Stairwell by Waiting Room/Lobby 1

[officer_leon]

[from hereMuch emptier here. Didn't seem like anyone else had made it this far, yet. Leon turned on his flashlight and hurried up the stairs. Hopefully nothing too horrible would be hanging around on the second floor, though he wasn't about to hold his breath. There was Special Counseling tonight, and the odds were good that someone would be camped

Comments

[floraltempest]

[from here]

Wow, the stairs were kind of scary when they were empty... On the plus side that meant no monsters, but it was still unnerving. MOMO was beginning to question whether or not this was such a good idea, but it was a little late to be second guessing herself now. She'd come this far, after all; turning back now would've made this worth nothing. Plus she wanted to try and do something, not just sit in her room all night.

Taking a deep breath, the realian tightened her hold on her flashlight--just in case--and began walking up the stairs.

[scintillatingly]

[From here.]

The stairwell was almost completely empty, but Sora caught the sound of footsteps a little further up. Even though it was probably just another patient, he wanted to be sure - and besides, what if it was someone that he knew?

So he kept climbing, a little faster now, and then moved the flashlight's beam up to try and get a glimpse of who it was. When he spotted a short girl with pink hair, his first reaction was assuming that it was MOMO. The second thing he noticed was that whoever it was, they seemed to be on their own. That wasn't good!

"MOMO?" he called out, picking up the pace once again. He hoped Kaiji could keep up, and hopefully the man wouldn't mind that Sora was checking up on other patients when they had a clue to follow. It wasn't like he was making them take a detour or anything, so hopefully it would be okay.

[missedfortunes]

[ from here ]

When Kaiji noticed Sora speeding up the steps, he figured that either the boy had just picked up a lot of momentum or he'd noticed something. Either way, it was a clear sign that he needed to haul ass to catch up. It probably wasn't like either of them was going to get snatched away as soon as the other stopped looking, but Kaiji wasn't about to take that kind of chance regardless - for him or for Sora.

Overall he was no more than a few seconds behind at any given point, close enough that he caught sight of the girl who Sora was addressing at about the same time as the kid called out what he assumed was the girl's name. Aside from looking a little perplexed, Kaiji really didn't react to her at all. He just sort of stared awkwardly, not saying a word.

She had pink hair.

Weird.

[floraltempest]

As soon as she heard others on the stairs, MOMO moved to the side to make room. Whoever it was seemed to be moving quickly, if the footsteps were any indication, and the stairwell really wasn't the best place to be run into.

At the sound of her name, the realian paused and looked back over her shoulder, turning on her flashlight so she could see a little better. Once she saw Sora, she smiled, happy to see a familiar face--even if he did seem to be with someone she didn't recognize.

"Hi, Sora!" She turned slightly, waiting for the two to catch up as she clicked the flashlight off again. "It's good to see you again." Considering the type of place this was, it was always a relief to see the people she knew were still okay.

[scintillatingly]

So he hadn't been seeing things! It would have been slightly embarrassing if he had mistaken the girl for the wrong person - though could anyone judge too harshly when it was so hard to see around here?

Still, it really did look like MOMO was on her own, and he wondered what she had been thinking to head out alone like this. Hadn't she heard enough warnings about that by now? He frowned, moving a little closer to her as his expression became one of obvious concern.

"Where are you going on your own like this?" he asked. "You know it's not safe!" Maybe she could join up with them, if Kaiji didn't mind. Strength in numbers, after all. Sora was pretty sure that MOMO could take good care of herself, but that didn't mean she should ever go solo during nightshift. When it came down to it, though, he was glad she hadn't gotten herself hurt thus far.

[missedfortunes]

Kaiji began to wonder just how much of the institute Sora had managed to befriend by now. He said he had been there for about three weeks, give or take, and he seemed like one of those people. The kind who could get along with pretty much anyone, the kind who would smile and say the right thing. Like a younger, less annoying Sahara maybe. With any luck, Sora wouldn't follow in Sahara's footsteps though. Kaiji would be viciously protective if he had to - anything to avoid a repeat performance of the beam-walking incident.

The awkward and slightly confused staring resumed throughout the conversation between the other two as questions popped up, one after the other, in Kaiji's head. Pink hair? More importantly, why was he running into so many kids here? Throughout the day he only recalled speaking with one patient who didn't look to be significantly younger than him, and that was the Bleached Bastard who had bruised his cheek earlier

[floraltempest]

MOMO knew that what Sora said was true; she spent more than enough time in this place to know how dangerous it could be. Even so, she couldn't just let an opportunity like this pass by, and she had been lucky enough to avoid running into any monsters so far, at any rate

[scintillatingly]

Even though Sora realized they should be rushing (they were on a race against other patients, potentially), he wasn't one to just leave a friend to fend for herself like this. Luckily, it sounded like this could all get resolved rather easily

[missedfortunes]

Kaiji shrugged off the girl's apology. It wasn't anyone's fault that they happened to coincidentally run into each other, it just sort of happened and it would be stupid for him to be pissed off at her because of it. With a little nod, he acknowledged the introduction that Sora provided but said nothing yet. The kid was doing a decent enough job speaking for both of them: he was sort of the 'leader' here, and Kaiji wasn't about to try to usurp that position unless it was absolutely necessary. He didn't like following the lead of another, but sometimes that kind of thing was necessary.

When Sora presented the offer for MOMO to join them, though, Kaiji spoke up: "Yeah," he agreed, if only to show that he didn't mind the possible addition of a third person, "just make your decision quick." It was a bit firmly stated and a bit authoritative, but Kaiji wasn't about to lose this thing, whatever it was.

[floraltempest]

What a coincidence it was that they were doing the same thing. As Sora gave introductions, MOMO gave Kaiji a brief wave. She would've said something along the lines of 'its' nice to meet you' or offered an apology for not giving an introduction herself, but then Sora invited her to go with them. Luckily it didn't seem Kaiji had any objections to it either, so the realian nodded.

"Sure, that would be great!" It was always safer to travel with a group, after all. And since they were looking for the same thing, it made sense to team up and work together. "I was going to try the autopsy room too, so I think that'll work out perfectly."

"We should probably hurry up and move out of the stairs though, before something else finds us." MOMO had never seen anything on the stairs before, but it was better to play it safe. Besides, if Kaiji's tone was any indication, it was probably best to continue moving as quickly as possible.

[to here]