damned_institute | Nightshift 37: Waiting Room/Lobby 1

Entry tags:

mikami,
ryuk

Nightshift 37: Waiting Room/Lobby 1

[From here.]

There was a very large pool of possible questions Mikami could start with, but for the moment, he only stepped further into the room, sweeping his flashlight back and forth in search of anything else which might disturb a conversation. He already disliked this room to begin with... the day-time memories he had created in its twin the day before weren't exactly pleasant. In any case, satisfied with his quick search, he then hung back, ready to shut the door. There was, of course, another doorway to this room too, but he didn't think it would be possible to overhear at that distance unless he and the Shinigami purposefully raised their voices.

Down to business. Mikami obviously wanted to ask Ryuk if he knew anything about Kira's current whereabouts, or, if that wasn't possible, any other plans and other information. After that... Mikami recognized a possibility that he could find a way to get back his Shinigami Eyes through Ryuk, and perhaps... even his Death Note. He noticed Ryuk had a twin to his own journal with him, and his eyes lingered on it for just a moment, the implications of getting his hands back on the tool Kira had sent him running through his head.

But for now, best to start with something simple. "How long have you been here?" he asked quietly and, while not quite kindly, not impolite either.

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Ryuk followed Mikami through the halls, half paying attention to the route. He was sure they'd come this way when he was taken to his room. He also noticed some stairs. And the fact that Mikami wasn't going up them. He could probably get the guy to but... whatever. Later. He wanted to see where Mikami was going first. He hadn't been scared and that needed to be made up for. It was no fun whatsoever.

Ryuk looked around the room and waited for Mikami to stop whatever he was doing. When the man spoke, however... Ryuk couldn't help but feel like this was about to turn into an interview. Or worse, an interrogation. After years of having Light down your throat going on about watching what you say in front of people...made Ryuk kinda ~~worried~~ err, shy. Yeah.

He also noted that look. The one aimed at his journal. The little bastard wasn't getting his hands on this, no way. Unless.... hah. Hahaha. Ryuk was going to have to make a fake.

"Since this morning," he answered as simply as he could. He had his own questions, but he'd probably ask somebody else who'd be shit scared of him even if they knew he was useless.

Edited 2008-12-15 11:54 (UTC)

Mikami nodded as he put his hands into his coat. The answer at least coincided with the things he had seen on the bulletin board, and made an easy opening for his next question... because he intended to follow this supply of information until the end.

"So you more or less know what's going on." He glanced aside at the sound of something going on outside in the hallway. "I saw you talking to Matsuda on the bulletin board," he admitted. "There are more here too. Mello for one... and L." He then paused, blinking at the Shinigami-made-man in the darkness. He had known Mikami of course, but it was still to be determined if it was possible the Shinigami would somehow not know of the dangers of Near and Mello.

"Yagami-sama was here, but..." he trailed off uncharacteristically, but then carried on in the same tone, "...I'm not sure if he is anymore."

Hah. See that? Ryuk had dodged a bullet and without any help. Mikami had read the bulletin. Oh. Wait. He'd read the bulletin. Whatever. He was still a lousy human.

"I saw," Ryuk nodded, in regards to Mello and L. He kinda hoped Mikami was going to expand because it really was weird for people to come back from the dead. As for more or less knowing what was going on? The bulletin board had pretty much said 'nothing makes sense' and so long as Ryuk wasn't the only one, well, he'd go along with it. What else could he do?

Ryuk looked at Mikami, nothing to be read in his expression. But, well, he was just thinking about what a nut job the guy was. He seemed to miss Light. Fair game, actually, Light made things interesting. But Mikami was sort of psychotic about Light, wasn't he?

Light, wasn't here? Maybe that was good, maybe it was bad. Did the dead people know they were dead, because Light might get a little pissy if he was still here, right? Besides, everyone could see Ryuk now, so he wasn't going to be bored.

Instead, he just nodded. It was the only reaction he could think of.

... Saw what, exactly? In the half-light, Mikami regarded his companion's rather ugly visage with the same stoicism he'd maintained since his early days of schooling. Had he a different mindset, he might have been perplexed, and despite the fact that he himself had done the same his first day, the thought that someone might not read the bulletin board in entirety didn't exactly cross his mind. In addition, the fact that Ryuk wasn't on his "side" at all was presently lost on him, and he dismissed even the slightest beginnings of confusion in favor of leaving the option open for producing an explanation himself.

He noted Ryuk's nod regarding Light with... differing results than the death god might have expected. In accordance with the way Mikami saw things, on one hand the gesture could simply mean Ryuk was following his explanation. On the other...

