Event: Zombie Outbreak

[leekspin]

It was safe to say that a mob of zombies was the last thing Orihime expected to see at an island resort, particularly one that was run by the hotel. It was hard to wrap her mind around it all -- seeing zombies in the sunlight, particularly, smelling of rotten meat and coconut suntan oil -- so she didn't try. The fact of the matter was that there

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[devouring_snake]

[ ooc; glad to hear it! ]

"Bitten? Not at all!" And here he gave a little twirl, hands held up in a mock gesture of surrender. "They've been trying though. Not exactly the most polite way to greet a person, but I suppose that's what happens when you've been turned into a bunch of flesh-eating savages. Biting people, tearing off arms---" He let out a quiet chuckle at that. "--chasing young girls across the sand ... what is the world coming to?"

Her undead friend back there looked like he was ambling closer, undeterred. Even from this vantage point he could make out what looked like more zombies popping up out of the water -- which made sense, considering the necessity to breathe was pretty much moot for them -- and could hear several more behind them. She probably wouldn't want to stay here, considering how fast she'd been running (like a mouse trying to find its way out of a maze, he thought affectionately), and so it was with a thoughtful hum that he turned to peer up and down the length of the beach.

"I'm amazed you managed to avoid being bitten so far," he remarked, though he wasn't entirely sure just how long she'd been dealing with this little problem. "Either you're exceedingly fast or you've got a hidden trick up your sleeve. Am I right?"

[leekspin]

Orihime blinked, then couldn't help but smile a little. It was a rare person who could take such an upbeat approach to a zombie attack, but it was appreciated. Maybe he was crazy, but she decided that she liked him. If it helped him survive and keep his wits, so what if he was crazy?

"Mm!" she inclined her head once, her gaze flicking briefly toward the open space they momentarily possessed, and how that space was gradually beginning to shrink. "I can defend myself. I could feel a few more people still alive out here, though, so I'm trying to get them to the safehouse." This man must have been one of the souls she'd detected. He was definitely lively.

"I'm a little reluctant to kill them, though. There might be a cure." It didn't mean she wouldn't kill them, and she wouldn't feel all that guilty about it if she did. It just wasn't her first plan of action.

Orihime retreated a few more steps in the direction of the safehouse, glancing at the well-dressed man. "Do you need a place to rest? The safehouse is this way, I can take you to it."

[devouring_snake]

"How noble!" It actually put him in mind of one of his acquaintances back home, but without the "wings of justice" nonsense she would spout off. Though he wouldn't really put it past this one, given how similar they looked alike and the whole "save everything" vibe he was getting from her. Funny how the universe worked sometimes. Whether or not it worked with or against him remained to be seen, but he wasn't going to pass up a chance of a little entertainment.

"A place to rest would be fantastic, thank you. I'm a little disoriented right now, and everything is happening just so fast. I don't quite know what to do with myself yet. I'm sure you understand.

Ah--" and here he doffed his hat cordially, a polite smile spreading across his face. Probably not the best place to exchange pleasantries, given their situation and their increasingly hostile surroundings, but that didn't deter him in the slightest. "Where are my manners? My name is Hazama, and you are...?"

[leekspin]

Noble? Orihime colored, grinning sheepishly. She wouldn't really say that. Her abilities just happened to be useful against zombies, really, even allowing her to attack safely from a distance. There wasn't anything all that brave or altruistic about it.

But she was glad that she'd found someone to help, that much was certain. It made her feel useful, which she didn't often get to feel, particularly in a place like this.

"I think you're handling it really well!" she reassured him. "Probably even better than me. --Oh, right, oops!" Introductions. Those were good! Just because they were in the middle of an outbreak of the undead didn't mean they should skip polite behavior. "Pleased to meet you, Hazama-san. Inoue Orihime." She didn't have a hat to doff, but she could clasp her hands in front of her and bow. "This way!"

