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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Pssh. Sure," Senna replied with another happy grin. "Neither option sounds that bad. I like this winning for fun deal."

While she was talking, Senna was shifting her weight, evenly distributing it between her feet, but keeping the center higher in her legs. Quick movements was how Senna was would. Falis was probably the stronger one, Senna wouldn't fight that, but Senna might just be quicker. "Alright," she agreed easily. "Just spear and staff stuff." No worries there. The girl moved the staff in front of her in a two-handed defensive grip, a smirk trailing the edges of her grin. "Let's go, princess. No use dragging this out."

Soma remained silent as she watched, trying to focus her attention on the match itself and nothing else. It was difficult; there was too much to think about as it was.

Still, she had been fighting as long as she could remember. In some ways, it was easy to ignore everything else in favor of it.

Falis drew up to her full height, angling her head so her hair fell about her shoulders and down her back regally. "Ah, the knight wishes for a quick ending. Is she, perhaps, lacking in stamina?"

Without the usually visible shift from princess to hunter, Falis struck, moving in. Wood crashed as Senna's spear met her own, deflecting the spear to the side, With a twirl, the hunter brought it back at Senna.

"I'll be disappointed if I wear you out too soon," she added on, the words and bearing still that of the princess, but the movement and primal look in her eyes that of the hunter. This was the mix that happened anytime she was the Forland vanguard on the battlefield.

Hokuto was tempted to play cheerleader, but she wasn't sure for who. She already on the edge of her seat, watching both combatants closely; this should be something to see!

"Ah, no, my liege," Senna fell in, continuing the theme. "I don't lack in that. I simply have much at stake here." Like dinner. As well as the simple fact that Senna would rather not play around in this. If they were showing Meche moves, they'd show her. It'd be a dance alright.

Senna spun her own spear as Falis' came towards her shifting it down in a sweeping motion that brought hers around again. Senna aimed for Falis' side and the crack of wood as Falis defended sounded again, loud in the silence. Senna grinned at Falis. Looked like their audience was paying attention to them. A fake sweep at Falis' feet, and then Senna swung at the other girl's shoulder. "Ah, nah. No worries there."

It was becoming apparent that Falis had more power, but Senna seemed to have the advantage of speed. Despite her own slight frame and considerable speed, Soma had always tended to prefer power; it would be interesting to see who would emerge the victor here.

She kept her gaze focused on the spinning spears, doing her best to memorize Alita's and Senna's movements. It was partially to distract herself and partially for practical reasons; if she wanted to conserve bullets, she'd have to learn to use her own spear at least half as well as they did.

The hunter was fast, but Senna was just a bit faster. Falis had a pretty decent idea how this was going to end, having sparred against Senna while the girl wielded a spear before. That time, the hunter had be using the wooden equivalent of dual daggers and she'd kept up easily then. Blades were her specialty whereas Falis had the gut feeling that the spear/staff was Senna's. She'd have to test her later with the sword, now that she knew Senna had one, to be certain. Still, though the advantage was in Senna's favor, Falis was far from conceding anything to the shinigami; she still had a couple things up her sleeve.

Besides, if she was fighting like this, she should be able to control her instincts as long as Soma didn't move. Or Hokuto didn't move over to talk with Soma about the match.

A throaty chuckle came from Falis. "Good," she replied.

The clacking of wood sped up as the two warriors exchanged strikes, Falis eventually pushing Senna backwards to disengage their spears and put a bit of distance between them. She took the moment to roll her right shoulder,
eyes narrowing as Senna moved in with a strike.

Crimson eyes followed every little movement the shinigami made and quickly stepped into the strike. Her spear caught Senna's, forcing it up so the spear passed over the hunter's shoulder. In the same motion, she snaked the tip under Senna's arm and then over, the spear extending diagonally down across the girl's front. Stepping in more, Falis used her strength and a properly placed leg behind Senna's in an attempt to drop the girl onto her back.

Being that close was a good move with her being stronger than Senna, but it had its drawbacks in being so close. Falis' nostrils flared, her eyes hardening, as the shinigami's scent invaded her senses. A barely audible growl rumbled in the hunter's chest as she fought back the desire to bite her roommate. To help fight it, her eyes flickered to Soma, reminding herself that there was another predator in her territory and it therefore wasn't safe to eat.

As much as that made her want to go after Soma, it took her mind off of how delicious the thought of Senna was.

Hokuto was at least as rapt as Soma; her training in staff-fighting wasn't really extensive, and she had a lot to learn before she really felt confident wielding pretty much anything against the monsters here.

