damned_institute | Night 43: F21-30 Hall

"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.

Falis' lips peeled back in a pained snarl at the pain spiking from her foot, but it didn't stop her. She had the other predator in her grasp, her grip tightening as she went to crush Soma's throat, so pain like that was minor in comparison to the rage fueling her instincts.

Senna insinuated herself between the predators and Meche went for her fingers as the other predator's nails cut into her wrist. Perhaps that was what saved Soma's throat or maybe it was Hokuto and Senna's words somehow reaching the part of the hunter that was Falis. Whatever the reason, her grip did not pass the threshold that lead to unrepairable damage.

"She's in my territory," Falis snarled at Senna, though her eyes never left Soma. "You are mine. Not hers."

The scent of Senna's blood invaded Falis' senses, provoking more of the predator to take over. Suddenly letting go, Falis swept her arm out to throw Meche off her and put both Soma and Senna off balance. As she moved to the left past Senna, her left hand curled into a fist that she sent toward Soma's side. A broken rib should slow the other girl down enough that the hunter could feed in peace.

"Got it!" Meche confirmed. If they could trust Hokuto's safety with Alita, she and Senna could probably manage to get Soma into the hallway before anything else happened. If only she could get Alita's hand loose! The girl's grip had tightened, but it sounded like air was still getting through--if the snarls were anything to judge by. Pretty cold comfort. Meche dug underneath Alita's fingers with her own, trying to keep pressing upwards so she didn't make the pressure against Soma's windpipe any worse. Just a second or two would be enough to separate them, Meche thought wildly. That was all they needed.

Her estimation changed when Alita finally really did let go--but the girl did it by throwing her arm out, something Meche never saw coming. She stumbled backwards and almost went sprawling into Hokuto before she recovered and rushed forward again. The two girls were throwing hits and kicks left and right, but she wasn't worried about getting in the way of those--Meche, like her ex-boss, knew how to take a punch. Besides, they were all going to have a lot worse than a few bruises tomorrow morning if someone didn't get those two away from each other quickly.

She got behind Soma, moving to wrap her arms around the girl and pull her back. "Please, someone get the door open!" she ordered anyone who might be in a position to do it. They needed to move fast. Even if she got a solid hold on Soma, Meche wasn't sure she'd be able to keep it up for long.

Hokuto took a step back to do just that, but honestly she wasn't sure what good it would do until they got the two of them separated and hopefully subdued. She was still close to the bed... so, she backed up until she was close enough to grab the comforter, dashed forward, and threw it over both of them. It was kind of pathetic, but she had a plan.

Which, unfortunately, was throwing herself on top of it to try to settle them down. There was no way she could take them down on her own, though. "Help me!" If they all sat on Falis and Soma, it might make them stop, at least briefly--especially since it would be pretty hard to move at that point.

At least, I hope! For one, there was no guarantee she'd gotten the comforter over them both...

...You know, the discussion of Senna not being Falis' sorta seemed smart to leave for another day. Then again, it might get her attention off of Soma. Decisions, decisions. No time for a response because Falis had moved instead. Meche fell back, and Senna shifted. Balance, no--an arm wouldn't be enough to make her lose that. Balance was her thing. Hopefully speed, too, as much as she said, since she shot both hands forward to try to grab Falis' fist before it connected. Keep talking. Keep trying... something. "So she'll leave your territory," Senna tried calmly. "Just relax and separate."

Meche had grabbed for Soma, and it seemed that there was a thread of possibility here before a blanket dropped down around Senna's vision. She cursed, and slid backwards, dragging it off her head. Now she was out of the game, and would have to get back in. Might as well be useful. The girl darted to the door, wrenching it open before turning back. With that, they'd at least have a chance if Meche was able to shift Soma.

Several nights in a place like this were more enough for Soma to get used to her newly-dulled quantum brain waves; she was ready this time. Alita was fast, but her first attempt at knocking Soma off balance went wide. Her fist managed to graze Soma's side even as she attempted to evade, but it would bruise at most, and she was hardly concerned with bruises right now.

She had pulled her good hand back, fully intending to go for Alita's eyes, when someone seized her from behind. Meche, she realized, and even if she could have broken free easily, the blanket dropping down around her made things more difficult. Her right arm was still free, and she drove her elbow back toward where she assumed Meche's head would be even as the older woman pulled her toward the door.

As good as the blood tasted running down her throat, she no longer had eyes for the meals so easily within reach. If Alita wanted to claim this territory as her own, she had better be prepared to defend it.

