[i]"Cecil,"[/i] the boy returned as Val introduced herself and she realised, with a tinge of amusement that he was avoiding her eye, [i]"Uh, I'm sorry you had to see that." [/i] Rather than say anything, she simply shrugged, in a nonchalant gesture.  

[i]"That kid is a dictator. Someone should tell him he needs to listen to other people before we wind up with a real problem. There is a line between tyranny and leadership, and he doesn't see it. Anyway, there aren't any ranks right now, so I'll listen to you if you listen to me. Deal?" [/i]

And as he spoke, Valerie nearly burst out laughing.

"Don't worry," she reassured him, with a grin, using this as an excuse to push away the nerves that had been dancing at the forefront of her mind ever since the lights had blacked out and the freaky events had started happening "I wasn't planning on bossing you about. You seem okay - if a little intimidating -" she murmured the last phrase more to herself than the him but her smile didn't falter "but I just want to get on with the job at hand, with as little fuss as possible. So mutual respect sounds great. And, yeah....nice to meet you."

She ignored the chill that had snaked its way down her spine, when he mentioned that there wasn't ranks...right now. It was a point - how long would this weirdness last?

She shook his outstretched hand, anxiously as she kept pace with him walking down the corridor; the darkness was still relentless and it felt odd to see somewhere - typically, glaring under fluorescent lighting and sprawling with students - so familiar in such an unbelievable, eerie situation. She was tense, on edge, anticipating another banshee wailing or another explosion at every second that ticked by and the fact that it remained as silent as the grave was quite frankly unnerving. When she reached the end, she picked a random direction and tried to look like she knew what she was doing by not hesitating, as she swivelled on her heel to walk right. She had vague image of layout of the school shimmering in her memories and she figured that the boiler and stores in the basement might be the most promising option to finding something that could be useful. 

“There’s some freaky stuff going on - I wonder if it's just here...” she commented as she continued to squint through the darkness that still felt as thick and threatening as ever. Her phone battery was draining fast and she hoped it would hold up for a little while longer; at least until an external light source was discovered, "And I'm guessing we should try the lower levels - what do you think?"

She rubbed her forehead as a headache threatened at her temples. She pegged it down to stress and confusion, and massaged her temples as she walked, keeping a wary eye on the other guy.

[@tancuras]