damned_institute | Nightshift 30: M31-M40 Hallway

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Nightshift 30: M31-M40 Hallway

[M39]

Being dragged away from ZEX mid-conversation was something of a mixed blessing. On the upside, it meant that Zelnick would have at least few minutes to regain emotional balance before spending the whole night with the guy....

Well, perhaps it was more of a mixed curse. Normally Zelnick didn't begrudge allies their oddities, but ZEX had this amazing ability to jump straight from normal conversation to oh-god-awkward innuendo-laden flirting, and Zelnick couldn't do much but hope that he'd keep away from the latter.

In any case, he paid closer attention to where they took him, this time, not just his room number, and he realized he was actually really close to Yuber's room. Wasn't that convenient?

Once he was in his room, he started to get ready for the night; skillet, knife, pestle, all loaded into the apple basket that had wound up in his closet, along with a couple pens and the radio (hadn't Yuber said it spilled hints at night?). This meant he couldn't take all the apples with him, so Zelnick wrapped them in one of the extra shirts and left them in the corner of the closet. All that was left was to get the flashlight, which he found under his pillow like he did last night.

Then the intercom clicked on.

So that was their lord and master, in this place? After spending the first night confused and the first day hearing the voice of the Head Nurse, he found that the guy sounded pretty sane, until he admitted to killing someone. "The man on the radio--" did he mean whoever was on the other side of the little antique, sending out hints? And the method of death sounded... frighteningly personal.

He unloaded the skillet from the basket and held on to it as the doors unlocked, and sat at his desk to wait for ZEX.

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Kyon's face bacame very relieved when Sasuke finally agreed. He ...wasn't appealing to this sort of thing at all, but he wasn't so stupid to deny that he was starving inside and if this guy was going offer him some sort of relief, then so be it.

"Another time then." Kyon said. He wasn't sure why he wanted to know more, but he didn't mind sharing what he knew. It wasn't much however, but it was the least he could do for Sasuke's help.

On the subject of procedure ...Kyon turned and looked at Aidou. He was the specialist here.

Though it was nice to be given seniority, he had to wonder a bit quizzically why they were both (one figuratively) looking at him. It wasn't much of a "procedure", and really, he would've thought Kyon's instincts would be telling him the obvious.

Stick Sasuke with his fangs and let the blood flow... Didn't require that much imagination, did it?

"We should go back in your room, since this isn't a public spectacle," the noble pointed out. Because feeding in the middle of the hallway was just asking for trouble, sheesh. "Sasuke has business, but what were you thinking of doing?" It was a neutral enough question, but not a lot of things with Aidou were truly neutral--he wasn't pleased with the idea of letting him run around without a leash. He raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow slightly.

... heading into private space was probably a good idea. Sasuke shifted the weapon in his hand to a less offensive position, shifted his grip on the makeshift bag of gardening implements, and turned his head expectantly in the direction of Kyon's voice. Partially because it was Kyon's room and not his, and partially because Sasuke preferred to be able to follow footsteps instead of the wall, he was waiting for one of the others to enter first.

In terms of the practical, though, he followed up his own question to Aidou with further clarification: "From what you've already said, the bite doesn't necessarily have to be at the neck. Does it have to be an artery, any vein, or can it just be a random part of the body?"

Sasuke already had an injury, though the glass scrapes had healed an improbable amount already throughout the day.

Kyon paused for a moment before he nodded to Aidou and lead them into his room, shutting the door behind them. He stepped back to give Sasuke and Aidou some room, it wasn't like these things were very big anyways.

To answer Aidou's question, Kyon replied, "I don't think I'll do much. I don't exactly have any plans, so I might just stay in here the rest of the night." He'd failed to get a hold of Asakura a second time so it wasn't like he could find her and help her figure out Landels for what it really was.

Turning back to Sasuke he said, if a bit awkwardly, "How do you feel about the wrist?" Kyon certainly didn't want to bite him on the neck, despite it being the traditional vampire favorite.

Aidou eyed Kyon blankly for a moment, probably giving away his thoughts with that simple, calculated glance. Then he shrugged, as though it didn't matter, when really it was just more practical to discuss it when this was all over. The expression morphed into skeptical bemusement when he looked at Sasuke.

"Sweet of you to think of someone's preference, but that's all it is. Certain areas make for more mess, but the wrist is fine. You can hide the mark easier, anyway."

He flopped down on the bed, seemingly ignorant of Kyon's awkwardness.

