damned_institute | Nightshift 44: M51-M60 Hallway

Tonight was different than the night before: Giovanni knew what to expect. He knew what he was up against, and he knew that he was injured, and he also knew that Haine was here. That made all the difference. As soon as the doors unlocked, he put on the winter boots, grabbed his flashlight, and headed out into the hallway. This particular hall was quiet, a change from his previous room assignment. He took advantage of the quietness to go over what he had done the previous night, where he had been. The recreational field and the park were both worthless as far as useful items went - but what was upstairs? (And he still needed to find somewhere to get cigarettes for Badou. Why was he doing something nice for such an idiot? He didn't know.)

Instead of venturing into the bathrooms to retrieve a pipe like he had last night, Giovanni headed in the opposite direction, towards the south.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/730449.html?thread=60090449#t60090449)]

Edited 2009-10-08 07:32 (UTC)

...well, wasn't that an interesting intercom announcement? Of course, Miles didn't believe a word of it. Truth was, he didn't know quite what to believe anymore. That was something he wasn't used to. The truth generally made itself known one way or the other eventually; it didn't change and grow murky after he thought he had the shape of it.

He mulled that over as he inspected his suit. Thankfully, there were no traces of the bloodstains that had marked it the night previous. It was as if it had never been touched, and that was a relief. Miles nodded at it once before getting changed and getting what he could together, then sat down on the edge of the bed, waiting on Phoenix.

Honey waved goodbye to his roommate and slipped off the bed, still munching on the last of his second brownie. Today had been trying in a number of ways, but they had to be strong, even if he felt like curling up in a ball and crying for a while. In the end, that wouldn't do much good.

He dug the broken-off broomstick from under his bed and peered out the door to his room. As he clicked on his flashlight, he noticed the beam was already getting weak and flickering. Not good.

It didn't take long for Mori to get ready for the night. He had the brownie and he had his makeshift staff - there wasn't much more he needed to carry. What was important, was getting to Mitsukuni. While the other teen didn't blame him for the bad things that had happened that day, Mori still felt responsible, and he still felt like he should be punished. It wasn't right that he had let someone upset Mitsukuni that way, nor was it right that his cousin was putting on a brave face and trying to ignore how upset he likely was.

Moving through the halls like he always did, Mori approached Mitsukuni's door quietly. He could see a weak and flickering beam of light coming from the doorway and...that wasn't good. They needed to find batteries. Maybe that's what they'd do tonight since no one signed up for the Cake Club. Upstairs for batteries and metal for Mitsukuni's shuriken. Nodding to himself, Mori came up on the door and tapped his staff against the frame before holding out the brownie.

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/725393.html?thread=59910033#t59910033)]

Kicking the door shut behind him, Jason hurried along the hall, ignoring the other inmates around him. The last announcement as the doors opened had been a little worrying. 'Take their training to the next level' the fucker had said. He really didn't like the sound of that. It did match the theory that they were here as part of some program to make soldiers or something like that but it meant that things were probably going to get more dangerous from here on. He'd have to stay on guard tonight, no matter what shit Landel spouted about protecting them. But whatever happened, it wouldn't interfere with his plans for tonight. He wouldn't allow that.

Honey looked up happily when he saw his best friend's face. Of course, there was the brownie too, which he took after shifting his things to one arm. With how little sweets they were given here, it was like slowly starving to death! Dessert with dinner just wasn't enough.

He ate quickly though, letting the sweet, chocolaty taste remain. At least he didn't have to brush his teeth right away.

"Ready?" he asked, not sure if he could say that he was himself. "I think it's just the two of us tonight, so we can go at our own pace."

He seemed happy. Seemed being the operative word. He wasn't showing that he was upset, but Mori couldn't be so sure. Mitsukuni could be deceptively strong sometimes, especially when he really just wanted to cry and be a child again. Moving into the room, he sat down on his roommate's bed, waiting for his cousin to finish his dessert.

Mitsukuni ate quickly, but even after he finished, Mori didn't move to stand. His cousin needed a little more time, even if he didn't realize it himself. They'd lost friends today and he'd been in a fight at lunch. Even if talking to Sen had probably helped him some, he wasn't at his best yet and until he was, Mori wouldn't move. He nodded though, when Mitsukuni asked if he was ready, remaining on the bed. "Don't push yourself," he said after a brief pause, setting his staff down for the moment.

