Nightshift 40 - M31-M40 Hallway

[kindalikedit]

[From here]

Dean's flashlight flickered as he focused it on the room's door. M31. He had a winner. Normally he'd just let himself in - either by picking the door or kicking it down - but for some reason he didn't. Instead Dean knocked, rapping the door with his knuckles and waiting to be let in. Standing here felt good - he was supposed to be here and, his new-found confidence told him, he'd report. To who and for what? Dean didn't remember quite yet but it didn't seem to bother him at all as he waited outside in the dark, keeping an eye and ear out for anything that went bump in the night and needed to get bumped back. All the aches and pains from the last couple of nights here ceased to bother him as much as they had earlier: the cuts, the bruises, the bandages, everything took a backseat to getting into M31 and answering that compulsion.

Comments

[superdynamic.livejournal.com]

"Good," Suzaku muttered back. His hands fluttered awkwardly around Lelouch as his Prince lay down, warily in case he toppled over but hesitant to actually touch him. He was still vaguely discomfited by exactly how concerned he was for Lelouch's wellbeing. It was probably just a reaction to all the associations that came with knighthood, but he couldn't help feeling that this protectiveness went beyond the distant, practical concern he should have for an ally. At the same time, one thing was startlingly clear: he could not bear the thought of losing Lelouch. Not after what had happened to the last member of the Britannian royal family he had pledged himself to. (Discounted Charles, of course, because that had been a knighthood of convenience more than loyalty.)

Maybe he was being too protective, but he wasn't going to say that, because he didn't want to stop. "I'll guess I'll stay," he said for the sake of saying something. Might as well continue the pointless conversation when he wasn't sure what else to say to Lelouch right now. Maybe there were other things he should be saying, but he just needed some time to think. To figure out what Lelouch was to him and where to go from here. And he didn't even want to touch the subject of what he might be to Lelouch, because as masochistic as he might be sometimes, instinct told him to shy away from more of that same pain just now.

"That way I can perform all my nanny duties," he added lightly, pulling one of the sheets over Lelouch's body. "Like tucking you in -- didn't I say I might do that?" He made a great show of tucking the sheet in against Lelouch's sides, cruelly taking advantage of the fact that the other boy couldn't move much at the moment. It kept him safe from any potentially-dangerous flailing. "I could even tell you a bedtime story if you want." He was going to catch hell for this, but it was just too funny, and maybe he wasn't quite in his right mind after the emotionally draining night.

[kingside]

... He did not just-- he did. That-- "Idiot!" Lelouch snapped, freeing one of his arms and smacking at Suzaku ineffectually. Even at the best of times, he wouldn't have been able to do much damage, but weakened as he was now and unwilling to move in any significant way to make the hit land harder, it was a truly pathetic attempt to fight against this indignity. He tried to make up for it by growling a "Don't you dare," but with how much luck that particular tactic had had in the past, it was obviously time to try a different one.

"Have you forgotten what I said about special treatment already?" he asked, fully aware that it was underhanded of him to turn to that when the purposes behind saying it initially were completely obsolete by now. Suzaku didn't know that, though, and with how impossible it seemed to be for him to take anything related to the "nanny" insult seriously (when had it even become a joke?), he probably wouldn't read too far into it. "Stop it, Suzaku. That's an order." One that would also effectively kill any chances there were that they might keep talking, but if this was what he wanted to fixate on, Lelouch would be all too happy to end things there.

He also couldn't help but notice that Suzaku had avoided addressing his comment about how overprotective he was being, but that probably just meant that he couldn't think of an adequate retort for it. There were other possible explanations, of course, but when all of them were absolutely ridiculous, they didn't bear thinking on. They bore even less when Lelouch needed to at least pretend he wasn't interested in cultivating their friendship again. Suzaku couldn't know about that, not when he would only find some way to blame it on himself. His eagerness to do so with other matters was alarming enough; the last thing Lelouch wanted to do was encourage more of it.

[tony-castaway.livejournal.com]

[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/603918.html?thread=51420174#t51420174).]

He feared the Clinic would be busy and slowed his steps. Kvothe had been attacked somewhere around here. Tony almost held his breath, wondering if he could somehow sense or find out what had happened.

