[ from here ]

On starting down this hallway, Uryuu turned back off his flashlight. It was unnecessary now, with the rooms passing in the expected order. 10, 9, 8... still he felt nothing, and he jeered at himself for trying. What sort of fool attempted the same thing again and again, expecting different results? Some defined that as insanity. How appropriate, given the setting.

A brief mental image seized him, once in which he kicked open every door on his way to F2. Would he look better or worse if he shouted Inoue-san! while doing so? As thin as he looked, his kick had become pretty strong (here, again, his head ached, and he swallowed against bile; the memories that were and weren't his). Perhaps not strong enough to kick down a door in a mental hospital, even if open, and subsequently, the image shifted to the disagreeable reality of him stumbling back, clutching his leg, trying not to curse. Then, still bent over, hobbling forward to meekly twist the door knob.

Yeah, maybe not.

There, F2. Uryuu looked at the number on the door, through the dark, and pretended as though tension did not build in his shoulders and back, as though he wasn't bracing himself for the inevitable. He knocked, then opened the door.

[ briefly for flora! ]

[From here]

It seemed as though the corridors were somehow longer, more cavernous. Lust knew it was only her fanciful imagination, but the sense persisted. The supposed she was unnerved, on edge. It wasn't something she enjoyed but she didn't know how to change it. Everything felt more since she'd come to this place. Sometimes the intensity of her feelings startled her.

But here were the main hallways, she was making good time. Another corner and it would be the true main corridor...

[from here]

The homunculus covered the ground to the main women's hall quickly, her flashlight in her hand but currently off. She could see well enough in the dark, and she had little desire to get caught in some conversation as she had had happen all too often in the dorm halls.

She checked the mental map she'd memorized - roughly - of the place. The Greenhouse was on the far side of the building...what would be the quickest route? God, she wished she knew which doors were accessible and which weren't.

Ah well. It was a mostly straight trip across the Institute....

[to here]

After that miserable breakfast, Kratos was truly ready to go hide himself away in some dark corner of a room and refuse to speak to anyone for the rest of the day. It was utterly pathetic that he was actually giving that kind of behavior serious thought, but somehow, in the wake of Sora's death, everything, from company to even eating, seemed too loud or too exhaustive; his energy seemed to slip away the instant he gained it.

Ironically, this behavior was not previously unknown to him; it was just that the last time he'd fallen into this kind of slump, his circumstances were such that engaging in extreme antisocial behavior and refusing to eat did not carry severe consequences like they--that was also pathetic, that he'd just entertained the idea that the days following Anna's death could have been more bearable than now. Could he possibly frustrate himself even more? The paradoxical part was that he enjoyed doing it in a strange, perverse way.

He wrote out a few listless, largely formulaic responses over the board to some notes he'd pinned up right before breakfast, and then wandered over to a nearby couch, where he sat down, stared at the coffee table for a moment, and then slumped back against the couch, one hand draped across his eyes, with a sigh. For a few seconds, he stayed that way, letting the wave of emotion wash over him--it was simply too much; he had reached the point where he was willing to give up and acknowledge that--and then, as if a switch had been flicked, Kratos straightened up, everything once again carefully masked. He exhaled, slow and steady, and looked down just in time to see a cat pass by, meowing for his attention.

He wasn't particularly fond of animals, as he'd once told Lloyd, but right now, all he wanted was something to distract him, and a cat was much preferred to a person; after all, the cat didn't talk, nor did it require him to talk. Kratos reached down to scratch it between the ears and then paused as it leaped onto the couch to curl up next to him. It was a stretch to think that he might be able to spend an entire shift petting a cat (also pathetic, but in a different way), but he would do it for however long it held his attention, or vice versa.

[Flora!]

_{[From here]}

Let's see, here.

There wasn't much here, mostly just a wide counter. This was probably where food came out, so the door at the back should probably be the way to some kind of kitchen? Pretty standard fare. Flora vaulted over the surface, landing neatly on her feet. She hadn't abandonned her trip to the lab, but there were still things in a kitchen that she could use.

