damned_institute | Night 46: Main Hallway, 1-West

Or... other people could start running off. That worked, too. Though he couldn't figure out why the hell Neku would run off and leave Kaworu behind when Kanji had been the one interrupting them. It didn't make any sense at all. Kanji stared after the boy, puzzled but not arguing in any way.

He figured Kaworu was going to follow the other kid's example and run off, too... but he didn't. In fact, Kanji looked down to find the guy staring up at him with that fiercely attentive look he always seemed to have. The same look Naoto had. Yeah, that one. A look like he was listening intently to every word you were saying and was staring into your soul. Man, even Kanji's hardest glare couldn't match the intimidation that kind of look had. He hesitated under the pressure of that look just for a moment before answering.

"...Uh, actually. I'm tryin' to figure that out myself." He looked down the hallway for a few moments as though hoping to find an answer in the darkness somehow (not looking for an escape route). "I was thinking a' lookin' around for where they were holdin' the people they take away. I mean, they gotta be in here somewhere, right? So I figured I'd just bust down every door til I found 'em." He was starting to ramble on wasn't he? Why was it when he actually did talk, he couldn't shut his freaking yap? God... "But, uh, some a' the doors here are harder to break down that others. Guess that's not really gonna work."

It was actually kind of disturbing. It was just a door, right? What the hell kind of shit did they have to put on it to make it so hard to break down?

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/780555.html?thread=64427275#t64427275)]

If he could gather up a whole array of different kinds of metal, then that would make searching the stuff out a lot easier. Pipes he could probably find in the bathrooms (as gross as that sounded), cutlery would obviously be wherever they made those meals for them (come to think of it, the hunger was starting to gnaw at him now), and medical equipment could be anywhere. Whoever this kid was who had made Cissnei her weapon, he was obviously talented.

Zack was dragged out of his daydreaming (or was it night dreaming?) about weapons when Cissnei tossed out a few options for what they could do. It sounded like she had been gathering information too, although he was surprised when she implied that even getting over a wall wouldn't be enough. "What do you mean?" he asked with a frown, tilting his head. "Why would we wake up here again? Do they hunt people down or something?"

It brought back bad memories of being chased, of always having to look over his shoulder, of Cloud's weight against his side. And then when he'd been surrounded and known that there was no way out. Zack made sure not to let that come through on his face, though. The important thing was that he knew there were certain things that couldn't be outrun, as much as he hated to admit it.

Prowl stopped and looked back. Lockdown was far too quiet and he had weapons. It seemed unfair that Prowl should have to guard both front and back. He remembered why he'd ever let Lockdown lead.

"Perhaps you could lend me something? It would benefit us both."

Souji nodded slightly, forcing himself to shake off that odd sensation. It probably had been rather uncomfortable for Minato, if not the person with him, but Souji couldn't really help it. He hadn't been anticipating something like that, and in the back of his head, he could almost hear Izanagi's voice. Like a buzzing, or like he was remote but still there. ...or maybe Souji had gone hard of hearing, that was another possibility.

Even still, he looked at the other man and offered a polite smile to him. "I can go wait somewhere if you want."

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/780542.html?thread=64391934#t64391934)]

Coming out into another hallway, Sakura looked both directions before moving. To the left, the hallway continued as she always remembered, albeit seemingly a bit darker than usual. To the right, she could see stairs in the distance, which she had never went up before. Thus far, she had been traveling along halls she recognized, but if she continued doing so, it was highly unlikely that she would find batteries. The logical choice would be to go up the stairs, but that would mean abandoning the comfort of places she at least somewhat recognized.

Sakura flashed her flashlight back and forth between the two directions... which way should she go?

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/780542.html?thread=64117246#t64117246)]

Looked like there were still some people hanging around here. Losers. Didn't they have something else to do than mope in the stupid hallways?

"The stairs are this way," she whispered helpfully to the boy on her arm. "Do you think you can make it up there, Stephy?" Because she wasn't carrying him if he couldn't. That was Rolo's job.

And if Rolo dropped him down the flight of stairs to "finish him off," eh. No skin off her nose. She was going to get rid of Sync soon anyway.

