damned_institute | Night 49: Doctor's Office 10 [Dr. Burroughs]

Recluse noted a slight moment of disorientation as he stepped through the door, a sign that something was wrong before he even registered that they weren't in the right room. It looked like they were in one of the doctor's offices, though he couldn't tell which one.

"We should go back. If nothing else, it might return us to the hall we were in before." Recluse too was feeling far more wary than the situation called for, and after last night, he was not exactly in the mood to battle yet another enemy that could vanish from their sight.

"Right." Agatha had wondered vaguely whether this was what it always did and her guide had just failed to mention it, but since that was clearly not the case there seemed to be no point in being here.

The door was closed, one more cue if it had been needed that this really was a different room, but it opened easily enough.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/895911.html?thread=69534375#t69534375)]

[From here]

Scott felt dizzy and disoriented as he lifted his head up, like he had just fallen through something. Oh wait, he had. A person and a doorway. Mystery solved.

"Oh geez, man, I'm so sorry! I was in a hurry and I didn't see you there," he apologized to the younger guy (Japanese?), pushing himself to his feet with a wince. Ow, that was not good to my leg there, he thought, touching his still healing right thigh. After making sure he was okay to stand, he offered a hand out to the other guy to help him up.

Shining his light around the new room, he was a little disappointed. Was this really all there was at the very end of the patient block halls? He could have sworn he saw moonlight or a flash of lightning coming through the crack under the door. Some kind of light, anyway. Either way, from that, he had been expecting to maybe end up outside. Maybe he had just been imagining things. It was definitely possible, considering he had just completely ignored an entire person in his way just a few seconds ago.

Edited 2010-05-24 10:34 (UTC)

Okay, what the hell had just happened? Shinichi had been about to open the door when a—a form had come barreling into him, full speed ahead. They landed on the ground in a tangle of limbs, and for a moment the detective was too disoriented to even attempt getting up. Probably because a person had just run into him.

Shinichi looked up at the guy. Early twenties, shaggy hair, goofy grin. The detective had seen him around before, but they’d never actually spoke. “I guess asking you to start paying attention when you’re running through doorways would be too much to ask?” he grumbled. Still, he accepted the hand when it was offered and let the other guy pull him up. “It’s fine, man, just…please don’t do it again.” He rubbed his sore bottom for emphasis. He was gonna have a bruise there come morning. No question about that.

“Anyway, let’s just…the hell?” This wasn’t the Rec Field. This wasn’t anywhere close to being the Rec Field. It actually looked kind of like a doctor’s office, but…that wasn’t possible. The offices were on the other side of the building. Shinichi looked around, incredulous. “I say again: what. The. Hell.”

Scott couldn't promise that he wouldn't do it again. He knew himself too well. "I'll do my best, dude. Sorry again," he said instead, hoping that would be enough.

Apparently, it wasn't. The other guy was suddenly getting all incredulous and "what the hell" on him, and Scott took a step back out of surprise. "Okay! Geez! I promise, it won't happen again! Don't look at me like I just glitched up!" he sputtered, holding up his hands in front of him.

It wasn't until a second or two later that he noticed the guy wasn't just looking at him, but also at the room around them. "Or wait, is it the room? What about it?" Did this guy have an irrational fear of boring interior design or something?

Edited 2010-05-24 19:42 (UTC)

“Yeah, it’s the room,” Shinichi replied, raising an eyebrow. Maybe the guy was new, or may he just wasn’t that perceptive. It would certainly explain him not noticing another human being in the doorway if he wasn’t. The detective waited a beat for some hint of realization to show on his “attacker’s” face, but when nothing happened he continued, “It’s not supposed to be here.”

Shinichi sighed. “That door was supposed to lead to the Recreation Field. It has every other time I’ve been through it, but this time it took us…here.” How was the unspoken question, of course, closely followed by why. The detective had long since given up trying to ascribe his normal understanding of little things like “logic” and, oh, the laws of physics to this place. It just gave him a headache if he tried. Landel had mentioned “renovations” in his little pre-Nightshift post; this might very well have had something to do with that.

“Either you hit me harder than I thought, or we’re not in the right place. This looks like one of the doctors’ offices. It’s generic enough to be one.”

Scott made the universal "ohhhhh I see" face after the younger guy explained, though he was still a bit confused. If this guy was certain that the door they had gone through wasn't supposed to lead here, and he did seem pretty sure of himself, then what exactly did that mean? Did Landel have the power to mess with the layout of the building whenever he wanted? That made some weird kind of sense, in a way. Looking at it from the perspective of a game, Landel would be the evil game designer - completely in control of the code and able to godmode at will. From what he had seen so far, he didn't really doubt Landel had that kind of douchebag-like power.

It was either that, or maybe something had happened with the door itself. Going through it, the obvious crash and fall aside, had felt a little weird, kind of like another door-related sensation he was already used to. "Usually when I hit people that hard, they just turn into coins or something, so yeah, it's not the right place, I'm betting. Maybe Landel's got some kind of super-short subspace corridors going on tonight or something?" Scott suggested seriously. "You didn't see a star appear on the door before we went through it, did you?"