She tried the door. Locked? An eyebrow arched, a give of uncertainty. Was there a kitchen behind here, or not? Confused a moment, she shone her light around the room once more, in case a door that she must have missed would suddenly appear and set the record straight. There wasn't. Well, then. She licked her lips, teeth worrying the bottom, a little. Locked doors were meant to be opened, sometimes, but this felt strange. Locks in a lunch area? Perhaps she was just being a little too paranoid here, that it was the dark getting her. Everything little thing was suddenly seemed like a grand scheme. Flora looked up, breathing slowly before looking at this lock with fresher eyes. The lock was a little heavy, but it was old and worn she could see it wasn't a very solid--whatever was behind this door couldn't have been too important, could it? She needed to stop jumping at shadows.

'Lee definitely would not have any trouble with these.' Her heart sank when she remembered the condition that he was in, right now, but if everything went according to plan there'd be something she could do about that. She struck at the door, and was a little off the mark Well, that wouldn't do. Trying for another angle, she stretched her leg in a languid motion to sort of aim for it, first. Okay. With a snap of her leg, she hit it, again. Once more!

Success! She grinned successfully, though it was quickly tempered by caution. She wasn't sure what she'd expect to find in here, but she's already come this far.

_{[To here]}

_{[From here]}

This came as something a little unexpected.

Flora looked around as she sauntered on, noticing some umbrellas, as well as tables and chairs. Must be some kind of lunch area. It was creepy to see something meant for people so empty, especially at night. Not to mention jarring--patios and lunch tables and colourful patio umbrellas were all such normal things, it was hard juxtaposing something so carefree and easygoing with the horrors of this place and the people behind them.

As much as it left a bitter taste in her mouth when she did it, maybe it wasn't so strange when she gave it another thought. This place was all about pretenses, after all.

_{[To here]}

_{[From here]}

These were large halls she was walking through, a mirror to the first floor, but she hadn't seen anyone else up here, so far. Was the second floor just not someplace visited frequently at night? A chill rolled down her spine when she considered that maybe it was for a reason, and her strides picked up in pace a little. There was a door on the way, and out of curiosity, she tried it. Locked. Of course. A frown marred her features, one of indecision and frustration both. No, she'd keep going for now and come back to it later, maybe.

Flora turned to walk again, though she did look back at it. She'd keep going, but she had to wonder.

_{[To here]}

_{[From here]}

Flora wasn't sure where she was at first, it wasn't until she wandered around, spotting shower heads farther on down past a door. The table in the middle was a little peculiar, but this looked like a decontamination room, more or less. They had this in the potions lab in case of accidents that couldn't be so easily spelled away with a vanishing charm. She had to be close now.

She headed back up and caught sight of a locker. Maybe it was paranoia eating at her, but she was a little hesitant to open it. You never knew what you might find in them. If she hadn't been where she was, she'd tell herself she was being silly, but that wasn't the case, unfortunately. Alright, Flora, just do it. She stood right by it, licked her lips and held the door as she prepared for the worst. One...two...three! She swung it open and--

found...clothes?

Um, well, then. She stood by her caution, but this was good to know. Very good, actually! A lot of what she was after was glassware, and having shirts to wrap them in would be save her a lot of trouble.

She grabbed a few, shut the locker and went through the door.

_{[To here]}

_{[From here]}

She grinned as she shone the light. It was all here. It was a shame she couldn't take it all, but she had more than enough room for what she needed. It's a good thing there were extra clothes, nearby. With all this glassware she'd be taking, she'd need the protection for it. Thank her lucky seeds. The mortar and pestle! Yes! She'll take that, thank you. Funnels, metal and plastic, went in the bag as well. Alcohol prep pads, petri dishes, four beakers, tubes, vials, pipets, and several dilution and centrifuge bottles. They would be great for dispensing her potions. She took a flask and stopper for it, it would be useful for storing water so she wouldn't have to make a number of trips each time. That should be everything. Oh, and two thermometers. She took those, too. Why not?

Lifting her heavier, but still manageable bag, and getting everything else in order, Flora cast her eyes down to the second lock. If she got what needed out of the first, what was behind the second? Hmm. No time for it, though. She was curious, but she didn't have the luxury of indulging it, not when she had what she came for. She snuffed her curiosity out like a candle flame pinched between two fingers, and made to leave.

