Nightshift 33: F-A Block Hallway

[transgenix.livejournal.com]

[Coming from here.]

Max didn't slow down or even pause to look around her as she slipped out of her hall and headed onwards, a determined expression on her face. If anything was stupid enough to pick a fight with her right now, she'd be more than happy to oblige it.

[Going here.]

Comments

[mind-caster.livejournal.com]

And without that psychic barrier, Melissa thought somewhat bitterly, she could easily figure out just how true that statement was. Oh, well. It wasn't like she needed anything important; mostly just little things to satisfy her own curiosity. Which there wasn't time for right now. In fact, Melissa kind of wished the witch's emotions were hidden behind that barrier, too.

The quick glance wasn't lost on her, nor was the slight undertow of impatience lacing the witch's mind briefly. Melissa followed the look to the door and shrugged. "You're trying to escape." It wasn't a question. "Have you tried anything outside yet?" That was where Melissa intended to go; to some sort of courtyard surrounded by a climbable fence, using the surrounding thoughts and half-memories as a guide.

[gray-gambit.livejournal.com]

"Isn't everyone?" Lia asked, a touch dryly although her irritation abated just a little. "I can't imagine staying here, if there were any other choice..." She didn't find it necessary to admit that she would be more inclined to find a way out and then help the others trapped here escape than to simply flee herself. Not when she knew so little of the other girl.

She shook her head, grimacing at the reminder of how little she'd accomplished so far. "No. I never made it that far last night. I though to inspect the greenhouse tonight, to see if I could find any shears or other tools suitable as weapons before going any further."

[mind-caster.livejournal.com]

Melissa just ignored the first part. That had been precisely her point, and she didn't see fit to retort and get into some kind of pointless argument. She winced at the foreign irritation, but other than that there was no reaction.

"Weapons." Melissa frowned, raising an eyebrow. "You're going to stay and fight anything that attacks?" She gestured towards the door leading away from the rooms. "There's a courtyard that way. I'm going to look for a way out of here, and I'm going to run from anything big with sharp teeth." Her tone was a little condescending, but her body language clearly indicated that the witch was free to come. Even Melissa knew that traveling alone in a place like this wasn't a very good idea.

[gray-gambit.livejournal.com]

"I'm going to make sure I can defend myself if I need to," Lia corrected. The condescension grated on her nerves, and she found herself wondering, perhaps unfairly, if this girl had ever found herself in a truly dangerous situation in her life. "Running only works if you have somewhere to run to. Sometimes it's just not an option."

She managed to clamp down hard on a surge of grief, forcing it down deep enough that only the faintest trace leaked through the barriers that protected her core of self. It was for her own sake, not out of any sense of courtesy; the emotion was still too raw to visit easily.

"Is it the same courtyard the patients visit when they decide to air us?" she asked curiously, wishing now that she'd ventured outside during that shift after all. That she would come along was implicit in the question; there was no other reason to ask.

[mind-caster.livejournal.com]

Melissa chose to answer only the last question, mostly because she wasn't quite sure how to respond to the other statements. She intended to find a place to run to, but that seemed pointless to voice. And the very faint notion of grief that suddenly colored the witch's taste was... interesting, but Melissa couldn't begin to figure out how to ask about it. Besides, there much more important things to focus on right now.

"I assume. I've never been there. I just know where it is." She turned towards the door, focusing her mindcasting out past the walls as far as it would go. "It's outside the cafeteria. There's a lake, and... high walls around it." She frowned. "They're covered in ivy," she muttered, mostly to herself. Why didn't anyone manage to get over it before now?

Unless they did, and that's where the disappeared patients went. Shrugging, Melissa made up her mind to check it out. She took a slow step towards the door, giving the witch ample time to follow if she wanted. Melissa didn't really mind either way.

[gray-gambit.livejournal.com]

Lia wondered how the not-quite-witch knew much of the courtyard's layout if she'd never been. After a few seconds' thought, she decided not to ask. The information could easily have been on some long-vanished missive posted to the bulletin board, or have been passed either verbally or over a psychic link. Or perhaps not the latter. Now that she thought of it, she realized she'd had nothing of that sort of communication over the past day and a half.

She nodded as she followed, wheels turning in her mind at the description. "If the creepers are wide enough, they might make solid handholds to climb up," she mused. She was familiar enough with climbing, both trees for fun and over rocks while venturing off the beaten path. The latter would be a helpful thing if they did make it into the mountainous territory somehow.

"I'm Lia," she ventured, recalling that she'd not yet given her name. If they did find trouble, proper names were more useful to call in warning than 'hey you'.

[mind-caster.livejournal.com]

"That's what I was thinking," Melissa replied absentmindedly, still concentrating on the surrounding mindcast landscape. She did note how much harder she had to concentrate than she would have back in Bixby, but that was to be expected by now.

She paused at the door with her hand on the handle. "Melissa." It was strange how much more of a necessity asking for names was here; the mindcaster normally knew the name of anyone she needed without thinking about it. It was so normal for her that she kept forgetting the person's name was off-limits here until the person actually thought about it.

Briefly shaking her head, Melissa pulled the door fully open and slipped through into the hallway beyond.

[off to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/394449.html?thread=31995857#t31995857)]