Night 58: Main Hallway, 1-East

[madeinthehrl]

[from here]

The last stretch of hallway was even emptier than the previous one. Maybe people had learned to avoid the medical wing after last night. By all rights, she should have done the same.

Brushing that thought away, she glanced back at Kratos. "I did manage to explore part of the wing before night ended, though. Did you?"

Comments

[bodhiandspirit]

[from here]

"I'm okay now," Rita replied hastily as she continued walking. "But I don't know what sort of effect the drug's going to have. A lot of people who took it before were hallucinating, or something..." Which was Brook's warning to watch out for signs of that with her.

There was a familiar buzzing sound then, which Rita recognized to be the radio she was carrying in her backpack. She quickly slipped it off her back, opened the front pocket, and pulled out the radio so she could hear the broadcast clearly. The man speaking sounded like he was exhausted, and his message wasn't a very encouraging one. It was hard to decide what to think about it, though...

No, there probably wasn't much time to spend on thinking about it in the first place. She'd leave that for later, when she didn't have an unknown drug attacking her body. Rita packed the radio back up, frowning. "If he has Landel that close by, why not finish him off? Idiot," she grumbled as she zipped up the bag. As she fumbled with her things, though... she realized her skin was abnormally cold. She couldn't see it, but her face had grown extremely pale, as well.

Something was definitely wrong with her... They had to keep moving.

[promisedawhale]

Brook couldn't argue with the logic of doing something over sitting around. He'd taken the same approach to his own outings into the Institute. And it was what he would have done if he had the ability to do anything. Rita was clearly rattled, but she was at the very least pressing on. There was no fault in that.

Especially now that he was hearing of previous drugging effects. Brook had seen something on the bulletin about stranger happenings from the night before, but had been so worried over Sai that he hadn't paid them so much mind. He wished he had now. "I'll be on the lookout then..." he eventually said with a nodded understanding. If she started acting different, he'd do his best to help.

With the radio's message, Brook could only think more about what had happened with his own friend, but he just kept telling himself to think positively. He had to believe there was still hope. "Ah, I think it has to do with the one in charge now," he tried. Rita's grumbling gave him a focus to keep his thoughts away from the possibilities. "That General's the enemy now I suppose. Both the Radio Man's and Landel's. The enemy of my enemy or some such?" he added, glancing up in case the Intercom was soon to follow. The two usually traded off warnings after all.

[bodhiandspirit]

"Doesn't help if the enemy of my enemy is ready to stab us in the back the next chance he gets," Rita grumbled. After everything the Head Doctor did to them all, it didn't look like a short partnership was going to make him rethink tormenting them all. From a practical standpoint, it was best to take out each of their enemies as soon as they showed their weaknesses.

Whatever. It wasn't Rita's choice. Marc could deal with the responsibility of letting that psycho loose once Landel went right back to his twisted ways. And she had no doubt that he would.

Rita glanced upward, too... and caught a glimpse of what looked like a light mist... or gas? She lost sight of it almost as soon as she noticed it, but... "Did you see that?" she asked Brook, nodding upwards to indicate where she meant. Maybe it was a hallucination... He might be able to confirm.

In the meantime, her complexion grew paler by the second... and even her clothes seemed to lose what little color they had. She still felt tingly all over, but Rita was doing her best to act as if everything was fine.

[promisedawhale]

"Well no..." Again, Brook found it difficult to argue with the strong reasoning of the young woman. She certainly said what she meant without hesitation and knew whom she considered to be the enemy.

Just as he was about to give up on hearing anything from the intercom in rebuttal to the Radio, the sight of something above kept him from looking back down. The flash of white startled him for how quickly it came and went and left him blinking at the ceiling in confusion. Just what was...? he thought first, then heard Rita's question and realized that he hadn't been seeing things. "Ah... I believe so...?" he blinked once more and looked down at her, "Something white...?"

She seemed to be about as confused as him, but if the both of them had seen it, then there must have been something there. Just what that was, Brook wasn't sure, but he knew it couldn't be good. Just seeing it had startled him and seeing that Rita seemed to have paled meant to him that she had been scared as well. She was still a child after all.

"You shouldn't worry too much on it though, Rita-san," he added for some encouragement, "So many things happen at night! Getting scared from each one would keep us from getting anywhere, yes?"

[bodhiandspirit]

Something white... He saw the same thing, then. That was a relief to hear; it meant that Rita's senses weren't completely out of whack. But her relief didn't last long. What was that mist? Rita remembered how the military released some sort of gas on the patients before... but her eyes and nose didn't feel irritated, so it couldn't be the same thing.

Just what were they trying to pull...?

She was pulled from her thoughts when Brook made some irritating comments. "I'm not worried. And who are you calling scared!?" she snapped at him, stomping over to the Medical Wing entrance. The lock on the door appeared to be broken, and she was able to enter easily.

[to here]