Edited 2010-05-25 04:55 (UTC)

Coins? Stars? Shinichi couldn’t help scoffing, just a little. Someone had been playing a few too many video games before getting pulled into Landel’s. “Uh, no. I didn’t see any.” No matter how much more open-minded the detective claimed to be, he still took everything with a healthy dose of incredulity and this was no exception.

“And, I haven’t turned into coins or rings or whatever, so I think it’s fair to say that I’m not going to,” he pointed out. “So other than Super Mario World, where does that put us? Besides a doctor’s office, that is.” He frowned. “Assuming Dr. Landel can adjust the layout of the building at will, why hasn’t he done so before now? He mentioned ‘renovations,’ but that could just be an excuse to take us out of our comfort zones…”

Shinichi trailed off, realizing he was rambling. He stuck out a hand. “Shinichi Kudou, detective. Nice to meet you.”

Scott gave Shinichi an annoyed look when he brushed off the question as being just a video game fantasy thing. He had been serious, dammit! Did they not have subspace highways in Japan or wherever? That was where all the cool advanced technology was supposed to be. Then Scott remembered the whole alternate worlds thing, and furthermore, the whole alternate fictional worlds thing. His expression fell visibly at that, and he kept himself from opening his mouth. No sense in making himself look like more of an idiot if subspace didn't exist in this guy's world, he thought.

A world which maybe was a mystery series, Scott thought as he took Shinichi's hand. Where else would Landel pull a detective from? A Lucas Lee flick? He shook his head, trying not to think too much about that at the moment. "Scott Pilgrim, bassist. Likewise," he answered. The simpler he kept things, the less likely he was to screw up again.

After releasing their grip, Scott took a few steps aside, looking around the room a bit more. "Soooo, what exactly did he say about 'renovations'? I slept in a bit tonight, so I missed whatever Landel said," Scott asked, heading over to the unknown doctor's desk to rifle through the drawers. Ironically, one of the first things he came across were some bottles of No-Doz - pills for staying awake. Too little too late, Scott thought with a mental grumble, though he put a bottle in his coat pocket anyway and set another out on the table for Shinichi to look at. "Anything else important that he said?" Scott added, starting to pick through some of the papers inside the desk out of curiosity.

Shinichi frowned when the other guy did. Was it something he’d said? Maybe he’d been a little short with him, but…oh well. He gave Scott a slightly kinder smile. “Bassist? As in electric bass, or upright?” He was pretty sure it was electric, given the way the guy was dressed (lucky bastard had gotten his clothing back, somehow), but one could never tell. There was a difference between observation and assumption, and Shinichi didn’t want to make the mental leap without better proof.

The detective groaned. “Crap, I wrote it down but I didn’t bring my notebook along with me.” He needed his free had for his flashlight, after all. “Um…let me see if I can remember. Something about us enjoying the changes, and…visitors tomorrow.” Had it seriously only been a week since Ran had been here? It felt so much longer than that. Shinichi watched Scott go through the desk for a moment, and then started looking for his own clues. The pills that Scott had found were the most interesting thing he could see straight off. “Aren’t those things supposed to make you paranoid if you use them too much?”

Scott shrugged as he flipped through the files and papers. "'s not paranoia if an evil doctor is out to get you, dude," he pointed out. Most of the files didn't look too interesting. Most of them looked like sleep studies or something from what he could see under his flashlight beam. Too much medi-babble that he wasn't in the mood to sift through. While his hands moved things around in the drawer, he got around to answering the guy's earlier question: "Oh, and electric all the way. Got a sweet Rickenbacker at home," he told the other kid with a proud grin.

Leaving the drawers alone after that with just the bottles in hand, he turned back to Shinichi. "What's the deal with visitors anyway? People have mentioned them, but I don't really get what's supposed to happen," Scott asked. If that well-placed dramatic pause was anything to go by, he was willing to bet that whatever 'visitors' meant, it wasn't good.

While waiting for Shinichi's answer, he crossed the room back toward the door, gesturing toward it. "So, wanna see if this goes back to the same hall or not?"

Edited 2010-05-26 03:13 (UTC)

“Touche,” Shinichi shrugged, ‘’but I meant the No-Doz. If this really is a doctor’s office, and I’m almost certain that it is, that doctor has issues with staying awake. But,” he shook his head, not really wanting to argue the point any further, “it doesn’t really matter in the long run. Just an observation. Psychiatrists are supposed to get examined themselves, and all that.”

And electric it was. The detective nodded and grinned, thinking about cases he’d been on involving music while he searched for more clues. He hadn’t had anyone beaten to death with a Rickenbacker yet, at least. That was a definite plus. The clues, however, were a bit slow in coming and after a couple more minutes he gave up on the search entirely.

