damned_institute | Nightshift 62: Main Hallway, 1-West

[skipping a bit from here]

Actually, no. He took that back. Having a light definitely did help more. He was waving his light all over the place as he walked, scanning everything around him like it was his first time out (and it kind of was his first night with a light). And he had to say, this was a lot better. No risk of walking into doors or anything. And no risk of walking into people either.

Which was great! Because as Snow wandered around the corner, guess who he saw?! Yeah, that's right! It was Ryuu! And Snow actually saw him ahead of time! And didn't collide into him ~~for once~~!

As soon as recognition clicked, Snow threw up his free hand and held it high in greeting as he called out jovially. "Heeey! Ryuu! What's up? Whatcha doin' just hangin' around in the dark like that?"

Well, Ryuu had a flashlight, too, so it wasn't really "in the dark" even if it was in the dark, but whatever!

...There was a familiar voice, and yet it still took a minute to click. And once it did, Mikado tensed slightly-- Every time Mikado came into contact with Snow, he ended up on the floor and bruised. Especially after last time, and anyway-- What was the thing with nicknames here?... Ugh....

The boy pressed a hand to his eyes for a second, then rubbed at his temples. "Hello, Snow-san. I was trying to decide which way to go." The boy glanced over at the stairwell wistfully, then looked back at the man. If there was an edge of uncompanionable weight to the interaction, it might have been because one of the two had never apologized for the other night. "You seem well."

[from here]

Oh, that had been the man from the Courtyard... she remembered only after coming into the larger hallway. So he hadn't been a complete stranger, but she also wasn't overly familiar with him either. That was the case when it came to most of the prisoners there, but thankfully not all of them.

When she was a few steps into the hallway she heard the young voice of someone she knew and looked more purposefully towards a group. She first spotted a very large man - about Simon's size if she was comparing - who overshadowed the owner of the voice she knew.

Mikado... Though she had known he was there, she hadn't really considered what that meant. The day was one thing, but at night? Mikado may have been really bold for a kid with what she knew of him, but she hadn't seen anything that let her know he could actually defend himself. Not in this kind of place. And even with the mammoth of a man standing with him, that thought alone made her worried enough to go over and talk to him.

"Mikado?" she called when close enough, hoping that she wasn't interrupting anything too important.

"Heh. Yeah, I'm good." Little bit of a headache and queasy stomach, but otherwise fine. Nothing a little sleep wouldn't fix later. Snow was thinking maybe he wasn't the only one, though. Ryuu kind of looked like he was getting a bit of a headache himself. Head colds were annoying, huh? "How 'bout you? You doing alright?"

He put his hands on his hips as he inspected the kid. The thought that he should possibly apologize for their prior "run in" didn't occur to him at all. He had felt kind of guilty about it after he'd woken up, but had since pushed it out of his mind. As far as he was concerned everything was perfectly fine. And if it wasn't, he probably would have assumed acting like everything was normal was the best way for everyone to feel better about it. Either way, he remained oblivious and simply thought the poor kid was another victim of the nurses' tendency to go shoving people outside in ice-cold temperatures.

A nearby voice pulled his attention away and toward a red-haired girl who had approached them. He didn't recognize her, and for a second, he couldn't quite register what it was she had said. "Hm?"

Mika...? Oh! He turned his head back to Ryuu in realization. She... probably meant him? Maybe a friend of his?

The nonchalance was getting more than annoying. Mikado liked Snow, but in all honesty, with strength enough to rival Shizuo, he could have seriously injured Mikado and Izaya the other night. "I'm fine now, but you really should have been more careful the other night," he said, a little resentfully. "We could have gotten really hurt."

Any other lecture he had built up was cut short by a feminine voice. That voice was-- Wasn't that-- Ah, he couldn't get used putting that voice with Celty. It was disconcerting enough to watch her approach with a head, knowing it was attached rather than a helmet over a fine dark shadow. The boy blinked for a beat, then promptly bowed to Celty when he realized he was staring. Again. "Ah! Good evening, Celty-san--" Then realized he would be responsible for introductions. He glanced nervously to Snow, and hoped that he wouldn't try anything irresponsible. A violent confrontation between these two, even accidentally, was not something he would want to be close to.

