damned_institute | Night 46: Main Hallway, 1-West

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/781144.html?thread=64071256#t64071256)]

As he'd predicted, Kratos was indeed the first to show up in the hallway, unless one, this was the wrong spot, or two, Hokuto was already here. Since he could do little about either one of those, he chose to find a spot near the wall, out of the main flow of traffic, and wait and observe the patients going through. One of his teammates (Hitsugaya was the one he was searching for.) was bound to pass through sooner or later.

[[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/778599.html?thread=64020327#t64020327).]]

No Hitsugaya yet; Hokuto looked around for anyone else who might be waiting and saw someone else in an interesting outfit; it was a little plain, but a nice shade of purple and she really liked the cape. "Hi," she said, approaching him with a smile. "Kratos-san?"

Kratos started upon being addressed. "Sorry?" His eyes did a cursory overview of the girl who'd come up to him. Short black hair, bizarre outfit, and a bit on the skinny side - although he could tell she had some muscle to her. A fighter then, but not an immediately noticeable one.

She was also more than half a foot shorter than him, a trend he was noticing with the members of the club that he'd currently met.

In any case, it was time to introduce himself properly, because he could see who this girl might be. "Ah, yes, that's me. You are...Hokuto?"

Hokuto nodded. "Pleased to meet you!" The sword he had made her a little jealous; the shovel she had worked well enough, but it just didn't look cool! Compared to some people, she might as well have a cooking bowl for a helmet.

He was definitely eying her; he probably thought she didn't look like much of a fighter. Which was understandable, but she was still a little indignant about it. "Do you like what you see?"

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/781144.html?thread=64074328#t64074328).]

As Remy emerged into the main hallway, and before he had the chance to turn left, he saw someone pause, turn to the wall, and bang his head against it.

It was a guy who had been walking a distance ahead of him in the hall... maybe around Linguini's age, and taller than Remy was now. He wasn't wearing the same clothes that most of the rest of the patients had.

If he kept it up, hitting his head on the wall, he was going to hurt himself, so Remy reluctantly ignored the impulse to go about his business: everyone had told him that he needed friends. In a tentative voice, he said, "Um... hi. You miiiiiight not want to... do that."

And that was what she was looking for: familiar, lost-looking faces. Their lack of direction only made them more malleable.

"Kagura," she acknowledged with a nod to the girl, stepping away from the wall. Another step took her over to the boy about to wander past and she unceremoniously grabbed the back of his shirt. "Sokka."

Letting go, she smiled smugly now that she had their attentions.

"Good evening, you two," she greeted them.

As usual, Sokka easily got absorbed in his work, so the first thing he noticed was something suddenly grabbing the back of his shirt. Well, that was enough to promptly make him flip out.

"Weht, ah wasmph rehdee!" came a reflexive protest through a mouthful of flashlight. It calmed quickly, however, when a familiar voice said his name. Sokka stopped mid-flail and looked around, just in time to be let go. "Heemay?" he asked, then spat out the flashlight and looked at her with embarrassed anger, "Don't do that!"

She could have just said his name without making him nearly swallow the flashlight! Not that he'd been scared or anything. Please! Sokka was a warrior! He didn't do that scared... thing... The boy coughed and got his composure back enough to see that Kagura was there too. "You two heading off again?"

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/780542.html?thread=64081150#t64081150)]

She cut around the corner, hoping to jog past anyone else in the hall so she could hurry up the stairs. Hopefully someone wouldn't try to race her or something... okay, actually, that could have been kind of fun. Long as they kept their mitts off her stuff once she beat them.

Of course, in trying to avoid people she ended up slamming hard into some tall guy who'd been standing off to the side like he'd been planted there just to play obstacle. It happened so fast, she didn't have time to react at all and just slammed full force into the guy, face slamming right into his shoulder. A hand immediately went up to her nose. "Owwwww!"

So this girl was indeed Hokuto. It was a good thing she had found him first; Kratos would have never been able to identify her, even with her strange taste in clothes - not to say his was much better.

He was not happy at all, however, about being caught sizing up his teammate, for not only was it embarrassing, but it also suggested a variety of things that he had never wished implied. "I suppose," he said, and it came out sounding just as peeved as he was feeling.

Whether Giovanni respected her or not was of little concern to Teresa. All she cared is that he would be efficient and accepting of their mission, as much of a waste of her talent as it was. Important, yes, but there were better tasks to apply her strength to.

"A blanket, as Homura indicated, is the name for a weapon to be crafted for one of the members. Our mission," she conveyed, "is to gather the metal needed and any other useful items we may come across."

