Nightshift 33: Main Hallway, 1-West

[contentincloset]

[from here]He knew he was out early now; the main hallways like this one usually had at least one or two other people scurrying about even when he was rushing through. Not yet though, but that was just as well. He took the usual right and kept along the wall just in case his senses just weren't picking up on some kind of threat. Being quick did not

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[thatdamnedninja]

"Well, what else was I supposed to try?" The young woman puffed out her cheeks. "Beating things to death with my slippers?"

He was underestimating her! It may be true that her skills were reduced (though she hadn't been able to test that yet), but that didn't mean she was defenceless! Pens were a shoddy replacement even for a simple kunai, but they could be useful! ... Sort of...

And then came the bombshell.

"You..." She started, arms dropping to her sides. He'd... lost the two shuriken? They'd been stolen? He didn't have them? He was shuriken-less when he'd promised her? "You went to all that trouble of getting impaled with them just for me, and then you lost them! Cloooooud! You really are expecting me to beat things to death with my slippers, aren't you?!"

The pens dropped to the floor with a quiet clatter, and the next moment saw Yuffie kicking off one of her slippers, grabbing it, and pouncing at Cloud. The genuine- and exaggerated- annoyance was tempered with a dash of playfulness; although it was anything but a serious attack, as long as he didn't manage to dodge, she was so hitting him over the head with the slipper.

It was the least he deserved!

[1mperturbable]

"I was under the impressions that ninjas could kill with even slippers," Cloud replied, more hints of dryness edging into his voice. "Are you saying that you cannot beat something with your slipper?"

He rubbed the back of his head at the sound of her obvious disappointment, though he now shifted his eyes to regard her from under his blonde bangs. She was probably going to do something drastic, so he should keep an eye on her. He felt bad for misplacing them or at least not having the ability to give them to her. He had not meant for them to be stollen.

He should have known she was going to beat him with a slipper. He did not raise an arm in his own defense, aware that would only cause them all more problems in the end. It was humiliating to hear the slap of the slipper, but he accepted it. "Watch my wounds, will you? I will make it up to you... I will get you something else to use as a weapon."

He tried to sooth down his hair between slaps. "Those slippers are not all that useful for anywhere but your feet."

[thatdamnedninja]

"Of course I can kill even with slippers," Yuffie retorted, "I can kill with origami, remember? But slippers? C'mon, Cloud! That's not stylish at all!"

She whacked him with the footwear a few more times, avoiding anyway wounded areas. The novelty was fast wearing off, but she socked him in the arm one last time for good measure. "Dude, you should protest a little more." she sighed, waggling the slipper in his face. "And you better make it up to me."

Dropping the slipper, she stooped down and collected her pens. She almost felt a little bad for hitting him with the slipper... not that she'd ever admit that, even under pain of death and torture and possibly the threat of being locked in a moving vehicle.

[1mperturbable]

"Okay, okay," he replied softly, still trying to smooth his hair between slaps of the slipper. His hair was always messed up in some way, but he could make the effort at least. It never lay flat anyway.

He leaned away from the slipper when it became clear that she would stop hitting him with it. He rubbed along his bandaged left arm with a hand and shrugged his shoulders again. "Why protest when you will just hit me more if I do?" He tried to think of something he had in his bag that would make it up to her. "I will do my best. I at least have something metal, if you like?"

He shifted and fished around in the make-shift bag attached to his back, feeling around. He pulled out the small short sword-type weapon and went back for the gardening claw. If she attached it to her wrist, it might look ninja-like. Ah, there it was.

Pulling the gardening claw out, he offered it to her. "Would you like to use that for now?"

[thatdamnedninja]

Yuffie said nothing, scrabbling to collect the pens that had rolled across the floor. One, two, three... aha! Four, and there was five. She rolled them on her palm, straightened them out, and stuffed them back in the waistband of her pants.

She looked up at the sound of him rummaging around, blinking at the claw he'd offered her. Still crouched on the floor, she took it.

A gardening claw, like he'd mentioned on the bulletin board. It wasn't something she'd normally use, but it was better than nothing and it could no doubt do some damage. "Uh," she said, intelligently. Her next mumble was a quiet, indistinct: "Thanks."

She'd never been all that good at thanking people.

Shaking her head, Yuffie launched herself back to her feet. "I guess I can forgive you for losing the hira shuriken." She continued, a little awkwardly. She twirled the claw in her hand once. "Shall we go? Time's a wastin', y'know!"

[1mperturbable]

He felt a little better knowing that she was more well-protected against the monsters of this place. He even felt more inclined to dare the outdoors as well, since that last radio broadcast had made it obvious that the walls could be passed now. He itched to get out there, to see beyond the walls.

He tilted his head to the side at her thanks, having not expected any in the first place. "Do you want to get yourself some more of those? I know a good place for metal objects?"

That would get them closer to the outside. He could work at Yuffie to get her to agree to go beyond the walls with him. He doubted it would be difficult, especially if he complimented her or needled her a little.

[thatdamnedninja]

It was nice to know that she had something a little more substantial than a bunch of pens (and a pair of slippers) to defend herself with.

"Uh huh," Yuffie nodded, tapping the claw lightly against her hip. She grinned. "D'ya have anything I could pick locks with, by the way? That'd be totally useful. Like a bucket of awesomesauce, but better."

She was assuming that the gardening claw had come from- drum roll!- an area that had something to do with gardening. Yuffie wasn’t exactly adverse to going outside, and getting more of the makeshift weapons would be useful.

[1mperturbable]

Considering the question, Cloud reached back to feel through his bag again for anything that might address that one. He had his doubts on that, but he supposed there might be something in there. His fingers brushed against a few screws at the bottom, but he doubted they would do anything for lock picking. Everything else felt much too large for such actions.

"It does not seem like it, but I have not been looking around for anything like that either. There must be something here that could do that," he said as he dropped his hand back to his side. "Upstairs seems most useful for finding tools. Sorry I cannot be help in achieving your state of 'awesomeness'."

He gestured towards the stairs then off down the hallway. "That way leads upstairs, and that way outside. It seems like the normal security keeping us inside the institute proper have fallen... so we might be able to escape." He paused for a moment then shrugged nonchalantly. "Or we could be eaten or otherwise brutalized out there."

[thatdamnedninja]

Yuffie shrugged, tongue between her teeth in consideration. Not having a lockpick was annoying, but it wasn't all that important in the short-term. "That's awesomesauce, Cloud. A bucket of. Not plain awesomeness."

She span on the ball of her foot lightly, then cartwheeled the short distance back to Cloud's side- she was getting just a little fidgety, standing around in the same place for so long. "Something small and wire-like'd do it. Needles, maybe."

The young ninja laughed at the thought of being eaten. Outside meant no lockpicks, but it was bound to be more interesting! "Bring it on!" She crowed, "Let's go outside!"

[1mperturbable]

He could not bring himself to repeat that word, so he simply sighed and shook his head instead. He must have been losing his sense of fun in his old age, he thought. The circumstances did not seem to warrant such childishness as well, but he could at least let her have her way.

"Hmm, upstairs might have needles. We can check later," he murmured softly. He would feel better exploring the outdoors anyway. He wanted to confirm if getting over the walls was possible, and Yuffie was the perfect person to go with since she had an amazing jumping ability in the past as well.

Waving a hand, he turned and began to walk in the direct that he had come from. "Keep up and do not get distracted by anything shiny," he called.

[Going Here]