damned_institute | Nightshift 36: M21-M30 Hallway

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Nightshift 36: M21-M30 Hallway

((Specifically M22))

Pain. Adelheid suddenly felt a stab of agony radiating from his right eye, where that ghostly woman had brushed up against him. He could feel the lines of the tattoo starting to spread across his skin, the pain extending until he nearly couldn't think straight.

And he had things to do, people to meet and weapons to make. Adelheid gritted his teeth and swore he would make it through. It was just pain, right? Just pain... he could endure that. He had to endure it.

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"...that's good enough for the patients, at least." Adelheid sighed as he stepped back and let the two of them in with a polite gesture, unable to hide the bit of guilt that flashed in his eyes. Torture? He knew torture, the kind that the Institute could inflict on anyone. No one could resist that torture forever, and knowing that some people had been left there with no help still weighed on his mind. Or at least, it did as soon as he was reminded of it.

Oh well. Guilt was guilt, he'd shoulder it and move on. Besides, it was not in his nature to make a woman have to ask for anything, especially not like that. "But please, Miku-san, it's quite all right," he assured her in quiet unaccented Japanese, "it's better to have a bodyguard and not say anything than to be wandering the hallways alone. ...whenever you're ready, I'm prepared."

Miku nodded smiled apologetically. At least Sousuke sounded normal. That was important, though he'd been quiet. Miku shook her head to clear it of unnecessary thoughts and motioned for Adelheid to sit down on the bed. When he complied, Miku started her assessment. "I'm not worried about wandering alone in dark hallways. It's the monsters in them that worry me," she smiled and opened her book, jotting down notes and other things quickly, in neat print.

"If you'll just sit down, please, I'd like to get read it." Miku held her breath before trying to explain. "I'm not sure exactly how I do it, but things with... certain emotions attached to them... I can see their root." She wished she had a better explanation that that, but since she didn't, she just put her journal down and took another steadying breath. "It will probably hurt when I touch it, but I'll try to make it as quick as I possibly can." With that, Miku laid her small, cold fingers over his tattoo. She seemed to be looking past Adel's head and into the wall.

Images flew through her mind, mish-mashed together with noises and prayers, and the constant tink-tink-tink of a hammer hitting a spike. It was hard to make out, but Miku couldn't stop it or slow it down. A woman brushing her hair, an earring, a young man and woman that only wanted to see each other one last time. Women missing their eyes, children singing the punishment-lullaby, carrying stakes and hammers. Crying families, and a woman on a bloodied, ink-stained slab in the middle of a ritual room. Falling down a dark hole... pain in her hands, in her feet. The man again, leaning over her... Miku swallowed, and her breathing picked up, as she searched for the reason for snakes and holly.

Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she wondered if this was how her own ability had gone haywire. Not only that, but it hurt.

Finally, it came. Pain pinched Miku's features, but her hand on the journal never stopped writing. She let her fingers drop from his face and swayed on her feet.

Sousuke watched the proceedings with little interest. He'd had the mark before, so he knew that it would hurt when touched. But he did find it intriguing that Miku could write and use this... ability of hers at the same time. There was something supernatural about it, which made Sousuke only a little uncomfortable. He believed in things he could see and touch, not things that were outside the realms of science and physics.

And speaking of physics, Miku was swaying and looked to be in pain. Immediately the sergeant stepped forward and steadied Miku with both hands on her shoulders.

"I think that's enough," he said, a worried tone creeping into the edges of his sentence. He looked up at Adelheid. "Are you alright?"

He honestly hadn't expected for the mark to hurt so much when Miku touched it. It felt like the woman had put it on him again, an odd searing pain that was nevertheless confined, like each delicate swirl of tracery was its own trail of agony across his skin. Adelheid was only glad, once more, that he was so used to pain in his short life. He endured flames and the foul curse of his tainted blood, he could endure this. Adelheid sat on the bed, keeping his fingers clenched in the sheet to keep from digging his nails into his palms, gritting his teeth and enduring, just enduring the searing pain for what felt like an eternity.

