Night 51: Main Hallway, 1-Center

[ai_no_minako]

[from here]

The only problem with being punctual was that it left her all alone (hopefully all alone, at least) in a large, echoing hallway with nothing but her imagination. Considering that Minako's imagination was pretty good, especially given the last few years, that wasn't exactly a good thing. She gave the area a careful investigation, making

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[ai_no_minako]

So far it'd been pretty boring here in the hallway, truth to be told -- it seemed like the section of hallway where Minako had just been was the popular meeting point, judging from the sounds of voices and footsteps coming from farther down that direction, but so far she'd almost had this hallway to herself. There was one person who'd gone by, his silhouette easier to see against the dim light filtering through the Sun Room's door, but the fact that he kept going kinda seemed to her that he wasn't the person she was supposed to meet. Maybe she should have worried more about what these people looked like, huh? Then she could do more than just guess.

Before she could think too much about that, though, she heard someone approaching and, from what she could hear, heading right for her. For some reason whoever-it-was seemed to be wandering around with any light at all... what was he doing, sticking to the wall or something? Well, whatever he was up to, she wasn't interested in becoming a speed bump, no way.

Minako flicked her flashlight on again and bounced to her feet in one movement, turning the beam in the direction she thought the person was. And then she lifted it up. And up. And... up. Wow this guy was big, like a football player on stilts or something. She blinked a couple of times before realizing that she was staring, then flashed a bright, halfway apologetic grin. "Hi! Looking for someone?"

[heroesdontshave]

Of all the directions Snow had been looking, down had not been one of them. A step or two in front of him a light suddenly came on and a person stood up out of nowhere. Snow actually took a sudden step back, startled, but relaxed when he managed to get a look at her. Just some girl, it looked like. She seemed nice, though. Nice enough that he wasn't even going to wonder why she'd been sitting on the floor in the dark.

He blinked down at her for a second, slow to come over his surprise, then reflected a smile back down at her. "Haha, hey. Yeah, actually. I'm supposed to be meetin' some guys here from Search & Rescue. You know if they stopped by here yet?"

[ai_no_minako]

Huge he might be, but he had a nice enough smile. Kinda cute, too, if you liked the hulking manly type. Minako would have to consider that. "I was waiting for someone from Search & Rescue," she replied cheerfully. So was this the stalker guy or the guy named for the weather? Well, only one way to find out.

"I'm Minako," she added, sticking out a hand a little awkwardly. He didn't look Japanese, and that was how foreigners greeted each other, wasn't it? "Are you one of the people I was looking for?"

[heroesdontshave]

Wow, really? This kid was the Minako he was supposed to meet up with? Expectations aside, he had to admit he was pretty surprised. There was absolutely nothing about her that struck him as a fighter in any way. Even so, he wasn't going to question it. A partner's a partner, right? Plus, she wouldn't be a part of the group if she couldn't handle herself to some extent. And he knew plenty of people who were stronger than they looked.

And so any surprise that might have crossed his face quickly faded away. Snow broadened his smile and nodded his head once before carefully taking her hand in a soft handshake. It was strange, all these handshakes. He wasn't used to formal things like this, but it's not like he could reject her.

"You got it!" he said cheerfully. "I'm Snow. Looks like we're partners, then, huh?" He already liked how this was going. Minako didn't seem like the type who was hard to work with. Not that it would have changed his plans, but you know. It was nice. "I'm guessing the other guy hasn't shown up yet, right?"

[ai_no_minako]

Snow, then. Minako found that encouraging, and didn't bother to hide it from her smile. She wasn't entirely sure just what she was supposed to be search-and-rescuing -- just wander around and find someone who was in trouble? -- but this guy seemed like a good one to be doing it with. Someone that big had to be able to fight, and he seemed nice enough that she wouldn't mind spending time with him. The other guy, though, remained to be seen.

"Don't think so," she replied, stepping back once he'd released her hand and reaching down to scoop up the coiled chain from where she'd left it sitting on the floor. "I saw someone going by a little while ago, but since he didn't stop I figured it wasn't the other guy... whoever he is."

[heroesdontshave]

Sounded like Minako was about as clueless about this other guy as Snow was. Things would've been a little easier if they had a little something to go on for the last member of their group, but in the end it didn't really matter. They'd just have to find out when he got there. Until then, guess they'd just wing it! "He'll find us sooner or later. We're easy enough to spot." He failed to see an issue with this statement.

He placed his hands on his hips and looked up and down the hallway. Not that that helped since it was pitch black and he couldn't see a damn thing, but he looked anyway. When he turned back to the girl, he saw her picking up... something off the floor. Without meaning to, Snow found himself staring at it. He might have thought it was a rope or chain or something, but on closer inspection, he could see it didn't look like either of. At least not one he'd ever seen. It had something on it like... flowers? What the hell was that thing? Was she dragging around some big decoration she'd found somewhere? It did look nice, whatever it was.

"...Nice souvenir." There was a small smirk on his face as he said it. Not exactly the kind of thing you wanted to drag into a fight, but whatever.

[ai_no_minako]

Minako could all but hear the pause before the comment, and didn't really need to see the look on his face to know what it was. Oh, sure, the chain might not look like much at the moment, but if she was back at home or could manage to get past the block on her transformation she'd sure show him what it could do. He didn't know, though, she reminded herself, and just slung the chain over her shoulder with a light sniff.

"I found it the other night when all the doors went weird, and it dumped me somewhere that looked like home." She gave an unconcerned-looking shrug, idly tracing the outline of one of the rose-shaped links with a fingertip. "It kind of... broke when I brought it back here. But I figure it can't hurt to have it along, you know?"

Besides, it was a reminder of home. Not that she was homesick, or anything like that. It was just... nice.