Night 56: F31-40 Hallway

[bodhiandspirit]

Normally, Rita wouldn't touch the slop the military called food, but after a long and quiet dinner shift with nothing but her stomach to listen to, she finally gave in and took a few bites. It tasted terrible, and it was demeaning to be expected to eat it, but with her roommate fast asleep, Rita had managed to get a small amount down her throat

Comments

[mateswithnobody]

While Dinner hadn't been as extravagant as her day had been, Donna had been satisfied enough with it. Part of it may have been because of the fact that her roommate had crashed out on her, but given the night the woman had had, she couldn't blame the woman. By the time they were able to head out Ruby was still napping.

Donna did her best to dress silently so as not to wake her. Once she was comfortably dressed and primped a bit, Donna grabbed her usual set of pens and a pillowcase before slipping out a little less quietly.

"Sweet dreams," she whispered half hopefully before heading off.

[mateswithnobody]

[gone here]

F??

[p0ker_alice]

Her eyes opened slowly, expecting to see what they always did as they adjusted to the dim light. A metal ceiling characteristic of being in a tin can drifting through space for who knows how long. She'd memorized every inch of that ceiling; it was a better alternative to facing her dreams. Dreams in which that last conversation replayed over and over, in which she found herself caught in an endless, and ultimately futile, struggle to stop him, his footsteps walking away forever clashing with gunshots and bullets crashing into the ceiling....

But what she saw wasn't at all what she expected. Instead, she was greeted by the sight of white tiles, clean, precise. Clinical. Despite the covers, she shivered involuntarily. There was something entirely too familiar about this, an eerie sort of familiar. A wave of deja vu overcame her, making her grow increasingly uneasy as the seconds ticked on

[ninelivesonce]

[from here]

Taura jogged around the corner and up the second hall. She wasn't the only one getting an early start, and there were a lot of unfamiliar faces, and ones she'd just seen in the crowd.

She tucked her shuriken under her arm, and twisted the earring in her right ear; the hole was itching where she'd pushed them through yet again. It didn't hurt, not really, just was a little warm. For once, if they'd turn off the accelerated healing, she'd be grateful. At least this time they weren't bleeding, which weirded people out a little.

She'd made it to the right door. There, she knocked briefly, two raps in a succession that unconsciously mirrored the spacing of the clicks a few minutes ago. "Rita? It's Taura. Is this a good time?"

[bodhiandspirit]

At the sound of knocking, Rita lifted her body from her bed, stretched a bit, then scooted over to the lower end of the bed, where the top of her desk was within reach. She set her notebook down there, then shifted her body until she was sitting cross-legged and upright.

"Come in," she answered, speaking just loud enough to be heard through the door. It was good to see that Taura at least had the sense to knock before entering. Among the many idiots that Rita knew, that small amount of courtesy was apparently rare.

Though her voice and body language were fairly relaxed and passive, part of Rita was dying to see the stone that Taura was bringing over. She knew she couldn't get too excited when there was a chance it wasn't a blastia core, or even anything like one, but the fact that it could be one was something she couldn't ignore.

[ninelivesonce]

As soon as the invitation rang out, Taura pushed the door open and came in. She set the big throwing star down by the door, propped against the wall, with her radio next to it.

"Hey." Taura knew science types; if Rita knew her stuff, she wasn't going to get friendly conversation until the investigation had hit one of the boring wait-and-see patches, and even those tended to involve eager staring. She pulled the little green marble, about an inch across, out of her bag and held it out in the palm of her hand.

"Here you go. Is there anything I can do to help?" She peered at the stone as if it was going to do something new just by virtue of being mentioned. "Or just stay out of the way and try not to get my eyebrows singed off."

[bodhiandspirit]

When Taura entered, Rita's attention was once again drawn to her height. The woman had towered over her when they sat together that morning, and now that she was standing, she seemed almost like a giant. Perhaps it was a common trait around wherever she was from. People from Earth seemed to be about the same as people from Rita's world, but maybe migrants could have adopted slightly different traits over time. It was interesting to consider... but not relevant to the subject at hand

[sanguinario]

[From here.]

Once Edward stood in front of the door marked F34, he lifted an edge of the sling so he could slide the flashlight in on top of his arm. It jostled his shoulder a bit and that hurt, of course, but it was still more comfortable than continuing to have no free hands. He knocked on the door so he wouldn't give Bella another heart attack, calling out, "Bella? It's me

[scintillatingly]

[From here.]While every other hallway they'd come through had had at least one other patient with it, this one was abandoned. That made Sora even more worried, but he tried not to think about it, tried not to focus on the darkness that hid behind the range of his flashlight

[anemptydecapo]

"I've been near it." That was all the explanation he would give, the notion that he could elaborate on his connection to the vampire's fiance, and therefore this hall, being set aside. Even with this curtain of lead embedded in his skull, even with the constant swirl of unhappy thoughts, his respect towards the privacy of his allies was too great. As much as the promise to protect a girl who wasn't able to listen drove spikes of annoyance down his back, it still wasn't his place share that promise with another. Sora did not need to know why he had been here, only that he had. If he had more control over what came out of his mouth, he might have avoided showing that fragment of recognition in the first place.

It didn't look like it mattered, in any case. The sound of knocking drove him out of his thoughts--tug--and in the next instant, that hand on his own was gone. Sora had run off, leaving that world of unsteady slowness in his wake, and the boy began displaying something other than his usual cheerfulness. In that moment, Venom

[scintillatingly]

Even when Sora gave the girl a small yet firm shake on her shoulder to try and wake her up, he got the expected response. She didn't respond even as much as to roll away from him, but just laid there like she might as well have been dead. It scared him, though this didn't necessarily mean she was going to be gone tomorrow. He had to remind himself that it would have been worse if he'd arrived here and there'd been nothing

[anemptydecapo]

"It's fine." The words came out weaker than usual, something easily excused by the drugs in his veins. Maybe Sora would assume that was the reason. Maybe he wouldn't be able to see past the mess the man been for the past... whatever amount of time they'd been out. He wouldn't be able to see the forlorn understanding etched onto his face.

Sora was too kind to be so similar to him. He was too young to be devoting himself to his friends so selflessly and fully. He was far too young to be admiring another person that much, no matter how much he denied that he did.

If something were to happen to that girl...

Forget it.His free hand had joined the one in his hair by the time the boy asked his question, nails raking across his scalp in muted frustration. He could barely walk in a straight line and Sora was asking if he wanted to go anywhere. Did he really think that he had any plans? "I