Nightshift 56: Bill's Hardware

[she_is_ruin]

[from here]After dashing over to the hardware store, it was Yomi’s turn to shatter the lock, allowing them access inside. Here, she took out her flashlight and used it to light the aisles, aimed in such a way as to minimize how much showed through the windows. If the noise didn’t draw something, the light probably would. Nightshifts were no place

Comments

[purpletaint]

"Maybe not near enough."

The words spoken said something else, something possibly further from her meaning. He followed her to her errand, watched her break the lock and continued to stare. This building he had not been in, from his memory. He glanced it over, wondered if he should add more to his collection. Something smaller and more close at hand....

However, it existed as something solid. Not near enough. Not here, in any standpoint; things existed as restricted in much and many, not the least of which his rate of regeneration. Oh, it was still complete, of that there was no question. No scars or injuries marred him, bandages only an inconvenience for hours until he healed enough to be rid of them. There existed flaws, however. Extreme ones, enough to threaten a being whose only previous threats came as matters of the heart.

He glanced after her, watched her move carefully and with purpose. "I have before."

[she_is_ruin]

Her senses didn’t lie--when she felt something less than human about these fellow prisoners of hers, she had to assume that they were also capable of feats that were both in her realm of experience, and without. But there was one constant that didn’t vary no matter how strange of territory she found herself in: human appearances were at minimum misleading, and at the most shells concealing one’s form. She had no need to ask why a young boy could repair himself to such a degree, because no regular boy could do that

[purpletaint]

He wandered idly after her, glancing the shelves. His attention was finally caught by something practically medieval; a small sharpening tool far out of date. However... The entirety of the place was the same, and as he was in position of a sword, he'd likely do well to take it. He snagged it and slid it into his bag in one motion, pulling it tight again

[she_is_ruin]

"So..." she said, looking up and down the shelves until she found a long-handled axe, which she then picked up and examined, "something exists beyond the body, you would say. Is that not so?"

Yomi didn't broach a reply about how Damned may or may not have changed them. Twisted them. Brought Yomi closer to life, while Albedo closer to death, perhaps. There was nothing to talk about there. The ability to heal had never been a secret to Yomi, or something to remark greatly upon in others, but in regards to herself it was a topic that sat as a part of a much larger story--her story, of how she had come into such powers in the first place. And all of the rest

[purpletaint]

He slid her question around in his mind. It was a theoretical question which had a purely scientific basis. In the past, however, weren't these questions something else? Theological, instead? Placing religion and science side by side existed as the first mistake--but grant him this, in humor, it laid also as the foundation for many a thing both hated and adored

[she_is_ruin]

Yomi could manage the bag but walking into a potential conflict with it slowing her down meant she would have to be ready to drop and run, so to speak. The hardware store’s back room, however, seemed to be free of night time creatures. Filled with stock, Yomi’s assumption wasn’t wrong--what wasn’t out front could be nestled somewhere here in the back.

There were challenged to reading when shadows had almost completely taken over everything, but she made do with the aid of her flashlight, silently and methodically looking over boxes.

As for the discussion of the future and the past, and the abnormalities belonging to either time, Yomi didn’t have a lot to say about what lived on after the body had died. What was there to say? Did Albedo’s spiritual energy defend against dispersal? Did he have a soul that went deeper than the flesh

[purpletaint]

Oh, but he was not an idiot in any case. Despite her nature as a monster, despite her abilities mirroring his own, he still heard the pause, noted it as heavy. Give him someone else and he would have tore it apart--for her, however, he'd pull back from his usual actions.

When she was finished gathering her choices, he trod back towards the door to the main area; shoving his sword again under his arm, he rummaged in his bag as he did so, trying to get a balance where things wouldn't be crushed. The saw had some kind of sleeve on the blade, for that, he slipped it along the side, trading it for one of the knives. The bag was swung back over his shoulder, and leaving the sword where it was, he started playing with the shorter blade.

Passing through the doorway, he inquired back to her, humor in his tones. "Is it 'no' completely, or are you unsure?"

[damned_monsters]

Rustling of tools might have weakened it--the gravelly chattering, claws drumming against wood and glass. As the pair approached the storefront, the noise became more evident, overtaking all else.

