Nightshift 23 - Stairs Near Lobby 1

[blacksustenance.livejournal.com]

[Coming in from here]

So far so good.

The stairs to the second floor should be around here. So far they hadn't run into any of the locals here, which was both a good and bad thing: they didn't have to expend needless energy defending themselves, but, on the other hand, that also meant no food. Brock sighed, searching the walls for the door to the stairs, and tried to not focus on the fact that he was not only starving again for human food (apparently they were still recovering from last night), but he was also getting pretty hungry for some of the fresh, rather socially inacceptable meat that had a habit of walking on two legs.

It would be the first time that he could remember that he'd fed when he wasn't Venom. While it probably wasn't a far stretch to assume that the symbiote took his body on joyrides when he was asleep or unconscious, there still remained the fact that he didn't recall any incident where he'd killed with his bare hands, fed as Eddie Brock only.

The mental image of himself crouched over a corpse and going for the head was a bit nauseating, actually and he had to hurriedly focus on the walls before him, rearing up in the darkness and grainy in their eyes. Being back to near-human apparently made him somewhat squeamish again.

It's just a need like normal eating, Brock thought, echoing the reassurances of his Other. It's perfectly okay. We have as much a right to exist as everyone else.

The blond paused before the stairs, slightly comforted by this, and started up them, careful to watch his feet and feeling along the rails with one hand. Hopefully the Chapel was empty when they got there; Brock was all for feeding outside it, but it seemed wrong to profane that kind of ground with even their very honest needs. It just didn't feel right to pull that kind of shit in a holy place (while it didn't have any religious markers, Brock still felt it was special and deserved the proper respect).

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[coolegoist.livejournal.com]

[From here. (http://community.livejournal.com/landels_damned/94850.html?thread=5983106#t5983106)]

There were plenty of people moving around here, enough at least so that their group of five didn't stand out too much. Kyouya searched for his friends in the darkness and came up empty.

Perhaps they'd done the smart thing and stayed in their rooms where it was safe. Well, not Tamaki. Tamaki hardly ever did the smart thing.

There was nothing he could do about that, anyway. Kyouya distanced himself from wandering thoughts and concentrated on the present instead. While he couldn't fight, he was not about to become a liability for his companions either.

[per-ardua.livejournal.com]

"I imagine none of us has a map," Raine said, looking towards the top of the stairs. She didn't like that they couldn't see the head of the stairs from where they were; it would be too easy for something to be lying in wait just out of sight. She didn't even know how many flights of stairs were between them and the next floor; hardly unusual in strange locations, but she still found it unsettling here.

Of course, what she really wanted was that monster list; it wasted too much time, energy, and most of all magic when they didn't know what they were facing or how to defeat it. If they had any idle time tonight, she'd see what the people in this group knew.

[1imited-edition.livejournal.com]

River's idiosyncratic speech had sparked Reinforce's interest, but this was neither the time or place for prying questions. Instead she returned her attention to its usual point of focus, on Raine.

"We'll be fine," she offered, well served in encouragement at least by her trademark certainty. As long as they only went to the kitchen it was a path they were all familiar with... and more than that, she felt bound to offer words of support. Like Raine, though, she was concerned with how her magic would hold out. Some spells could be made to last a short while but anything that could reliably kill at a distance would be of use for one fight only.

[theycutitout.livejournal.com]

San. Most common honorific utilized in Japanese speech. Never used in self-reference. River soaked up the information like a sponge, filing into the bottomless pit that was her mind. It was a sub-conscious action, and she hadn't meant to steal.

Following along beside Homura, River was quiet, her footsteps falling silently on the ground. She knew how to walk in dreams, and she knew never to make a sound. It was the act of feet falling just so that was to be perfected, and they would know her in time. She could hear them even as they walked. Kitchen. Destination.

Brown eyes fell upon Raine. Worst nightmare. Fear she wouldn't admit to but could never deny. Half-breed. The term earned recognition from Homura's mind as well. Heresy. From Raine again. Cattle. The images and memories she found there were all too familiar. The tragedy... So many all at once.

River didn't realized she'd been walking with eyes closed until they opened, and she saw physical reality, if anything in Landels could be referred to as such.

"You're worried about your brother. Scared. Don't know if he'll be alright without you. It's just like you always feared. You ran for so long... Only to be caught by something else," River began quietly, the words spilling out. Only so much could be contained. Only so much and so little. All at once. Storms. "You're faking calm. Not whole. Only half and then half again."

She didn't realize she was closing her eyes again, trying in vain to stop it from coming against her will. Now wasn't the time. Now wasn't the time.

"Called it a heresy, but it wasn't his fault that he loved her. It was only his fault that she loved him back, and they killed her for it." Who that happened to be directed toward was not revealed.

River heard the words coming out of her mouth, and her forehead crinkled as she reached up to clutch her head, as though holding onto it would keep the words from coming forth.

"I have to walk. I have to keep walking," she mumbled to herself, fighting what could not be controlled. Simon. Someone. Someone. Comfort. She couldn't do this right now. "The basic laws of reality fractured, split. At least 54 metaphoric parallels. Nature contradicts itself."

[screwthegods]

Homura was to say the least, caught off guard by River's words, so much so that he stopped walking. While he had told Kyouya and Reinforce vague overviews of his past, he hadn't revealed details so intimate as his emotions, the love or the guilt he felt towards Rinrei. And while Kenren knew both the past and River, Homura knew that the Taisho wasn't the type to tell.

So to have this complete stranger, someone who Homura had only just met, had only spoken to so briefly lay out the darkest point in his life was shocking. How had she known, and what did she intend to do with such knowledge?

Homura wanted to ask, but it would have to wait. It was a discussion much better suited for another time, and greater privacy. But it was made clear just who River had spoken about as he glanced down at the girl with a half-formed smile.

"You really are a clever one, aren't you?"

Just that, that brief moment of amazement, then Homura was himself again, firm, confident, unafraid. "We're going to the kitchen at the moment, and for that we don't need a map." Still, having one would be undeniably useful, and Homura mentally added that to the list of objectives as he began to walk again.

((To here.))