Sechs was glad to see that his roommate wasn't going to pursue him for more information about his visitor. They may have a truce now but that didn't mean they had to start being nice and open with one another. Hell no.

"Have fun out there!" Sechs sarcastically jeered at his roommate as he made his way out. Once Will closed the door behind him the Replica added with a chuckle, "hope you get eaten!"

Now all there was left for Sechs to do was wait for Kibitoshin's arrival. Damn, he wasn't too good with waiting... Hopefully his white-haired ally wouldn't take too long, he was curious to see what this whole "ki" power could do. Hopefully it wasn't some "magic" BS, but by now Sechs was a lot more willing to believe what was possible in this hellhole...

With the rest of his dessert finished, Sechs found himself restlessly limping around the small room. Once his leg got too sore to be walked on anymore, Sechs returned to his seat and took out some pens and a blank journal from his desk. Sechs figured he'd kill time by writing down some notes and scribble more nasty drawings of Dr. Landel's death while he waited.

Dinnertime was quiet, which Faize didn't particularly object to. When he finished his meal, he retrieved his flashlight and waited for the evening announcements.

The Head Doctor's messages were quite revealing, though not all that surprising. It had certainly sounded as though someone hacked into the institute's systems the night before. The man's last words, though barely audible, were rather disturbing, however.

Though Faize had a number of hypotheses regarding what the "training" mentioned could entail, he had a mission tonight. Shortly after the doors unlocked, he departed and made for the arranged meeting place.

Thank goodness for small miracles! By some beautiful, beautiful stroke of luck, Sechs’ room lay a scant one corridor away from his own, meaning that trekking through the darkness wasn’t going to be on the agenda for now. Not that he was afraid, of course. Brave warriors/ healers/ guardians weren’t afraid of the dark.

M53, M54… M55! There! Kibitoshin stopped neatly in front of the door, hands on his hips and flashlight beam pointed at his feet… and realised he had no idea what he was supposed to do next. After all, he had The Roommate to consider. From what Sechs had said, he’d sounded like a real tiger. What if just by knocking he threw the man into a wild rage of some sort?

There was nothing for it. He swallowed (h-his throat was dry, it certainly wasn’t a gulp), reached out, tapped gingerly on the door with his knuckles and waited to be maim- ah, greeted. Nicely. By Sechs. Not the tiger.

Oh, goodness…

M59, right? Phoenix thought he remembered that correctly. He knocked on the door, calling in uncertainly. "Edgeworth?"

Come on. Tell me you didn't have to fend off your zombie roommate with your wits and a ballpoint pen. He wasn't deeply worried - even with the element of surprise, Edgeworth's roommate hadn't gotten much of a jump on him last time - but he still couldn't forget the red blot that had been spread out along one side of his neck.

Edited 2009-10-10 21:42 (UTC)

...Souji didn't like hearing that message at all. If what he heard was right, then things could be getting a lot worse in a very small amount of time. And he still didn't have the kind of weaponry, nor did he have the kind of power that he used to. If Yousuke had that much trouble with a Dia spell, the more powerful spells that Souji could call to bear were likely not going to happen. At all.

Well, it wasn't like he hadn't handled crises like this in the past, right? If there was something threatening, he just needed to grab a weapon tonight before things got insane. And with his team, it was almost a foregone conclusion that he'd come up with something. He just needed to find out what that something was.

Sechs was finishing up a drawing of Dr. Landel getting his intestines blown out through his spine by an armor-piercing cannon when he just barely heard a quiet, timid tapping against the door. Ah, that outta be Kibitoshin now! Leaving his unfinished drawing and pen on the desk, Sechs heaved himself off his chair and limped to the door.

With an abrupt turn of the knob, Sechs opened the door wide to find the white-haired patient fearfully quivering on the spot as though awaiting something horrible to jump out and eat him. Oh for crying out loud... For a second Sechs felt the urge to give Kibitoshin heck for being such a wimp, just like how he'd snap at Elf and Zwölf for their cowardice. But what kept Sechs' tiny amount of patience secure was the fact that Kibitoshin didn't run away the night before (the twins would have scattered as soon as the mirror creature emerged) and he was actually a lot more useful than those dumb bunny girls. Sechs shoved down his annoyance with a heavy sigh and moved to let Kibitoshin in.