Edited 2010-01-14 06:50 (UTC)

“Yes,” came the blunt answer to her first question. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a suitable explanation for anyone but him, so he was forced to add, “I’m sure by now you’ve made plenty of contacts, ones that travel in safer groups, right?”

Aidou definitely wasn’t the safe choice; there was little he could do to get his hint across short of baring his fangs at her like a movie vampire. Hadn’t she learned a lesson about caution, having been in Landel’s almost as long as he? Or perhaps, for all the unusual ways she fished for attention, she was just that trusting of people she’d made small talk with once or twice. Now that sort of thing would get a girl in trouble. Mallet or not, unless his senses had completely fooled him about her humanity, Anise was quite vulnerable…

Of course, then she had to go and say something that stung sharply. “I bet you could handle anything here!” A shadow streaked across his face, and in the span of a second, the vampire seemed to age, shedding his youthfulness like a second skin.

If that were true, he wouldn’t still be there. And he could’ve stopped so much of what had happened already.

Aidou dropped his hand. “Sadly untrue,” he murmured. He had made that claim when he’d been dealing with the revulsion the zombie attack had stirred in him, and in a way, he would still stand by it. If the situation were directly tied to his own well-being, he would do whatever was needed to fell his foe. But if he took a girl with him, knowing well the dangers, would he move to protect her over himself? At cost to himself? The answer was closer to ‘no’, and to let someone into his company who seriously expected that treatment would be foolish at best. For them.

“Why, exactly, would you want to come with me? Do I assume that your Oracle Knights left you trained in something, or are you just looking for someone who might be able to care for you until night ends?”

People. Turning right just because she'd spent a silly amount of time debating it in the last hall, Mele almost considered engaging her invisibility to avoid the people, but by then she'd already traversed half of the hall so she didn't. Given how dark it was, possibly her invisibility would never even be necessary. And she couldn't do it in the day at all—she'd forgotten, exactly, when she'd tried, but this technique was one of the first things she checked. She relied on it too much not to.

This hall, it...had she come here before—ah. She'd gotten stuck around here, once, when she had gone out while still constrained to the chair on wheels.

Being reminded of her limited capability in this place only annoyed her more, so she put it out of her mind and headed for the stairs.

"Alright, kid, you wanna play monster hunter, you can borrow this," He whipped the knife out of his pocket. Images came up in his processor, of Prowl taking those mods Lockdown gave him.

He held the knife, handle facing the ninjabot, out to Prowl.

Prowl made an unimpressed sound at Lockdowns' tone and took the knife, forcing himself not to accidentally slice Lockdown up. If only he'd been given the axe. Prowl turned and kept moving, listening out in case Lockdown still made an attack. Prowl wouldn't blame him since he'd attacked Lockdown a good few times already.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/785428.html?thread=64496404#t64496404).]

Edited 2010-01-15 22:24 (UTC)

"Are you sure? I really didn't mean to. Though you're right, it is awfully dark in here. I wish the lights worked - or there was at least some kind of emergency lighting." Euphemia sighed softly. "But of course, that makes too much sense." The sarcasm wasn't like her; had she picked it up from Lelouch, or Suzaku? She didn't know.

"Ah! I'm sorry. I'm Euphemia," she said, bowing her head. "And you?"

Waffling here was getting Asuka nowhere.

Oh sure, the young redhead appeared to be "fixing" her glitchy flashlight, pulling out the batteries and placing them back in a new order. Clicking it on and off with a pleased nod, she held it tight in both hands and appeared to be waiting for someone. In truth, she was just scared--no, scared wasn't the word. She was cautious, yes--about moving on when she had no clear idea of where she should go next. For as many people out in this hall, there were more sneaking around, and with that many patients it meant the institute had to be quite enormous.

"Ugh, this is so stupid..." Her usual defense spilled from her lips as she hit her back against the nearest wall, her head rolled up across the cold foundation. Her bored blue eyes found a spot on the ceiling unmarred where she could concentrate and start to organize her plan of attack.

Maybe if I make concentric circles... that way I can always come back to a common sp--... 'the hell is that?

Something thin like a snake swept across her line of sight. Her soft face tightened in concentration. There, it did it again! What the crap? Was it a loose banner or something? Was... Was that a hand?! "Jesus..." Clicking on her flashlight, the second child pulled the light across the ceiling until a lean red and black creature came into view. "Holy crap! Wh-what the hell?!" Go for the eyes, her instincts told her, yellow light looking for any weakness to take her enemy down!

