damned_institute | Nightshift 36: M51-M60 Hallway

Matt too was panting a bit more than he probably should have been. Unfortunately, he couldn't claim injury as the cause - more a case of not performing enough physical activity on a regular basis. It was also times like these the nicotine withdrawal hit him worst of all, a tugging in his gut that wouldn't go away.

He sat down against the wall, sheath still clutched in one hand. He'd have to hand that back at some point. At the moment all he wanted was a nap and a smoke. No preferable order. "You're just saying that in front of the lady." Matt managed to quirk a smile for a moment despite this. "We both know I was terrible."

Both of them did eventually get tired - one was injured, the other clearly out of practice - and Ayumu was rather glad when Kenshin finally called a halt. She'd learned about all that she was likely to from watching them at that endeavor, and it was rather difficult to have a useful conversation while they were busy.

She slid a little closer as Robin sat against the wall nearby, reaching out to rest a light hand on his shoulder. "I don't think you were terrible," she offered, quirking a smile for him. He'd looked like a raw beginner, but she honestly had seen worse beginners in the past. Of course, they were generally about half his age, but that part didn't need to be mentioned.

Kenshin sat down on the other bed, smiling at the two. His shoulder hurt, and he was far more exhausted than he should have been. He wanted to take a nap, but he didn't want to turn Robin and Sen out to do so.

So he didn't. He settled down on his roommate's bed, knowing he'd just get moved once nightshift ended anyway. Robin didn't want to talk to Kenshin; he wanted to flirt with Sen. It would make it harder to do so if the rurouni was there.

"This one is going to rest a bit. Please, feel free to stay here."

Within minutes, he had dozed off, leaning against the wall with his sword propped up between his knees, just like at the Kamiya dojo.

[Kenshin is now out for the count. Feel free to skip him!]

The contact caused Matt to freeze up automatically. Kenshin was the more wounded one, and yet Sen was still directing her attention to him. This probably had something to do with the fact that he'd been more responsive to her advances than their samurai friend, and warning bells were still ringing in the back of his mind, but he couldn't help the blush that rose to his cheeks again.

He cleared his throat, keeping his eyes on Kenshin until he nodded off. The state in which he did caused him to blink some. "He's just going to sleep like that?" Matt knew in his shoes he would have taken full advantage of the bed.

The blush was encouraging, but Ayumu outwardly reacted instead to the way he stiffened a little at the touch. She drew her hand back again, lowering her gaze to her lap and allowing her shoulders to slump just a little bit as though in disappointment. She was still sitting quite close, though, and didn't move any farther away.

At Robin's comment she made a show of lifting her head again, looking over toward the dozing Kenshin. He was clearly a wary one, and yet... "I'm surprised that he'd sleep at all with us in the room," she replied, with a slight shake of her head. "Perhaps fourteen years in the future it's more peaceful than what I know. If...if he spoke the truth about that..."

Now she'd see if Robin would still claim that his story was true. It was quite far-fetched, after all.

"Well, I can't speak for when he comes from, but I can speak for when I come from." Matt smiled a bit to try and put her more at ease. He made himself more comfortable against the wall, slumping into more of a sprawl if anything. "And I know for a fact that Japan's more peaceful than when you left it."

Barring the whole Kira thing and the way he himself had died, of course. Though in a disturbing way, Kira had made the world even more peaceful... Just as long as you didn't do terrible things like jaywalk or slack off at work.

"Sorry. I know the infodump's pretty harsh. I had it all thrown on me when I arrived too."

Although the way he said it was strange, Ayumu could guess at the meaning nonetheless. So he was going to keep the same story, even when his friend was presumably not listening. (Kenshin did appear to be asleep, but she was still going to assume that he wasn't - or was at least as good as awake - unless proven otherwise.)

"It's just..." She drew in a breath that caught just a little bit midway, and pulled her coat closer about herself as though it could provide some protection. "It's a little...frightening. I was just at home, and suddenly I was here." And being told that "here" was about as far from home as it could possibly be, and she was unarmed and without allies, as far as she knew.

After a moment's pause she continued, "I'm grateful that you and your friend were willing to help me, though." There was perhaps a slight breath after "you", just a hint of hesitation before she mentioned Kenshin as well.

Matt nodded. He kept thinking he should be doing something to help her and make her feel more comfortable, but comforting women wasn't exactly his field of expertise. "That's kinda the way it goes. One minute you're" getting pumped full of lead by Kira worshippers "somewhere else, the next you're here. Sorry it had to happen to you."

And she was totally flirting with him. Prostitutes normally flirted with everyone, though, didn't they? It was probably in their job description. Brought in business. She might even be doing it out of habit.

He coughed suddenly, just a couple short times before he cleared his throat again. Dammit, but he needed to get in shape.

"Oh!" Ayumu exclaimed, eyes wide with distress. "I'm being unforgivably rude! You must be tired, and you were injured earlier, and here I am forcing you to sit on the hard floor."

He truly did seem to be unaccustomed to the exercise, which made her wonder what kind of life he led before coming here, in the future time from which he claimed to come. Well, perhaps if he had a more comfortable seat, it would put him more at ease, and thus more willing to talk.

She rose from her seat on the bed, only to kneel beside Robin and reach out to brush light fingertips against the shoulder previously bruised by the blow from Kenshin's backwards sword. "My apologies, Robin-han, are you all right?" The only thing in her expression now was what seemed to be genuine worry and concern for him.