"Hey Kibito! Good to see you made it in one piece!" Sechs greeted with a hint of a curl on the corners of his lips. Without giving Kibitoshin a chance to reply, Sechs placed a hand on the back of Kibitoshin's shoulder and in a rugged fashion he then herded the nervous youth into the room.

"So did your little reunion with Trunks go alright?" the Replica asked once he had firmly closed the door behind him, he didn't want to risk giving some sick creature a chance to crawl into the room. Needing to keep the weight off his leg as much as possible, Sechs limped past Kibitoshin and heavily sat himself down on the edge of his bed.

Edited 2009-10-11 16:14 (UTC)

((To here.)) (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/728280.html?view=60286680#t60286680)

Takashi had a way of knowing exactly what he needed, even if Honey didn't always realize it himself. When his friend hesitated, Honey knew it was because of him. The blonde boy toddled over and climbed up onto the bed to sit next to Takashi, letting out a quiet sigh.

"We're gonna be okay, right?" he asked. It hurt to know that he hadn't been able to help his friends, but he wasn't going to give up on those that he could still try to help either. Despite all that, he tried to be brave. But sometimes it was really hard.

It broke his heart to hear Mitsukuni say that. To think that he had so many doubts, so much worry hidden away where Mori couldn't see. He should have been living a happy life, surrounded by friends and family and pretty girls fawning over him and taking care of him. Instead, he was here, where the entire world went dark, where they couldn't keep track of or protect people. He couldn't lie to Mitsukuni and say yes, but he couldn't say no and destroy his hope either.

Instead, he reached out and pulled his cousin closer, hugging him around the shoulders with one arm before leaning down and resting his forehead on the top of Mitsukuni's head. It was hard to comfort someone when there was so little comfort to be had, but Mori would try. Mitsukuni was the most important person in his life, and for him, he'd do anything. "We'll be okay," he said quietly. "I won't let this place hurt you."

It was probably selfish to ask Takashi for comfort, especially when he was probably upset too. But it felt good to be reassured, and Honey returned the hug, leaning into the larger boy's arms. They didn't get to see each other near as much anymore, not to mention the lack of cake and sweets and all the awful things that came out at night. But he knew too, that if Takashi was with him, he'd be okay, even if things were at their worst. '

"Mm," he nodded. Though they'd made up on the bulletin, he hoped his friend knew that how much he appreciated him. He rested his head on the other boy's shoulder. "I'll do my best too. I want to help everyone be happy again."

Mitsukuni leaned in and Mori closed his eyes. It'd been awhile since they'd last done something like this. When Mitsukuni was scared, the comfort he offered was different. When he was hurt, too, a different sort. Assuring his cousin that no monsters lurked in the closet or that his scraped knee would heal without scarring wasn't so difficult. Reassuring him that they'd survive a real house of horrors? Not so easy.

Mori sat still as Mitsukuni set his head on his shoulder and nodded slightly. It was hard to make people happy here, but if they kept trying, even making one person smile was enough, wasn't it? It was a start at least. And the place Mori would start would be with Mitsukuni. First order of business? The shuriken. "Tonight - metal?"

"Come in, Wright," he replied, still half-distracted by the awkward task of trying to put on cufflinks in a dimly-lighted room. Once they were - mostly; he'd have to check them again in the light - in place, he turned around, breathing a quiet sigh of relief.

"You didn't have any trouble on the way over, right?" Miles was sure he would have known had that been the case, but had to ask anyway. "And there's no need to worry. I wasn't made into dinner by my roommate again. Actually, they seem to have changed them up again."

Fortunately, Phoenix got most of his relief and smiling stupidly out of the way when he first pushed open the door and found Miles standing a short distance away. He was facing at on oblique angle to the door, fiddling with one of his cuffs in a way that perfectly matched the tone that had colored his voice a second ago: preoccupied but apparently unconcerned. The only thing wrong was how grateful Phoenix realized he had been, in that moment, just to see something placid and perfectly normal. This place was really doing a number on him.

"No trouble. It's actually pretty quiet tonight. At least, the north halls and the rec field are." Phoenix juggled the rapier around until he had a decent grasp on the hilt, offering it back to Miles pommel-first.

