DAY 54: GREENHOUSE
Holy shit.
Y'know, she had a pretty intimate understanding of the feeling, and Ruby still was sure she could accurately describe the horrible discomfort in her face and lungs by saying they were on fire. Pretty apt reaction on her vessel's part, considering her face was furiously leaking from wherever it could in response. Her reaction was, in short, defensive. Not for herself, surprisingly enough, but Sam -- her eyes combed the cafeteria for him, but trying to open them was like pouring holy water straight in.
Not gonna happen. Just the attempt -- getting to her feet, looking around -- it was enough to make her head start spinning. She stumbled back a little. Hit the wall, it felt like, but everything felt pretty damn numb in comparison to the way her face and lungs were screaming. She opened her mouth to try and shout for him but all that managed to do was help her suck in more gas and she found herself on her knees, gasping for air.
God dammit, this wasn't working. With any luck, whatever angelboy had managed to tell him had got cut short thanks to the shenanigans of the staff and their fellow moronic patients. She clung to that hope as her hand balled into a fist, lifting up onto one of the chairs to try and lift her back to her feet as the staff began to filter back in. Her vision cleared up a little once the tears stopped rapidly generating in an attempt to get rid of what was causing the irritation to begin with, and she looked up to see a nurse, smiling almost like he was looking at a scorned child.
"Go screw yourself," she spat at him, hauling herself off the floor. Whoa. Vertigo. Not something she'd been prepared for, even though the lightheadedness should've been her first clue. Six hundred years of eternal torment, you'd think she'd be a little better about handling the shit. Maybe Alastair oughtta think about investing. She tried to muffle a cough for her own pride's sake by refusing to open her mouth, making her cheeks briefly inflate and her nostrils flare. It was better than letting these assholes see her coughing pathetically. What kind of demon--
Well. Not that it was news that Ruby didn't exactly measure up in all your standard demon categories in the first place. She shoved the thought off and took to glaring through her still-reddened, bleary eyes at the intercom as the familiar voice of who she figured to be the boss nurse around this place chastised them. Yeah, she was real damn sorry. Sorry she didn't bring her knife out with her. In the future, she'd be sure and try as much.
She probably should have thought to check on Senna, but … well. It's not like she had any reason to. They weren't friends, and the girl was just another source of information at this point. One of many. Ruby didn't spare a second look back as she headed out after the nurse to the greenhouse as ordered. Truth be told, the place looked pretty peaceful, and maybe if she was less interested in finding and checking up on Sam, she'd consider sticking around to play Martha Stewart.
But, she wasn't. She was just interested in getting the hell out of there and figuring out what was going on with him. That angel was starting to look like a bigger and bigger problem, and tiptoeing around the edges wasn't looking like it'd work too well for much longer. If she was nerfed, it wasn't like he had the smite first option here anyway, right? Risks were something Ruby tried to avoid. She didn't take them, she analyzed the situation and figured out how she could best control it based on what she knew. Landel was doing his damnedest to push her out of that comfort zone, though, and maybe a calculated risk was gonna be in order.
Walking through the massive glass room that housed the patients' shrubbery, she got to the floral portion of the organized shelving and pots and just stopped short. This was just getting revolting, and she was done humoring the idea.
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me." She held her hands up briefly in a kind of mock surrender, then dropped them back down as she turned to look at the nurse. "Uh uh. Not happening. You want me to play Martha Stewart, you can haul me back to the Sun Room and I'll knit you a friggen sweater." The attitude wasn't going over so well -- the cursing, either. Apparently, it was unladylike. And, y'know, not appropriate behavior for a patient to be throwing at a nurse, but what the hell. At least she hadn't slugged him. That had to earn her some points and get her the chance to wander back towards the cafeteria and maybe get her a glimpse of Sammy, right?
It took a little bit of further argument, but nothing that Ruby couldn't manage, before the nurse was willing to drag her back in the direction of the sun room for socializing. Yeah. Socializing. Right.
