damned_institute | NIGHTSHIFT 45: MAIN HALLWAY, 2-CENTER

Entry tags:

anthy,
utena

NIGHTSHIFT 45: MAIN HALLWAY, 2-CENTER

[from here]

Her sight was almost entirely adjusted to the dark by now, but that didn't make the atmosphere any more inviting. As they pressed onwards, Anthy found that she could not hide from Utena's question. The ease with which she used to answer the other girl was complicated by her anxieties from being placed here and still not understanding the purpose. And again, she was forced play an act; Utena had been brainwashed and there was little hope of reaching her. Still, she held the sword, she held the light.

Utena's presence was both a comfort and a quiet torment. Keeping her hands folded by her lap as she walked, Anthy paused before responding. She searched inside for a reason to lie and found none. It was another quiet jab: even after everything, it had been quite difficult, to walk away from Akio.

"I suppose you could say that. Something about this place reminds me of him, although I don't expect to ever see him again."

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She recognized this path from the dream about Leonard. At least, she hoped it had been a dream. Seeing this hallway again in such great detail was enough to send a shiver up her back. It looked exactly the way it had been in that previous dream, down to the grain on the floor tiles. Her memory wasn't that good, was it? And there had still been the troubling matter of that photograph the man had been carrying with him of her in her duelist uniform . . .

The more she tried to think along those lines, however, the fuzzier her thinking got. It was as though some kind of mental block was trying to keep her from pushing too far in that direction. There had to be a reasonable explanation, her mind told her. It would be more unreasonable to think that she had really been here before, uniforms and swords and strange visions included. Right.

The sword in her hand seemed to weigh more all of a sudden. The cool metal chilled her skin.

Yomi was silent for a few long moments before shaking her head, forcing herself to focus on Delilah's answer for the time being. The tip of her tongue brushed over her lips uncertainly, heated memories pulsing faintly in her head. "I wouldn't blame you for not wanting to see him. I'm a little unsure on that front myself," she murmured.

There was a large area in the center of these halls which was railed off and overlooked the first floor. It was a view which her eyes followed for a moment while the pair drifted north. She didn't know how many floors this place had or just how large it was, but when it came to size it was difficult to compete with Ohtori Academy's campus.

Her eyes followed back over and she switched to observing Utena. Anthy's steps slowed almost imperceptibly and blankness washed over her countenance. She blinked twice. "Are you?"

Was Utena remembering? Or did 'Yomi' retain some notion of the danger of Akio? She ignored the voice in her head that chipped in with the nagging notion that Utena might then also remember the danger of Anthy by extension.

Yomi nodded slowly. She wasn't sure how exactly to put this to Delilah. She knew she hadn't been able to tell her yet about what she and Antony had done together, but she had to wonder - had something similar happened between him Antony and Delilah? Not exactly the kind Yomi had had, of course; she didn't think even Antony would go that far. But had he hurt or taken advantage of her in some other way? Delilah had sometimes hinted that not everything was sunshine and roses between her and her sibling, but she had never mentioned anything specific.

"Yeah," she answered, stopping for a moment, her free hand resting lightly against the wall. "On the one hand, I feel like I want to see him again. He's always been a good friend to me and a good brother to you." She paused a moment, biting the inside of her lip briefly. "H-he's gotten just a little too close sometimes in the past, though. . . . And there was something that happened after you were sent here the first time." She hadn't noticed it, but her breath had quickened ever so slightly the more she thought about that night. Could she really say it out loud, even in a dream?

Edited 2009-12-02 23:48 (UTC)

Anthy did not flinch, not at good friend nor at good brother, because she had watched the entire process of Utena's deception with barely a ripple in her demeanor. And yet small ones did exist -- existed even then, when she surprised herself watching the smoke of Akio unfurl over Utena, surprised herself with the curious urge to violently snuff it out.

She slowed to a stop as the other girl did, watching her carefully and listening to her speak. Utena's breath caught and Anthy's eyes deadened very slightly.

A thorough brainwashing, but they paid attention to detail in this place. With her hands still folded, Anthy caught her pinky under her thumb and squeezed at it to keep something (undefined and hazy) from bubbling to the surface. "Don't feel like you have to explain. I know what my brother is like."

