damned_institute | Night 49: M11-M20 Hallway

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Night 49: M11-M20 Hallway

[M16]

Edgar made note of the intercom's nightly message. Visitors. He'd heard the prisoners received them on occasion, but hadn't put much thought into the matter. There were more pressing concerns at the moment.

"I've not had much opportunity to try escaping yet," he told Gren as he thumbed through his journal, taking note of the supplies he still needed. "Even if we could, there's still the matter of getting back to our individual homelands. It can't be as easy as leaving this place and finding a ship headed in the right direction. It's even more complicated for those who claim to be from different times entirely."

Then there was what he'd seen on the board- stories of patients being "released," as the nursemaids put it. Edgar doubted the validity of being "released" by the institution as a method of escape. It was more likely those who had been removed from the ranks had been killed, or perhaps had submitted to the brainwashing they were trying to-

The machinist froze as his mind entertained a dark thought. Celes. Her words just the day before had reflected someone who was ready to give up, her spirit more than battered from its long battle with imprisonment. If Luxord could disappear without notice...

He rose from his chair, the metal scraping against the floor slightly. Pulling the desk drawer open, he took his light and radio. "You'll have to forgive me, Gren, but there's something important I have to check." He looked over his shoulder at the other man, feeling a little guilty for leaving him with little explanation of the situation into which he'd been thrust. Edgar had been there himself once, and not everyone had enough skill in combat to defend themselves. "It might be best that we stick together for this evening. This place is more dangerous than it seems during the night."

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It wasn't until the intercom crackled to life, heralding the end of day and beginning of night, that Yue realized he'd spent the dinner shift unconsciously tensed and waiting for the door to open. There was no reason for it, nothing to indicate that he'd be chosen again for their "sleep studies," simply because two weeks ago it had happened. He flexed his newly-restored wings, stretching them as far as he could within the confines of the small room before folding them against his back again, and forced himself to think about the intercom messages rather than foolish and baseless worries.

The threat of visitors wasn't a terribly alarming one; he hadn't had a vistor the week previous, and those who visited him before that were now here in the Institute with him. The comments about "reconstruction," however -- were they planning to alter the layout of the building? Or something more ominous? Yue had no doubts that Landel would do anything and everything possible to make things difficult for his captives, and the threat made him all the more eager to find Sakura and make sure she was safe.

He paused only long enough to tuck his pillowcase in his waistband, just in case he might need it, and take up his mostly-useless flashlight before heading out the door.

[to here]

Edited 2010-05-15 23:40 (UTC)

"I discussed getting out with a few of the other patients, but I'd need more time to figure out how things work around here." Because the only way to escape from someplace with good security was to exploit whatever weaknesses you could find. "And that's the problem I kept running into. Even if I could get out, I'm apparently a few decades and a planet away from where I'm supposed to be." He supposed a different approach might have to be taken. Something had brought them all here, so it seemed reasonable to think that same something could send them back. He'd just have to figure out what that was.

He frowned at the overhead announcement, decided that with each one he heard, the more uneasy he felt about the place. The only upside was, the stranger things got, the more certain he got that the problem here wasn't with him. He wasn't imagining all of this.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, if you don't mind me tagging along." He didn't particularly relish sitting alone in the room if things were going to get 'dangerous.' "I promise I won't be a complete dead weight." He still had his army training, even if he was far less deadly without a rifle in his hands.

Edgar gave Gren a nod, wishing he had a proper weapon to carry with him. "Even someone who considers themselves as dead weight can be useful," he said calmly as he headed for the door. Even with plenty of experience in fights, Edgar didn't feel traveling alone for any extent of time was the safest idea in the institution.

He could only hope his concern for Celes had no merit. He looked over his shoulder again before stepping into the hallway, holding up his light. "Don't forget this."

[To here.]

The fire extinguisher it was, then. Jesus. Indy couldn't remember having seen one anywhere in the building, but the most obvious possibilities were the kitchens and lab areas; Landel might have some minor interest in protecting the staff even if he didn't care about keeping extinguishers in the patient-frequented sections.

He'd never been to the first-floor kitchen (to either of them, actually), so he decided he'd start there and take a look around the "big kitchen freezer" Pilgrim had mentioned earlier. Indy paused long enough to coil his whip around his shoulder and nod a goodbye to the new roommate, who could find his own way around until he felt like having better dinner conversations. Then he set off down the hall.

