Night 68: M51-M60 Hallway

[armoredsoul]

[from here]

Al knew he probably should be paying more attention to his surroundings, but he was eager to meet up with his new friend. Besides, the quicker this chore was done the faster he could go and find where the nurses had taken his brother to. Only being allowed to talk with him when they'd first found each other was frustrating, and he had plenty that he needed to let Ed know about. Plus, the quicker he found him, the less likely it was his brother would wind up neck-deep in trouble.

He knocked lightly on the door to M58, shifting anxiously from foot to foot. "Sasuke? It's me, Alphonse. Are you there?"

Comments

[fullmetalheart]

[In M58]

Ed paused in digging through his desk, looking for his flashlight, when he heard Al and took off for the direction he remembered the door being in and smacked face-first in the wall next to it. "Ow..."

After a moment to shake his head to clear it, he groped for the door and opened it. "Congratulations, you found me without even looking for me."

[Sasuke next!]

[firewhichrefines]

He'd meant to mention that he expected Alphonse to visit, but it had slipped his mind between the bizarre surprise of finding himself walking behind the brother he'd found in the greenhouse to the same room and the realisation that he'd lost yet another roommate. He wondered if that one's brother had noticed yet -- Albedo had seemed so confident in his power to last.

As soon as the doctor's daytime persona dropped, however, Sasuke was ready, drawing his own weapon out and setting it on the bed to rifle for the dusty and long-unused box of scalpels and gardening equipment that had been there for weeks. He could keep the scalpels now, as throwing weapons ... but the sword had served him well enough, long enough, that there was no need to be stingy with this particular debt.

It was oddly tempting to say I told you so to Edward, given the speed with which the brothers had located each other, but Sasuke bit it back and instead gathered the metal into the pillowcase he'd stripped from his bedclothes.

"An odd coincidence," he commented instead, knotting the makeshift sack with some care. "Will you head out together, tonight?"

[armoredsoul]

Al startled back from the door at the loud thump, then blinked in shock at who was standing there. "Broth--Brother!!" He grinned widely and hugged his brother briefly. "Jeez, we really got lucky, didn't we?" He certainly hoped this trend kept up! They could use a lucky break, especially with how Edward's luck tended to run.

He turned then to Sasuke and nodded. "Yeah, we will. I was going to track him down after meeting you here. Is that the materials?" he asked, nodding at the pillowcase.

[fullmetalheart]

Ed hugged Al back before letting go. "I found the wall with my face and haven't found my flashlight yet. Got info to share with you."

He looked back at Sasuke as he moved out of Al's way. "Some from him, most from someone else from home."

[firewhichrefines]

Lucky didn't begin to cover the extent of the coincidence, but Sasuke was more immediately concerned with the fact that it did seem that Edward hadn't found the flashlight where Sasuke remembered he'd kept his own before giving it away, and where he'd assumed his roommate had kept his. Had the staff changed their policy and stopped giving them out?

"Yes, these are the materials I have," he answered Alphonse's question first, holding the sack out to the boy. "The last time you were here, it took a considerable amount of energy to convert anything and tended to leave you weak. Are you prepared for that possibility?"

[armoredsoul]

Al stepped over and accepted the bag from him, then frowned. "It did? But they shouldn't be able to tamper with alchemy like that...should they?" He glanced back to Ed with a frown.

[fullmetalheart]

Ed sighed. "Lust said that her claws don't work at all during the day and hardly at all at night. She warned me our alchemy will be restricted too. We're going to need to figure out what our new limits are."

[firewhichrefines]

"Everyone who has powers of any sort is limited," Sasuke confirmed. "Some are just unable to use them at all. Some are exhausted by using them.

"It's still unclear how it's being done."

[armoredsoul]

"Lust?! She's here?" Al stared at his brother, though he did register what Sasuke was saying.

[fullmetalheart]

Ed nodded. "Yeah. I'll tell you more after you finish up with him. And after you tell me where my flashlight actually is, since it seems he remembered wrong."

