Night 46: Main Hallway, 1-West

[quickdrawbkiddo.livejournal.com]

[from here]

Beatrix had walked this path to the Sun Room so many times, she could do it in complete darkness. Which was exactly what she was doing. Knowing the way, there was little need for light as it would only draw creatures and other unwanted attention. Silently counting her steps, at the right number, the assassin headed left and down the hallway.

[to here]

Comments

[idolism]

“Yes,” came the blunt answer to her first question. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a suitable explanation for anyone but him, so he was forced to add, “I’m sure by now you’ve made plenty of contacts, ones that travel in safer groups, right?”

Aidou definitely wasn’t the safe choice; there was little he could do to get his hint across short of baring his fangs at her like a movie vampire. Hadn’t she learned a lesson about caution, having been in Landel’s almost as long as he? Or perhaps, for all the unusual ways she fished for attention, she was just that trusting of people she’d made small talk with once or twice. Now that sort of thing would get a girl in trouble. Mallet or not, unless his senses had completely fooled him about her humanity, Anise was quite vulnerable…

Of course, then she had to go and say something that stung sharply. “I bet you could handle anything here!” A shadow streaked across his face, and in the span of a second, the vampire seemed to age, shedding his youthfulness like a second skin.

If that were true, he wouldn’t still be there. And he could’ve stopped so much of what had happened already.

Aidou dropped his hand. “Sadly untrue,” he murmured. He had made that claim when he’d been dealing with the revulsion the zombie attack had stirred in him, and in a way, he would still stand by it. If the situation were directly tied to his own well-being, he would do whatever was needed to fell his foe. But if he took a girl with him, knowing well the dangers, would he move to protect her over himself? At cost to himself? The answer was closer to ‘no’, and to let someone into his company who seriously expected that treatment would be foolish at best. For them.

“Why, exactly, would you want to come with me? Do I assume that your Oracle Knights left you trained in something, or are you just looking for someone who might be able to care for you until night ends?”

[gald_digger]

Stubborn bastard. It was getting hard not to scowl at him.

"Maybe there are, but I want to go with you," Anise whined in protest. Why was he so desperate to get rid of her, anyway? Most people would have given up by now. "Besides, everybody else is probably long gone by now!"

It was easy for people to forget that Anise was a trained knight, especially when she was putting on a damsel in distress act, but it looked like it hadn't slipped Aidou's mind. "Well, I guess I'm trained to deal with monsters and stuff..." Ugh. Was he trying to prove that she didn't need him? "...but it's so scary being alone at night! I don't know what I'll do if I don't have someone I can trust by my side."

[idolism]

Being singled out for excellence was usually so desirable, too… This, though, was different. Aidou had always been a lover of things some others would call petty, but even for him, the Institute peeled away the frivolous, leaving only the bare necessities underneath. Encouraging Anise, or the attentions of anyone else, wouldn’t further his position, as much as it might be entertaining. If he needed other people, it’d be in the form of allies, and allies didn’t need to (and probably wouldn’t) have anything to do with girls or dalliances with them. But it was clear Anise was interested in banter. Either she was more efficient than him and had room for that sort of stuff, or her priorities were way different from Aidou’s. Not something he’d care about… except when it concerned him, like it did then.

On the other hand, Aidou also had one another need of others: blood. But Anise wasn’t an option there. He wouldn’t take from her.

That just left what she was really after and what she was really capable of. It hadn’t been enough to remark upon before, but he wasn’t blind to her inconsistencies. At times there had been something disingenuous about her behavior, and although he hadn’t shown the topic much concern when she‘d first mentioned her “Oracle Knights,” the fact remained that she was probably more capable than most of the human girls he had experience with. More capable than what she was letting on, at that. For one, Anise had survived this long, hadn’t she? He didn’t think it’d been by honestly needing to lean on companions night after night.

“Hmm…” the vampire mused. There was a questioning air to his tone, as well as faint skepticism. She hadn’t answered his question--was dodging it, really. So she wanted a white knight, did she? She trusted him, did she?

“You trust me that much, so soon? But you don’t know me. I could be completely unscrupulous.”

[gald_digger]

"Of course!" Anise replied without missing a beat. "Unscrupulous guys don't usually ask people to suspect them, right?" She winked, in an effort to be extra cute.

Really, Anise knew it was more complicated than that. She herself had often criticized her friends for being too trusting, just because she felt guilty that she was deceiving them herself. And as for Aidou, she really didn't have full trust in him. She knew spoiled guys had a tendency to be unreliable, and that if things got ugly, it was possible that she'd end up having to rely on herself. But Anise wasn't going to get anywhere, not in the institute nor in her life, if she didn't take a few risks here and there.

"So, where should we go?" she asked, now acting as though Aidou had at some point agreed to travel with her.

[idolism]

… Oh, was that so. Sometimes it was hard to tell if she was just full of it, or if she actually believed some of what she was saying. An unscrupulous vampire probably would’ve knocked her aside the moment she’d come too close, so that was true, at least.

He was practically a poster child for gentleness.