Orihime spun on her heel and began to run once more. A zombie had already shambled into her path, but suddenly fell apart in two neatly-divided halves in mid-groan. If Hazama had any sort of spiritual power or touch of the supernatural, then he probably saw the vertical nimbus of light that lanced forward from Orihime's position, with a small winged creature directly in the center, that caused the abrupt cleave of the zombie. She skirted around the mess it left on the sand, the hem of the sarong flapping about her knees.

[devouring_snake]

"It's always best to keep one's wits about them in times of strife." Though, the fact that he was usually the one causing the strife probably helped in that regard. The times he was on the receiving end of things were few and far between; most either didn't have the drive or the know-how to actually put him in a position of vulnerability, and he was quite happy with that. It did make things a little boring, but he wasn't going to complain.

"You are handling the situation remarkably well, given your age. If I had to hazard a guess... high school? Early college?" Going by appearance alone, he'd have to put his money on college. In mindset, though, despite her selflessness he was getting something else entirely. He'd seen that sort of doe-eyed naivete behind a mask of bravado dozens of times before, and he would be setting himself up for disappointment if he expected her to be different.

But that was perfectly all right, those sorts were the best kind.

With his long legs he was able to keep up pretty well with her, but despite the groans and rattling cries of the undead closing in all around them, he didn't make any move to attack. There were a few close calls, of course -- bony fingers grasping at the tails of his coat, hat, sleeves, even a few hands popping up out of the ground to try and trap him as he sauntered on by -- but he merely shook it off or else hopped out of the way briskly before continuing on after Orihime.

"Beautifully done!" He commented with an appreciative whistle, delicately stepping over the halves of zombie with a ruthless stomp on twitching fingers. "I can see how you'd have managed to get by this long on your own, even if I'm not quite familiar with your technique."

[leekspin]

She was increasingly impressed with Hazama's agility. More than one she'd been ready to unleash Tsubaki on a zombie that got too close, but he always darted away as nimbly as a buck, practically untouchable. It allowed them to move faster, and avoid any unsightly possibilities of getting themselves surrounded.

"Well...I was in high school when I first came here," she replied, somewhat breathless. "I suppose I'd be in college by now, if I were back home." It was hard to believe she'd been here for nearly two years. She still remembered asking people about how long they'd been in the hotel, and had been stunned to discover that the longest term was usually about a year. She'd doubled that. There were a rare few she'd known who had been here longer, and it would probably be longer still before they were released.

She wanted to ask how long he'd been here, but was caught off-guard by the compliment. Orihime blinked in surprise at him for a moment, before the awkward grin appeared once more. "Hee hee, thanks! It's a spiritual power." And it didn't always work in the hotel, but she was glad to see that she was allowed to use her abilities in this sort of situation.

Through the thick darkness of the trees, she could glimpse the roof of the safehouse further ahead, inspiring her to run just a little faster. "There it is. We've almost made it!" she called encouragingly.

[devouring_snake]

"Spiritual power, hm?" That was a new one. Where he'd come from there was magic, but in its purest form there weren't a lot of people who could use it. Judging from the girl's cheery disposition and the display of her powers, it was a safe bet to say that they were from two completely different worlds. Not that he'd had the opportunity to travel around the globe and see into the furthest reaches of the planet, but she seemed to be of a different breed than the women from back home.

"Never heard of it. Then again, there are probably a great deal of things I've yet to see." He brushed a stray leaf off the shoulder of his suit and readjusted his loosening tie. Not out of appearances' sake so much as out of habit, but he did make it a point to never get his hands too dirty, or his suit too torn up. He had an image to uphold, after all, and though he certainly wasn't lacking in the intimidation department when the time called for it, being dressed for the occasion certainly helped.

"Ah-- that's the safehouse? I would say that being in the middle of a forest surrounded by groups of undead on all sides probably wouldn't be the best place to run for safety, but ---" He paused to kick away a decaying finger that had landed on his shoe; from behind, there was a clink of chains before the links of Ouroboros snapped back to his form, knife end slicing through the ankles of the approaching creatures. "-- I've been proven wrong before."

