Nightshift 37: Courtyard

[usoppsenchou]

[from here]Unlike usual, he didn't pause on the wall for his partner. It wasn't that Usopp didn't care if Sai made it over, or that Usopp wasn't worried about what might be on the other side, but perching in a high place seemed like a really bad idea

Comments

[tsunagari]

The ninja released the hold on his chakra as he reached the top of the wall, jumping up to land beside Usopp at the top of it. He had to pause for a moment, panting. As expected, the use of chakra was far more draining than it should be. He couldn't use it as often as he might wish.

A glimpse around the area revealed nothing. Unlike the previous area, this one didn't seem to have any other patients running about. That wasn't necessarily a good thing, as it meant the two of them would then be the first targets for anything less friendly.

"We should probably make a run for the shed," he advised. There was nothing else they could do, really, but move quickly and hope to avoid any potential danger.

[damned_monsters]

The courtyard was quiet and apparently empty for a moment, but short moments after the pair dropped off the wall that changed.

A blue-skinned woman lifted head and shoulders above the water of the pond, white hair spilling down to float around her, partially clothing her bare skin. She blinked at the two men, head tilting to one side in an almost curious gesture, then opened her mouth and began to sing softly.

It was an elusive, faint melody, barely audible and yet somehow enthralling, driving into the baser impulses of the brain to attract the listener and drive him closer.

[tiassa]

[usoppsenchou]

He didn't notice the creature emerging, too preoccupied with Sai's arrival on the scene. It was only when she started singing that Usopp turned his head, surprised and initially alarmed by the unexpected sound.

The little pond had been his favorite part of the Institute, just on general principle, even if they'd had to use it to subdue Chopper only two nights earlier. Usopp had been away from the sea for longer, but it had never felt longer. And the previous night, what he'd seen, or at least thought he'd seen in the dark, a perversion of waters murky with something unspeakable and surrounded by death...

Even at night, the pond was quiet and peaceful. Beautiful. He'd never seen a fishwoman before, he realized absently, and hadn't expected them to be so pretty. Or maybe this was a mermaid..? He knew mermaids were supposed to be like humans above the waist, but maybe they looked just a little different, explaining the skin and hair. He'd never be able to tell from here, anyway, she was still too far under the water. Usopp

[tsunagari]

It was hard to see what the creature in the water was from where they were, but the song caused Sai to falter, staring out towards the water in a sort of half-daze. Usopp was already moving in that direction. Shouldn't he be following as well?

They had a goal for that night, and they should be moving towards it, but somehow it didn't seem like such a bad idea just to side-track for a moment. This creature was a curiosity, and he couldn't help but want to see it closer. It? Her? It was hard to say. The voice sounded feminine at least.

He followed after the pirate, basic ninja instincts ignored for the moment.

[not_rly_fai]

[[from here]]

Though he was without a light or a weapon, he'd still do what he could to make sure Ururu didn't get hurt. As soon as they stepped outside, his eyes immediately went to the skies, watching for those... supposed virgin birds. He'd had a few too many run-ins with them and was not about to be taken by surprise again. While whatever had hurt Kurogane in the Sun Room was probably pretty bad, he wasn't sure going outside was any safer.

[bewarethecute]

Ururu was glad that Fai-san hadn't tried to say no and go off by himself anyway. She had taken his hand willingly, walking with the man outside. It was dark there too, and right around when Fai-san looked up, Ururu realized they didn't have a flashlight.

"Um, Fai-san?" The girl didn't look up to the sky, but to the man she was walking with. "Where are we going? Do you know where Yue-san is?" She was glad they weren't going through the Sun Room, at least. That ghost had been very bad, and Ururu didn't want to risk having Fai-san touched by it, or being touched by it herself. She was worried though, because unless Fai-san knew where Yue-san was, exactly, they'd have to move fast to find him. The building was big, and then there was the outside too.

[damned_monsters]

At the sound of another voice in the courtyard the undine slowly lifted her head from the water, her pale hair floating to the surface to surround her in a drifting halo. The pale blue of her skin could have been an illusion of the darkness; visible as she was only from the shoulders up, she could very well have been a human woman.

She made no move toward the shore of the pond, nor made any sort of threatening movement. All she did for now was simply watch, to study these newcomers with apparent curiosity.

[tiassa]

[not_rly_fai]

Yuuhi tried to hurry, hoping he wasn't just leading them out into greater danger. It was hard to imagine that there was something more dangerous than the boy they'd run into earlier, but here just about anything was possible. There wasn't a lot of light outside, but there was enough to see most of their path.

"We're just going back inside, but we're taking a different way," he explained. Maybe there was a different way, but he didn't know of any. "I'm not sure exactly where Yue is, but we can try to find him once we get back inside, okay? I think we're going in the right direction." The guardian's magic did seem nearer, and he'd been sure it wasn't in the Sun Room.

