Night 66: M41-M50 Hallway

[redcladidealist]

[In M44]

Lloyd had been somewhat dreading the coming of the night, not so much because of the danger it presented, but because of the conversation he'd had with Guy, and the promise he'd made to try to subdue Claude if his roommate showed signs that he was becoming a monster. It was hard not to keep darting glances at the blond to make sure that he was all right. When the doors unlocked, though, he barely even noticed the Doctor's sinister words. He was too busy breathing a sigh of relief. Claude still seemed to be okay. Maybe that wouldn't stay the case, but they couldn't live in fear of the worst. Hoping for the best, he'd wished his roommate luck before the other set off.

Unlike the night before, though, Lloyd didn't immediately set out himself. He and Inoue had agreed to meet tonight so she could try to heal him, which meant he needed to wait.

Ugh, he hated waiting.

Feeling restless, he got up and started poking around around his side of the room. He found pens and a journal on his desk, and a weird device he wasn't sure about. It was in his closet that he found the biggest surprise. His clothes were there, hanging on hangers as though recently cleaned - black pants and a black undershirt, his red jacket and gloves, the red boots he favored, even his belts and suspenders. There wasn't any sign of his swords, but the dagger Claude had given him was there, which lifted his spirits a little. He thought he'd lost the weapon last night after the fight with the tailypo. A quick search of his pockets revealed that there wasn't anything else, but that didn't really surprise him. It was still amazing that he'd been given his clothes at all.

Figuring he had time before Inoue was likely to show up, Lloyd quickly changed out of the drab gray clothes the Institute had given him and into his normal clothes. Well, as quickly as he could with his still-injured arm and ribs protesting his every move. He had to grit his teeth when it came to taking off his shirt and replacing it with his black undershirt. He opted not to put his jacket on just yet. He had no idea how Inoue's healing ability worked and didn't know if she'd need to see his injuries before she could do anything. With the rest of his clothes on, though, his dagger hanging from the loop one of his swords normally would have gone through, there really was nothing else to do but wait.

Maybe he'll just doodle in that book.

Comments

[faeth]

[ from here. ]

These hallways were really starting to make her wish she’d invested in a Segway.

Without the worry of finding the place, it was a little easier to relax now, or relatively so, considering her hair had been stuck on end at the back of her neck for the longest time. The darkness was not so foreboding anymore, and she could imagine that this labyrinth of an asylum was manageable, that she could find the center (maybe its Minotaur), no problem. There, they’d find the ancient treasure buried in the heart of it so that everyone could finally go home.

If only she had brought some yarn.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…

On the 7th door, she stopped, squinting to make out the shapes of the letter and the numbers printed on the surface.

Softly, she knocked, her voice tentative and hushed, but above a whisper as she tried, “Lloyd-san? Are you in?”

[ for Lloyd! so so sorry for the wait asldkf. ]

[redcladidealist]

With every minute that had passed by, Lloyd had been getting more and more anxious, and the more he wondered if he should have offered to come find her instead of waiting in his room. What if something had happened? What if she ran into trouble? He should have considered that sooner, but after last night, he hadn't really thought about how the inside of the Institute might be just as dangerous as outside. And if she ran into a patient who'd become a monster...

He had already grabbed his jacket and was nearly at the door when the knock finally came. Injured or not, he couldn't just sit there if Inoue might be in trouble. His shoulders sagged with relief when he heard her voice, and he quickly opened the door.

"Inoue..." He searched her for any sign that she might be hurt, but he couldn't keep the relief out of his voice. He stepped aside to let her in. "Are you all right?"

[Don't worry about it. Inoue had farther to travel. o/]

[faeth]

That was the thing, Orihime had thought. The other boy was injured, and there were creepy crawlies, things that went bump in the night, maybe even mimes scattered throughout the institute -- even if she didn't know what she could do with her current powers, then at least she had the energy to run, which might be more than what could be said for Lloyd-san.

"Oh, yes. Don't worry about me," she answered easily, raising her hands up to wave off his concern with a smile. "You know, I'm much tougher than I look. I bet I could wrestle down a monster if it came at me. Get it into a headlock and-" She mimed the motion, blinking with her arms raised and awkwardly hugging the air as she realized that he was giving her room to come inside.

"Oh! Oh, um, yes, actually, I was wondering..." It might've been too much to ask for. Not to mention, it completely destroyed her original intention to not let him travel too far while he was injured. Chivalry was much more difficult than she had inititally thought. "I think I'm keeping Ishida-kun waiting in front of the Sun Room, and... well, I don't want to inconvenience you too much either. But I'm able to heal you while we get there, and I was wondering."