[ahead to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/882232.html?thread=69079352#t69079352)]

Endrance wasn't normally one to stay too long after night fell here, and this night was no different. He fell into his usual routine - changing, getting his things together, nodding a farewell, and then was out the door. He had a bad feeling about this 'emergency reconstruction', and his priority was simple: finding Haseo and making sure he was safe.

[out to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/886165.html?view=69086101#t69086101)]

Cloud didn't really have any idea where he was going for the night, but he knew he needed to meet up with some of the others - check on them after the field trip. He was getting ready before the doors had opened.

The blond had come to the conclusion that the outfits in this place needed bigger and larger pockets. Somehow he was going to have to manage the flashlight, the sword, and the radio. The latter was the only one he might be able to squeeze into the two-three inches of pocket space he'd been given. He thought of bringing the robe in the closet, but that just seemed like it would get in the way. What would he do, anyway? Put the flashlight in the pocket? He needed to use it. What he needed was a proper belt and sheath for the sword.

Well, no time for complaints. The main hall was his best chance to meet up with others, since most would have to meet up there unless they were headed straight out to the rec field. Hopefully the others would have the same idea.

[skipping straight to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/882475.html?thread=69069355#t69069355)]

The part about the visitors caught his attention, because Luke wasn't certain what he meant. But sooner? When Cloud left, he didn't hesitate to check the closet for his sword. The lack of hilt bothered him, so he left it on his bed as he pulled his pillow out of the pillowcase. This would have to do for the night; wherever he ended up going, he realized that he should find something to wrap around it. Maybe Guy would be able to think of something. Luke's lack of familiarity with this place was sometimes staggering, other times ... not so bad. But he didn't have a clue where to start here.

That wouldn't keep him down. Luke knew he had to meet his friends, and he had to get moving. With his left hand gripping his sword with the pillowcase only somewhat awkwardly around its handle, and his right hand grabbing his flashlight, he prepared to move.

Who knew what they would see tonight? He only hoped there was a good chance of Guy and Anise running into one another. Despite his discussion with one and not the other, he had no way of knowing if they managed to cross paths. It was probably best that he moved swiftly. Wasting his time wasn't a good idea.

Just as he stepped out, Luke glanced toward his desk with his journal—which also held his maps. He decided not to grab them. He pretty much knew his way around, right? At least, he'd be able to find where he was going. And with how he was getting used to gripping a weapon again, that meant he would have to take it easy in his swiftness.

Yeah, he'd be fine, he convinced himself. In a place like this, he couldn't spare time picking up an inventory of things to carry on his person.

[jumping to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/881968.html?thread=69247536#t69247536)]

Klavier had been taking these nightly shifts in... well, generally good stride, if he said so himself. It had never been a comfortable experience, true, but he had never allowed himself to be overtaken with dread as the night wore on. This time was different. He could honestly say he was terrified. Frantic, even. Unfortunately, staying in the room wasn't even close to an option. He couldn't be anywhere near the patient rooms. He couldn't be anywhere he could easily be found.

But it was just as dangerous to wander around outside on his own. More so with only one available arm. He actually wasn't sure how he would maneuver tonight. With only one hand, did he have to choose between having light but remaining defenseless and having a weapon while walking blind? After a minute of examining the equipment, he managed to position his flashlight in his sling snug against his arm so it wouldn't simply slip out. It would be difficult (and painful) to maneuver the light around this way, but at least he would have something and could still carry the pipe.

Still, he didn't like this. He was in clear, extreme danger no matter where it was he went. Worse yet was Herr Doktor's unsettling proclamation. Visitors. He'd forgotten about that. It would have been better if it had remained forgotten. But what could he mean by "seeing them sooner than they'd think?" Was it possible he'd released the brainwashed patients within the institute as well?

... Between monsters, hostile patients, Albedo, and now Daryan, it was sad he couldn't decide which he'd rather run into least.

[to here]

Edited 2010-05-16 20:56 (UTC)

Had he not experienced that himself, he would not have believed it. Ludwig hadn't anticipated what Dr. Jones had said to be literal truth- that the doors just 'unlocked' when night came. But despite being perched right by the door, straining his ears to hear the slightest sound of footsteps, he had heard nothing. Not even the whisper of fabric against the smooth floor, or the turn of a key in the lock. Just a click, and suddenly, the door was open.

