[center][h1]Yesaris Week[/h1][/center] [center][b]I[/b][/center] “You did WHAT?!” Midnight Lavender recoiled, pulling up her hands in time, barely, to protect against the sandal that had been thrown straight at her face. “What the hell, mom!” Midnight’s mom fumed and held her temple. The teenager could swear her mom was about to burst a vein. “I TOLD you not sign up. I TOLD you! Now what are we-” “We? WE?! We haven’t done anything! YOU haven’t done anything! Even though everyone’s being carried off into the guts of this stinky ass place, you REFUSE to even let ME do ANYTHING to improve our lives!” Midnight stomped on the metal ground, a shot of pain travelling up her right leg all the way up to her hip as if it was lightning. She huffed. Her mom stepped back for a moment, but Midnight knew her very well. There wasn’t a chance that she would back down. “D… Don’t talk back at me like that, you little bitch!” The very air froze. Her mom stood in front of her, hand high up and ready to come down on her face. But it never did, instead, her mom blinked and made a face she’d never seen before. Tears welled up in her mom’s eyes and her shoulders began to shake. “I-” “Fuck you! I’m done with you and this tiny can of sardines.” Midnight shook her head and began to dig through the scarce few drawers in their home and put some of her clothes and essentials in her backpack. “I-I’m sorry, Middy. I don’t know what came over me. Please stay, let’s talk this over.” Her mom began to plead, gently placing her hands on Midnight’s shoulder. Midnight pulled away, closed her backpack and left the cell they’d called home for the past seven years, pushing past her nosy neighbours in the process. As she turned a corner in the metal labyrinth, she could hear her mother’s sobs slowly fade away. [center][b]II[/b][/center] Midnight wiped the cold sweat off the old man’s forehead and then helped him stretch his limbs one by one. The man groaned, eyes closed and face flushed. His fever had only risen and risen since he had been quarantined, his body slowly starting to atrophy, skin colour changing little by little. Lucidity wasn’t the strong man’s suit, as he had dementia from before he’d caught the Spores, but even that had been deteriorating lately. Over the last three days, the only time that the elder had said anything was that morning. “Hunger…” He whispered then, and then fell into slumber once more. It was a sign that he was close to the end. She knew, because this was the twentieth person she’d been assigned to in the last week, and the only one to remain well enough to still be considered alive. The others laid completely covered in white sheets on the beds they died on, lined up along the walls of the ward. “Homurans should take care of Homurans, isn’t that right Midnight?” Asked a somewhat muffled voice. Midnight turned to see a familiar face. Pale skin and red markings that seemed to bleed off of his fiery red hair were always a sight for sore eyes. She smiled at Bloodred, her half-lidded eyes only exacerbating the dark bags under her eyes. She wobbled a bit. “Wow wow, easy there tiger-” He rushed to her side and held her by the shoulders. He lifted one of his thick eyebrows as he looked deep into her eyes and pursed his lips. “What did I say? You need to rest, Mid.” “Nah…” Midnight grumbled, taking just one second too long to turn back to her patient. “I got work to do, hunk.” “I feel so objectified and sexualized.” Bloodred smirked, although the expression was covered by his half-mask. “You can handle it. Semma Aqua, on the other ear…” Midnight sighed, slouching just a tiny bit. Bloodred sighed and used one arm to hug her from behind and the other to gently caress her head. She started to cry, the sobbing muffled by her half-mask. “It’s been tough, hasn’t it?” “Y-Yeah…” They remained like that for a little while, until… “Gggheelll…” A voice Midnight hadn’t heard in days suddenly groaned. