damned_institute | Night 43: F21-30 Hall

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Night 43: F21-30 Hall

[in F22]

Falis was sitting on Senna's bed, her back to the wall with the shinigami laying against her, when the weird intercom thingie went off. She looked up at the little box for a moment before frowning. What the fuck had that been? Damnit! Where was Dominikov when she needed him to figure shit like this out for her?

A sharp pain ran through the hunter's left arm accompanied by a searing heat she recognized from the night before. It seemed peoples' fears were going to be true this night. Taking a peak at the flesh underneath her bandage, Falis grimaced seeing the decay return and it work its way up to her shoulder. At least it stopped there, but she wasn't sure it'd stay stopped all night long.

Her eyes slid back to the sleeping shinigami. Falis licked her lips. Damn, she looked and smelled... No. She was not going to do this. She was stronger that whatever fucked up zombie sickness. Senna was important to the hunter. She may be Falis' prey, but not prey like this. Resisting the hunger that lay in her stomach, she idly combed her finger through Senna's hair as she rest her head back against the wall and waited for people to show up or for the shinigami to wake.

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[Gak, sorry! Didn't see the post.]

Skuld had managed to calm down since her visitor, at least a little; she was still on edge, but fighting not to show it. She had the arrays she needed all set up, and jumped up as soon as she heard someone outside her door. "Good evening," she said, trying to simply sound courteous. "Please come in."

At least she had something to do tonight even after they left; opening her closet had revealed some stuff she was pretty sure she hadn't put in there. Ururu's? Maybe... it wasn't much in total, but she really needed to figure out what to do with the extra weapons she suddenly had on hand.

[It's okay! Sorry for the delay on my own part, and skipping can start now.]

Suzaku made a mental note to ask what the codenames were later; obviously they couldn't talk about such secret stuff in front of someone. And then they would have something to talk about that would take Suzaku's mind off -- everything.

Like what an idiot he was for dropping one of the pipes when he tried to open the door. Wincing at the ensuing crash, he swung the door open so Yuffie could go inside before bending to pick up the fallen pipe. What a good first impression to make when meeting a stranger.

"Hi, I'm Suzaku Kururugi," he said when he was standing straight enough to actually see Skuld. He stepped through after Yuffie, kicking the door shut. "I think I'm on your list somewhere. . ." He didn't mean to sound like he was harassing her about it; after all, he wasn't here for himself and was quite content to wait his turn. It just seemed strange not to mention it when they had already spoken on the bulletin.

The smile on Yuffie's face could have lit up her whole hometown. It wasn't wholly, utterly, entirely genuine, but then again, her smiles rarely were.

She slipped around her companion, snickering at the clatter-crash of plumbing hitting the floor. "Yo," she greeted. How long had it been since the last time she'd met Skuld? Must've been well over a week. Hopefully the miniature 'goddess' didn't hold it against her… Gawd, how awkward would that be? "Where d'ya want all this stuff?" The ninja asked, jostling the pile of wood in her arms. She was looking forward to seeing just how the hell this whole thing would actually work.

And to having her arms free.

And to having another weapon.

And to ribbing Suzaku mercilessly. Maybe that could feature in his codename-to-be?

"Good evening." Skuld managed a smile in return. "You can put everything over there." She pointed at the array she had set up. The knife she needed to alter was still in her closet; she'd add it to the pile when everything else was set up.

She wondered if Evangeline was actually intending on showing up, but they didn't have to wait for her. If she got there in time to see the show, great, but it didn't matter if she missed it.

Oh, Evangeline intended to be there. Watching Skuld work would take time, it was true, and delay her meeting with her little thug friend, but she wanted to have a blade on her precisely because of who she was meeting. She'd dismissed the anonymous warning she'd gotten easily enough - she was no harmless dupe or victim, especially with her magic available - but for those who were unfamiliar with magic or unprepared to take her seriously on account of her appearance, it would help to be able to flash a little steel. As in nature, it paid to advertise your deadliness rather than waste energy demonstrating it over and over again.

...and when had she started thinking like having two whole things to do in a night was a lot, anyway? True, the nights here were short and the lifestyle of an immortal was not generally hurried but it still smacked of the influence of that stupid school. Going four doors down and to get a little instant smithing done was the sort of thing only some clueless brat would find cause to complain about.

Having already managed to put herself in a bad moon in the minute it took her to get her things together and walk down the hall, the diminutive vampire pounded impatiently on Skuld's door.

