NIGHTSHIFT 35: M1-M10 HALLWAY

[cnflctofintrst]

Mello did not have high expectations for the evening.

If the previous night had been any indication, they'd get about thirty feet before Near's obsessive observation habits ruined any hope of beating the time curve, but without the bulletin to find a new group he had no choice to repeat the effort.

Normally, he waited several minutes to set out into

Comments

Re: M5

[gald_digger]

"Wow! So it makes fire? Ahh, if only we had something like that here..." The image of the institute burning to the ground came to mind, but it was pretty clear that a little arson wouldn't be enough to bring about results like that. Not to mention any clues to finding a way home would most likely be somewhere in the building to begin with. A girl could dream though, couldn't she? As an afterthought, she added, "Well, I guess there are a lot of things I wish we had right now." An exit, for one.

Motioning for the Fon Master to follow, she started towards the Colonel's room, turning her head to face him as she walked. "It was shorter than I would've liked, but I had fun! And Guy was a perfect gentleman, as always." Anise turned to face ahead once again as though she had said everything she wanted to, but after a moment of thought she added, "He's really come a long way."

She had to give the guy credit, after all. Anise had never been especially mindful about keeping her distance, and yet he went the whole day without making a scene! If she didn't know better, she wouldn't have even guessed he had a problem with girls to begin with. He couldn't be far from a full recovery now!

Re: M5

[gald_digger]

Anybody else might have considered swiping the device and running off with it, but it came as no surprise to Anise that it apparently hadn't crossed Ion's mind. There was no use in bringing it up at this point, either: it was too late to run back and get it, and she couldn't exactly expect the Fon Master to stoop to stealing from hardware stores. She had a hard enough time visualizing it, even.

When she reached the door to M1, Anise gave it a few knocks. She didn't hear anything from inside, and it seemed a little unlikely that anyone would even be there, but it was the only polite thing to do. After all, it would look bad if they just barged in on the Colonel or his roommate unannounced.

Ion was right to worry about Luke. Anise wondered if there was such thing as a gentle way to break the bad news. "Actually, I talked to Guy and the Colonel about that just yesterday," she began, knowing that this wasn't going to sound very good no matter how she said it. "There's, um... been no sign of Luke in a while. Same with Tear and Asch. I... guess they disappeared." She managed to keep her tone calm and even, but her voice came out quiet enough to betray her own discomfort with the situation. Having people close to her disappear was plenty distressing, and then on top of it there was the fear of who might be next...

M1

[gald_digger]

"They'll be okay." Anise might have been trying to reassure herself as much as she was Ion, but there were the rumors on the bulletin about the whereabouts of all the missing patients. If they really had been brainwashed into living these false lives... as terrible as that was, it would mean they were safe for now. "We'll see them again when we get out of here."

There was no answer at the door, so she opened it and peeked inside. Nobody home.

"Yeah, let's do that. We can drop off those notes you took for him, too," she answered, stepping into the dark room. Anise remembered which side of the room the Colonel had been seated at when she made her brief visit the previous night, so she made her way over to the corresponding desk. Pulling Tokunaga down from her back, she retrieved the key she had stuffed in its little sack. The key was then placed on the desk.

"Here should be good."