_{[To here]}

_{[From here]}

This was it. Flora walked further inside, this certainly looked like a lab, but not like any she'd seen before. She could only guess who or what those beds were used for. She was grateful that they were at least clean and not covered in blood, like something out of a horror movie, but it was still unsettling to see. The cleanliness of everything spoke of use as much as any remains. Keeping a clear, clean workstation was incredibly important, and there wasn't a mote of dust that she could see. Goosebumps raised on her skin and she bit her lip.

There. Two doors. Both locked as her hand told her. What a surpris there, but this would be the last time she'd need to concern herself with them, at least she hoped so. Unwilling to let go of her knife, she put her flashlight in her mouth and held her bag with the same hand as her weapon, her free hand reaching inside for the pot. Only when it was in her hand did she set everything else down, putting the knife in between her feet as she stood shoulder width apart.

She stepped back, measuring the distance and giving herself enough room. Setting her feet, she raised the pot over her head and brought it crashing down on the knob. A strange cracking noise cut through the silence, and she tried the knob. It turned. Wonderful! It was a little crude, maybe, but it beat kicking and got the job done rather nicely.

_{[To here]}

_{[From here]}

Flora moved her flashlight to her left, eyes following the light. Another lock. She examined this one, too. It was in a similar state as the last. Most of her was grateful for that fact, since it could have been worse, the rest wondered why bother to have locks in the first if they could be easily dealt with.

Every second counted, though, and she wasted no time repeating what she'd done earlier. She kicked it once, faltering slightly, but recovered just fine. She wasn't used to this, but she'd had more than enough training and conditioning on keeping herself coordinated.

She kicked the lock again, dead on, and inhaled sharply. That smarted a bit, but hey, she got it loose, and better than the last time, too. Putting the lock down as quietly as the last, Flora moved on.

_{[To here]}

_{[From here]}

Whether this would be a smart stopover or not would remain to be seen--in that it would be the best idea if she didn't see anything at all--but she wasn't going too much out of her way, here. It was along the path, and she could find something useful. She was limited in the amount of magic she could use, so she'd have to make do with other means. Any that she could find.

Flora walked along, opening cupboards with her free hand while she shined the light with the other. Cookie sheets...pass, can opener...no, thank you. Pot? She grabbed it by the long handle and deftly twisted it with a flick of her wrist. Oh, yes. Pot. This would come in handy. She tucked it under her arm to the time being as she continued to rummage.

The drawers were next. Flora opened them as fast as she could without rattling things, ignoring things like egg beaters, and other things she had no use for. She helped herself to a ladle, two stirring spoons, both metal, and some dish cloths. She opened another drawer and couldn't stop herself from smiling.

Knives.

They weren't Specialist-grade, but they would have to do. She took a minute to wrap one, and some other things in some of the cloths she found, both to keep them from tearing into her pillow case, and also to muffle the noise. That wouldn't have done her any favours. Placing everything in the case and keeping another knife in hand, she headed out to leave. No time to dally.

_{[To here]}

_{[From here]}

Recalling Soma's directions, it couldn't be that much farther. Flora kept going, quickly and quietly, trying not to think that there were things that could probably still hear her despite her efforts otherwise. Still, no need to announce her presence to the world, right? If there had to be things around, she hoped they deaf and unfeeling.

She was stopped on her way by yet another locked door. Oh, that was just great, wasn't it? Hmm, actually, this really wouldn't be so bad, again. She didn't think she'd need her powers for this, either. That came as a relief, she had no desire to if she could avoid it. It didn't need breaking into several little pieces, just enough to unlock.

Taking a couple of steps back and keeping perfect balance, Flora raised her leg, angling it before striking at the lock with a kick. She grimaced. What she wouldn't have given for her boots, right now. She repeated it the motion, and then again, hearing a sort of cracking click sound. She shined the light on the door, and yes! That did it. Excellent!

She continued on.

_{[To here]}

_{[From here]}

Okay, she was upstairs, that meant the lab was, um...this way. Yes.

