Night 48: M21-30 Hallway

[sdatislife]

Shinji was worried. He'd been waiting for a while - Kaworu still hadn't arrived. He didn't know why and as always his insecurities had begun to flare up. Maybe he'd changed his mind. Maybe he didn't really want to see Shinji. Maybe he'd simply been hallucinating the whole thing. Shinji glanced down the darkened hallway, flashlight dangling from his

Comments

M25

[quarter_english]

L gave his full attention to the two successive announcements on the intercom, then clicked the switch on his flashlight.

All day, he had taken minor satisfaction -- a pleasure that was real, but that he knew to be pointless -- in Landel's apparent discomfort. Reveling in mild, vicious amusement over the sniffles was all right as far as it went, in perspective, but it shouldn't be a distraction from what was being said.

More patients were to be experimental subjects tonight, with the indication that none had ever been selected twice before, and now would be. Why? He was curious about what the experiments entailed, but perhaps not so curious that he wanted to be subjected to them himself. Still, if they have not yet selected me, what are the criteria for a repeat performance? The question made him frown, and a small knot of anxiety began to form in the pit of his stomach: the scale of experimentation appeared to be much broader than he had previously understood. How much longer can I expect to avoid it?Like any other fear, he would

Re: M25

[bprd_fishman]

Abe was finishing up his dessert when the announcement came on. Another of their number down, then, though it seemed to make no difference.

"Of course. More organization among the more resourceful of us can only be a good thing." Abe found it hardly elitism to admit that most of the patients were either untrained or simpletons. It wasn't their fault, not everyone had the benefit of an analytical mind or years of government training in combat and investigation, but it did make them rather useless for anything but protecting.

Speaking of protecting...oh god, Scarecrow. "Do we know who they've taken this time?" Abe asked quietly, trying to hide his nervousness in the last of his food. He'd be long gone by now, there'd be nothing Abe could do even if he bolted out the door and ran upstairs. The last time he'd done something so foolish...best not to think of it.

Re: M25

[its_the_mileage]

[from here]

Indy counted rooms as he went; M25 was just past the halfway point of the hallway. He stopped briefly in front of the door to listen and caught the muted strains of Ryuuzaki's voice and one other--roommate, Indy figured, since he was one of the first ones in the halls.

No point in standing around. He rapped on the door with the knuckles of his flashlight hand, announcing, "It's Indiana Jones" loud enough to be heard inside the room as he did.

Re: M25

[quarter_english]

L opened his mouth to answer Abe, but before he could get a single word out, he was interrupted by a knock on the door, and Dr. Jones announcing himself. He hopped out of his chair, made his way to the door, and snapped it open, leaving a gap of about twelve centimeters or so.

He peered into the hall. Jones's torch gave off enough light that L didn't need his own to confirm that his visitor was alone. He stepped back from the door and swung it open, then moved back to his chair, and greeted the new arrival with a nod.

"Dr. Jones. Abe and I were discussing the experimental trials." He returned his attention to his roommate. "As I was going to say before Dr. Jones arrived, I have no idea who has been taken. Mr. Javert intends to look into their welfare later this evening, though."

Re: M25

[bprd_fishman]

Abe gave a small bow in Dr. Jones' general direction. Trustworthy enough, if L let him in the door, and he had an honest face. Idly Abe wondered what his doctorate was in but left the question until he answered the more important issues.

"Have they ever killed anyone they've taken, either by purpose or by accident?" While keeping his face and voice calm was no great struggle, Abe's nervous hands were nearly twisting his spoon in half.

Information. Stay clearheaded, Blue, stay the brain instead of the brawn. It was so much harder to stay calm without Red to do the raging and asskicking for him. Abe almost had to overcompensate to fill the gap left in their dynamic by his brother's absence.

Re: M25

[its_the_mileage]

Indy nodded back at Abe; evidently Ryuuzaki wasn't any better at introducing other people than he was at introducing himself. The room was laid out the same way his was, with the principal differences being that it was already dimly lit and that both its chairs were occupied. He flicked his own flashlight off and found a place to stand near the wall

Re: M25

[slipperymagic]

[From here.]

The room was not so far from his own, and Howl found it easily. When he was just outside the door, he spared a moment preparing himself, rebuilding those walls that this place made flimsy and transparent. The motions of straightening his jacket and hair were as much mental preparation as they were vanity. Howl had a sneaking suspicion that he would need to be completely put together and without a single crack for whatever Ryuuzaki had to say. Not that it would particularly matter, since he had a feeling Ryuuzaki rarely had trouble seeing through whatever facade he put up. It was a matter of pride and completeness, though.

Once he felt ready, Howl put on his most sincere, harmless smile and knocked sharply on the door.