He hadn't had time to ask Dr. Jones more about it, as the man was out almost immediately. That was fine with Ludwig, however; he remembered at least enough of the Institute to know how to get to the courtyard. The difficulty would be in getting there, if the 'experiments' and 'brainwashed patients' were out in force. Without weaponry of his own, he'd have to rely on hand-to-hand skills in order to survive. Or, far more likely when dealing with firearms, he'd have to use discretion.

For now, though, he busied himself with outfitting himself for the journey. Indoor slippers were out, tennis shoes were on. Radio was out, flashlight was in. The journal and a pen were kept in case he had to make notes or a crude map, but he gave a pass on the key ring. Two keys alone were no real weapon, and if he found any more, he could keep them in his pocket. He took the thick sweater as well- he doubted there would be cold he couldn't endure, but a sturdy length of cloth could come in handy, and at the least, wrapping it around his arm might protect himself from animal bites. It worked with his own dogs, at the very least.

After making sure he'd outfitted himself properly, Germany followed Dr. Jones out into the hallway, feeling his way down the left-hand wall. He knew that the left wall was smooth and straight until it opened out into the hallway, and he was confident he could hear anything coming. The hallway was dead silent, after all, without a single sound disturbing the stillness. Hopefully, Ludwig thought, this meant only that the other patients had left while he was getting prepared. Otherwise, they were still in their rooms... likely because they knew something he did not.

((To here.)) (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/886165.html?view=69138325#t69138325)

Visitors.

Even though he had already acquired a number of answers, there were many still shrouded within darkness. It was the first time Xemnas heard of these 'visitors', and it was yet another thing that piqued his interest. He pondered the meaning behind these words, but he couldn't help but to conclude the information he possessed was too little.

Opposing the tales he had heard from fellow patients, their return to the institute was a relatively peaceful one. And when the institute's radiance finally dimmed, making place for it's curious darkness, he headed out into the dark corridor.

The map he had acquired told of several places of interest, and Xemnas wished to personally investigate these areas.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/886165.html?thread=69195413#t69195413)]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/886355.html?thread=69202771#t69202771)]

His own new room was in a convenient location: Shikamaru didn't have to move through more than one hallway to reach Kakashi's room. He gave the door a rap before opening it, but found it empty: completely empty. How could Kakashi be late to his own room?

The man had some serious talent.

Shikamaru dropped into a chair and pushed it back onto its rear legs, balancing it with his feet against the edge of the clean desk. It was possible that Kakashi's room had been moved as well, but he didn't want to start poking through desks and closets to find out. He was about to be disrespectful enough--no need to heap more onto the pile.

[[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/882232.html?thread=69274936#t69274936)]]

Sakura was tapping on the door a few moments later, hearing only a scant bit of movement, perhaps someone getting ready to leave or just lazing around. But when she pushed the door open, it was just Shikamaru, who'd apparently felt the need to sit. He'd been there what, maybe a couple minutes at most? Didn't he have any self-discipline at all?

"Already gone?" she asked with a sigh. Figured. Probably already had some meetup he was going to wander around and be late for.

"Seems it," Shikamaru said with a shrug. He rocked the chair forward and let it drop to all four legs before standing up. "No note or anything."

He was probably out with that Uchiha kid again. The slightest frown of annoyance crossed Shikamaru's face. "If he left for the night, he would have taken everything he needed," he said, gesturing to the wooden closet door. "He meant to give you some kunai, I know, but I don't think he had the chance. I'll leave a note to say we were here."

He reached for the drawer in search of a pen and paper, though he doubted Kakashi would leave a journal somewhere so obvious. Under the mattress, maybe.

She might've thought it a little odd, except for the fact that Kakashi seemed to slack off routinely. It would be stranger actually, if he was actually reliable and where he ought to be at the right times.

"Kunai? Where'd he find those?" she asked, curious and actually a little excited to have her hands on a real weapon. Felt like ages since she'd held a real one in her hands. The weight, the feel of the carefully wrapped handle, the cool sound they made as they swished through the air... Scalpels and razorblades just weren't the same.

"The alchemist made them," Shikamaru explained as he pulled open the top drawer. "That's why we needed to find metal. He gave me two, so that's probably what you're supposed to take too."

