Night 59: West Wing, South Hall 1-A

[bastard_sadi]

[Coming from here.]

Daemon glided out into the wider corridor and paused for a moment, letting Renji join him, taking a moment to probe the shadows with his senses, looking for anything out of the norm. There was a tingle down his spine, the sensation of being watched, though he couldn't find its exact location, just the knowledge that it was

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[heroesdontshave]

Snow was more used to monsters than average civilians would be, he was even used to dealing with them at night, but things weren't like this back home. The monsters here were different, unknown. It's was pretty much completely pitch black even with the stupid light thing, and Snow wasn't used to that at all. Even the outskirts of Bodhum were better lit than this place... and that was outside. In here it was narrow and blocked off and things just popped out of nowhere to attack you rather than... Look, it's not to say he was scared or anything. But the point was he had a lot more reason to be cautious here than he normally would in a situation like this.

But being stealthy and paranoid wasn't really Snow's thing. Didn't really have the patience for it. Or the attention span. So as he moved down the hallway, he'd only been cautious for a few moments before getting distracted by his internal rambling again. Heh. If his friends saw him now, they'd probably laugh and say worrying about what to do didn't suit him. 'Get your head outta the clouds, and get moving, Hero.' Ha ha. Right. Like standing around and thinking was going to get anything done. Why was he even trying to figure out the "whys" and "whats" anyway? That stuff didn't change anything. They needed action, not answers! And it's not like he was going to let a little thing like not knowing what to do stop--

Movement. Right in front of him. Even with the weak, lighting device in his hand, he couldn't make out exactly what it was. The device only worked if you pointed the beam of light directly on what it was you wanted to see; everything else was vague. But he'd managed to catch the movement and the presence right in front of him, and that was all he needed to get startled enough to react.

Moving on pure instinct, Snow reached his free hand out, grabbed a fistful, and threw it back and away from him as quickly as he could. If he'd had more time to think on it, he probably would have smacked it away, but reflex had him just moving to get it away. Which was fine. Distance first. Then he could focus on beating the crap out of it. ...Hopefully without its head exploding this time.

[predictator]

[From here]

He had noticed the smell first-it had smelled faintly of blood near the end of the block hallway, but it hadn't been hanging so heavily in the air as it was here. And maybe it had been because he was focused on Mikado, but he was certain he hadn't seen any of the bits and pieces of what had once been living things (monsters, he hoped, rather than his beloved human beings) laying scattered across the hall.

Izaya had paused, turning his attention and flashlight away from Mikado momentarily in order to inspect the gore. It didn't look like human remains, but that didn't mean it was monsters and monster only. But he couldn't afford long to inspect it, or else he'd lose sight of Mikado...

When he turned to head forward again, light seeking out Mikado's back, he barely had enough time to register that something was speeding towards him. It-he? He'd sworn he'd seen hair skin and Mikado's jacket-collided with Izaya before he could even start to move away, knocking him completely off his feet and sending him tumbling backwards.

His back hit against the floor first, and he could feel whatever (whoever) had hit him laying atop him. He could also feel something wet and generally unpleasant on the floor begin to soak the back of his shirt.

[ofthemotions]

What Mikado had learned in the past two days was simply this:

Look where you are going. Very clearly. And if that doesn't work, just stay still. And never move. Ever.

This, of course, was not what he was thinking as he flew backwards. There had been the brief thought of if that tall person was Snow or someone else when the aforementioned literally lifted Mikado by his jacket and, with seemingly little effort, practically tossed him across the hall. There hadn't been time to cry out or plea forgiveness for whatever he had done--only to realize, as the air whipped past him, that he was going to be in a lot of pain, very soon. Either the wall or the the floor would catch him, and he didn't think either would be too forgiving.

...Except what he collided with was relatively soft and gave under the pressure. Mikado landed in a jumble atop of it before he realized it was a person. Winded and disorientated, the boy still moved shakily to extract himself from the person, murmuring apologies. "Sorry, I...." There wasn't really any excuse for it, but it hadn't been his fault, not... really. "...Are you all right?"