She wondered if she could have more of a look around if there was time, but thought better of it. Not when she was alone, not when she needed to be avoiding creatures, and not when she needed to save her magic...but if her potion making worked, she'd have to be especially sparing with her defensive magic, which meant picking up the slack, somehow. There was no guarantee that tonight wouldn't mark a trend, that she wouldn't find herself alone, again. She'd have to improvise. Maybe there were other things out there to find. Things she could use.

Her lip found its way in between her teeth. Did she want to have to come out again? She was already here. What to do?

Flora took a step to where she. Alright, just a quick look around. She hurried along, but kept a careful lookout her surroundings and whatever might come at her. It wasn't hard to, she was more than a little alert from being so on edge.

_{[To here]}

[ from here. ]

There were footsteps now.

Soft ones, loud ones, some that creaked and others that seemed to slide on smooth like the sound of shadows spilling along the walls. If anything, she could tell by the attempts at quiet that there was nothing of immediate concern in the area, or else there would be more alarm, more panicked voices rising to the occasion. No danger yet, but there were likely people, and Orihime wondered how everyone was coping with the fact that some of their friends held monsters beneath their skin. Wondering if they were flooded with the same fearsome doubt that she once had when she first saw--

Inside of her sneakers, her toes wiggled. The hallway seemed clear enough, and so there was nothing to fear, but every time her shoes hit the floor, she worried over her clumsy steps, her shoelaces – perhaps they’d reach up around her ankles and yank when she was least expecting it.

The hallway was exceptionally wider, perhaps colder, but she tried not to think about how small her light seemed as she scanned it across the floor in front of her, focusing instead on her instructions, on the little pieces of information she had gathered during the day. The door over there possibly led to there, the hallway on this end led over there…

Maybe she should have drawn herself a map before she left the room, but memory and necessity served well enough for her purposes. Paranoia, too. Battery life, her mind reminded her, and she shut off her flashlight as she neared the opposite wall, pressing a hand against it as she blindly groped around in the darkness.

You’re a cat. An owl! Kangaroo, Bat M-

Regardless of how much she attempted to imagine herself as a creature of the night (vampire? No, no, best not to cause any unnecessary panic in the off-chance her acting skills were too much for anyone else to handle), adjusting was much more difficult than she’d initially thought. Even as she heard others passing on by, she stubbornly persisted, biting the inside of her cheek as she avoided looking at the occasional beam of light coming from a stranger. Her eyes needed to get accustomed to the night anyway.

Anything else would’ve been cheating.

[ to here. ]

[ from here. ]

Learning process: she knew the monsters were there now, lurking behind every corner, within the shadows her flashlight cast whenever she redirected the beam. Last night had been a blur of confusion and apprehension, and this night was quickly turning out to be the same.

Or perhaps it was even more pronounced in all of its unknowns. A sharp blur of anxiety and fear that crept up on and crippled her more than the supposed limits imposed upon her powers, than her legs that felt like jelly beneath her with every successive step until she worried that they would trip her up as they had done the night before. It took a considerable amount of effort to tell herself that the monsters didn’t frighten her. A Hollow, Dracula, a Godzilla-sized Kon could pop out at her at any moment, but she knew – she was not afraid.

No, the monsters did not frighten her, but her imagination did worse. As Orihime made her way down the corridor, she attempted to instill some confidence in herself, to talk and try to start a conversation in hushed, whispered tones. “Ayame, Shun’o… You two are okay, right?” How apt, she thought, that if this asylum held any credibility to it, then perhaps she really was talking to the voices in her head, to the fairies that lived in her hairpins that allowed her to heal the wounded.

Putting it into perspective like that, she quickly realized she did not like the aforementioned perspective very much.

Learning process: she bypassed the door to the women’s restroom and made it to the door leading out to the bigger hallway she was led down earlier in the day. At the very least, she thought, it was progress.

[ to here. ]

[ F2 ]

True enough, the intercom sounded off like clockwork. The doctor spoke, all pretenses were shed, and Orihime sat in her bed feeling simultaneously refreshed and nauseated by it, by the fact that they were little more than caged animals scrutinized beneath an indifferent eye. After spending the better part of the day distrusting strangers (the nurse that had followed her, the infamous head doctor), it was both a relief and a dread to witness the reality of it for herself – to understand, with an uncharacteristic yet self-aware sort of bitterness, that she had more than enough reason to dislike these people straight off the bat.

