Night 64: M51-M60 Hallway

[idolism]

Where the infected prisoners were concerned, Landel had been hovering over that particular soap bubble ready to pop it for days now. Aidou didn’t like the fact that there was someone out there set to transform, but… how to stop it now that it had begun? Landel had ensured an element of inevitability. If he wanted it to happen, it was going to happen, and in response to someone transforming, there was only so much one could do to stop them. Like restraining them. Or killing them. Or… finding the elusive means to a cure mentioned over the intercom.

Aidou wouldn’t have minded testing the legitimacy of I.R.I.S.’ message, but there were tasks he needed to see to before anything else. Checking in on Sasuke was one. Thanks to Landel’s warning, Aigis was coming in at a close second. He had no idea what their current statuses were; for all he knew, they were each transforming in their cells right at that moment.

And well… there was also the matter of promises involved. He had promised one that he would intervene if the infection became too much. The other, he felt obligated to do the same for without it necessarily needing to be said.

What other choice did he have but to inquire after their health?

That night, Aidou wore black. If blooded happened to be spilled over the course of events, it would be less visible on dark clothing.

M58 was the first stop he made. Throwing etiquette to the wind, the first thing he did when he stopped in front of the door was to make his presence known, and loudly. After a day of figurative radio silence, it was time to get the message across. "Sasuke! You had better be in there!"

Comments

[firewhichrefines]

Replenish the monster ranks? That was the first Sasuke had heard of the monsters' numbers being depleted in any sense. Was it actually possible that patients had managed to kill enough of the creatures that Landel was feeling insecure?

Unlikely. If Sasuke knew anything about megalomaniac, self-absorbed people with more or less absolute power over their domain, Landel would have addressed a genuine lack of pets well before announcing any such weakness to the patients with such goodwill. That meant that Aidou was probably right, as the vampire irritatingly tended to be --

... but sometimes, Aidou was also just weird. Sasuke shot the vampire a look when the word mouthwash sounded out of his mouth, then a slightly amused one when hairbrush followed. Perhaps the days were getting to Aidou after all. "I'm ready. I can rough it if I have to."

The dryly entertained tone dropped when it was revealed that Aidou had an immediate acquaintance who was infected. It would be folly to pass up a chance to observe, inasmuch as Sasuke could, what this new infection was doing to the patients -- and sadly, an accomplishment that already ranked beyond some of Sasuke's latest days and nights.

"Let's leave, then," he said, cool efficiency taking over again as he turned to move, poised to follow Aidou's movements.

[idolism]

‘Rough it’ indeed. Aidou silently shook his head. If the human wanted to run around looking like he’d just rolled out of bed--which he effectively had--then that was his concern to deal with. At least it was dark; no one was likely to give him too many odd looks.

All in all, the prospect of prisoners turning into monsters vastly outweighed Sasuke’s lack of personal grooming, anyway.

The boy’s enthusiasm to get going was understandable, and it made things easier. With his cooperation, Aidou could hopefully find Aigis in quick order, and then they could be on their way. It didn’t much matter in what direction they concentrated their efforts that night--any accomplishments would be welcome.

“Let’s head toward the female block. Assuming she hasn’t run off, I expect we’ll find her in that area.”

The vampire was a little grateful that Sasuke seemed to have no further questions about the detour. Explaining why he was interested in finding Aigis was easier than explaining how he knew her in the first place.

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