Okidokie.

So far, nothing really out of the ordinary. The array was kind of odd, but it was (very, very) vaguely reminiscent of the ones you saw when activating a summon materia. Yuffie'd never quite figured those out, but she could recognize which pattern belonged to which summon. This… This was like nothing she'd ever seen before.

Before long, both her burden and Suzaku's was placed where directed. Yuffie breathed an audible sigh of relief. Man, it felt good to have her arms free. She was just about to adjust her grip on her shuriken when she heard footsteps, soon followed by impatient pounding.

She raised an eyebrow. "Pizza delivery?"

"I'm altering a knife for somebody, too," Skuld said, pulling it out of the closet to show her. Remembering what Evangeline had said to both her and Arlene on the board, she said, "Can you get that?" and moved to place the knife, then rearrange the metal a little as her excuse.

Maybe she shouldn't tell people to come to her room like this. Well, she'd wanted the Cooking Club to have a meeting place anyway...

Evangeline didn't bother to wait for them to open the door and let herself in after the first few knocks; patience for others was not her strong suit and she'd have laughed at anyone who suggested it was anything but a flaw.

The kid next to the junkpile would be Skuld, and the other... well, she had no idea who the other was but the big shuriken just screamed ninja. Little next to the humongous blades Kaede liked to throw around, but then this kid was a lot smaller than Kaede and the weapon still got across 'I'm a superhuman ass-kicker' well enough. A stark contrast with the boy, who wasn't making much of an impression despite being about a head taller than everyone else in the room. Probably because there wasn't anyone who wasn't at least a head taller than Evangeline to begin with.

Still, more evidence that she needed an intimidating weapon of her own.

But her attention was mostly focused on Skuld's array. "Hn, not bad," she commented as she inspected it, foregoing anything so polite as a greeting.

She didn't have any clue how it actually worked, of course, but it was complex enough that it would have probably been attached to a decently advanced spell back home and the quality of the markings themselves was plain enough. And she'd noted the knife sharing space with the assorted scrap, which meant... "You can do everything at once?"

Her hopes of having this done quickly were washing away, as quick as a good cup of tea when Cid was around. Yuffie shifted back as the door opened ("Guess I don't have to," she commented off-hand to Skuld), settling in a casual against the desk. Holy crap, was the newcomer tiny. Blond, blue-eyed, vertically challenged… And hella blunt, if her comments were anything to go by. Yuffie stifled a laugh. Now, who did that remind her of?

Skuld twitched. Not bad? She was doing this girl a major favor and she responded by calling her work so far "not bad"?? I'd like to see YOU do half as well!

Rather than snap at her, though, Skuld just checked how everything was arranged and then got to work. Touching the tips of her fingers to the outer edge of an array, she closed her eyes and started the chant. She knew this would take a lot of power, so this time she sang the spell, hoping it would help her pace herself just enough...

Bending the knife just a little was a piece of cake, and forming the sword wasn't too hard. But the sheath... Skuld being Skuld, she realized very quickly that she was overtaxing herself, but refused to stop. She got the sheath shaped right, she got it hollowed out enough to hold the blade it had been made for... but when she tried to shape enough of the top to add a belt loop, it was too much. Skuld tried, but she'd barely made a mark before she fainted.

Evangeline, of course, didn't see the link between politeness and favors except as an abstract theory of how other, lesser people went about their business. Favors were done when the party in a position to give them thought the recipient was worthy, and while some people might think that politeness was a sign of worthiness for the most part the 'party in a position to do a favor' was always her and she did not generally require politeness. After all, sucking up to get what you wanted made you a loser and why would she do favors for losers?

She did notice the twitch, though, and smirked. She might have said something, too, when she had her blade safely in hand, but the girl went and fainted before she'd even finished. It probably wouldn't have been too hard to loiter around and make a quick meal of her while she was unconscious, but...

She might not be one for politeness, but like most good villains she had her own little rules and notions of propriety. Besides, she had places to be. With a slightly disapproving look at the slumped Skuld (she had an image to consider) the vampire took her newly-molded blade out of the array and walked out of the room without a word.

[[To F-A Block Hall. (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/698992.html#comments)]]

"H-Hey!" Yuffie leapt over to girl's side in a flash, ignoring the newly made sword and sheath for now. It looked like the - whatever it had been - really had worn her out, big style. She caught Skuld before she could go faceplanting into the array and eased her down more gently, wincing in an awkward kind of sympathy.