Re: M33

[rope-victim.livejournal.com]

The door closed and a few, short moments later, Miku found herself fully grown. She was already half way up Sousuke's bed, and the bed squeaked suddenly with her extra weight. Miku froze, waiting for Sousuke to spring up and do something drastic (surprises were not the Sergeant's friend, she'd learned quickly). When he didn't, she drew her brows together, and poked his face.

Nothing. He didn't even twitch his nose.

Shrugging, and pushing her note from earlier in the evening off onto the floor, Miku settled down beside Sousuke on the narrow bed and rested her cheek on his chest, under his chin. After such a tiring night, it didn't take very long for the photographer to fall into a deep, restful sleep.

[Thank you for saving her :3]

M34

[purgatio]

[from here]

When the door opened, Albedo went in, easily navigating inwards. Now which would be his twin's bed? This one, or...? Albedo started, teeth showing in a snarl of surprise. Someone else was here. Sleeping. His eyes narrowed further in indecision before his body stiffened. Fine then. There wasn't much choice at this point. His patience was breaking. If the roommate woke up, Albedo would simply have to kill him. With the decision that simple, the boy relaxed, carefully walking towards the other bed.

Surprisingly, Albedo did as Rubedo had wanted in the first place, and released him after settling him gently on the bed. Albedo, for his part, clambered on the other end, laying on his stomach with his hand in his hands. He looked at Rubedo for a moment, the smallest flash of uncertainty showing before disappearing. For this, Albedo would be carefully blank.

He couldn't know that trying to do this in front of Rubedo was telling; that he looked younger in this instance while his eyes aged. The boy swallowed unconsciously. "So," he said, voice almost normal--free of any other tones. "What was your answer?" Here, Rubedo couldn't ignore him.

[superdynamic.livejournal.com]

The corner of Suzaku's lip lifted at Lelouch's reaction. He was just so easy. Of course, Suzaku didn't want to piss him off too much, especially with all the unknowns at work between them right now. For example, the reaction Suzaku had to Lelouch's choice of protest. His nascent smile faltered.

Was Lelouch saying he didn't want to act like this with Suzaku, because he had no interest in friendship anymore? Not that Suzaku had any interest in friendship, but he could deal with a comfortable interaction, especially now when he was still off-balance and dizzy with relief. Lelouch was probably right, they shouldn't be acting like this, and they shouldn't be treating each other like friends. That didn't make the idea any less uncomfortable, for some still-incomprehensible reason. But Lelouch probably didn't mean it that way, he was probably just trying to get Suzaku to back off. That kind of comment would be uncalled-for otherwise. Even if Suzaku shouldn't care whether Lelouch felt that way or not.

Suzaku shoved the thoughts aside, because Lelouch couldn't have meant to say something so cold in response to a little joking around. "Yes, Your Highness," he answered, dropping the sheet and raising his hands to show his compliance. "So. . ." He glanced off to the side. He wasn't quite sure how to make conversation at this point, but thankfully matters of business came to the rescue. "Oh, what do you want me to do tomorrow?"

[kingside]

Even though Lelouch had anticipated that reaction, he hadn't expected Suzaku to take it quite so literally. If he'd known that he would, he probably wouldn't have said it, but then when he needed to remind himself of the distance between them, it was probably for the best. Keeping Suzaku at arm's length wasn't much of an improvement over actively pushing him away, but it was the only compromise Lelouch could think of that would accomplish everything he'd hoped for when it came to his knight-- almost everything, that is.

"Judging by the lack of response to your bulletin post, I'd say it's time to broaden the scope of your assignment," he said aloud, frowning faintly to himself and hoping that Suzaku would misinterpret it as being in consideration of his current plans were rather than what was said earlier. It was difficult to hide behind another mask now that he'd given up just about all of them, and drained as he was, he couldn't be bothered to make the effort. "See if you can get into contact with the people who have been modifying the radios or trying to make explosives. Needless to say, both would be very useful, but neither group seems to be terribly organized. I haven't had much of an opportunity to look into either yet, though, so I could be wrong. Either way, I'd like you to look into what progress both have made, what materials they need, and so on. I don't expect you'll find much, but it's a start at least."

[superdynamic.livejournal.com]

Suzaku gave a short nod. "I'll see what I can do. I'll also try to find Tamaki, he didn't seem to be around today." He still thought that most information could be gathered more effectively by networking, but the structure of the day didn't make it possible to talk to that many people, and it was impossible to know who you were looking for before you started talking to them. Even if the bulletin board was a bit unreliable, he'd have to keep using that.

