Now, in the morning, I awoke before her

[stedelweissmods]

Day: 57
Characters: Cross Marian (underzealous), Howl Jenkins Pendragon (starcatch), Zack Fair (dogish), Rhode Kamelot (petitnoire), Garik "Face" Loran (posterboywraith), Cloud Strife (strifewithin), Alyss Heart (carbonrose), Yuu Kanda (lotusofsteel), Takeshi Yamamoto (mafiaballs), Rin Asano (cutest_avenger), Kojiro Sasaki (swallow_cut).
Summary: With a "borrowed" key from the morgue, a small group of patients dares another expedition to one of the asylum's less

Comments

STAFF BLOCK

[stedelweissmods]

[The old, unadorned wooden door is not locked, but behind it, you can hear faint voices, steps, and the occasional laugh or grunt. Two male voices that you do not recognise seem to have the most constancy, and occasionally, after the creak of a door and another pair of feet tapping over the stone floor, another male or female voice may join in, before disappearing again after another wooden creak. But it is late, and you know that most of staff is either sleeping, or following through with whatever kind of experiments they are busy with right now - and therefore, far away in the therapeutic block. The door opens surprisingly easily and silently, and leads to a large, but plain hallway with several doors on all sides. Straight ahead from the door that you have just passed through, a long corridor with doors on both sides (some opened, some closed, and the latter with the sounds of steps and work being done coming from behind them) leads to where your orientation tells you you need to be: the boiler room.

But careful: in the corridors to your right and left, you hear the unmistakeable, heavy steps of the guards on their patrols. This is the place to part ways; for some to stay behind and keep watch, and for the others to continue on their way.]

Re: STAFF BLOCK

[posterboywraith]

To Face, this was just another mission. He might not have access to the weapons or technology he would like, but he would simply have to deal with that accordingly and not let it slip him up. He waited silently for a moment, judging the tone of the voices behind the door; relaxed, easy conversation. He'd hear if it changed to anything more menacing. He could hear the other guards pacing, too, but didn't plan on slipping off to investigate.

Instead he hovered silently near the door then nodded once to the other assigned guard and jerked his head towards the boiler room, wishing he could trust these people as much as he would have trusted the Wraiths.

[underzealous]

Ushering his small group along in the darkness, Cross kept a watchful eye on his renegade pack. Thanks to labels, he knew the door ahead would lead right inside the staff area, but it was something they had to go through all the same. The door was carefully pushed open, hinges groaning, and the group silently herded inside by the General. Things were going well so far, but now the adventure (and danger) had only just begun.

He held up a hand to keep everyone in place, pointing to Rhode and Face. "You two. Stay here with me," he whispered. As for the rest of the group, Cross had something for them, as well. The boiler room key, which had been craftily hidden in his own bandages for so long, was now pulled from his pocket and held out, open for any one of them to take. He nodded towards the door at the end of the lengthy hall, muttering, "Everyone else go, don't waste time. Keep quiet, keep watch. I'll follow soon."

Right now, he would hang back with the hand-picked two and explain their roles. Whatever it was, it was likely something to do with the walkie talkies he held in his free hand, which also extended towards the group. One of them would need to take one, just as one would need to accept the key he offered. "One of you grab one. Stay together, use it for emergency communication."

Re: STAFF BLOCK

[lotusofsteel]

He hadn't really figured out on why he agreed on following Cross on this excavation for something neither of the people in the group knew about, much less knowing if it'd work at all. Snorting in his mind at it, he waited for Cross to finish talking before silently moving down the corridor, making sure not to let any sound escape his path. Stealth was one of his fortes after all, despite his still in his eyes pitiful state.

If the lotus was with him, he'd healed in half a day. But that was a thought he'd stopped hoping for. At least he didn't get dizzy from moving his head around anymore. Ridiculous. It was all ridiculous. He took a step ahead, then stopped as the murmurs of voices got louder before thinning out again. No excessive movement, and no talking. He could do that completely. Now he just missed the familiar weight of Mugen in his hand.

[underzealous]

He watched Kanda go, nodding just slightly in approval as he witnessed the teen making good use of his stealth and caution. If there was anything lurking ahead, Kanda was sure to find it before it was even aware of his presence.

Once the key was pulled from his fingers, that hand dropped. Now there was only a handheld radio to be taken by one of the remaining group. Howl's questions were answered first with a devilish smile. "Damn it all, you've discovered my plan." The usual sarcasm, of course. Heartless and mean as he could be at times, he had no intentions of sacrificing anyone. "Go open that door before the brat ahead has a conniption."

[mafiaballs]

It was easier if he thought of it like a game, he found. Just another one of those stealth-and-spy games, perhaps something that the baby (was his name Reborn? He was certain it was something like that) had concocted. Just another training run, just another game, all in good fun, let's have a good game today, haha. That way of thinking was easier, he knew, but not by much. Not by much at all. Yamamoto almost missed those days when it was so easy to take it all as one big round of make-believe. Almost. He knew he needed all the seriousness and focus he could muster. This was one game where he didn't really want to know the penalties for.

