the Institute, East

Did he really, honestly just...

Yukari picked up her pace only enough to catch up right behind Junpei, promptly using her free hand to swat him across the back of his head. "You idiot," she hissed, keeping her voice low in the process; she didn't quite want Akihiko to catch what she was saying, whether her actions had an obvious reason behind them or not. "Don't you think it's a little too soon to be saying that to him?"

If that pause was anything to go by, it just may have been. Even Yukari couldn't help but feel a little angry, thinking back to what it related to.

Junpei winced when Yukari smacked him, not because it hurt (which it didn't), but because he hadn't expected it. To be honest, even though he didn't appreciate it, especially why she'd done it, he was silently glad she had. It meant things were getting somewhat back to normal in Yuka-tan-ville. Maybe he'd been imagining the whole something's up with Yukari bit.

He glanced back over his shoulder to shoot Yukari a glare before focusing once more on the ground before him. When he replied, it was just as low as he heeded Yukari's discretion. "No, I don't," he replied. "Keep in mind, that bastard shot me a little over a week ago which caused my girlfriend to sacrifice her life to save me. I think I'm well within my rights to say it, think it and do it if I get a chance."

He shifted his path toward the southeast and then raised his voice up so Akihiko could hear him. "Gotcha, senpai. Look's like the terrain's a tad bit easier going. Assuming no bushes decide they want a torrid love affair with our legs."

Why are they slowing down? This isn't one of those things where Iori's teasing Takeba about those damned birds, is it? I swear, if it is, I'm going to...

He didn't get a chance to finish that thought when Junpei yelled out. "I would certainly hope there aren't any monster bushes around here." Then again, with the fog the way it was, who'd see them? And it wasn't like they hadn't seen weird monsters before. Tables, faces, those damn giant ones...

"But you're right, things are getting easier."

Well, wasn't that an insensitive response? It had only been days, not a week! "You..." No, it would be better if she didn't finish that statement; right now wasn't the time to get any more angry with him, no matter how much Yukari felt like he deserved it.

With a clearly annoyed grumble, Yukari stepped back again, giving Junpei back his space.

"I'd worry about worse things," she stated flatly afterwards, keeping as close an eye as possible for what was ahead of them.

Junpei's shoulders had tensed when Yukari started to reply, but she cut herself off and Junpei decided he wasn't going to demand to know what she was going to say. He hadn't been thinking about the weird time differences, so to him Akihiko had over a month to deal with Shinjiro's death. Regardless, Junpei took his own death a little harder than he did Shinjiro's. He was of the opinion that he was being generous, allowing for Akihiko to get some face-punching time in on Takaya should he end up here.

"I'm going to worry about anything that tries to eat my face, or legs," he finally said in response. He then suddenly stopped dead in his tracks as a tree stump appeared right before him out of the fog. Woah, that was close.

"Whatever it is you two are fighting about, either come out with it or stop it. And if it's that Iori's teasing you about those damn birds, then you have my express permission to hit him as hard as you need to, Takeba," Akihiko said, in a tone of voice that indicated he meant business.

"...and if it's about Shinji? I'll deal with Takaya if he ever shows. But he's not here and hopefully won't ever be, so we don't need to worry. If we do, it needs to be more about Ken and Chidori than me." That part still worried him, more than he wanted to let on right now. The former was tense as hell at the best of times, and Junpei was the only one who could gauge what was going on with the latter with any kind of accuracy.

"Come on," he said a moment later. "Standing around talking only makes us easier targets."

Had that been a little harsh? Maybe, but it needed to be said, either way.

Oh, great, now Akihiko was chiding her. This was starting off wonderfully.

Yukari stared ahead of them after their senior's mouthful, hiding her vaguely guilty look away from him. Some things really were a mess between them all. "It's nothing, Senpai," she responded unenthusiastically in an attempt to swiftly brush the subject aside. She didn't want to think about a lot of those problems if she didn't have to.

"Yeah," she added in agreement. "I just wanna hurry up and get this over with."