She grinned a little. "I'm kidding. I know I don't look like much of a fighter, but I do have training; mostly in hand-to-hand, but I'm not bad with my wannabe bladed staff here." Okay, so her formal instruction had only been in keeping herself safe from non-powered fellow humans, but she had survived more than two weeks here and rarely even got hurt in the process... nevermind the time she'd been thrown into a wall.

"Are you a soldier?" He looked like one, and that outfit of his sort of looked like it could be a uniform of some kind. No metals, but they could just be missing.

"Mm." Kratos nodded vaguely as he absorbed the information. As he had surmised, she did indeed have some ability, although her skills had yet to be observed or spoken for. But if Hitsugaya had placed her on the team, she had to be at least Faize's level, if not better than the green-haired boy.

"A mercenary," he stated blandly, using the cover that he had assumed throughout the Journey of Regeneration. It made things simpler for him to explain.

"Got any magic? I have some, but it's mostly good as a distraction." And then only if she had the element of surprise, but at least she was used to her magic being weak.

Kratos was definitely the stoic type; he didn't seem as quick to scowl as Hitsugaya, but Hokuto could guess that he wasn't going to be all that social. Well, maybe he'd open up if he got to know her?

As she entered the main hallway, Donna flashed the torch around and eventually gave a satisfied huff. No idiotic hippy-wannabe shining lights in her face. That made Donna feel somewhat triumphant in some weird way, and it gave her the energy to keep moving on into the night. Now the stairs up were somewhere around there...

"I do," Kratos admitted. "Mostly offensive, but I can heal light wounds. It's not something I can use lightly, though." But she probably already knew that; Landel's power-hampering abilities were no secret. At the very least, however, Hokuto would have some idea of what he was capable of.

And if he had the ability to read minds, he would have laughed at Hokuto's thoughts. She could certainly try to get him to open up as many before her had, but he wasn't about to encourage her.

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/781144.html?thread=63971928#t63971928)]

Close to the pharmacy seemed like a reasonable place to start looking for the good shit. Mello's first goal was, of course, reclaiming his gun, but he was also on the lookout for any other useful information or items he might run across. There had to be paperwork about the 'patients' and the running of this nuthouse somewhere. With an inward sigh of irritation at having to concede he couldn't see well enough to navigate to the second floor, he turned the flashlight on. As he did, he overheard a snippet of conversation, and was pinged by the mention of Homura.

He let the flashlight beam play up the people he'd zeroed in on: both tall, both blond, the woman striking, and not just because she was notably well-armed. Mello tried to sound disinterested. "You on assignment for the History Club?" he asked, pretty sure the answer was 'yes.' It was one of the 'patient' organizations that interested him, even if he was much, much less than thrilled with the idea of taking orders from anyone.

...Thought he had stayed that way? Oh, heaven forbid. He'd rather have something tear him apart than permanently act like that. The sad thing was, it was strange he hadn't been trapped that way. It made far more sense to leave him that way from the institute's perspective. But that was something he didn't want to think about again.

Nigredo's immediate reaction had been surprising, enough to actually take Klavier slightly aback. Unlike Fräulein Yomi, Nigredo seemed almost relieved for David's disappearance. Apparently, the alternate persona had just been that much of a horror to be around. He felt a horrible jab of guilt wash through him just seeing Nigredo like that. Klavier could tell it was probably better to deter the subject to something else and try to put the whole mess behind them all, but when hurt feelings were involved, it was best not to leave things unresolved.

"No. Thankfully," he said, trying keep his voice as steady as before. "But... I want to apologize for my behavior yesterday. I hope you know never meant to speak to any of you that way." Words could only do so much, but it was better than not offering anything at all. He could only be thankful that no one was able to read his thoughts last night... and that he hadn't chosen to blurt absolutely everything that came to mind. Referring to he and Albedo as "things" out loud wouldn't have been repairable by a simple "I'm sorry."

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/781144.html?thread=64088664#t64088664)]

ZEX tried to stretch his arm out in front of him to get a better look at the new scratch on his shoulder. It was a bit difficult, and bending his neck was always a bit nervewracking, but eventually he could make it out. A shallow cut, but one that bled. Not something he could have gotten from any of the featureless walls around here, and he didn't remember running into anything...

No, the things he kept seeing couldn't have been it. That was impossible. He wasn't sure what had cut him, but who knew why anything happened in this place? ZEX shook his head and kept going. It didn't matter for the moment anyway... he had to find out what had happened to Sechs, and help him if he could. It was all he could do after his own unpleasant experience at the hands of the doctors in this place.

Although... it would probably be nice to have some company. ZEX paused, looking back at the hallways he'd just left. Maybe he should try to recruit someone to join him, like Asch or Teisel... he looked around for any other available looking humans and caught sight of one with red hair that looked somewhat familiar. Hadn't they spoken once before?

Not that that mattered too much to ZEX. He took a few cautious steps towards her, trying at a smile. "Excuse me... we've met before, haven't we?"

