Nightshift 46: M11-M20 Hallway

[notthistrain]

Once again the doors had opened. Cloud believed most of what Yuffie had told him, but it was still unreal the way this place operated. They were clearly being tested, mocked, or both with the nightly routine, yet they didn't have many other options but to take the chances they were given

Comments

Re: [M12.]

[feartehreaper]

Haseo nodded vaguely and finally looked away, the line of his thoughts making his face seem a little hotter than he would have liked. In exasperation, it came to his attention that it was kind of annoying how every single room here had to look alike. It would have been easy enough to imagine this was his own, if Endrance had had the same habit of trashing his side during dinner as him.

"I told Kuhn that we'd go and meet up with him," he said, straightening, "If we keep him waiting too long, he might think something's happened to us." The Adept Rogue rose from the chair then, hoping the brighter color that surely showed across his face was going mostly unnoticed. Probably not. The mood was caught in a weird place, and Haseo was caught on both that and... how much he hated this awful situation they'd all been forced into.

He hesitated for several beats, torn, then with a barely-audible sigh, leaned over slightly in front of Endrance, reaching out to put a hand on the other's shoulder. The awareness of the risk he was taking seemed to burn in his chest, but by that point he was determined not to care. "Hey. Alright?"

Re: [M12.]

[oftemptation]

[keywoooooords.]

Endrance nodded once, noticing how flushed Haseo's face was. He was sure his own was close to the same color, with how hard he had been blushing. It was still...a little weird, with the mood so strained, but...things were a little bit better.

"All right...yes, we probably shouldn't keep him waiting too long..." The Blade Brandier paused, then, feeling the warmth of the Rogue's hand on his shoulder, and that made him blink in surprise, and...relief, at the same time.

He reached out shyly, asking even as he brushed a stray piece of hair from Haseo's eyes: "May I...? If...if it's all right...and. Yes. Of course..."

Re: [M12.]

[feartehreaper]

"If you... what?" Haseo asked, vaguely flustered. He suddenly found himself with a sense of hazy déjà vu, and for a moment he hesitated with an odd expression approaching sadness on his face. He couldn't help but think that he'd somehow gotten himself destined for walking into situations of increasing complication.

In the end, he still didn't quite know what to make of affection expressed quite like that, even if Endrance was well-meaning, and especially with his feelings on the matter confusing him far more than he found pleasant. At least he somehow managed to avoid further embarrassment even as his mind fled elsewhere. As unideal as it sounded even to him, he still couldn't argue himself out of making the best of what he had.

"I... don't mind. I guess," he admitted, at last realizing that what Endrance was doing was probably all he'd meant. That, however, did embarrass him, and he straightened as he cleared his throat, trying desperately to collect the pieces of his regular demeanor back together. "Right... come on, then."

Re: [M12.]

[oftemptation]

"R-right." There was something a little sad in Endrance's expression for a moment, but he put that out of his mind as he straightened and walked towards his closet. A moment later, he returned, putting the short sword on the bed and showing Haseo the pipe in his free hand.

"Take that...you're used to fighting with two of them. I'll make do for the time being."

Re: [M12.]

[feartehreaper]

Haseo took a few seconds to continue internally steadying himself, and by the time Endrance spoke to him again he'd mostly regained his nerve, standing as casually as he could with his weight shifted to one side. His eyes drifted from the metal pipe to the sword, expression flattening with the rush of indignation.

"I'm not used to fighting with anything!" he protested, making an awkward gesture with the newer sword he'd brought with him. "Well, not like this anyway. Besides, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to carry all this crap when I've only got two arms. Unless you want me to stab myself." He paused, taking a breath- that wasn't exactly fair. It seemed that dinner he hadn't eaten was haunting him in the form of irritability. Or something... the usual, deceptively-vague option of "everything all at once" was viable too.

"Look, here," he said, lower in tone, and without further warning pulled the metal pipe from Endrance's hand. "... Now I've got two weapons and you can take the sword." He didn't wait for the counter-protest or flowery speech or whatever else, shifting the pipe to halfway under his arm, grabbing the other things he'd brought, and going for the door.

[ To here. ]