Night 43: Main Hallway, 1-West

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Even distracted as he was, Suzaku remembered to stay on his guard as he passed into the main hallway. He would only be here for a moment, but there could still be a monster lurking in the darkness. And it was so quiet and deserted just now that he would make easy prey.

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Well, here she was. And, oddly enough, though she had passed people on the way here, there was quite literally no one around. It wasn't as bad as last night, since at least she heard other people opening doors in the distance, but there was still some sense of creepiness that she couldn't shake off.

It was gonna be fine, right? This zombie thing... the strange intercom announcement. Everything.

Alkaid shivered, though she would never admit that this place creeped her out to anyone in the history of ever. She wasn't supposed to be scared! She was a hero in this body! She was strong, and she was quick, and there was absolutely nothing to fear.

Nothing to fear. Except, of course, her damn zombie infection. And vampires. And perverts. 'Course, she was kind of asking for that last one, going it alone this far in a place like this.

Deeeep breath.Alkaid turned her new flashlight off, relaxing against the wall in the usual spot. She didn't want any monsters to see her, and if Badou couldn't remember that this was the place

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Though he had his flashlight in hand, it was off as he groped his way along the wall, only the faint light if a cigarette illuminating his face every few steps. It should really be more of an exciting journey for his heart to be hammering this much as he moved along but mostly it was just gropegropegropegropeohheysoft.

Wait. Walls were not soft. Despite himself, Badou's first thought was OH JESUS BLEEDING FUCK, REVENGE OF THE WALL BOOBS. His second thought was. Wait, these are the breasts I'm looking for. His third one was that he should probably stop groping Alkaid now because that was seriously edging over to pedo territory. Badou snatched his arm back and decided this was definitely not his fault.

"Do you have a fetish for being groped in dark hallways or something!? Why didn't you turn your flashlight on?! What if I mistook you for a boob monster."

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There were people walking around here and there, so it was a little easier to will herself to relax and listen for him. And Alkaid thought she recognized the sound of that shuffle and the smell of that cigarette - it had only been a day since they'd seen each other, to her. And she was opening her mouth to say something to him in greeting --- when his hands did the greeting for them both.

Alkaid found herself shaking in her slippers a little bit, and a hot, sickening feeling in her stomach when his hand lingered there for a second. What the hell did he think he was doing?

At least he took his hand away and was making some retardedly illogical claim. Like always. "What the hell is wrong with you? Do you have a fetish for groping people?! Why don't you leave your light on so you can see where you're going, idiot? I didn't need mine, because I was already here!!!She didn't hit him, but she was seriously pondering it. And there was the thing about wanting to devour his delicious human flesh. Her face was burning from the shock, still,

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"Because shut up." Badou shot back, fully expecting a hit that never came. That was a perfectly logical defense by his standards. Alkaid's boobs had it out for him. It was kind of funny that they met like this again - the first time might have been a mistake, but the second was definitely cannibalism

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Alkaid didn't really want to touch Badou at all, to be quite honest. Not her boobs, not her manly fists, not anything that would bring her closer to him, which could drive her to.. try to eat him or something. She normally had no problem grabbing someone's hand and marching off into the adventure-filled sunset, but this time it was different.

"Hmph. L-like I could die! Yeah right! I'm in my prime and only getting better!" She spoke with overconfidence, even though it had come damn close to happening twice before, now. And she'd been powerless every single time, having to leave it up to other people to follow up for her... But she wouldn't burden someone she just met a few days ago with something like this, would she? "You're a strong man, so -- I wouldn't expect you to go looking for me in hell."

When he asked about the injury on her arm, she immediately covered it with her other hand. "Oh, it's - it's nothing! I'm in fighting shape! I just got a little bite last night, but it's not like I want to eat your brains or anything!

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Badou was about to argue something about saggy boobs, but his eyebrows shot right up at being called 'a strong man.' Sure, he'd bitch about his manliness going unrecognized but he'd seen, well, mirrors.

"Don't be stupid. I can't bring the dead back to life or anything, so why would I follow anyone to hell?" If Haine was here - and if he remembered Badou's godamn dramatic past after the first three times he'd heard it - he would be laughing right now. Yeah fucking right. If he was being honest, he'd say he was just too busy following someone else to hell. He scratched the back of his neck, blowing smoke away from Alkaid. "It's a different thing if you're alive. Then I'll find you, or try, anyway. Vampire's ok too as long as you don't bite me. I'm not into necro

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Alkaid didn't catch his eyebrow raise, but she had her own very concrete reasons for thinking he was a strong man, even if he was a little scrawny. She was glad that he didn't ask further on that particular line of thought, 'cause she didn't want to pad his stupid idiot ego more than she already had.

"I don't know! But if I died, you can bet they'd be remodeling hell within a week. Too bad any visitors would be permanent, cause the place'd be a resort after I got done with it." She grinned knowingly. "But that's if I die, not when." Like she would be caught dead dying! Not in a place like this, no way. The idea was ludicrous, and it still had to be shown whether or not she could actually die in this body. She kept cheating death one way or another, it looked like

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Of course she'd be remodeling hell. Badou would like to see the devil try and stop Alkaid from doing what she wanted. When he got down there they'd probably share sympathetic looks or something.