[leekspin]

"That's okay! Almost everybody back home hasn't heard of it either. It was sort of...circumstance? A little? I don't know if I would have had these powers otherwise." It was a little hard to explain, and definitely a long story in the literal sense, so she was a little reluctant to launch into it before they reached the safehouse. It would be pretty awful if they got taken out just a few feet away from the safety zone because she'd been too busy prattling to pay attention.

The clink of chains drew a swift glance from her, then a second longer stare as she caught the tail end of the attack. "Oh, so that's how you've managed so far!" she gasped, impressed. "You're really skilled, Hazama-san!"

To say the least. Chain weapons weren't easy to wield! But there were a number of zombies groaning on the ground that she knew hadn't fallen due to any influence on her part.

Orihime nodded, darting around a bush and clambering over a thick fallen branch. She winced as one of the jagged edges scored her leg, leaving a thin, shallow cut. "There are wards," she explained. "I think they were made with voodoo, but they prevent the undead from crossing. There are locks, too, and the heavy duty glass they use in zoos. We'll be very safe there!" she promised, breaking into the clearing. From here on out, it was a straight sprint to the boundary that encircled the squat militaristic building.

[devouring_snake]

"Oh, it's nothing really, just few tricks I've picked up here and there. Really, I'm much more interested in your spiritual power, but it's probably best to save that discussion for somewhere more, ah, private." Not that it would be of any use to him here, unless she had a way to send him back to his own home. He didn't know exactly how bad his disappearance would affect things in his realm, but it was probably fixable enough if he got back in a timely manner.

The building ahead of them was met with little more than an arched brow and a wry quirk of the lips. It was quaint, cute in how outdated it was -- no special veins of magic crawling over the walls, lack of mounted weapons, etc. -- and only served to further prove the assumption that he wasn't in his own world any more.

Once they broke out into the clearing he made no move to either quicken or slow his stride. He hadn't been in any peril before, and now would probably the same. He was actually looking forward to meeting any survivors she might have brought in earlier, see the effects of zombie bites and so forth on them. Given that she had even directed them to the safe house, though, it would be unlikely he'd run into any infected here. "Wards, you say? Invisible to the naked eye, sparkles when you look at it in a certain way, things like that? Very interesting... And I would assume there was no instruction manual to be found, yes?"

[leekspin]

Orihime nodded as she ran, her breath leaving her in small pants. It was a good thing they'd reached the safehouse, since she was starting to tire. A chance to rest would allow her ample time to recover both physically and spiritually. She could do with another granola bar, too.

"I think so. I wasn't the first one who found it, but from what I heard, some people were being chased and they ran here to get away from the zombies. The zombies hit some sort of invisible wall, and then staggered off." She pushed aside a low-hanging branch, ducking beneath it. "It seems like anyone inside is completely invisible to them -- sight, smell, and sound. Even if we yelled our heads off at the zombies, they wouldn't notice as long as we were standing in the safe zone."

Sometimes she thought she could feel it when she ran through, like a light gloss of heat, but she wasn't sure if that was just her imagination or not.

At last her foot touched down past the invisible boundary erected by some wise pre-resident of the island, and Orihime finally began to slow. As she reached the building, she leaned against it, fighting to catch her breath. "Whew... That was some run. And you're barely winded! You're pretty amazing, Hazama-san!"

[devouring_snake]

"Comes with the job~ You wouldn't believe how much running around I've had to do, it's almost ridiculous. Good help is so hard to find these days, you know?" He ducked under the branch and flattened his hat atop his head as an afterthought. It wouldn't do to lose it here, especially when he'd become so fond of it over the years. Sure, he could always get a replacement, but it was the principle of the thing, really.

Once he'd passed through the boundary -- which he could tell by the wave of tingling heat washing over his senses, a bit more powerful to his senses because of what he was -- within the cleared section of the forest he felt a ... calm. An almost unnatural magic, tinged with the otherworldly. It made a shiver run down his spine in the most delightful way, and for a moment he was tempted to doff his hat to the pre-residents of this location, if only because their magic seemed to be the only thing that wasn't behind the times with the rest of the world.

"Is this the only safe house in the area? It's almost like they expected something like this to happen, hahaha!"

