damned_institute | Nightshift 30: M11-M20 Hallway

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Nightshift 30: M11-M20 Hallway

[Specifically M12]

"… Wait, really?" Axel asked, mainly to himself, as he listened to the intercom and the head doctor’s sudden confession. It hadn’t been long since he was escorted back to his room after his dinner, feeling rather content after spending a shift to himself. It was fun and all to chill with a couple of people beforehand, but a guy needed a break every once in a while.

His plans were relatively simple at the time. He was going to run off to Kairi’s room, swing her body over his shoulders and haul her back over to his own. He’d forgotten to write a note down for Roy in the bulletin saying he couldn’t make it, but he was sure the colonel could make the right assumptions.

He had been in the middle of rummaging under his mattress for his chakram when the intercom came to life again, and with that he couldn’t help but stop and look up at the ceiling with a mix of curiosity and disbelief. At this point it almost felt like a tradition for the man behind the radio to pop up every evening, so a change this big earned a bit of attention. Axel’s gaze remained on the ceiling for at least half a minute before he glanced over at his roommate on the other side.

"You know, I almost don’t believe it." But this was technically a battlefield, and one side had to give in one way or another. He had to remind himself that tradition didn’t exactly last forever.

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[ back from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/300944.html?thread=24792464#t24792464) ]

Ashton shut the door behind him, trying to make his blush go away. His heart was still pounding from being interrupted, and he couldn't help but grin in excitement as he settled back into his room, gathering his boots and setting them down by the bed.

But for some reason, he didn't really feel like putting them on just yet. Instead, he sat back down on the bed and wrapped his blanket around himself, contenting himself with daydreaming about petty (but exciting!) things until Axel and his girlfriend showed back up.

If they didn't show up, he'd leave on his mission soon enough.

[From here. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/300944.html?thread=24957328#t24957328)]

The first thing Axel noticed when he pushed his way into the room was that someone else was already occupying it. For a moment his body tensed, but relaxed soon after he realized that it was just his roommate on the other side. The redhead made his way over to the brunet, readjusting Kairi's legs before offering a grin at the other man.

"Hey gorgeous, just got back from the nunnery?" He hadn't expected for Ashton to pop back in (or remain in the room, whichever it may have been), but it wasn't like he had anything to complain about. The latter's company was as favorable as Kairi's or Roxas's, and three was always a crowd to him. Though speaking of which, he'd been pretty cryptic when it came to whom he was going to watch over for the night, so an introduction was in order.

"Anyway, Ashton, this is Kairi. She's a very special person that has the tendency to believe that she's the pweenchess (aforementioned word pronounced in a high pitched voice) of Sugar and the color Pink, so make sure you speak slowly to her. Oh, and don't let her looks fool you, she weighs as much as fifty skyscrapers."

“Put me down. Put me down. Put. Me. Down.” Kairi complained when they had entered the room, her hands gripping tightly onto the black material of the organization coat as Axel proceeded to stroll across the room towards a man who was currently wrapped up in a blanket.

Resting her chin against Axel’s shoulder when he stopped moving, she smiled, speaking before the taller redhead opened his mouth. “Hello, I’m Kai—AXEL.” mid sentence she stopped speaking, a loud gasp escaping her lips when her “friend” introduced her to his roommate. Eyes wide, she began to struggle against him, her hands once again moving to press against his face as she covered his mouth with both of her palms. “You jerk! Put me down!”

Looking back towards the man – Ashton, she had heard Axel say – with a slightly horrified expression, Kairi spoke once again after making sure Axel was silenced for the time being. “Don’t listen to him. I’m so sorry you have to put up with him on an every day basis. I don’t know how I’d do it.”

Ashton snapped out of his daydream (if it wasn't daytime.. a nightdream?) with surprising clarity, looking over to the two. Well, if this didn't brighten up his night, what would? It was so .. so Axel. This was a taste of what wacky hijinks must have gone on back on his world.

..Except such a girl could never have existed on his world, the way he'd told Ashton about it..

He laughed, pulling the blanket a little tighter about him and curling his toes. "Hello, Axel! Oh, it's nice to meet you, Kairi! I'm Ashton. And no, I rather like my roommate." He'd try to keep as cheerful as possible. This poor girl had been beaten up by other patients! How horrible. Of course she'd been right to go to Axel for cheering up. Ashton would have done the very same thing.

"So.. ah, how do the two of you know each other? Did you save the, um.. pween- princess from a burning building, Axel? Made of pink sugar? ... Come to think of it, that'd turn into caramel, wouldn't it.." His eyes got a little starry. Ashton enjoyed cooking, and what he would give for a gateau marjolaine right now, or even a slice of Rena's favorite shortcake!