Wow. Am I really that predictable? Phoenix guessed so. Maybe the shaking and the yelling at breakfast had given him away. Or maybe his small series of heart attacks last night. Either one of those was probably a safe bet. Even if the darkness more or less hid the sheepish grin that snuck onto his face, it could still be heard in his voice. "That's good. I mean, I wasn't biting my nails or anything, just . . ."

Edited 2009-10-11 22:34 (UTC)

"I think anything would be quiet, after the chaos of the past two nights," Miles replied, with a touch of sarcastic laughter. Even that was lighter than what it might have been otherwise. "It's an odd thing to think about, isn't it?," he asked, stepping close and taking the rapier from him.

"That is, thinking that a night when nothing immediately tries to kill you is a 'quiet night', or that a night when you're stuck in traffic on the freeway for two hours while someone's leaning on the horn behind you could be deemed a 'quiet night'. He couldn't help but laugh at the thought.

"Would that I were stuck in traffic now. Even if I am going to need to go car shopping once we get back."

If he'd had his way, Phoenix knew he wouldn't have wanted to do anything but stand here half the night and talk. Well, alright, by half an hour in he probably would've been getting the same ideas into his head that he always got when it was the two of them and a closed bedroom, but the point still stood. Some immature, skittish part of him didn't want to go back out there where it was dark and malicious - not with Edgeworth, not when he was making wry observations and standing with some semblance of relaxation and still in one piece.

Car shopping. Phoenix whistled lowly at the comment, and how Edgeworth made the note as if he were observing that he needed to pick up a loaf of bread on the way home from work. "Yeah, maybe I'll splurge too. Get my bike some new rims," he replied, scanning the room and realizing exactly what it was he wasn't seeing. "Hey, didn't you say you still had my coat?"

"Or you can just get a ride from me when you want one," he replied, letting the implications of that statement sink in for just a moment. If he had to admit it, he wasn't immediately inclined to leave, either. He was trying to play it off, but Edgeworth had a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach after that intercom announcement. But there were things that needed to get done, and while it would be nice to stay inside and plan on doing them tomorrow, it wasn't as if they could just ask to run up to the second floor to grab something they'd left up there during the day.

"I didn't see it in my closet just now...hm." He walked over to the bed, then lifted the pillow. It had been bloodstained the night before, but now it was folded neatly and looked like it had just come back from the dry-cleaners'.

In a way, Phoenix wanted to twist Edgeworth's response into some kind of innuendo, because at least that was easier than imagining home with the inclusion of such an approachable Edgeworth, one he could bum rides off of like a high-schooler and who was unquestionably attached to him.

What's wrong with me? That's what I want, isn't it? I want to see him every day. I don't want there to even be a question of how much we care about each other. He strolled closer, picking up his coat and shaking it out to look it over. Even after sitting under a pillow all day, it looked about as good as it usually did coming out of his closet. The cleanliness didn't escape him, either. He knew exactly where the marks had been - right breast, a bit on the right shoulder, both cuffs - but the jacket was just as clean as his paper-white shirt had been this evening.

No. Phoenix put down his bag and pulled the coat on in a few quick, shrugging motions, once he'd straightened it out fishing in his pocket for his badge and fixing it to the lapel again. He couldn't keep doing this. He couldn't keep looking for the bloodstains that proved how easy that dream would be to shatter, just like he couldn't keep thinking about how irreconcilable it seemed with the world he'd left behind. He didn't trust the word 'impossible' until he'd tested it much, much more strongly than this.

". . . yeah." He straightened, shouldering his bag again, smiling a little. "I think I'll do that." He wanted to lean closer, to kiss him, and honestly he didn't know what he was waiting for (other than traumatic injury? his internal peanut gallery piped up). It was just - hell. Six years out from being a lovestruck idiot in front of an entire courtroom, and he was still hopeless when it came to relationships.

Nightshift 44: M51-M60 Hallway

no subject

Inside M59

M60

Re: M60

Outside M55

Re: M60

Re: M60

M55

no subject

no subject

no subject

Re: Inside M59

no subject

no subject

no subject

Re: M60

Re: M60

Re: M60

Re: M60

Re: Inside M59

Re: Inside M59

Re: Inside M59

Re: Inside M59

Re: Inside M59

Re: Inside M59