Finally, unexpectedly, Miku suddenly slumped and the pain started fading away. Not immediately, the nerves were still so used to the constant sensations that its absence was like a new pain of itself, but he knew he could wait it out. That was why he was silent, his eyes squeezed shut, until he trusted himself to speak without a tremor in his voice. Only then did he finally open his left eye- the eye that was a fake prosthetic and therefore not as pained as the other- and inclined his head slightly. "Don't worry about me." No, his concern was about the girl, especially considering how pained she looked now.

Miku was very thankful for Sousuke's assuring hands on her shoulders. She felt odd and dizzy, smelled blood, but didn't see any. If it was only in her nose, then that would be fine. Still the images were enough to make her stomach churn dangerously.

"I'll... I'll tell you what I know as soon as I can piece everything together." She breathed slowly, with the experience of someone that had met intimately with the kind of searing pain the tattoos had left behind, or something else as bad. The writing in her book looked to be snatches of conversation and description, but hopefully it was enough. Miku closed the book with the hand that wasn't clenched closed and sighed. "Thank you, very much. I know that I hurt you, and I had hoped it wouldn't be severe."

[Sorry for abject fail, guys. D:]

Sousuke was glad that Miku had come closer in her research concerning the priestess, but at the same time, it hurt to see her in pain. The notes were bizarre and unruly, but perhaps Miku could make some sense out of them.

"She'll be fine, I'll make sure of it," Sousuke reassured Adelheid.

That was about as much as Adelheid could hope for. The markings still burned in his skin, but he'd never admit that, not if he could help it. And the promise that Miku would be all right reassured him as well; it was obvious that the two trusted each other, and he wasn't about to step in when there was someone else to protect the girl.

However... there was still one thing that gnawed at the back of his mind. He didn't want to ask, because it would be rude, but the brief snatches of conversation he spied on her notebook didn't answer much as to what Miku saw... or what that strange woman was. Perhaps he could ask later. Perhaps. "...don't worry about it, either of you. If you need to rest in here, that will be all right; I was planning on heading out anyway." Which he'd need to do soon; he had the horrible sinking feeling that he'd lingered just a little too long.

Miku shook her head, "We'll go back to my own room. But, thank you very much." They'd have to hurry, and she'd have to try to figure it out for them. Still smarting from the pain of the tattoo, Miku clutched to journal to her chest and looked up at Sousuke.

"Oh." Miku turned her attention back to Adel for a moment. "The tattoo lasts three nights. It will go away after. Ghosts like that woman... they transfer their curses through touch." Miku took a breath and steadied herself. If he didn't believe her, well and fine. Miku was used to it. "Shall we go, then?" she asked and offered him a small, hopeful smile.

Sousuke looked down at Miku, then back up at Adel. "It's true. I had the mark as well. It's unbearable, but after three nights it will fade--along with the pain."

The sergeant put his hand back on Miku's shoulder to steer her towards the door. "We should. I apologize again for my unexpected arrival," he nodded to Adel. "I will keep this information to myself."

"Good night, Bernstein-san." Miku said politely and let Sousuke lead her away.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/487011.html?thread=40517987#t40517987)]

And just like that, they were gone. Adelheid took a deep breath to steady himself, rubbing at his prosthetic eye now that they were gone. It hurt like anything, and he knew that it would be impossible to hide the mark from anyone who was walking around. So, what to do? Wait here, idle, or go out and risk humiliation?

In the end, he decided to check what Edward was doing. He walked over to the other boy's room... then frowned as he found the note addressed to him. Ed had gone on. Brilliant. It seemed like the only options were to do nothing, or to trudge a few halls over. He didn't like it, but in the end, Adelheid couldn't bare the thought of another night with absolutely nothing done. Besides, he needed to find some string for Yukari. So, taking his usual equipment with him, he started walking out, heading to the room in question.

((To here.)) (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/486769.html?view=40610929#t40610929)

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Nightshift 36: M21-M30 Hallway

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