Night 47: Main Hallway, 1-Center

[tyki_pon]

[From here]Tyki moved further down the hallway at an easy pace, noticing the lack of other patients around here but he didn't really care much about it. Perhaps it meant no one would snag any smokes away from under his nose this time, but then again, that may have been too optimistic. Eh, but that hardly meant that another person would get away

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[ninelivesonce]

[from here]

She wasn't the first one here, but she wasn't the last. Taura breathed a sigh of relief as she surveyed the hall. Kenshin and Kaoru were chatting across the hall by the doors -- waiting for the group, not waiting for a lone straggler.

She waved at them from her vantage point -- somewhere she could see anything approaching them from behind, and they could do the same. That accounted for, she leaned up against the wall and waited.

[notachick]

[from here]

And there she was. Okita kept a careful guard up even as he let an easy smile grace his lips as he approached Taura. He could see Himura and his friend waiting as well, but he made sure to avoid them as much as possible. After what had happened the last time they met, Okita doubted Kaoru would be very hospitable or even open to the idea of Okita so much as greeting them.

Taura was easy enough to spot. Her tall frame made her stand out among the patients during the daytime well enough, and at night even more so. Okita didn't waste any time in walking up to her, waving slightly as he did so. "Good evening, Taura-san. I hope I did not keep you waiting for too long."

[ninelivesonce]

"No, not long. Though it was long enough to see a group come staggering back out. There's something in there." She paused, and then offered more tentatively, "We may need both groups working together to get one through."

She would play decoy, if it was asked of her, but she was curious about the basement. It was another mysterious destination, one she hoped was more than a well-guarded armory.

[notachick]

Something in there indeed. Okita moved closer to the doors and listened for a moment, closing his eyes as he strained to hear through the Sun Room doors. The sound of a battle reached him, and words that he couldn't make out, but it was obvious what was going on. He took a step back and nodded at Taura's assessment. They'd need both groups if any of them were going to make it through. Or they'd need to take a secondary route. "It would appear that tonight is the night they brainwash the patients and force them to work for the Institute."

He turned to look at Taura, resting one hand on the hilt of his sword as he thought. "The Sun Room is certainly a popular destination, isn't it? I wonder why it's always so heavily guarded."

[ninelivesonce]

"Central location...but almost indefensible." Taura's golden eyes were focused on a strategy chart only she could see. "It'd be impossible to hold against a coordinated attack. Why do we act in such small groups?"

Even if the patient inside was well-armed, it would take something that could blow half the Institute to withstand a concerted rush. Unhealthy for the people who drew frontal attack duty, but possible. Too much waste for just a brainwashed fellow inmate -- soldiers didn't grow on trees. Or in labs, present company excepted. But for a real target, yes. Taura would take the gamble. Life was too precious not to risk.

Speaking of personnel -- it might be a little awkward, but it was easier than asking Homura. "And...we're still looking for new recruits, right?"

[notachick]

The way Taura's eyes unfocused on her surroundings was interesting and Okita couldn't help but watch her. She was a fighter alright, a warrior the likes of which he'd seen countless times in his own country. They had a most peculiar way about them, a detachment from the battle that allowed them to keep a running tab on the ever-changing battlefield strategies. Such warriors were valuable and it took a great deal of training to cultivate one; although without natural talent, no amount of training could hope to create one.

"People here are slow to trust," Okita replied, looking over at Himura and Kaoru as they spoke down the way. "And we all have our reasons for not working together." Such as how he'd take any opportunity to slay the one responsible for the death of his men. "Not that we don't, but it's more difficult to organize when people are more focused on finding our target than fighting him. The brainwased patients are merely unfortunates. They can be avoided to preserve strength for later, more important missions

[ninelivesonce]

Taura tended towards snap decisions; she wasn't always right, but by the time it mattered it was too late. And so far she'd survived; if she could tell one thing, it was the difference between someone who could use her and someone who wanted to use her. Between someone who valued her and someone who was looking for the highest bidder. She hadn't had to think twice about anyone she'd met in the History Club; the agenda might be vague but she fit as well as she did anywhere.

"Um, yeah. I had lunch today," and the day before yesterday, but that had been Kitty, and didn't need mentioning, "with a guy named Raphael. He said he'd never heard back, but that he was willing to fight. Eager, even, though not too much." She hoped. He'd been angry, but keeping it under control.

