NIGHTSHIFT 23: M51-M60 HALLWAY

[prisonerofdeath]

The moment the doors were unlocked, Fox had his katana in hand. The flashlight was stuffed into one pocket of the jacket, as was the tool kit he'd found the previous night. So much to accomplish this night, but he wasn't concerned

Comments

[somber_secret]

((From here.))

Hisoka paused just outside of the hallway and shown his light on the room numbers closest to him. They were greater than the ones from the hallway he had just left and decreased the farther down the hall as they went along. Was he going the wrong way?

Hisoka frowned and glanced behind him at the thickening darkness. Nothing but a wall, he had to have been going the right way... There was no other way. Glancing down the hall once more the boy scowled then turned his eyes directly ahead of him, there was a door there, hidden in darkness perhaps-- but still a door. Might as well try his luck...

With that, he continued on. He had things to do tonight.

[somber_secret]

((Went here.))

[killing_suzie]

Jack finished up his dinner (except for the cornbread and cookie) and then pulled his supplies from from their hiding places. Chuckling to himself, he tied on his "Kiss the Cook" apron, stowing his extra food in the front pockets, and secured his two knives, still in their potholder sheathes, to the apron strings. The extra apron got rolled up and tucked into the back of his pants, in case he needed it. Last, he picked up his flashlight in one hand, and hefted the cast-iron skillet in the other.

"Ready for action," he announced to his room.

Then he headed out into the hallway.

[blood_and_pocky]

Well, the intercom announcements settled it - he was in the weirdest funhouse ever. Only until he ended up receiving the brunt of these humans' madness himself, Aidou could say that with almost beguiled curiosity. He'd never heard of something quite like this happening, at least never to this extent. Doublethinking one night, and experiments the next? This was like a damn video game

[killing_suzie]

Jack responded by striking a pose. "I know," he said. He recognized the voice instantly, so didn't feel the need to attempt to blind Aidou with his flashlight. "The domestic look is in this season." For emphasis, he raised the skillet.

[blood_and_pocky]

He didn't know if Jack had the faculties to see him from so far away, but nonetheless Aidou wrinkled his nose in an effort not to snicker. No laughing! He had things to do. But it must've been nice not having any apparent shame. Aidou was still trying to get over wearing the standard uniform.

Moving down the hallway towards him, Aidou said, "But playing house doesn't suit you."

[angels_inflight]

[from here]

Naminé hoped that this was the right block. She was navigating purely on a whim and on the little knowledge she had of Landels. Long, identical hallways did not normally bother her, as she was quite used to the ones at Castle Oblivion, but now they were running against the clock. it was important that they quickly found Xigbar.

They had to pass through another hallway, but they were lucky - they stumbled upon the right block and as they turned to the new hallway, Naminé saw the numbers that were getting closer and closer to M53. They were on the right track.

"It looks like we were right," Naminé smiled, relieved that they were able to locate Xigbar's room so quickly. "I just hope he's still inside and didn't move yet."

[part1of3]

The seeming mazes of Landel's didn't bother Ashton too much either. The complexity of the hallways had nothing on the labyrinthine mines of Expel, the shafts that could collapse at a moment's notice and trap an unsuspecting unlucky swordsman.

He thought briefly about what Dias was doing at the moment. He knew the other swordsman didn't approve of his going to find Xigbar, but this was something Ashton had to do. The other guy didn't seem that bad in comments on the Bulletin Board, but .. he hadn't actually seen him since last night, after all.

Things suddenly became a lot more personal face to face, and Ashton drew his hand away from Naminé to cover his blushing face. He was still angry at the Nobody, and he wasn't sure how it would manifest if he was still in the room.

"Well, um, there's.. there's.. ah.. only one way to find out." Stuttering again. Ashton was obviously flustered as he knocked a few times on door M53.

[numberii]

Ah, and there was the knock. Xigbar had been silent after his room mate's words, letting Hakkai leave while the getting was still good. He wasn't going to run away from some little Neophyte, not now that his honor- which was a very nebulous term with him- was at stake.

What that did mean was that he was going to take out Luxord with extreme prejudice, and get the crazy Nobody to simmer down and realize his place.