He gestured at Snow. Which involved some pointing upward. "This is Snow-san. He's an acquaintance of both Orihara-san and I. I... think." He glanced at Snow again. He had certainly seemed to be familiar with Izaya that night. Mikado inclined his head toward the Dullahan. "Snow-san, this is Celty-san. We come from the same place." More or less. Was that enough of an introduction? Ahh, this felt awkward....

As Mikado was more of an acquaintance than a friend to her, at least as far as she was aware, Celty understood the awkwardness with which he greeted her, finding herself just as uncomfortable when being introduced to someone who was apparently also an "acquaintance".

She found herself looking up to the tall man, again making the only comparison she had with Simon by hoping this Snow person knew some decent Japanese. After that thought, she only ended up nodding to him though before putting her attention back on Mikado.

Awkward or not, she had come over for a reason.

"It's dangerous at night, you know..." And I don't think you should be out of your room. She didn't say everything she wanted to, mostly because this was already too awkward for her. No matter what Mikado was involved in back in Ikebukuro, he was still a kid. This wasn't the place for kids either.

The brief scolding caught Snow off guard, something that was likely obvious with the surprised expression that crossed his face immediately. He really did think it was something that everyone had forgotten about by now. But now that that was obviously not the case, it was brought right back to the forefront of his mind again and he felt... bad about it. It's not like Ryuu was saying anything that was wrong or anything. No, he was absolutely and completely right. It had been his fault for not paying attention and just attacking without looking. It was really a matter of luck that both of them had come out alright. Or alright "now" as Ryuu had put it, which made Snow think maybe he hadn't come out completely unscathed after all.

By the time the girl had come in, Ryuu was no more than two sentences into it and Snow already looked somewhat shameful. Then introductions happened and Snow actually felt a little awkward, scratching a cheek with one finger and unsure as to what to do. He was probably the only one of the three whose awkwardness had absolutely nothing to do with meeting strangers.

"Uh, hey," he said simply at... Celty? Yeah. Just Celty. That -san thing tacked on at the end seemed like some kind of way to make nicknames (though why you'd want to make a nickname longer, he didn't know). Anyway, it looked like Celty and Ryuu knew each other from back home. Which was good in a way. At least some people had friends they knew here already.

He glanced back and forth between the two for a second, still not sure if he should address the prior subject or engage his new acquaintance. Thankfully, that answered itself when the she spoke up. At that claim, Snow immediately responded, even though the statement had been aimed mostly at Ryuu.

"Ah! Well, it's not really that bad, actually. 'Cept for when guys are runnin' around and not payin' attention to where they're going and what they're hittin'." He gave Mikado a sort of awkward, sideways smile. "It doesn't seem like there's a whole lot wandering around in here. Far as I can tell, there're only a few things crawlin' around that've managed to break in. Outside's prolly bad, though."

He was guessing. He hadn't seen anything outside, but it was always more dangerous the further you got from buildings.

Both of the others seemed to accept that as good enough, even though the atmosphere still seemed a little... strained. Mikado looked between them for a moment, then focused on Celty.... Whose gaze was focused on him. He blinked, then-- Wait, was she concerned about him? Mikado opened his mouth to refute the statement when Snow started speaking instead.

Ironically when it was Snow that enlightened Mikado on the monsters to begin with. The man made a reference to what Mikado had been lecturing, with a half-grin, and Mikado smiled slightly in turn, nodding. It was a off-center kind of apology, but at least Snow admitted to what was done. That was all that was needed, from Mikado at least, and he'd try to put it from his mind.

...Though, he would be very careful around Snow in the future.

"He's right; I haven't seen any of the animals at all," he added to Celty. "And I've left my room about half of the nights I've been here. I don't think it's too dangerous...." He trailed off, looking thoughtful. "If those soldiers were still here, maybe, but I don't think it's too bad?" He looked at her, watching. "Was there some other kind of danger you heard about?"

Not that bad? How could he say that?! She'd been seeing the bad in this place since her first night. As she really couldn't understand the rest of what Snow was talking about, she felt his missing of the point was more important anyway. So was making sure that he and Mikado understood that there were really real things to be worried about at night.

