Night 58: Staff-Only Outdoor Patio Lounge/Eating Area

[princeofthemoon.livejournal.com]

[ from here ]

The rush of air that came with the opening door was not cold enough to be called biting, but was certainly cold enough to be a shock. Sesshoumaru's eyes widened in surprise at the smell of it - it smelled like the wind and snow, clean and cold and stripped of the harsh chemical scent that pervaded the facility so completely that the very smell of it had started to fade. He blinked before moving forwards again, out of the doorway, and into the moonlight.

The world was white.

Sesshoumaru's eyes flicked over the snow, which shone eerily in the moonlight. The muted light reflected dimly off of the white blanket, a few ice crystals that reflected the light a bit more strongly fading in and out of shadow, as clouds passed over the moon.

It was full tonight, or nearly full, Sesshoumaru reflected absently as he looked at it. The symbol of his house. And here, in the moonlit snow, he finally looked as though he might belong. The paleness of his skin, the silver blue cast of his hair - he seemed to be a creature of coldness, of the night. A few moments later he looked back down, taking in the scene. There were trees and what appeared to be benches covered lightly in snow, a small shed, a path that had been kept slightly clearer than the rest of the immediate landscape. And surrounding the grounds, there was a wall.

At last he turned his attention to the balcony that they were standing on. There were pathetic looking tables and chairs, poles coated in fabric raising high above them - some kind of umbrella, perhaps, as the fabric did seem designed to fold out, and Sesshoumaru could think of little else that it might be. There seemed little else in this place, between the rail and the wall - though the walls did hold two new doors.

He wondered where they might lead.

Comments

[princeofthemoon.livejournal.com]

Sesshoumaru sighed a little and looked at her in the same slightly condescending way that was at least partially caused by weariness. "The scent of the other blood makes it difficult to tell - I have been weakened by this place. All the same, the scent of your blood seems strange. You cast fire, but your magic did not carry the danger of holy powers."

[ultimagi]

The girl seemed to draw herself inward, her eyes falling from her companion's face and what excitement the victory had breathed into her dissipated as easily as her clouded exhale. "And... but..."

She frowned, both at her brow and her mouth, struggling for words. "You think I'm not human?"

[princeofthemoon.livejournal.com]

He blinked at her, seemingly entirely unconcerned. "Perhaps."

[ultimagi]

His lack of concern didn't ease hers. "Why?"

[princeofthemoon.livejournal.com]

"It is as I said."

He turned from her then, and made his way to the final door, which was locked. Sesshoumaru didn't think he'd be able to break it, even were that something in the realm of possibility at the moment. He stood still for a moment, trying to figure out where to go from here. Collapse could come later, for now....

[ultimagi]

While he moved, the girl stayed where she was, seated and dejected. She was wet, and sore, and there was a weak pounding at the back of her head. The cold stung her nose and lips, and her limbs ached. The wind pulled at her hair.

He left her then, and seconds passed with nothing more than his boots in the snow. He was halfway across the patio before she rose from her seat, walking uneasily after.

If she wasn't human, what was she?

[princeofthemoon.livejournal.com]

He stood very still for a very long moment, the cold eating into him, feeding his exhaustion. He was trembling again.

He didn't know what to do, and so didn't move as she walked up. Did not sink down to the snow, but didn't do anything else either.

[ultimagi]

Closer to the wall put them in the shade of the building, but the moon was still bright enough to illuminate what had halted him. The girl moved in next to him, examining the door. Locked.

It was hard to tell, as the other locks had been in greater darkness than this, but the device securing the door closed seemed far sturdier than those they encountered previously. With some fuss she moved the two knives to her one hand, the other feeling the padlock. It was fiercely cold, as though it stored up the winter chill in the hard metal to save for a sunny day; it was colder than ice, and her fingers stuck to it.

There was an indentation, a hole on the bottom, with several jagged bits of small metal jutting out from the sides. It needed a key, she thought, though she could not recall having seen any in the earlier rooms. Where, then, would the key for this room be kept? They hadn't seen keys for the other locks her companion broke, either. Was it all the same key? Different? Where would they be kept? She hoped it wasn't buried somewhere in the snow; she did not have nearly enough fire left in her to melt the ground clear to find it.

She really hoped it wasn't in the belly of one of the birds, either, though to her it seemed like a perfectly logical place to keep such a thing.

And he didn't look like he was going to try breaking this one, as he had the others. The girl frowned, glancing back to the opposite end of the patio. The dead birds remained where they were, several chairs and a table overturned, the scene grisly. Along the opposite wall were two doors, each of which they'd already gone through. One led to the kitchen and dead ends. The other to the hall full of useless rooms, but beyond that a couple other paths they had not yet traveled.

"... Should we go back?"

[princeofthemoon.livejournal.com]

"It appears there is little other choice," Sesshoumaru said after a moment. "We cannot continue moving forward, so the choice seems to have become to go backwards or stay here." He would prefer to move. He was feeling somewhat better for being a little further from the Smell, but greater distance could not hurt - and it was bitterly cold, especially now that he had discarded the thin shirt that his captors had seen fit to provide.

[ultimagi]

Then it was agreed. With only pause enough to hand back to her companion the serrated knife he'd thrown her way during the fight, the girl led the way back towards the first door. For the sake of avoiding the smell as well as the danger of blood-slick ground, she kept close to the railing as they moved.

Once they were back to the left door, closer to the railing, the girl paused, retrieving her flashlight and flicking it on. The beam was pale and weak in the moonlight, but soon they would be back in darkness.

[princeofthemoon.livejournal.com]

He took the knife, narrowing his eyes a little at its bloodsoaked condition, but there was very little he could do about it now. ... well, perhaps one thing. He recrossed the ground, back to the table where he had tended to the girl. The water was there, and he paused for a moment to use it to clumsily wash some of the blood away that still clung to him, hissing a little at the cold, but it did not truly matter. He used a little more water on the knife, cleaning it off as best he could before flicking it as dry as could be expected at the moment, and once again stowing it at his hip.

There was nothing to be gained from remaining here, and more that might yet be discovered tonight. He turned the handle to the door they had first entered by.

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