Nightshift 43: Main Hallway, 1-Center

[dahliahasthorns]

[From here]These two were just little Chatty Cathies, weren't they? Whatever. As long as they didn't start talking about how much their love could never be and got to kissing in front of her, they didn't have a problem here. Dahlia followed them as quietly as she could, doing a nice job of attempting to be stealthy and just looking ridiculously

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[udo_retrovirus]

[From here]

Junior felt kind of sluggish as he headed through the halls, but that was kind of expected after explaining his plan to Nigredo through the link. It was kinda strange, at the same time. Exhausting as it was for him, talking through the link was never that bad when they were that close. For now, he just chalked it up to this place being a pain in the ass again, and thought no more of it.

Only once he got to the entrance of the sun room did he stop and look back, to make sure his brothers were still with him. It may have seemed cold and unlike him, he realized then, to do that to Nigredo and especially Albedo, but he hadn't wanted to meet either gaze as he took the lead of their little broken family.

But they had to be especially careful going through the sun room. Like the night when it had been just him and Albedo, there was another fight. If he listened carefully, it sounded like it was a patient fighting another patient, or a group of them. They definitely had to stick close together as they tried to get through. Just

[purpletaint]

I don't hate you were words echoed from a time he couldn't yet remember. They settled something inside of him, a hot churning in his stomach. The second set of words had made his head whip upwards, eyes wide as if to catch the lie visibly where his own ears failed. He wished to believe it, wanted to, yes, but that was... impossible. Nigredo would... If he didn't hate him, he would. There would be something, a situation, and Nigredo would hate him. And if he... couldn't hate him, after everything... why had--

But that train of thought had caused a shooting to spike through his head violently, a hand pressing at his eyes almost instantly. No, he wouldn't be going there tonight, of all places. No, no, that was not

[slipperymagic]

[From here.]

Howl continued down the hall with no small amount of caution. He had balanced his supplies in one arm, while his other hand was held just a little bit in front of his body. With only one free hand, he'd be at a severe disadvantage if anything did actually come after him.

He did a quick assessment of his companions, and took only a split second to determine that Ryuuzaki was not the one to try and boss around.

"Keman," Howl said, taking on a much more authoritative tone. He gestured for him to come closer. "Carry these things for me."

[quarter_english]

As they walked, L remarked to Keman, "We will only have to cross a small corner of the Sun Room, yes? If we keep to the periphery, we may be able to pass unnoticed." He paused, and added, "Of course, it is also possible that we will simply be cornered."

He gave no outward sign that this prospect bothered him, although it did... but it was something they would have to brave if they wanted to escape.

"The numbers were binary code -- mathematical base 2, like a switch which is either on or off. They may represent letters, six digits per letter, but it is difficult to say. It would be possible to decode it if someone had a pen and paper, but it would take at least a little bit of time."

The dead can be more alive for us, more powerful, more scary than the living. It is the question of ghosts....

He hadn't caught every letter, but nothing he did catch would cause him to deviate from the perception that someone was trying very hard to frighten the patients at Landel's. They appeared to have more freedom at night, but the attempts to

[slipperymagic]

Another garbled voice echoed through the hallways, but this time Howl was sure to make his reaction less pronounced. He hoped it would be just obvious enough for Ryuuzaki to notice and write him off as having no bravery whatsoever, without feeling the need to chastise him again. It wasn't hard to fake, because there was something colder about the air, though Howl wasn't entirely certain the temperature had actually changed.

"We'll be quick about it," Howl agreed. His mood was appeased slightly by the fact that Keman had listened to him, even if he detected the amusement in his voice. It wasn't a bad arrangement, really. Keman was polite enough to listen to him, but didn't take him too seriously.

Save for the location, things were just as he liked them.

"I can't make heads or tails of binary," he sighed, which may or may not have been true. If he had some references, he could make due, but Ryuuzaki had it covered. "I don't suppose you have any idea what it was trying to tell us?"

[number_crunch]

[From here]

Minamimoto's rate of acceleration slowed, then reversed until he came to a full and complete stop near that invisible line where the west hall became the center hall. It sounded like there was some serious banging around going on in the Sun Room already. Had someone starting bashing binomials without him?

Giving a shrug, he headed inside, shovel and megaphone in hand.

[To here]

[jokers_wildcard]

[from here]

Had she thought about this realistically, Harley might have realized how dumb it was to walk through the halls with just a couple of torches lighting the way. What areas the fire illuminated were tinted yellow-y, making the halls seem eerie, like a haunted house. But Harley thought it was kind of pretty, and it made the whole thing feel a lot more like a treasure hunt. Plus why walk around with something as boring and normal as a flashlight when you could have a real, live torch?

But... it was starting to look like the light was playing tricks on her eyes. For just a second, she could have sworn she saw a hallway out of the corner of her eyes. Just a blip of something that shouldn't be there, had never been there before. But when she glanced over, there was nothing. Huh. Weird. She probably just caught a shadow or something. Either that or she was hallucinating which - hooo boy - she did not want to be going through that stage. She was crazy enough, thanks

[piggy_king]

Whereas Harley thought that her eyes were playing tricks on her, Porky thought that his hearing was failing him. After that bizarre announcement, he had always heard that soft buzzing in the background...nothing more than white noise, Porky thought, but it was certainly unsettling. That, combined with the flickering light of the torches, made the trip down the hallway almost terrifying, even with Harley by Porky's side. After walking down the hallway in silence, Porky was actually beginning to get a little scared, to be perfectly honest.

It didn't help that buzzing sounded almost like screaming.

"Harley?" Porky whispered fearfully, "Do you hear that noise?"

Shortly after saying that, however, Porky was utterly confused.

"Wait, the coloring room?" Porky asked, indignant, "What do you want arts & crafts supplies for?"

[jokers_wildcard]

What was he acting all shocked for? What else would she have meant by the room with the paints? "Not supplies! Just the paints! Every time I try to take 'em with me one a' the ol' stiffs ends up snatchin' it away from me. It ain't my fault that the only way I can get it is if-- Wait." Harley suddenly froze, realizing Porky had been saying something much more important just a minute ago. "That... noise

[razmaspaz]

[from here]

As Raz ambled onwards, he started to feel a bit anxious about the duel. If he were in any other place, he'd feel much more confident about a psychic fight - after all, he did save the world! But he couldn't get his mind off of what happened in the Sun Room earlier today; how he had such trouble reading that girl's mind, and the massive headache that came afterward. There was no way that this wasn't going to affect the fight in one way or another.

Still, it was his own choice to come - a Psychonaut never backs down on a promise.

[razmaspaz]

[to here]