Nightshift 60: Main Hallway, 1-West

[toxicspiderman]

[from here]Even the main hall was deserted. S.T. switched on his flashlight and took a look around. Yeah, it was empty. No roadkill, no other patients. If he ever made it home, he was never bitching at any of the girls who didn't want to do night ops alone again. It was different when you knew there were things out there in the darkness.

Comments

[believein0]

[From here, and ripe for bothering...]

And now that he was out in the larger main hallway, Zero actually had an excuse to stop and get the flashlight out. He flicked the relic on and swept its (forever pitiful) beam of light around the area. From the looks of it, there were still no corpses or monsters yet, thankfully, just some other prisoners. There was one somewhat large group congregating in the middle of the hall, then there were a handful of others standing around, most likely waiting for their allies to show up as none of them looked like they needed any help. No one familiar, though. He considered waiting to see if someone he knew would show up, like Ema or Leanne, but he figured they all had someone with them already. It was probably better if he went exploring on his own, anyway.

Zero then took his maps out of his pocket to give them a look over and actually finally figure out where he was going to go tonight. As if waiting until he'd gotten out into the middle of things would be the best time for that...but whatever. He could go upstairs again, as all he'd seen of that was the storage closet...or he could try returning to that area he'd visited on his first night? The medical ward, which was presumably the area marked "STAFF ONLY" on his map...or else he could go this direction, or...

Hm. Where to go...

[witchdetective]

It was fortunate that Erika had already given up on Sync and started looking for a new (and hopefully more obedient and better) companion for the night. As much as she would have loved to explore on her own, it was literally suicide to go out alone. Unfortunate, but not something she could work around. That was why Erika kept her eyes peeled in the darkness, making sure to get a good look at everyone in the hallway whether it was obvious or not.

There was one person who looked promising, a man who was puzzling over a piece of paper. He didn't look like he was in a hurry, at least, which was good enough for the ex-detective. Erika strolled over, trying to at least look non-threatning as she shined her flashlight on the man's paper to catch his attention.

“Sorry, but I noticed that you look a little lost. Do you need some help?” Erika did not want another ally who she had to use blackmail as leverage over, so she chose her words carefully to try and appear helpful and courteous for once. Honey instead of vinegar and all of that.

[believein0]

... The sudden light flashing on his map with the unfamiliar voice following it did actually startle Zero a bit...though one would never have guessed that from his outward reaction. He simply turned his head to the voice and blinked, looking mildly surprised. It was a girl with blue hair, about as tall as he was. He'd seen her a minute ago standing around like most of the other people in the hallway, but he'd thought she was waiting for someone from the way she looked... Guess she was just the type who went around trying to assist other prisoners?

Regardless, the once-Reploid shook his head at the girl's question and replied, "No. I've figured out where I'm going." Not completely, actually, but standing around wasn't going to help him get anywhere. Folding up the map and tucking it back in his pocket, he was about to start walking away...

...Was that girl alone, though? ... If she were alone, even if it were to help other prisoners...

Zero stayed put and looked at the girl curiously. "Are you waiting for someone, or are you just looking to help people here?" Couldn't hurt to ask, he supposed.

same mun, different journal ^^;

[jusdicere]

At the very least, she wasn't shooed away yet by this man. When he asked her about her plans, it took everything Erika had in her to keep her urge to start ranting about how much of an unreliable lout Sync was. Instead, she shook her head and made sure to give a bit of a sigh as she stared down the hallway wistfully.

"No, I'm not waiting for anyone. I was hoping that I could find someone to travel with." There was no need to hide her reason for talking to the man, especially when she had no ulterior motives. Really, she just wanted to do something to get her mind off of that green haired brat. Ugh! "If I'm bothering you, I apologize."

Perhaps she should have spent more time surveying the patient population to start picking out the new arrivals, but on the other hand, she didn't want to babysit anyone and this man looked quite sensible. Hopefully sensible enough to agree with teaming up for the night.

Gotcha :>

[believein0]

Ahh, so this girl needed an escort. (Sheesh, these nights were becoming a pattern of 'go trying to investigate something, run into a girl needing help, tag along with her the rest of the night'...) Admittedly, part of Zero had been looking forward to a real solo investigation tonight, but that part of him could shut up and deal with it if someone else needed assistance. If that part of him needed a selfish reason to obey the stronger desire to just help someone, it had one: traveling with this girl was safer for the both of them, even for someone who was no stranger to war or life-threatening situations like him. It was just common sense that people were generally safer in small groups; there were more pairs of eyes to look out for danger, after all.