A glance toward the entrance was enough to give reality away: nine petite figures, huddled in packs of three and lined across the aisles. Their yellow eyes moved as though searching, their limbs shaking off excess moisture from the outside. It was unusual to find necrits hunting in the town, particularly in midst of snow and ice. Their presence in the broken shop proved simple: they simply wanted someplace dry.

Fortunately, the necrits seemed largely unaware of the pair, content with dealing against the poor environment. For now, at least.

[Psyche]

[she_is_ruin]

Yomi had thought the discussion was over and had turned her attention to eyeing Albedo’s katana, but when he spoke up again, she was clearly in the wrong. She looked at him questioningly, expression placid as always

[purpletaint]

...Ah, but that sound was familiar, wasn't it? His mind placed it instantly, a mixed creation, small and skittering with hungry mouths. They had fed on his blood that night, after Albedo had taken Klavier's metal pipe to the man's ribs. And that night had been... A mess in itself, wasn't it? Albedo had shifted his own self-hatred, but it wasn't too far off, now was it? Klavier deserved it, part and parcel, and everything in-between. But that wasn't here or there, was it. In the end, there was only this strange female, those yammering creatures, and a choice of weaponry if they were to fight them

[damned_monsters]

The paint can hit home, ricocheting off several packages before skidding against the floor, staying surprisingly intact despite the force applied. Plastic, screws, and nails fell over the little creatures nearest to the impact, and they screamed in alarm. The rest skittered back to the end of their respective aisles in hopes of catching what had upset their companions, chatting away excitedly.

Their voices died in unison the instant Albedo spoke.

All nine pairs of eyes narrowed in on the boy, thought processes clicking together in comprehension. Flesh, blood. Intruder. Their detour had taken them to a worthy prize, and without wasting another moment, two of the three-necrit clusters leaped toward Albedo, their claws poised to strike. The rest lingered in anticipation, waiting for their turn, unaware of the second figure in transition.

[she_is_ruin]

If Yomi was going to fight, there was just one thing she could do, and that was fight as if she was alone. There was no more squad, no more team support. Ranguren was still a fresh memory in her mind, but he, too, was gone. She’d chosen the sesshouseki, and that was what she had, which was why she hadn’t tried to signal the boy into her plan. Their ‘partnership’ wasn’t so strong that she thought she could depend on him in any area. If he could fight, if he would fight, that was up to him, but if he was unable to sneak away, he’d make a viable distraction for her to piggyback on

[purpletaint]

[ modding approved. ]Here again, here again. He stopped when the majority tore towards him, watching their movements with a careless expression that belied the intent in which he watched their feet, noting the weight behind each step, the exact moment when they would leap at him. And he was not wrong. How many to allow and how many to attack? He knew from experience how well they could tear into things, how perfectly they could ravage to get on down onto the ground to consume

[damned_monsters]

The machete hit home, the blade embedding into the soft tissue of the creature's eye. The movement was quick enough for the necrit to fall without a scream. In contrast, its companion cried from the impact on its stomach and the subsequent crash into a nearby shelf. It shook itself, stumbling painfully on its knees. Hurt but moving

[she_is_ruin]

The third one was already on the move, scaling a shelf to get height on her, and as she felled one and scattered the other, she used the momentum of her kick to keeping rolling, sheltering her head and neck. While Yomi yanked the machete free, she brought her other hand up, the one still holding the flashlight, and shone it in the face of the falling creature so that it might be blind to where it was landing and give her time to get out of the way

[purpletaint]

All right. Well, then. Blades could not cut, but the creatures' mass seemed inconsequential by how far they were flung. 'Bashing damage,' then, hmm? His mind chose an action and followed it through. The knife flipped over in his palm, and with no hesitation, he drove the hilt into the skull of the one on his arm. Whether or not that succeeded was truly irrelevant at the moment--the ones on his legs were the higher threat.

And as that was briefly thought, his right leg gave out. Tch. If anything, he needed to become more resilient. He broke far too easily--amusing, at length; annoying at times. His teeth bared in a sharp intake of air. At the least he could stop them as he fell--he angled, so his tibia would at least crush the two lower unless they released him.

As he did so, he brought the sword back, aiming for the remaining one attached at his thigh. Detaching the beasts, he considered idly, watching this all from a separate perspective, was truly half of the concern.