Besides that... considering who was fighting, she could only hope she didn't end up with a nosebleed.

Strike. Counter. Defend. Counter. It was a fluid series of movements, one placed after the next, textbook perfect and each attack executed almost flawless. A kind of stillness had came over Senna, an almost quiet grin slipping into her expression. This was something known, regardless of how it had came to be.

Pushed back by Falis' strength, she rolled with it, taking it to lessen to force. Still the other girl's leg slipped behind her, and Senna felt her balance give out. Instead of stopping the fall, she pulled her limbs close, and rolled once she hit the ground--coming back up in a fast, fluid motion. Seconds had been lost regardless, and Falis was too close. Spears had distance for a reason. Senna leapt at Falis, and was instantly countered, momentum throwing her back. Good. There was a little distance. That done, she brought the spear under and up, trailing Falis' body to hopefully stop at her throat. Senna guessed she would see which of them were faster in this motion, at least.

Soma tensed slightly--the predator was far too close to the prey for her liking. Her gaze flickered away from the fighting to Meche and Hokuto, both easier catches by the look of it. Her own spear was easily within arm's reach; it would be so easy to--

No. Gritting her teeth, she returned her attention to the action. She couldn't afford to slip up.

Falis saw it coming, but to block the strike would require her to use a technique that was not in the realm of spears and staffs. Senna was just a little too fast for the hunter's skill with her current weapon.

Shit. There goes my dinner.

Removing her left hand from her own weapon, Falis caught Senna's spear in that same hand. The sharp tip delivered a thin cut across her palm before she managed to stop the weapon just before it took her in the throat. She recognized the control Senna had after the fact, but she was too much a warrior to not automatically defend herself like that when something gets through her guard.

The hunter's own spear, in a single-handed grip that ran up her arm, was stopped a few inches from Senna's side. The two warriors were still for a moment, Falis' eyes staring into Senna's, before the hunter's lip quirked up. She'd been beaten - not by much, but in a battle that was all that was needed.

"Aa. You better fucking enjoy my dinner tomorrow," she stated before stepping back to look at the blood slowly welling up from the cut on her palm.

[back!]

Meche decided she'd really lucked out with that front-row seat on the bed. She'd known Senna was an excellent fighter--if that fight in the schoolhouse hadn't convinced her, last night certainly had--but if she'd been a gambling woman, she would have put her money on Alita at the beginning of this match. It was gratifying to see that being small and fast could count for just as much in the end.

Not to mention the moves! It had all happened so fast, but when Meche looked back over the fight, she realized just how many times she'd seen them use the same basic kinds of moves Alita had just shown her. Granted, so far she'd only ever seen the spears used successfully against other people rather than monsters, but the demonstration still gave her a renewed sense of confidence. If she could really hone her speed and confidence, she might be able to do all right for herself with a spear too.

"Good show, ladies," she said warmly, clapping for them both. She wanted to ask if Alita's hand was all right, but something told her the girl might not have a lot of patience for offers of help. Meche decided just to wait a moment to see whether her teacher was in the market for first aid or not.

At least Senna wasn't the one bleeding, because right now that would be bad. "Want some help with that?" Hokuto asked. Falis might not be able to handle having someone take care of her own cut, considering, but it didn't hurt to ask.

Admittedly, Falis could take care of it by herself, but Hokuto would feel better if she was fussing over someone.

[Hi! ♥ wb!]

For a moment, Senna, too, kept the stare, something passing between them in that brief moment. Then Senna returned the grin, a little more real than her everyday average one. "I will. And if it's really good, I might brush your hair anyway, out of gratitude." That had been... fun. Really fun. And since it was a game, there was no nervousness underlying bits of her movements. It had just been... Yeah, fun worked. And with a nice warm-up like that, Senna was in the mood to move now. Relaxing was fun and all, but once you got your blood pumping it was better to move, to do something useful.... And what was more useful than finishing something constantly failed at?

Oh, those ruins. The last time they had been there still made her shiver, but it was a clear example for something she didn't quite know, if the schoolhouse was standing like nothing had happened when they went back. And besides.... Senna glanced over at Soma when Hokuto moved closer. Maybe they'd do well with some fresh air. Senna's glance stayed where it was for a moment, then slid to Meche, dipping into a smile. "Thanks! Feel like you learned anything?"

Soma had never been one for congratulatory remarks, but there was clear admiration in her expression nonetheless. She was impressed; there was no denying that. It was clearer than ever that if she wanted to stay alive in a place like this without relying on her gun, she'd have to learn as well.

Still, she remained silent for the moment; none of the comments had been directed at her, and she had little to add to the conversation.

