Night 51: F-A Block Hallway

[mizuhomaiden]

[from here]Sheena silently slipped into the hallway at the end of the block. Taking up a spot where she could be easily seen, and the gun-like weapon she was carrying, she waited for Aigis. She wanted to get this over with so she could00

Comments

[gald_digger]

[from here]

The metal handle of the mallet felt rough against Anise's burnt, bandaged hand, but she kept a firm grip on the weapon. With her other hand, she pointed the beam of the flashlight around the corner as she entered the main hallway of the female block, watching carefully for signs of monsters. When she saw none, Anise walked to the center of the hallway, just by the door to the washroom.

She stood off to the side as she waited for Ilia, occasionally shifting the flashlight to check the corners of the hall, in case some creature might try to sneak by in the darkness. It was pretty much impossible for Ilia to miss this meeting spot, so she figured she wouldn't be waiting very long.

[avengingfists]

[from here]Even in the hallways of the patient's block, Ilia felt threatened. Maybe if the darkness wasn't so thick, or the air wasn't so still. It felt like she was walking into a vacuum, bereft of everything save the oxygen she breathed. If she didn't have the flashlight to guide her, or a person waiting up for her, she didn't know if she would have left her room. No, she would have left. But this feeling, it wasn't natural. Luckily, Ilia was a determined person. She would keep moving, even if she had to force each step, one at a time

[gald_digger]

It wasn't long before Anise noticed the blonde enter from the very same hallway she had come from. So their rooms were in the same hall? That was convenient.

"Ilia, hi!" Anise chirped, returning the greeting with enough enthusiasm to make her seem out of place in the gloomy hall. "Pretty different, huh?" She gestured around the hallway, indicating the whole of the institute. Even after a few weeks, Anise could clearly remember how jarring it had been to experience the transition to night for the first time.

As if looking for something, Anise glanced around for a moment, then looked back to Ilia. "Hmm... If you want me to show you my artes, the best place to do it might be in the washroom here. Here in the halls, it might hit or startle somebody, and that would be kinda bad." There would be the problem of lousy lighting in a completely enclosed room like that, but most of the better lit rooms also tended to be hotspots for monsters. They'd have to make do with their flashlights.

[avengingfists]

Well, it was nice to see a smiling face despite all the gloom. It almost put Ilia to shame.   To think she had been nervous in the dark when little Anise took it all in stride. Maybe that confidence would come with time. With any luck, Ilia wouldn't be here long enough to need to gain that confidence.

"Yeah, definitely not what I expected," she replied. What had she expected? Just the normal, quiet darkness of a darkened building she supposed. It certainly fit the whole 'horror genre' madness most people had attributed to this place during the day. It was just so hard to believe when the sun was out and everything had seemed so mundane, so normal.

"Good idea." It certainly wouldn't be good to startle anyone when there were real dangers to reckon with around here. Ilia stepped up to the door and cautiously opened it before moving inside.

[no_dont_go]

[from here]

Aigis had not asked much about what to look for when she had posted on the bulletin. She knew only one thing about the poster; her name was 'Sheena.' But she had promised to meet the android first thing that night, so Aigis hoped she would find the girl easily.

Sure enough, only two females stood at the end of the hall. One looked much younger than the other, but both seemed to be waiting for someone. The dim light of Aigis' flashlight--was it losing power?--reflected back at her from something metallic and of a familiar shape in one of the girl's hands. Was that--

Aigis approached the older-looking girl, keeping her bat down so as not to look hostile. Her flashlight beam and eyes, however, remained poised on the Evoker. Her voice came out a little shaky, though her words held certainty. "Excuse me. You are Sheena-san, correct?"

[mizuhomaiden]

"Yeah, I am," the ninja replied. "You're Aigis, right?"

Sheena probably should not have been so willing to accept that this girl was Yukari's friend, but with the way she was staring at the weapon and with her own distractedness, the ninja just wanted to get on her way.