[she_is_ruin]

[from here]As she neared the rendezvous point, Yomi slowed her pace down, covertly scoping the latter half of the hallway. This Homura alone had planned quite the gathering--large, for how the prisoners normally liked to operate. Each group the size of a regular unit

[notachick]

Raphael? Okita hadn't heard that name be-- Oh, wait, he had. That was Yuffie's training buddy, wasn't he? He seemed to have a bit of a temper, but was an all around good person as far as the bulletin board went. Roping in that temper would be interesting, especially for someone like Yuffie who usually ended up pushing buttons rather than staying away from them. But to hear that he'd been interested in the club and Okita hadn't noticed? It must have been one of the days he wasn't feeling well, or something like that. "Well, that's certainly unusual that we didn't reply. I'll see if I can't get in contact with him soon enough. I assure you, it was likely an oversight on our part and not that we didn't want his help." And to add a bit of irony into the conversation, he tacked on, "We're only human after all. It must have been a mistake

[ninelivesonce]

"Yeah," Taura murmured under her breath at Okita's comment. Yeah, they were. It still felt good to hear someone call her human, even as part of a joke.

If nothing else, maybe she'd helped someone else feel like they fit here, too. And that was as far as the thought got before their third member arrived.

"Ms. Yomi." Taura nodded in greeting. "I'm Taura. We were just talking about how to proceed. There's a brainwashed patient in the Sun Room."

[she_is_ruin]

Yomi turned her smile up a notch, balancing her gaze between the two of them. "I finally decided to dip that toe in. I’m glad to work with a familiar face." She no longer had motivation to keep up the tiny deceits and theatrical acting that made up people’s lives--nodding, smiling, minding others’ feelings, falling in line--but there was more enjoyment in continuing to play those sorts of games, to an extent. Addressing Okita, she asked, "Do you prefer a name

[notachick]

[Sorry for the wait - it's testing time so I'm pretty busy at work.]

"On the bulletin I prefer the name given. For those I trust with my identity, then Okita is fine." Why was it that Yomi set off so many alarm bells in his head? It wasn't like she was particularly threatening or had done anything other that witness a particularly painful moment in his own history, so why? It wasn't even her mannerisms that set him off because he was used to working with people who shared her attitude toward life quite often and it never bothered him before. It was something though, and the fact that he couldn't put his finger on it was bothersome, like he was trying to thread a needle with a spiderweb. "Although I could ask you the same. It's good to see you've decided to join us

[ninelivesonce]

"So the entrance to the basement is in the kitchen?" Any stairs down had been conspicuously absent from the maps Taura had, but since the meeting place was familiar, she hadn't asked. "That makes the Sun Room more of a key junction, despite the difficulty in defending it." The cafeteria would still be a better choice, for a variety of reasons, the chief of which was the presence of a ceiling. But arguing with opportunity was pointless. The general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack. That was another of Commodore Tung's quotes, and she'd never actually seen it in action. Her missions had been about making opportunities; not being handed a poison pill of a weak point

[she_is_ruin]

Okita’s response brought another smile to the corner of her mouth. “Hayashi or Yomi, whatever you’re comfortable with. I guess it’s just more mannerly to use a family name in some respects.” She played her pitch perfectly: merely a person born and bred Japanese, still mindful of the conventions that she offer her surname, while being casual enough to not mind the use of her first name in person. So long as she kept to it, it would easily explain (and promote) the use of ‘Hayashi’ without her having to draw attention to her own machinations

[notachick]

Since Homura had yet to appear, Okita was tempted to go looking for him. As their leader, he had the final say in any and all operations, but in his absence that role fell to Okita. The swordsman wasn't unaccustomed to giving orders and organizing battlefield strategy, but he also disliked the idea of leaving a meeting place when his captain had yet to arrive. If something was delaying him - or worse, attacking him - then it would be their job to go to his defense. Not that...Homura likely needed defending, but the duty remained. For a long moment, Okita fell silent as he watched the Sun Room doors, listening to whatever he could catch from the other side

[ninelivesonce]

Good; Okita was willing to take charge. Taura had worried; she had been given command, but never needed to take it, and she had been hesitant to do more than suggest. And Yomi's entrance had turned a friendly conversation into a battlefield; Taura was only too glad to take something to do and run with it.

"I've only been there during the day, but I'm familiar with it."

She took a deep breath. If this were to be necessary information, the mission was apt to be in dire straits already (or at least her portion of it), but it didn't hurt to be prepared. "Where is the basement entrance, in case I need to catch up? If I'm not back in a few minutes, I was likely unable to avoid another engagement."

After she had her answer, she nodded and moved off, moving with far more grace and less noise than her bulk might imply.

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