Nightshift 62: Main Hallway, 1-West

[ninelivesonce]

[from here]

Taura took up station midway between the two halls leading back into the dormitories. Alone with her thoughts; the hall was quiet. Too quiet. Dead quiet, a little voice hissed in the back of her mind.

This was no time to be getting superstitious. It was unavoidable, really, in a profession with so much risk involved in daily operations, that those who survived found things to credit. Beyond their own skill, because they'd all seen better men/women/herms when their luck ran out, and skill only improved your odds.

Her luck was holding, tonight. Was Rita and Goku's?

[Rita and Goku]

Comments

[somesoulsearching]

Brook had waited a bit before heading out of his room, long enough for the intercom's second announcement to have faded away. The night messages were always strange, but this night was even more disconcerting than most. He was able to understand that Landel was doing something to them by making them sick, but then for the woman's voice to go on like that...? He could only wonder if things were about to mess up for Landel as they had before. The military likely wasn't the only threat a man like him had.

But still, why make them sick?

Regardless of how he was feeling, Brook knew there would be no answers for him should he remain in. He was the only one there from his world, so it was up to him to head out and find his way back. Or so he had believed until he was once again entering the larger hallway he always hit before the night's end. There were the usual patients out, going about their business, but as he skimmed them over one nearby silhouette caught his attention. Brook found himself looking back to the woman a moment to take in her figure before eventually blinking away some disbelief.

"Robin... -san...?"

[ichangedforgood]

The voice she recognized, but no one in the vicinity was a walking skeleton taller than she, so she continued to cast her gaze about. "Brook? Where...?"

Finally she noticed a man with a distinct afro staring at her and she had to blink back. "It can't be!"

Nothing in their world could have made such a change possible - nothing in all of the literature she'd ever read could reverse the effects of a Devil's Fruit, let alone leave the former wielder alive. Transfer they'd seen, but again that cost one their life. Like him, she was too busy puzzling the situation out to say much more.

[somesoulsearching]

He watched as the woman looked about, and then spoke finally using his name. That made the possibility of her being a delusion all the more possible since he'd never met another patient there who'd know him, but he liked to think he wasn't making up such a beautiful lady either!

"Is it really you?" he asked further, stepping closer on the chance that she might suddenly vanish with the shadows, "I'm not sure if I should believe my eyes right now! And I actually have them this time!"

Did that mean he had to trust what he was seeing?

[ichangedforgood]

"Of course it's me, why wouldn't it be- well, I suppose I should be asking the same of you, after all." She reached out to touch his face, as people normally did of Luffy. "But no one else would make jokes like that!" She grinned and laughed, then pulled back into a more business-like mode.

"Brook, I know that Luffy gave us the time to become stronger, in order to take on the New World, but this... however did you manage it?"

[somesoulsearching]

Why wouldn't she be Robin? Well, he had a few reasons, but with Robin herself asking, those reasons didn't really hold too terribly well, did they? Or even matter since having his eyes and hearing her words made him start to believe more intensely that what he was seeing was really, well...real!

Not to mention her reach to touch him. However warm he might have felt from the fever didn't make her fingers on his skin any less tangible. He couldn't help himself after that and clasped his hands over her own, laughing while somehow managing to cry like child all the while. "It really is you! Thank goodness! I was so worried about everyone!" he exclaimed, eventually releasing her hand and throwing his arms out, "My, I haven't been this happy in a long time! It's so exciting! And it's been so long since I've seen anyone from back home... you haven't seen anyone else around have you? I do hope I haven't missed anyone by accident!"

And then he stopped completely, as if something had halted his very being while his mind tried to catch up with the rest of him. Probably a good thing since his head was absolutely throbbing from all the excitement, but that was a small matter. When his thoughts finally did reach him, he blinked, frowned and looked down at the woman, confused, "What was that about the New World?"

[ichangedforgood]

She blinked in response only once before answering in all seriousness. "I haven't seen anyone else in sometime either, but that was before I awoke in this place. That Shichibukai, Bartholomew Kuma, he sent me to a place called Tequila Wolf, from which I only recently escaped before finding myself incarcerated again."

But she had caught the confused sound in his voice; she just didn't fully appreciate the meaning. "Surely you figured out Luffy's message, Brook? The one from the newspaper." She made a casual gesture to her own left shoulder. "It was written on his arm."

[somesoulsearching]

Her mentioning of a Shichibukai brought his frown down a bit more, particularly since he wasn't quite understanding what she meant. Bartholomew Kuma had been the one from Thriller Bark, hadn't he? The one Zoro had faced. Did she know about that? Well, if she didn't, he wouldn't be the one to tell, especially since Zoro really didn't want anyone knowing. He could respect that.

"Sent you...?" he repeated, trying to understand, "So he sent you there first, and then to here? Is that it?" How the Shichibukai could have sent anyone anywhere was beyond Brook, but he knew the man already had a Devil's Fruit power. Anything was possible with one of those, he knew.

"And Luffy was in the paper?" he laughed at the image of it, wondering just what Luffy would have done to earn something like that, "What a sight that must have been! Unfortunately though, I've not had the privilege of seeing one since arriving. He wrote something on his arm?"

[ichangedforgood]

In her mind, she was immediately concerned; first Brook appeared to have regained life and then he acted as if Kuma separating them had not been significant, or worse did not know about it at all. The ignorance of the news article she could forgive, because perhaps they did not receive News Coos where he'd been sent, but the rest of it...

This man cannot be Brook. She prepared herself for a skirmish, even if her powers failed her. Still, she raised her arms to prepare just in case, and took a step backwards.

"Toy with me no longer. Who are you really? You've given yourself away, I'm afraid."

[somesoulsearching]

Of all the things Brook could think Luffy might have written on his arm, he could only think that the word "meat" would have made the top of the list. "Pirate King" might have been a close second, or perhaps he had another love that he didn't speak of! Brook had only known the man a short while between his week aboard the Sunny and the even shorter time they'd spent in this place. A lot of his crew members from before had had lovers they'd left behind and while some had spoken of them, others had refused to. The latter ones had been quite fun to tease!

I wonder if Luffy-san is that type... he considered thoughtfully while awaiting Robin's response. What he got however brought only more confusion. He lost the grin from thinking of Luffy and frowned once more. "Who am I...? Oh! That's right, I guess in all the excitement I did forget my manners, Robin-san. A gentleman should always give proper introductions after all, even in the case of friends, and especially in the case of such a beautiful lady as yourself!"

His smile renewed, Brook straightened and placed a hand to his chest. "Since I'm no longer just dead bones, you can simply call me Brook this time! And also," he dropped his hand and leaned over, asking as seriously as he possible could, "Would you be so kind as to show me your panties?"