Except not really, which made her persistence that much more of a pain. It was also amusing to a part of him, like Little Red Riding Hood throwing herself at the wolf without a care in the world. Only Little Red hadn’t been trained to carry a weapon. Then again, the wolf hadn’t been able to disguise his inner beast as well as a vampire.

Putting a hand to his hip, Aidou looked down at her. His answer came in the form of a question. “Are you going to try and follow me?”

[gald_digger]

Anise simply nodded in response. "Mm-hmm!"

Was he going to try to lose her once he started moving? If he did, he'd never hear the end of it the next morning. Anise would make sure of it.

[idolism]

Taking everything into consideration, her reply wasn’t terribly surprising, if ill-conceived. The noble let out a sigh, more knowing than anything else. After all, what was deciding to stalk him like an obstinate duckling after all she’d already done? Little sense of propriety, this one. Or sense in general.

But that didn’t mean he had to play a part in her adventure scenario. Even for trained hunters, it was difficult to track a vampire when night had set in; Aidou was sure he could lose her without too much trouble. It being almost entirely pitch black within the building would ensure that easily. The thing was, how determined would she be to tag along? Most young girls should know better than to try in the first place, but even if they did, the majority would give up the ghost quickly once they realized they didn‘t have a chance. With Anise, though… She’d provided ample proof that backing down wasn’t in her vocabulary. Bad for her. If Anise were stupid enough to blunder after him in the dark, well, the outcome was pretty obvious. And that wouldn’t be his fault. He wasn’t responsible for her.

So why did a tiny little part of him think he was already too implicated to be entirely free of blame? Whatever she was trained to be, whatever she tried to be, Anise was still a child. A human child. They were the most defenceless of all the Landel’s prisoners, and if it wasn’t him, it’d be something far meaner and far hungrier that came across them. Ugh, but hadn’t Aidou washed his hands of human children? She had crashed into him, at that. Why did he have to be put out, have his precious time held under threat? He didn’t. He was the last person who should be taking care of waifs! It wasn’t like they played a part in his plans.

Aidou frowned unhappily, annoyed at himself at this point.

“I’m going outside,” he said, dropping the equivocation in order to try and dissuade her one last time. “To the forests. I really think you should stay here; who knows what’s out there.”

[gald_digger]

"Outside?" Anise asked, putting a finger to her chin thoughtfully. By himself, without a flashlight? Aidou was either a lot more capable than he looked, or a lot stupider.

"Then that's all the more reason that you shouldn't go alone!" the girl chirped in reply, completely ignoring his insistence that she stay behind. What did a pampered noble like him think he was going to do by himself, out in the wild? Anise might have been a little girl, but she'd at least been out in monster-infested forests before. She probably had a better idea of what was out there than he did.

Still smiling, Anise cut right to the chase. "So, which way should we go through? Rec field or front door?"

[idolism]

Yes, outside, where all the rabid bears were, and the undead raccoons, and whatever else lurked in Landel’s forests. More than enough to deter a normal person, considering how the area beyond was rough and relatively unknown for those stuck within the hospital grounds. “I told you, I’m fine…”

But apparently Anise didn’t care… it made him wonder what skills she had, belying her age, or if she was just that naïve.

The forest hadn’t proven itself as dangerous as other areas of note, like the basement, but Aidou knew better than to think it was any less treacherous. Probably more so. The abandoned town hadn’t lent itself to a sense of peace and safety, on that note. If further exploration into the basement was out, then returning to the ruins was something that could be just as profitable knowledge-wise, and although travelling alone had its risks, Aidou didn’t need to be accompanied to cross the mountain terrain. With Anise, though? What the hell was he supposed to do with her if she actually tried to follow him? The only reason he’d been with Senna the first time he’d gone beyond the outer walls was because of her club. And he had to admit, she came across a tad bit more capable than Anise.

This damn girl, however… Why was she harassing him when he didn’t want it!? Her coming was a terrible, terrible idea! He could always knock her out and run, but…

“All right, look, let’s get one thing straight: I’m not going to be blamed if something happens. You’re the one who insisted, not me,” interjected the vampire, who crossed his arms. Which meant, if by chance, she couldn’t keep up with him and conveniently got left behind, it was going to be her fault. She couldn’t say he hadn’t made his feelings clear. “I’m going east, so one of the quicker routes is through the recreational field and around the building, which means scaling a pretty tall wall.” Maybe that would throw her off?

[gald_digger]

"Got it!" was Anise's enthusiastic reply to Aidou's conditions. She wasn't all that sincere in her agreement, though. What kind of man wouldn't at least try to protect the cute girl by his side?

Rather than being thrown off by Aidou's plan, the girl nodded eagerly. "Yep, I know the one!" After all, the day that route had first become available to patients was the night she had been taken for special counseling - and stationed in that field.

"The recreational field's north of here, right? Let's go!"

Anise started towards the nearest hallway, turning to watch Aidou as she turned the corner, just to make sure he didn't dart off in the opposite direction the moment she was out of his way.

[to here]