damned_institute | Night 46: Main Hallway, 1-West

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/780542.html?thread=64119294#t64119294)]

Minato entered the hallway, slowing to a stop as he took in the wide hallway. After his "counseling" session last night, he was wary of other patients in larger rooms. If he could be turned against other patients, anyone could potentially become a victim. And an enemy.

But that wasn't what he should be focusing on right now. Taking a deep breath, he directed his flashlight along the walls, looking for the tall man that was Abe.

Ah, there he was. Abe stepped out again, hand cautiously hovering over his gun holster. "Minato?" He waved his flashlight at the young man in return.

"Abe-san." Minato's greeting might have been lost across the distance, but he walked closer so he didn't t have to rely on his flashlight quite as much. That wariness was still there, perhaps heightened a bit by the fact that it was now nighttime. "Sorry to make you wait."

He should have brought backup. Someone. Edward, maybe, he liked Edward, but then again there was that risk of getting bitten and drained in a closet somewhere. Abe's body stayed tense.

"It's all right. I have your device." Evoker or Envoker, he'd forgotten which.

"Thank you for bringing it." It had occurred to him that this handoff would bring apprehension on both sides; after all, Abe had seen Surt in all his fiery grandeur. How could he calm the other down? Maybe he should tell him... "I can't summon the one you saw yesterday anymore."

Abe kept his hand on the device but didn't hand it over just yet. Not while he was unarmed and lacked the element of surprise. His face remained its blank self, but his tone was suspicious. "So which can you summon?"

Minato paused as he was about to describe what Orpheus looked like, recalling what Abe had said about seeing the Personas in his head. He presumed that his Personas hadn't revealed their names to the mind reader. "Orpheus. His face looks similar to mine with white hair." And red eyes. If he looked like a large humanoid robot. ...But he was trying to get the man to relax, so he didn't expand on the comparison.

"Ah, yes. With the lyre." Abe picked out the reference quickly--ah, that Surt, the Norse giant. He wondered if Minato had named them personally or if it relied some intrinsic tie with--okay, more important things to do. Settle, Sapien.

He drew the device from his holster and held it close, making a show of inspecting it. "Just that one? What does it do?"

The teenager blinked at the question of what his Persona did. Did Abe want to know if Orpheus was as dangerous as Surt? "Orpheus bashes with his lyre." It was a pretty violent motion for a musician, but the lyre still wasn't as effective as other Personas' swords and many arms. "The other is Thanatos -- a swordsman." With a demonic mask.

Eh? Abe's blank face finally showed some modicum of confused emotion. "He hits things...with his lyre. Just like that. No fire or similar?" Honestly, he'd have thought someone named Orpheus would be more protective of his precious instrument, or at least not use it as a bludgeoning tool.

"He can use small flames. But it's mostly bashing with his lyre." Minato spoke so plainly about the subject that it might have come across as preposterous. ...He hoped Abe didn't think he was crazy. This was exactly why Mitsuru had cautioned them about telling other people about their Personas.

Edited 2010-01-07 22:16 (UTC)

"That seems very silly. Why would you hit someone with a musical instrument? Especially a lyre, all those threads..." But he was getting off topic.

Abe turned the device over in his hands once more. "And with this, perhaps, you could turn Orpheus' attentions to destroying this place?"

Minato watched Abe turn the Evoker around in his hands. Could he do something like that here? Somehow, he knew the answer was no. "Maybe. But this place is strange." The Sun Room had returned to normal even after he had wrecked the room with his Personas. If he was going to find a way out and back to his own world, he would need to find out more about the institute.

"Can it even be destroyed?"

"...I don't know." Now that did stump Abe, and he was left to spin the device around again until his mind caught up with the situation again. "Perhaps if it is demolished before the sun rises." He gave the device one more flip and then presented it hilt-first to Minato with a resigned expression. "People have left the building before, but no one has managed to stay out."

The boy looked up at Abe as he was presented the Evoker, dipping into a slight bow as he took the device with his free hand. "Thank you very much." Though he didn't usually show his gratitute so visibly, this seemed like a big step in such a dangerous place. "So it's not just the building." He didn't know what to do with that information other than store it away for the future. He needed to look around more. But first...

"You were unarmed last night, too." It seemed that way to him, since the man hadn't attacked him with a weapon.