But to where?

"Sorry about your friend."

[no_dont_go]

Aigis nodded. She normally would have followed up with a polite saying, or express her pleasure at making her acquaintance but tonight she couldn't summon such pleasantries. This wasn't a meeting between new friends. It was a transaction.

"Yukari-san..." Aigis looked down for a moment, full of an emotion she could not place. It brought a heaviness to her eyes, like it had earlier that day, and a weigh in her chest that made breathing difficult, almost painful. How strange. Involuntary actions like breathing could become somehow rough and forced when experiencing astringent emotions. Humanity was such strange, wonderful, terrible thing.

She took another breath, then looked Sheena in the eye, fighting back the full force of the mystery emotion. "Yukari-san, did she manage... is the Evoker the only thing left?" Did she really leave them with nothing else? Not even a written word?

Would this have been easier had they been given a chance to say goodbye?

[mizuhomaiden]

"Yeah. Sorry." Sheena could only muster so much sympathy with her thoughts elsewhere. "When people disappear here they just disappear. I'm surprised this thing was left behind."

The ninja held the 'evoker' out. Odd name for a weapon. "My first roommate didn't leave anything behind."

[vsyourface]

[From here]

Scott felt more than a little weird venturing into the girls' block - not only due to obvious full-body-transformation-related trauma, but also just due to instincts ingrained since grade school. You just didn't go in rooms that had the little stick figure with a skirt on them. You'd get in trouble with the teacher and then get weird looks from every girl in the universe for at least the next few years. By this point, the response to anything marked "Women's" or "Girls'" or "Not For People Of The Male Persuasion" had just become downright Pavlovian.

So, it had taken Scott a few tries, but finally, he was able to beat back his instincts and enter. His gaze and flashlight beam darted around carefully, hoping to any and all deities known to mankind that he didn't run into whoever that brainwashed woman from the night before had been. Thankfully, he was quickly able to find the hallway he was looking for and slipped around the corner into it quickly.

[To here]

[vsyourface]

[Back from here]

"Sooooo... How was Day 1 for you?" Scott asked quietly as they moved back out into the main female block hall. He moved quickly and let his flashlight beam lead the way, still wanting to be seen in this area by as few people as possible.

[knives_throw_u]

Knives was pretty good at sneaking around; whether this was hereditary or something she learned had yet to be determined. "It was good!" she said with a smile, "I mean, everyone I met was really nice. Even the food wasn't too awful." She bit her lip. "It's weird, not having much to talk about. I usually had loads to say when I was in school..."

[vsyourface]

"Hey, that's not so surprising, right? I mean what're you gonna talk about? 'Wow, this place is still pretty crappy. How's your day? Crappy too? Wicked. All right, later.' Right? So don't worry. You'll meet some cool, helpful people eventually," Scott tried to reassure her, though frankly, Reassuring Mode wasn't exactly Scott's strongest suit. Maybe it was something he would grow into later? Whatever. It was at least good enough for Knives right now, he hoped as they moved into the main hall.

[To here]

[ai_no_minako]

[from here]

There were actually people in the larger hallway tonight, and Minako felt vaguely reassured by it. Though it was dark and she couldn't see anything of them but bobbing lights and dim figures, at least there were people. People having quiet conversations, and not screaming and running from monsters. Or fighting monsters. Quiet was good. Quiet meant it was safe, for the moment.

[to here]

[unchasind]

[from here]

The flickering bob of lights and low murmur of voices ahead slowed Morrigan's steps. Lacking any other viable direction, however, she rounded the corner into the next hall, if on alert and ready for a fight. What she found was...almost disappointing. None of the small pocket of people there seemed to be wary enough to be guards, and their garb seemed to be similar to her own.

More prisoners, perhaps? Milling about like cattle, no less. She sucked in a disgusted breath through her teeth, and continued onward. If they wanted to waste time rather than make their escape, it was no problem of hers.

[unchasind]

[to here]