A thick sheaf of papers rested in the desk drawer, and Shikamaru lifted it out and dropped it onto the table with a quiet thump before reading the first page, then a random page from the middle to be certain the title wasn't intentionally misleading. It wasn't. He quickly returned the papers to the drawer and pushed it shut, blushing slightly. "Jiraiya's," he said, assuming no further explanation was necessary. How the hell did Kakashi read that in public? Shikamaru felt nervous just skimming the text, like a woman might appear out of nowhere and hit him with something.

He stood up and directed the beam of light to the bed, where he found the usual journal under the pillow and then...the cool body of a flashlight. Why would he leave without...

Shikamaru stepped away from the bed, glancing back to Sakura, and then scanning the room for further clues. If the journal was under his pillow, Kakashi wouldn't have had time to write a note, but surely the jounin would have managed to leave some sign that he'd been taken. Nothing. In fact...nothing at all. No food tray. The chair, before he'd yanked it out, had been neatly tucked against the desk, making the drawer inaccessible. Even if a nurse had removed the tray, since when would Kakashi pass up a chance to read porn?

He hadn't been taken for experimentation, but he wasn't here. Shikamaru pressed his palm to the mattress, but found the sheets cool. He hadn't been here in some time.

"Did you see him when you were waiting around outside the buses?" he asked. The shock of white hair couldn't have been too hard to miss.

Right. She remembered reading a bit about the alchemists on the bulletin. She nodded and headed toward the closet Shikamaru had gestured at, but didn't much like what the other signs implied.

"I didn't see him," she turned, shaking her head. She hadn't missed the signs either. Aside from the few personal items of Kakashi's the room was pretty bare. If he'd been taken somewhere during their day-trip, they'd have no way of reaching him. And if neither had seen him and with the state of the room...

"You don't think he might've been taken, do you?"

She knew the answer before she even asked the question, but something about saying it aloud made it all the more real. Kakashi might be a jerk sometimes, but he wasn't going to ditch his students and friends and just leave them all behind on purpose. Without a note or a clue or anything. That just wasn't like him.

"For the night experiments? No." Shikamaru spoke with a calm certainty, having considered and dismissed the possibility. "The chair wasn't pushed back when I got here, and the bed's cold. There's no food tray. No one's been here tonight, but if his room was changed, the weapons would be gone."

Unless she meant 'taken' in the sense that he'd been removed from the institute, which was Shikamaru's leading theory. He wouldn't say that to Sakura, though, especially since they both knew that Kakashi would be returning to his own death. Shikamaru sat on the edge of the bed again, folding his legs and thinking about how to deal with the situation.

As usual, pragmatism quickly won out. "Take everything in his closet," he said without emotion. "I'll check the rest of the room. Mine's just a hallway over...we'll put the stuff there and leave a note in case he comes back."

He did not want to talk about this right now. Hopefully, Sakura didn't either.

The facts all added up, but she didn't like the result. If he hadn't been taken for experiments, it left only one other likely option. He'd been sent home.

She tried very, very hard not to think about what that meant for him. Whether it was a death sentence or an opportunity to change things and found she didn't feel so great about either answer because they both meant he wasn't here anymore.

Still, she forced her body to go through the motions. Follow the orders. She nodded, somewhat dumbstruck. There wasn't time for this now. A ninja was not supposed to get emotional. Wasn't that the topic of some discussion with Shikamaru over the bulletin just earlier today? Could she say she was so sure of her answer now?

Though most of the hiding spots weren't too obvious, she managed to find 5 kunai and a tonfa sword stashed away. Taking the two Shikamaru had mentioned and tucking them away in her side pouch, she set the rest on the bed.

"I swept it pretty thoroughly, I think that's all," she said finally, forcing her voice into an even tone. "Should we take the papers too? Just in case we've overlooked anything."

It was a sliver of hope maybe, to think that a message existed among the clutter, but it wasn't impossible.

Shikamaru glanced over the weapons, then looked back to the desk. "Yeah," he said, walking over and sliding open the drawer to remove Jiraiya's manuscript. If nothing else, he thought, Kakashi would want the papers if he ever showed up again. He took the journal as well, blank as it seemed, and then stood in the center of the room, one hand on his hip, one moving the flashlight in a final sweep of the room. It wasn't just the emptiness that bothered him, or what some people (maybe Sakura, he thought) might have called a sense of loss. It felt like something had been undone: not only was Kakashi gone, but in a sense, he'd never been there at all. Landel's light had moved between the real Kakashi and the one he'd known here, returning shadow to blank wall.