While there was no way that the monsters themselves could have known, the cruelty of attacking a brand new patient and one of the brainwashed still seemed to fit in with the nightshift's brand of sadism rather well.

It happened from time to time that even the flying creatures found their way into the building. It was a mystery as to how, when all of the windows were impossible to open, and yet here they were: a swarm of dragonflies, clumped together almost as if they were one cohesive unit as they headed straight for the pair of girls.

A normal group of dragonflies wouldn't have been anything to worry over, and from a distance the way these insects shimmered seemed far from threatening.

Yet they were steadily drawing closer.

"So that side of him isn't just something that came out of nowhere, then," said Yomi, her head drooping slightly and her hair falling in front of her eyes. She was grateful that she didn't have to explain out loud. It sounded like Delilah knew what she was talking about. Not surprising, since Delilah only existed in her mind right now, but it was nice to think that she would understand in the real world as well.

Before she could say anything else, however, Yomi heard a faint buzzing sound further down the hall. She looked up again, turning her beam toward the noise. Flecks of light reflected back to her, approaching at a surprising speed. What were they? It was too hard to get a good look at any individual in the swarm. Whatever, they were, though, it probably wasn't something they wanted to stick around to meet.

Yomi gripped her sword more tightly, raising it in front of her with a little more awkwardness than Utena would have. The clear weight of the thing still bothered her, made her hesitate to move right away. If I tried to wake up right now, could I? Yomi wondered, holding in a shiver.

"Get ready to run," she told Delilah warily. She edged carefully toward one of the halls alongside the balcony, not wanting to make any sudden movements just yet.

Edited 2009-12-03 07:33 (UTC)

Anthy didn't know exactly how much the information about her brother had been tweaked, but working to keep the shroud about him up seemed especially pointless when Utena scarcely remembered who she was. Although, perhaps it was kinder to pretend, in this situation --

Before Utena got a chance to continue and before Anthy got a chance to consider her response, a sound down the hall distracted them both. It sounded like -- insects, and Anthy's eyes widened when the flashlight revealed some nearly inscrutable mass of -- something, moving towards them. It seemed, however brainwashed Utena was, that her warning was correct after all.

During the duels, she'd always understood what was happening and became dull to it; no reason to fear it. As she watched Utena raise her sword (something she'd seen what felt like hundreds of times over) she felt the emotion grip her in a way it hadn't in ages. Anthy edged in the same direction as Utena, keeping a bit behind her on a habit.

"Whose games are these," she murmured to herself and noted that her heart was beating very fast again.

However, the dragonflies could hardly be called a game. The danger they presented was realer than either of the girls could comprehend just yet, but it wouldn't be long before they understood.

Hovering near the ceiling, the swarm finally reached the pair; edging away just slightly wasn't nearly enough to escape the determined insects.

Their too-large eyes could take in the metal blade that one of the patients was holding, and their base instincts were sharp enough to realize that the sword could hurt them. The other girl seemed like an easier target, and so the swarm moved as one to bear down on Anthy; it was only as they got close that the sharpness of their teeth became obvious.

Yomi gave a short, surprised yelp when the swarm suddenly shifted its focus as one toward Delilah. She had been planning to let the other girl run away behind her into the next hall while she tried fending off the creatures. The creatures apparently weren't interested in doing things her way, which again made her shiver with fear; she had had more control than this over the dream so far. Why were things changing so suddenly?

As quickly as she could, Yomi shifted on the balls of her feet around to Delilah's other side. She made a wide, panicked swipe at the swarm as it came at them. "Duck!" she called out, hoping both that her friend would be quick enough to dodge the attack and that she would hit the closest of the hideous dragonflies out of the way.

The buzzing mass of insects actually had mouths like daggers, something that couldn't be seen until they swarmed directly at Anthy (and only Anthy), drawing very close, very fast. It was familiar enough that she almost didn't blink (swords rushing towards the target at every angle) and she didn't -- the way this plague appeared from nowhere and focused only on her gave strength to the theory that she'd been put here for penance.