"Well, one makes do with what one can," Abe said sheepishly. "And at that point I didn't have anything." He eyed the baseball bat at Minato's waist enviously, even some mild bludgeoning tool would be useful. Although he'd feel more comfortable with his gun or at the very least his knife, learning to wield a blade was invaluable against enemies who could only be put down by cold iron or some other strange substance not easily forged into bullet form.

Tearing the place down might indeed solve their problems, but Abe doubted it. Getting to Dr. Landel was probably a bigger priority, he was the one whose magic--or something even more sinister--kept the institute ticking and its prisoners in a recursive loop.

There is only a brief pause before Minato reaches for his baseball bat, unwinding it from his makeshift belt and offering it to Abe. "A trade. It's only fair." Even with the trade, he would still go away with the more valuable item, but he didn't know of any other way to properly repay the man.

The offer gave Minato a lot more credit in Abe's eyes, and he took the baseball bat like it was a precious relic. "Thank you," he said respectfully, and gave Minato a slight bow. "Where did you get this? Is it from outside?"

It's definitely a baseball bat, but Abe can't fathom what one would be doing here. Something from the outside world, something mundane, was to him as amazing an artifact as a ten thousand year old Ythian tablet.

At the question, Minato stopped in his attempt to secure his Evoker to his side and took a step back, pointing in the direction of the hallway he had entered through. "At the end of the hall is an exit." ...Well. Not a real exit, but... "There's a sports field and storage."

As he thought about the field, he recalled what had happened his first night; there had been a good reason he hadn't found out about the activity shed until later. "It can be dangerous."

Ah, yes. That field. Abe nodded his understanding. "I'll be careful of it." He strapped the handle (is that what they called it?) of the bat to one of the many loops on his belt, letting it hang there as if it were a sword.

"So," he asked, patting his new weapon. "Where do you go from here? Are you going to bring Orpheus back?" If so Abe didn't want to be anywhere around.

Minato carefully shook his head at the question about his Persona. "I only do that to defend myself." Usually, anyway. There were always the stronger Shadows in Tartarus that were there specifically to block their way, and they had to be the aggressors in those instances.

He thought about Souji, recalling their plans to meet near the field. "I might meet someone." But first he would need to figure out a better way to carry his Evoker; it was a bit large to put in a sweatpants pocket, and he didn't have a proper holster for his belt. "You'll be okay?"

"...I'm not sure what I'll be," Abe admitted, hands curling together across his chest. His plans for the night had gone up to returning the device to Minato and any self-defense that might have followed, he hadn't expected it to go nearly this smoothly. Now it was either try and go downstairs again, alone--and from what he'd seen of the place the doors were locked to him if not to others--or just go back to bed and give up on the night. "What about you?"

They had to have some kind of plan. Everyone had a plan.

"...I'm not sure what I'll be," Abe admitted, hands curling together across his chest. "I can take care of myself, but in what direction I've yet to decide."

His plans for the night had gone up to returning the device to Minato and any self-defense that might have followed, he hadn't expected it to go nearly this smoothly. Now it was either try and go downstairs again, alone--and from what he'd seen of the place the doors were locked to him if not to others--or just go back to bed and give up on the night. Or wander more. Abe was weak here, but information was still his greatest ally.

As soon as the question had left his lips, Minato recalled how capable Abe had been without a weapon; how much more capable would he be with a weapon at his belt and an idea of where to get more? He was also a mind reader of some sort, which could be helpful around all the strangers of the institute.

"Be careful whatever you decide." He had to look for Souji before he and his teammate had decided to move on without him.

((From here.)) (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/781144.html?view=64263768#t64263768)

Of course, it was at about that time that Souji walked out of the far hallway, playing his flashlight over the assembled groups of people. This wasn't good... no luck finding any of his teammates. He really should have dropped a line for Kanji on the board, but he just hadn't thought of it until it was too late. He hoped that the other boy was all right, this wasn't the sort of situation that he could really feel safe about anyone unless he was looking after them.

Shame, too. He'd hoped to have found Arisato by now with that odd headache that seemed to follow him around, but no luck. Then again, that might be because Izanagi was floating around in the back of his head, a stoic but constant presence that distracted him. That was always a difficulty he had, and that no one else seemed to understand- that sense of having another voice and personality in his head, and yet it was himself too. That was all well and good, until he realized he had a little fairy in him. That had put him into some serious introspection for a few days!

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