"What are you going to be working on, then?" Information, presumably, but Suzaku still felt the need to make conversation, at least until Lelouch made a move to go to sleep. Where to go from here, in terms of how they related to one another, was a complete mystery to Suzaku. He really needed more time to sort this out.

[kingside]

He hadn't? That was annoying, but then it didn't really matter as long as he either reemerged or was replaced with someone competent. Lelouch wasn't entirely sure of just how effectively Tamaki led his club, which had been one of the reasons behind sending Suzaku after him in the first place, but that didn't matter nearly so much as forming an alliance with them if at all possible. If it turned out that Tamaki had disappeared, they'd merely turn their attention to the next person in the chain of command... assuming there was one.

"I'll be continuing my work on the monster report and trying to finish that timeline I started," he replied, briefly closing his eyes. "I'd also hoped to begin compiling lists of all the supplies the institute has to offer and where to find them, but I don't know if I'll have the time." Meetings every shift and even more projects on the bulletin-- did it never stop? "If I'm able to recruit more people, I'll delegate some of those duties, but I don't know how much successful I'll be. It's much harder to get people to join Lelouch Lamperouge than it is to get them to join Zero."

Re: M34

[udo-retrovirus.livejournal.com]

Junior was almost relieved that the Commander was still there, asleep, when they returned. Someone else there at all meant that he would probably be safer than he would have normally. Not that it was really all that much. He set his things to the side when Albedo finally set him down on the bed, then sat down.

Having his twin watching him like this was eerie, definitely like looking at Albedo's adult self. The redhead had hoped that Albedo had forgotten the question, but he should've known better. This was something that had been at the forefront of his twin's mind for years, when Junior was from, so there was no way he'd give it up when it hadn't happened very long ago.

"That's..." he started again, hesitating. The infected units had scared him, his twin had scared him, but... "You've got it all wrong, Albedo."

Re: M34

[purgatio]

Albedo had watched, entranced, as Rubedo moved and finally sat. It was like he was noticing details that he never had before--and that couldn't make sense, could it? Rubedo was smaller, it should be harder to notice things. Maybe it was just because.... Albedo hadn't seen Rubedo, been near him and spent time with him for a long while, in the boy's mind. A week without his twin was maddening; the other's waveform was comforting just by its presence. And Albedo had wondered why he couldn't sleep since they had parted ways.

He swallowed again, unconsciously reaching out a hand to touch Rubedo's side. He had assumed that... sleep was just not for him, and yet, here, he rested easily with Rubedo's heartbeat echoing within him. He hadn't....

Albedo jerked, his hand sliding away. His eyes clouded with a sharp pain and fierce resentment. "Wrong, am I? Correct me then. In what way was it that you didn't break away, didn't leave-" His eyes narrowed dangerously, and he cut himself off, choking the syllable. Not there. Not yet. "What did Nigredo have that I didn't? How did his value trump my own?"

Re: M34

[udo-retrovirus.livejournal.com]

He should've expected his twin to respond like that, but that didn't mean he liked seeing his reaction, much less hearing his accusations. He knew how it looked, but it hadn't said shit about Nigredo having more worth than Albedo. As maddening as his twin could be, as much as he wanted to scream at the white-haired one to stop playing up the victim act more than was justified...

"I never said I didn't do that!" he replied. "But it doesn't have anything to do with his value. I came back for both of you." Came back for two of them, but left with only one. Nigredo had been bleeding, dying, needed help. He'd planned on going back, but then Canaan and chaos had shown up. "He's my brother, and you're my twin. You're both just as important to me, got that?"

Re: M34

[purgatio]

Everything had receded to a silent drone; the buzz of his blood rushing through his veins drowning out all other noise. His thoughts had slowed to a stop, the pounding of two heartbeats crushing everything else inside of him. Silence. Something throbbing (something breaking); some hope being denied, crushed underfoot.

Albedo shifted slowly to his knees, leaning over Rubedo. "No," he said. "I don't think that's true." He leaned his weight to the left, raising his right hand off the bed. "Because you left me."

But he was already alone by that time. Rubedo had left him far before that.