"Not just animals, there's...!" she started, only to stop when she couldn't find the words. The girl... book... thing... it couldn't have been human, but Celty hadn't a clue what it had been. That made explaining it quite difficult. "Just... you can't think like that!"

Ryuu seemed to agree on his point about it being relatively empty in here. Not to say the building was 100% worry free or anything, but it definitely wasn't that bad. Not like back home where you were bound to run into swarms of things if you wandered outside city limits. And definitely not like the rumors about Pulse implied.

Actually... yeah, what the hell was she so worked up about? If these people were from Pulse, then they had to be used to monsters and stuff by now, right? Or was it just that bad? Hmn. Not just animals, there's... what? Was it Cie'th? He'd heard about nurses and people turning into them here before. And the Head Bastard was sure happy enough to remind them all that it was gonna be happening to some people sooner or later, too. So there was no doubt they were around. That was probably it then. If you weren't used to those things, it was a pretty damn shocking thing to come across.

"Hey hey, whoa. Relax." He have Celty a big, super confident smile. Certainly no hints of being worried on his end. "Some a' these punks are a little tougher than others, sure. But it's nothin' to go loosin' sleep over. More of us than there are them, in the end. So don't sweat it!" He held a fist up in front of him enthusiastically. "If you're real worried about it, just stick by me, kay? I'm pretty used to this kinda thing already."

This was mostly addressed to Celty since she was the one who seemed the most worried about the whole thing, but obviously it was true for both of them. Ryuu was just a regular guy. And judging by her words, it looked like Celty was exactly the same. So Pulsians or not, they had more reason to be nervous than him.

Her unfinished sentence made Mikado take note. He relooked at her, closely. She was serious about it, whatever it was. Something to make Celty that nervous.... A thrill shot through him quickly, and he swallowed the thought of a grin, shifting his mentality to something more appropriate. But before he could respond again, Snow tried to calm her.

...Which actually seemed valid. With someone as large as Simon and as strong as Shizuo, it came as a reassurance to be with him. Except... Wouldn't Celty not have a problem with most things as well? Was it something like... Getting her head back (or a copy of it, or... Ah, creepy) negated what made her... herself? Mikado frowned further, unsure of how to communicate the question.

--Ah. Maybe he could--

The boy smiled slightly, nodded at Snow before looking to Celty. "He's actually very strong. A different sort of Heiwajima-san, maybe?" That part should be obvious enough. As for the rest... "Though, Celty-san... Are you still the same as you were before...? Or have things changed since you came here?"

That was probably about the most tactfully he could ask....

Snow certainly sounded sure of himself, but Celty couldn't really believe that until Mikado made a much better comparison for her than just thinking the guy rivaled Simon in size. Shizuo was someone who wouldn't have had a problem in this place - he'd been there too, so she was sure of that much. If Mikado thought that this guy was that strong?

Releasing a bit of her tension, Celty found herself looking up at Snow, considering how safe Mikado would be with someone of those characteristics. Strength was good, but if he was too much like Shizuo there was the chance that more than just the monsters of this place wouldn't survive a fight. He sounded fairly positive though.

"How different?" she asked warily, only to have her attention shift quickly at the boy's last question. The same... she wondered, raising a hand to try, yet fail to use any of her shadows. When nothing came she dropped her hand and only shook her head.

Snow kept his smile in place and nodded along with Ryuu's reinforcement, even though he only partially understood it. He had no clue what being a kind of Hay... Haywa... a kind of that meant, but Celty seemed reassured by this description. And that was the most important thing. Last thing he wanted was for anyone to get all panicky.

He also wasn't sure what Ryuu's question to her meant, though it wasn't weird enough for him to linger on or anything. Just a strangely phrased "how ya doin'" as far as he could tell. The only thing that seemed worth paying attention to was when Celty lifted her hand up, stared at it, then put it down and shook her head. And at that, he only blinked in mild confusion.

...?

...A valid question. Mikado glanced at Snow, then back to Celty without hesitation. "He doesn't have an Orihara-san to make him angry." Something that, even now, the details were lost on him. But there was another difference but how to put this.... "Snow-san is more idealistic as well." There. That should be enough. Idealistic could encompass many things, and most of them what Mikado was trying to say. If only there was a way to politely say that it seemed Snow wasn't always aware of his surroundings and passerbyers could come to pains for it.... He frowned in some discontentment, then moved on.

