damned_institute | Nightshift 33: Walk-In Refrigerator

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Nightshift 33: Walk-In Refrigerator

[From here]

It was cold. But for once, it wasn't the first thought that crossed Wolfram's mind as he was practically thrown into the giant cooler. He was more worried about his eyes than anything. It still hurt to open them, and when he tried nothing would focus anyways. And he could still hear what was going on in the kitchen behind him.

Crawling over to the nearest side, still clinging possessively to his items, he tried to focus on listening for Aidou and "John" as best as he could, trembling more in fear than from the cold. Not that he would admit to being almost terrified. No, of course not. Wasn't like he wouldn't be seeing that ugly thing in his dreams for the next five years at least.

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A few long moments passed before the noble let go of the door. If it made a second attempt, it’d be easy to hear, at least, though he planned to be far from here. He definitely had the night’s success riding on second-hand information, having never confirmed the entryway into the basement until now…

For a second, Aidou was tempted to flop down on the floor and rest. The urgency over the basement entrance was, for the moment, taking second priority.

He closed his eyes briefly and passed a hand over his forehead. “No thanks to you,” Aidou said in the direction of the blood. “I hope that was worth it.” He looked to Wolfram, and the same thought about water crossed his mind. However, Aidou just started to check his own skin, feeling over the areas where the gross spit had touched him and wiping it from his clothes. “And you, how bad is it?” he asked of Wolfram.

Wolfram could feel his eyes watering as they tried to naturally fight back against the irritation, but it wasn't quite enough. It took a few moments for him to find his voice again, as though forgetting how to breathe for a short time.

But now wasn't the time to panic, and he had a feeling that it felt worse than it actually was thanks to the way his heart was racing. "It... hurts to open my eyes. Is there any water in here?"

He had to ask, because chances were if he started feeling around for bottles, he could grab something that would make it worse without being able to read labels.

"Eh," Jack didn't feel particularly motivated to help Wolfram in his search. He was too busy glaring at Aidou. 'No thanks to him', huh? The Fable had a good mind to grab the little bastard by the back of his prissy neck and throw him back out to the Alien. He'd watch his attitude in how he addressed someone like Jack after that...

Of course, comments like that also encouraged Jack to be more ornery than usual. Well, if he was being no help, there was no reason to start now, was there? He snorted and leaned against the wall.

When had he become a nursemaid for two children? 'Safety in numbers', hmph. If people thought it was safer wandering around with strangers who only messed things up for themselves, they were obviously stupid.

"What did you bring in that pillowcase, anyway?" Aidou wanted to know. He ignored Jack as he grabbed the ladder and pushed it to the right spot, knowing he would probably snap and do something else a little non-human if he acknowledged the man. Aidou would have been surprised if Jack had even noticed what color his own shirt was, let alone where the ice had been coming from. Better to put that to rest.

He stepped up onto the third rung and took a bottle of water from one of the higher shelves, promptly dropping it in Wolfram's lap.

Wolfram jumped as the bottle fell into his lap, nerves still on fire and half expecting to be attacked again now that he can't tell what's coming. But he quickly figured out what was tossed at him, and leaving his possessions on the floor right next to his feet, he opened the cap and started splashing his face with it. He tried not to waste any, gasping from the abrupt coldness.

He didn't answer Aidou until the shock value had worn off, debating on if he should tell them or not. But it wasn't like he had anything to hide. "Um... besides the metal I just took there's extra batteries, the radio, and some cloth to rip up for bandages. Do we need any?"

Wolfram realized that he couldn't really see the state his companions were in. For the moment he went back to focusing on washing his eyes out.

Jack half debated robbing the kid ~~blind~~ while he couldn't see anything, but he wasn't really hurting for any of the items Wolfram rambled off, much less expected Aidou to let him get away with it. Besides, his quarrel wasn't with that Mundy.

"So, we're locked in a freezer," he said loudly. "What now?"

He wasn't sure if Wolfram's injury was serious until he took a look himself (chores, again), but while the kid tried to wash out whatever acid remained, he hopped down and knelt by Wolfram's feet. That would do. "I'm taking the cloth," said the vampire, pushing aside the other stuff in Wolfram's makeshift sack and pulling it out. On his part, Aidou didn't bring anything of the sort with him, never having needed to before--this time, having an extra shirt came in handy. Jack needed to bandage himself up before he attracted something else.