He groped for the flashlight he had dropped when he had hit the other, finding it amid a mass of something wet. He grabbed it without thinking, and paused for a moment, wincing at the act. The beam clarified exactly what it had been in, and who-- Mikado's eyes widened at his victim. This had probably not endeared him to the man at all. The boy took a step backward and nearly slid in something; he caught himself but winced further, parts of his body aching lightly from being tossed into another person. "I, um." Mikado cast a glance at Snow warily, both explanation and warning. Would the larger man continue whatever he had started? Mikado really, really hoped not.

[heroesdontshave]

Even without his lighting thing, the sound of something (somethings?!) hitting the floor told him everything he needed to know to keep going. He was plenty ready to just dive forward and just crush whatever he'd thrown by using it as a landing pad, but he was thankfully attentive enough to notice the light that had fallen to the ground as well. That confused him enough to keep him from just charging forward before a hand picked it up and illuminated the scene. ...Then Snow remembered he had one of these things, too, and pointed it forward as well.

That... That wasn't a...! "Ah!!"

It was Izaya! And Ryuu! What the hell were they doing here?! Er, well. Nevermind that!

"A... Are you alright?!" His voice was somewhere between frantic and angry. Though the latter might have just been because he had no concept of inside voices when distraught. "Tch. Don't go around scarin' me like that!"

Like it was really their fault. He'd been the one who wasn't paying attention. There was a quiet pang of guilt lingering in his chest at that but... Man! He could've seriously hurt them. He didn't know what he'd do if he had. Snow kept the light trained on them both as he hurried over, searching for any signs of injury. "What're you guys doin' here?"

[predictator]

The weight of the other person lifted off of him after a moment, and was followed by murmured apologies. Izaya recognized the voice before he tried to search out a face; it seemed it had been Mikado after all, launched into him by... by...

...by what, actually?

Izaya pulled himself into a sitting position with a quiet groan. "I'm fine," he answered, though perhaps the sullen tone with which he'd spoken didn't quite support his words. He put on a smile to compensate and added, more cheerily, "But you should be more careful."

The wet spot on the back of his shirt was making the fabric stick to his skin unpleasantly now; he touched a hand to it and then checked his fingers when the light from someone's flashlight fell across him. As he'd expected, the puddle had been blood.

When another familiar-sounding voice called out, Izaya looked up-and straight at the light. He winced, and then lifted a hand to block it out as he tried to make out the person beyond it. He could make out a form more than a face, and that form was large. Tall. Snow.

Given his words, Izaya guessed Snow had something to do with Mikado ending up on top of him.

He climbed to his feet as the giant man headed for them, and the smile he'd given Mikado before was now turned in Snow's direction. "Me? I merely wanted to see what all those alarms earlier were about."

[ofthemotions]

The tone was probably deserved--though, honestly, not to him. "I wasn't thinking I'd..." Be thrown across the room as easily as that and wind up with a handful of questionable material dripping from it. Mikado grimaced. "Sorry," he gave again, giving up on that point.

Which was good enough, as Snow made it a point then to come over and start nearly yelling at them. What a personality. Mikado had thought Snow was strange, yes, but overall likable. This kind of adjustment nearly negated that. --Granted, the boy's irritation could be attributed to just his role in the scenario, but it was still there. Izaya spoke, and Mikado nodded. "The same," he answered, with an edge of irritation. What was it that was grating so much against him? It was like--

Ah. Despite Snow obviously having at least as much strength as Simon, his demeanor didn't show that he was going to continue being violent. If anything, from the day before and today, Snow came off more as bumbling and clumsy. Which could be forgiven. However. The boy straightened slightly, attempting to swallow down the brief touch of fear. "Most people apologize after reacting like that with no reason," he gave, almost dryly. "Especially when the other people could have gotten really hurt from it."