Shinichi’s face fell when he thought about the visitors. “I’ve only had the one,” he replied with a sigh, “but it wasn’t that fun. Let’s just put it this way: the girl who has been my closest friend since we were both in diapers showed up and started calling me ‘Jimmy’ and going on and on about the life that this place says that I’m supposed to have.

“I don’t know if she was actually Ran or some sort of trick, but…it wasn’t very fun, either way.” He straightened suddenly and started walking out the door, not wanting to dwell on what had happened last week for very long. It was becoming increasingly apparent that room held no secrets as to how they’d been transported halfway across the building just by going through a door, and bottles of stimulants only did so much to satisfy his general curiosity. “Anyway. Let’s see if the door will take us back to the other hallway.”

[going here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/910012.html).]

Edited 2010-05-26 07:39 (UTC)

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/892850.html?thread=69697202#t69697202)]

...this wasn't the hallway.

Hanatarou froze a couple of steps into the room, which was a room and not a hallway and definitely not the hallway that had been behind that door only a couple of minutes previously. He hesitantly glanced over at the others, looking just as stunned as he felt, and gestured vaguely toward their surroundings. "Um, this... shouldn't be here. Should it?"

That weird feeling again, and...

Tsukasa paused just inside the doorway, staring with wide eyes at the room. Not a hallway, a room. He shone the torch around, taking in the bookshelves and desk. This was an office. He glanced back, out of the door into the room that they'd just come from, and then back at their current location. "No. It really shouldn't. This should be the hallway, right?"

And the girl paused, two steps in. This was... definitely not the hallway they had came from. "What the..." The same feeling, shift, had accompanied the move through the doorway, and now it seemed more suspicious. Senna's eyes narrowed at the room, then back at the door.

"Yeah, it should be," she answered. But it wasn't. And how.... It was Saturday, right? And last week, those zombies, and this week.... "Is this something this place is doing?"

It should be the hallway. But it wasn't the hallway. And frankly, Hanatarou was baffled. He'd been wandering around this building for a couple of weeks now and it had never been this strange. Sure, he'd gotten lost, but that wasn't terribly unusual. Walking through a door that had led to a hallway and now led to an office of some kind? That was.

"It... has to be. I guess all we can do is keep going...?" He glanced around himself in confusion, then reached out to take the doorknob as though expecting it to be electrified or something. When it didn't shock him on contact, he pulled the door open again and stepped through.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/896473.html?thread=69738457#t69738457)]

That purposeful march stopped dead only a few moments later as the dizziness kicked in and he found himself stumbling straight into-- a desk? That was strange. He lifted his flashlight and found himself looking at a black machine he didn't quite recognise fully sitting at the other end of the desk, plus a pair of odd-looking glasses with different coloured lenses. Huh. The rest of the room was similarly bare, but not in a worrying sort of way.

Kibitoshin blinked uncertainly, then looked around and tilted his head to one side. "I don't think I've ever been in this room before, either. Do either of you two recognise it?"

They'd gone from one useless room to another, and Remy's exasperation was growing.

"No. I mean, it looks like an office, but I've never been in this one. I didn't even know they had offices here." Skinner's office was right off of the kitchen at Gusteau's -- well, Linguini's office, now -- so did that mean that they were getting closer?

"Let's keep moving."

A frown crossed the Scarecrow's face as he rubbed his eyes: "This is definitely an office," he said, hearing the irritation in Remy's voice. "It looks a little like the one I met Doctor Venkman in, but only a little."

After a brief look around for any diplomas on the walls, he nodded in silent agreement. He opened the door for Remy and Kibitoshin, following them through it.

[To here.]

Edited 2010-06-06 05:50 (UTC)

[From here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/914958.html?thread=69824014#t69824014)]

The next room looked even less potentially useful than the last. They had ended up in some kind of office, and a sparsely populated one at that. There might be interesting information in the drawers, Elaine thought, but it was probably going to be the sort of thing that could wait for another night.

"I don't think there's much to see in here," she said after the last of the group had made their way in. "Next room, I suppose?" she asked with a short sigh of irritation.

There was a distinct slump of disappointment in Guybrush's walk as he followed everyone into the next area, shuffling in and making his way immediately toward a desk. Well, this was great. Yes, his wife was here and not mangled by LeChuck, but almost worse than if she'd been dead like the rest of them was that she was somehow from the far past and still engaged to him rather than wed.

Nevermind, it probably would have been better if she'd died after all: at least they'd be together in the Pirate Afterlife and she'd be the Elaine he'd left fighting LeChuck, rather than her being from the past and him risking time paradoxes and whatnot just by talking to her. Stupid institution.

He fumbled idly with a pair of 3-D glasses sitting on the desk until Elaine made the suggestion that they keep moving. He figured he'd better listen to her, lest he screw it up for his past self and she decide he wasn't marriage material after all.

[To here.]

Edited 2010-06-08 04:20 (UTC)

Night 49: Doctor's Office 10 [Dr. Burroughs]

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[Would someone else like to move them next? Guybrush? LeChuck? XD;]

[Will do, Lady Poo~]