Comments | damned: Night 55: North of the Institute

razing_phoenix in damned

Night 55: North of the Institute

Apr 14, 2011 13:19

[From here.]Hitting the ground hard, Guy clenched his teeth when the impact hit his ankles; he hadn't had the time to really plan his fall. Still, he had avoided any sort of serious injury, and after taking a moment to recover, he slowly got to his feet ( Read more... )

claude, guy, taura, the scarecrow, anise

Comments 19

full_score April 14 2011, 22:48:16 UTC

The light from Anise's casting caught Claude's attention. While he worried that she'd tire herself out, he appreciated that she was willing to do that in order to keep him and Guy safe. Thankfully, whoever (or whatever) was in that field didn't pursue them, and they were able to all make it to the top of the wall in one piece ( ... )

gald_digger April 14 2011, 23:56:59 UTC

As soon as Guy and Claude started their descent, Anise stopped casting, and the glyph at her feet vanished. When it did, she suddenly felt a bit lighter, the strain of casting leaving her in an instant. From the looks of it, conserving fonons meant she could conserve more of her own strength, too ( ... )

razing_phoenix April 15 2011, 18:16:41 UTC

Guy didn't miss the way that Claude was behaving, either. It wasn't obvious, but he'd spent enough nightshifts with the other man that he could tell that he wasn't quite as on top of things as he usually was. He'd kept up with them just fine and had been able to get over the wall on his own, but it was clearly taking its toll. Guy almost wished Tear was here so that she could at least cast one healing spell on Claude to hopefully clear things up at least somewhat ( ... )

full_score April 17 2011, 03:10:33 UTC

He appreciated his friends finding his light, and looked up when Guy approached him with it in hand. "Thanks," he quietly said, and reached up to take it. When Guy asked whether he needed a moment to collect himself, he couldn't help but feel bad about potentially slowing them down. Not that he thought Guy was judging him for it -- he knew him well enough by now to realize he just didn't want Claude to push himself too hard. But Claude didn't want to fail him or Anise, either.

"I'm all right," he answered after a moment. "Don't worry." Then, he slowly pushed himself to a stand, careful not to move too fast. As long as they didn't do anymore running right away, then Claude thought he'd be all right.

He had to admit he was curious to know what route Anise had in mind for them. If it didn't involve making their way through the dark woods, though, he was definitely in favor of it. Claude turned to look at the girl, intent on listening to what she had to say.

Thread 5

ninelivesonce April 20 2011, 02:11:54 UTC

[from here]

The maneuver had been a bit of showing off -- they didn't know where their brainwashed compatriot had gone to, and he could have anticipated them. So Taura threw a little strength into psychological warfare. As she vaulted the wall, she took a careful hold, and paused in a pike position any gymnast or dancer would envy. She made it look effortless, which it almost was; trying not to cough was the hardest part. She held it just long enough for some of the snow she'd dislodged to drop. It fell with a soft thump only very good ears would notice; the drop wasn't any further on the other side, even if she couldn't quite make out the ground. She restarted the motion as abruptly as unpausing a holovid and launched herself into the blurry darkness ( ... )

lookitmemama April 22 2011, 20:07:35 UTC

Asuka hadn't been able to get in the last word and that really pissed her off. She had taken in a long breath, ready to counter his little comment, but it only quickened the strange mist into her lungs. Hacking began immediately, a rattling couch that dislodged phlegm and saliva onto the snow below. It was a disgusting sound in her ears, but knowing Taura was hacking right along with her, the embarrassment was sufferable.

"Sure..." Asuka croaked once she got her coughing under control. She couldn't recall where the weapon had landed, but it couldn't have gotten far.

Human, she heard the condescending word in her mind. She was human and damned proud of it! She may be only one, small, and flawed but she destroyed freaks of nature every day after school! Asuka had nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing ( ... )

ninelivesonce April 22 2011, 22:50:21 UTC

The shout was reassuring -- she hadn't been sure how much of Asuka's recovery had been genuine and how much bravado. More of the former, it seemed. Good. Bravado had it's place, but running on it at the beginning of a mission wasn't guts, it was suicide.