Soma wasn't leaving her territory, no matter what Senna said and the hunter knew this. Her body was already coiling for another strike when her blow grazed the other and then suddenly her vision was obscured. Loosing sight of the other predator only served to enrage her, the rational part of Falis' mind slipping further and further away with every moment as she snarled.

The sound of the door open changed her tactic, recognizing that she didn't have to kill to defend her territory anymore. Surging forward, the hunter drove her shoulder into Soma, intent on forcing the girl out of the room. The blanket slipped off when she made impact, hands grabbing what she could of the other girl. At this close a range, she could smell Senna's blood on Soma. It didn't matter if it wasn't good quality meat or not, the hunter bit at whatever was in range, clothing present or not.

Too many cooks, Meche thought as a heavy blanket and an even heavier body dropped down on top of them all--too many well-intentioned cooks about to set the kitchen on fire. Good thing she didn't need to see to know where the door was. When she felt her grip on Soma hold, Meche just ducked her head against the girl's back, tightened her arms around the girl's body, and pulled with everything she had. That strategy turned out to be her second lucky break of the night; Soma's elbow sailed right past her into empty space.

Just when she thought she might be getting somewhere, Meche heard the sound of the door opening and felt someone shoving hard against Soma, then making a sudden grab for her. Alita. Meche kept up her bear hug and tried to twist both herself and the girl in her arms away as she struggled grimly back toward the door. As she moved, she realized she was talking quietly to Soma the way she would to a tantrum-throwing child. "Shh," she heard herself saying, "shh, it's all right. Calm down. We're all right. We'll go somewhere peaceful now," and so on, just a calm, reassuring stream of words.

Which was probably a pretty ridiculous thing to do under the circumstances, but Meche felt she might as well try to work with what she had. Just a few feet to go...

The other comforter would have been a wonderful thing to have, but Hokuto was very aware there was no time to grab it. Instead, she resorted to the exact same borderline-suicidal tactic as the night before, except possibly even worse--she grabbed her girl and pulled her back, trying to at least keep her in one place. "Falis," she whispered in her ear, barely loud enough to be heard even by her. "It's me. Stop."

This could go so many ways, most of them bad, but she'd stopped Falis once before under even worse circumstances. Instinct sounded easier to ignore than the actual hunter, and with Soma leaving/being dragged out, Falis should hopefully calm down enough not to attack her again.

...or at least not draw much blood. Hokuto knew how to protect herself somewhat even from someone she was holding onto, but the main point in her favor was the adrenaline rushing through her system; if she managed to hold onto Falis for any length of time, it would be through sheer desperation.

Senna took a minute to look over the situation, shifting and shoving bodies in a mass of constrained melee. Well, this night had gone to complete shit. Meche seemed to be having a decent time pulling Soma, and Hokuto was now latched onto Falis, so really, the only thing left was to separate them. The girl took a breath, and then again, tried to shift herself between the two predators. If they loosened at all, she was going to be shoving Soma back to help Meche out. Falis could at least still talk, and seemed to have some kind of sense remaining to her. Both needed to be separated though, no matter what--out of eyesight and hopefully out of mind.

Again, Soma saw the shove coming, but with Meche's arms holding her fast, there was little she could do about it. Given the opportunity, she would have resisted the impact--she was well aware she was being driven out of the room--but that was out of the question. She took the attack full on and stumbled backward, the force of the blow apparently having driven Meche back as well.

And then Alita was charging at her again, and with a guttural "Let me go!", Soma yanked her other arm free of Meche's grip. The hunter was clawing and snapping at her, and she responded in kind, not bothering to distinguish between cloth and flesh. Meche's words had little effect; there was only one person to whom she might possibly respond, and he wasn't here at all (but he was, he was here all along, right here with her family).

If anything, that fleeting thought only served to anger her more, and she turned her attention to Meche's arms, attempting to tear herself free. But there were only a few feet between the two of them and the open door, and part of her knew she was fighting a losing battle. It was just as well that had never stopped her before.

Falis dug her heels in when Hokuto grabbed a hold of her and pulled, a piece of cloth from Soma's shirt tearing free in the process of her resisting to flutter to the floor. The hunter felt her own blood sliding down her face from a pair of scratches on her cheek. She issued her girlfriend a warning growl, the usage of her real name the only thing making it possible for her to give the girl such consideration.

Then Senna somehow pushed between her and Soma. This was not acceptable. Her prey was putting herself in a position to get bitten again, moving toward the other predator. Falis brought her arm quickly up over Senna's shoulder and down across the girl's body, pulling her back tight against the hunter possessively. Both Hokuto and Senna could feel Falis faintly shaking as if she was fighting against something inside. Something dark.