[firewhichrefines]

Remembered wrong -- Sasuke startled himself with a childish urge to retort maybe you didn't look hard enough, something that he was coming to realise kept happening with Edward. Of the brothers, Alphonse was plainly the easier to handle, for no reason other than that he seemed to have a more easygoing nature if not a habit of obedience.

"Indeed," he said instead, making the word as dry as he could and deciding that that was at least not as childish as his initial response. "Things may have changed since I first arrived."

Speaking of arrivals and departures, however, it was probably time he headed out to maximize the amount of time they had in the basement tonight. With that in mind, Sasuke moved past Alphonse at the door, nodding an acknowledgment to both brothers.

"Unless you have more questions I can answer at this juncture, I have plans."

[armoredsoul]

Al shook his head--he could tell his brother's attitude was getting to Sasuke, as it usually did with just about anyone. "I found mine under my pillow," Al said to his brother, casting their new friend an apologetic glance.

He frowned a bit when Sasuke headed to the door. "Huh? Um, I think we should be alright from here," Al said to him. "Thank you again for your help."

Outside M55

[behind_my_smile]

Fai had finished his dinner and watched as his roommate had left. He had promised Kurogane that he would meet him whenever his errand was done, but Fai couldn't help but be curious as to what activities might be going on outside his room. He decided he would stay to his hallway, that way he wouldn't miss the ninja when he arrived.

Stepping outside his room, he meandered around the hallway for a bit, watching people passing through before resting his back against the wall next to his door. He was rather worried about going off and wandering for another night after his first experience but considering nothing had harmed them he really had no reason to be.

Closing his eye, he thought about everything he had been told over the last day and of the people he had met so far. This world was certainly a strange one and he still had a lot to think about.

I'm so sorry he's late! DX

[seekingmystrength]

[from here]

Eventually he made it back to his own block, making decent time as he went beyond his own hallway and into the next, finding exactly who he was looking for already out. He stopped short a moment from the surprise of actually finding the man waiting for him, however found his stride quickly after and commented, "You shouldn't wait outside of your room," in warning.

That was dangerous here.

no worries ^^

[behind_my_smile]

Fai sensed Kurogane nearby before he heard him. Some of the benefits of being a vampire was he always had a good idea of when his prey was close by with those heightened senses. He opened his eye and looked towards Kurogane with his normal smile in place even as he was scolded.

"But I was getting so bored and lonely inside of it that I decided to see who was out. You were taking so long." Fai was whining a little but it was nothing more then a tease as he stood up straight, pushing away from the wall.

Re: no worries ^^

[seekingmystrength]

Kurogane had gotten there later than he'd wanted, but he had no intention of letting the magician know the exact details. "I went to see someone. It took longer than I thought it would." At least Fai had stayed during that time. The one he knew would have gone already had he known Kurogane was coming.

[behind_my_smile]

If he had the way he used to be, he probably would have fled. Gone in search of something or nothing, just so he could avoid any unwanted conversations. But this Fai was done with running from his problems. He had learned that that got him no where and so he was ready to move forward instead of always being trapped by the past.

"It's not nice to keep your date waiting." Fai liked giving Kurogane a hard time even now. He closed the distance between them. "You better make it up to me somehow. So where are we going tonight?"

[seekingmystrength]

"Would have been worse to keep her waiting," he grumbled. Knowing what he did of Tsubaki, that girl might have tried to come and make him take the flower if he hadn't gone to her willingly.

He hadn't put much thought into heading out, having wanted to check in on the magician mostly. Now that Fai had been there a whole day, his understanding of the world had to be better. "Before that, how'd you take the day?"

[behind_my_smile]

"Ahh, the day was interesting wasn't it? This world has some strange weather. I met someone new in the game room during lunch and my nurse isn't very talkative but is nice." Nice might be a stretch but Fai really didn't let someone's attitude deter him from conversing with them.

"I met my roommate as well..but apparently he knew me from before." Fai kept that golden eye trained on Kurogane as he studied him. "I didn't realize this was a place I had forgotten."

[seekingmystrength]

Kurogane's own nurse spoke too much and always about something that he didn't want to hear. That would be one of the few things he would change if he had the ability here, getting a quiet nurse. "Be glad for that."

