Nightshift 39: Main Hallway 2-East

[ruthless_hunter]

[from here]

Lockdown checked the map again with his flashlight. He was almost where he needed to go. Hopefully Starscream was still holding out. Lockdown knew that he could always find another employer if something happened to Starscream, but that did not mean he would not try to hold onto the one he had now.

He went over Starscream's instructions

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[littlestrawdoll]

[from here]

With more than one person travelling up the stairs, the sounds of their out of sync footsteps echoed off the walls, breaking the silence.

What was that saying, ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’? Although one could hardly deny the danger of wandering around a dark, unfriendly building haunted by all manner of monster, he supposed people’s reluctance to stay inside their rooms could outweigh their fear sometimes. The prison population was an odd bunch, because as far as he knew, hardly anyone chose to shelter themselves. Even Leon had said he hunted monsters where he came from, and the doll would only have pegged him at fifteen.

And tonight, Leon was headed to the patient possessions room. Were the things in there that attractive?

Ren stepped onto the second floor, and moved to the right to give the boy behind him some room. The majority of his attention, though, went to the corridor to their left, ending his idle train of thought. The sounds were fainter where they were, some of the flashlights beams too low to be held by people standing upright. There was a spirit there, an angry one. Thing was, he couldn’t do anything unless he sent Leon away.

[for_marian]

Lying around doing nothing was not in Leon's nature--he'd never had leisure time before, and wasn't about to start trying that now, when there were things to be done. He'd get bored, frankly, if he just stayed in his room every night--sure, he could sleep, but with the days being as frustratingly aimless as they were he couldn't bear letting the nights go the same way. So even though he had no particular interest in escaping this place--what did he have to go back to, after all--Leon went out every night that he could.

Leon followed Ren's gaze--the name came back to him, after a long delay--and frowned slightly as he caught sight of those same too-low flashlight beams. Right, this was why he hadn't liked Ren in the first place--he was a meddler. "... Don't even think about it."

[littlestrawdoll]

Funny, why did he keep being told that? It was the same sentiment Melissa had displayed, with almost the exact same words. If they can’t handle themselves, it’s their problem. He’d spent decades bathed in blood, then decades more watching passively as humanity killed itself, raped its world, gave birth to youkai, and made the existence of Ojou necessary. He’d drawn out the most twisted secrets and watched souls curse themselves to damnation, again and again. And again. And now, in this strange place, he kept being warned not to extend a helping hand by children. Definitely funny.

In a dark, dark way.

The servant looked back at Leon with the strangest smile on his face before it disappeared. “Sorry.” And then, because teasing came naturally to the human he was pretending to be, he said, “It’s nice of you to worry about me, but you don’t have to.” He held up a solemn hand like he was swearing an oath. “Promise not to drag you into trouble.”

He was a being that lived with his back turned. It didn’t hurt to keep doing so, it was just… unfortunate. His time had been promised to this kid in the first place.

[for_marian]

Leon wasn't heartless, he really wasn't. If Ren managed to get himself in deadly danger tonight, Leon would help him without hesitation--but Leon was a soldier and knew that it just wasn't feasible to help everyone and still accomplish what needed to be done. The task had to come first, and haring off after every single person in danger, especially in this place, would result in never accomplishing anything. So he kept his priorities in order, risking himself only for those for whom he was responsible at the time--his travelling companions.

"Hn. I'm holding you to that promise." Though, really, Leon had serious doubts about Ren's ability to keep a promise like that. No point standing around arguing about it, though. "We should keep moving, before whatever it is down there decides to take a look over here."

[littlestrawdoll]

“You’re right, though it seems we’re lucky not to be in its territory,” he replied. What jocularity had been in his tone was gone by then, returned to unremarkable expression.

Whether he was as agreeable as he sounded, or upset, or giddy at the thought of potential violence… it didn’t matter then, did it? He’d just made a… promise. Heh. Somehow he expected that mattered even less, as Leon would probably cut him loose before that ever happened, and then the doll was right back in the same situation.

Stepping into the mouth of the corridor, he shot a half-grin over his shoulder. “Cross your fingers nothing’s down this way.” More and more prisoners seemed to be around, anyway.

[to here]