damned_institute | Night 47: F-A Block Hallway

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/812797.html?thread=65910525#t65910525)]

The next hallway was practically deserted, just as she'd been expecting. Yuffie cast a brief eye around the place, her eyes and ears peeled for signs of danger. After that incident with the Yuri-not-Yuri thing, there was no way she was taking any chances. Still, since acting unduly—emphasis on the 'un', since keeping herself aware was part of her job description as ninja—paranoid was a total lame-o way to go, she kept herself casual. Cool as a cucumber, her.

Sheena had started to make the card spin on its vertical axis as it hovered above her hand when Yuffie went for a closer look, automatically reacting to keep the exact nature of the symbols drawn by hand on it a mystery. Grinning at Wutai's appreciation, Sheena nodded her head. "I can do a variety of things with these. Well, normally. This damn ranch has somehow put a giant clog in my metaphysical mana well, so I'm a bit limited. And having to make these with the shitty materials here sucks. I swear, the pens are out to get me."

Taking a quick look around at the others in the hall, Sheena snatched the card out the air made it disappear to join the others she had when needed.

"Got any extras? For some reason, I doubt my nurse will give me any more, thinking I'm supplementing my diet with ink or something," she added on.

"Huh," Yuffie hummed. "You, too? They've, like, axed my ability to access my own spirit energy." She paused, tugging thoughtfully on one end of the cloth that made up her headband. "Ish. It's a pain in the butt." To say the least. Sure, she was grateful to have at least some means to defend and heal herself, but it still sucked. All Creation could've demolished a good portion of the whole institute in seconds flat, all on its lonesome. "Have you managed to figure out exactly what you can do now? I'm still working out some of the ins and outs, myself.

She twisted her wrist, a short flick-snap movement, and a couple of pens appeared between the fingers of her left hand. She twirled them idly. "Sure," she said. "I've got a whole bunch, and a few more bits n' pieces from the arts and crafts room." Her grin turned briefly wicked. "Like glitter."

See? Completely a ninja movement. Anyone who thought Sheena could make her cards disappear at will was ~~mostly~~ incorrect. She just made it look like they did. There was a certain art to the quickdraw and the concealment, the nimble movements faster than the non-ninja could detect.

Sheena automatically reached out to take the pens with her injured left hand, not even thinking about it and hissed slightly at the pain, scowling at the offending appendage. With a sigh, she reached out with her good hand.

"Well, mostly I do," Sheena replied. "I spent a lot of time blowing myself up the first few nights here testing out the limits of my mana," she replied. Which was probably similar to what Yuffie was referring to as her spirit energy. Same principle, she assumed. "I'm still working on the issue with my pacts, though. Those are what I miss the most."

Her eyes flashed for a moment. "And don't you dare glitter me. I'll never hear the end of it."

Yuffie's eyebrows drew upwards at the hiss, but she didn't comment 'til the pens were safely in the other ninja's grasp. "Mizuho," she started, conversationally. She didn't ask 'are you okay?', because, obviously, there was something wrong. "Speakin' of Limits, I do have a healing ability." One that she was willing to share with people who deserved it, like teammates. Right now, Mizuho was a teammate. It wasn't an ability that she wanted to waste, but…

She twisted and twirled as she walked, her typical restless energy making itself known. "I miss everything," she said, bouncing from her right foot to her left, and from left back to her right, before kicking herself up into a cartwheel. "Materia. Strength. Speed. Doesn't this place make you feel like you're walking through syrup, sometimes? Or, I don't know, congealed porridge?"

Mizuho's challenge was met with a snicker, and with Yuffie shimmying back into step. "Pfft, you've got nothin' to worry about." Lie. Total, utter, complete lie. "It's Cloud that needs to grow eyes in the back of his head. And Lulu. If I get my way, they'll both be glittered up and in drag by the end of next week." She sighed dramatically, free arm swinging loosely by her side. "So many projects, so little time. You can be my accomplice, if you want. I'll even give you some of the credit if the killjoys come knocking."

Sheena really tried not to scowl at the far end of the hall when Yuffie mentioned healing. "Yeah, so do I." Sorta. "Raine already healed me last night, so hang onto yours in case it's really needed. I'll be fine if one of Landel's fine feathered friends comes to say hello later."