"Just wait until we cross swords, my dear knight," Falis replied with a wink to Senna. "Your princess handles a blade far better than she does a spear." Far, far better.

The cut on her palm wasn't something Falis was worried about, planning on just ripping a piece of cloth and wrapping it around her hand, but she understood why her girlfriend wanted to help. It was really sweet, so the hunter decided to allow herself to be tended to. She stepped over to where Hokuto was and tossed her spear onto the bed before holding her hand out to the girl.

"If you want to, I ain't gonna stop you," she replied to Hokuto with a chuckle, though her eyes were transfixed for a moment on her own blood. She then shifted her gaze over to Soma and she sized the pale-haired girl up.

"See something you like?" the hunter asked Soma, failing to keep the undercurrent out of her voice

"Oh, definitely," Meche replied, turning to Senna. "You both move so smoothly. I think I saw some good tricks, but mostly it all looks like variations on the basics Alita was showing me. I'm glad I was able to watch you two in action."

It was probably better that Hokuto was the one to patch Alita up. Meche leaned back and relaxed for a moment--until Alita started talking to Soma. There was something off about her tone: aggressive, Meche thought, maybe even a little threatening. Did Alita have some reason not to like the other girl? As far as Meche knew, they'd only met yesterday.

It wasn't the first time that night that something had seemed a bit strange about Alita's behavior--but then again, Meche didn't really know the girl all that well. She could be imagining things, or maybe that kind of toughness was just normal for a girl who'd grown up fighting. Either way, Meche just hoped the evening would keep going smoothly. It had been so nice to have an actual break from fighting for once.

Hokuto smiled back at Falis, but she was a little troubled at the comment to Soma. This could turn bad, and she didn't know how to deal with it--any of them going off alone with either of the infected girls was not safe.

Deciding this wasn't a good time to be subtle, she said finally, "Maybe this wasn't the best timing for a fight." As she spoke, she pulled a pillowcase off a pillow and started ripping it into strips. They couldn't just go on hoping for the best, especially since... she was so worried Falis and Soma's conditions would get worse. How were they going to keep everyone safe tonight? Because... right now they had monsters in here, too.

"I'm glad," she replied to Meche. "Hopefully it helped a little." Because gods knew they needed it. With all the creepy things running around. "Planning to continue your training more than tonight?"

At that point, Falis spoke up, and Senna grew concerned. It seemed... not so friendly by any account, and Senna exchanged a glance with Meche. While Hokuto spoke, Senna moved over to Soma, laying a hand on her shoulder, while stepping somewhat in front of her. "Hey, there's no problem here," she tried, keeping her tone light. "Our match is done. There's no more fighting tonight."

Edited 2009-09-10 05:30 (UTC)

[nomming with mun permission!]

Soma returned the look with a cold stare, the urge to attack the other girl rising by the second. "I wouldn't mind learning," she said in as noncommittal a tone of voice as she could manage.

Alita was armed, but her own ability to read moves hadn't been completely stifled. And all it would take was a simple thrust of her spear, and she had always been a quick learner...

Soma flinched when Senna's hand landed on her shoulder. That was a mistake, and the part of her that had eying the three uninfected girls all night jumped at the opportunity. The rest of her, caught uncharacteristically off guard, had no time to offer resistance. Lunging forward, operating out of pure instinct as she almost always had, she sank her teeth into Senna's exposed wrist.

"I'm willing to teach you a lesson," Falis replied, her voice dropping a little with the subtle challenge. It was ridiculous, this need to drive Soma off, but as a hunter she understood where it was coming from. She'd always been in tune with the instincts of a predator as one had to think like their prey to know the best way to kill it.

Then Senna did something phenomenally stupid. How could the girl not know how dangerous it was to put herself between a pair of predators at odds over food? Or maybe it was just clear to Falis as she was one of the predators in question. She was already moving toward Senna, about to make a rather territorial claim on the shinigami, when Soma attacked.

Like a coiled spring finally set loose, the hunter surged forward. Dropping low to the ground, she passed underneath Senna's arm, coming up between prey and predator, and her right hand shot with all her considerable speed and strength for Soma's throat.

"That's mine," she growled out in an almost incomprehensible, feral sound.

She would remove Soma off of her prey. She would drive Soma back against the closet so hard the girl would realize exactly how much danger she was in.

The movement pushed the right sleeve of her shirt up, revealing the decaying flesh that had spread up from her arm to her shoulder and, for the briefest of seconds, the hunter's pupils shifted to vertical slits. Or maybe that was just a trick of the light and the emotions running high in the room.