That also meant that he was going to ambush whoever came through that door. He was a hunter, after all. "Come on in, door's open!" His fingers were already curled around his pokeball, a series of pens laid out in front of him for easy throwing.

Inside M53

[part1of3]

Ashton shrugged down at Naminé before pulling the door open. And, just like he expected, there was Xigbar -

- throwing something straight at him -

- He'd have to dodge, but it looked like -

WHACK. A blunt pain seethed through his shoulder. The pokeball had been aimed right in between his eyes, and he'd fallen to the side in an attempt at dodging, but it had been a surprise, after all.

Was this really such a good idea after all?

"What the heck!?" Ashton shouted, a ladle in both hands just in case as he walked into the room. "What's the big idea?!"

[sasuke_of_sound]

[[from here]]

Although slightly dubious about Alphonse's ability to walk fully unaided, Sasuke moved ahead of the blond and opened the door, keeping the sword at his side -- not menacing, but barely a wrist-turn away from it.

There were the usual busy patients in the hall, but Sasuke had come to realize that the patients' rooms contained just that: patients. As far as he'd noticed, at any rate.

Moving silently into the dark hall, he gestured for Alphonse to follow.

[to_blood_bound]

Al kept right behind Sasuke, even if, on the occasional step, his knees wanted to give way. If he concentrated on keeping behind his roommate, he could push that out of his mind. So he did just that.

Sasuke had asked what the person he was searching for looked like, and now Al whispered, "The person I'm looking for looks like... he looks like me." No one could really mistake the resemblance, even if there were differences between them. They could've been twins. As it were, the situation was a bit more complicated than that.

[sasuke_of_sound]

"Your brother, then?" Sasuke asked, keeping his voice low to match Alphonse's. "What's his name?"

At the rate Alphonse was moving, it would be best to leave him someplace relatively safe and keep going. Sasuke hoped that Alphonse's doppelganger was near, and stayed put.

[[to here]]

[damned_ivy]

Hakkai had slipped out the door at the first opportunity, but he hadn't gone too far. He found himself lingering in the hallway, trying to decide between going off to find Sanzo on his own or waiting. It had been implied (granted, by himself, not by Sanzo) that Sanzo would make his way to Hakkai's room. Still, nothing should be wrong about meeting him halfway, yes? Unless they somehow missed each other in the darkness. That would be quite unfortunate.

Hakkai made his way down the hallway, keeping eyes and ears open for any sign of either Sanzo or trouble. Although, he laughed quietly to himself, sometimes there was very little difference between them.

[31st_of_china]

Sanzo kept the beam ahead of him for the most part, only glancing at the room numbers as he passed.

He'd rather have an early warning if there was anything roaming the halls, even if it meant making himself especially obvious to the other prisoners here. Sanzo wasn't worried about the patients. Humans he could deal with: same went with youkai. The priest had killed enough of both to know better than to think they all followed the same rules or patterns. But even if there was an element of impredictability, they still followed the very basic laws of nature.

More than ever, Sanzo wanted the Smith & Wesson back, wrapped along with at least one cigarette.

If bullets even work on these things.

[damned_ivy]

And, of course, Hakkai's luck once again failed to hold outside of card games. He held up a hand to shade his eyes from the light of the flashlight. He hadn't exactly meant to walk straight into the beam and end up half-blind, but he had been thinking about things and, well... at least the monsters themselves probably didn't carry flashlights?

"Ah, if you would be so kind as to turn that elsewhere, I assure you I would be very appreciative." Of course, even if the beam was turned aside, he was fairly sure he would be seeing glowing dots for half the night now. Plus, being on the wrong side of the light made it next to impossible for him to tell who was on the other end. How very disconcerting.

[31st_of_china]

Sanzo's gravely voice came from out of the darkness, and the beam of light was flicked down towards the floor between their feet. "You're lucky it's me, and not one of the more batshit prisoners."

Not entirely true. If he'd actually been armed, Sanzo would've still had the pistol in hand, hidden by the sleeves of his robes until he'd managed to verify the man's identity. He wouldn't hesitate to use it if he had to.... but at least he wouldn't have waved a gun at the other man's face without a reason. The priest wasn't one to waste too much of his time or energy on that stupid messageboard, but there were a few people posting to it that had put him on guard.