Well, that was convenient. While it was a relief that there was no need to expose his neck, Sasuke hadn't been particularly ecstatic about the possibility of having to essentially open any of his other arteries, either.

"Wrist is fine," he said shortly, set down the things he was carrying, and leaned against the wall, starting to unwrap the neat bandages around his wounded hand. Since it was already hurt, he might as well use it for this purpose. "If I say stop, you stop within three seconds, or I'll force you. Understand?"

Sasuke giving commands was short and rough as always, but in the next moment he'd wound the bandage entirely off and extended his wrist. With luck, this will be efficient.

Kyon gave Sasuke a nod (Even if it was a bit pointless since he was blind. It just felt like a normal thing to do.) before he took the ninja's wrist lightly in his hand. "Right."

He hesitated for a second, finding it all so very surreal, but then he was reminded that Aidou was watching, Sasuke was in a hurry, and that he himself was well, hungry.

He bowed his head down a little to his arm before taking a breath and biting down.

It felt so much better this time around. It wasn't like the last time where he'd gotten his blood through a burst of insanity. Calm and collected, though still clearly thirsty, Kyon drank, feeling that welcomed relief. Something like this shouldn't taste so damned good. There had to be something other than Kyon's morals that was against this!

The noble crossed his legs at the knee, an impartial observer for the time being.

Sasuke was certainly a cutthroat businessman, which was all the more amusing to Aidou, as after all it wasn't everyday that one's food source made demands of you. And he was relatively sure Sasuke could hold to his threat, too.

Subsequently, this was his first time ever having to engineer this kind of meeting--any ex-humans that crossed the C or B class usually wound up exterminated, a kind of absent-minded favour to the environment. Whatever the case, he hadn't imagined Kyon to give in so easily. He'd expected a bit of a fight. Maybe he was overestimating humans' reluctance to part with their old lives... or maybe he was underestimating the sense of bloodlust. It made Aidou almost perversely curious as he watched Kyon feed.

And hungry. That, too.

Well, this was ... not unexpectedly similar to the sensation of losing blood fairly steadily through a very accurate wound. Hardly anything earth-shattering, even if Sasuke was usually able to find some way to stop himself from bleeding when he was injured.

Despite the lack of sleep here, Sasuke was still in pretty good shape, and he'd eaten solid meals today, which meant that he could probably stand to lose up to a pint of blood. The less the better, obviously, and ideally not much more than half that, but at least Sasuke could operate through it.

Now that he thought about it, he should've prepared a bit more (did the taps still work at night here? Water would definitely help).

How long does it take to lose a pint of blood? There was no way to tell from how he felt -- dizziness usually hit late -- so Sasuke counted off seconds as evenly as he could. Probably six or seven minutes before he'd have to stop it.

Kyon was a stubborn guy, that much was definitely true, but Kyon wasn't stupid. He knew that if he didn't get anything in his system that night, he ran the chance of becoming a monster by morning, and attacking the wrong person. He didn't want another Hikaru incident for as long as he lived. So yes, Kyon hated that he was having to do this, completely, but like most of the shit that happened to him in his life, he dealt with it and kept going.

All he needed to do was pretend it was another of Haruhi's 'games'. He needed to just wait it out and let Nagato fix things like she always did.

Not too long after, Kyon started to feel himself fill up. Slowly, he drew back from Sasuke's arm and put one of his hands over the wound to keep it from continuing its blood flow. Hopefully, Kyon didn't take too much and Sasuke wasn't actually hurt from this.

A vampire's disposition was an interesting thing: a cold and rational consciousness perpetually aligned with carnal instincts. Sometimes at war. In that instance, it was the latter for the young noble; his instincts urged him to fix the wrongness, that he should not allow Kyon the chance to wreak havoc right in front of him, which conflicted with the logic of his decision, having decided this was for the best.

So he sat completely still, saying nothing, not even at Kyon's affectations of compassion towards Sasuke. It was only until the radio once again came on of its own accord did he move to pull it from his jacket. Holding it in his palm, he gave it a look of indifference--how very melodramatic and overwrought.

The only thing that interested him was how the system was still active, if the man was truly dead.

Sasuke was somewhere between surprised and gratified when Kyon stopped before Sasuke had to ask: probably less than a pint had been taken, and definitely not enough to hinder Sasuke's plans for the rest of the night. It was a surprise that the kid knew to staunch the wound at first -- Aidou had certainly given the impression that Kyon didn't know much about anything -- and Sasuke nodded what might have passed for thanks before pulling his wrist back and starting to rebandage it.