It wasn't long before the one they were waiting for joined them, casting an irritable-looking glance between the pair before he nodded a greeting. "Good. You're both here," Hitsugaya observed, though sounding mildly disgruntled at the fact that both members of the team had arrived before he had. "If you're ready to go, let's get moving. We've a lot to accomplish and little time in which to do it."

[tiassa]

Hokuto turned, a little startled, and automatically bowed to Hitsugaya. "Good evening." She suddenly had a bad feeling about something, but she couldn't put her finger on it. He only seemed a little disgruntled, but he wasn't the expressive type. He'd been late, which did not seem like him, so maybe he'd stopped to see someone, or check something, and gotten bad news?

"Is everything okay?" She wouldn't be surprised if he brushed her off, but she had to ask.

Whoa! This had to be a popular place for people to meet, since it was bordering on crowded. Zack tilted his head to the side as he used his flashlight to scan over the groupings of patients, some who seemed to be strategizing while others were on their own and apparently waiting for friends. It looked like a lot of people had their routine already worked out, which actually left Zack impressed. He wasn't used to civilians being so -- well, competent.

There was a chance that some of these people weren't civilians, though. Some of them looked fit enough to be soldiers, though for every person like that there was someone who appeared completely normal.

Looks could be deceiving, of course, but Zack knew he'd already wasted too much time thinking it all over. While he had nothing against teaming up with friends to work on something, the fact of the matter was that he was actually more used to solo missions. Considering how few people he knew in this place, it made more sense to stick to himself for now.

So, with that in mind, he turned to the left and started walking...

And just as he was considering continuing his venture, Edgar found himself jarred as someone collided into his shoulder. Surprised, he turned on his light, keeping his hand over the bulb so that the illumination didn't ruin his eyesight.

Well well well. She wasn't Celes, but she was a very welcome distraction.

"I beg your pardon, Miss," he said formally. "Clearly, standing where you could run into me was grave misjudgment on my part. Are you all right?"

As he had feared, Hitsugaya was indeed the last to arrive. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he recognized Kratos and Hokuto even at a distance. He was about to call out to them when something stepped into his line of vision. That wasn't unusual. By this time, the hallways were thriving with activity as patients and non-patients roamed the building. However, the strange thing was that Hitsugaya had heard his voice, even though he hadn't spoken yet. Taking another glance at the figure, he found startling similarities between himself and... it.

At first, Hitsugaya was dumbfounded, but then he remembered what Hinamori had said to him the first night they had reunited. A fake... When he realized what the creature was, Hitsugaya's eyes widened in surprise. In a fraction of a second, his veteran mind devised the best course of action he could take to ensure their safety. Hitsugaya had considered taking a stealthy approach, but it was unlikely that he would get by Kratos undetected, and in the worst case scenario, he might be mistook for the fake. In a heartbeat, Hitsugaya drew his blade and ran towards his comrades, but he was too far. There was only one thing left to do. Warn them. "Watch out! It's a fake!"

[From here.]

L moved from the smaller corridor into the larger one, scanning the new location for any sign of Howell, whose companionship he had chosen to seek tonight for two specific reasons.

One of them was an attempt to repair any damage that Daniel Laurier had done the previous day. L was aware that he had told Howell enough of his "imagined" life to make it easy for an intelligent man to fill in the blanks. He wanted to know exactly what Howell thought he knew about him, or at least whatever Howell was willing to admit.

The second was more subtle. His goal was to learn what was in some of the rooms upstairs that might have useful supplies -- a kitchen that might be easier to access than the one beyond the Sun Room, a janitor's closet, and so on. Howell had shown himself to be capable of a strong defensive strike against an enemy. It wasn't something L felt that he could depend on -- for one thing, it seemed to drain Howell's energy -- but it was more than other people he'd met so far at Landel's seemed to be capable of.

Scott was about to give it one more good hit on the wall when he was interrupted. In the dim light, the guy who had interrupted him kind of reminded him of Young Neil, only with some serious teeth and nose enlargement going on. "I figured that. But I needed it anyway, I think. Had a major case of the stupids just now," he answered, pushing away from the wall and rubbing the growing red spot on his forehead.

As some of his friends would have it, such stupidity wasn't too far off from the norm. More accurately, they probably would have thought that this was so typically Scott that it hurt. But they weren't here now, were they? Clearly this was an isolated incident and not at all an indication of how he was normally. Totally. Take that, absent friends.

Speaking of absent friends: Scott was probably going to need someone to travel with if Indy wasn't going to be around. Nose Neil here was handy enough, so he figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. "Related to that, IIIIIIII kinda sorta don't have anywhere to go now. You have any good ideas on places to check out?"

Night 46: Main Hallway, 1-West

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