As for being dead in any sense of the word right now - he was pretty sure she wasn't even without her failed protests. (Also there was a brief and terrible mental image of his ass with fangs in there somewhere.) "Don't use language like that. It doesn't suit you." Badou scolded, offhand. He wasn't really focused on what he was saying. He was trying to get a good look at her arm.

"If there's nothing to see, let me see it and stop freaking out." He was still frowning. He tried tugging her arm lightly to accentuate his point. It wasn't like he was going to force her. There wasn't much he could do anyway if something was wrong with it. Was that black patch..? "...Jesus fucking christ."

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"I..." She paused, a little flustered. Didn't suit her? What... was he implying? That she wasn't brash enough to use strong language? What, did he consider her a lady or something? That couldn't be further from the truth, right? There was something wrong with that.

Anyway, Alkaid's stunned pause at Badou's scolding was enough to let him tug her arm, and without her realizing he had caught a glimpse of the disgusting, painful rot that was climbing up and down it.

She swallowed, her throat uncomfortably dry. Would he.. still want to travel with her after this? Not meeting his eye, she mumbled, "...Now you know, okay? I've got a zombie arm and it hurts like hell. So... please don't get too close to me tonight. It's gotten better since last night, but let's not take chances. We should just go."

Alkaid's voice was softer and sadder than she meant to let it come across. She was a massive failure at controlling her emotions, and sometimes this happened.

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Badou let her arm go and realized rather abruptly that he'd burned his cigarette almost down to the filter. He didn't speak again until he'd managed to light another. No wonder she was so freaked out. He'd seen those things last night.

"The rot must be spreading to your brain, because you're a dumbass." Badou's sympathetic side was truly something to behold. "Why didn't you get a healer to look at it? If that thing gets any worse tonight we're going up to the chapel so you can tell god to stop fucking your shit up right the hell now. Tomorrow - and don't bitch at me because I don't care - tomorrow you're going to find a healer and make them fix it. Ok? Good."

He took a drag of his cigarette, a hand placed firmly on his hip in a very manly and imposing fashion. "So is there somewhere you want to go tonight, living dead girl?"

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"Like a healer could help me!! I have a healing spell too, ya know! But I can't even get to my i-" Alkaid stopped herself, realizing that if she continued with what she was gonna say, item screen, Badou would probably think she was really, really crazy. Spock had believed her confession, but that guy would probably believe any damn thing because he was just so... trusting.

"My... um, magical power," she finished kinda lamely, still not really knowing what to say. "Uh! But you should stop worrying about me! I'm A-okay!" She flexed her bandaged left arm, doing her best not to grimace, and winked. "I'll find someone tomorrow, so shut your trap."

And then he was smoking another one; it was a little worrying. Cancer sticks couldn't be that good, could they? He was probably just addicted, but Alkaid knew guys at her school who smoked and never did it like that. The stuff was kind of gross, and it made him smell funny, but the smoke in the darkness, illuminated by the little glow, looked kind of cool.

Not that Badou himself would ever be

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Badou was about to protest further before he realized she'd actually agreed with him. Ok, fine. They'd pick up with a healer tomorrow sometime - preferably one who wouldn't need to cut her arm off to stop the rot.

"Well, me an' Alle have been trying to hit patient possessions forever. That's upstairs."

He tucked his flashlight under his arm and fished out a corked vial, offering it to her. "Acid. Try not to get it on your hands. We're hoping to load it into some water guns so it'll be easier to use, and anyway we might find something good up there."

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Alkaid was never one to deny healing. Discretion was the better part of valor, after all, and she wouldn't have gotten far in the arena rankings, much less topped them, had she not known the value of stuff like that. The reality was that she didn't know that other people had healing spells. That made everything sooo much better. And it also made her a little envious that other people had been able to keep their own powers.

"Patient possessions? Like our equipped items?" Her eyes widened. "Okay, we gotta go there." If she could score a healing potion or even an antidote item, that would be perfect. Such a thing could possibly even cure her wounds, if something like that existed IRL! Which it didn't, but... if people had healing powers, then it could be possible, right? Of course, would they keep stuff that her character had on her before she went off to the great wild halls of Landel's

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"...Equipped what now?" Badou's eyebrows were going to make a permanent home somewhere in his hairline if he kept talking to Alkaid. And to think people told him he was a little weird sometimes.

"I was never useless." He shared his hard earned pity gift hard earned pity weapons like that and this was the thanks he got? Just because she happened to have a far more useful weapon on hand and he had pretty much nothing of the sort after a week of searching? He had needs. Needs that sometimes temporarily superseded his other need to not get eaten by monsters. It was hard to keep up with that scale of addiction when there weren't any cigarettes readily available. His life was very difficult.

"I'd be running away too if a zombie-vampire chick was after me. Let's just get to the stairs." Badou took his flashlight in hand again and started off.

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