"See? He accepts me for what I am. You need to stop living in the past and go with the flow," Axel replied once he managed to pry Kairi's hands from his mouth, over dramatically rolling his eyes when the other redhead spoke so negatively about him. It certainly wasn't his fault that his tastes were more eclectic than anything else.

He thought for a moment at Ashton's questions, allowing a grin to spread across his lips whilst snapping his fingers in a sort of 'aha!' notion.

"You betcha, except not really. With all things considered, I'd probably be the one to stuff her inside there in the first place." It was true to an extent, anyway. Time and time again he was reminded of the deeds he'd ultimately see through, so in the end it would've made sense to pick up a more villainous role.

Fortunately for Kairi, Axel didn't think he'd be able to carry her for any longer. And so, after taking several steps back until his calves touched his mattress, he loosened his grip on her legs and allowed her to fall on the bed below.

Freedom at last! Falling against the bed with a soft thud, Kairi lay there in silence for a few seconds before pushing herself to sit up and moving back to the other side of the room. Moments later she was sitting on the bed next to Ashton with her legs crossed and a bright smile plastered on her face.

“Actually, he was the one who took me from my home in the first place. Even though he doesn’t remember it, really.” A soft laugh as the memory flickered through her mind, and she turned to Ashton with a smile. “And it was a sand castle, sorry. No sugar in sight. I was a princess of the sea, you know.” It was fun pretending and just joking around – though after a few seconds Kairi turned towards Axel with a mischievous glance. “A hero or a villain? Maybe a bit of both. After all, it was you that took me off of the island and started the events of me meeting up with Sora and Riku once again.”

A pause, and then a grin.

“Even if you did do it with force. Dragging a princess through a portal, of all things!"

"Oh, what a rapscallion! Kidnapping girls!" Ashton couldn't help but laugh. Even though he'd heard some pretty bad things about Axel, time and time again he always came through for him, and Ashton certainly wasn't one to dwell on past deeds. Everyone had a little bit of good and a little bit of bad in them.

Then the cute girl went and sat next to him, and Ashton had to fight hard not to blush. To think that someone would sit next to him over the much-more-attractive Axel? It wasn't like that sort of thing mattered to him anymore, but it still felt like a small victory nonetheless.

...She might be just Ashton's type if she were a little bit older.

He nodded interestedly as she spoke, reaching down and picking up one of his boots, sticking a foot deep down in and beginning the arduous process of buckling it up perfectly. "Dragging through a portal? I don't know what that is. Is that like dragging someone through the mud?" His joke was a little stilted, but he wasn't used to joking at all in the first place: something he'd tried to pick up from his roommate.

"Hey princess, nagging at a guy who doesn't even remember this is pretty un lady-like, you know." Axel watched in annoyance as Kairi made a bee-like back over to Ashton's bed the moment he dropped her, giving her a 'you could've told me you wanted me to drop you there, you cretin' glare. But alas, it wasn't like he could do anything about it unless he sought fit to scoop the girl into his arms and launch her across the room.

"Sort of. It's actually a mode of transportation, and a handy one at that. You summon one through some sort of medium, in princess’s case that happens to be some physical manifestation of Darkness, and with that you can use it to connect where you are with where you want to go. And if you're skilled enough, like moi for example, you can actually travel to different worlds using just one," The redhead explained, strutting over to the duo and invited himself over to Ashton's other side with an ungraceful flop.

"Anyway, enough about the school lesson. Where you headed off to?"

“You know what else is unladylike? Telling someone that I weigh as much as numerous skyscrapers!” Kairi caught Axel’s glare and returned it with one of her own, a smug grin crossing her lips as she ran her hand through her long red hair.

The mention of the darkness caused the girl to freeze momentarily, but she caught herself soon enough, watching with a faux disgusted look as Axel flopped himself down on the bed as well. She gave a rather unimpressed snort at the “skilled like moi” comment, her eyes rolling to peer silently up at the ceiling in thought.

Turning back towards Ashton once Axel spoke, a concerned look crossed Kairi’s face. “Are you going out alone?”

She couldn’t help but be worried – after all, what had happened to her when she had wandered around alone? She had been nearly beaten to a pulp. She didn’t want such a thing to happen to anyone else, and while Ashton looked like he could protect himself, she still couldn’t help but be worried.

Ashton didn't know what a 'skyscraper' was, but it rhymed with 'ice scraper', and those weren't very heavy at all! He wasn't sure what Kairi was going on about, but .. well, the way she kept complaining about it was kind of appealing, so he didn't want to say a word.

