Night 52: Stairwell by Waiting Room/Lobby 1

[poorexample]

[From here.]While it was his first time heading up the stairs, Castiel felt no trepidation. Even if he was alone and it was deathly quiet, he was used to unsettling situations and saw no reason to slow his march upward. Though at the sound of footsteps, he did glance over his shoulder for a split second, to see another patient who was taking the

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[timedork]

By the time the Doctor started up the stairs, the number of patients going in the same direction had thinned enough that there was only one other man ahead of him on the steps. He pointed his torch towards the other man, recognizing him as the one he'd seen leaving the block hallway earlier. None of the other patient he'd noticed tonight had been wearing a coat over their uniform, so the Doctor was sure it was him, even with the man's back to him.

The Doctor gave the man a smile when the other glanced back at him momentarily. They were the only ones in the stairwell, so it felt a bit weird not to say anything to him.

He lunged up the stairs, taking the steps by twos to catch up with the man in the coat. "Evening," the Doctor greeted once he was side-by-side with him. He wasn't sure if he'd call it 'good' or not, so that part was left out entirely. "Not travelling with anyone?"

[poorexample]

Maybe it would have been better if Castiel hadn't looked at the man at all, since now the stranger had apparently taken that as some sort of invitation. Nonetheless, he did slow down to let the other patient catch up to him, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye as he worked his way up the stairs. It was difficult to know if the man was trying to ask if he could come along or not

[timedork]

"So I am," the Doctor agreed, matching the stranger's pace now as they continued to climb the stairs. "I usually don't-I like having someone around-but I thought I'd give it a try tonight. Being alone isn't that bad, is it?"

He was, in some respects, simply trying to convince himself with his words. He'd never been particularly fond of being alone; even before he'd started taking humans along with him, he'd had Susan. But maybe it would be better for everyone if he were on his own-and not just here.

"Well, even so, it still can't beat having someone around," he continued swiftly, not giving the other man time enough to answer the question posed. He may have set out to have a look around on his own, but if the stranger was trying to head for the chapel as well... If the angel was there, the Doctor didn't want anyone to run into it without knowing what it was. "It sounds like you and I have the same destination in mind; I was headed to the chapel myself. I know where it is; I've been there once before-during the day."

[poorexample]

In Castiel's opinion, being alone was better than having someone with you who didn't know what they were doing. Back when he'd been working for Heaven, it had been different. He'd been paired with other soldiers who knew the rules to follow, and he hadn't minded then. They'd been his siblings, who he'd thought he could trust until everything had gone to Hell in the most literal sense.

But with humans, he didn't know how to deal with them half of the time, and he couldn't rely on them to know how to fight. Dean and Sam were different, but with a random person who started to talk to him in the middle of a stairwell--

They were going the same direction, and more than that, this man knew where the chapel was. Castiel stared at his back for a moment, but he didn't have much time to decide, and so in the end he followed him up.

Despite his best efforts, it seemed he'd be teaming up with someone after all.

[To here.]

[ai_no_minako]

Electricity wasn't really Minako's field of expertise, but she suspected Arthur was right -- and what kind of stuff was Dr. Landel up to to cause that kind of thing? She had a sudden mental picture of the man standing in one of those movies she'd seen years ago, as the mad scientist standing over a body on a table, waiting for the lightning to strike and bring his creation to life. Brr. She hoped not. This place was weird enough without undead monster things wandering around the hallways.

She blinked at the man in puzzlement as he started and looked to the side, but when she followed his gaze saw nothing out of the ordinary. (Well, if you could call anything in this place ordinary, especially after dark). It was enough to tell her that it had been better when she could only see it with the flashlights, but there certainly wasn't anything all that alarming about grossness. After a second's uncertain pause she finally just shrugged and moved on up the stairs. "Yeah, but what's he doing to cause a power surge? That's... not really

[vsyourface]

[From here]

It only occurred to Scott a few moments later that Matthew II had asked a question. "Oh, right, Landel. Uhh, I don't know for sure, but I've got a feeling we can find him in the basement at some point. That's just the kind of place evil dudes hang out, you know?"

He started up the stairs, hoping the others were following already. "I don't wanna go there tonight, though. Had a bad enough time trying to get down there with a big team of guys-" later a team of guys plus two girls, Scott remembered with a shudder and a sick tingle through his body "-so there's no way I want to try it with two guys I just met. No offense."

