Nightshift 45: Basement - The Coliseum

[not_rly_fai]

[[from here]]While the transition from night to morning wasn't usually so abrupt, he fully expected to wake up tucked into his bed the following morning. Instead, he woke to hard-packed earth and sand against his cheek. He startled up into a sitting position, momentarily blinded by the bright light streaming in from above in the huge room he'd

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The Head Doctor's Seats

[the_head_doctor]

"Good evening, patients."

The Head Doctor seemed to be back to his usual level of smug superiority if the way he leaned on the railing of his section was any indication. His words seemed to be to be projected from the seats at the south-center of the arena; the patients quickly realized this, and as they turned their eyes toward that location, the Head Doctor loosely waved.

"Hello, everybody - ladies and gentlemen, spectators and contestants..." he grinned at each set of patients he was addressing and then stood up, straightening his suit and outstretching his arms.

"Welcome to the Coliseum!"

He glanced down again with a slight smirk.

"I must say, I'm impressed with the progress that all of you have been making lately. First a double-team built on dramatic betrayal and now all of you, just the next night..." He trailed off and chuckled. "Anyway, I'm sure you're just dying to know the rules, so shall I continue?"

Re: The Head Doctor's Seats

[winged_moon]

[dropping down from this thread]

Though Yue had never actually seen the man in person before, the voice was quite distinctive and familiar; he'd been hearing it over the intercom several times a day for two weeks now, and liked it less and less every time. Hearing it here and now in this situation crystallized the uncertainty and worry and fear that had been building within him ever since he'd set foot in the basement tonight, and impelled him into automatic, unthinking action.

With wings mantling in agitation he turned away from Fai, left hand lifting to grasp the bow that had appeared at his silent call, right setting glowing arrow to string as without pause he drew and released, repeating the action three times in turn. The barriers were almost certainly still in place, of course, but that didn't stop him from trying, at the least. Not with this opportunity in front of him.

Re: The Head Doctor's Seats

[the_head_doctor]

The Head Doctor seemed to notice the approaching projectiles out of the corner of his eye, and though his eyes darted to look in their direction, he didn't make any move to dodge the attack. A split second later, it became clear why: the barrage seemed to stop short of the Head Doctor and instead hit an invisible wall four feet away from him, exploding on impact in the air and leaving their true target without a scratch.

Dr. Landel smirked.

"How very impatient, Mr. Yue. And before I've even explained myself!"

He looked back to the rest of his audience and grinned. "You see, Mr. Yue should have perhaps not focused on attacking me so much as on attacking the man who shares the battleground with him. After all, the rules of my game are simple: for each second that your opponent lives, the patient closest to you will find themselves edging ever so steadily towards death..."

He glanced down at his watch and tapped it with one of the fingers of his opposite hand.

"And, I believe the starting point for all of that is... now."

Re: The Head Doctor's Seats

[winged_moon]

Despite the obvious futility of his actions, and the amusement Landel was deriving from them, Yue still did not dismiss his bow. Indeed, he was about to lift another arrow to the string as the Head Doctor spoke, clearly intending to keep up the barrage until either it broke or something forced him to stop. The latter came sooner than expected, when Landel tapped a finger to his watch, for at the sound of Sakura's scream both bow and arrow winked out, and the guardian's attention immediately turned to the stands at his left.

[jumping back to here]

Re: The Head Doctor's Seats

[contentincloset]

[shouting from here]

"LANDEL!"

With how Kurogane roared, anyone in the stadium would have been able to hear him, but it was only the doctor's attention he wanted. The man was the only one here who could stop this, making him the only one Kurogane could put both his rage and attention on.

[the_head_doctor]

The Head Doctor had been watching the battle closely and silently, and now that the final blow had been landed, his face had lit up into a kind of delighted smirk. That smirk seemed to stretch even further across his face as Kurogane yelled his name from the coliseum's bleachers, and the Head Doctor rose from his seat to lean over the balcony and address the angry patient.

"That's Doctor Landel, Mr..." the Head Doctor paused and scratched his chin. "Kurogane? Or is it You-ou? You warrior types are all so dramatic..."

As he trailed off, he shrugged and nodded toward the battlefield, where one of the contestants was already bleeding on the ground.

"In any case, you might want to be a little more careful about who you threaten. From the looks of your friend down there, it looks like you're about to have one less buddy to watch your back."

[contentincloset]

He had gotten the man's attention and all the twisted delight that went with that accursed smirk, but before he got so much as a glance from the man things had happened out of the corner of Kurogane's eye that he couldn't ignore. Charged magic, an arrow, and an intentionally failed attack had left the magician one the ground and Landel the furthest thing from Kurogane's reeling mind.

[back here]

[the_head_doctor]

[ Moving to the fight thread here. ]