Re: M25

[unmocked_lawr]

[from here]

There was an unfamiliar young man already waiting in front of the door when Javert arrived--one whom he had seen once or twice in the Institute but had not yet had the chance to meet.

Perhaps he was here for the meeting; perhaps not. He inclined his head in a gesture of acknowledgement and settled wordlessly back on his heels.

Re: M25

[quarter_english]

In this instance, asking who was there was a waste of time. The door was not locked. Only a certain number of people had been invited to the meeting, and the invitations had been as subtle as he could make them, under the circumstances.

If someone showed up who was uninvited, L could do little to stop them, except to refuse to talk. There was always the possibility that any uninvited guests might be a physical threat, but he thought it was improbable: they would come out of curiosity related to a found or pilfered note reading M25 TONIGHT, and they would not be sure what they might encounter there. If an opportunity to perpetuate carnage were the draw, there were easier pickings in lonelier areas

Re: M25

[bprd_fishman]

Abe gave both of them another bowing nod. He didn't know Howell, although apparently he'd also gotten a set of non-institute clothes. Javert's face, of course, he'd read from the constant bulletin board posts. "A pleasure."

He turned back to Dr. Jones. "Has anyone found out the reasoning behind the experimentation? It seems a lot of hoops and formal ritual to go through if Landel merely takes power from the pain of others."

Re: M25

[its_the_mileage]

"I should have brought a bottle of wine," Indy commented, not entirely under his breath, as Ryuuzaki jumped up and let two more people into the room. He hadn't known this was going to be what qualified at Landel's as a large gathering

Re: M25

[slipperymagic]

Howl smiled at everyone and swept into the room as if it were his own. He found a seat on the bed he thought was Ryuuzaki's. Not that Howl was regularly very considerate of boundaries, it was slightly more comfortable to push them with someone he had at least held a conversation or two with. That Ryuzaki might be the sort to get annoyed briefly crossed his mind, but Howl had plenty of experience with fussy sorts.

The others were an interesting bunch. It didn't shock him that Ryuuzaki had gathered up the best he could find, and he had certainly read the name Javert more than once or twice on the bulletin board. Howl mutually recognized Dr. Jones from the night Keman was mauled. (Honestly, nothing could keep that boy out of trouble.) They all looked very serious, so Howl smiled even more charmingly.

"Theories are all well and good," he interjected politely, adjusting his hair over his shoulder, "but it sounds as though we have very little in the way of details between the lot of us. Has anyone ever attempted to interview the victims?"

Re: M25

[unmocked_lawr]

Javert entered silently after Howell. Evidently he was not the only one who had elected to wear his own clothing tonight. None of the faces before him were wholly unfamiliar; he inclined his head slightly to each, expression neutral

1/2

[quarter_english]

L waited a while after Howell and Javert's arrival, with a growing sense that if he didn't speak, the mood would quickly grow restless; neither he nor the majority of the men he had invited had much interest in idle chatter for its own sake. He rolled his eyes when Howell took a seat on his bed, but didn't comment. In a small room, there were only a certain number of places to sit. Javert, he noticed, looked just as he would have expected, and L's thoughts bounced between satisfaction and suspicion, unconvinced that it wasn't simply a costume.

Minutes passed, marked by Lunge's continuing absence.

There was a chance that he had been attacked on the journey between his own room and L's, but it was only a small one; the areas around their rooms were generally regarded as safer than anywhere else. L didn't have the impression that Lunge would have elected not to attend the meeting. If he had been aware of another commitment, he would have left a message for "Lars." What else could have happened to him

2/2

[quarter_english]

"Patients have managed to map this floor and the next, and they have managed to report on the creatures which have attacked them, but it seems that no one has been able to turn the situation to their advantage or to leave of their own accord. Information-gathering is useful; however, something beyond mere survival and existence must be done with the information. If anyone who was here in the past had been truly successful in that way, it would be an active subject in the rumor mill. I haven't heard a single suggestion that anyone has escaped, or seriously undermined Landel. We are pressed to believe that the hope of doing so is a futile one

Re: 2/2

[bprd_fishman]

Abe waited patiently, nodding in appropriate areas and withholding his comments until L was done. L's assumptions meshed with his own theories on the subject. Trying to impact the institute itself during the day or night would be useless, it would simply reform by the next dawn. An attack on Landel himself or whatever mechanism kept this infernal place running was the only way to stop it, and where or even what they were was still a complete unknown.

The place's properties also meant that if they planned any unified assault the entire thing would have to be carried out, fully and successfully, in a single night. When it was difficult just to get a gathering of this size together in one room and the threat of capture haunted even those who had already undergone their torments, it seemed an impossible task.

When the radio had finished Abe turned to L expectantly. "Please continue."