She took a step back and pulled her hairpins from her hair.

"Would it be... hard to walk?"

[redcladidealist]

An image of Inoue trying to put a headlock on a monster popped into Lloyd's head, and he couldn't quite hold back a smile. "I'm sure you could make any monster sorry it ever tried to pick on you," he said, and it definitely helped him match her cheerfulness that she seemed to be unharmed. "But I'll worry anyway, because that's what friends do." Only one conversation at breakfast, and that under less than the best circumstances, but she was nice and she'd offered to help and here she was. Did he really need more than that to label her as a friend?

When she didn't immediately take him up on the implied offer to come inside, he blinked, then his smile blipped into an expression of surprise. "Ishida? He's waiting for you, too?" And it was easy, for too easy, for him to remember what it had been like waiting for Inoue this long. Ishida would have been waiting just as long, and even longer by the time that Inoue had healed him and made it to the Sun Room.

It wasn't even a question. Lloyd shook his head. "I can walk. It's my arm that got hurt, not my legs." Well, his ribs, too, but that wasn't the point. He took a step forward, awkwardly draping his jacket on his arm so that his good hand was free to close the door. "Besides, it'll be safer if we go together."

[faeth]

It wasn't awkward, per se, and although she was never one for embarrassment, it was all too easy to be intimidated by the newness of this place. For a moment, she worried that she had been far too familiar from the very beginning. Aliens, and angels, and everything happening in the blink of an instant; sometimes time flew past at light speed, and she forgot standard etiquette, like forgetting to add in the sorry for the wait when he had opened the door.

But the temporary doubt, her wayward flustering was easily eclipsed by Lloyd-san's smile. "Mm, I definitely could. I'm sure any monster we come across will run at the sight of these impressive guns, so Lloyd-san won't have to worry about a thing." Orihime had no trouble sounding confident through the white lie, but what the other boy had said next was more than enough to give her pause.

Her eyes widened, bright and open even in the darkness. "A-ah!" Oh, wait, quieter. "O-of course," she tried again, her fingers pressed against her mouth to muffle her still excited voice, "friends 'til the end."

But yes, newly established friendships aside, they really needed to get going. Ishida-kun (though he didn't know it yet) was the student council president, after all, and it was a truth universally acknowledged that punctuality was a Big Deal in the world of student council presidents.

"Um, yes, he's-- I'm sorry for the wait and... for the rush."

Awkwardly, she tried to take Lloyd's jacket for him (it was a lovely red; she could still tell, even when the light was scarce... or rather, non-existent), but he'd closed the door and seemed capable of carrying it himself. By the way he was gingerly handling his arm, she could tell he hadn't gotten any better from this morning when she'd talked to him...

Without a word, she focused, clutching her hairpins and hoping as she prepared to summon Souten Kisshun, almost ready to shout out Ayame and Shun'o's names and the vehement I reject if her shield didn't manifest first when she simply willed it to. But her hairpins lit, the warm glow of light spread out over the left side of Lloyd-san's body, and she squeaked in ecstatic surprise as her Shun Shun Rikka went immediately to work.

... Although... it occurred to her that if the other boy couldn't see them, it was likely that he had just watched her squeak for no reason at all.

"O-okay. Sh, shall we go forth and blaze this trail then, Lloyd-san?" Oh, yes, acting very natural, indeed. She situated herself at his left, palms held up over his arm as she continued focusing her reiatsu on his injuries. There were definitely some deep gashes there, but... was that why the healing seemed to get off at such a slow start?

Limits. Right.

"I'll follow your lead."

[redcladidealist]

Guns? He wasn't familiar with the word, but they were talking about wrestling and headlocks, so he figured it must be another word for muscles or strength. Whatever. It wasn't that important. So long as he understood what she meant, that was all that mattered.

"Dork." He smiled, showing her that he didn't meant anything with the word, but she reminded him so much of Colette in that moment, silliness and apologies and all, that he couldn't resist. "If you came as fast as you could, you don't have to apologize. It's not like I was in danger while I was waiting for you." She'd been in far more danger than him.

He let her take his arm without any protest, curious eyes watching to see what she would do. She was from a different world. Would they way she healed be like anything he knew? The glow that suddenly appeared and washed over his injuries answered the question before he could voice it. It was warm and it felt so soothing, like one of Professor Raine's healing spells. It never occurred to him that it might be odd that he could see that glow. He was so used to using his own internal mana and being around people who could use mana and magic alike that it just seemed natural to see Inoue use hers too.

"I'm ready," he said, answering her. Careful not to go so fast that he risked pulling away from her, he started off down the hall. "Let's go find Ishida, Inoue!"

[To here.]