Kurt blinked as he saw a flashlight point at the ceiling and a female voice spout a few expletives. Obviously, this meant that there was something on the ceiling that Kurt couldn't see--a monster, or a creature, that was crawling on the same ceiling he was. He didn't have much time to think it over, though, since all he could think was, 'Omigodgetofftheceiling'.

"What, what?!" Kurt shouted, somersaulting down from the ceiling and looking frantically around for whatever the other patient had been yelling over. Oh they were so screwed if it was something bigger than a cat. But he didn't see anything yet... Just a girl standing around by herself. He narrowed his glowing yellow eyes at her.

"That's not funny..."

Tsukasa nodded when the girl insisted, a little taken back at how much she could seemingly say in one breath. "It's fine. And yeah, I don't think they're trying to make things easy for us to get around without stumbling over things in the dark." That would be entirely too easy after all. "They probably laugh every time we stub our toes." Sadists.

Tsukasa bowed in response, the movement feeling a little odd in this body. "I'm called Tsukasa. Nice to meet you."

Good God! It was a nimble little demon! Asuka had no more room to back up as the thing landed on the ground right before her; her hands simply tightened around the flashlight until her palms cramped from the pressure. She had to stay calm. The pilot needed to control her heart rate, ignore the blood rushing past her ears in order to think clearly. Flight or fight was pushing her to make a decision, but would the thing chase her if she ran? Most likely, it was a predator after all!

"That's not funny..."

It could talk? This was.... wait, a monster with intellect?

Her brain hurt.

Well if it was intelligent, it could be clever and tactful. She needed to fight now while it was still a bit stunned, or whatever it was doing. Taking a deep breath, the second child lifted her light again and shined it in its face to disorient or blind it before rushing towards the creature, ready to displace some motor functions with a good slap to that dark mug.

"Hey, are yo--"

Kurt shouted in pain as his nightvision was suddenly overcome by a bright, white light in his eyes. She was trying to blind him! Why in the name of God was she trying to blind him?!

That question was soon answered when the girl smacked him across the face. He thought he saw lights pop up in front of his eyes (she had a wicked right hook) as her hand connected with his jaw. Kurt stumbled back, taken by the momentum of the strike.

He couldn't see and he was completely disoriented--this was a bad combination. He stumbled in the direction he thought the girl was in, hands outstretched.

"Hey, wait a second!"

Stubborn bastard. It was getting hard not to scowl at him.

"Maybe there are, but I want to go with you," Anise whined in protest. Why was he so desperate to get rid of her, anyway? Most people would have given up by now. "Besides, everybody else is probably long gone by now!"

It was easy for people to forget that Anise was a trained knight, especially when she was putting on a damsel in distress act, but it looked like it hadn't slipped Aidou's mind. "Well, I guess I'm trained to deal with monsters and stuff..." Ugh. Was he trying to prove that she didn't need him? "...but it's so scary being alone at night! I don't know what I'll do if I don't have someone I can trust by my side."

Apparently it had been awhile since Asuka had last slapped a bitch, the sudden sting that radiated over her palm was more painful than she remembered. Or maybe it was because of the strange texture across its face. It felt like the short fur on an animal. The thought sobered whatever afterglow she gained from the successful assault. This monster or angel or whatever was truly a threat and she needed to put it down quickly!

"The time for talk is over!"

Her little hands could only do so much damage, so she needed to spice it up. Turning her flashlight around in her hand, Asuka raised it toward the monster to beat him senseless with the heavy plastic. "Die, fuzzball, die!"

It was a difficult question to answer and to be honest, her own knowledge wasn't that extensive to begin with. She hated having to go on hearsay and secondhand knowledge, especially when involved in what amounted to a briefing. If this had been anything official, she'd have been bracing herself to be berated by Veld or Tseng for not having done enough research. It was just sloppy, not to mention dangerous.

