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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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?]

Meche honestly hadn't expected to be able to get Soma back--but once she did, she took advantage of it right away and hustled the girl backwards again, all the way out the door this time. It was a lot easier than she expected. Soma's body language was still angry, but she also seemed to be struggling less than she had even a few seconds earlier.

While she still had the light from inside the door, Meche took a quick look up and down the hallway. It looked pretty much deserted. Good--nobody's brains to eat here but hers. She hooked one heeled shoe on the handle to pull it firmly shut behind them. Then, just to be on the safe side, she leaned back against it, still keeping hold of Soma from behind. Alita might be strong enough to break down the door, but with the two of them against it, at least it would probably take her a while.

So much for a quiet night off. Then again, Meche supposed, it could have been a lot worse. There was really a chance that it could still get worse. For some reason she didn't think so, though; things seemed to be winding down for now.

She sighed and said quietly to Soma, "When you tell me you're calm again and mean it, I'll let you go."

Hokuto ran back out into the hall, and barely managed not to slam into... Meche and Soma. Oops. "Hi," she said, keeping her distance and half-wishing she had a weapon on her. "Mind if I get through?"

Okay, Meche might need her help, but... she really hoped not. Because she needed to be there for Falis.

And Meche was out. One down. And uh, hopefully not really down. Senna really needed to go out there and check on them. Falis' grip made that near impossible, and so Senna half-turned, or tried to, watching her roommate. "Hey," she said, still in that easy tone, bumping her head backwards into Falis' shoulder congenially. "How you doing?" Like nothing had happened. Like nothing more would happen.

Senna shifted in Falis' hold, attempting to gently loosen the grip. Was it that she had confidence in Falis, or some kind of faith? Either way, she understood that for no reason other than trust, Falis wouldn't hurt her. She didn't have that guarantee with Soma and Meche out there. Senna's wrist attested to that. True as that was, Senna wasn't going to leave Falis alone either, not like this.

The air in the hallway was clearer and cooler than that of the room behind them, and Soma took deep, instinctive breaths. Here the scent of flesh wasn't overpowering as much as it was simply a little strong, despite Meche's arms around hers, and as she breathed, reason slowly began to return. Soon she stopped struggling altogether, although there was still faint hostility in her eyes.

There wasn't reason enough for her to feel anything but hatred--not yet--but at least that anger was under control now. There was too much to process to consider regret or guilt; that might return in the morning, when she had time to think everything over. For now, she only took another deep breath, ignoring the crackle of the intercom.

When she spoke again, it was a little closer to her usual flat tone of voice, though the undercurrent of anger was still barely present. "Let me go."

As Senna tried to turn, Falis loosened her grip just enough to allow her some movement. She couldn't let go. Not yet. She needed to make sure her roommate wasn't going to run off and provoke the predator inside. When prey ran, the hunter's instinct was to chase.

"I'm so hungry," she finally said, a deep agony in her voice as the sentence ended. She grasped Senna's bleeding wrist, her nostrils flaring, and she raised the limb toward her face. She could feel some resistance from Senna, but it wasn't enough to stop her if she really wanted the girl's flesh. Almost close enough that the shinigami wouldn't be able to avoid it if the hunter strike, Falis' hand shook and she forced herself to let go of the injured wrist.

Fully letting her roommate go, Falis turned her back to Senna, drawing in deep breaths. It was so hard to not just turn back and strip the girl of her flesh, feast upon her and sate herself on Senna's blood. Shakily, she raised her blood-covered hand to her mouth, licking the life-giving liquid off it.

"Don't leave me..." Her voice was barely audible and shook. "Please."

Meche leaned forward, just enough to put some room between her back and the door so Hokuto could slip through. It was a good thing Hokuto was a pretty small girl, because Meche wasn't sure she could have gotten Soma to move again. "Move fast and close the door behind you," she warned.

She hoped Hokuto and Senna would be able to handle Alita on their own. If they got into trouble, she might be able to get in alone to help, but that would mean leaving Soma alone out in the halls where she might attack anyone who passed by. What if that frenzy didn't wear off, just kept on coming back until--and what could anyone else even do if that were true? Try to quarantine them? You couldn't just lock someone in their room and keep guard every night.

Soma sounded better, but still not all right again. Meche loosened her hold a little without letting go. If the girl broke free again and tried to hurt someone, Meche would just have to try to stop her, that was that. "I'm not going to let you back in there, and I'm not going to let you just wander the halls until I know it's safe," she explained calmly but firmly. "I'm sorry, Soma. I know it isn't your fault. Just...just try to keep taking deep breaths."

"Okay--thanks." Hokuto flashed Meche a smile, even if it wasn't entirely genuine, and slipped through the door as quickly as she could, pulling it firmly shut behind her.

She was really worried about what she'd see when she got back in, but the scene was greeted with just made her heart ache. She wanted to run over and hug Falis, but it wasn't safe, and she knew it... which just made her want to cry. "Hey," she said softly, trying to think; what now?

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Night 43: F21-30 Hall

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