So he waited, and he listened, and once the man had finished his short little speech, Yamamoto nodded. Simple enough. Be quiet, keep down, watch your back. Like in Kokuyo, only this time, the price for slipping up looked to be more than a simple, bloody skirmish. All the more reason to start off carefully, light steps and even lighter breaths, a hand running through short hair as he fixed his eyes on the doorway ahead.
He supposed it might have been an exciting venture.

[petitnoire]

Rhode didn't seem terribly impressed by their mission, after all that. She knew better than to whine while they were walking, however, and when they finally stopped she just crossed her arms and waited. Whatever was going on wouldn't be fun, she was sure, but at least she wouldn't be sitting in her room being bored.

While Cross offered the key and shabby golem-like thing to the large group, Rhode looked around, watching the doors the voices were coming from, listening for footsteps. There was some excitement in the fact that they could get caught- Playing hide and seek, with much higher stakes. That was all.

She glanced to the Exorcist once more with a rather impatient tap of her foot, hands resting on her hips. "At this rate, they'll catch us before you've even gone in."

[posterboywraith]

Face fought back the urge to tell the rest of the group to cut the chatter. He wasn't lead on this mission, and he knew better than to expect these people to operate on the professional level of the commandos he was used to working with. Even so, the unnecessary talk was irritating. There was no reason to advertise their presence.

He watched Cross hand over the key and the primitive looking comlink, then said, his own voice perfectly pitched not to carry any farther than he wanted, "What's the plan, lead?" He also knew better than to use names on a mission like this, even if others didn't.

[underzealous]

Cross found himself quirking a grin at Rhode's complaining. "Let the kids get settled, gremlin." Now they were shuffling along, and he turned towards the two instructed to stand still. A radio was shoved in to Face's hands, with Cross assuming he could figure out how to work the technology. If not, he could always surrender the object over to Rhode.

"Right, then," he began, voice still on the quiet side. "Stay out in this area. Open some of these doors if you want, see if you can find anything important-- your main objective is to watch for staff." Pointing to the radio, he continued, "If anything happens, communicate, so we can get the hell out safely."

This last part was addressed to Rhode, and probably what she wanted to hear most-- "If things start to go bad, go wild, if you don't care about punishment." Shrug. "See you in a bit." It was time for him to join the rest of the brats; they didn't have much time to waste.

[stedelweissmods]

[The voices, formerly speaking in German, seem to have stopped. On the other hand, you can hear footsteps approaching - not too hurried, but obviously very directed. Now might be the appropriate time to find a hiding place.]

[petitnoire]

Rhode flashed a deviant little smirk at his last words, watching him leave before turning to look at the doors lining the corridor. She didn't fancy any kind of teamwork with her fellow watch. After all, she was smaller and it would be easier for her to get out of there quickly if it came to the wire. Casting a quick glance at Face, she stepped quietly down the hall, quite ready to peek in a few doors on the left wall.

Her plans, rather unfortunately, were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. The girl froze for a moment, listening to the sound before deciding they were deliberately coming closer. Glancing to Face, she moved down the hall again, looking to the first open door for a place to hide until the guards passed. Once she was sure there was no immediate danger in the room, Rhode slipped inside.

[stedelweissmods]

[The room in question turns out to be a small, but functional office of sorts, perhaps a meeting room for a small group of staff members. There are several small cabinets at the wall, albeit without the medical supplies found by some of the previous groups in the other offices. The small round table in the middle of the room with four chairs around it is empty, but given the scattered papers on the desk at the northern wall, along with an open pen, it is obvious that this room is, if not frequently, at least regularly used for meetings. The steps outside are resounding through the hall, then growing more distant again. Somehow, they seem more hurried now. There is the sound of a door, and then there is silence outside. Too much silence, perhaps.]

[petitnoire]

The quiet was a bit unnerving, but Rhode didn't step back into the hall just yet. Those papers looked promising, and she walked carefully around the table to get a better look at them. She pushed a few aside with her left hand, trying to get an idea of what someone had been writing about in here.

[posterboywraith]

Face accepted the radio, giving it a quick glance. Simple enough technology and he was sure he'd be able to figure it out. "If things go bad we'll try and stall them." He said with a nod, watching the others file into the boiler room, Cross last of all. Then they were gone, and it was just him and a girl he didn't know who did not look at all reliable in a pinch.

Just then, the voices stopped. In the silence he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. He couldn't see anyone coming but they sound like they'd be here in any moment. Exchanging a glance with Rhode he ducked into the nearest room with her, tugging the door silently shut behind him.

[stedelweissmods]

[The papers are exclusively written in German, and mostly seem to be a list of given names, with what seems to be a score behind them. None of the names should sound familiar to you, at least in the context of Edelweiss.]

[The closed door, on the other hand, turns out to be a wise decision. While the voices and steps suddenly seem to have vanished, it is only moments later that there is the sound of something else coming from the outside. A small shuffle, and a faint, light, wet impact. The next time, the sound is much closer - something dripping, nothing more. And then, it doesn't move anymore. From the sound of it, the source is now right in front of the door, faint as the sound is - until a light, female laugh resounds softly through the hall, muffled in the room you are hiding in by the closed door. This time, it is clearly directed at your hiding place. And then, just as slowly, the dripping sound fades away in the opposite direction, towards the boiler room.]