Nightshift 44: F-A Block Hallway

[chainsaw-royal.livejournal.com]

[From here]

Hime peered out into the hallway. It was mostly empty; it seemed she was one of the first to come out of their cells. While this presented the problem of wandering alone without the cover of the herd, this also gave her a chance to scout out the population as they left their rooms. While Hime had confidence in her fighting abilities, she had no delusions about taking on whatever horrors lurked here by herself. Besides, she needed to find people who could fight; the basement did not sound like the kind of place one explored on their own, or even with just one other.

Recalling that all the patient rooms filtered out into the main hallway, Hime headed that way.

[To here]

Comments

[mind-the-sukima.livejournal.com]

"If he's indeed a youkai," commented Yukari. "He fancies himself a god."

Which was more along the lines of man; it was the humans who believed themselves more than they were. Most youkai knew far better what they were and where they stood.

"From places even I've never heard of," she elaborated. "There's one claiming to be guardian of the universe, another who comes from a pair of twin worlds that each wax while the other wanes, a boy from an alternate version of the Outside World... it's all very fascinating."

She left off the galactic robot assassin; she couldn't recall if she'd explained robots to Yuyuko before, or even if she had, there was a fair chance the girl would ask again.

"Every one of them has their own fantastical story, even if not all of them are willing to share," she continued. "I could spend years talking to them all."

[aperfectbloom.livejournal.com]

"A god...?" Yuyuko asked curiously. She didn't sound particularly disbelieving, nor scared or overawed. If anything, she just looked hungry.

The look didn't abate as Yukari began to describe the vast variety of people she'd met here. Yuyuko was sure it was all very interesting, but it begged the question of what exactly they all tasted like.

"Is that what you want to do?" the ghost asked of Yukari's final declaration. Spending years away from her home would be unusual for Yukari, so far as she could remember, but it wasn't as though they hadn't the time to spare.

[mind-the-sukima.livejournal.com]

"Given a choice of all the possibilities in this seemingly more and more infinite universe, there are other things I'd prefer," replied Yukari verbosely. "Just because I could doesn't mean I would. At least not for years straight. It'd be a shame if I got so caught up here, I missed those interesting humans back in Gensokyo entirely by the time I returned." Humans had a habit of doing that, just dying off when you weren't looking. Terribly rude of them.

"I'd prefer to secure passage back first. This place might be interesting to visit, but it does have its downsides," she continued with a shrug. "There's a lot of violent, ugly death that seems to serve no purpose other than the doctor's entertainment. It's not natural."

[aperfectbloom.livejournal.com]

"They could serve meals more often," Yuyuko agreed, pondering the delicious possibilities of an ever-more-infinite menu. The rest of Yukari's reasoning, or at least the experience behind it, was alien to her; she usually only got to meet humans because they'd died. But she nodded politely anyway.

The ghost pondered Yukari's last statement silently. It was unusual for her to be so concerned with things outside her own realm... and it made her wonder what, exactly, Yukari had seen here.

[mind-the-sukima.livejournal.com]

"Well, for a prison, they're quite generous with the food," Yukari pointed out. "It's actually one of the few highlights of the daytime paradigm, even if their choice of menu isn't always to my liking." It was a lot of heavy American fare. Sometimes the youkai just wanted a bowl of rice.

A few things factored into Yukari's concern for people were not in Gensokyo. First and foremost was that they were not in Gensokyo, which would normally be a transient state, but due to the unusual circumstances was actually significant. While normally the youkai could care about anything and everything and thus was only limited by what she wanted to care about, here the purview of her abilities was more limited than the scope of her preference; she was limited by what she could care about, besides pointless worrying about things she could not change or for that matter even know about. That being the case, she was considering those around her in this strange place more and more to be within the realm of her domain rather than strangers she met in passing. Unlike the Outside World, which she could ignore as she chose to, this place and its people were before her every day. And if these patients were to be likened to the denizens of Gensokyo, then the happenings of the institute were nothing less than a full blown incident, one not of the youkai's causing.

"There's also the matter of my own ability to suffer violent, ugly death," she mused. "The opportunity has presented itself several times already. As much as I like your realm, I do prefer having the option to come and go rather than stay as a permanent resident."