Just because Aidou would rather shoot himself with Kiryu's gun than feed off of Jack didn't mean he was free from threats.

Tossing the bundle at the man in question, Aidou stood up and moved around the both of them. "While you're busy with that, I'll find the entrance." A different colored tile that was loose... Not hard to spot. Once the vampire saw it, he knelt beside it and began to feel around the edges, prying it up without too much difficulty and revealing the stairs beneath. It didn't stop him from frowning about it, though. He wanted to rest, but at the same time, he had to keep moving.

Wolfram sighed as he finished with the water, drinking what little was left. It still stung, but it definitely felt better. He took a moment to try and open his eyes again, ignoring the pain; it was still very hard to see, but he could make out a few large blurry shapes.

Which meant that he wasn't completely blind. That in itself helped relaxed the nerves that were wound far too tight.

Closing them again, he leaned his head back against a shelf, the cold metal actually feeling good on his head even if he'd be shivering in a few minutes. "What are we looking for?" Not that he would be all that much help.

Jack caught the bandages and gave Aidou an inquisitive look. "Do I look like I need these?"

Sure, he was bleeding, but generally such wounds went away in a matter of minutes. Granted, that hadn't been the case since arriving at the institute, but Jack still held out the faint hope that one day, he'd have his healing back. Besides, he wasn't THAT badly hurt. Save the tourniquets for when something was about to fall off or if he was about to bleed out.

Ah, not that Aidou appeared to be listening. The kid was pawing at the floor. Jack gave a cynical half smirk and offered the cloth back to Wolfram. "Here, kid. It's yours."

“Yes,” Aidou answered Jack simply, not bothering to turn around until he’d dropped the tile to the side and brushed his hands off. It certainly looked like he was the first one to get to this point, which had its advantages and disadvantages. No matter what, either the entire night was going to be spent in the basement, making use of the sudden whiteouts to avoid having to go through the kitchen again, or Aidou was going to be coming back this way alone. No way was he going through another round of that.

When he was done, he considered Wolfram with a cocked eyebrow. Jack was one thing, he had come uninvited. Wolfram, however, had gotten a… reluctant invitation. Yeah, that’s what he’d call it. And now that Wolfram had had his vision impaired, of all things, Aidou wasn’t sure what to do with him. Like Sasuke, there would probably be a whole lot of flailing. A walking liability, really.

Sighing, Aidou decided to pull the plug on Jack's joke by taking the bundle out of his hand and tossing it back on top of the pillow case. “We can go now. Are you ready?” Maybe Wolfram would refuse and want to wait out the night here.

As if Wolfram was going to let them leave him behind stuck in a cooler all night. Really... he'd get sick. He would much rather deal with whatever the basement had to offer than sit and freeze, eyesight or not.

"It's getting better I think," he admitted, rubbing at his eyes one last time. "Let's go..."

He paused when they were interrupted by the radio announcement, frowning as the voice echoed throughout the small room. Outside? Well... he had no plans on going back through the kitchen to find out, and assumed the others wouldn't want to either.

Standing up after grabbing his pillow case and bat, he reached his arms up, trying to feel in the direction that he could hear their voices in.

Jack groaned. "Great, everything's outside and I'm here. Just my luck." He didn't care if the others heard; he hoped they did, actually, especially Aidou. These two were going to make it worth his while, he'd see to that, even if it meant being one hell of a traveling companion for the night.

"Move it, kid," Jack said gruffly, taking Wolfram by the arm and dragging him along to the stairs. No sense wasting any more time.

His radio cut in at the same time as Wolfram’s, and considering that Wolfram’s was set at a much louder volume than his, he didn’t bother to pull his out. So they expected everyone to make a mad scramble for escape, did they? Aidou put the details of “Jill’s” little broadcast away for later.

Concerning his current task, he had to hope Jack would trip down the stairs and kill himself, if only to stop the whining. But when Jack grabbed the newly blinded Wolfram, Aidou just shook his head, an exasperated wrinkle of his nose appearing fleetingly.

Unfortunately, Aidou had nothing to disagree with. Together or not, getting a move on was the only reasonable thing to do. He took the lead again, deciding it was ultimately a better position, even if there was the risk of Wolfram falling on top of him or something. Again.

_{[down the stairs to here]}

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Nightshift 33: Walk-In Refrigerator

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