Roommates were another matter. Kurogane had been forced in a room with a number of different patients during his stay there - the men coming and going at random. The first one, that Seishirou, he'd recognized him from another world, but it hadn't been the right one. Still as annoying however. The others he hadn't known, and hadn't known him, so he'd expected that majority would have applied when the magician got his own roommate. Until Fai said as much, the thought that someone else here would have recognized the blonde hadn't crossed Kurogane's mind.

Who was it? he wondered silently, more curious than anything. Not many there had been around long enough to know Fai, though Kurogane knew he wasn't likely familiar with everyone the man had associated with. He'd had to track down a few of those himself at one point, given what Fai had been trying.

"It's better off forgotten," he eventually provided. There was no way of telling if Fai had truly forgotten or was simply a different version.

[behind_my_smile]

Fai didn't seem satisfied with that answer. A small frown came to his lips revealing as much. If he had been in this place before he really wanted to know what had happened to him. He didn't want the same things to happen again. The fact that he doesn't remember doesn't sit well with him at all. Fai was one to dwell on things and so these lacking memories and the fact that his roommate had been disappointed that he didn't remember..bothered more then he would ever admit.

"It would still have been good to know that I might encounter people who knew me..or knew who I was." If he had been here before then these people knew him when he still hid everything behind a mask. How could he even pretend to be that same person? He couldn't and he didn't have the energy to even try.

"Was it really me? Or another version of me? I guess there is no way to really know.."

[seekingmystrength]

"It's the same as going to other worlds," he reminded, "You should be used to it."

Even before this place Kurogane had seen others that were familiar. The Tomoyo from Piffle, and that Souma from Oto - people he knew, but that were different. While they weren't as used to the reverse where people knew them, it was the same thing.

As for whether or not that Fai had been another version, Kurogane knew he hadn't. That man had come from the same travels, even the same time frame as Kurogane himself. They'd hit this world at different times, but both of them had remembered the country of Rekord last. "It doesn't matter," Kurogane had determined, and voiced as much, "Especially if it's that you don't remember. Just leave it at that."

[behind_my_smile]

The difference was, Fai always remembered those worlds after they left. He didn't feel comfortable not remembering one that bad things might have happened to him. He has had enough bad in his lifetime to not want to remember more..but that was hardly the point. Now he was destined to dwell on the unknown.

"It's not that easy." The statement was simple but he knew that Kurogane had to understand at least that much about him. Even if this Kurogane wasn't the one of his time..hadn't experienced the same things yet..it didn't matter. This man had always seen far further into his soul that Fai liked, had always understood him better then he even knew himself. It had always been difficult for Fai to accept that.

Fai lifted his hand and waved it off as if he was finally dismissing it, but it was obvious it was going to linger on his mind no matter how many times Kurogane told him to forget it. "Regardless, I can't do anything about it right? So I'll just have to find out more from my roommate if I am curious. I'm sure he will be more forth coming." Fai stuck his tongue out at Kurogane, not quite sure of that fact really.

[seekingmystrength]

Nothing was ever easy. They'd learned that from traveling as well. Every world they'd been to had held some kind of problem, and this one was no different. Kurogane hadn't even spoken of those worlds except in passing, and he was going to treat this one the same.

"You don't want to know."

Fai could do what he wanted - stick out his tongue and complain to others - but Kurogane's response wouldn't change. There were things Fai didn't need to know, and Kurogane was the only one who knew.

M55

[sixth_attack]

[ooc: timeskipping before Fai and Kurogane's meeting!]

The clicking of the door lock may have been but a soft sound, but to the impatient Sechs, it was as strident as a gun shot announcing the start of a vicious race!

DAMN SON OF A BITCH DECKMAN! ABOUT FUCKING TIME THE DOORS UNLOCKED!

Already dressed in his battle gear and equipped with his weapons and the precious yellow flower, Sechs gave out a rushed goodbye to Fai in the form of a guttural grumble before making a dash to the door and brutishly throwing it open.

Sechs knew the transformations caused by the virus were bound to start any minute now that it was night. He couldn't spare a second to get his cure to Aigis in time--!

[Running off to here.]