damned_institute | Night 45: Main Hallway, 1-West

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/756289.html?thread=62576705#t62576705).]

A small lighting oversight had Kristoph practically running into an obstacle as the man rounded the corner. Surprise laced his features as he froze in his steps and gauged the situation; he hadn't expected someone to be standing right there. An arm twitched in its need to raise the plastic bird of prey to attack, but he thankfully remembered himself in time.

Instead, he stepped out of the other's boundaries. "Oh, terribly sorry!" said Kristoph in his best apologetic tone. "Are you all right?"

Max backed away instinctually from whatever it was that had gotten too close (those things weren't real, they couldn't be, he had to remember that) and raised his arms to defend himself... and then peeked over them to see that it was just another patient. He breathed an audible sigh of relief, already feeling better now that there was someone nearby, someone taller and more capable looking than himself (not that it would have been difficult to look more capable than Max Vyer, particularly in his current state).

"Oh, you startled me." Max put a hand to his chest and let out a shaky laugh. Surely now that there was someone else with him the hallucinations would stop, despite the fact that company had done nothing in that department earlier that day and probably wouldn't help now. He'd never been good at accepting uncomfortable truths. "I'm- I'm alright, better now that someone came along, ha ha."

Max took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. Whether his new companion knew it or not, it was going to take some herculean effort to pry Max away from him now, despite the fact they'd barely exchanged a few words. "The night can play tricks on you, you know? The darkness, I mean." He touched the shallow scratch on his arm to confirm that it was still there (it was). "Especially if you're alone..." Hint hint.

Something flickered again outside the range of his vision, which helped him decide to put subtlety to one side. "I don't... suppose you'd mind a little company, would you?" He laughed again, trying his best to keep his voice from shaking. "Safety in numbers and all that..."

It did not take a former defense attorney to see the fear laced in the other man's features. Kristoph half-expected him to scream and cling in some desperate attempt for security; he was thankful the man only rambled on. Otherwise, the flamingo might have been put to good use.

At the same time, Kristoph could see the potential this held for the earlier lack of strategy. A bumbling ball of nerves was more or less asking to accompany him on his trip. One who would surely serve as acceptable monster bait should the file room again prove dangerous. And he certainly couldn't leave a helpless soul to the mercy of the night's whim, now could he? Not when he had his own whims to adhere to.

"A little company would be appreciated," Kristoph replied, "if you don't mind a trip to the entry way." The words were delivered in a nonchalant fashion, as though they were only going to the grocery store. If you took out the fact that they really couldn't in a fake mental institution.

He paused, a thought striking him. "My name is Kristoph Gavin."

Yes, he agreed! That was a load off of Max's mind at least... he really didn't do well on his own, and the night was already shaping up to be... well, odd was a word for it. He'd definitely feel better with someone by his side.

"Hmm?" The entry way... had he been there before? It has hard to recall through his rattled nerves. It sounded familiar, but then again he'd assumed that his nightly trips were hallucinations. Come to think of it... "Uh, sure, I don't mind. I'm Max Vyer." Kristoph sounded like a normal enough name... he couldn't tell if he was crazy or not from that alone. Hopefully it'd be the latter.

"Um... you don't know why the doors opened tonight, do you?" Because as far as Max knew, this was the first time. They weren't supposed to open; all his memories of them opening had been under ZEX and therefore most likely hallucinations, and yet... here he was. This couldn't be a common occurence. Then again, his new friend was also holding what looked like a lawn flamingo, which seemed to point to this being a hallucination as well. That'd fit with his monsters and how things weren't quite making sense tonight. It'd probably be rude to bring that up though.

Good. The man was calming down somewhat. It should be easier to instill a sense of trust if his presence created such a positive effect. "A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Vyer," he replied. "Of course, I wish the circumstances were more ideal, but better than most, no?" Kristoph laughed in an attempt to disarm the rather tense situation. His success was questionable.

Max's inquiry was enough for an eyebrow raise. Either this patient had the misfortune to be new, or... "Oh, I've not a clue. Someone above might have gotten careless," he answered, nonchalant. The statements were true, if all matters of the situation were weighed carefully. "How long have you been here?"

Kristoph didn't seem rattled by any of this at all! That was definitely reassuring; at least someone knew what to do and how to handle this. Max had absolutely no idea what to do with himself.

"Ah, yes." Max hoped he'd stop shaking soon. It'd help if things didn't keep prancing in and out of his line of vision. It'd probably be a bad idea to mention his little visual problem to his new companion though. "This is sort of unusual, that's for sure..."

He took the opportunity to edge a bit closer to Kristoph, just in case one of those things came at him again. "I've been here a long time... but the doors never opened until now." Max paused and scratched at the bare spot on his head. "Well, I dreamed about them opening before... but this is the first time it's happened for real."

He could hear something hissing at him, one of those imaginary monsters lurking around and he didn't bother asking if Kristoph could hear it. He knew he couldn't, so instead he just did his best to ignore it. Mustn't look crazy for his new friend.

A "long time" could only mean one of two possibilities: (1) Max had never stepped outside of his room at night. (2) Max was one of the institute's newly formed coalition of recovering patients. Since the man himself stated he had 'dreamed' of the doors opening before, the latter grew more permanent in Kristoph's mind.

And if that was true, what would be the course of action best suited for the attorney's interests?

Kristoph remained silent for moment, as though to mull over Max's words. "How interesting," he finally said. "I've heard others have experienced similar dreams." Like his worthless brother.

The sounds in the hallway did not escape his notice. They would be better off continuing in another. "Ah, shall we get moving, then? It isn't wise to stay in a single place."

"Yeah, a lot of others, I guess..." Including Teisel- Todd, wherever he was. Was Tanaka also wandering around tonight? Max couldn't imagine him being happy sitting around doing nothing if he could roam around instead. "It's a pretty common dream, apparently..."

Max was all too eager to get moving again. Maybe getting out of this area would get those things to stop following him or something. As time went on they were only getting bolder and bolder, and in spite of himself he was a little nervous about it. His arm still stung after all, and even if he'd just scratched himself (that HAD to be what had happened), it wasn't something he wanted to encourage. Max fell in behind Kristoph, automatically expecting him to take the lead and tell him where to go.

"Uh, yeah... probably best to get going... don't want the staff catching us or anything..." Where were they, anyway?

[Ugh, sorry this took so long.]

With that sort of response, Kristoph was highly tempted to indulge on the charade. It would be advantageous to throw someone in the path of a monster when you've established said monster did not exist. Then again, it held a good chance of a backfire should this someone survive the event. He would have to think on this further.

Preferably in another area. There was an annoying fly (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/753420.html?thread=62638604#t62638604) buzzing about. "I would think that would be the better option," Kristoph mused aloud, walking ahead to their destination. "They tend to have a handle on these matters."

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/759234.html?thread=62695362#t62695362).]

Night 45: Main Hallway, 1-West

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