Night 57: X-Ray Storage Room

[ex_rosebuds752]

[From here.]

Staggering into the small room, Rose took a moment to try and control her breathing, gasping for air as she leaned against one of the shelves. Her flashlight was dim, but steady for the moment, and even that much light was enough to quell some - though certainly not all - of the unreasonable panic that had ruled her a moment before.

There was something wrong with her. This had never happened before. Oh, sure, she'd been scared before, she was nowhere near too proud to admit. Spend five hundred years running and hiding from the strongest and worst of her kind and then try to deny that little fact sounded ridiculous even to her. But this was something different. Not even facing Elijah had inspired this kind of bone-deep terror. Of things in the dark, of all things. Dammit, she was one of the things in the dark. Why was she freaking out now?

Comments

[zack-fair.livejournal.com]

The apology was hardly necessary. Rose had stayed there with him while he'd changed, which Zack would have thanked her for if he'd been able. It was only right for him to remain by her side while she tried to deal with her own bad reaction to the drug. He also didn't know why it was that they'd responded to it so differently, but knowing this place it was completely random. That thought was easier to handle than the idea that it might be tailored to each of them.

Of course, Zack couldn't ignore the irony of the fact that Angeal had referred to him as a puppy back in the day, when he'd been new to SOLDIER and over-eager. Hardly a puppy now, was he?

It was as he'd guessed, though. She was afraid of the dark. It was a pretty terrible thing to be afflicted with when there weren't any areas in the institute that were well-lit at night, but Rose seemed to be calming down now that they were out of the hallway. He shook his head at her to try and brush off her apology and then glanced around at the storage area.

He didn't know what supplies were being kept here since he couldn't very easily go searching through the shelves, but at least they seemed to be safe here. Slowly, he eased himself down onto his stomach, content to wait out the rest of the night here if it made things easier for Rose.

[ex_rosebuds752]

Rose slouched there a moment longer, catching her breath, trying to find her calm - which was easier with the flashlight still glowing in her hand. She kept it pointed away from Zack, which made his shadow twist in weird angles on the wall. When he crouched down in front of her, she tensed for a moment, an unconscious reaction, until she realized he was just stretching out. Which surprised her, until she realized what she figured he was doing. Giving him a small, half-convincing smile, she reached out and gave his one good ear a scratch.

Then she realized what she'd just done and felt mortified, freezing, before slowly pulling her hand away, having just petted the man she's been wandering around with most of the evening. Dear god, there was obviously something wrong with her wits.

"We don't have to stay here on my account," she spoke, slowly pushing herself to her feet. "The light... the light helps. And either it stays on or it doesn't, but that's going to happen whether we stay in one place or not. We might as well see where we are, and if there's anything interesting to be found nearby. I didn't even bother looking at the door," she admitted sheepishly.

Shining her light high around the room, she started peeking into the clear bins stacked here in neat order. "Gloves, tubes, wipes..." she read off the labels. "Nothing really helpful here unless we're trying to be sterile. She glanced down at the dog with a wry look. "Rather a moot point, if you ask me."

Her flashlight bounced off a door at the other end of the room and she paused, glancing down to Zack. "Should we?"

[zack-fair.livejournal.com]

The last thing Zack would have expected was to find Rose's hand scratching at his ear. It twitched in response, and actually, having that done felt strangely calming. Though with the way she pulled away, Zack could tell that Rose hadn't really been thinking about what she was doing, and even he had to admit that it was weird. Still, the fact that she trusted him enough to touch any part of him, rotting or not, was good.

As for whether or not they should keep moving, Zack was of two minds about it. He didn't want Rose to push herself beyond her limits because she thought that he was being restless, since he wasn't. He'd accomplished what he'd set out to do -- and yes, he was suffering for it now, but he could sleep in the bed he'd made.

She seemed much calmer in here so he didn't want to make her go out again if she didn't really want to. Besides, it wasn't like he was good for helping to search when he was walking around on all fours and couldn't even open doors. Well, it occurred to him that he probably had enough strength to break one down, but he didn't really want to test it.

There was no way that he could communicate to her that he didn't mind staying here for the rest of the night, though, and so after a moment he got to his feet again and nodded.

[ex_rosebuds752]

Despite the minor trepidation she felt, Rose took his getting to his feet to be agreement, or at least acceptance. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she reached out and twisted the handle, slipping into the next room.

[To here.]