Maybe she'd overdone it a little, asking for the sheath.

Wordlessly, the blonde chick collected her knife, sweeping out of the room like some disdainful, pint-sized… ugh! Yuffie herself wasn't known to be the most diplomatic of people, but this really took the cake. And the ice cream. And the spoon, too! She quickly abandoned her initial assessment; the chick was a few steps too far, in her book.

Yuffie stuck her tongue out at the closed door, backing a pace or so away from Skuld. Just in case. Pride could be one hell of a thing, and hovering just wasn't her style.

When Skuld opened her eyes, it took a minute to remember why she was on the floor. When it came back to her, she sat up in a flash--which was just about the last thing her body needed. Stifling a groan, she braced herself with one hand to keep from falling and wondered what to say. Not that salvaging her dignity was really possible at this point... "Don't worry, that only happens once in a while?" No WAY.

"I'm okay," she said finally. She didn't sound weak at all, but that didn't really matter considering how she must look. "Um... you should at least be able to tie something around the sheath."

DAMN this place.

"If it's any consolation," Yuffie said as she rocked back to her feet, "I know the feeling."

She didn't even have to bite her tongue, as she so often did when people went and embarrassed themselves. It just - it wouldn't be right, even by her wonky standards! If Skuld wanted to play it cool, well, Yuffie wasn't gonna stop her.

The little ninja hopped to her feet, pirouetted once, before walking back to--and dropping into a crouch in front of--the array. "Woah…" A grin spread across her face. She reached out, gingerly picking up the wakizashi. A few minutes ago, this perfectly weighted, well-crafted weapon had been a pile of disgusting scrap metal. A few minutes ago, the sheath had been the splintered remains of a dresser drawer… "This is amazing!" She laughed, sheathing the sword and springing back to her feet. "Got a bit of spare cloth we can tear up? We can just make a simple belt for now." Without waiting for confirmation, she skipped towards one of the beds.

Suzaku was lurking like a shadow somewhere in the background, still and quiet and possibly still groaning internally about his klutziness. Or maybe he was just gawking at the whole 'alchemy' thing. Yuffie spared him little attention, just enough to keep track of where he was in the dark room.

"This... doesn't usually happen," Skuld said, still defensively--she was really embarrassed. How long had she been out that time? Evangeline had gotten bored and left, which might say something...

She still managed to grin a little at Yuffie's reaction. "Yeah, a ripped sheet should work for you." She stayed sitting down, knowing full well that standing long enough to just walk across the room wasn't an option just yet. It was also embarrassing to still be so obviously weak, but trying to get up before she had the strength for it wouldn't exactly help her case.

"Hey, I believe you," Yuffie replied, flashing a smile at the girl. "It happened to me, too, this one time I tried to use my healing ability twice in one night."

How long ago had that been? Over a week now, she was sure. By now, it was all starting to blur together in her head, a mess of sights and sounds, and the tang of blood. Not that she'd ever forget; how could she? Everything that happened here would stay with her for life… That was how it had to be, and somehow, Yuffie was glad. If she had to forget, it'd be like admitting defeat.

Setting her things down beside her, she tore into the sheet with no small amount of enthusiasm. "Who was that chick, anyway?" She asked, off-hand. "She just grabbed that knife and flounced off without introducing herself."

That's fine for you, but I'm a goddess--I'm supposed to be stronger than this! Even Skuld knew that was too bratty to actually say, though.

"Um... her name's Evangeline, but that's all I know. She never really told me much." In retrospect, had the girl had something to hide, or she just didn't care enough to bother?

Yeah... she really needed to find somewhere else to do her alchemy. Just because she was used to honest people didn't mean everyone she met here would be, and worse, just because everyone here was in the same position (...as far as she knew), that didn't mean everyone could be trusted.

Woah, hold on a second! "You - You don't do any background checks?"

Yuffie blinked, utterly baffled. That was like asking to be taken advantage of! It'd be one thing if the supposed goddess looked like she kicked ass, but she didn't - she really didn't. Actually, she looked like a preteen. Unless she really was a preteen, but in this place, you never really knew until it came back and bit you.