Junpei grit his teeth, biting back his own comments, letting Yukari handle the matter of what they'd been talking about. This would be so much easier if these two were from when he was not a month ago.

"I'm not standing around, senpai," Junpei stated. "A tree stump's here and I didn't want to trip over it. So watch out for it."

With that, he skirted around the stump and continued on. He wondered what Chidori was up to, if she'd gotten her axe. What would she do if Takaya showed up? He didn't think she'd take to kindly to him given he did shoot the man she loved. But sometimes he really didn't understand her. Maybe he should ask the next time they were together.

"All right," Akihiko said. He didn't entirely believe that was the truth, but he didn't particularly want to push the subject any more, either. They'd gotten the hint, and that was enough.

He couldn't help but wonder for just a moment how the others were doing back inside as he moved around the tree stump and forward. He was sure Mitsuru and Chidori would be fine - the former because she was Mitsuru, and the latter because of her quiet strength.

It really was Ken he was most worried about. He could only hope the boy was all right.

"I see something kind of vaguely in the distance. Can either of you make out what it is?"

Yukari began to squint, as if doing so would help her see better; nothing became clearer, naturally, but Akihiko was right. There was something she couldn't quite make out, not from their current distance.

In response, she shook her head. "No, we'll have to get closer. Maybe the ruins aren't too far after all."

"Something big, ominous and looming," Junpei replied. "I dunno if looming is a pre-req for a bunch of ruins, but ominous sure is."

Yukari was right, though; they'd have to get closer. With a quick look around for anything waiting to eat his face, the junior picked his pace up just a little, heading toward the thing in the fog. He was going to be real disappointed if it ended up being one of those creepy trees from horror flicks with the branches that make it look like they were trying to pluck your eyes out or something. Maybe having blood instead of sap.

That'd suck.

"It's as if we're on the road to hell..." The words didn't come out in Akihiko's usual tone of voice. They were breathier, somehow, softer. He blinked, clearing his throat. "Anyway, I think we're almost -- huh?"

He swore that out of the corner of his eye, he'd seen something - or someone - with the faintest glow around their eyes. He shook that off, too, then stopped in his tracks.

"What the hell?" He blinked, but that didn't change what he was seeing - a severed arm in front of him. "We'd better hurry."

[moving here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/617157.html)]

Edited 2009-04-23 04:14 (UTC)

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/612251.html?thread=51142811#t51142811)]

Allelujah thought that he heard voices near to the wall, but had continued on his way without bothering to confirm things. He wanted to see as much as he could before night ended, and working within a group would just slow him down. He could move faster alone without having to worry about talking to people and worrying about them keeping up. He'd kept himself in good shape and he knew that his stamina was much better than a normal human. He kept his footsteps light, the better to avoid stumbling or tripping over hidden roots in the fog. He had a few near misses when trees appeared to loom out of the darkness unexpectedly. He almost thought that they were doing it on purpose.

He couldn't quite tell how long it had been before he reached a place where the trees grew thicker and darker in front of him. He paused, taking a moment to catch his breath and survey his surroundings. He could hear, a little way off, the rush of water and he frowned slightly, turning towards it. That would be the best way, wouldn't it? He wasn't exactly at his most adept when it came to woodmanship. He'd never really needed to know anything beyond the basics. But a river was a static point at least. If he stuck near to it, he would have a better chance to finding his way out of the wood if he needed to.

With a determined nod, he headed towards the sound, soon coming across a small river which ran fast across his path, seeming to head towards the Institute, oddly enough. He made a mental note of that fact and then resumed his pace as close to the edge of the rover as he could manage without risking falling in or getting caught in the mud at its edges.

The trees made his passage more difficult. At places they grew so close to the water's edge that he had to traipse inland a little to pass them. There were thick roots and overhanging branches which also slowed his progress, tearing at his coat and pulling at his hair until he finally pushed it all back, grabbing the elastic band that had been around his pens from his pocket and tying it back securely. Hallelujah seemed to take a renewed interest in their surroundings when he did that. Allelujah could feel him shifting in his head.