She then snorted. "I can't tell you how much this place makes me feel like I've been eaten by a gelatinous cube and just haven't realized I can't breathe yet." And of course Sheena knew that she was just as prime a glittering target as anyone else to the Wutai ninja. Her only wish was that when Wutai decided to glitter her, that damn youkai wasn't around to see it.

"Perfectly willing if I actually have a hand in the strike. I met Cloud today, by the way. Rescued me from a vicious kitten that liked Corrine's bell too much."

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/810031.html?thread=65926959#t65926959)]

"Vicious little thing," Cloud spoke up, catching the tail end of their conversation. "You're lucky I was around."

It appeared to be just Yuffie and Sheena in the hallway for now. As long as he caught one of them before they got too far, it was fine. Their meeting spot was upstairs, if he remembered well enough. He didn't have the time to be running up there - not unless that's where his roommate was located. (Though with his luck that might be the case.)

"Yuffie," he addressed the ninja, his smile vanishing in an instant. "I'm afraid I can't join you tonight. My roommate was taken by the staff, and I can't move on without trying to find out what happened to him." The others should be all right without him as long as they stuck together in one big group. Zack would be with them too, wouldn't he?

"You guys just don't have the right touch," Yuffie protested with a snort, mind flashing to her herd of kitty minions back home. Cloud popping up like a daisy out of nowhere got no more of a reaction than a quick blink, and Yuffie bounced over to him. And, well, alright, the cats walked all over her most of the time, but she had the trained! They were her cohorts. Her conspirators. Her—

"—What?" Yuffie's mind screeched to a halt, fumbled, and then took off again. Taken. Cloud's roommate. On a special counselling night. That wasn't good, wasn't good at all. "Cloud, they'll have taken him for special counselling. That's…" She glanced over her shoulder, catching Sheena's eye briefly, before looking back to the blond. A handful of seconds ago she'd practically been vibrating with energy; now she was still, her hand tense where it gripped her weapon.

"Oh, hey Cloud," Sheena replied when the man walked in the door they were just about to head out.

Any retort the Mizuho ninja had for Yuffie's comment died on her lips. Oh no, they'd taken Cloud's roommate and... The haunted look in Sheena's eyes made it quite clear to Cloud that she had been a victim of Special Counseling herself. There was no way she could hide it if she'd tried.

"Bad. Really bad. Do you know what he is, what kind of skills he had before getting stuck here? Do you know any of his friends? You aren't going to be able to stop him without them."

Cloud shook his head. Sheena's expression only cemented the facts that Yuffie had already given him about their duel special counseling session. Luke was a nice guy. He didn't want to see him have to go through brainwashing either.

"I figured it was something like that." He sighed, glancing around the hall again and back. "His name's Luke fon Fabre. Red hair, kinda comes down to here." He demonstrated the length with one hand, splaying his fingers out at the back of his neck. "I know he has friends, but I don't know their names, and I know he knows how to use a sword. That's about it, though." He would have asked more, had he known the kid was going to be up and dragged off for this so soon.

"You guys should go on with what you planned. I know there's a lot of people heading that way. Just keep an eye out for me." If Luke really did share a mental connection with some other patient in the Institute, then it was possible that man would be on his way to find him as well. He needed to keep his eyes open.

Edited 2010-02-13 02:18 (UTC)

The victim wasn't anybody she knew. Somehow, that wasn't as relieving as she thought it should be, and she had a pretty good idea why. "You aren't going to be able to stop him even with them," Yuffie chipped in, quietly. Sure, nobody from Gaia had dropped in on her, but Kenshin had. That he'd fared better than most didn't detract from the fact that he'd gotten his ass thoroughly kicked.

When Cloud issued his… order? Suggestion? Whatever… Yuffie frowned, shaking her head. Her bangs slipped, getting in her eyes, and she swiped them aside impatiently. "Don't go alone. I'm serious; don't." She bit her tongue on the words that wanted to slip out, a protest that it wasn't worth it. "You don't know what you're capable of, let alone him at full power." Cloud could—no, he wouldn't. He wouldn't be killed, probably, but being mauled half to death wasn't out of the question. She'd proven that, herself, in a way. The girl from the library had been in a wheelchair for almost five days.

"A strong enough emotional reaction can break through the brainwashing, but it only lasts for a few seconds," Sheena said in a very tiny voice to back up her earlier comment about friends. Granted, for her it'd been abject fear that had done it. If Yukari had been less drugged at the time, she might have been able to knock the ninja out at that moment.

