Night 58: Main Hallway, 1-West

[princeofthemoon]

[ from here ]

Sesshoumaru had not been in the building for nearly long enough to really know it, and his knowledge had not been expanded yesterday as it might otherwise have been, because of the poisons that had been fed into his system - poisons that somehow worked, which had been a disconcerting and unpleasant experience. In the end, though, all

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[scientist_skye]

[from here]

Once Ema arrived in the Main Hallway, she stopped and looked around. She couldn't make out anything beyond moving shadows in the darkness, but at least she was out in the open where she could be found. Shifting her weight awkwardly, she played with the strap of her bag while she waited for luck or chance to kick in. Hopefully, she would be found by a friendly face before a monster noticed that she was easy prey and took the opportunity to strike.

The more she waited and thought about it, the more her doubts slowly transformed into dreaded certainties. This was a bad idea. Lana was going to have a conniption fit, and rightly so. Ema hadn't even left a note for her older sister should she stop by, which in hindsight was poor planning. Lana was probably worried sick, assuming she was still in the Institute at all. What if she had been released? The possibility was awful, but that didn't mean it didn't exist. For all Ema knew, she had been out for days. Lots of things could have changed between then and now--for

[believein0]

[From here.]There were some more people in here. Ahh, this place was familiar. Zero remembered walking through this large hallway multiple times, mostly when the sun had been up. Now he was sure that he was going the right way. His destination was that area he'd failed to finish searching the night before, the one where medicines had been offered. There had to be something he'd missed there...perhaps even a chance at a weapon of some sort

[scientist_skye]

The person who ended up approaching Ema wasn't a familiar face like she had hoped, but the fact that she had gotten someone's attention was a welcome relief from the weird isolation that she had felt since waking up earlier in the night. She heard him approach, so his voice didn't startle her at all; she knew someone was headed her way and had time to prepare herself for it. His unchanging stare went unnoticed. Ema couldn't make his features out well enough in the dark to be able to tell either way.

Shifting her weight, Ema replied, "I just woke up after being asleep for... awhile. I didn't want to be trapped by myself in my room, so I came out here and hoped that I would find someone I know." The plan sounded stupid when she said it out loud, even stupider than it had sounded in her head. However, she saw no reason to lie to this person. He was reaching out to her and so far, that had worked out well for her.

"I'm Ema. What's your name?"

[believein0]

"Zero," the Reploid-now-human responded, and then took a moment to think about the girl's answer to his question. She had...been asleep for awhile, and then came here hoping to find a familiar face. That didn't sound like the safest course of action, but it didn't surprise Zero to hear that. She was only a child, after all, and probably scared out of her wits. How long had she been here? Could this be her first night? It would explain why she seemed confused, or how she had 'been asleep for awhile', as she'd put it.

Ema didn't look like she was afraid of him, either; in fact, she seemed a little too friendly toward someone she'd never met before. Another cause of concern.

"It's too dangerous to be standing out here alone. How long have you been here?" He meant the question in two ways: how long had Ema been standing in this hallway by herself, and how long had she been in this institute to begin with. So far, Zero was getting the impression that both answers would be not very long.

Then again, this place had a way of surprising him

[scientist_skye]

Ema hung her head a little at the reminder that standing out in the open was, in fact, a very dangerous course of action. "I haven't been in this hallway for very long. I... I know this wasn't a good idea. I've been here long enough to know better. I just acted without thinking." It didn't help matters that Ema had an aversion to being left alone in the dark, but Zero didn't need to know her personal issues and her need to take agency in the situation even while feeling helpless. The two had just met, and Ema was aware of herself enough to know what was necessary to tell him and what was simply oversharing.

After a long pause, during which Ema shifted her weight awkwardly while looking around (and seeing not much of anything), she decided to stop fussing and start getting something done. What sort of scientific investigator would she be if she simply cowered in the dark, even after being approached by someone with the potential to help her? "What day of the week is it? The last I remember, it was early Sunday." She braced

[believein0]

Been here long enough to know better, huh? So he was wrong in assuming Ema was as new as him after all. But she still seemed so uncomfortable about something...which made her statement about being here 'long enough' kind of surprising.

"I...couldn't tell you that," Zero replied a little apologetically, "I'm at a loss for time myself. I just got here last night, and I haven't heard anything about what day of the week it is." Or maybe he had and just ignored the details. Right now, knowing what year it was was more helpful to him than knowing what day of the week it was.

He paused a moment to think. "...But if you've been here long enough to know any routines, they made us take showers and...color pictures today." There was an obvious frown on his face when he said those last few words. No, he was never going to get over how dumb that whole arts and crafts hour had been. But otherwise, hopefully that tidbit of information was enough to answer the girl's question.