To watch as she raised a hand almost idly. He was prepared to see the same black mass as before, matte and deep, and when nothing happened and she only shook her head, he stared, expression blank. So that meant... She had lost the use of them for that, maybe. It wasn't something to just ask, and not in front of another. Mikado nodded slowly, then blinked, concerned. "...Celty-san, maybe you shouldn't go around by yourself, then, if there's danger like you said."

An echo of what she had spoke. The irony didn't escape him.

Even without Izaya, Shizuo was still plenty easy to set off, at least back in Ikebukuro. Or that was how Celty had always seen him as being. But if Mikado was defending Snow this much, then perhaps the man simply did not have a trigger or let things get to him.

He seemed friendly enough for that.

"Ah..." her head lifted suddenly when Mikado turned her own reasoning right back on her, blinking at bit dumbfoundedly.

True, she wasn't her usual self and couldn't summon her scythe, but she still healed quickly and was aware of how to fight if things came to that. And besides, she wasn't the high school student who didn't have the Dollars to help him out in this place.

"T-that's not the point!" she ended up shouting too quickly when her words did return. Probably not the best response, but the first one that hit her besides.

Yup, it was official. Snow was pretty much lost on what these two were talking about. At least when it came to the part where they were talking about him. Not that it was anything bad or anything. He understood most of it. Something about Snow not getting angry and being idealistic which... all sounded like good things to him. And Celty didn't look like she was worried much, anymore. So that was good!

He also agreed with Ryuu that Celty probably shouldn't be walking around by herself out here. If they had guns or any sense of combat training, then sure. But as is, neither of them should be alone.

But for whatever reason, Celty seemed to get pissed off by this suggestion. Yikes. What was this all about? Was she offended? Was it cause she thought they were implying she was weak or something? And she was ticked cause she didn't want to be treated like that? ...He hadn't meant it that way, honestly. There was a difference between being weak and just not knowing how to fight. They were just civilians. Not like anyone could blame them for that.

Either way, this looked like it might turn into an argument or something, and he definitely didn't want that. So he figured he'd cut in before it got to that.

"Uhh. But he's right, you know. 'S not like it's as bad as it could be in here, but it's prolly not a great idea to go wanderin' around alone anyway. Not unless you really know what you're doin'." Snow just beamed a bright smile, like he was talking about going on a picnic rather than exploring some monster-infested building. "How's about we all just stick together for tonight? Not like it'll hurt anything, right? Plus, it's no fun walkin' in the dark by yourself."

Mikado's eyebrows went up at her exclamation. Shouting, perhaps, wasn't something he attributed to the Dullahan. ...Maybe he really just didn't know her well enough. His eyes canted to the side. "Ah, well, if--"

The words were drowned out by Snow, and here, at least, Mikado was grateful. He really didn't know the right thing to say to calm her down. And while Snow seemed a little unsure about her mood, he seemed to be trying his best to work things out. Mikado exhaled quietly. He really didn't want her mad at him, because he could not see that ending well, so if Snow found a solution, all would be the better.

So the compromise of the three staying in a group was agreed to instantly on Mikado's end. "Do you want to, Celty-san? There might be something we could achieve in a group that we wouldn't be able to on our own." Like... Using someone with horrific strength to clear paths and get into areas. Mikado couldn't imagine Snow would have a hard time with the locked doors Mikado had stumbled across previously. It was true, as well, though. It might be possible to find more things out if they worked together.

The moment she shouted, Celty knew she shouldn't have as it wasn't really what she'd meant to do. She drew back and caught her tongue before she spoke on reflex again, trying to keep her restraint. Mikado wasn't Shinra, and he definitely wasn't used to her shouting or saying anything either. Her own feelings were usually so easy to keep in her mind too that just blurting them was so...

...not her.

Before she could sort not only her word choices but herself out, Snow suggested them sticking together which really seemed to solve everything that she was worrying over when it came to the younger boy. If someone like Shizuo was with him, someone who didn't explode like Shizuo, then Mikado really didn't have anything to worry over save for keeping out of the way in a fight. As for herself?