Realizing that she'd stopped tearing in favor of staring, Yuffie prodded herself back into action. Slow, methodical tearing, pretending that every inch was one of Landel's body parts. "Well, at least you know three things about her now," she said eventually, trying to force her eyebrows down. "One, her name. Two, what she looks like. And three, that she's frigid like a liquid nitrogen sundae. That's one customer I wouldn't want back."

One customer she wouldn't want even to begin with, more like.

Skuld had at least seen enough detective shows to know what Yuffie was talking about, but--what? "How?" she pointed out. Asking around about people might be good, but she could definitely see some problems with that idea, too--how would she know who to trust enough to get opinions from?

Well... there was one way. If the people on her list each did her that favor before they got their weapon, like most of the other alchemists did. She couldn't do it alone, since she wasn't really sure what people were needed to do, but she knew enough club leaders. Hopefully.

Even with that in mind, though, she waited to hear what Yuffie thought. Getting someone else's opinion sounded like a good idea.

In a closed environment like this one, with no solidly established currents for information--'off the record' or otherwise--there'd always be flaws. Still, anything would be better than this; in Yuffie's eyes, this was careless beyond a joke. "As long as you know enough about your clients to be able to recognize them on and off the board, you can keep track of them. Getting a solid, reliable social network would help with that."

Riiiiiiiiip. One last yank and the task was almost complete; she set about twisting and folding the material, turning it from scrap to a workable, if kinda shoddy, belt. "If somebody you trust can vouch for them, that's half the work done already," she added. "Keeping a reliable third party in the room with you while you do the alchemy-whatevering wouldn't hurt, either. Neither would starting a policy of policy of payment up front. You've probably got enough rep built up that it wouldn't put people off."

Done! Yuffie bounced to her feet, collecting her various bits and pieces as she went. "Basic security measures like that do wonders," she said. "It's a bit more work, but it's better than risking a stab in the back, right?"

"Yeah..." Well, Skuld knew a few of... of the shinigami at least, and they ~~didn't seem too scary~~ should be trustworthy. She'd still probably have to ask some people besides them, which sounded a little tricky, but she would figure out something.

"And all I've been planning to ask is for people to help out other groups, which isn't too hard--not like having to track down specific supplies or anything." One night of helping out a group under someone's supervision, regardless of how things went (as long as they were honestly helpful to their teammates), in exchange for a weapon sounded like a good deal to her.

"You're right about it not bein' hard, but I'd still recommend getting 'em to do it first," Yuffie responded, the trails of her headband swinging along behind her as she went to prod Suzaku. "The team leader can report back to you, and that kills two birds with one stone." She paused halfway, twirling thoughtfully on one foot. "Which groups are you thinkin' of, exactly? D'you already have this all worked out with them?"

Honestly… Yuffie hadn't meant to hang around for this long, though she supposed that she did owe Skuld big time; the least she could do was troubleshoot a little, and make sure that the kid wasn't go face-planting anywhere again.

"Uh... well... no." Skuld would have liked to say yes, but... that would have been a flat-out lie. "I'll have to find out who's willing to get people sent with them." To start, she could at least get basic information about the groups here off the board, although she'd have to wait until morning for that... unless she could convince Yuffie to dash into the Sun Room long enough to grab a certain note.

...okay, bad idea. Anyway, it looked like Yuffie had somewhere to be, and Skuld shouldn't delay her any more than she already had been.

Oh.

W-Wait, hold on--

--Holy Leviathan, was this girl for real?

Not gonna facepalm, not gonna facepalm, not gonna facepalm. Not. Gonna. Facepalm. Yuffie tried--valiantly!--to choke back the exasperated groan bubbling up in her throat. And failed. Miserably. "Check the club roster in the morning. I can tell you now that the History Club are recruiting, and they're the most combat oriented of the lot; ask for Kaneyoshi or Homura on the board. The Information Network could use more experienced field agents, too, but you'd have to ask Lulu."

Ha, Lelouch'd probably be even more interested in snapping up Skuld and her ability for himself. Whatever.

"… Look, if you really need help with this, I'll see what I can do. As payment." She gave the sheathed wakizashi a waggle for emphasis. "But not tonight. Me n' Mr. Pratfall here have a date with the outside world, and we're running behind. Catch me on the board."

With one last grin and a "Thanks!" tossed over her shoulder, Yuffie made her exit, her arms full of Shiny and Suzaku in tow.

[Back out here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/698992.html?thread=57836912#t57836912)]

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Night 43: F21-30 Hall

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