Night 46: North of the Institute

[unheroed]

[From here.]The landing was rough, but not as bad as it could have been. Pressing a hand against the ground to brace himself, Harvey straightened painfully and then searched around for his flashlight and pipe. The former was easier to fine, and once he'd collected that and turned it back on, he used it to run over the ground as he waited for the

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[its_the_mileage]

Indy waited until Dent was more or less safely down and then pushed off the wall himself. As predicted, it was a pretty smooth landing. At least he managed not to make a fool of himself again.

He unzipped the flashlight from his jacket pocket and turned it on--out here was one of the few places it was worthwhile to keep two lights on and burn two sets of batteries. The fog was still fairly easy to navigate here, but if he remembered right, it got thicker in a hurry the closer you got to the site.

If there was anything else moving nearby, it was doing a good job of hiding itself. Wary nonetheless, Indy followed Dent along the route he'd outlined.

"What were you planning on doing if your friend showed up?" he asked out of curiosity, still keeping his voice down.

[unheroed]

It was a few seconds after Jones had landed that Harvey found his pipe. Good thing that the forest hadn't somehow absorbed it or something -- that was just the sort of thing he would expect from this place by now. Ridiculous, annoying things that didn't make sense and were only meant to trip them up.

But he had managed to reclaim his weapon, and he could already tell that now wasn't the time to worry about saving battery power. It was darker than should be allowed out here, and if some wild animal was going to creep up on them, he'd like some advance notice if they could manage it

[its_the_mileage]

They still had a little way to go along the back wall, which Indy could admit to himself he wasn't sorry about. It felt reassuring to have the constant means of keeping your bearings, so at least you knew you were walking in a straight line. There hadn't been many landmarks to identify in those woods, especially with the fog; once they veered off from the road, he'd be relying mostly on instinct and luck to get them to the site

[unheroed]

While Harvey had heard some vague mentions of the basement over the bulletin board and wherever else (it was hard to keep track of where he'd heard what), he hadn't put too much effort into finding out about it. All of his attention had been focused on cornering Batman for a while now (why not take advantage of the fact that they were both stuck in a relatively small space?), and so he hadn't put as much effort into finding things out. He'd wanted to deal with the vigilante before getting back to the rest of people he needed to make pay

[hajike_tobiume]

[from here]

Momo landed softly on ground outside the wall. Keeping her hand on her sword, she started traveling along the wall in the direction she recalled traveling the last time she'd been to the ruined town. Of course, she shouldn't be doing this alone, but she wasn't feeling very social and, for the moment, the lack of responsibility to anyone but herself was refreshing.

[hajike_tobiume]

Pausing at the edge of the institute's wall, Momo checked for enemies before leaving the cover the wall granted her.

[to here]

[gald_digger]

[from here]

Sneaking around and climbing over walls like this reminded Anise of the time she and Ion left Daath in secret, just before their journey began. Only then, she had gentle, cooperative Ion by her side, and this time, she had... this guy. Aidou was definitely seeming less and less like a charming prince by the minute. Most men would be delighted to have someone like Anise along with them - or they'd act least act like they were.

Anise took a moment to step away and look back at the institute. This was the first time she'd ever seen the building from this angle, even if all she could make out was its massive, looming silhouette.

But once that sight was taken in, Anise brought herself back to the wall. If it could provide cover in the recreational field, it could probably do the same for them out here, at least until they reached the east end.

[blood_and_pocky]

What, like his point became less valid with time? It was quite the opposite. And the longer this went on, the longer he left himself open for a series of… well, the options were numerous, and none of them good. If he believed for a second Anise could actually be an effective companion of sorts, capable of defending against foes, everything she could do he could probably do just as well, anyway. Probably better. The same applied to all of Aidou’s ‘companions’, but where he got along well enough with Sasuke, he couldn’t reconcile the boy’s personality with Anise’s. Knowing half of what Sasuke did about him, Anise would no doubt out him in a minute, and he’d rather not have that

[gald_digger]

Once again, Aidou's movements were way more agile than expected. Anise wasn't sure what to think of it. It seemed pretty unusual to her, but maybe it wasn't so weird where he came from. It was always so hard to judge other-worlders.

"Huh? Didn't we just go over this?" Anise looked surprised at the question. After all the arguing they'd already done, he wanted to do more? Hoping it would get him to back off quickly, she tried to look hurt while she replied. "I want to spend more time with you. Is that bad

[blood_and_pocky]

They had, but when the answer didn’t satisfy Aidou, there was nothing resolved about the subject. “I don’t think that’s true,” was the vampire’s response at first. “So perhaps it is.” Playing on affections with a certain lack of sincerity was something he, himself, had been doing for ages, and the fact that Anise seemed to do the same, with him no less, would’ve bothered him had he been outside Landel’s. Here, though, that she hadn’t been taken in by him was mostly water under the bridge. He just didn’t believe her. It was about time she realized that

[thatdamnedninja]

[From here]

Without further ado, the young ninja backflipped off the wall and into the mists down below. She twisted in midair to put her back to the wall and, as she landed as softly as she knew how, immediately brought her shuriken to bear.

"We're clear," she said, voice pitched low but just loud enough to reach them. No bears charging out of the woodlands yet, as far as she could hear; no immediate danger to be worried about. Now, if she'd gone and landed in something's mouth, that'd have been a bit of a bother. A worse bother than the fog was, totally. And the fog was bad, even worse than usual. Yuffie narrowed her eyes as she straightened from her crouch, and stepped a few paces away from the wall's shelter.

How much worse was it gonna be when they got further out? It was always clearest closer to the institute, but when it got thick and rolling, it got thick. And rolling. Like soup, or congealed porridge, or that butterball, Palmer.

[petalwitch]

"If you're not careful, those hips might land right on you," Aerith shot back with a grin. She wasn't a terribly hefty girl herself, and unlike Yuffie, she lacked any kind of surprising strength for her build. The flower girl was even a little wary of taking a jump down the wall for fear of landing incorrectly. A twisted ankle would put a pretty big damper on their plans for the night. Of course, there was one way to make sure she wouldn't. Aerith turned her head slightly, careful to keep her balance, looking at Cloud.

"You first, Cloud. You can catch me after you get down," she informed him brightly.

[notthistrain]

Cloud allowed himself to pry his eyes away from the sky long enough to get a good look down at the ground on the other side. It looked safe enough, but Aerith was obviously hesitant. Someone who wasn't as athletic could hurt themselves from such a height...

"I'll do you one better. Hold on." With that, he placed the blade of the wakizashi between his teeth, readjusted his grip on his flashlight, and reached over to lift the girl up in his arms. A catch could be fumbled, but this way she was certain to reach the ground safely.

He slid off the edge of the wall then, landing lightly in a crouch below, allowing Aerith to get up and move away before he stood himself.