NIGHTSHIFT 34: Outside the Institute (North)

[byname_bynature]

( From here.Artemis was the first to drop down onto the other side of the wall. He stumbled a little from the jump, but recovered well enough. He looked back up at Hitsugaya and Hanatarou and motioned to them in the darkness

Comments

[mitase]

The sound of some kind of fight had caught Hanatarou's attention, and he'd stared in that direction for a moment before Artemis' order had suddenly recalled to what he was supposed to be doing. Fortunately the light was dim enough that the others likely wouldn't see the embarrassed flush on his cheeks, which only got darker as he struggled with the whole wall-scaling business.

He dropped to the ground, grateful for the light the other was providing, staggering and ending up rather unceremoniously planted on his backside upon landing. The shinigami scrambled quickly to his feet again, absently brushing himself off as he glanced around. "Where are we going?" he whispered, voice only shaking a little.

[whiteychan]

Hitsugaya's drop was far more graceful than Hanatarou's drop. He landed behind the other shinigami in a crouch, one hand on the ground to steady him as he scanned the shadows around them. Who knew what else was lingering in that darkness?

He stepped out of the way to allow Artemis a decent place to drop and pulled out his own light, turning it on and shining it in the same space Artemis had provided. He couldn't help but notice that his light had grown dimmer...it was still bright enough to offer ample illumination, but whatever strange magics kept this light active seemed to be wearing out. He'd ask Fowl once he dropped.

"We're heading north," Hitsugaya said, his tone quiet. "We don't know what's up there but our goal is to see if we can't find a member of this resistance on the radio."

[byname_bynature]

Artemis looked up at the terrain sloping upward through the wilting trees. It didn't look like there was much out there, but the group had to start somewhere. They were charting new territory at this point. Who knew what could be out there.

"Best conserve energy," Artemis said, turning on his flashlight. "I rarely use mine, so I'll take a turn tonight. This way." He began picking his way through the woods to the raised terrain.

[mitase]

Resistance on the radio? The description made essentially no sense to Hanatarou, and he opened his mouth to ask for clarification - but then glanced at the captain again and quickly changed his mind. Hitsugaya-taichou didn't sound particularly annoyed at him at the moment, and it was probably best not to change that unless necessary.

At Artemis' suggestion, the healer nodded slightly and turned off his own light, shoving the thing into his makeshift bag. It would have been nice if he'd figured out how to rig some kind of carry-strap for it, so he could have his hands free. Not so he could fight or anything, of course...he just wanted to be prepared to catch himself when (not if) he tripped and fell. It was something to think about for later, certainly.

[littlegoblinjr]

[from here]

Landing awkwardly on the other side of the wall, Harry stumbled on the rough ground. Righting himself shakily he moved back, waiting for Peter to join him. Surveying the area, he thought he could see some other patients trying to make a break for it too, but hopefully there wasn't going to be any need for heroics tonight. But, that was his father's sort of thinking wasn't it, wanting to leave others to defend themselves while he took care of himself. Pacing impatiently, he waited.

[a_spider_can]

Harry had gotten up and over that wall faster than Peter had expected. Then again, he had a different perspective on how everyone else ranked in terms of physical prowess now that he had his own strength and agility. Either way, Peter didn't hesitate with scaling the wall himself. With the help of the vines and his own ability to stick to walls, it was no problem at all

[blurred_divide]

[from here]

Angel landed on the other side in one fluid motion and straightened up. After being in pretty much the same location day in and day out, it was almost strange to be seeing something new. Rocky terrain. Great. They couldn't have gotten a nice, flat walking surface?

He didn't spend too long eyeing his surroundings, though. Instead, he turned back to the others after a second or two. So far, so good. Nothing had tried to rip them apart, at least.

He glanced at Willow and nodded at her to go ahead, prepared to give her a hand down if she needed it. Probably a good idea to continue keeping Willow in the middle of the line where it was safest. She was the only one out of them who was actually--well, mortal. And he hadn't missed seeing what had happened after she'd cast a spell.

[wishescankill]

Anya assumed Willow would be safe on top of the wall, so she didn't wait to slide down, landing with an 'oof' at the bottom.

"Stupid ceiling demon!" she grumbled, trying to wipe some of the blood off her shirt but only succeeding in getting more on her hand.

She took a few steps away from the wall, trying to see if there was anything interesting ahead. "It's all just rocks," she pointed out, feeling rather disappointed by the lack of interesting geographic features. "Hopefully there's something worth-while out here somewhere. Or maybe if we get outside the range of the glamour, we'll turn out to be in some place like Hershey, Pennsylvania." She grinned at the other two. "They make chocolate there."

[light_wicca]

Willow waited until Anya was at the bottom before accepting Angel's help and sliding down herself. She winced as Anya's hand came away from her shirt a moment later with even more blood on it. "Are you okay?" she asked, sympathetic gaze firmly on the wound - or at least where she thought the wound was - fully aware of what the answer would be. It was the only reason she hadn't asked already; she knew that Anya didn't like showing weakness.

The ground steadily rose ahead of them into more mountainous regions, although it was already sloped and rocky where they were standing. Considering they were at the back of the building, if Willow's sense of direction was right, the town people talked about visiting was probably nestled in a valley further down. Of course, that didn't mean anything about the Institute's location if it was in some completely different dimension altogether.

[blurred_divide]

Given what was already housed inside the institute, Angel wasn't too keen on discovering what might be there as they made their way further outside. It was probably gonna be a bit of a walk before they made it outside of the range of anything.

He glanced at Anya, not quite moving forward yet. "Everyone okay?"

[enigmaticmedium]

[from here]

This was where things became a little tricky. He was sure he wasn't the first to clamber over the walls and into the Wild Outdoors, but Xelloss also wasn't going to abandon caution, particularly now that he was away from the Institute itself. The Doctor wouldn't have made broadcasts inviting them out here if there were nothing out here to experience. Which was odd... if Xelloss's theories were correct, there ought to be no need for a real outdoors. If Jill's claims were correct, there also ought to be no way of breaking the walls without breaking the entire Institute. This place was more complex than it seemed.

The terrain was also not very pleasant. He'd counted on moonlight, and wasn't sure the shine of his flashlight wouldn't just reflect back on the light fog that thickened as he moved further from the main building, but it was still harder to see than he'd like. Human senses weren't very helpful, were they? Gripping his shovel with both hands, he paused only to pick up a rock from the ground. Placebo.

[enigmaticmedium]

[to here]

[enigmaticmedium]

[back from this way]

Quiet and solitary travel seemed to have done the trick he'd hoped for. Xelloss almost regretted not pushing his luck further as he finally started to wind his way back through the narrow rocky pass that he'd taken to reach the lake. But it was early to say that, still. He wouldn't know how his luck had gone until he returned safely to the Institute.

And it was early to say that even if he weren't attacked. His feet hurt. Didn't just hurt... they ached the way Xelloss's body had burned the last time he'd seriously tried to call upon his natural self, feeling strained to the edge of some point. Well, it was natural. Cold killed humans, didn't it? He was grateful for the darkness. Xelloss considered himself a pragmatist when it came to his own abilities, not inclined to be angry or jealous that there were forces greater than his own even at home. But shivering violently, curled in on himself a bit as he walked, leaning on the shovel for support

[enigmaticmedium]

[over this way]