"Well, I do know that when morning comes, you'll find yourself back in bed in the room you woke up in," she said seriously. "I've been here a few days and it's happened every time. Last night I was over near the Sun Room, I was in a different bedroom the night before that, all over the place, and every time I've woken up back in bed. I've heard that people have managed to get over the wall before now, and are still here, so I can only assume that the same is true, although I haven't tried it myself."

Being singled out for excellence was usually so desirable, too… This, though, was different. Aidou had always been a lover of things some others would call petty, but even for him, the Institute peeled away the frivolous, leaving only the bare necessities underneath. Encouraging Anise, or the attentions of anyone else, wouldn’t further his position, as much as it might be entertaining. If he needed other people, it’d be in the form of allies, and allies didn’t need to (and probably wouldn’t) have anything to do with girls or dalliances with them. But it was clear Anise was interested in banter. Either she was more efficient than him and had room for that sort of stuff, or her priorities were way different from Aidou’s. Not something he’d care about… except when it concerned him, like it did then.

On the other hand, Aidou also had one another need of others: blood. But Anise wasn’t an option there. He wouldn’t take from her.

That just left what she was really after and what she was really capable of. It hadn’t been enough to remark upon before, but he wasn’t blind to her inconsistencies. At times there had been something disingenuous about her behavior, and although he hadn’t shown the topic much concern when she‘d first mentioned her “Oracle Knights,” the fact remained that she was probably more capable than most of the human girls he had experience with. More capable than what she was letting on, at that. For one, Anise had survived this long, hadn’t she? He didn’t think it’d been by honestly needing to lean on companions night after night.

“Hmm…” the vampire mused. There was a questioning air to his tone, as well as faint skepticism. She hadn’t answered his question--was dodging it, really. So she wanted a white knight, did she? She trusted him, did she?

“You trust me that much, so soon? But you don’t know me. I could be completely unscrupulous.”

"Of course!" Anise replied without missing a beat. "Unscrupulous guys don't usually ask people to suspect them, right?" She winked, in an effort to be extra cute.

Really, Anise knew it was more complicated than that. She herself had often criticized her friends for being too trusting, just because she felt guilty that she was deceiving them herself. And as for Aidou, she really didn't have full trust in him. She knew spoiled guys had a tendency to be unreliable, and that if things got ugly, it was possible that she'd end up having to rely on herself. But Anise wasn't going to get anywhere, not in the institute nor in her life, if she didn't take a few risks here and there.

"So, where should we go?" she asked, now acting as though Aidou had at some point agreed to travel with her.

Edited 2010-01-15 05:06 (UTC)

So Cissnei had been here a few days, then. That was more or less what Zack had guessed at after hearing about how she'd gotten her weapon, but it was good to have definite confirmation of it. Cissnei had probably already figured out that he was pretty new to this, and yet both of them had been doing a fantastic job of tiptoeing around the whole subject of when they'd last seen each other.

Zack found it odd that they just ended up back in their rooms no matter what happened, and it quickly made him wonder how the institute was doing it. His mind jumped to drugs again, but maybe he was just trying to make it easy on himself. Besides, if that was how it worked, then they would still have to have enough staff to come find them and carry them back to their rooms every morning, which seemed like more trouble than it was worth.

Some sort of warping, then? It seemed pretty out there, but so was coming back from the dead. Still, the main point in all this was that escape was severely hindered by having only a night to get far enough away. And who knew how far "far enough" was?

"Well, we can try it out if you want," Zack replied with a casual shrug of his shoulders. "Or head upstairs, if you think that'll be more worthwhile. You're working off of more intel than I am, so feel free to take charge on this one." Not that Zack was much for following orders anymore, but Cissnei was someone he could trust.

Kurt cried out in pain as he felt the flashlight connect with his face, the back of his head, and his shoulder. He tried to fend off the flashlight after the first few swipes, realizing that she was beating him senselessly. Even asking her to stop wasn't working, she wasn't listening!

Which meant that if he wasn't going to be beaten to death, he had to stop her.

"STOP!" Kurt shouted, bearing his teeth at his assailant and grabbing at the hand holding the flashlight. If he had the opportunity, he'd pin her if he had to. Not as though he had the upper hand right now, his head was still spinning from the punch and the flashlight strikes. He thought he felt something warm trickling down his chin, too. "I'm not a monster, STOP!"

Night 46: Main Hallway, 1-West

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