Night 50: F-A Block Hallway

[nobleobliged]

[from here]Like a ghost story, Natalia told herself as one hallway opened into another. Reminding herself that these were the same halls she had been escorted through during the day had not served to ease the hairs on the neck, nor her quickening heartbeat. An adventure, a quest through haunted rooms to find the one responsible. That she was not,

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[autophoenix]

[ from here ]It was bigger than she remembered. Claire clicked her flashlight on as she reached the edge of the hall and moved into the bigger hall that seemed to connect to the entire female wing of the Institute. Thankfully, she didn't really need to go off of memory too much, because as soon as she clicked on her flashlight, she could see to her left was the door that lead out. Still, she wanted to get an idea of her orientation, so she lifted her flashlight and put the end of it in her mouth, hollowing her cheeks to hold it there. Then, using her free hand to pull out and unfold the map, she scrutinized it

[highvoltagegirl]

[from here.]

She she went farther along the hall, looking at the people who had flashlights and trying to figure out which one looked the most susceptible to her manipulation. It was like picking a weak gazelle out of a herd. But there was no luck so far. As she reached the point where her narrow hallway poured out into a much broader one, she felt a small jolt run along her spine.

But... her powers were gone, weren't they? Maybe she was just imagining things. People missing limbs talked about phantom pains and stuff, right? Maybe this was just phantom electrokinesis.

As she finished this conversation with herself, she noticed a girl in the hallway holding a flashlight in her mouth as she overlooked a map.

Victory. She smiled to herself. Here was her gazelle

[autophoenix]

When she concluded she'd done enough studying for one night, she folded the map back up and tucked it back in the waistband of her pants, pulling her flashlight back out of her mouth and wiping it on the lower back of her shirt. Like anyone would really judge her for having spit on her shirt in a mental institute, anyway. If anything, it would just help her blend in more.

And then, there was a tap on her shoulder. Claire had to resist the urge to roll her eyes, because really? Did she look like the kind of person to go to for help? Well. Given that she'd just had the map out … maybe that was a stupid thing to wonder. Putting on a happy face, she turned to see who was trying to get her attention and quickly regretted the decision to even pretend to act amiable.

Elle.

Did she even realize just how much Claire would like to hurt her right now? Apparently not, if she thought the smart thing to do was approach her. The only thing stopping her from reaching over and grabbing her by the hair was the fact that her hands were

[highvoltagegirl]

Elle's eyes flickered towards the shard of broken glass. Glass? Really? Who did that? Pom-Pom would never stop being a moron, would she

[autophoenix]

"Are you kidding me? It doesn't work like that, Elle. You're a psychopath, you--" Claire hissed automatically, her anger coming to a head now that she had someone she could take it out on in the form of Elle. All the frustration with the Institute, all of her feelings of inferiority that had stemmed from the conversation with Sylar and all of that helplessness -- it was being taken out on Elle. On top of all the actual reasons Claire had to hate her.

Lucky you, Pikachu.

The only reason she stopped her tirade was she noticed Elle grabbing for her flashlight -- she hadn't noticed it at first, but now Claire studied the other girl's inventory and realized she wasn't carrying anything. Talk about useless; she hadn't even though to check under her pillow before roaming the halls? Or maybe she'd lost it while roaming the halls, Claire realized. If her dad could potentially be there, then maybe Elle had been there this whole time, too. Not a good thought, but it wasn't one she chose to dwell on

[highvoltagegirl]

"Ow!!" She flinched back, reflexively giving Claire a small jolt--

Wait. Did she just-- no. Right? That stopped. She wasn't in pain anymore, so her ability had to be gone. She had to be okay. That was the one good thing about this place. If she didn't have that, then...

It wasn't important. Claire didn't appear to react to her being shocked-- although that might just be the lucky little cheerleader's inability to feel anything. She was ignoring it and hoping for the best.

"I was trying to ditch my roommate." She confided, having no problem with giving Claire the utmost honesty when it came to her situation. "You want to talk about people who belong here? Look at her. I'm not going back there. She's going to try to kill me in my sleep or something. She totally has that look in her eye."

[autophoenix]

There was a spark of electricity, but it didn't surprise Claire. It only made her angrier. Elle was using her ability, which meant she was either trying to shock her a lot harder than the fork-in-an-electric socket feeling she'd gotten, her it meant that her ability wasn't dampened. Neither appealed to Claire, but it didn't matter.

It didn't hurt, though. It was just a gentle tingling sensation, like the taste of scope, but all across her skin. That just aggravated her further. Aggravated her enough that she couldn't bring herself to care as Elle rambled about her roommate -- did it matter? Why was she telling Claire all of this, anyway? It didn't make sense.

"What, so you decided to come to me?" She hissed, all the venom making itself evident in her tone. Maybe in another world, she might have cared. Maybe protecting Elle might have mattered. But, as of now, Claire felt like she could honestly care less if Elle died. It would save a lot of people a lot of heartache, and Claire a lot of trouble. She didn't have the

[highvoltagegirl]

"I didn't." Elle hissed back, trying to snatch at the flashlight again. "I was looking for someone to steal a flashlight from and you looked like the dumbest person here." She was still trying that honesty thing out for size. If helping her out and playing buddy-buddy didn't mean anything to Claire here, it didn't have to mean anything to Elle, either. She was used to hating Claire, anyway. It was easier.

And then Claire turned abruptly. Elle stopped trying to pilfer the flashlight and just stood there, hands dropped to her sides.

"With an offer like that, how can I refuse?" It was lucky Claire's back was turned. She wouldn't have to see the complete lack of enthusiasm on Elle's face. But it was okay. There was enough of it in the tone.

[autophoenix]

Just another test of her self control. But, there was something to be said for being the bigger person and making the step to help someone, right? That was the point of hunting down the bad guys, to protect other people. This was just the more direct method. Still, when Elle said things like you looked like the dumbest person here, it didn't really encourage Claire to resist the urge to turn around and smack her again.

And yet, somehow, she managed to resist. If there was anything Landel's was teaching her it was that she was a lot more grown up than she'd ever guessed.

Instead of rising to the bait, she accepted that Elle was either going to follow her and continue trying to be annoying or leave her alone -- at this point, not caring which option the other girl chose was her best plan. It's not like she'd had any kind of expectation for her to be grateful. So, instead of worrying about it, Claire pushed open the doors that led into the main hallway.

[ to here. ]