Orihime listened, fingers pressing indents into her mattress and trembling as she kept her composure, as she refused to let the careless message (if you don’t die) get to her. It was, still is, a learning process: she learned how to worry without so much of the weeping and the unnecessary bemoaning wails, the prying when she figured that her presence would be more of a hindrance than a help. And so it occurred to her that she should say something, to try to reassure Flora-san before she headed out (a high-five, perhaps? thumbs up?), but there wasn’t very much she could – can – do.

There wasn’t very much to say, was the thing. How horrible and what a heartless person were on the tip of her tongue, but she had no confidence that her voice wouldn’t shake (stammerwhisperbreak) if it committed to such loaded statements. Instead, she jumped out of bed the moment the door unlocked, grabbing her flashlight from underneath her pillow and pulling open her closet for a pair of sneakers, swallowing down the uneasiness that had clumped in the middle of her throat. The cold sweat was unavoidable though, even as her sweatshirt served as some form of comfort, even as she pretended that it was OK to let herself get away with it – with the sense of new hero empowerment that came with the responsibility she had assigned herself for the night. Pretending she didn’t know better.

“I’m sorry I can’t stick around. There are some people waiting on me,” she said, keeping her tone perfectly neutral even as she wondered to herself when exactly she’d picked up such a nifty trick. “But we’ll meet back here later, right, Flora-san? We will, and then we’ll-“ We’ll have a slumber party, we’ll have a pillow fight, I’ll teach you the secret of playing Monopoly.

Because we’ll be alive and okay.

She smiled, facing her new roommate. “We’ll get to know each other even more.”

With her flashlight in hand and her pins tucked along the right side of her hair, she ventured forth, opening the door and heading out into the hallway without a faltered step, a hesitant look back, even as the darkness swallowed her whole.

[ to here. ]

[From here.]

That hadn't taken long. So much so that it looked like he was the first person to make it this far. Harvey took a moment to scan the hall with his flashlight, including near the stairs, but he didn't see (or hear) much of anything. It was the sort of thing that set him on edge.

Since he couldn't do much else, he leaned himself against the wall by the stairs and then grabbed for his gun, holding it near his side as he waited. Normally he didn't take the weapon out unless he planned to shoot it, but when there was a possibility that some transformed patient might come barreling down the halls in the next few seconds, he wanted to take precaution.

Hopefully Scott and Sangamon would haul ass over here before all hell started to break loose. If things got too hairy, Harvey was ready to make a run for it on his own. That was the logical thing to do.

[Waiting for S.T.]

The game room, huh... In normal, everyday life, it wouldn't have sounded too terrible, but as things were, it seemed like more of an annoyance. Games were fine, but priorities.... On the other hand, Kyousuke seemed to have hit a block in figuring out the clues to the the illness, and just thinking without getting anywhere wasn't very productive, either. At this point, it may have been best to push it aside and come back to it fresh. He had his reservations about it, especially since the end of the day was rapidly approaching, but... Frustration wasn't going to get him any closer.

He poked around what games were there with resignation, still half wondering what he was even doing and trying not feel guilty for needing a break. After a while he came across an electronic device marked "Game Boy Color" and picked it up out of curiosity. He'd heard of those before... If he was right, this thing was older than he was, by quite a bit. Flicking it on confirmed his suspicions; the sound and graphics from it spoke for themselves.

Shrugging, he took it a random seat, wincing at the pain in his ribs as he sat down. He guessed it wouldn't kill him to mess around with this thing for a little while.

[Lloyd!]

_{[From here]}

This wasn't get any easier.

The hurting voices in Flora's mind never quieted, and every time she took a step she was fighting the urge to try again, for all the good it would do. She knew that she had to keep going and had no intention of stopping or giving up, it was just hard, wanting to help and normally being able to, only to lose it, suddenly. It was bad enough for herself, but when others suffered it just made things a lot worse.

'Just keep one foot in front of the other, Flora. You'll fix this soon.' She wished that she'd been able to transform. "Soon" would have been a lot faster coming; they could have already been at Lee's village by now if she'd been able to teleport.