There was no need to debate on what to do here, then. "No, you're not a bother." Zero turned his body to completely face her. "If you need an escort, I can travel with you. I have no plans other than to explore..."

He'd gotten a bit of exploring done with Ema and Leanne when he'd unexpectedly become their escorts anyway, so whatever this girl needed to do probably wouldn't be much of a bother to Zero one way or another, either.

[jusdicere]

It had been so long since someone had actually gone along with Erika without questioning her or otherwise resisting that she almost was surprised for a moment when the man simply agreed with her. But of course, it was simply the best choice: No one was stupid enough to venture into the Institute alone and Erika wasn't stupid, so perhaps this whole matter was settled when it was started. Anyway, as a reward, Erika thought she would even let this man get his affairs settled first. She simply wanted to explore the place and there were plenty of locations she hadn't actually seen yet.

"Excellent. I just wanted to look around myself and confirm what's on my own map." Despite saying this, she had no map out, as it was already memorized and resting in her head, so she demonstrated by tapping her temple. "So if you had anywhere you needed to be, I'd be more then happy to follow along." Even getting a second glance at places she'd already been at would be a good start.

Without Sync around, she might actually be able to get some things done! Yes, she was still very bitter at being stood up tonight.

[believein0]

That tiny, selfish part of Zero that had initially felt a little let down at not being able to explore alone had even less of a reason to complain when the girl had the same plans as him. All they needed now was a destination, which she apparently was leaving up to him. "There's nowhere I absolutely need to be, but..."

Hmm. He knew what general direction he wanted to start heading in but not a specific place to go to. Now that he was thinking about it, though... "...I wanted to check out the medical ward." That place, whatever the name of it was. The place with those form-changing drugs the once-Reploid had failed to find the last (and only) time he'd been there. It being his first night, he'd been more in a daze than anything, so understandably the drug search and any amount of exploring otherwise had failed. That less-than-friendly giant spider that had almost made him into its dinner hadn't helped matters, either.

It had been awhile since then, and now that he had a map to fill and adequate weaponry on hand, a second check of the area tonight would be very helpful for him. Only if the girl wanted to go, though. If she'd been there enough times to know everything, that was fine, they could go elsewhere... But even if she could tell him all there was to know about the medical ward from her experience, Zero still wanted to see it for himself. (Without nearly being eaten again, hopefully.) If not tonight, then another night.

[jusdicere]

This person was more useful then she initially thought; already, she could tell they were going to get along reasonably well. The Medical wing was an area of interest to her, if only so Erika could find out exactly what was given to her a few nights ago. It was an interesting painkiller, at the very least, but she was certain she was not the only person who suffered through its effects. Aguilar had allowed the patients to volunteer themselves one night, and then simply went after the rest... if this man was here for that, then he obviously had to be in the latter camp. Or otherwise had a horrid memory.

"Were you here for the drug tests?" The military had gone, but Erika saw no harm in wrapping up loose ends. "Thanks to those, I've also been interested in visiting the medical ward for awhile now."

Unfortunately, she only had a vague idea of where it could be, and Zero probably had a more solid idea of where it was. For once, she would actually have to rely on someone to take her somewhere? The night was full of surprises. In that case, this man's name was probably worth knowing...

"Alright. I'll keep a lookout from the back," She volunteered herself, hoping to urge Zero on without having to admit that there were places here that she still didn't know about. "By the way, my name is Erika. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Well, she sure was laying it on thick, wasn't she? It was like spending all that time with Sync made Erika forget how to act like a decent person or something.

[believein0]

Oh, wow. Not only did she want to check out the medical ward, but she even knew about the drug tests, too. Not going to lie, this was...pretty lucky, as far as random stranger encounters went. Hopefully Erika would be willing to share her knowledge of the drug tests with him; there still wasn't much Zero knew of that night.

To her question, meanwhile, he simply replied with a 'yes' and left it at that for now. He'd save his actual response for when they got moving - which should be in the next few moments if they hoped to cover a lot of ground tonight. It was inconvenient enough trying to get anything worthwhile done as it was with how short the nights tended to be. They didn't need to make it worse by standing around uselessly.

So Zero nodded his head in the direction of the next major hallway to gesture a let's get going, and then he started to walk, briefly looking behind him to make sure Erika was following after a few steps.

[To here.]