Night 59: Arts & Crafts Room

[survives]

[from here]

Leanne didn't bother to get a good look at the room she ran into at first, only kept running, hoping the door closing behind them would keep their pursuers off them. All right, so the rats were big, but they couldn't possibly open doors... and, if they were lucky, they wouldn't be fast enough to slip in before it closed. Hopefully. The idea of fending them off again, this time in a smaller room, made her a sinking feeling come over her.

She'd rather keep the rats away for a while, at least until they could both defend themselves properly.

As soon as she realized what room she was in, though, she couldn't help but let out a groan. The Arts and Crafts Room, was it? Great. Hadn't she just recently been trying to avoid this very room? (She resisted the urge to snort as images of rat statues flooded her mind. This was serious!) "You okay?" Leanne asked her companion, finally looking back behind her.

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[believein0.livejournal.com]

Zero allowed the woman to lead them off to the side, and, once they'd burst into the room, he released her to throw his back against the door, trying to prevent the group of rats from pushing it back open. He didn't feel any resistance nor did he hear the sound of nails scratching at the door, but it couldn't hurt to be careful.

Now they were...in this pointless place. The room was empty from the looks of it, so as long as nothing was hiding the shadows, they were safe here. At least, for now. If nothing else, they could use this moment of peace to catch their breath. The once-Reploid was only now realizing how much that fight had taken out of him as far as air was concerned. There was a burning sensation in his chest, a feeling similar to the one he'd felt the previous night - and this time it was caused by this body needing air, he bet. Why were humans so inconvenient...

At his companion's question, Zero nodded his head, too busy trying to breathe to respond properly. It didn't take long for him to recover, however, just as it wasn't long before he was able to show his overwhelming concern for the other prisoner's well-being. "You should have run when I told you to." Alright, so 'concern' was more like 'annoyance', but it was all the same in the end, wasn't it?

[survives]

Oh, he just wasn't going to let it go, was he? Leanne huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest, and shook her head. She couldn't believe this! Did he seriously still want to be stuck in that hallway, fighting off a swarm of rats? "No way! It was way too dangerous to leave you behind! If I'd left you there by yourself...!" She dropped her arms, balling her hands into fists beside her.

"Do you think you could've fought off all of them all night? That's stupid! You'd have just gotten yourself killed or... or..." Leanne reigned herself in, biting back a wordless shout of frustration. What was with men and rushing in to get themselves hurt, or even worse? There was nothing respectable about dying like that, not when it could be prevented.

She took a deep breath, waiting until some of the anger dissipated, until she no longer felt too tightly strung, before speaking again. "I didn't run."

[believein0.livejournal.com]

...Zero had to admit, with the way those rats had just kept coming, sticking around to fight them off by himself wouldn't have done him much good in the end. But it wouldn't have killed him, either. He'd been through too much to simply die from persistent little pests like that.

As the woman went off on her rant, he stared at her quietly, being largely unaffected by her reaction. His only movement was to tighten his grip on the bloody pipe, but it wasn't due to her emotions at all. Rather, the stillness of the room was starting to bother him. Just because things had calmed significantly from earlier didn't mean that he could afford to let his guard down. And...well, old habits died hard, especially when they were ones that kept him alive.

On topic, however. The woman's argument wouldn't sway him. "I would have been fine," Zero asserted calmly, "If you had listened to me, you would've..." Been safe. Made it easier for him to fight off those rats. Et cetera. He would have continued on to justify himself, but he stopped himself short. Think. If he added fuel to the fire of this argument, it would go on forever. The situation with the rats didn't happen the way it should have, but they were out of that mess now and neither one of them had been harmed. So what point was there in worrying about the past? There was only so much time he had here to investigate the strange happenings this night, and bickering about who should have done what was just a waste of time.

After a moment's pause, the once-Reploid sighed and resisted the desire to prove himself right. A more beneficial question was in order, then. "...Who are you, anyway?"

[survives]

She held herself very still as he spoke, doing her absolute best to keep from snapping again. He was so damn stubborn... Would anything convince him that running had been the best plan for the both of them? It would have been completely ridiculous for her to run and leave him by himself. No way. She didn't want to find out the next morning about someone getting himself killed in that hallway!

When he next spoke, however, she turned her full attention on him again, almost tempted to laugh.

Well, that was progress. Or, at the very least, Leanne hoped it was, that it meant he was finally going to let it go. He hadn't even seemed upset when she'd yelled, now that she thought about it, which she couldn't help but be just a little grateful for. Losing it like that had so not been part of the plan...

And he did have the right idea. Finding out the guy's name was probably more important than standing around and yelling at him, anyway. ...Not that she really regretted what she'd said to him. Not at all.

"Leanne," she answered, pushing her irritation aside to attempt a small smile. "How about you? If we're gonna be running from monsters together, I should probably know your name too!"

[believein0.livejournal.com]

Leanne. Not a name Zero had ever heard of, but then again, it wasn't like he was expecting to recognize anyone in this place anymore. Nor did he really want to recognize anyone here, either. Whether he knew anyone or not, however, it didn't change the fact that these people needed help, that some couldn't stand up to the dangers of this place alone...

But he was digressing. Thankfully, Leanne seemed equally willing to drop that whole useless argument and move on to more important business at hand. Although, running from monsters together wasn't exactly the plan here, and it (hopefully) wouldn't be happening again. "Zero," he answered in return. Right. Now, with introductions out of the way, he could focus on asking more important questions. "Do you know what's happening, or why those alarms went off?"