[ to here ]
Y'know, she had a pretty intimate understanding of the feeling, and Ruby still was sure she could accurately describe the horrible discomfort in her face and lungs by saying they were on fire. Pretty apt reaction on her vessel's part, considering her face was furiously leaking from wherever it could in response. Her reaction was, in short, defensive. Not for herself, surprisingly enough, but Sam -- her eyes combed the cafeteria for him, but trying to open them was like pouring holy water straight in.
Not gonna happen. Just the attempt -- getting to her feet, looking around -- it was enough to make her head start spinning. She stumbled back a little. Hit the wall, it felt like, but everything felt pretty damn numb in comparison to the way her face and lungs were screaming. She opened her mouth to try and shout for him but all that managed to do was help her suck in more gas and she found herself on her knees, gasping for air.
God dammit, this wasn't working. With any luck, whatever angelboy had managed to tell him had got cut short thanks to the shenanigans of the staff and their fellow moronic patients. She clung to that hope as her hand balled into a fist, lifting up onto one of the chairs to try and lift her back to her feet as the staff began to filter back in. Her vision cleared up a little once the tears stopped rapidly generating in an attempt to get rid of what was causing the irritation to begin with, and she looked up to see a nurse, smiling almost like he was looking at a scorned child.
"Go screw yourself," she spat at him, hauling herself off the floor. Whoa. Vertigo. Not something she'd been prepared for, even though the lightheadedness should've been her first clue. Six hundred years of eternal torment, you'd think she'd be a little better about handling the shit. Maybe Alastair oughtta think about investing. She tried to muffle a cough for her own pride's sake by refusing to open her mouth, making her cheeks briefly inflate and her nostrils flare. It was better than letting these assholes see her coughing pathetically. What kind of demon--
Well. Not that it was news that Ruby didn't exactly measure up in all your standard demon categories in the first place. She shoved the thought off and took to glaring through her still-reddened, bleary eyes at the intercom as the familiar voice of who she figured to be the boss nurse around this place chastised them. Yeah, she was real damn sorry. Sorry she didn't bring her knife out with her. In the future, she'd be sure and try as much.
She probably should have thought to check on Senna, but … well. It's not like she had any reason to. They weren't friends, and the girl was just another source of information at this point. One of many. Ruby didn't spare a second look back as she headed out after the nurse to the greenhouse as ordered. Truth be told, the place looked pretty peaceful, and maybe if she was less interested in finding and checking up on Sam, she'd consider sticking around to play Martha Stewart.
But, she wasn't. She was just interested in getting the hell out of there and figuring out what was going on with him. That angel was starting to look like a bigger and bigger problem, and tiptoeing around the edges wasn't looking like it'd work too well for much longer. If she was nerfed, it wasn't like he had the smite first option here anyway, right? Risks were something Ruby tried to avoid. She didn't take them, she analyzed the situation and figured out how she could best control it based on what she knew. Landel was doing his damnedest to push her out of that comfort zone, though, and maybe a calculated risk was gonna be in order.
Walking through the massive glass room that housed the patients' shrubbery, she got to the floral portion of the organized shelving and pots and just stopped short. This was just getting revolting, and she was done humoring the idea.
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me." She held her hands up briefly in a kind of mock surrender, then dropped them back down as she turned to look at the nurse. "Uh uh. Not happening. You want me to play Martha Stewart, you can haul me back to the Sun Room and I'll knit you a friggen sweater." The attitude wasn't going over so well -- the cursing, either. Apparently, it was unladylike. And, y'know, not appropriate behavior for a patient to be throwing at a nurse, but what the hell. At least she hadn't slugged him. That had to earn her some points and get her the chance to wander back towards the cafeteria and maybe get her a glimpse of Sammy, right?
It took a little bit of further argument, but nothing that Ruby couldn't manage, before the nurse was willing to drag her back in the direction of the sun room for socializing. Yeah. Socializing. Right.
[ to here ]