Nightshift 49: Main File Storage

[jouer-sans-voir.livejournal.com]

[from here]

Through the door was only darkness, but she'd expected that. On this trip Nunnally hadn't the luxury of the flashlight that lived under her pillow, since she wasn't given the opportunity to prepare, but it truly was nothing but a luxury. Darkness was something that she knew well, for the time she'd lived in it far outweighed the time without, and tonight the only monsters she'd encountered walked on two legs and dwelled in the light.

She stumbled forward a few steps, expecting an open hallway, but after only a couple of steps her outstretched hands encountered cool metal. Startled, she turned back toward the door through which she had just walked, but it slammed closed again as though someone had pushed it. But... there was nobody there. Not unless they weren't breathing, or her senses had utterly abandoned her, which she couldn't rule out as a possibility.

Nunnally drew in a breath that shuddered lightly despite her attempt to keep it steady, then began to examine the object against which she was leaning. Neither wall nor door, investigation revealed, but... a cabinet of some kind? There were handles for drawers, and when she pulled one her fingers found nothing but papers. Files? Where....? Was it possible that there was more than one door from that room and she'd gone to the wrong one? A fresh wave of pain pulsed through her head at that thought and she caught her lower lip in her teeth as frustration welled up inside her. All that work, only to take the wrong way out? There was no getting around it, though -- she had to get out to where the others were, as inevitably there would be patients wandering the halls at night. Someone should be out there for her to find. She just had to find them.

She drew in a breath and held it for a moment, then carefully pushed off from the cabinet. Her steps were hesitant and uneven, but she moved unerringly back toward the door where she'd been. Hopefully the way out would be easy to find; she didn't have the energy to search for long. All she wanted to do was lie down and sleep, but that would mean giving up. And she wouldn't do that. Not now. Instead she turned the knob and half-fell through the doorway.

[to here]

Comments

[mukuchi.livejournal.com]

[here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/918356.html?thread=69997908#t69997908)]

There it was again. The second he stepped through the door, he felt the same sense of disorientation and vertigo and the uncomfortable heaving of his stomach. Having it happen twice so soon was more than he bargained for and Mori shut his eyes again, holding a hand out to brace against whatever was nearby. Apparently a wall.

Cracking an eye open with a quiet hum of disapproval, Mori blinked in surprise when he saw where they were. For such a huge, ominous door, the room on the other side was surprisingly...plain. Plain and cluttered from the looks of it. Metal cabinets and an overwhelming scent of paper stuffed in cardboard and manila folders. It was a file room? On the other side of that door was just this?

Mori took a few more steps inside and heard the door shut behind them. He turned and frowned when he saw the door was a rather normal one instead of the large thing they'd come through. Just what was going on here?

[host-club-honey.livejournal.com]

He'd been ready for zombies or monsters or even some mystical vortex leading them back home, but this? It just looked like an old storage room, definitely not something very important. He pocketed the candle, still a bit warm, but the wax was dry after being tossed around by Windy. Maybe it would be a little more reliable than a flashlight, but there wasn't really any way to re-light it.

It wasn't until the door shut behind them all on its own that Honey let out a squeak of surprise and clung tighter around Takashi's neck. He relaxed a second or two later when he didn't see anything, but it'd still been startling! Was that Windy-chan playing pranks on them?

"I don't know this place either," he shook his head, "but if those big doors were in front, maybe it's important? Should we look in the cabinets?" Somehow he doubted the key to their salvation was on a piece of paper, but he'd trained enough military people and special ops to know that sometimes something as tiny as a file could be really important and even worth risking life and limb for. Maybe the same was true here.

[damned-monsters.livejournal.com]

Oh, now this? This was interesting. It wasn't as large as the last room or as varied, but it did have something very fun to play with. The sylph certainly wasn't anywhere near the door, for as soon as she entered this room she immediately darted over to the cabinets to examine them.

Several drawers abruptly slammed open all at once, then their contents all shot up into the air. As the rain of papers slowly fluttered to the floor the sylph darted about, giggling in delight as she toyed with first one, then another. Hopefully none of those files were useful.

[mukuchi.livejournal.com]

If the room had led them here, then maybe going through the cabinets was a good idea. They were being led around for a reason, right? Mori hadn't done a lot of exploring, but he knew this was still part of the Institute. The longer he stayed in the room, the more he picked up familiar scents - including that of blood, faint but fresh. Maybe they were in some sort of storage closet then? That would certainly explain the cabinets in this--

All of a sudden, several drawers burst open and paper shot up into the air, raining down around them. Windy again. Mori wondered just how old she was when she had died and if she was at least having fun now in the afterlife. Her laughter certainly seemed to indicate that. Leaving Windy to play with her new toys, Mori decided it best to start looking into the room as Mitsukuni suggested.