[edited]

Meche caught Senna's concerned glance, and all of a sudden the room felt a few degrees colder. So then she had been right to think this didn't look good. Then Soma responded with just as much edge in her voice and Alita snapped right back, and it was clear that things were going to escalate into a real fight this time if someone didn't step in. Meche moved to get up, but Senna was already standing and got there first, and then a whole string of terrible things were happening all at once.

She saw Soma lunge to bite Senna and Alita grab for Soma's throat with a growl, but she couldn't make sense of it until she saw the wound running up Alita's arm. It looked horribly decayed, just the way the zombies' bodies had last night.

Meche hadn't seen a lot of horror movies, but she had a general sense of zombie lore, and now she remembered the part that hadn't come back to her earlier, the most important part: zombies were contagious.

She clapped a hand to her own ankle, but she knew it didn't look like that, didn't feel anywhere near as painful as Alita's injury must feel. The thought of attacking and biting one of these girls did nothing but make her feel sick. There was always the chance that things could get worse, but right now, she seemed to be uninfected--which, Meche realized, made the rest of them a little safer and put her in real trouble.

Still, she had to try to do something. "Stop it!" Meche cried, already off the bed and moving towards the girls. She rushed to Soma's side and tried to pry Alita's fingers away from the smaller girl's neck. It was a pretty dangerous move, but if she could just break Alita's grip for a few seconds, she and Senna and Hokuto might be able to pull the two girls away from each other long enough to calm them down. They weren't monsters like the ones last night, not yet. Maybe someone could reason with them.

Hokuto flinched; her first impulse was to run forward and grab Falis, but that would likely get her hurt and the princess felt guilty enough already. Worse, it might trigger something a whole lot worse than just one or two people getting attacked.

Their best bet was almost undoubtedly tying Soma and Falis up, as quickly as possible, but would ripped bedsheets be strong enough...? And since Meche had already thrown herself into the fray, she joined her--not touching anyone yet, but close enough to defend the girl if she needed to. "Alita-kun," she said, voice firm. Using her real name would have been better, but she couldn't with so many people so close. Not unless things got a lot more dire. "Back off."

She was ignoring Soma, but she didn't think she could get through to her right now. Once she's calm, we'll talk to her. For now, she won't listen to me--maybe not anybody. She still felt a little guilty for it, but there was nothing she could do for Soma right now.

The bite should have been expected. Senna understood how Soma was changing, and had been watching her. But even still, it came as a shock, provoking a yelp as teeth tore through her skin. She jerked away on instinct, at the same time Falis slammed into them, hand around Soma's throat. The rotted skin showed then, and suddenly Senna understood. She understood everything.

But Falis had been fine. She had been laying next to her and everything. What had changed? --Soma. Both were infected. Senna had only heard of the mindless shambling hordes, but if both retained their minds, they would just gain the instinct of the need to feed. The instinct to compete with other predators. Shit. Shit shit shit.

In the same vein as Hokuto, Senna thought Falis' actual name might get through to her but she wasn't going to chance it now. No, more the two needed space between them, and quick. Both were her friends, and Senna had promised. That she would watch over Soma. She couldn't let anything happen to her. To either of them. "Meche, we're getting Soma in the hallway. Hokuto, are you okay with Alita in the room?"

That discussed, she didn't go for either of them, just shoved her way back between them, her small body pressing them apart as she faced Falis. Bites? Who cared? It was better that they were okay. But first to break Falis' grip. While Meche worked on her fingers, Senna brought a hand up to press on the inside of her elbow to hopefully loosen her grip. "Hey," she said casually. "You don't want to do this right now. Listen to Hokuto."

Soma neither realized nor cared how much danger she was in. Part of it was the predator, recognizing the need to fight off its competition, but most of it was what she had always been. There was that need to give into her instincts, to fight solely by reflexes, paying no heed to collateral damage; it had lessened over the years but it had never been truly gone, just waiting. She had been created to follow unquestioningly, whether it was orders or simply her own reflexes, and in the end it wasn't so different after all.

She snarled, low and wordless, the blood on her teeth a marked contrast from her face and hair. Her left arm hung dead and useless, the rot visible past the bandages, but her right came up swiftly, the fingers digging into Alita's wrist with a strength that belied her size. She was dimly aware of the others talking, but only just, and whatever they were saying couldn't possibly be important enough for her to care.

The other girl was taller, but not enough to be completely out of range. With another snarl, this one a little more strangled but the intent clear nonetheless, Soma sent her foot flying toward Alita's, aiming to break the toes or at least cause her to retreat.

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