I can fight, you know... she eyed Snow, a little defensively, before realizing she hadn't said as much and, picking her words this time, spoke calmly, "I do know what I'm doing."

And Mikado should know it. She looked to him, still frowning a bit, but finding she had the unpopular opinion in all of this. Eventually she smiled just a little and agreed, "I don't mind. As long as you're not on your own. You're... not a fighter..." At least not in a way that mattered in this place.

She probably could have answered in a defensive manner and Snow wouldn't have even noticed unless she was yelling. As things stood, Snow felt like everything was just fine and dandy now that that had been settled. He pumped both fists up into the air then brought them down and held them in front of him, obviously enthusiastic even though nothing had really been decided yet. "Alright!"

He really was happy about this. It was true he always ran off and was plenty willing to do things on his own, but the truth was... he'd really rather not. It was better with other people. It kind of sucked being by yourself too much. So whether or not the girl really did know what they were doing and whether or not Ryuu was a fighter, this was already an awesome set up as far as he was concerned.

And this energy was probably more than obvious as he kept his hands balled up in front of him, looking about ready to bound off already. "Heh, no worries! We'll aaall stick together!" He'd try to remember not to get distracted so he could be sure no one got lost or anything. "So! Anyone got a place they wanna check out first?"

Normally, he wouldn't even ask and would've just turned on his heels and walked off to... wherever. But the hallway they were in went in a whole bunch of different directions. So he'd have to choose a direction first anyway. Plus Ryuu had been thinking of somewhere to start heading, and this Celty girl might have been walking somewhere before she ran into them. So there was a chance they might have somewhere specific they had been wanting to head.

He, himself? He had a few ideas. But they were vague. Mostly, they consisted of walking around and opening every door they came across. Whether this happened upstairs or downstairs didn't make much difference. Although, upstairs seemed more interesting since Izaya had pointed out that people didn't tend to go up there much. So if there was anything worth hiding, it'd be up there. And that also meant more chance of there being guards. But he didn't care about that. Heh, just let someone try and get in their way!

So if no one else had any specific ideas, he was happy enough to just walk off into the dark and see where the hallways took them!

Her agreement was relieving, though the additive was maybe a little unneeded. Mikado laughed a little awkwardly, then dropped it without any transition. "Of course I'm not," he said, and that was an obvious fact. He wasn't a crazy knife wielder, or super strong bartender, or a supernatural creature looking for what was lost. He was just a normal boy. He'd repeat that to any that would like to hear it.

It maintained itself as a theme, but it didn't matter now. Mikado finally took his attention from Celty, and smiled lightly at Snow. "I didn't, not really. I was going to go upstairs, but I didn't have anything in mind...." If one or the other wanted to lead, that was fine. Either way, he'd likely experience something that had hadn't yet.

And she'd become a part of their group just like that. While that hadn't been her intention for the night, it did serve her purpose for having come over. Mikado wouldn't be out on his own, and that was good, as was his knowing that he wasn't a fighter.

He wasn't being unrealistic.

"I was..." she started to answer Snow for where to go only to stop and rethink where she had been going. When she considered that she had no earthly idea, she changed her words a bit. "... I'm... just looking for answers. That could be anywhere really."

So that meant that both Mikado and her had no plans. If Snow himself had any, she was open to hear them, although she had to hope he wouldn't lead them right into trouble.

Welp. Upstairs seemed like as good a direction as any! Ryuu seemed like he was just wandering around, and Celty said she was looking for "answers." Answers to what? Who knew. Probably the same stuff he wanted to know. That being where the hell these people were taking the missing prisoners and where the guy in charge was so he could beat the hell out of him.

Snow himself didn't really have any plans either, of course. But he didn't announce that fact. And he didn't seem bothered by that fact one bit either. In fact, he was full of conviction. Wandering around and looking for whatever was good enough for him.

"Upstairs it is, then!" he said nodding at them both. He turned his light toward the nearby stairs, indicating both the way they were going and the fact that the coast was clear. "I'll take point. You guys just follow me and stay close."

That way if anything came at them, Snow would be the first to encounter it. No matter where they went tonight, he'd make sure nothing could get to them before going through him first.

[Aaaand up they go!]

Nightshift 62: Main Hallway, 1-West

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