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).

Comments

[ifandmaybe.livejournal.com]

Inara followed the two men as they approached the man Javert had apparently arranged a meeting with. It seemed as though they'd made plans for the evening, and she wondered if perhaps she was losing her touch when it came to knowing when she was and wasn't welcome. Still, it wouldn't hurt to ask if she could come along. One would not be inclined to walk the halls alone, and there were few men Inara trusted more than Malcolm Reynolds.

Besides. Odds were that he would be needing some form of rescuing at some point, and she had experience in the field.

Approaching, the Companion remained a few steps behind Mal and Javert, not wanting to seem as though she assumed her place was secured without be invited expressly. When introductions were had, she spoke up with her own.

"I'm Inara Serra, a companion of Captain Reynolds." She waited for a comment from Mal at her choice of words, but she was sure he would understand that she had meant companion without a capital C. "I don't mean to impose, but I'd hoped to find a group to travel with this evening as well. I'll be glad to excuse myself if this is a private affair, however."

[unmocked-lawr.livejournal.com]

"I attempted to obtain the location of the pharmacy earlier this morning," Javert told Faust as Mal and Inara approached. "No-one else seemed to know where it is, though I did obtain a fairly detailed map." He opened his journal and showed (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/bubonicwoodchuck/landels1-javert.jpg) Faust. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/bubonicwoodchuck/landels2-javert.jpg) "I would assume that the pharmacy is on the second floor; unfortunately, it seems to be the floor which the mapmakers had least explored."

He wasn't entirely certain how to respond to Inara's request; she did seem quite polite and fairly well-bred. It wasn't often he came in contact with women like that. And she was part of Reynolds's crew; somehow, he doubted she was completely incapable of defending herself. It was, after all, safer to travel in groups.

"It's hardly a private affair," he said gruffly at last; it was, more or less, the closest he would get to saying yes. "I am sure it would benefit the other patients as well if we were to locate the pharmacy."

[empty-death.livejournal.com]

Faust nodded, looking over the map and committing it to memory. "That is the most logical place for it to be. I would assume that many of the things we are not to tamper with would be either above or below us." After all hospitals were rarely only two floors.

He looked at Inara and smiled politely. Despite his best efforts his smile always seemed slightly ... off. At least that was what he'd always been told. Maybe it was the gaunt look he had, or the tattoos. He didn't know. But he tried to appear polite at the least.

"I think it would be a good idea myself." He didn't know any woman who could not take care of herself. He had no reason to think that this woman would be any different. "We should all go. The more people there are, the better chance we'll be prepared for something ... unexpected?"

[still-free.livejournal.com]

It looked like Inara knew how to play her cards right, as always. Both Javert and Faust seemed to accept them into their group without a fuss. And while he was so tempted to make a comment about the Companion thing (she had done that on purpose, hadn't she?), he knew now wasn't the best time. Instead, he sent her a knowing look.

"Sounds like a plan, then." Hopefully they wouldn't have to adopt any more patients into their group, though. Over four just got to be too much. That was why he tried to make sure his crew split up when they went on large-scale missions. A big group was just too suspicious.

"Second floor it is, then." Mal certainly had no idea where the pharmacy was, and he wanted to get a look at the second floor, anyway. He glanced at Inara and nodded. "If we do find it, we can swipe some stuff for Simon." Mal fleetingly wondered if he would be able to remember any of the brands Simon had told him to take when they had done that job on Ariel. If medicine was expensive, that probably also meant that it worked really well, right?

But there was no way he was going to remember. He'd had to write it down on his arm in the first place, after all.

[ifandmaybe.livejournal.com]

Inara returned Mal's look with a small, completely innocent smile of her own before bowing her head in thanks to their two, traveling companions for the evening. The thin one seemed a bit... well, it was hard to say, even one as skilled as picking up subtle nuances of character. Simply put, there was something odd about him. It was the sort of vague quality she'd picked up from River upon meeting her for the first time.

Still, this was no place to judge. She was thankful they hadn't objected to her company.

"Thank you," Inara replied smoothly, smiling more noticeably this time. To Mal, she nodded. "It would benefit everyone here to put medicine in the hands of capable doctors who actually have our best interests in mind." She turned to look up the stairs, assuming that, as the lady, she wasn't to lead. If no one else stepped forward, of course, she wouldn't hesitate. "Shall we, then?"

[unmocked-lawr.livejournal.com]

Well, that was that. Hopefully no-one else would attempt to join their group. Fortunately, the circumstances weren't exactly suitable for idle conversation; Javert had had quite enough of that in the last day or so.

He nodded sharply at Inara's question, turning and heading up the stairs.