A movement out on the water caught his eye, a woman was out there, from what he could see, though it was cold enough already, he couldn't imagine anyone getting in there on purpose. Something was off about it all. He held Ururu's hand as calmly as he could, but made sure to walk between her and the lake as they moved on toward the fence.

[uruz_vii]

[ From here.]

Sousuke was weak, but he needed to get Miku to safety somehow. Some way that wasn't through the room the ghost woman inhabited. Which meant going around. And over the wall. Could he do that with Miku so gravely injured?

Well, he'd have to.

He carried her on his back, moving quickly across the grass.

[uruz_vii]

He made it to the wall without incident and began climbing. It wasn't difficult, considering how much weight he was trained to bear up walls, but backpacks didn't get injured if they were dropped.

Sousuke straddled the wall and looked down into the field, assessing it as a point of escape.

[ To here.]

[mrmewmaker]

[from here]

Shiki looked around the courtyard, just in time to see a familiar blonde head of hair disappearing over one wall.

"That answers that," she said. "Time to go wall-climbing, I guess."

[contentincloset]

It took Kurogane a moment to catch up, not because he was having problems with dizziness or moving, but because he was trying to shake off the fact that the girl had gone and hugged him. He was simmering a bit from it, probably out of anger or something else that he couldn't rightly express for his injured voice, and had to breathe deep before being able to shake off the shock of it. Once he had, he finally exited the Cafeteria.

"Don't do that again," he warned, then turned his attention to the wall at her words. So that was how to get back around. If he remembered rightly, the Recreational Field was next to this place on the map he had. Thinking more on it, he could see how this path was safer as it avoided the Sun Room altogether, but only if you could scale a wall. It wouldn't be too hard for him, but, "Can you get over it on your own?"

[mrmewmaker]

"All right," she said, trying to suppress a smile as she moved to the wall.

Shiki tugged on the vines covering the wall, testing them. She hadn't tried doing this kind of thing before, but it didn't seem too bad. At least she wasn't in a skirt - she trusted Kurogane not to look up, but it would be a lot harder to manage in the kind of thing she'd been wearing before, since it fit tightly across her hips. For the first time, she found herself grateful for the uniform pants - they were easy to move in.

"I think so," she said, gripping the vine in her hand and getting a foothold before she began climbing it. It was a bit of a struggle, but she eventually made it to the top, sitting on it and catching her breath while she waited.

[contentincloset]

Kurogane had no reason to look up anyone's skirt or care if he accidentally did. He wouldn't have had the time to anyway as he wasn't one to wait. The wall wasn't that difficult for him, injured or not, and he was quickly to the top of it right along with her. He waited atop it along with her, not to catch his breath, but to survey the other side. The Recreational Field, just as the map had said, and there were a good many patients and others over there as well.

[promisedawhale]

[from here]

Now you might want to be careful of the trees over here," Brook warned as he slid over to the Courtyard side of the wall, "They can be terrible sometimes! One might just attack your hair without warning! Yohohoho! Though that's really nothing to laugh about!" Yet he continued laughing regardless, offering his hand up to help Plasmius should he need it.

[vladville]

"Your hair! Really? How awful," Vlad let out a passably horrified gasp, perched on the edge of the wall, about to slide over as well. Climbing it hadn't been exactly as dignified as he might have liked (considering he should have been able to fly over or through it with ease) and the pipe and flashlight hadn't helped, but at least those burdens were relatively light and easy to tuck under his arms while he climbed.

He hadn't heard anything about trees attacking hair, of all things, but he wouldn't argue. Instead he took the offered helpful hand from the tall man to ease his way down, rather than simply jumping. Landing safely on the other side, he gave Brook another smile. "You know, I haven't been this way before."

[promisedawhale]

"Terribly!" And until he once again had a proper weapon, Brook wouldn't be facing any trees could he help it. Disrespectful though the first had been, Brook wouldn't sink to that level by approaching unprepared!

Looking over the Courtyard, Brook didn't see anything all that dangerous - certainly no pink-hatted little tanu-- reindeers that would send him flying into trees again - and hoped that nothing would think to show up before they were to the Kitchen. "Well if you're new, then of course you haven't! Yohohoho! Unless you've been out of your room before now. But then again, this is a pretty round-about way!" he explained, then started leading to the door. No time to waste if they didn't want to have the chance of being caught!

[damned_monsters]

The noise this pair made (or at least, one of the pair) was more than enough to alert the undine to their arrival in the courtyard. Clearly, her patience had paid off, and she'd not risk them getting away quickly.

She rose above the surface of the water without so much as a ripple to warn of her coming, her tail still hidden beneath the murky pond, her pale blue skin half-hidden by the clinging length of her pale hair that was her only clothing. Without waiting for the men to react, she reached her arms out to the pair as her lips parted and she began to sing. The wordless song spoke of longing and loneliness, and a tempting invitation for them to come closer and join her.

[tiassa]