He doubted he'd get any breakthrough information from her (did any of the prisoners really know what was going on around here?) but it couldn't hurt to ask. How long had Leanne been held prisoner here, anyway? If she'd been here awhile, then the chances of her knowing something vital were much higher. Or maybe that didn't matter in this situation; maybe this had never happened before. What was going on?

[survives]

Leanne frowned, one hand on her hip. Oh, she wished she knew what was going on or had the slightest idea of it, at the very least. Being only on her second night, she couldn't really be sure if something like this was normal. But... Renamon or Tsubaki would have warned her, right, like they did with everything else? On the other hand, there was a lot to explain... Even if this was normal, they might not have had time to even mention it to her.

She shook her head. Wondering wasn't doing her any good just then. As it was, she was completely in the dark. And that didn't sit right with her at all. Just... Just not knowing, she couldn't think of a single thing that unsettled her more than that, not one thing that made her feel quite as sick to her stomach.

"No," Leanne finally answered, voice quiet. "I haven't been here a long time, but..." She let out her breath in a sigh, shaking her head. "But I've never heard of anything like this happening here. I don't know what Code Red is supposed to mean either."

[believein0.livejournal.com]

Oh...so she hasn't been here very long. But even so, if Leanne really had never heard of whatever this 'Code Red' was supposed to be, then the chances of it being an unplanned event from the military were a little higher. "I'm clueless, too," Zero admitted, "This is only my third night, but I've never heard of something like this happening before, either."

So once again, what was happening, and why? All he was certain of was that sirens had gone off with the messages 'emergency' and 'Code Red', there was an influx of monsters, there was this strange pink glow everywhere, and the prisoners were suddenly stronger. If this was all due to an unplanned state of emergency, then who was more in trouble, the prisoners or their captors? If this was just a normal occurrence, then what was the purpose of it? And did this have anything to do with that traitor from the night before?

Then the sooner they started searching for the answers, the better. "There has to be some way to figure out what's up. I'm going to go looking for clues." Zero used I rather than we, as he was still considering whether or not it'd be safer for his companion if she remained here or came with him. (Without asking for her opinion on the matter, of course.)

[survives]

Leanne nodded. It didn't exactly get rid of her worries, but it did ease them, knowing that he at least had never heard of anything like tonight. Sure, he'd only been around a little longer than her, but that also meant one more day during which he could have heard about it, or experienced the same thing. If this was something that had happened before, between the two of them they would have just had to have heard about it at some point. Though...

The thought of the night's events being something completely new to everyone in the institute wasn't exactly a comforting one.

"This is my second night here," she admitted, smiling slightly. "Not that different from you, I guess."

She could quickly see one more thing they had in common, too. Right, they just had to figure out what was going on. Not only to survive against all the monsters roaming the halls, but... if there was one thing Leanne hated more than anything, it was being kept in the dark. "Okay! I'm going with you," she said firmly, not at all willing to have him try to leave her behind again.

[believein0.livejournal.com]

Not only was Leanne new, but she was a day (or night) newer than Zero himself was. And, more negatively, she was also eagerly insisting to accompany him on his investigation tonight, before he had even made up his mind on whether or not it was a good idea. Sigh. Admittedly, he could respect that stubborn willpower the woman seemingly had; but all in all, she was human and weaponless, so she was more vulnerable in this situation than he was.

...Which meant that she would more likely be safer by his side than she would be staying here, didn't it? If the rats had shown him anything, it was that sheer numbers and persistence were enough to make the creatures here a serious threat, no matter how strong they actually were. There were so many of them around tonight that the once-Reploid had been attacked every step of the way here. How long would Leanne be safe hiding out in this room, anyway? Who's to say the creatures wouldn't find her and break the door down? Or that something couldn't be in here right this moment, quietly watching the pair from the shadows? At least he could protect her if she were traveling with him...

"...Fine," Zero consented after a brief pause, sounding only slightly reluctant. "But it's going to be dangerous, so stick close to me." Not that he felt the need to state the obvious, but he didn't want to repeat what had just happened a few minutes ago.

[survives]

"Don't worry about me!" she cut in quickly, smile widening into a grin. Finally, things were beginning to go her way. No sirens, no one trying to leave her behind, no giant rats leaping at her... Now if she could just keep him from pulling another stunt like before, everything would be perfect (...or a lousy imitation of it, but some things were better off not thought on for too long). And, sure, she still didn't have a weapon, but there just had to be a way she could be useful too. And Leanne would prove it to him, and to herself.

"I promise I won't get hurt," she added, realizing almost too late that probably hadn't sounded as reassuring as she'd hoped.

Nice going. It'd be just what Leanne needed, making this guy think that she couldn't be trusted to go with him. The last thing she wanted was to have to argue with him about that again. In the short while she'd known Zero, he'd already proven to be incredibly stubborn, after all.

"A-anyway, they're probably gone by now. We should head back out of here!"

[believein0.livejournal.com]

Zero listened to Leanne and recognized that she was eager to be helpful (or at least, not a nuisance), but he had decided by that point that her reassurance was unnecessary. She didn't need to promise him she wouldn't get hurt because he had already sworn to himself that he wouldn't let it happen in the first place. It'd be nice if she helped him investigate, sure, but not if helping put her in danger needlessly. He'd rather her stay safe.

So as she tried to sound reassuring, he stared at her in an unemotional way that was probably off-putting. If he was making Leanne feel uncomfortable at all by doing that, he was completely unaware; his self-assigned mission was more important to him than the need to recognize his social awkwardness, after all.

After a moment's pause, Zero turned to the door, eager to get moving before they wasted any more time in here. Anything else could be discussed as they were walking. "Let's go."

[To here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1193659.html?thread=81390779#t81390779).]