"Do you know something of this disappearance, Shinigami?" he asked, his voice unchanged over the sounds of conflict elsewhere. But his eyes flashed briefly in reaction to the possibility that Ryuk was, for whatever reason, being deliberately difficult. "In any case, what were you doing before we met out there?"

SO what did Mikami think of the dead walking the earth? Ryuk was beginning to think that Mikami hadn't quite made it as far in things as Ryuk. That was weird. And annoying. He had to be double sure to watch what he said.

But the damn lawyer type guy was pushing him into corners with his questions. What would Light do?

A shrug didn't seem elegant or powerful enough for a Shinigami. So he smiled and answered the second question instead. "I was doing that which my kind does." Not even a lie. He'd been getting bored again already so... maybe all this wasn't that bad.

At that, Mikami blinked, as caught off-guard as he'd been so far. What did Shinigami do anyway? Ryuk hadn't even answered his first question, which was perplexing as much as it was annoying. But he quickly stored this away mentally, or tried to, moving on as best he could by continuing in his previous vein.

"My thought was, since I'm fairly certain I know his false name, if I went to the file rooms I could determine whether or not he was still here- by if his papers were there." It made sense for the most part. ...Unless they kept the files for people like Light separate, or if the name Edgeworth had provided him through the list was wrong too... hopefully the Shinigami would at least refrain from being vague enough to help the predicament.

After all, Mikami wasn't even sure if Kira would want him digging into the what was going on behind the scenes. Ryuk had approached him, so perhaps there was a purpose behind it.

Would they have gotten rid of old patient files? It'd be useful though, maybe it'd mention he died. No, that was stupid. They wanted people to believe false lives or something. So...it was all pointless.

But that didn't stop Ryuk wanting to read Light's file. Or L's. But mostly he wanted to read his own. What was his name again? Bob. Loveday. Robert Loveday.

Ryuk nodded and stood straight, waiting to be told ~~what to do~~ where the files were.

The cat had been waiting in the shadows, just waiting on food. It sniffed at the air when the two entered, then stood and stretched. It would have been just like a normal cat -- except for its size, and the state of its fur and skin.

It hissed at Mikami and Ryuk once, then came hurtling toward them, claws out and ready to strike.

[Jen]

Despite any possible accusations of meddling, Ryuk actually seemed okay with the plan. Mikami had been half-expecting something else entirely, but although he ~~almost~~ always made a point to watch out for them, the situation seemed to be devoid of the major warning signs Mikami considered worthy being wary of.

However... Ryuk was not human, and there was little telling what might be lost in nonverbal communication between the mortal and supernatural. Therefore, although there was an infinite number of ways the situation could have played out, there was still really only one conclusion according to the way Mikami worked. Obviously, he would have to continue keeping an eye out.

... As troubling as the thought could be, was it possible that with the absence of Kira himself keeping his servants in line...?

Suddenly, a hiss that had no business coming from such a dark room interrupted Mikami's train of thought, and, already slightly on edge, whipped his flashlight to its source... just in time to catch the eerie twin-lantern glow of night-adjusted eyes. And then they were coming closer - way too fast to be friendly.

Mikami would have stepped straight back, but the action was foiled by the fact that he was already too close to the wall behind him. His instincts were insisting he move himself out the way as quick as possible though, and in his confusion he accidentally lowered his flashlight from the thing as he tried to move sideways.

Ryuk barely reacted to the cat. A small twitch at the sudden development, maybe, but that was about it. He just stared for a moment as it launched itself at them.

And then he remembered he was pretty much human. He couldn't walk through walls and a lot of people had stared at him today. So...the cat could probably hurt him. And that was why he took a step away from Mikami, hoping the cat would go to the human first. That way, Mikami could fight it or just distract it from Ryuk until it had eaten it's fill or whatever it was after.

The cat hardly hesitated, deciding to go for the target that had moved last. It gave the first target a chance to attack, yes, but the hesitation likely meant that the second target was slower.

It swiped at Ryuk's legs, meowing and hissing as it did. If Mikami reacted, it would turn, but if not, it had its prey where it wanted it.

The thing was a cat, or at least used to be... it was quite unlike anything Mikami had seen before, undeniably predatory and sinister, fundamentally different than the cats he had seen wandering about during the day. He continued to step back, refocusing his flashlight as it in turn focused on its attack on Ryuk.

There wasn't time to be afforded acting horrified, however. An instinct, perhaps left over from the days humans still had reason to fear big cats, was still screaming at him to get out. It might have served to save him too, had the idea of leaving someone else to get injured, when he might have done something, was so repulsive it managed to stop him dead in his tracks. A switch was made mentally. If he wouldn't fly, he would have to fight.

