Nightshift 60: West Wing, South Hall 1-B
[from here]
Taura pondered the announcement she'd just heard as she jogged down another empty hallway. Who was she? Jill? Who he'd tortured himself, though that could have been an act on her part as well? Whose side had she been on? And what could have happened to her that would be permanent ( Read more... )
Taura pondered the announcement she'd just heard as she jogged down another empty hallway. Who was she? Jill? Who he'd tortured himself, though that could have been an act on her part as well? Whose side had she been on? And what could have happened to her that would be permanent ( Read more... )
"Hoo..." Scott finally stopped to catch his breath just outside the door to the female block. When was the last time he had stopped here? That had been the one night he had gone to Raine for healing, hadn't it? Yeah, that was...
He paused, and his face fell. Now there was another missing person to think about. Raine. He'd barely even known Raine, and yet she'd probably helped him out more than some people he'd exchanged more words with. He never had been able to thank her enough for speeding up the healing of his bullet wounds. And now he probably wouldn't get to talk to her again, not unless Landel spun his Wheel of Extreme Misfortune for her and landed on a Resurrection wedge.
His top teeth found his bottom lip as he leaned against the wall, and he kept an eye on the slow trickle of patients heading in and out of the area. He couldn't let himself think too hard on all this. Otherwise he was just going to get steaming mad all over again or he was going to break down and go catatonic. Either way, he wasn't going to get anywhere. So he couldn't think too much about Raine, or Javert, or Shinichi or Senna or Keman. Even Knives. He couldn't think about them. He had to just push them out of sight, out of mind. Keep playing Candy Land with Wichita or build stupid blanket forts with Woody - whatever it took to maintain sanity in the sanatorium. Similar strategies had kept him going in his life until now. Why stop now, his subconscious told him. Just forget and keep going. Forget and keep going.
...Where was Ramona already?
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It didn't stop feeling weird: seeing Scott, being stuck with him, having Scott in the know about practically everything. Ramona wasn't surprised that when Scott had to keep it together, he could do just that. He was still just as clueless, but there was something else about him. If she wasn't trying to be cool about it-and she admittedly failed-she would worry about him; Scott Pilgrim was meant to be simple. But something about this place locked him into the same mindset and mode that he had whenever it came to a fight. In a lot of ways, she noticed that he couldn't come out of it.
But how did she cope with that? How did she help? Scott was so happy to see her even if she left. Ramona wasn't great at things like this; it was probably why most of her relationships went to hell. Sentimental feelings and good thoughts could only go so far. Things were a lot more complicated than that. At least, she thought they were.
Well, she was going to stick with it either way.
"Hey, Scott," she said, doing just that. Ramona raised her flashlight to wave it to catch his attention, though she was pretty sure she had it. "Look what I got," she added, indicating the clothing she was wearing.
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In any case, there was a welcome distraction for both of them on the scene, it seemed. "Hey! Hey - whoa, nice. Already? I didn't get clothes stuff until, like, a few days after I got here," said Scott, tugging at the bottom of his park and glancing down at it as he spoke. "Guess Landel likes you or something." And Scott really, really hoped he did at this point. It seemed like people who had their own outfits back, for whatever reason, tended to stick around longer. Not that Scott had anything to back up that idea aside from vague observations, but whatever. He needed something to give him some hope.
Especially when he was about to tell her that he was essentially ditching her for the night to hang out with the boys. Boyfriend of the year, clearly.
"So, uh. I've got some stuff to do tonight," he started, shifting uncertainly. "What were you gonna do tonight? Whatever it is, I might not be able to... do that."
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Or at least just for tonight.
"Um, I hadn't really decided yet," she finished, somewhat sheepishly. Ramona shrugged through it, though, acting as if it wasn't that big of a deal. "But hey, if you've got stuff to do, I can handle myself." What she didn't add was that another night with potentially dangerous moment that would want her to be as close to Scott as possible wasn't on her plate. No, she could take cliché movie moments some other time.
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But then again, she would probably be even worse off in the basement, considering what Team Mental Quest had already collectively gone through. Honestly, Ramona probably would be better fighting random enemies up here than anything else.
He took a pause, then lifted his arms and put his hands on Ramona's shoulders. Cliché, but whatever. Touch was good. He liked touch, especially on nights when he was potentially walking into doom-ish seeming doom.
"'Kay, well, before I go then..." Scott ran the tips of his teeth together. "...I just wanna let you know that I love you. And stuff." The words flowed awkwardly but truthfully off his tongue. It had been weeks since he had been able to say the "L word" to anyone, let alone Ramona, and even if it was awkward, he really, really wanted to say it. After the awkwardness continued into silence, he added: "Promise you won't get eaten or anything?"
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No, it was the next part that she couldn't deal with. The "I love you" and the promise and everything. This was exactly what Ramona had been trying to get away from. It wasn't that she didn't love him-the truth was that she did-it was that they were broken up and this was completely uncalled for.
Ramona didn't want to knock him back or do anything weird and Xena, Warrior Princess-like, but it was tempting. It usually wasn't, and the fact that it was meant that her head was probably glowing like Kim pointed out that time (it most certainly was), and-
"That's-" she managed. "That's great, Scott. I'll avoid Freddie, Jason, Dracula, and the Wolfman tonight, I promise." It was all rattled off rather quickly. "I'll be fine," she added.
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So, as with the other times, he let it be without commenting on it. Besides, he had places to be, dooms to get to. He put Ramona's discomforting glow out of sight, out of mind, and with it he also put Ramona's actual discomfort. "Okay, good. Well..." He gave the love of his life an awkward wave and a smile as he started to turn away from her. "...See you 'round, then."
After walking away a few steps, he turned on his heel, catching her gaze just one more time. "So remember!" he called to her, walking backwards as he went on: "Don't fall asleep! Avoid lakes and cabins in the woods! Bats are not your friends! And find silver! For god's sake find silveeeerrrrrr!"
And with that, Scott disappeared down the hall,
[To here]
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