damned_institute | Night 45: M-A Block Hallway

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Night 45: M-A Block Hallway

[from here]

Junpei found himself a spot not too far from the door leading out to the hallway. Seriously, if Yukari waned the damn Evoker, she needed to run her mini-skirted ass down here to get it since he wasn't going much farther. It was only fair since he'd trucked down to her block last night.

Setting the bag of stuff on the floor, he leaned against the wall after adjusting the Evoker in the waistband of his jeans. He was not happy with having lost the t-shirt he'd had last night, forced to wear the smiley one again, even if it was turned inside out. He sighed and looked down at the square bandage on his arm. Vampire. He'd been bitten by a vampire.

Just to make sure, the junior checked his teeth. No fangs. Good. He probably would have freaked out if he'd found any. Still... curiosity got the better of him and he peeled half the bandage off to look at the bite. Twin puncture wounds with some redness about them. He poked it.

"Ow." Poking it was not a good idea.

[Hey, Yuka-tan... got any garlic?]

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Whether she had or not, Yukari didn't think on inquiring too much; a little bandage didn't seem like much-- perhaps it was a scratch or something along those lines, which were impossible to completely avoid anyway. If Junpei wasn't making an issue of it, than she wasn't going to, either. He was pretty vocal about his dilemmas when they happened.

Naturally, she rolled her eyes at his brief moment of showing off; she had stopped being impressed by whatever gun twirling anyone could do ages ago. "Good to know there's something you won't screw up," Yukari teased, taking the Evoker from him. "And that's it, right?"

Junpei met that familiar eye roll with a grin.

"You wound me, Yuka-tan. Wound me," he said with a hand to his heart. "To think you have no faith in me. Where's the love?"

"Personal experience threw that out ages ago," Yukari countered, raising a playful eyebrow at him. "C'mon, cut it out with the dramatics. You got something you need to do, right?"

But the dramatics were keeping Junpei together. Oh well, he supposed Yukari had things to do, he had things to do. They could annoy each other later.

"Oooookaaaaay," he replied, dramatically, before talking normal. "Yeah, I've got my first training session with my new sensei. I'm going to learn some real sword fighting from the most hax swordsman in Japanese history... that kind of looks like a girl, but don't tell Okita-sensei I said that."

He grinned. "Catch you later. Don't get yourself bitten or anything," he said, hiding his arm behind his back without realizing it. "That would, you know, suck. And stuff."

"Real sword fighting, huh?" she echoed rhetorically. "That ought to do you some good." Even Yukari could tell his usual way of using a sword was very... unorthodox.

Before she turned to leave, she paused at Junpei, staring at him for a moment longer than she intended to. "Yeah," she responded, more flatly than she meant. "It would."

A pause.

"Seeya later," she finished quickly with a wave.

That stare bothered Junpei. It made him think she knew. That she could tell he'd been bitten by a vampire. Why the hell did he even say that anyways? He looked away, clearly guilty of something. Maybe she wouldn't pry...

"Yeah, it would," he echoed, rubbing the back of his neck before grabbing the mesh bag of catcher's gear. "Later," he said and headed for Okita's.

[to here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/753716.html?thread=62066740#t62066740)

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/756668.html?thread=62272956#t62272956)]

The atmosphere of the place wasn't one he liked. It reminded him of the feeling of the Ortion Caverns, as if something was ready to jump out at him, or the deserted Isle of Ferres—or even Eldrant, right up near the end, pristine and beautiful in many ways, but so false. The lighting of the place was unusual, and the feeling of something crawling down his spine didn't help how he currently felt. He didn't like it, he decided, but he didn't like anything that put people in an experiment and took away their choice to live. It was one of the many things that Luke had fought hard to change.

He jogged quickly down the rest of the hallway until he turned, seeing a pair of people separating. A guy and a girl, but the important thing he noticed was that the girl was holding a bow. It was the last thing he expected to see, but it gave a twist of hope in Luke's stomach. Arrows weren't as strong as swords or fonic artes, but they were weapons. Maybe Asch had been wrong, maybe it was possible to get weapons here and fight the monsters, just as he wanted.

