Aidou Hanabusa (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
idolism) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
damned_institute2009-03-24 12:04 pm
idolism) wrote in damned_institute2009-03-24 12:04 pm
Nightshift 39: Schoolhouse (Ruins)
[from here]
A school. That became clear immediately. Near his foot, an old erasure lay on the floor. On the other end of the cramped room, there was a blackboard. And that was only what first caught his eye.
Aidou took two short steps inside, to let Senna in, and stayed paused near the entrance while he listened… for anything, any noise or presence that didn’t belong. His instincts had begun to prickle ever since he’d come within range of the town. Something had happened here, something bad. Surely this place wasn’t so benign that it’d let them pick through its ruins unscathed. And Landel. Why let people come here? Was it really to see if they’d quail in the face of all this destruction?
He moved up the center of the room, soundlessly making his way through the mess.
The school was ancient to him--too small, too primitive--and he supposed it was a small part of what was unnerving him in the back of his mind. He looked towards the narrow doorway leading to what looked like a bathroom before a dull puddle of color on the floor drew his attention. What--? The noble grabbed a fistful of the dirty material and picked it up, disturbing layers of filth. It was still recognizable even so.
An American flag… Aidou’s eyes narrowed.
A school. That became clear immediately. Near his foot, an old erasure lay on the floor. On the other end of the cramped room, there was a blackboard. And that was only what first caught his eye.
Aidou took two short steps inside, to let Senna in, and stayed paused near the entrance while he listened… for anything, any noise or presence that didn’t belong. His instincts had begun to prickle ever since he’d come within range of the town. Something had happened here, something bad. Surely this place wasn’t so benign that it’d let them pick through its ruins unscathed. And Landel. Why let people come here? Was it really to see if they’d quail in the face of all this destruction?
He moved up the center of the room, soundlessly making his way through the mess.
The school was ancient to him--too small, too primitive--and he supposed it was a small part of what was unnerving him in the back of his mind. He looked towards the narrow doorway leading to what looked like a bathroom before a dull puddle of color on the floor drew his attention. What--? The noble grabbed a fistful of the dirty material and picked it up, disturbing layers of filth. It was still recognizable even so.
An American flag… Aidou’s eyes narrowed.
no subject
Ancient, maybe--definitely not the current style at least. But to Senna it was just familiar, like the outside. Another town, another life, and she could have been a student here--it was eerily similar to something in her memories after all. There wasn't a trigger here, so maybe the last one had been severe enough. She wasn't so lucky as to get off unscathed however; memories flashed like photographs in the space behind her eyes, burning the sense of unease and deja vu deeper inside of her.
Her eyes flickered to the details in the room, not stopping long enough to focus on anything. She couldn't seem to remember why they had come here. She couldn't seem to remember....
The stars illuminated the small space from the missing roof, and she found herself staring at a dirty pencil that was still surprisingly intact, half-buried under rubble and earth. It seemed like the fact that something was still whole in all of this defiled it somehow. Like it must have been wrong to begin with to continue to exist the way it was.
Unnerved by her own thoughts, she looked away, blinking quickly to regain herself. "What are we looking for?" she asked softly, resisting the urge to ask why they were here. "Does it look like this place it fake?" If Momo hadn't offered the suggestion, Senna would never have thought it. There was something off, something that was all too real about this place. Something broken.
no subject
The vampire’s thoughts came apart and clicked together like toy blocks, faster and faster, the result of holding another clue in his hand.
Senna had been forgotten but not entirely forgotten in the multi-faceted away Aidou could split his attention, and her words filtered into his consciousness slowly, as though she’d spoken from a great distance. He was too caught up in the tangle of questions laid out before him. “We’re not looking for anything,” he finally replied. A simple answer. This was what they were looking for. They were looking for everything and anything. No one seemed to have any idea what, precisely, anyone would find in unexplored ground, certainly not the girl who’d asked them here, and so everything was to be noted. He’d already stopped expecting this girl to understand that.
Aidou folded the flag in half and put it aside on what was left of a ruined podium with a seemingly strange amount of reverence. The residue, he silently brushed from his hands on his way towards the second room.
Fake, yes, of course. He’d been labelled with the ability to spot truth. Well, the truth of the matter was…
“And nothing in Landel’s is fake. One would think that would be the first thing one noticed.”
no subject
Senna was uncomfortable in this place, and she wondered offhand why she was so adament about exploring it. Certain things... pulled, to be sure, but how was this town one of them? Was she overthinking this, trying to find reasons for her reactions? She couldn't dream to know.
"I didn't think that it was," she answered distractedly, running her gaze over the flag that Aidou had set down. That went with the New Jersey theory, at least. The girl blinked again, then followed the blonde towards the other room.