The ground had begun to rise steadily when Allelujah came across the corpse. Well, it was more a skeleton now which perhaps made it more unnerving to the young man. He'd seen bodies before, but he'd never seen one decayed to bleached white bone with bits of moss and tree roots growing through them. He blanched at the sight, but at Hallelujah's curious nudging, moved closer to it, crouching down next to it and looking it over with a clinical eye. He didn't know enough to tell whether it was male or female, but it was still wrapped in the ragged remains of clothing and a roughly made bag lay nearby, half rotted into the ground. It was a pitiful and terrifying sight. He was glad that the clothing was in such and ill state that he could barely tell what it had been, let alone what colour it was and whether there might once have been a familiar yellow logo on it.

Don't think about it Hallelujah said firmly.

He wavered for a moment before pushing himself back to his feet and turning steadfastly away from the skeleton. It was pointless to waste time thinking about it when there was really nothing that he could do.

He saw more signs of human life as he continued alongside the river; scraps of rotting cloth caught in branches, scorched earth where fires might once have been lit and white spots which could be nothing except bone.

As he continued, the ground began to rise more steeply, the paths that he could take growing that bit more treacherous and difficult to traverse. He slowed his pace a little, sometimes having to grab onto branches to help himself up as the scenery began to change from dense forest to bare stone and the air began to grow more chill.

[from here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/612251.html?thread=51171995#t51171995)

This was even more familiar, having been stopped at this point one night and spending a decent amount of time in the area (and trees) the next. Without hesitation, Senna veered a little into the forest, the faint sounds of water moving over rocks nearby could be heard. Once they hit the river and crossed it, it was a straight shot to the ghost town. Senna's mouth slid into a grim smile. Yep. Back there. Exactly where she really wanted to go. Obviously.

The silence had stretched too long for her likening, and she continued talking as if there hadn't been a pause. "So, you fight these guys. What do you fight them with? Swords 'n stuff?" A thought came to her then, and she glanced backwards. "Do you know which side won?"

Soma, too, heard the sound of running water. Did that mean there was a river nearby? Perhaps, then, civilization wasn't too far away. Encouraged by the thought, she quickened her pace slightly.

"We fight in mobile suits. They're, ah, humanoid robots piloted from inside, powered by solar energy and equipped with guns and beam sabers. Most are seventeen or eighteen meters high. Some are capable of flight or space combat." She paused. "Celestial Being used four mobile suits they called Gundams, and they were powered with some sort of perpetual motion machine that didn't seem to need refueling. They overpowered us for some time, but about half a year ago, all three of the power blocs united to defeat them. We've been at peace ever since."

A sudden thought struck her, and she glanced at Senna. "One of Celestial Being's pilots is here. I'm not sure why; the last I saw of him, he had been captured and was being kept in a Earth Federation prison. He calls himself Allelujah. Stay away from him; he's a dangerous terrorist. He's...he's tortured and killed more of my fellow soldiers than I care to count."

So that's what a mobile suit was. The description reminded Momo a lot of Komamura-taichou's bankai aside from the robot part. As the shinigami followed along, she noted the words Soma had for this Allelujah.

"We are all taken from various places in time, Peries-san," the vice captain said. "He is simply from a time he wasn't imprisoned, or perhaps he was taken directly out of your people's confinement. Landel and his associates can even take someone from their death and place them here. He upsets the balance."

She was tempted to remind Senna that the issue between Soma and Allelujah was not of shinigami concern, nor was the matter of that man's terrorism. Natural matters between humans were nothing of consequence for shinigami. She chose not to as Senna wasn't just shinigami, nor had the girl accepted the place she'd been offered in the Gotei 13.

"I doubt there is little this Allelujah can do here that would make him any more dangerous than the others who have taken that many lives." She carefully made her way around some rocks. "But I shall keep an eye on him."

