Nightshift 21: Outside M65

[walking-complex.livejournal.com]

Every nightshift seemed to have the scientist restless and anxious to get out of his room. He couldn't really explain why other than for simple curiosity; there was nothing to do but sleep in the cells, and how in the world could anyone sleep in a place like this?

In any case, once again Hojo ate quickly and left his room as soon as he was able, taking his notebook and flashlight. He wasn't quite confident enough to go without it yet, though other people did tend to carry theirs and doubtless his eyes would adjust if given the chance.

It didn't take very much time for Hojo to make his way to what he was fairly sure was Xigbar's room. The man had mentioned it the night before, and under normal circumstances his memory held on to things like that fairly well, so... Hojo sighed, crossing his arms and leaning on the far wall. He didn't knock.

Comments

[numberii.livejournal.com]

Hojo would be waiting for a fair while, sadly. Xigbar had gone through one of the best days of his life, and he had basked in it like a lizard would the sun. All of that hatred, all of those stares, those looks, those words...

It wasn't until he'd finished his dinner and listened to the two men going on and on that he finally stirred. He should really go and talk with Namine and Luxord, after all. And then maybe fight something. Maybe? He didn't know.

What he did know was that the shirt was stupid, and now that he'd gone through a night without it, he decided to get rid of it. It was left where it was thrown- in the corner- and he made sure his pokeball was in his pocket and his flashlight was in his hand before he opened the door.

And saw Hojo. Huh.

A brief moment, then Xigbar grinned. "You know, generally it's polite to warn a guy before coming up to them at night. But I didn't think you had it in you, so I'll be gentle~!"

Yeah, he was in a teasing mood. Heaven help the poor man.

[walking-complex.livejournal.com]

Hojo, unfortunately, wasn't in an very upbeat mood. He was still slightly agitated from the discussion he'd had in the sunroom earlier so his patience was already a bit worn. Rather than address the scarred man's statement, then, he decided to bypass it entirely.

"Do it again," Hojo said, very bluntly. "Teleportation. I want to see it again."

[numberii.livejournal.com]

A blink at that, as Xigbar tilted his head. Odd... but why not? "Okay, so you want to see that Grade A Xigbar Teleportation again, that's cool. But why should I?"

He grinned as he walked forward, leaning in so his eye was near Hojo's own. "Takes a lot out of me, dude; you could at least try a little sweet-talk to get me in the mood."

[walking-complex.livejournal.com]

The scientist's immediate instinct was to lean back, but considering he was leaning on the wall there really wasn't anywhere for him to go. "I need to make sure of something," he said, taking the edge off his voice in an attempt to at least appear more civil. "Have you done it once tonight already? I believe you said you could do it once a day without ill effects." Well, it hadn't been said in so many words, but that was the sense Hojo had gotten.

[numberii.livejournal.com]

"Nope! Still fresh as a sea breeze, dude." That grin remained constant on his face as he pulled out the shrunken-down pokeball, tossing it up in the air as though juggling. "'kay, follow the bouncing ball. See where it goes? Left right left right; there's no way I can move without you seeing it. And as you can see, there's nothing up my sleeves but pure adulterating hotness. So keep your eyes peeled, don't blink or you'll-"

Even as he said that he disappeared, reappearing a good three feet to the left of where he had been, and he caught the ball which he'd sent flying over in that direction with the easy grace of a sharpshooter doing a trick. "-miss it."

"Good enough for you, Mr. Developmental Biologist?"

[walking-complex.livejournal.com]

Hojo was fairly sure that he was never going to get used to seeing that. He blinked, shook his head once, then nodded. "...Yes." Okay, then... what he'd seen the day before hadn't been a figment of his imagination. In that case... he sighed. Maybe he wasn't going to resign himself to completely believing in all the stuff about worlds, but he couldn't afford to question it as rigorously any more. "...Thank you."

[numberii.livejournal.com]

"Now, once the ovation dies down..." He paused for a moment, as though acknowledging the universe which obviously knew greatness when it saw it, unlike the Doctor and its attention before looking at Hojo. "...mind telling me why you came all the way over here for a second look?"