And so her eyes were wide and her body frozen, until Utena made a surprised sound and darted in front of her. Also familiar. The sword slashed out at the swarm and Utena shouted a command that Anthy was slow to follow.

A moment later she crouched low and covered her head with her hands, trembling through instincts she'd almost forgotten she possessed. This wasn't any sort of duel she could recognize; this wasn't pain she could manage or control if it happened to tear through her. Even if Utena got hurt, she wouldn't understand why.

Anthy peered up from the floor to keep at least one eye on her friend.

That easily, the swarm was separated. Some of them flew right over Anthy's head until they were hovering in the space that dipped down into the Sun Room; two were caught by Utena's blade and fell to the ground (they might have been larger than a usual dragonfly, but they still didn't stand up too well to a sword).

However, three were smart enough to dip down with Anthy, following her movements. They crowded around her, trying to nest into her hair or bite at her shoulders. Whatever they could get at was fair game.

And it wasn't easy to attack things that were so small when they were practically on top of someone else...

Yomi whirled around; the attack had been more successful than she'd feared it would be, but Delilah had been too slow to avoid the swarm's attack entirely. Why hadn't she moved? She had been pretty sure that even in a deluded state, Delilah would have had enough presence of mind to avoid several mouths full of sharp teeth bearing down on her.

I can't get at them like this, she thought, her heartbeat quickening. Her quite clear, very real-seeming heartbeat. She could feel it pounding against the inside of her chest as solidly as she would have in the waking world. How could it feel this real? There was no way this could be rea—! Yomi bit the inside of her lip hard. She fought the urge to squeeze her eyes shut and instead forced herself to focus on her friend. With the butt of the sword's hilt, Yomi went after one of the dragonflies in Delilah's hair, hoping she wouldn't just sail right past it and hit Delilah instead.

The sound of buzzing followed her down and Anthy felt fresh, searing pain tear into her left shoulder when one of the creatures latched its teeth there. Two more tangled into her hair; something sharp scraped at her temple and planted a deep scratch there. Blood trickled down her face and drenched deep stains at her shoulder.

Anthy was accustomed to pain. She had more or less taught herself how to become dull to it, even, but this was such a confusing situation that she was just shocked, crying out shortly and grasping trembling fingers over the dragonfly lodged in her shoulder to try and toss it far away.

While Utena used the dull end of her sword to try and whack the ones squirreling into her hair. For that, she stayed still so that her friend's aim did not falter.

As relentless as the dragonflies were, their bodies weren't very sturdy. When Anthy's hand clutched around one of them, it was squished between her fingers and then fell in a crumpled mess to the floor when she threw it to the side.

Similarly, the one that Yomi aimed for was too busy trying to get to a more succulent part of Anthy's body to notice the incoming attack, and the blade split it in half, causing its green blood to splatter into Anthy's hair.

The third one made sure to fly away just slightly to avoid the other attacks before coming in closer to Anthy's neck, where it made an attempt to bite down.

As for the group that had missed them earlier, they started to circle around, this time homing in on the pink-haired girl as they attempted to take advantage of how distracted she was by her concern for her friend.

Yomi was relieved that the dragonfly-like creatures were so easily killed, even as she felt like vomiting at the sight of their green blood and monstrous insides all over her friend. She had to keep herself entirely focused on the last dragonfly in Anthy's hair in order to keep herself together. As a result, while she aimed another hard strike with her sword handle at the dragonfly on Anthy's neck, she was unfortunately oblivious to the sound of buzzing closing in on her.

It surprised Anthy that the dragonfly she managed to snatch was crushed so easily, and she could feel another one's guts oozing against her scalp when Utena smashed it, but she wasn't about to forget how sharp their teeth were. The last one buzzed close to her neck and she slapped at it preemptively this time.

A bit awkwardly, since she was unused to active self-defense. Though she quickly remembered that there were still many more of the insects and glanced over the dip in the center --

"Utena-sama," she exclaimed, the old honorific slipping out but more importantly -- "They're coming back!"

OOC: DURP FINALS STRESS AND SLEEP DEPRIVATION made me fumble posting order in my head. Anthy will have to try it later.