Luke had long since slowed to a trot. The girl's bow and arrow drove away the prickly thoughts of the place, and instead instilled him with some hope. It meant his friends probably got their weapons back, too. At least, that was what logic stated, and maybe Asch, so determined to work alone, just hadn't found out. It would be one way to teach him a lesson. As he neared her, an awkward smile moved to his lips, and he raised his hand to the back of his head, completing the awkward pose. It'd been a while since he'd had to walk up to a complete stranger like this, but he supposed it was better now than never.

"Uh, hey," he greeted. Not much to start with, but Luke figured everything started with a "hello."

Yukari hadn't moved very far when a voice came up behind her; a casual, if not sort of awkward greeting that only mildly surprised her in the pitch black hall, brightened only by the flashlight in her hands. With it, she wheeled around, pointing it in the direction of the voice, and when she realized she was aiming directly at someone she immediately pointed it downward.

The usual atmosphere Yukari was used to seeing was everyone coming and going so quickly, like everyone had a plan in mind and no time to waste on others not involved, so when the stranger approached her, she looked back at him with a puzzled expression.

"Need something?" Yukari asked curiously, discreetly sliding the hand holding the Evoker behind her back. She didn't need a complete stranger asking about it now.

His flashlight immediately shifted to her bow, missing the fact that she was hiding anything behind her back. In fact, it didn't altogether occur to him. Had it been someone familiar, he probably would have caught the movement and questioned it, but this wasn't someone he knew, and he was awkward enough already, approaching her and wanting to know where she got her weapon.

"Actually, yeah," he returned, smile fading as he slipped into explanation mode. "I'm new." Better to square that away, Luke realized. If Asch had been here for a week, it was likely that he wasn't alone. And if Cloud had information, there were a number of people here who needed these explanations. "And I was hoping to find a weapon tonight. A friend—" Asch wouldn't really know Luke called him a friend "—told me that I could go to a bathroom and get a pipe, but I just happened to see yours ..." Trailing off, he shrugged, as if that explained everything necessary.

There were, of course, survival instinct factors coming in. If he was going to look for the weapons, why not look with someone who had one already?

New. Of course. Yukari should have figured as much, and following that she felt bad for the guy; finding yourself in the institute was never a good experience for anyone.

She also should have figured he'd be asking about a weapon-- just about everyone did, and Yukari knew she got pretty lucky when it came to getting hers, an unusual object within the institute you couldn't just find. She shifted the bow over her shoulder again, eying it briefly before turning back to Luke.

"The pipes tend to be popular," she confirmed. For good reason, she knew, but after collecting them the other night with Yuffie, Yukari almost wanted to advice against it. Almost. In the long run, it wouldn't be a good idea to say otherwise. "This," she continued, pointing to the bow. "you won't be able to find anywhere. One of the alchemists would have to make it for you."

By the way she explained it, it was obvious the whole idea of 'alchemists' was still a strange, foreign concept to her. The only reason she knew anything about them was because Edogawa was weird as hell and loved to babble about that sort of thing during class (honestly, she would take math over it any day), but Yukari never expected the stuff to really exist.

Everything here was Edogawa levels of weird. Sigh.

"If you want something tonight, you'd have more luck with the pipes."

Man, that was the last thing he wanted to hear. He was going to have to fight monsters with a pipe? His expression took a turn for annoyance as she told him that pipes might be the only way to have a weapon after tonight. Really, he should have expected that Asch wouldn't settle for something like that, instead of coming up with a better story, one where he would be the one who would work with someone and actually find weapons. "I was hoping for something with a bit of a point," he said, as if that wasn't obvious. "Guess I really will just stick with pipes for now."

It was easy to get down on himself for his lack of victory in seeking weapons, but at least he met someone new. "Not that I know where pipes are," he added, sheepish expression returning. "Or anything else around here. My roommate had a chance to get to know the place a little, but ... heh, I guess I wanted to sleep through the day." Or something like that. He couldn't really explain it. It really felt like he had just arrived, but this whole experience was a little disorienting.

"Could you ... help me?" A bit of hopefulness found its way into his words. "I could just get a pipe and hang back in my room, but knowing that I've got friends here—I can't stand just sitting around and doing nothing." Oh, right, manners, that was something he had to add in. "... Please? I'd really appreciate it."