Robots? Weird. That was like... a TV show or something. But she guessed she of all people didn't have room to talk. Senna was silent for a moment, thinking some things over.

When Peries started talking about the guy, though, Senna looked back, almost startled. Damn. She wasn't naive enough to think that there weren't people like that here, but to know them, and have experienced it first-hand.... Senna listened to Momo speak, a part of her glad the girl was talking. When she finished, Senna added simply, "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that." She wished she had something other than words to offer her.

Jaw set, Senna continued along their path, the sound of rushing water increasing. Soon enough, the small river came into view. Like the previous nights, she resolved herself to getting wet and trudged in.

"You don't need to apologize," said Soma simply. "It's enough to know that we defeated him and the rest of Celestial Being in my time. I'll do it again if I have to. I just wanted to warn you." They were braver words than she felt at the moment, dulled as her reflexes were and fresh as the memory of her most recent encounter with him here was.

Besides, he hadn't actively tried to seek her out, which had surprised her. And there was the matter of what he had called her - some name so similar to the one the nurses were using...

She brushed the thoughts away as they came to the river. Part of her wondered why they were crossing it instead of following it, but then she remembered that both Senna and Hinamori had done this before. Besides, it wasn't in her nature to question orders. Keeping her shoes on - it was too dark to see if there was anything else in the water - she waded in.

"What is it like where you're from, Miss Senna?" she asked after a moment. It was only fair, after all.

Would Senna talk about Japan or would she talk about Soul Society? Momo assumed she would focus on Japan as the vice captain was well aware that Senna would probably never call Soul Society home. Not like Momo did.

Standing at the bank of the river for a moment while the other two waded across, Momo looked for something to use as she was loathe to get her feet wet. Eventually, she found some rocks that looked like they would work. She jumped from rock to rock until she got halfway across the river. She was having trouble determining the distance to the next one given her depth perception was really off, so she gave up and waded the rest of the way through the water.

Shivering at its coldness, the vice captain continued along.

Senna continued through the water, wondering offhand if her feet would get soaked every night. She watched Momo carefully for a moment, concerned, then glanced back at Peries once Momo started wading through the water.

"Warning taken," she said, nodding. What the guy looked like would be more helpful, but she'd rather break off from that subject. Senna didn't want Peries to get upset, plus if she was distracted, Peries would be more at risk if anything did happen. "Where I'm from, huh?"

Momo was right in that Senna wouldn't talk about Soul Society. The memories of that place were even more fragmented than the others, and the connotations still rubbed her the wrong way. But in the same vein, Senna didn't really want to talk about the human world more than necessary either. She wasn't really from either of them, and so.... "Here and there, really. Miss Momo here is from a different place from me, even though we're similar. But stuff's pretty much the same. Sorta. We fight these lost souls, and help them find their way. And protect the living as we go. Plus, you know," she glanced back, grinning. "Have a fine time of it, and eat as much good food as I can."

There. That was enough truth hopefully. She dragged her water-logged self out onto the other side, shaking her legs.

"It sounds like an interesting life."

Lost souls. 'Demon arts' aside, Soma was still disinclined to believe in the existence of souls, or death gods, or really anything Hinamori and Senna had told her tonight. Perhaps...perhaps Hinamori had just been given her ability through genetic experimentation. Perhaps they just thought they were death gods - perhaps they had been brainwashed by whatever army had created them.

She tried to ignore the little tendril of doubt that tugged at the back of her mind and kept wading. "Are you from this time, then?" She doubted it, considering Senna had asked about swords, but one never knew.

"Yes, we are," Momo answered. "The year is 2005 back home, though I've heard they tell us we are in the year 2009."

She paused the wring the bottom of her hakama out, disliking the wetness. "Though Senna-san is relatively young, I have been in existence for quite a while." All things considered, Momo was young by shinigami standards, but compared to humans she was quite aged.

