Night 46: North of the Institute

[unheroed]

[From here.]The landing was rough, but not as bad as it could have been. Pressing a hand against the ground to brace himself, Harvey straightened painfully and then searched around for his flashlight and pipe. The former was easier to fine, and once he'd collected that and turned it back on, he used it to run over the ground as he waited for the

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[blood_and_pocky]

What, like his point became less valid with time? It was quite the opposite. And the longer this went on, the longer he left himself open for a series of… well, the options were numerous, and none of them good. If he believed for a second Anise could actually be an effective companion of sorts, capable of defending against foes, everything she could do he could probably do just as well, anyway. Probably better. The same applied to all of Aidou’s ‘companions’, but where he got along well enough with Sasuke, he couldn’t reconcile the boy’s personality with Anise’s. Knowing half of what Sasuke did about him, Anise would no doubt out him in a minute, and he’d rather not have that.

And if it came down to another emergency like what had happened in the cafeteria with Chere…

Aidou had leaped onto the lip of the wall, leaving himself in a semi-crouch. But instead of jumping down right away alongside Anise, he paused, tipping his head back to observe the sky and his surroundings. It was a colder night than usual, and the mist was far thicker beyond the Institute’s walls. Alone, how fair of a chance would the girl have? It was the perfect opportunity to ditch her. The noble could just as easily continue to walk along the wall, and she would have no idea what direction he had gone in. He looked down at her.

Selfish, really. She expected to insinuate herself into his company, burdening him without suffering any repercussions in return. And he was just to accept it, was he? It presupposed his goodwill, which wasn’t a given. Trust, she’d said. In a way, that ‘trust’ was the most selfish thing of all.

… But was it? For a human, no. And to hide, does one not mimic?

How Aidou was willing to go to appease human expectations was the problem, however. Whether Anise knew it or not, she was straining the fine line between being agreeable and acting how he felt he should.

For another moment, he stayed poised, and finally slipped from the edge. There was wind tugging at him, and then the solidness of the ground beneath his feet as he landed easily, barely a foot from Anise and yet still eerily quiet in the act. Straightening to his full height, the vampire gave her a look. “Why did you want to come with me?” he asked again, tone light.

[gald_digger]

Once again, Aidou's movements were way more agile than expected. Anise wasn't sure what to think of it. It seemed pretty unusual to her, but maybe it wasn't so weird where he came from. It was always so hard to judge other-worlders.

"Huh? Didn't we just go over this?" Anise looked surprised at the question. After all the arguing they'd already done, he wanted to do more? Hoping it would get him to back off quickly, she tried to look hurt while she replied. "I want to spend more time with you. Is that bad?"

Holding one hand at her hip, she added in a firmer tone, "Besides, we were both traveling alone at night. It's only natural to team up in that kind of situation!" That was, like, Rule #1 of Landel's. Even if Aidou was surprisingly quick on his feet, he couldn't possibly deny the value of having someone around to watch his back. Could he?

The girl took a few casual steps in their planned direction, though she kept her head facing Aidou with an inquisitive look. If he was going to ask her questions, it was only fair that she got to ask some, too. "Why do you want to go to east?" It was a reasonable question. Did Aidou already know a thing or two about the grounds beyond the institute walls? Did he know something about what was in that direction, or had he maybe explored some of the other directions? Aidou had a tendency to be stingy with details, but maybe he'd let her in on something, since she was coming with him.

And she was coming with him, whether he liked it or not.

[blood_and_pocky]

They had, but when the answer didn’t satisfy Aidou, there was nothing resolved about the subject. “I don’t think that’s true,” was the vampire’s response at first. “So perhaps it is.” Playing on affections with a certain lack of sincerity was something he, himself, had been doing for ages, and the fact that Anise seemed to do the same, with him no less, would’ve bothered him had he been outside Landel’s. Here, though, that she hadn’t been taken in by him was mostly water under the bridge. He just didn’t believe her. It was about time she realized that.

Whether he, too, should follow his own line of thinking and drop his sweet-talking pretences remained to be seen. He hadn’t been calling on them much at all, but even when he did, he was different from Anise in that he didn’t reek of dishonesty when he did so. But that was daytime play for him, at best. Head cocked, he didn’t answer when she claimed that safety in numbers was the other reason for her persistence.

Well, even if she reversed her position on the eye-batting front, nothing else really changed about what he was going to do with her…

He exhaled, moving away from the wall before orienting himself east so that he wouldn’t be single file with her. “As for what’s out there, I take it you don’t know.”

[gald_digger]

Huh? He didn't believe her? It was true that Anise wasn't exactly being sincere... but she wasn't exactly lying, either. In a way, she was just trying to get to know Aidou better. And normally, traveling with someone at night was a really good way to get closer, worm her way into his heart, maybe help him out and get him to feel indebted to her... stuff like that. "What else would it be?" she asked, sounding bewildered at his apparent suspicion.

Hmph. Anise wasn't sure what he suspected her of, but it was pretty rude when he was acting so suspicious himself.

His non-answer to her own question got a pout from Anise. "No, I don't really." She wanted to know, which was a big part of why she was out here in the first place, and hopefully Aidou was going to start talking before they ran into something weird or dangerous.

[blood_and_pocky]

Although his own physical restrictions and the layer of mist made it difficult to see very far into the distance, Aidou couldn’t make out anything out of the ordinary in the forested, half-dead area the hospital was situated in. Everything was as it’d been the first time he’d come this way, including the aroma of blood that circulated along air currents and tickled the back of his throat. Soon there would be the burble of water, followed by a moderate run to the town. If nothing hindered him, and he didn’t lag, he could make it there with time to spare, despite how much time he’d lost arguing with Anise.

But that was without factoring her in. Unless he was carrying her on his back, he’d have to keep in mind that she would probably move at a slower pace… unless he really was going to leave her to get eaten by a bear. But that was… And she was in slippers, no less.

Again, that feeling of resigned finality. A part of him saw no choice in the matter, but he didn’t want to acknowledge it.

Turning his head to eye her up, he drew himself back to the discussion at hand. She posed the question when it came to the other prisoners. Relations with them were rarely simple. If they didn’t want something from him, and weren’t actively seeking to harm him, they still had their own survival in mind, and true colors could emerge. Aidou had never counted himself a miserable misanthrope, but he was hardly expecting innocence and altruism from the others. Half were back-stabbing ingrates, and even if it’d be a sign of total paranoia to think someone like Anise were out to get him, he had his eye on people’s underbellies rather than their facades. It was a better judge of character. So was she honestly just doing what came natural to her?

“I don’t know,” Aidou answered easily. “You’d have to tell me that. I would just think people would be less willing to throw their lot in with an unknown variable, considering how high the costs can be in this place. Especially at night. If you’d only wanted the company, you could’ve approached me during the day.” Excluding the fact she was a human child, in general ‘trust’ and ‘nightshift’ were complicated elements to combine. But to get into that would be needless and overly convoluted. He didn’t think this whole meeting was more than bad luck, and any of Anise’s motives straightforward.

Having a population comprised of so many unnatural, unusual prisoners would change any playing field, though. It wasn’t over thinking to question them more closely than normal.

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