Nightshift 60: East Wing, Hall A

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Tsubaki hadn’t spent a lot of time around the doctor’s offices since, well… since Professor Stein had left. Disappeared. Quit. She didn’t really know. Thinking about it too hard threatened to let in a lot of distracting feelings that neither of them could afford, so Tsubaki worked to remember the task at hand.

Professor Stein was gone, but they were still here, and they had something that belonged to the military--maybe something important. That took precedence over her sense of loss.

As they neared the first few sets of doors, she took the lead. “I don’t suppose you know how to pick a lock?” she asked as she pulled out the necessary tools from the folds of her clothes. Even if Rapunzel didn’t, getting in and out of places was a requirement for an assassin, and Tsubaki was confident she could get the office doors open herself. Simply bashing them open was a possibility, but that meant noise and fuss. Their task was suited to a more lighter touch.

That just left what door to start with. It didn’t hurt to begin with the first one visible to them coming up the corridor, and likewise the one she was most familiar with, since it had been Professor Stein’s office. Doubtful his stuff would still be inside, including his computer, but…

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[hairraising]

Rapunzel half-expected night to end on them again as they turned the corner into the hall, just as it had the previous night. To her relief, however, she stayed conscious, as did Tsubaki. The only fatigue she felt was, again, the very faint sense of fatigue left over from using her magic. Maybe they could actually get this done this time. She could only hope.

Tsubaki went up to the first door on their right, and Rapunzel shook her head in answer to the other girl's question. "Never really been good at getting in and out of places, sorry," she answered, doing an admirable job at keeping the emotion she felt out of her tone. No need to get into regrets about certain towers and certain mothers/prison guards right now. They had a task to do and they were going to do it.

"Looks like you know how, at least," she said with some further relief, watching her roommate get her tools ready.

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“It’s all right, but I thought I’d check, anyway. It’s one of those things anyone can learn,” she said, kneeling down so she could get at the lock. “I sort of had to pick it up.”

Rapunzel was one of the people to learn about Tsubaki’s special constitution as a demon weapon, but even less people knew about what she and Black☆Star did, what their role was. Without understanding Shibusen’s function, explaining that she needed her skills for assassinations could be misleading. It was a conversation for another day.

Of course, then there were practitioners of ninja arts like Black☆Star who were happier using brute force and simply smashing their way through obstacles…

Slowly, Tsubaki probed the rusty lock. Careful, careful… When she felt the pins separate, allowing the lock to release, she let out a breath. “Got it.” Despite her best intentions, there was still a tiny flicker of uncertainty about going inside, but she still got up and flashed a smile at Rapunzel. “Let’s see what’s inside.”

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[hairraising]

[From here]

"Wanna try the one across?" Rapunzel suggested, shrugging. She wasn't sure if they would get another empty room or not, but she figured it was still worth it to try every door until they found the room that had what they were looking for.

[thecamellia.livejournal.com]

Oops, Rapunzel was giving her looks. Tsubaki flashed a brief smile to show there was nothing wrong.

“There has to be a computer around here somewhere,” she offered as they backtracked out to the hall. “If worse comes to worst and we can’t find any here, maybe there’s one in the Infirmary or something.”

For now, though, there was still a line of doors to try. It was going to take a lot of time to go through them one by one, so Tsubaki was hoping a computer with a disc drive would turn up soon. Putting the missing Professor aside, being out in the open for so long still made her a little anxious. It went against her instincts to undertake a mission like this while risking so much scrutiny; ideally, getting in and out and avoiding getting caught on camera was the way to go, but Landel’s made that kind of sneaking around almost impossible.

“Okay, I’ll get the door open.” With her makeshift lock picking tools in hand, Tsubaki set about jimmying open the door across the hall.

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