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, a shiver going up her spine and her ears shaking and twisting and turning to try and confirm whether the sound came from where she thought it came. She tried to turn around to face the source of the groan, but Bloodred’s grip had tightened, and upon looking up at his face she could see him looking back at whatever had groaned. “Mid, the list said that Semmi Aqua died two days ago, right?” “Y-Yeah, why?” Midnight asked, still trying to free herself from her partner’s embrace. “Why? What’s there?” “”Two days… That shouldn’t be enough time for Spores to get this bad…” Bloodred said quietly, before looking down at Mid and nodding. In an instant, he hoisted her up with a grunt onto his shoulder and walked toward the exit. “Situtation’s evolved love. There’s no way to know when the other 18 people in your ward are going to wake up, so we’re leaving.” “Wake up?! You mean-” “Yup. The infection cycle has accelerated.” The last thing Midnight saw before the door to her ward closed behind them was the shambling form of Semmi Aqua, Semma Aqua’s lifelong mate. Her skin was a sickly colour, her eyes clouded over, she had strange growths under her skin, and was making her way straight for Semma Aqua, who laid unconscious on his bed. Then the metal doors closed, and Bloodred smashed the emergency button next to them. Red lights and an alarm started blaring all over the quarantine zone. “W-Wait! We have to go back for Semma Aqua! If we don’t, he’ll-” “Die? You know as well as I do that there’s no cure for Spores. If we saved him now, he’d die tomorrow or the day after.” Bloodred explained, still carrying Midnight on his shoulder even as he made his way to the quarantine zone’s exit. “... How did this happen? It always takes at least four days for the last stage to begin! Four!” She repeated, burying her face in her hands. “No idea.” The hiss of an opening airlock betrayed the fact they were entering the decontamination chamber. It was only after they walked inside and the airlock closed behind them that Bloodred set Midnight down. “Sorry about that, I didn’t want to risk you running off on your own, Mid.” “It’s… Fine.” she sighed. “HOMURAN PERSONNEL DETECTED. UNDRESS IMMEDIATELY.” Demanded a robotic voice through the intercoms. They didn’t hesitate, they quickly and efficiently took their white overalls off and tossed them into a chute in the wall. As she stood there waiting for the Quarantine Assistant to proceed to the next step of decontamination, Midnight felt Bloodred’s hot breath on her ear. “Looking sexy as ever, puma.” He whispered. He chuckled and pulled away as soon as he saw Midnight fidgeting and her ears flattening against her head. “UNIFORM STERILIZED. PREPARE FOR DECONTAMINATION.” It didn’t take long for the room to fill up with a thick, cool fog. It burned their airways a little as they breathed it in, and they couldn’t help but cough and sneeze. It was all finished soon enough and the gas was suctioned out of the room via vents placed all over the floor. “UNIFORMS DISPATCHED. DRESS YOURSELVES IMMEDIATELY.” A ding sound accompanied the announcement, and two compartments opened in the wall containing an uniform for each, which they quickly put on. “DECONTAMINATION COMPLETE. PROCEED TO HOSPITAL.” The airlock leading to the hospital then opened, and the couple walked out of decontamination at last. Posted on either side of the airlock were Primes, each holding a shield and a spear. “Report to the Archivist at once, Homuran Midnight Lavender. Homuran Blood Red, report to the Head of Security.” Said one of the two Primes, an exceedingly tall and strong-looking one. “After reporting your failure to your superiors, you may take three days to rest.” Said the other, much slimmer and feminine but made up of sharp and intimidating parts. Midnight sighed and rubbed at her temple, then began to walk towards the Archivist’s study. Bloodred, who had to go the opposite way to the Head of Security waved at her with a stupid grin on his face. “See you tonight at Celeste’s Tuna Emporium?” He asked loudly, to which Midnight merely waved her hand. “Sure, sure. Seven.” Bloodred made a fist pump. “Yess!” “Detecting high levels of pheromones in atmosphere composition. Possible source: Clingy, needy, sexually underdeveloped feline Homuran.” The feminine looking Prime said, a high pitched whirr coming from within her body soon after. Bloodred blushed and shook his head, walking away. “Tsk. You bags of bolts wouldn’t understand how great she is even if I explained it…” [hider=Summary]Turns out Astus’ workshop has been suffering from a bit of a fungus infection over the last few months and the Homurans are being forced to take care of their own. It hasn’t been going terribly well. Midnight Lavender and Blood Red, two volunteers, witness the start of the newest outbreak of what they call “Spores”, which is just the reanimation of a body thanks to the Fungus Parasite. They all seem to be used to outbreaks by now however, so they don’t take it too seriously. Guess it’s easy to manage when in a highly advanced God’s home, huh?[/hider] [hider= Vigour] Astus’ Starting=8 No vigour used. Ending=8[/hider]