[leekspin]

"Not sure..." Orihime shook her head, her long hair swinging before she took one last deep breath, and straightened. Her leg stung slightly, but she could clean and bandage it later. It was hardly serious. "There might be others out there, but I don't really know. This one isn't on the map, so I don't think the others...if there are any...are mapped out either. But there's clean water, blankets, and a huge food supply."

In fact, if Orihime didn't know any better, she'd say that the supply was self-replenishing. It was possible; crazier things had happened, zombies foremost amongst them.

"Come on inside," she offered, stepping up the short porch and opening the heavy door. "Most people sleep during the day, since the zombies are more active at night. You can get something to eat in the kitchen, I'm going to go clean up a bit."

[devouring_snake]

"Hmm~" He hummed, but didn't say anything more after that. Instead he trailed along behind Orihime, stepping carefully onto the porch and heading past her through the door and into the entryway. "They do think of everything here, don't they?" Just a perfect little zombie-infested paradise, he thought, and the idea makes him chuckle a bit to himself. "Good thing you're here to save the day, you selfless little lady, you.

Kitchen is... where?" He half-turned toward her, hands slipped leisurely in his pockets, and his gaze dropped down. "Ouch, that looks like a nasty cut. Why don't we get that taken care of before we eat, hmm? I'd hate for it to get infected. Who knows what's crawling around in here."

[leekspin]

He was going to embarrass her to death at this rate. She rubbed the back of her neck, smiling awkwardly, and started to speak with her other hand half-raised in the direction of the kitchen when he took notice of her cut. Orihime's hand fell back to her side as she blinked down at her leg. How had he known that was what she'd meant by 'clean up a bit'? He was awfully astute!

"Oh, well...all right. Thank you very much, Hazama-san." Her head inclined faintly in thanks. If he had experience in first aid, then it was probably better to allow him to do it. Orihime disliked using her powers on herself; it was incredibly taxing, much like trying to clean and bandage a wound squarely in the center of her own back. While it was possible, it took a lot more effort than it was usually worth.

She led the way toward one of the various supply cabinets, opening it and checking inside before lifting a first aid kit from an upper shelf.

"It's not bad," she reassured him with a lopsided smile. "I just got nicked a bit by one of the splintered ends in that log."

[devouring_snake]

"Not at all! It's the least I could do in exchange for your hospitality." His knowledge in medical treatment was limited, but it would be enough. It was rare that he was injured as often as most other people, and even if he did get a few nicks or two or three he had a fairly decent turnaround time. Running through the forest dressed like that, it was only natural she would have harmed herself in some way or another.

That and he could smell the instant the branch had pierced through skin.

He set the kit on a rickety old table a bit away and gestured for her to have a seat. The fedora was removed and set down carefully, and then he shrugged out of his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his impeccably clean dress shirt. A bit of rummaging on his part produced a wad of cotton balls and a bottle of antiseptic, along with some gauze bandages he set aside for later. It probably would have been easier for him to remove the gloves, but as Orihime would soon find out when he tapped her injured ankle, his fingers were cold as ice.

"Removing the, ah, dress---" He made an abstract gesture with his hand. "--would be helpful, if you could."

[leekspin]

"Hm? --Oh, right, ha ha! Sorry about that." The fabric of the sarong probably wouldn't have gotten in the way much, but it was pretty dirty, so she figured that was why he wanted it gone.

She untied the knot at her hip, unwrapping the folds of dirt-smudged and muck-stained fabric from around her waist and thighs. Shifting forward, she slid it out from underneath her, and let it drop to the floor with a sigh. Orihime probably wouldn't be able to wear it again. The one supply this place lacked was clothing, and she'd had to shed more and more of it as time went on. It almost made her suspicious that it was being done on purpose. But it was too filthy, and considering what was on it, it probably wasn't safe to wash it anywhere that might contaminate the water supply.

The rest of her legs were relatively clean and smooth, thanks to the protection the sarong had previously given her. She sat calm and still, holding to the edge of the chair as she watched him work.