Senna let Momo reply, taking the time to tighten her hair ribbon. Once it was in place, she orientated herself to her surroundings. Looking around, she found the direction she wanted, and nodded once to herself. Right; this way then. It was a straight shot from here to the town. She glanced back at Momo and Peries. Well, a straight shot if you ran the whole way, like they had last night, but Senna wasn't sure if that would be something wanted.

She slid back into the conversation. "Yep, I'm a young one," she said with a grin. Truthfully, though, they had no idea. And she wasn't about to tell more than Hokuto and Xigbar that little fact. She pointed ahead, starting to walk forward. "It's straight this way to the town. It didn't take too long last night to get there, but we ran most of the way. You guys wanna sprint it, or just continue this way?"

[So sorry about the wait! *fails*]

"How old is that?" It wasn't meant as a rude question; Soma certainly didn't seem to view it as one. She rolled the bottoms of her pants back down, shifting slightly at the uncomfortable feeling of the material sticking to her legs.

Straightening, she looked toward where Senna's finger was pointing. "I am capable of either. It's your decision."

"Nearly a century and a half," Momo replied, shifting the weight of the sword across her back.

She really didn't want to run, mostly because she was so tired, but also because of her eye. Yet, she did not want to lose the chance to not be a complete failure tonight, even if she was broken. It wasn't an excuse - or so she told herself.

"Let's pick the pace up, but sprinting would not be advisable."

"And I'm nowhere close that," Senna saw fit to add. She looked over at Momo. There was the slightest of pauses, then, "Got it."

Once more, she checked where they were, and then Senna started to move a bit faster, breaking into a light jog. With the trees--mostly dead things as they were--and the moon overhead, you could almost say it was a nice night. Just a night out on the job, with no immediate stuff going wrong. Man, she wished that were true. Even so, Senna sighed, enjoying the night.

Silent minutes passed, and finally they came upon the edge of the trees. The outlines of buildings rose up nearby. Ah. This place. Home sweet home.--As if. Filled with trepidation, Senna stepped out from the cover of the trees.

[to here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/617157.html?thread=51408581#t51408581)

_{[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/615933.html?thread=51443197#t51443197)]}

And here she was, back outside the eastern wall.

Her thoughts had been bleak and jumbled in a different way when she’d been with Matsumoto and Ichimaru… A shinigami had died that night and she’d been the only one who hadn’t immediately sensed it.

A breath escaped her, chilled because of the drop in temperature. “The moon already looks close to setting,” she observed, looking up at the star-flecked sky. That wasn’t good. Time wasn’t on their side anymore than anything else was in this place, even when the days sometimes seemed long. And there were still foes to watch out for and terrain to travel--gathering the right kind of wood was really the last thing to be concerned about, but the qualities of the trees were there, in the back of her mind. She knew what to look for.

“The ground stays fairly uneven and the forest thickens the far we go this way,” Tsubaki went on, slightly louder in explanation. “It gets hard to see without a flashlight. We hadn’t been travelling for more than an hour when we reached a river--it must come from those mountains.” She pointed to the northeast. “Beyond that, there was a clearing with some kind of altar or statue, but that’s as far as we got.”

In other words, any kind of reconnaissance was bound to help the Arts and Crafts Club, if they hadn’t been sending scouts out.

Ophelia glanced up at the starry sky and was dismayed to see that Tsubaki was right. Had time really passed that quickly? So it is true that time passes at strange rate on certain nights, then. Or differently for different people at different times, she thought with no small amount of annoyance, picking up the pace at that.

"No need to tell me the precautions. Forests are more familiar to me than places like the institute," Ophelia answered with an arrogant huff that was slightly more characteristic of her usual self than she had shown thus far. She did find the specifics of the river and the altar useful to know about, but chose not to admit that out loud. She also didn't feel it necessary to admit that she was still a little bit uncomfortable at the reduction of her night vision's effectiveness. As far as she could tell (or hope, at least), her hearing and smell could still aid her where her sight alone now could not.

They continued on in silence until reaching the edge of the forest.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/621976.html)]

Nightshift 40: Outside the Institute, East

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