Stepping up, Sheena went to put her hand on Cloud's arm. "She's right. It takes a lot of people to knock out someone turned evil like this. And believe me when I say it might be a better option to locate where they have him set and just try to keep people from going through there. Check the danger zones - Rec Field, Courtyard, Sun Room, Entry Room, hall by the doctor's office and the second floor balcony."

She swore. "Damnit! I don't know where Raine's setting up tonight, but her room is F13. She's my friend and a healer." And to add insult on top of injury, Sheena was in no state to help Cloud any further than that.

It was doubtful that he and Luke had known each other long enough for there to be an emotional attachment strong enough to break whatever hold the Institute had on him. He hadn't been able to get through to Yuffie, and they knew each other much better. The situation had been different, but that didn't make his chances look any better.

He took note of all the locations Sheena mentioned, very grateful for the information. Mentally, he attempted to cross-reference the names with those he recalled from Yuffie's map. They wouldn't be ones that were difficult to find. "Thank you."

Then he turned back to Yuffie. "And I won't. Don't worry." Actually, she had plenty of reason to worry. He wasn't even certain he was telling the truth just yet, since there was the possibility he'd run into Luke before he found anyone else willing to help him.

Yuffie didn't say anything to Sheena's quietly-voiced interjection, but she didn't think she needed to. Special counselling was, in a few ways, a lot like the incident from a few days ago; there was no way that Cloud was going to be close enough to his roommate to be able to help. Kenshin hadn't been able to jolt her, even though he was the closest non-AVALANCHE friend she had in the entire institute. Cloud hadn't been able to kick Hanna to the curb, either, and they'd known each other for three years now.

Damnit was right. Yuffie scowled, looking off to the side. There was nothing she could do to help, not this time. Short of tagging along with Cloud to keep his stupid, hero-complex ridden butt out of trouble, there was… nothing. Nothing. Powerlessness was one of the worst feelings in the world, she quickly decided. Not that it was a revelation, since Landel was dead-set on rubbing it in every other minute.

When Cloud spoke, her answering laugh was more of a growl. "Right," she drawled, trying to force her nerves to settle. "You sure you don't want me to babysit you? 'Cuz if I find out tomorrow that you landed yourself in a mess, you will be so in for it."

Sheena didn't have anything else to contribute. She just hoped Cloud would go with the option of keeping the place the ranch had stuck his roommate clear, but she doubted it. Turning away, she let Yuffie and Cloud have some privacy.

"I'll be careful." That much Cloud could promise, at least, even if being careful on its own would most likely not save him from everything. Without further hesitation, he nodded his farewell to the two young women and turned away. He'd warned the others what he was going to be up to. Now there was no point in wasting any more time.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/809330.html?thread=66145138#t66145138)]

Careful. Right.

Yuffie watched her friend walk away, something that felt suspiciously like her heart taking a vacation in the pit of her stomach. It was a little like being snap-kicked in the gut, she thought almost absently, the epiphany that, hey, wow, she had things to lose. Oh, she'd always had something; Wutai, dreams, you name it. This, though; this was like all kinds of different analogies about drowning and oxygen, and really, it wasn't cheerful at all. She admitted it; she couldn't stand the thought of having what was hers—loosely speaking, all things considered—ripped away from her. The idea itself was almost enough to be nauseating. Or it would've been, if she wasn't Yuffie Kisaragi.

She released a breath, adjusting her focus with some difficulty. Cloud would be fine. And even if he wasn't, the blossom of Wutai'd been soldiering on, because that's what—and who—she was. If she couldn't have faith in herself, what could she have faith in? She revolved around herself, in the way that she'd learned. That's the way it had to be.

"C'mon," she started walking again, and threw a glance at Mizuho. "We've got a party to get started."

Careful was something one could try to do, but rarely was it accomplished. Especially not when people like them got involved. There comes a point when doing the things that just felt right for those like herself, Wutai and Cloud where eventually all caution gets thrown out the window. She was just hoping that Cloud was special enough to be able to come back in one piece.

"Try to keep up," Sheena replied to Yuffie as she took the lead and picked up the pace considerably.

[to here] (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/814270.html)

Night 47: F-A Block Hallway

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