He paused on a step before he could continue, however. Among their shadows creeping up the wall, Scott could have sworn there was a weird movement again. And again, when he turned his head to be sure, there was nothing.

"Hey, there's no one else behind you guys, right?" he asked, a barely-there quaver in his throat.

[rischiarare]

As generally accepting as he was, Roxas wasn't bothered by the fact that one more patient had joined their exploration team. His question had been meant to skip the pleasantries and get down to business. He didn't want to disappoint Sora, after all. "I don't know what Canada is," the Nobody confessed as they began moving. Maybe it was near Russia? That was kind of a heft assumption, though; for all Roxas knew, they could have been on separate worlds. Or was Canada a world? Not to mention: why had he said where he was from? That didn't seem to be the normal introductory method...

"I'm from the World That Never Was, I guess." He shrugged, following Scott. It was good the lights at least were somewhat reliable; there was flickering, but it was much easier to see than he was accustomed to at night.

Roxas agreed with Scott's plan, having none of his own to offer. He was, however, surprised about what he talked about beyond that. "I didn't even know there was a basement," he replied honestly, wondering how the heck he'd missed that. What

[flou_canadian]

"R-Right." Matthew nodded uncertainly at Scott's statement. Did all bad guys really hide in basements? For all they knew, Mr. Landel could be living in a mansion a mile away from the asylum. But...unless they could find an exit from this place, searching the insides of the building was probably the best option they had

[vsyourface]

Scott wasn't entirely assured knowing that the others hadn't seen anything, but partial assurance was better than none at all, he guessed. "Okay, just checking," he said, glancing around one more time to be sure as a few other patients went up the stairs ahead of them (had that been Honda there? The dark-haired man and his buddy had gone by too quickly for Scott to say for sure).

Slowly, he resumed climbing, going back the question about the basement: "Anyway, correction - I kind of made it down with myself and a one-man army once before that. We were stopped in the first room by a two-headed fire-breathing monster from Hell." If Other Matt hadn't heard about the monsters before, well, he had now. The more people who knew what to prepare for in the basement, the better

[ran_on_empty]

[From here.]

Sync wasted no time making his way up the stairs, all the while idly turning the announcement about in his head. It seemed as if the Head Doctor was tuned in on a specific crowd for this night, one that the God-General easily found interest in. 'Hypocirtes' was what Landel called them, and Sync could think of plenty that fit the image perfectly. The whole world was full of them, corrupt bastards that would eventually get what was coming to them.

But the replica's thoughts were cut abruptly when his peripherals caught something, and Sync turned towards the wall with some confusion. The pause was short, however, and soon enough he continued up the stairs.

[witchdetective]

It seemed like Erika hadn't heard what Sync said and was still back in the hallway, muttering to herself, but a second set of footsteps following him would have confirmed that the detective had indeed followed him. She didn't mind; it was good that she met someone who could take some initiative.

And someone who was sharp. The boy stopped and looked at something at the wall, before continuing. Erika wondered briefly what it was before she, too, noticed something in her vision. Of course, with the lights flickering like this... It was easy to make false observations. A twisted look appeared on her face for a moment as she recalled how Battler was able to use that reasoning to combat hers...

Hmph, but she was getting the upper hand here, relentlessly investigating while he twiddled his thumbs for his beloved Beatrice to return. Boldly, the detective caught up and surpassed the boy as she purposefully strode up the stairs and pushed the door open to the second floor.

[ to here ]

[osoreirimasu]

[from here. and short post. sorry. orz]

And here he was, being shoved around by Russia, going up the stairs which were not as dark as he thought they might be, which was the only blessing he was likely to receive tonight. He'd already pulled the worst lot by being stuck with the monster, but if the area had been dark? He had no idea what he would have done.

"...do you know where to go, Russia-san?" Japan asked, trying to get away from Russia's hands so he could go up the stairs at his own pace.

[vodka_jump]

Now that he had an ally along for the journey, Russia was much happier about the trip. He plugged along behind Japan up the stairs; it was better for the elderly to go first. The country was fairly spry for his old age though.

"Of course! I came here before, but that was the night the doors were all acting funny," he explained. And if they didn't behave tonight, well, he might just have to break a few of them to make an example to the others.

There was his uniform too, which would've been nice to have, if only to give them a bit of authority in this place, but they were all stuck with the boring gray pajamas. Russia did like to keep his coat on though, despite how the nurses told him he didn't need it inside.

[ here]