"I don't recall you forcing me to do anything." Matt smirked at her and shrugged the previously injured shoulder. It wasn't anything to worry about, but her concern was greatly appreciated. "I'm fine. Don't worry about it. I'll move in a bit here."

He wasn't sure how much time a 'bit' was meant to represent in this scenario, but his legs felt something like jelly now (his own fault for flopping right down like this).

"Are you always this nice to boys my age?" He couldn't help the next words. Being toyed with wasn't something he'd be willing to stand for too long. "I can't pay you for any services, you know."

Ayumu smiled at him when he insisted that he was fine, looking partially relieved that it wasn't a bad injury and he wasn't annoyed, and partially amused at the way he was trying to insist everything was just fine even when he looked so tired. So like a man, that was.

As he continued speaking, though, her smile abruptly faded. Ayumu drew away from him again, this time actually moving back and turning her face aside, a distinctly hurt expression visible for just an instant before she did. "No, I...I understand."

She hesitated a moment, then began to move to her feet. "If that's what you...I'm sorry, I didn't..." It appeared that she wanted to leave, but after all the warnings of dangers in the hallway, she was somewhat torn about the wisdom of that decision.

Realizing that he may have hurt her feelings more than intended, Matt immediately tried to get to his feet as well. A little bit of light-headedness had him leaning against the wall, but it soon passed. "Wait. I'm sorry. That was too blunt of me."

He didn't want to take back whet he'd said completely, as he still wasn't willing to take for granted anyone that flirted with him so easily, but insulting her wasn't going to get him anywhere.

Ayumu had already halted at the sound of him rising to his feet and being forced to pause, and when he spoke she halfway turned back toward him, expression warring between hurt and concern before finally settling somewhere between and a little closer to the former. "I didn't expect," she began, then hesitated, hands twisting in the fabric of her coat. "I mean, I..."

She sighed quietly, giving a brief glance over at the dozing Kenshin. "It was just dark out there and I was scared. And you...two, were so nice." Everything about her posture backed up her words: a little scared, a little upset, and rather embarrassed too. "I shouldn't have said where I was from."

Matt did agree with the last sentiment. If she'd lied it would have probably been less complicated for everyone. But then, there was something to be said for telling the truth in a situation like this. He could respect that, even if he himself was lying every which way.

"No, really. I'm sorry. It was rude." He walked over to the opposite bed, practically falling on it when he got there, sitting on the edge. "You should stay here until the end of night, anyway. It isn't safe in the halls."

"That's what you said, earlier." Ayumu hesitated for another moment, then almost cautiously moved over to sit on the edge of the bed by Robin, only as far away from him as she could get. She wouldn't want to impose on him, make him uncomfortable by her presence, was what her body language said.

Ayumu sighed again and toyed with a stray lock of hair that had escaped her improvised hairdo, idly twining it about her finger and releasing it again. "So what happens now? When the night ends, I mean?"

"I only repeat it because it's the truth." Matt smiled. Then he flopped back rather ungraciously so that he was lying on the bed with just his legs hanging off the side. "It's nasty out there sometimes."

At her question, he waved an arm lamely, not sitting back up. "When the night ends, the man who runs this place will come on over the intercom - it's a device in the wall that lets everyone hear his voice from wherever he is - mock us some, then knock us all out. You'll wake up in your own room. May or may not have a roommate. Then everyone goes to breakfast and the nurses shuffle us around as though nothing is out of the ordinary."

"Oh." Ayumu fell silent for a few moments at that, gaze lowering to her hands as she folded them in her lap. Beneath the scared-and-weak pose her mind worked on the information she'd been given, piecing it into what she hoped was a coherent enough whole to be helpful. Until she knew if anyone else she knew was there, she'd have to proceed as though she were alone in potentially hostile territory and find a way out herself.

At least she'd made what seemed to be a good start with these two, though. Kenshin she didn't entirely trust, if only because he was clearly familiar with Kyoto and, even if he didn't look old enough to have been active during her day if he really was from fourteen years in the future, she also had no idea of knowing if he was friend or foe. He'd seemed to believe her story, though, and she could potentially use him.

Robin, despite his suspicion regarding her motives, might also be a good resource. He wasn't entirely wrong to be suspicious, of course, though he had the reason a little bit wrong. Still, though, it would be best to end the evening on a good note.

She straightened slightly, turning her head toward him a little, and hesitantly reached out a hand to brush her fingertips against his arm. It was a gesture carefully calculated to be less flirtatious and more just to get his attention, or to remind herself that he was real and solid in a strange place. "Thank you," she said quietly, and with as much sincerity as she could muster.

"Hey, no sweat." Carefully, he bent his arm and rested his hand over her own. It was meant as a comforting gesture, but she could feel free to take it however she wanted.

Another thought crossed his mind, the weariness reaching that phase where higher level thinking was beginning to return again. "You should be careful or more than monsters, too. The male to female ratio here is pretty unbalanced. Wouldn't want you running into anyone with less tact than me. And I mean that no matter who you are."

He hadn't seen anything like that himself while he was here, but who knew what went on behind closed doors? This place had a lot of patients and three-fourths had to be the same gender.

Nightshift 36: M51-M60 Hallway

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