It was a good thing Yukari didn't have any solid plans for the night, otherwise this would have been one heck of a wrench thrown into them. But she didn't, and not only was this guy new, he didn't have any idea about where to go or what to do. Knowing this much, there was no way Yukari could say no; she didn't even know the guy, but so far he seemed normal and nice enough, and the last thing she wanted to do was leave someone completely defenseless and on their own.

"Alright," she answered, and she looked off to the side in thought. Something pointed? Yukari couldn't think of anything very close by that fit the description-- getting knives meant going upstairs, but she wasn't sure if he was willing to make that journey unarmed.

... Well, guess it was time for the bathrooms again.

"Want to try that one down there?" Yukari pointed further down the hallway with her flashlight, although the light hardly reached far enough to light up the doorway to the bathroom. "As long as you don't mind torturing your sense of smell, it should be simple enough to grab one. You can find something else better than it later."

A beat, before something came to mind. "Oh, right-- I'm Yukari, by the way."

Though logic would state that people had plans and intentions, Luke wasn't aware of any of that. He had figured that no one could be here for that long, and that was the only reason why no one had broken out. After all, Asch alone could have an explanation, but if "most" of his friends were here, then there was a catch. Then again, maybe they knew he was here, too, and didn't want to leave without him.

As it was, he focused on her words about the bathroom rather than her name, an awkward laugh coming out. "Haha ... they smell that bad?" Really, they should smell bad, but he wondered how bad Asch smelled after getting his pipe. Thinking of his original grimacing in a situation like that was a little funny. But he figured a stinky bathroom wasn't half as bad as the extensive travel they took from Baticul throguh the abandoned factory. Now that place smelled horrible. "I can ... probably handle it," he affirmed, nose wrinkling in remembrance.

What was her name? It wasn't anything to do with things smelling bad, now that he escaped those immature thoughts. Right—Yukari, that was what she said. "It's nice to meet you, Yukari." To his credit, Luke managed to sound sincere and like he hadn't gotten caught up thinking about smelly bathrooms. "I'm Luke."

Edited 2009-11-25 04:29 (UTC)

"Well, they're usually fine." About as fine as a dark bathroom that may or may not have something creepy wanting to eat your face off in it can get, but Yukari wasn't about to voice that thought aloud. No need to freak out the new guy, after all. "One suggestion, though-- don't get thirsty at night. I don't know what the stuff in the sinks are, but it's definitely not water."

And here she thought she wouldn't have to deal with it again. There goes that luck, or maybe Luke would be willing to pull one off for himself. As long as she didn't have to touch the pipes, because pulling them off the wall would result in totally gross sludge spewing all over the floor-- an inevitable consequence, unfortunately-- then maybe she could put up with the offending smell. Hopefully.

"Yeah, nice to meet you, too." She nodded her head in the direction they needed to go in. "Let's hurry. If there's one thing you don't want to do, it's waste time."

Well, that certainly sounded encouraging. "Yeah, I got it. Don't drink the water." Luke remembered his food and how his room was during the daytime, and he wondered how this place could change so much. "Is it all right to drink it any other time?" Maybe she would think it was a stupid question, but he couldn't help but be curious. Was the food bad? Was it a way to slowly brainwash them? Anything seemed possible—even to someone like Luke, who was a little short-minded when it came to even the most fantastic possibilities of the world.

That question produced, he glanced in the direction of where she pointed her flashlight and started toward it. She could answer it while they moved, right?

Edited 2009-11-25 04:50 (UTC)

"It's all normal during the day," Yukari answered; before she moved on she dipped her flashlight towards the ground to give off less light as she reached over her shoulder, slipping the Evoker into the pillowcase tied over it. Whether she was being discreet enough or not, Yukari didn't want Luke to notice what exactly she had been carrying in her hand-- the less questions about it the better. She really had to stop using the pillowcase like some bag, though, instead of what it was intended to be-- something in lieu for a quiver, although it couldn't be denied it was pretty convenient...

Oh, whatever, there were more important things for her mind to be drifting off about.

With a gesture to follow her, Yukari began walking in front of Luke. "This entire place just gets weird and creepy during the night."

When the door was reached, she cautiously pushed it open.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/763992.html).]

Edited 2009-11-29 07:34 (UTC)

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Night 45: M-A Block Hallway

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