Nightshift 39: West Wing, South Hall 1-B

[mind_the_sukima]

[From here]

Yukari peered up and down the hallway, deciding against shining her flashlight this way and that; she didn't particularly want to attract any monstrous attention. Mentally going over the maps, she tried to remember where she was going. Ritsuka had said M35, right? So that was the next block over... she'd have to go through the West

Comments

[blessedaccel]

[from here]

There didn't seem to be as many people lingering in this hall, though there were certainly a lot passing through. Daphne tapped her still-off flashlight against her thigh, peering through the gloom for any sign of trouble. True, she'd probably hear a fight before she saw it, but someone could still sneak up on her. Or something. Although she wouldn't admit it aloud, she was still a bit more worried about the someone.

She picked a spot along the wall near the door back into the women's dorms and dropped into a crouch, weight resting on the balls of her feet and her back to the comfortable security of the wall. Her gaze kept dipping south as mis-weighted seconds ticked by, her attention split between watching the people passing by and retracing an internal argument.

[brokenweapon]

[from here]

Jason's flashlight was sweeping the hall up and down as he searched for Daphne. After all of that, could he still have beaten her here?

Ah - there she was, crouching. He flicked the beam of his flashlight away so as not to blind her, and walked towards her (though carefully...he was still dizzy). "Were you waiting long?" he asked, crouching next to her. He had to clear his head. Dizziness was weakness, and weakness was death.

[blessedaccel]

Daphne had been midway through another cycle of her internal debate when Jason arrived. She'd lost track of how many it had been; there were definite down sides to having her skewed perception of time. It was all the more frustrating because she knew she was still operating slower than she should have been, getting all of the difficulties of her ability and few of the benefits.

"A while," she replied noncommittally. The best judge of time she'd found was keeping track of the passage of other patients, and though that had dwindled, it hadn't quite stopped entirely yet. That meant it couldn't have been too late. She grinned slightly, falling back on her customary flippancy. "I was starting to worry that you were standing me up."

She studied him carefully, mood sobering. She didn't think he looked injured, but it was pretty damn dark even with the light of the flashlight. "Did you run into trouble on the way here?"

[brokenweapon]

"Sort of," Bourne said. "They came for my roommate tonight, and of course they never pass up the opportunity to drug me up. They know I'm a fighter. I'll be all right."

He knew he would, but it might take a little while. Damn it, but he hated working at half-speed like this! He could miss a valuable detail, misjudge the timing of a blow, and that would be that. No more Jason Bourne, or David Webb, or Gilberto do Piento, or Charlie Kane, or whoever he really was. Not that the thought was entirely repulsive - some days he would welcome it. But if he gave up, then the truth would never get out.

[loyal_despair]

((From here, and waiting for Hanatarou.))

And here he was. Kira paused outside the entryway, unsure if Hanatarou was already through or hadn't arrived yet. He might catch him if he waited either way, so he paused outside, holding onto his sword (he still needed to make a proper belt for it) and the other things he'd brought carefully.

Unwilling to let down his guard, Kira kept himself alert and looking around. If expending what little spiritual power he had left unbound was going to cause him pain, he was going to wait until it was absolutely necessary.

[mitase]

[coming from here]

Hanatarou emerged from the women's block still clutching the newly-acquired sword to his chest uncertainly. It was more than a little strange to have it; he hadn't carried an ordinary sword since he'd acquired Hisagomaru and that had been...well. A long time ago.

There was also the added strangeness of not having a sheath for it - he'd have to see about figuring something out there, but in the meantime he supposed maybe he could just carry it. After all, he never knew when something might attack. Right?

It was fortunate that there wasn't something there to immediately attack, though, since as he was considering that, Hanatarou was distracted enough that he almost didn't notice Kira waiting nearby. He quickly halted to give the vice-captain a somewhat awkward bow and a nervous greeting. "Ah, good evening, um, fukutaichou. A-are you ready to, um, go?"

[loyal_despair]

He didn't have to wait long before Hamatarou came out of the cellblock, clutching a sword - oh, was that what he'd gone to get? Yes, he hadn't managed to get his last night, so now he was armed. It gave Kira a little relief to know that now they were both armed, in case something decided to attack them.

"Yes." He nodded and pulled away from the wall and headed to the nearby main hallway.

((To here.))

[trapdetected]

[from here.]

Now came the trickier part-- left, or right? Naoto darted her eyes in both directions, considering the options. Left would only bring her outside, recalling back on according to the maps. There was probably very little out there that would have what Naoto was looking for... which, admittedly, she didn't have a concrete idea what of, herself. But everything that was happening was being controlled from the inside, somewhere, so going out would only drive her further away from whatever would help them. Besides, going right wouldn't be stepping into unfamiliar territory, and thus it was, possibly, a slightly safer route to take.

Realizing this, the decision became clear, so Naoto turned right and continued on.

[trapdetected]

[to here.]

[chocomancer]

[skipping a hallway from here]

As Wonka walked down the corridor, he began to think about the design of this place - the endless stretches of blank halls, many going long distances without a single door. Was it another way to wear down the patients, he wondered? Was the Institute really using boredom as a weapon, as a way to keep people indoors and docile?

For that matter, was it coincidence that he had ended up about as far from the kitchen as a person could get in this crazy place?

[chocomancer]

He shook his head, collecting his thoughts again. Mental ramblings were a habit of his, but he needed to focus on watching his back. And anyway, the front hall was coming up. Arriving at the corner, he peeked around into the larger hallway, satisfying himself that the coast was clear. That done, he turned into the hallway, keeping his flashlight beam ahead of him at all times.

[to here]

[for_marian]

[from here]

Leon ignored the few people lingering in this hall; his fussing with the grip and hang of his sword had delayed him enough that it was probable that whoever he was meeting had already arrived, so none of these people were of any use or interest to Leon at the moment.

Next hall was the beginning of the potentially dangerous areas, at least this early in the night, so Leon shifted his good hand to at least rest on the hilt of his sword, at the ready for whatever came.

[for_marian]

[to here]