Nightshift 44: Stairwell by Nurse's Station 1-B

[idontregret]

[from here]

The stairwell was empty, but Heat wasn't too surprised. Despite all those milling about already, he'd still left his room as soon as he was able. That the others hadn't been as fast was still well within the realm of possibility. He didn't like it, but he'd give them time. Seraph apparently wasn't here to set the pace, so someone

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[demon_beast]

[From here]

Argilla entered the stairwell warily,, grip tight on the handle of the pickaxe as she peered around the gloom. She spotted Heat quickly and moved over to his side, smiling slightly. "Heat," she said softly as she approached, relaxing a little as she did so.

[idontregret]

As Argilla entered, Heat immediately stopped his pacing. A low growl found it's way out of the back of his throat before he could help it. "About time. Where're the others?" Roland was the only one he'd seen on the bulletin, but the fact that Argilla had made it here despite her lack of response meant it was possible Gale had seen the notice as well. He'd better have. And Roland had to show because this was his damn meeting (not that Heat wouldn't have planned one himself had the Lokapala leader not done it first).

One hand went to his hip in his old familiar pose. He didn't see anyone behind their sniper. "Are you alone?"

[intoindra]

((From here.))

It was at about that point that Roland finally strolled in, shouldering his pickax and with his unlit lamp dangling from his fingers. With no matches, he couldn't light the thing, but it would still be good to have along. At the least, Heat could use it to ignite the oil within, perhaps. It was good to have options.

As he approached, he offered a sheepish smile at the two other demons. "Sorry I'm late."

[vayu_pavana]

[from here]

Gale wasn't long behind Roland, and he not so visibly relaxed when he saw his tribe mates. He had nothing with him save the flashlight he found in his room. Approaching the others, seeing them together eased the tension in his shoulders by a fractional margin.

Arms folded across his chest and he nodded to the others.

[oftemptation]

[from here]

Endrance noticed the presence of others in the stairway, but fortunately, they were generally off to one side and occupied. "If my memory serves me correctly, we want to make a slight right as we leave here, and then it's one of the first doors down that hall..."

[constellates]

"Yeah, you're right." No time, Endrance had said, and somehow Alkaid couldn't help but feel a deep despair welling up in her tummy, like somehow no matter what they did, they wouldn't be able to save Haseo. It was the same useless feeling she'd had after the glorious dork had defeated her in the Arena - that stomach-tightening, useless feeling.

She hated it.

She climbed up the stairs two at a time - not really to show off, but more to save time. Even though the legs were kinda short on her five-foot-tall self, this wasn't uncomfortable to her PC body. Endrance would probably find it even easier, with his long legs. She kinda envied that of him, but it wasn't like this was very hard or anything.

So, with his careful direction, she continued, pushed past the other people gathered in here, and opened the next door.

[ to here ]

[raisedbyharos]

[from here]

It was still rather uneventful once they reached the stairs. There didn't seem to be any monsters out at the moment, although Feldt realized that it was possible that they could still appear. She swung her flashlight around as she began to climb the stairs.

[gundamned]

The only thought that was on Setsuna's mind was to complete the mission so that they and the other people mistakenly placed in this strange institution could escape, and so that Celestial Being could return to their fight. The world still needed to change; it still needed them.

Again, not even the smallest hint of pause or doubt could be noted in the Gundam Meister as they ascended the stairs.

[To here]

[herr_inspektor]

[Skipping from here]

The hallways may have been empty of anything but cautious collections of patients, yet as he inched his way up the staircase Lunge began to realise that something was most definitely not right. The top of the stairs were just out of sight but his eyes weren't necessary in this equation; already he could hear the sound of retching, hurried voices, scuffling. Something was going on. Something he couldn't afford to get involved in.

Glassy-eyed, Lunge switched off his flashlight and, keeping his head down, made his way to the top of the stairs.

[herr_inspektor]

[To here]

[poolcuemurder]

[From here]

There were others here, both in this hallway and beyond. Venom kept to the side out of habit (did it matter if others saw him? They were all patients, all looking for escape and closure. Maybe because it felt like a mission - and he hadn't gone on one in quite a while. He never had liked them, and now that he held power over the Guild, it was silly to keep doing them - his response was to treat it like one), letting the shadows obscure him again as he ascended the stairs without a single sound. He hadn't even considered that the other two may be following at this rate. He only wanted to see what was at the top of the stairs and if any of the information gathered could bring down this institute.

There had to be something...

[sanguinario]

"Sorry," the vampire tried to amend the silence, but he wasn't sure why. He could understand never hearing of the smaller, less-populated countries... but England? That was pushing the letter a bit. It was clear their answers had confused the smaller boy, which was the strangest part of all. There didn't even seem to be a vague recognization there.

Bringing his eyes from the brunet child, the vampire saw that Venom had moved on without him. He followed quickly - as quickly as he could manage without hissing in pain - until the stairwell was in sight. Though Venom moved swiftly through the darkness, Edward's ascent of the stairwell was much slower and, he laughed to himself under his breath, clumsily human. The burns on his leg didn't take kindly to the constant harsh bending of his leg, and he kept his burned, bandaged arm cradled against his chest to prevent himself from using it to steady his stumbles against the wall.

When he scaled the top with a sigh of relief, his immediate view was still covered in darkness. So the lights

[timeseal]

To add to Rolo's frustration, neither of them even stopped to explain anything and Rolo just blinked in surprise when they both walked past him. Of course, he never considered that this was how he tended to treat people in particular, and he was annoyed enough to actually give chase, following the two up the stairs.

The one who apologized to him looked injured, from how slow he was climbing. He especially took note of how swiftly the other moved, and how he didn't seem to care for his partner. Were these two actually not traveling together?

"... Do you know anyone here from Japan, at least?" Rolo tried. The name sounded so foreign, but Teresa didn't know about Britannia and it's Areas, and neither did these two. Maybe they were one of those stubborn people who refused to call a conquered area by it's number.

It was almost like they were from completely different... planets or something.

[poolcuemurder]

If he had been wondering about the other two, the amount of noise they made answered his question soon enough. Were they... following him? Why? Yes, he had scolded Edward for leaving his room unsupervised and thus the vampire at least had a legitimate reason (alright, he wasn't completely surprised with his actions), but the other...

"Yes," he answered from the dark, his quiet voice almost completely inaudible. "There are many people from Japan here." More than he was comfortable with after the country's destruction. It was incredibly jarring, like suddenly finding yourself surrounded by individuals claiming to be from Ancient Rome. During the 22nd century. While you were in Hawaii.

And just because they had no care for stealth did not mean Venom joined them in that mindset. He stayed hidden and scanned the surrounding area as the other two talked on. If something attacked, it would attack them first - perhaps that was cowardly, but it meant the attacker would not suspect retaliation from a third party.