"All I know was that Marc was holed up somewhere to the north. That way," Taura added, pointing. Yellow eyes squinted into the snow in the same direction, but the visibility was awful. About the best that she could say was that the moonlight was pretty bright. "I've never been out here, so your guess is as good as mine from here out."

She could think of worse scouting conditions. Maybe. Buried in hostile territory, no map, not even a well-defined objective, and while the snow was some cover, they were starting from a well-known position. Miles, help! Lost causes are your department,! At least she could laugh at herself -- just the thought seemed to add a degree or two to the temperature ( ... )

I'll move them onward lookitmemama April 23 2011, 22:36:52 UTC

"Wonderful," Asuka groused before tossing her second leg over the wall and dropping her radio onto the soft snow below. Her knees gave out when she hit the ground, but the redhead was beyond dignity now. They both had seen what became of her after an attack from a freakazoid.

Now that she was back on her feet and her adrenaline had faded, the eva pilot felt like someone had just been, well, thrown to the hard ground. The bump on the back of her head was a center of pain that throbbed in time with her heartbeat. This was no longer fun--actually, it stopped being fun when a tentacle grabbed her and tossed her in the air. Her capacity for humor at this point was dwindling fast. That usual arrogance that touched her features had made room for the irritation she felt.

"North then. Let's go," Asuka said stiffly, despite Taura's having already started the trek through snow. It needed to be said for her own good. Taura needed to know the second child was on this, whatever that entailed.

Thread 9

scarefaux April 22 2011, 08:26:10 UTC

[From here.]

It was fortunate there was a layer of snow to cushion the the fall from the wall as the Scarecrow's boot slipped immediately on touchdown, resulting in a solid landing on his backside. He got to his feet quickly, a little surprised by how the damp snow felt against his rear.

He had to admit that the institute looked so different from the outside, especially on a side he'd not seen before. Though the snow smoothed the landscape, he could make out trees and hills in the distance. Were there other buildings out there? Or another city? There was no road to follow- it was a little disorienting.

"Well, here we are," the Scarecrow said with a little bounce, eager to get moving. "Which way now?"

stlg13bomber April 23 2011, 06:01:26 UTC

"Um..." Carter looked unsure. They weren't on the right side of the institute for the buses, but he couldn't see so much as a hint of a road under the blankets of snow. "I...I don't know. I've never been outside the walls, just in the town or in the forest."

He fished the flashlight out of his pants and tapped the end thoughtfully against his lips. "I guess away from the institute?" he offered, very unsure of himself. He was supposed to be leader here but he had no idea where they were going.

Oh, well. Did it even matter? They'd be taken back to the institute in the morning anyway, so wherever they went they wouldn't be stuck there. Carter rubbed one hand against his arm, trying to ward off cold, and set out into the snow. Maybe they'd find the road eventually.

scarefaux April 24 2011, 09:21:02 UTC

"I've only been as far as town, and that's when they've taken us during the day," the Scarecrow said, taking a few quick steps to match Carter's pace. "Well, I did end up in town on the night the doors were enchanted and not a single one seemed to lead where it was supposed to." Well, that was not including the ones in the patient blocks, which had been spared that night from Wizard Landel's antics.

The Scarecrow felt odd now that he'd lost his flashlight, leaving him empty-handed. He felt in his pocket with his better hand, retrieving the watch after a moment of fumbling idly. Holding the piece to his ear, he could barely make out the soft ticks from the moving hands over the crunching of their boots in the snow ( ... )

stlg13bomber April 24 2011, 16:43:24 UTC

"Me too. I wound up in the pet shop with Kairi, it's how I got my ring to take us there the next day." He still had the ring, come to think of it, but he hadn't fixed it yet. He'd heard that you could fix the gem in it by putting blood on it or something but there wasn't any blood around here and Carter really didn't want to cut himself on anything. Maybe later.

Even the crunch of his own footsteps scared Carter and he kept looking from side to side, hyperaware of even the smallest of noises. If there were rats in a city, where you expected rats, what kind of monsters were out in the countryside? Even bigger ones. There could be poisonous pumas out here, or wolves the size of elephants, or killer moose. A little old crowbar probably couldn't take down a moose.

"Here. Hold the flashlight, okay? I might need both hands if something attacks." He handed his light off to Scarecrow.

Thread 5