"That's very interesting," he said sincerely to Axel. "There was something like that on a world I've been to, but it relied on light instead. But if you can make that by yourself, that's so cool," he said with little stars in his eyes. Axel was so good at everything! How lucky for him to be that skilled. Ashton wasn't anything like that. He couldn't make fire, or portals. Gyoro could at least make fire, but Gyoro was long gone by now.

Now that he thought about it, though, maybe the darkness-based 'portal' Axel had mentioned was what the Ten Wise Men had used to get them to Nede? That had never really been made clear to Ashton. Although it was true that he hadn't exactly asked.

He kept staring down at his boots, letting his hair dip below his face (and unintentionally revealing a bit of still-shaved skin at the back of his head) as he lied through his teeth. "Nope, I won't be alone. There's no need to worry about me. Besides, I've got swords!" He chuckled. "And I'm going to the greenhouse. I'm curious to see if I'll be able to find something to be used in compounding. If we're successful, we should be able to make some really good healing potions. And maybe some perfumes, too."

Finally, he had a quick idea for a distraction from the topic. Now that his boots were done, he dug in one of his robe's pockets, and produced two pieces of wrapped candy, handing one to Axel and one of them to Kairi. Root beer barrels. The ones Dias had given him after Doyleton.

He was still amazed at how perfectly barrel-shaped they were.

[dur dur dur not getting notificationssss sorry i'm slowkat D:]

"Excuse me, but I'm more ladylike than you'll ever be." Axel never backed down from a challenge, replying in that haughty tone and accompanied it with an arrogant sneer. He had caught the pause on Kairi's face, though made no indication of ever noticing it for the sake of preventing a somewhat serious subject to arise before their conversation.

"Considering the things people do at night and how often they send us off to the showers, maybe perfume wouldn't be such a bad idea." Not like the redhead was going to try it for himself since he didn't really have a reason to, but Ashton sounded so psyched about it and it would've been nothing short of heartless to not at least encourage it.

At times when he was left to introspect, Axel was almost horrified with how much he'd changed since he arrived.

He sighed without warning, poking awkwardly at his chest before blinking at his roommate's sudden kind gesture. The Nobody opened his palm and let the candy drop into the groove, examining the piece curiously.

"Candy. It's been while since I've had some," He began with a small grin. "Thanks."

Axel decided to pocket it in the end, having no idea when he'd get a chance like this again.

"Anyway, be careful out there. There's someone who's been brainwashed that's lingering in the hallway right outside the patient blocks."

Kairi gave an amused roll of her eyes to Axel’s lady comment before turning back to Ashton. “Perfume would be nice. Especially if they smell like lilacs. There were a lot of random flower patches back on Destiny Islands – it was always so nice to wake up to the smell of the sea and flowers.”

Turning to watch as Axel proceeded to poke at his chest, her thoughts were interrupted when Ashton suddenly pulled out what appeared to be a piece of candy. Staring down at the item in her hand, Kairi turned and looked up to said man with a smile. “Thank you very much! I’ll keep it for later, okay?” Smiling, the once princess put the piece of candy into her pocket as well, patting it to make sure that it would stay put.

Lifting her eyes to look at Ashton once again, Kairi smiled. “Yes, be careful. There was also something in the recreational yard – a woman with odd wings.”

Ashton felt satisfied with the little sacrifice he'd made. These little barrels - along with the old jewelry he'd found in the pockets of his robe and the pendant that Celine, as a visitor, had given him - were his most treasured possession. It seemed only right that he give them to people he cared about, in turn. And he'd only just met Kairi, too. But.. if she was someone who made Axel happy, or at least helped him feel a glimpse of joy every once in a while, then she deserved it very much.

"You're welcome," he said with a smile to both of them. "But they're meant for eating, so eat them before you forget." Then he nodded, as if to finalize that.

Ashton pulled himself up from the bed then, as much as he was enjoying sitting between the two. He turned around to face them, and gave the slightest woman's bow, his hands folded in front of him. "Ah.. thank you. It seems somewhat like a night of terror tonight, doesn't it? I wonder which way I'll go, in that case.."

A woman with wings in the recreation yard or a brainwashed patient outside the blocks? Ashton didn't know which he'd rather run like heck around. He supposed he'd figure that out when he came to the fork in the road! ..Which would be only a minute or so from now, but that wasn't important..

"I hope you two have a very good night. It was a pleasure to meet you, Kairi! And feel free to give him a nice black eye if he tries anything."

With that, he made sure his twin swords were steady in the hilts at his sides, flicked on the flashlight that he'd only recently retrieved from Naminé, and walked briskly out the door.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/303919.html?thread=25145903#t25145903)]

Edited 2008-03-08 04:15 (UTC)

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Nightshift 30: M11-M20 Hallway

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