The one that had been aiming for Anthy's neck only got to just scratch its teeth into her skin before the combination of her smack and the other girl's sword dispatched it, causing its guts to trail down the front of the girl's shirt now.

Which shifted the fight to Yomi. It wasn't going to be nearly as easy for her to aim her sword at herself while she was being attacked, and Anthy's warning didn't come soon enough. The four insects circled in around her head and started to bite at different parts of her neck, face, and chest: anywhere they could reach was fair game.

Yomi didn't respond to Utena's name being called until it was too late. She swatted at one that came close to her jugular, hoping to crush it as easily as the others, but the rest easily evaded the panicked attack. Tiny razor teeth sheared deep across her cheek, forehead and collarbone. If the earlier sensations hadn't been enough, this pain made it entirely clear now that this was no dream.

That fact only had one really important implication amid the pain right now, however. It meant that for whatever the reason, Delilah really was here. It meant that she couldn't let the girl continue to get hurt. Anything else could wait. "Get the hell away!" Yomi yelled at the creatures (in a more Utena-like way, unconsciously), grabbing for one insect on her chest. If she didn't kill it, then she at least wanted it away from her vital areas for a moment. After dealing with it, she threw herself over top of her friend's torso, shielding the girl's head and chest from further attack as she blindly swatted at the remaining insects cutting into her.

[OOC: Sorry! Got caught up in some stuff with my roommates yesterday. *cough*namely getting them hooked on Utena*cough*]

The insect by her neck was defeated and the threat shifted its focus -- her warning hadn't been quick enough. Allowing instinct to take over in this moment of uncertainty, Anthy was nearly about to stumble back on her feet and tug the other girl into an escape attempt, but she wasn't fast enough for that, either. After flailing through an attempt to deal with the swarm bearing down, Utena threw herself on top of Anthy and decided to act as a human shield.

Of course. No matter how much she believed she was 'Yomi', it was clear that Utena was Utena. After falling back against the cool floor, Anthy's eyes closed on her for a moment, feeling the throb of her wounds and hearing small monsters buzz around them. Nothing about this made sense except for Utena.

"We have to run," she whispered, eyelids cracking open.

[OOC: And most of my uni term is over now, so back to regular posting for me too! ERYN, HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR REWATCH WITH INNOCENT NEWBS, POOR INNOCENT BABES.]

The yelling from Yomi certainly didn't deter the dragonflies. Their own noises were pretty loud, after all, and the buzzing seemed to become even more frenzied as the fight took a turn for the frantic. They weren't expecting for the girl to fall to the floor like that, and the one on Yomi's chest was crushed between the two girls' bodies.

The remaining two had been lucky enough to be on her shoulders, however, and were perfectly capable of biting into her relentlessly even as she was spread out on the floor.

For being so small, the creatures were definitely tenacious. On the other hand, most of the original swarm were dead by now.

Yomi heard her friend and agreed, but didn't know yet how she was going to be able to get up and run without letting Delilah get hurt again. The insects on her shoulders were latching on tight to her flesh, and were fast enough to avoid her swatting.

She winced as an idea came to mind. It wouldn't be a smooth idea, but she hoped it would work, at least. Carefully, she took both hands and slid them palm down over her shoulders, offering them to the insects' mouths. She stifled a cry as the insects took the bait, sinking their teeth into her fingers. With two sharp, synchronized motions, she flung the creatures away as though her arms were catapults. Scrambling to get up, she grabbed her friend's hand and tugged her away from the insects. "All right, let's go Himemiya!" she said as they began to run, missing the fact that she had called out the wrong name. All that was important right now was escape.

Escape, was her last thought as the world around them suddenly faded to black.

[OOC: Hope that wasn't assuming too much. Just wanted to make sure that we avoided backthreading. XD;; If that's not okay, let me know; I'll change this post, and we can each have maybe one more post each to finish off the thread.]

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NIGHTSHIFT 45: MAIN HALLWAY, 2-CENTER

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[OOC: SORRY SO SLOW. OTL finals approaching rapidly. T_T;;;;]

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