[scientist_skye]

Showers? That meant that today was either Monday or Friday. Ema furrowed her brow, unable to remember which day Arts and Crafts was offered. Her mind drew a blank, no doubt due to the fact that she stayed in the Sun Room more often than not. Silently, she vowed to partake in more activities to give herself better familiarity with the daily schedule. Still, Zero's answer gave her a ballpark; either she had been asleep for a little over a day or she had been asleep for a little over five. She could deal with either. "That kind of helps, thank you. That narrows the days down. I can figure out which day exactly tomorrow

[believein0]

Zero blinked as he watched the girl pull a journal out of her bag and start writing on it. How could she see what she was doing with the terrible night vision humans had? ...Or the terrible vision humans had in general compared to Reploids, but whatever. At least she appeared to be calming down.

"There was an announcement before the evening meal about a Code 1-8. Nothing else." He wasn't sure what 'Code 1-8' was, but maybe the girl did. Were there usually important announcements before night started? He didn't remember hearing one the night he woke up here. Perhaps that had been because he'd woken up after lights out, like Ema was saying happened to her. Made sense.

...Now Zero was tempted to start asking her questions about where she came from and why she was here. But he would hold off on that for now.

[scientist_skye]

If Zero looked at Ema's writing, the penmanship would have suggested that she's writing blindly. In the best of conditions, Ema's handwriting was chickenscratch; written in the dark like this, it was just short of wholly illegible

[believein0]

Did anything good ever happen around here? Even if Zero hadn't been able to see Ema's expression change for that brief moment, he could have taken the hint from her words all the same. Given that observation plus knowing the nature of this place, it was highly likely that the girl had seen worse things around here than Zero knew existed. Where did she come from, and why did someone want her here? Was she just another innocent victim of some madman's game, only now it was 'Landel's Institute' instead of Neo Arcadia

[scientist_skye]

Ema released a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. Meeting Zero like this was incredibly lucky; she had full confidence that he actually wanted to help her and wouldn't just abandon her when she needed him. Allies were the most important thing any of them could have, and Ema was happy to have a new one in Zero. She made a mental note to leave him a message on the bulletin board tomorrow. It would be nice to meet up with him when she could make his features out more clearly.

Readjusting her bag and giving Zero a small smile, Ema started to answer his concern about the need for a weapon. "I don't know where weapons are, exactly. But there seems to be a lot of storage upstairs; maybe we can find one up there?" A pause. "Unless, of course, you know where you're going." For all Ema knew, Zero had received directions or some other instructions during the day. If he had, that would be better to follow than her vague direction.

"Thank you."

[unheroed]

[From here.]Oh, Harvey hadn't missed Sangamon. The man had done his best to move past him without drawing any attention to himself and he probably would have been successful if Harvey hadn't been specifically looking for him and the others. He could have called out to him, but when it was so obvious that the guy wasn't up for talking, it seemed pointless. Chances were he would have just pretended not to hear him

[believein0]

"I don't," Zero admitted, choosing not to comment when Ema thanked him. He'd hardly explored this place the night before, and all he'd found then was a huge (and hungry) organic spider. So upstairs was the place to go for a weapon, according to the girl. Made sense, he hadn't been up there yet. Weren't there stairs near here? He looked around to see if he could spot them

[scientist_skye]

Ema could hear someone walking toward the pair, although she didn't have time to make that known before Zero had moved ahead of her. It looked like he was taking his role as her escort seriously, something for which she was grateful. The remaining concern for her own safety all but evaporated; even with the dangers of the Institute at night, she had someone who had her back

[unheroed]

The last thing that Harvey had expected was for Ema's partner for the night to step in front of her protectively. He paused for a moment, tilting his head until he realized the lack of bandages and the fact that he was walking up to a stranger in a dark hallway probably made him look pretty intimidating. It was quaint that the man was so intent on keeping Ema safe, but it was hardly necessary

[believein0]

Zero glanced back at Ema with a look of uncertainty, mostly out of surprise that she both knew this mons...human and she believed he was trustworthy. And only through her sister's word, at that. Sure, it wasn't like the guy was attacking them (yet), but...really? 'Mr. Dent', whose horrible half-face features made him look more like a demon than a man, was considered an ally?

... A-alright, if she was sure. Zero reluctantly backed away a couple steps to stand at Ema's side, and he remained silent as 'Mr. Dent' began conversing with the girl. Meanwhile, he continued to stare at the other man with a stony expression. It was simply his way of letting 'Mr. Dent' know one thing, should he reveal himself to be an enemy after all: I've got my eye on you. After all, the Reploid-now-human wasn't ready to shake off his doubts about this half-face man, not until after he'd gotten a chance to know him and his intentions a little better. Maybe he was judging looks too harshly here, but Ema's safety was his priority at the moment. Not to mention