Her eyes flickered over at where her sword lay on the bed before locking them onto Soma's, the pupils shifting vertical and back a few times. Keeping a tight grip on Senna, she took a step backward and growled, "Leave now or I kill you."

Meche sensed that she was starting to lose. Soma was really struggling like crazy now, and she'd managed to get her other arm free. She wasn't doing Meche any favors, either. Meche still had her head down and couldn't see what the girl was doing, but the angry noises and scratching sounds coming from in front of them made it pretty clear that those two weren't exchanging friendly post-fight handshakes.

Suddenly Soma must have given up on Alita for the moment, because Meche felt someone clawing at her arms, trying to get them open. She lifted her head and yes, it was Soma, and she was raking Meche's bare skin with her nails--accidentally? Did she mean to? Probably she just didn't care--while she tried to get herself free. Meche held on tight for a while, but finally she felt the girl really sink her claws in as she pried Meche's right arm away.

Meche cried out and jerked her arm back instinctively, but now they'd stopped moving and she realized she'd loosened her left arm too. Desperately, she tried to make another grab for Soma's waist. But Meche didn't know if she could catch the girl before she made a break for it--and she was realizing now just how sore her arms were from all that spear practice. Even if she got a good hold on Soma again, how long would she be able to keep it up?

Silently, Hokuto swore a blue streak--Falis had taught her well--and let go of her to run for the sword. Things couldn't get much worse than this, but if either of the combatants got their hands on a blade, the situation would definitely get worse.

Where to put it--? Hokuto looked around desperately, but there was nowhere in the small room to stash something out of reach. If she used it to threaten them, would that register, or would they shift from seeing her as prey to as a threat? For lack of better ideas, she blurted, "I'll be just a second!" and ran out of the room. It would only take a few moments to run into her own room next door, shove Falis' sword in the closet, and run back, but it felt like a lot longer.

[[She'll be back next turn.]]

Words from Soma, but not entirely reassuring. It didn't point too highly to control being there. Senna went to move forward again, Soma fighting Meche now with a kind of fury, and no matter how dependable Meche had became in this situation, that kind of abuse would mean Soma's release--and recapturing her would be difficult. Senna was only allowed a slight shift forwards before she was yanked back, hard, against Falis.

Reaction number one--flinch from an attack that didn't come. Unlike Soma, this living zombie wasn't attacking her, merely holding her very firmly against her. So reaction two was more normal, even with the situation. "Hey, hey," she said, half-gently, half teasing--something normal to increase whatever control there was. The 'rabbit' part of Senna wanted to freeze, not move until the predator was calm, but Senna would rather have that attention on her now. Any hurt, any pain she gained, would mean they were not doing it to each other or another friend. "You know I was in the middle of something, right?"

Falis' skin vibrated like butterfly wings against her skin. Senna swallowed once, becoming fractionally more serious; turning her head towards Falis. "Listen. If you let me help Meche, we can get her out of here easier. And then both of you will be okay." They would be. She believed that. Had to.

She wasn't even sure whom she saw in front of her any more--the hunter, holding her prey so close to her she almost bared her teeth in rage, or them, speaking to her from the depths of her memory, a mocking reminder of how many times she had tried and failed. Not even her lowly instincts were good enough now, where they had served her so well before. That much was obvious. But this fight had never fully been about the prey from the start.

For an instant she broke free, but her hesitation allowed Meche to recapture her once more. This time her resistance was, surprisingly, noticeably less violent; she all but allowed the older woman to take her out the door, as much as something in her eyes still radiated animal hatred at Alita. Even with the predator still roaring in her ears, even with the taste of blood still fresh on her tongue, she knew a lost fight when she saw one. She'd seen enough of them to tell.

That hatred was reflected in the hunter's eyes as her pupils shifted once more, something very dark and deadly gazing out of her for a moment, before they finally settled back to normal. She stood her ground, keeping Senna tight against her without a response to the girl's words. As the other predator left her territory, her body's shaking subsided and Falis tilted her head down to her roommate's neck, drawing in the girl's scent.

With a grinding of her teeth, she barely resisted the urge to bite, instead lifting her head back up and closing her eyes. It took a few moments, but with the other predator out of her territory, she was able to push some of the instinct aside.

"Fuck..."

The word was breathed out in the exhalation of a deep breath, Falis' hold on Senna loosening to a more comfortable grip. Still, she didn't let go for fear of what she might do if the girl immediately went for the door to check on the other pred-- No. Soma. Her name was Soma. To check on Soma.

[awkward daytime conversation?]

Night 43: F21-30 Hall

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