He wrinkled his nose. The whole thing was enough of a pain in the ass as it was. No need to dwell on emotion.

"Just take everything," he said, looking over the polished metal and ink-smeared paper. Like almost all of his panic, the feeling was under control: a troublesome draft rather than a strong and destructive wind. Jiraiya was here. Gai was here. There were others to prevent mistakes.

Shikamaru tucked his flashlight into his pocket and folded his arms as he glanced to Sakura. There was nothing to say, really. He leaned against the doorframe.

"I'll get this stuff to my room if you want to check around and make sure we didn't forget anything," he said with a shrug. If she wanted to be alone for a bit, that was fine with him. Better than having her make bad decisions or let emotion affect her judgment later in the evening. In his opinion, she was plenty unstable all ready.

"Right, I'll do that," she replied, turning away to at least keep up a pretense of looking through Kakashi's things. As much as she wished it, it wasn't going to change the facts that were staring her right in the face. Her flashlight skimmed over the obvious places, though she would hesitate here or there, just to make sure she checked it thoroughly.

"Be right behind you," she added.

She told herself she'd cried enough just finding out that her teacher was dead in their world. That even if they made it back, he probably wouldn't be there. But it didn't make the reality any easier to cope with. Hope could be a cruel thing sometimes and the longer she held onto it, sometimes just meant it was all the harder in the end.

Shikamaru gave a quick nod, which he didn't bother waiting to see if she caught before he left the room and started back toward his own. Again, he felt an indistinct twinge of concern, but he knew that she'd sort herself out. People always did.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/886165.html?thread=69856917#t69856917)]

Thankfully, as she sat on the empty bed, she managed to hold back her tears. That wasn't to say that it didn't take several moments of forcing her breath not to hitch and her eyes not to water, but somehow she managed. There was the possibility, slim as it might be, that this was something else, but who could be sure? Nothing was positive here.

And unfortunately, whether or not she wanted to spend the rest of the night moping, they had work to do. Work that required her to be focused, attentive, and all the things she didn't feel much like doing.

Sparing a few more moments for deep breaths and forcing herself not to think about what all the facts added up to, she picked up her things, double-checked her pouches and medicine bags, and headed out the door.

[[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/886165.html?thread=69856917#t69856917)]]

That was quite the storm raging outside. Not for the first time, Kenshin wished that their patient rooms/prisoner’s cells had windows. In over a month in this place, the rurouni hadn’t seen it storm like this before; he was interested to see what was going on, if nothing else. Whatever this was, he wasn’t convinced it was natural. Not here, not now. Landels’ comments about reconstruction didn’t bode well for any of them tonight. That much Kenshin knew.

Maybe that was the reason for the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach tonight. It had to be. The sounds of the storm were more than a little ominous, and they had to be coloring his moods tonight. He felt an incredible sense of foreboding, of something not right, and it was just the wind.

The fact that nothing had happened during the trip to town had him on edge as well. He’d spent the entire day waiting for the world to fall out from under their feet, and (other than the rain) everything had been perfectly ordinary. In Landel’s, where one came to expect things that were as far from normal as it was possible to get, ordinary wasn’t good. Quite the opposite, really.

Wordlessly, Kenshin shed his patient uniform for his actual clothing and gathered his things. While there was a very likely chance that nothing would get done tonight, yet again, this storm had him checking over his shoulder the whole time. It felt like something was going to happen, and whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good.

[moving HERE, will post link later.]

Edited 2010-05-19 06:34 (UTC)

Javert dressed quickly as night fell over the institute, then transcribed the intercom broadcast as the doors unlocked. He hadn't managed to contact anyone from S&R tonight, but that was to be expected; hardly anyone would have managed to reach the grocer this afternoon. Perhaps if he remained in his room, someone would turn up. Besides, Threepwood had yet to return his saber, and he was unwilling to wander far from his room unarmed.

He seated himself and began looking over his notes again. He was going to need to make copies.

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Night 49: M11-M20 Hallway

M11

M16

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M17

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M12

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M12

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M18

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M20

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