Nightshift 26: First Floor Stairwell Beside Waiting Room 1

[idolism]

_{[from here]}

Aidou paused for the second time that night, listening half-heartedly to the radio announcement. The volume was painfully low, so that it didn't attract any unwanted attention. None of it interested him, even as the riddles came easily enough. None of it was useful to him. So far nothing the monkey on the radio had offered had caught his eye, and he doubted that would change.

Stepping into the stairwell, he glanced to the floor. He was willing to bet the other three stairwells on this floor were the same - no stairs leading to the basement, and no stairs leading past the second floor.

So where were the access points? It was a good question.

Comments

[broken-exorcist.livejournal.com]

[[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/189165.html?thread=12749805#t12749805) ]]

Allen collapsed to one knee as soon as they were clear of the group near the Sun Room. This at least, was empty and he could try to figure out what to do from here. He didn't want to put Miss Emily in danger, but given the option of something close to a level 3 Akuma and Rhode, he wasn't sure which was worse.

He could taste blood in his mouth, an unfortunate side effect of carrying the little monster halfway down the hall. Was Emily still following? He tried to turn his head, but Rhode wasn't making things easy.

[sugarsweetblood.livejournal.com]

Rhode hadn't let her beloved go, despite the anger with which he had used to shout for her to release him. Hey, he should have been happy that she'd found him so quickly! Otherwise she'd have been yelling at him later for either being hard to find or, if the case had proven so, shouting at him the next day for not being easily found! "I'm not letting go, not until you apologize for lying today," she spoke smoothly into his ear, tightening her grip as she did so.

But Allen was trying to look back at her. That blond woman from Lunch that Allen had been talking so nicely with. Her own head whipped back, looking to the woman in question as she came up along with them. As if instinctively, Rhode tightened her grip on her plaything even further. "I already told you, go get your own plaything!" she hissed. Allen was hers, darn it! She continued glaring, fiercely cuddling Allen like one of her stuffed animals when she picked up on something. Actually, it was she wasn't picking up on that struck her as odd.

The woman... Emily, if she remembered what Allen had said... she wasn't human either, but her level of non-humanity was a level different than the others they'd just left. With this one... there wasn't anything there. No emotions. None. Not even a small trace of hatred for emotions (which Rhode had come across a few times). Were it not for Rhode's closeness to Allen and being able to feel his familiar kindness, Rhode might have thought that her powers had faded once again. But she could feel Allen still. Rhode's glare faded - still remaining as she still didn't like this one - but turned over to confusion. "You don't have a heart," she stated, half-amazed, half-confused.

[twelveapathy.livejournal.com]

Pretending to be the helpless bystander, Larxene followed as he led her and Rhode (she would have to thank Allen for confirming the child’s real identity) away from the others. The fewer people around, the better it would be for her. Now if only she could find a way to get rid of brat that had latched on to him…

“Would you please stop calling Allen a plaything? That’s very rude.”

Hah, this was pretty funny. Arguing with her on who had any real “claim” to the white-haired boy. If it wasn’t for wanting to maintain her act, the Nobody would’ve definitely taught her a lesson. This desire grew even more after Rhode had commented on her lack of a heart.

“E-Excuse me? What do you mean?”

How could she possibly know that? Things were really starting to get interesting now.

[broken-exorcist.livejournal.com]

First she wanted him to apologize(for what?!) and then she clung even tighter, making it difficult to breathe, let alone get words out! If it would get her off of him though, he'd say just about anything. "S-sorry!" he coughed. "I'm... I'm sorry, ok?!" He couldn't manage much more than that until she actually let up.

He was grateful that Emily was standing up for him, but at the same time, if she kept that up, it would be her that Rhode chose to go after next. Rhode's comment about Emily hardly phased him. Didn't have a heart? She was just being rude. "Don't be... silly, of course she has... Everyone has."

[sugarsweetblood.livejournal.com]

Rhode wasn't as overly protective now that the confusion had set in. Never had she just sensed nothing from someone before. The shock was enough for her to not even respond to Emily's "demand" for what Rhode should call Allen.

She eased up when Allen apologized, but didn't let go of him entirely. She did release his neck though, slinking away enough to tap her feet to the ground and take most of her weight off of him. Her hands, unfortunately for him, remained glued to his shirt. "But Alleeeeeeeen," she whined, now pulling at his shirt, "I mean it. There's no emotion. I can't read anything like with you and those other two. They weren't human either, but they at least had emotion. She doesn't."

And Rhode didn't like that. Suppressed or not, Rhode felt superior in her Noah abilities with being able to read at least part of another's heart. To get nothing... it irritated her for some reason. She didn't know what this woman was like at all, or anything she felt. The upper edge was lost.

[twelveapathy.livejournal.com]

Despite Rhode’s insistence on the Nobody’s real nature, it didn’t seem like Allen was buying into it. Maybe he wasn’t as dumb as she thought. But still… it would be best to take care of this now before she learned too much.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but can we continue this some other time?”

While it would’ve been an interesting debate, surely they had better things to do than just stand around wondering if Larxene had any real emotions.

“I think we should keep moving, there’s no telling when one of those scary monsters will arrive.”

[broken-exorcist.livejournal.com]

Allen took a few sweet breathes without the child clinging to his neck. He tried to appear as strong as he could. There was no use having Rhode know just how tired and weak he was right now. What she did next was somewhat surprising though. Tugging at his shirt like that. It could be one of two possibilities. Either she was being spiteful and lying about the girl so Allen would leave her behind, or she was telling the truth, though given their limited abilities, wasn't it just as likely she was wrong?

At any rate, Emily was right. They shouldn't stay in one place for too long. "She's right," Allen emphasized, not saying whether he believed Rhode or not. "We should go."

There were stairs in front of them, which seemed the obvious choice. As long as they stayed away from the hallway with that strange child, it would be ok, wouldn't it? Allen pushed himself shakily to his feet. Stairs, he could manage that.

[[leading the way up the stairs (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/188858.html)]]