Unfortunately, his rather unarmed state did him little good against the creature. But... he did have the flashlight, and it was nearly a weapon in itself.... Without any more moments wasted, he swung it at the cat's hips. If he could remove some of the power from its running or leaping capabilities....

Of all the unexpected things. Ryuk simply watched as the creature flew towards him and Mikami moved to...protect Ryuk? Surely that was just an automatic reaction. But the guy had never seemed the type to really do such a thing. He couldn't have any sort of emotional bond to Ryuk, could he? Even the Shinigami thought that was creepy.

Even though time had slowed down to take all this in, Ryuk's brain seemed to have slowed even more and had yet to make any connection with his legs in order to tell them to move.

The cat's front paws dug into Ryuk's legs, leaving a few gouges in the skin, just as the flashlight struck at its hindquarters. It let out a loud, sharp yowl of pain, then turned on its attacker.

It couldn't move as fast as it normally could, and one of its back legs seemed broken, but it was angry and it was hurt. It wanted to get the one who attacked it back.

The cat moved into the shadows again, then took a series of swipes at Mikami's legs.

The crack accompanying Mikami's strike on the cat's hindquarters was met with a sort of humorless satisfaction in managing to injure the thing. Certainly it was a benefit counted toward so meticulously attending the gym, albeit one that could never have been foreseen - had Mikami known that he would be in this situation beforehand, he would have taken even further measures. What those would have been he didn't yet have the time to contemplate.

His recovering sweep of the flashlight failed to turn up the cat's form, and for a brief moment, he thought he had actually managed to drive the thing off. In the next, however, it was back on the attack, moving much too silently than any beast should be capable of with a legs out of commission. Mikami didn't have much of a chance to get out of the way, and the cat's claws entangled and tore through the cloth at his legs, leaving tracks on the skin beneath. He dropped his journal with a flat smack as he stumbled back against the wall behind him.

Ryuk was currently forgotten, the prosecutor's thoughts entirely focused on finding a way to survive the encounter. However, the question of whether he had a thing for attracting trouble from things with claws was distressingly clear....

For some reason, it was Ryuk's brow that actually reacted to pain. It creased. And he thought 'I guess that hurt' because he wasn't exactly used to the sensation. It wasn't a good one.

He looked down and noticed he was bleeding. That was weird too. And he was kinda pissed off, actually. That was the main reason he decided to try stamping on the cat. He probably owed Mikami too. But his first thought was revenge.

The cat yowled again as one of Ryuk's stamping feet connected with its tail, snapping some of the delicate bones in it and throwing it off balance a bit. With its good leg, it moved toward Mikami again.

It leaned to its left side, and as such, its claws swiped at Mikami's left arm and the left side of the man's chest. It looked up at the prosecutor with a look of pain, but something else - something darker, something bent on destruction.

The cat was angry and hurt, and it wanted blood.

There was no denying Ryuk's intervention had only made the cat even more furious, and Mikami found himself paying dearly for his lack of further action- failing entirely to do anything more against the cat than bring up his arms in guard just as the cat's scythe-like claws struck him.

But whatever hunting instinct or random chance drove the cat to attack his left side, it actually turned out advantageous for Mikami. There was a slight delay in reaching flesh afforded by not only the coat he'd decided to wear, but the bandages he already had protecting his arm and torso's previous injuries. Of course, it would only take moments for the cat to get through those and do far more serious damage.

But being killed and possibly eaten by a giant cat was far too humiliating a death for Kira's most-trusted servant.

The cat was far too close for the flashlight-turned-club, so Mikami was forced to use a much smaller, more precise weapon afforded him. He snatched blindly through his pockets, and then without hesitation struck at the cat's face with one of his ballpoint pens.

The cat may have taken it's anger out on Mikami, which was probably a bad thing, but it was angry, so Ryuk's job was done, really. He'd achieved what he'd personally set out to do.

He was about to aim another kick, for fun and to avoid any bitching from the human, when the guy surprised Ryuk and decided to try stabbing at the creature. He'd honestly thought these guys only had the balls to kill by writing a name and keeping their hands clean.

The cat hissed and yowled in pain as the pen drove deep into its eye socket. It lashed out with its paws, trying to at least get a strike back, but it was hard to see Mikami. With its back legs and tail injured, too, it was hard to get away, but it tried, pushing away with one back paw and biting at the man's arm.

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Nightshift 37: Waiting Room/Lobby 1

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