The radios crackled on and for a moment Sasuke actually expected Doyle's condescending voice to start speaking. Instead, there was odd music, slow and clearly mourning.

... who the hell was playing it?

"Are we done here?" The broadcast only made reaching the roof and possibly finding clues more of an interesting prospect. With luck, Mark and his group hadn't gone too far.

Kyon let Sasuke have his wrist back before he reached up to wipe his mouth in case of any stray blood. If he wound up doing anything the rest of the night, he didn't want to be seen with a trickle of dried blood going down his mouth. That would have eased his case of whether or not he was dangerous.

He turned his attention to Aidou's radio. He heard a bit of an echo, and reasoned it was from his somewhere in the room. Huh. "Taps." The radio man was supposed to be dead, whether or not it was true, was in question. There shouldn't be anyone on the other end playing the music unless he had followers of some sort.

He glanced then up at Aidou. He looked like he could care less, but that didn't surprise him. To Sasuke, he said. "We can talk tomorrow sometime, maybe around lunch, about the experiments?"

He was sure the Night Class would just love to hear about this; Aidou's frown was pronounced when he turned the volume down on his radio, low enough that only very sharp senses (his included) would pick up on it, tucking it away again.

On top of Kyon's question, Aidou also addressed Sasuke, not making an effort to hide how he was staring at Sasuke's wound over his face. "More or less. But a steady supply of blood must be supplied from somewhere--will you be willing to do this again?" He'd already thought this was a weird sense of deja vu. He'd witnessed this situation before, though the last time someone had conspired to prolong an ex-human's life, he'd certainly not been involved. In fact, very nearly accusing Cross Yuki of it had only led him to ponder how foul such a habit was.

But he couldn't forget that Kaname-sama had, for whatever reasons, allowed it. There was no way of hiding that from him. It made Aidou feel less dirty for dealing with Kyon.

"Lunch is fine," he said shortly, nodding at Kyon's voice and wrapping the bandage as effectively as he could and tying it off. Then he straightened, preparing to leave.

A moment later, braced against the wall on his good hand, he considered Aidou's question. It wasn't anything particularly bad, just inevitable light-headedness that would pass in a few minutes, but it certainly wasn't anything particularly pleasant.

"How often?" He paused, and then: "And note that I don't do anything out of charity. If I agree, there won't be attacks on the other patients. I doubt I'll need to call in a debt from you, Kyon, but if necessary, I'll expect to be able to do so."

And preventing attacks on other patients was hardly altruistic; anything divisive would be counter to Sasuke's interest in making sure as many of the patients worked to escape as possible.

Kyon watched Sasuke brace himself against the wall and wondered if it was because of him. If he'd taken too much for Sasuke to be okay with. Kyon found himself hating this even more as the minutes passed on. This condition was going to drive him ins--

No. Don't you dare think like that. Kyon suddenly thought to himself. He had to hold on to that sanity of his until he escaped this hellhole. He had to make it home, he had to see North High again. He had to see the SOS Brigade again.

To the ninja's question, Kyon replied, "Two ... to three days. Maybe four if I push it. There won't be any attacks on other patients, believe me, I would find no joy in that, and if there's anything I could possibly do, then let me know." Kyon didn't exactly know what Sasuke could possibly need him for, but it never hurt to offer.

"Even three is pushing it, I would say," the noble interjected, gaze passing from one face to the other. Any vampire that tried to starve itself inevitably only made things worse; injuries, stress, and irritability all led back to the same conclusion. Blood. Though he didn't say anything regarding Kyon's potential 'attacks' on anything that pumped blood, he remained starkly skeptical about the kid's willpower.

With what he knew of ex-humans, that wasn't surprising.

And even if Sasuke were to become a regular donor, schedules didn't hold up a lot of the time. Aidou knew he'd have to think of something else to act as security.

As for including himself in that little generalization about mauling fellow inmates? He only made a soft sniff and left it at that. If Aidou didn't have to lie, he wouldn't... and in this case, it meant saying nothing at all.

Every three days? Or two, if Aidou was to be believed. It wasn't as if Sasuke's nights were usually inflexible, but having to deal with being drained of a little under a pint of blood every other night wasn't something that would possibly be good for his body. Under these limited conditions, Sasuke's health was tied immediately to his ability to survive.

"Do you have any alternatives?" He hated to admit not being able to handle anything, but physical facts were facts, and here they were desperately obvious. "I might not always be available, and the human body takes time to replenish lost blood."