Kneeling down, Mori let Mitsukuni down off his shoulders and picked up one or two papers off the ground. His eyes skimmed the typed lines and he tilted his head in confusion. Names, dates, medical histories, family relations were all neatly filled out into forms and boxes, typed with handwritten notes here and there. Were these...patient files? Mori glanced over to his cousin and held out the paper he'd picked up with a quizzical look. Could this be useful?

[host-club-honey.livejournal.com]

Windy was once again a welcome and much needed distraction from the seriousness of the situation. Honey smiled as the papers fluttered all around. He climbed off of Takashi's shoulders and took the paper he'd been handed, glancing over it. Medical documents? It said the person had been released. There was even a photograph, but it wasn't anyone he'd met or seen around the institute before. Maybe someone from before he'd arrived?

"Ah-! I wonder if Tama-chan and the others would be listed here. Maybe we can find out where they went!" he said with a sparkle of enthusiasm. This place could be useful after all! But hopefully the files they wanted, weren't the ones Windy had already scattered all over.

[damned-monsters.livejournal.com]

The sylph tugged at the paper Honey held, but she was only amused by the game for a brief moment before she returned to the mess she'd already made. The pile of papers swirled up into a miniature tornado, then spread out and rained down on the blond boy's head. He wanted to play, right?

[mukuchi.livejournal.com]

Is that what they were? Well, if they were medical files, then maybe this was a valuable place after all. Especially if it meant they could find out where their friends had gone! Nodding, Mori stood up and motioned for the little ghost to follow him. She seemed to have no problem getting the drawers open and maybe he could entertain her by playing a game while Mitsukuni looked. He took a quick glance at the papers on the ground and couldn't see anything that looked familiar among the photographs so far. Then again, the papers were kind of...everywhere and anywhere so it was entirely possible he was missing something.

Picking up a few papers and checking them over to make sure they weren't ones he needed, Mori folded a large paper airplane and a smaller more complex one out of them. He had to keep Windy away from the files for a bit so they could get a better look at them, so he sent the larger of the airplanes sailing, hoping Windy would give chase. Then he nodded to Mitsukuni and opened a drawer, flipping through the manila files for a familiar name.

[host-club-honey.livejournal.com]

Takashi seemed really good at playing with Windy, so Honey busied himself with the other files, checking to see if they'd even find anything. There were some pictures he recognized, but mostly ones that he didn't. It seemed like they were in order according to the weird names the institute gave them though. He hoped that none of the important ones were currently flying through the air, but there wasn't a lot he could do about it.

Unable to reach the highest cabinets, he busied himself with the lower ones, flipping through files. At least it was hard to miss the twins and their names were kept together. He tugged the file free and put Usa-chan on top of it, just to make sure it wouldn't blow away.

"Found Hika-chan and Kao-chan!" he called over his shoulder.

[damned-monsters.livejournal.com]

Having someone actually play with her was always a distraction to the sylph, and she immediately dropped the papers she was playing with and went after the airplane. It stayed in the air far longer than it should have, and shortly began to drift up and loop around as she toyed with it, fascinated. The respite would last for only so long, of course, but for now she was leaving the other drawers and files alone.

[mukuchi.livejournal.com]

Nothing familiar in the first drawer. Mitsukuni had the bottom ones covered, so Mori focused on the top shelves, taking out pieces of paper that he thought might not be important every so often so he could make things for the little ghost to play with if and when she got bored with his airplanes. She seemed to get bored easily after all and the last thing a Host should do was let his guest become bored. When he heard the airplane flitting about, he turned and looked over his shoulder, smiling at her. He was glad she liked it so much.

The second drawer yielded something interesting and Mori pulled it out, debating handing it to his cousin. He was fairly certain he'd seen Mitsukuni playing and talking with this woman. He thought her name was Sen, but he wasn't sure and didn't think it was his place to pry since she was more Mitsukuni's friend than his. Besides, he wasn't sure if Mitsukuni was aware that she had left at all. It took him a few moments, but soon he handed it to the shorter teen after all. This was Mitsukuni's friend and he deserved to know what happened and where he could find her again. After handing the file off, Mori turned back to making toys for Windy, forming a little crane and turning to take care of her for the moment while Mitsukuni looked the file over.