"Or do you just like me?" He held the pokeball in front of his bare chest, mocking the manner of a love-struck woman. "But it'd never work out between us! I don't have a heart and you don't have a brain~!"

[walking-complex.livejournal.com]

Under normal circumstances Hojo wouldn't have let the insult slide without getting at least slightly miffed, but at the moment he was just a bit too distracted to give it much weight. He gave the Nobody a vaguely dirty look, but that was all. "I needed to be sure I was remembering correctly. The human mind is very good at convincing itself of things that are untrue."

[numberii.livejournal.com]

...well, he'd gotten a look at least. Hojo just had to be a bit self-controlled, right? He'd been stressed the night before and that was why he'd flailed, but now Hojo had gotten himself under control and that was why he hadn't gotten angry! And he was too distracted to realize just how badly he'd been burned!

It absolutely wasn't Xigbar losing his touch! He could still get people to hate him! He was not a has-been hate-monger!

...x_;...

"Well yeah, you were remembering correctly. And you'd already done the whole 'convincing yourself that things aren't true' bit, too. So..." Xigbar rolled his eye, recovering his poise as he looked at the scientist. "What made you doubt your own eyes?"

[walking-complex.livejournal.com]

"Eyes are only reliable when you're actually looking at something. Memory is what changes, becomes inaccurate." He shrugged. Hojo didn't really want to divulge just how insecure and out-of-his-element he was starting to feel, that he needed reassurance of reality when reality was doing things that were supposed to be impossible. Somehow he didn't think that Xigbar was the best person to confide that sort of thing in.

[numberii.livejournal.com]

"Actually, eyes can be tricked just as easy as the memory can; you can't say that I didn't have some kind of illusion or another, or even just moving real fast. What you've gotta rely on?"

Here he leaned forward again, almost but not quite touching Hojo's forehead. "Gotta trust your noggin, dude. You're a scientist, that means you've gotta believe what you can prove to be true, and laugh at anyone or anything that says otherwise. Put it this way; you've seen me do my thing twice, that means it's scientific. So even if you start wondering later, 'Huh, did I really see Number Two pull off a teleportation?' you should trust in what you know is right."

"Because, dude? If you don't trust yourself, you can't trust anything. And you're too sharp a cookie to start wondering about the Big Stupid Questions of Life. 'kay?"

[walking-complex.livejournal.com]

Hojo smirked lightly. "I suppose." He wasn't going to get into an argument about it, even if it wasn't really as simple as II was making it sound. He wasn't in a mood to debate. "In any case, I want to get something done tonight for once. You can come if you want, but my nights have been wasted ever since I got here."

[numberii.livejournal.com]

"See? More people would be better off if they listened to old dudes like me." He grinned at that, waving Hojo off if that was what the man wanted to do.

"I've got a pair of blonds to pick up and some weapons to nab; if you want to tag along that's fine, but I'm stuck as a perpetual babysitter. Would be real nice to have someone who won't card me, though..." His voice trailed off in a musing tone; on the one hand, Hojo had pretty much said he was completely useless in every way possible. On the other, having someone sane when dealing with Luxord and Namine would be nice.

Eh, either way; he could deal.

[walking-complex.livejournal.com]

Hojo shrugged. "I don't know my way around nearly as well as I'd like. I'll go with you until I find something better to do." Weapons were something the scientist was really starting to feel his lack of; he'd been lucky so far, that he hadn't run into anything too dangerous, but the longer he went unarmed the more nervous he became. If they were going to be running around, then, it'd be much easier for him to shadow a group than to run the risk of exploring by himself.

[numberii.livejournal.com]

"You think that there's anything in this pad that's more interesting than me? Dude, that stings." He laughed and shrugged; that meant that Hojo was coming along, which was good enough for now.

The more important thing was to get going before Namine had a chance to slip out on her own, again. Honestly, like the girl didn't even have a brain, the way she kept fooling around like that.

"Keep your eyes peeled, 'kay?" And with that he headed off.

((Off to here. (http://community.livejournal.com/landels_damned/50681.html) ))