Hearing that Kyon wouldn't be attacking other patients was a bit of a relief -- and the kid seemed the type to keep his word -- but the lack of comment on Aidou's part was a little suspicious. Especially since Sasuke had just started wondering exactly how the 'born vampire' fed.

Kyon was afraid of that. He couldn't say that he was surprised, though. What he was being asked was for Kyon to drain his blood every other day. That couldn't have been much of a deal, especially since Kyon had little to offer him in return for the deed. There was a small, almost inaudible sigh.

"If it's too much trouble, I'm sure something can be figured out." He didn't want to seem like he was begging for Sasuke's blood, even though he really didn't know what he was going to do beyond this point. Suddenly the idea of asking Asakura for a donation popped into his head and he wanted to laugh the idea away.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Kyon tried to feel his hunger. Of course, it was still there, but, it had been supressed to the point that it wasn't tugging in the back of his mind. At least, for now.

"You're both so straight-laced, it's depressing," came Aidou's impatient retort. He waved a hand as though dismissing the posed dilemma at large. If he had had to come to terms with making his dignity bend just a bit to meet with the demands of the situation, then however irrationally he just wished others would stop acting like Aidou wasn't making a sacrifice. Or like he hadn't already thought ahead. Of course he had contingency plans--only the odd vampire routinely fed off one person, and one person only. "Rest assured, Sasuke, you won't be stumbling around half-conscious, and Kyon will be fed. I said I'd take care of it. What matters now is that no finds out if they don't have to." At least, not beyond a need-to-know basis.

In this case, extra attention was just an annoyance and a hindrance.

"Anyway, Sasuke's probably late," continued the vampire, putting a close on the impromptu meeting. He glanced at Kyon. Aidou wasn't letting that one skulk off without a few final words.

It was doubtful Sasuke would get any concrete plans out of Aidou tonight -- that was assuming that Aidou had them -- and if he could manage to meet Kyon alone tomorrow, he could probably find out what the decision was then.

As for Aidou ... Sasuke had his doubts as to whether even Kyon knew how Aidou was managing blood, but judging by the way Aidou had more or less ended the meeting (and the fact that it was true; Sasuke was pretty late), Sasuke let it go for now.

"I'll see you at lunch, Kyon," he said, nodded in the direction of Aidou's voice, and headed back out the door.

Kyon gave Sasuke a polite nod, but again realized he was nodding to a blind person. He followed it with an, "Alright." And then out the door, he was.

Thus leaving him with alone with Aidou. What was with that look? It seemed like he had something else to say to him. Well, that never meant anything good. Kyon gave him a bit of a somber look before crossing his arms.

He waited for whatever Aidou had to say.

It was almost ridiculous, prey and predator coming to some sort of agreement. Not that he minded Kyon being a fair pushover. It made his life easier, and with the situation like it was, the noble would hardly pass up 'easy' things.

"Don't look at me like that; you should already be grasping the gist of things." Wherein Kyon was under Aidou's authority, whether he liked it or not. "I'm going to let you go for tonight, because I have business of my own to attend to. But don't forget I can smell blood on your breath, so watch yourself. I'll be checking in with you tomorrow morning."

At least before Sasuke did.

Kyon sighed, but in a good way. This was all starting to fit into his routine. He felt himself remembering his first month of senior high school, how crazy it had started off, but by the coming fall, Kyon had found that he was attached to how things became. Not by any means did this suggest Kyon was going to become attached to his vampirism or Aidou's pleasant, smiling face, but at least, he was becoming used to how things were working.

Which was fine by him, really. He liked things to move as smoothly as possible.

"I'll be good, promise. I'll see you tomorrow," Kyon said casually.

Aidou's body language spoke of nothing but aristocratic grace (and perhaps a bit of vampiric aggression), but he still met the small verbal parry with his own rejoinder. What with the exceedingly suspicious change in the tone of radio broadcasts, there was a lot of fresh material to occupy his mind--like how he perfected any other skill, the longer he spent convincing himself he could do nothing (immediately, anyway) about the past, the more he felt secure in the knowledge.

"Good dog. Don't let the sun fry you in the morning."

The first part was a true jab, the second a piece of vampire humor. A silly idiom for goodnights, like any human's, though consequently only sensible to those who woke at sundown and went to bed at sunrise.

He slipped out the door, making his footsteps utterly silent like a phantom's. Now that he was ditching the blind baggage, he didn't need to voluntarily make noise anymore.

_{[back out to here]}

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bored-narrator.livejournal.com - 2008-03-07 08:36 (UTC) - Expand

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