From The Silence

[Mr. Sulk]

The echoing of feet paraded down the hallways of the asylum’s sixth floor, clamping on top of broken down slabs of metal and clumps of ceiling tiles littering the floor. A slight flapping sound could be heard coming from the excessively long sleeves of the fleeing man’s unbuttoned straitjacket and his torn up pants, flowing about as if the man were standing before an industrial fan. Rounding a corner, the man looks around, his eyes peering through a smiling mask, the eyeholes invisible to anyone not wearing it.

“I need to make everybody happy; they’re all sad, and I need to find them and make them happy! Happy, yay! Happy, yay! Smile, smile, smile!” Said the man, changing his motion from a full-blown sprint into skipping, which he continued to do for about a minute before returning to a run. Despite being on the sixth floor, he seemed to be getting little to no heartless activity. None of his thoughts related to this, though, as he danced through the hallway.

“Any sad people around here?” He yelled through the hallways, trying to find someone. He wanted to see a smile. It’s what drove him in life; smiling faces, happy places, joy and fun and real fast races. Sadly, nobody was happy in the asylum.

Mr. Sulk planned to change that.

[rosaline]

The face of the one other person that the man was likely to see around here would not be smiling. And not even his exuberant, if overbearing, helpful nature would change that. The only things that would make the hapless medical student smile were out of anyone's reach. Could Mr Sulk get her out of here? Could he send her home? God, if she even had a home left anymore. Nobody knew what lay beyond, out in the grounds. There was only the different floors of the asylum. Their safe haven, the twelfth, the intermediate floors that they scoured for food and then the bowels of the building. Those floors were completely overrun. It was where only fools ventured.

Rosaline knew it, just the same as everyone else in this God-forsaken place. She trembled at the thought of running afoul any of the heartless that stalked the halls, from the lowliest shadow to the most terrifying of...well, she didn't know. She'd only heard stories of the stronger heartless that stalked the halls, and she didn't even commit the terrifying tales to memory! They all had the same message. Don't leave the safe zones.

So then why, of all places, was she here?

Well, the occupants and staff whose hearts hadn't been eaten had been trapped for a while now. It was a siege that nobody was ready for. Supplies were thin, on the higher levels. Everything was stored lower down. Down, down, down. IN the kitchens, at the back of the asylum. There were medical supplies in a few different store rooms, too. So many essentials.

They needed more of all of them.

And yet the idiots attempting to run the ragtag group of survivors were doing nothing. Just because they checked the same scoured area for food a million times didn't mean that any more would magically appear! It would be just as sparse as ever. Rosa was sick of standing by and watching as supplies dwindled and death by starvation grew ever closer. She wasn't usually a brave person, but enough was enough. The student would prefer to have her heart eaten than to die from lack of eating.

And so down, down, down she'd gone. Her progress had become more tentative and slower the further she descended. The floors were becoming more dangerous, after all. And more ruined. Everywhere was run down, but here the walls were particularly discoloured. Paint and paper flaked off them, caught by the wind blowing through a cracked window. The gust was welcomed by the woman, as she slowly paced down the hall, heading to the store room she knew would contain at least something of use. The outside air was fresh, whereas everything else in here tasted...off...in her lungs. Like darkness, if she had to put a taste to the absence of light.

But that was silly. Her mind was getting carried away again. She needed to keep her wits about her, and move quickly. Glass and grit crunched under the soles of her sensitive black court shoes. Dust clung to her doctor's coat, but it didn't matter. The garment hadn't been its regular pristine white for a long, long time.

Having thought that she was quite alone in her little expedition, the woman let out a hiss of shock when she heard the echoes of another voice. In a reflex reaction her body jolted, and she slammed her back against the wall, brandishing the scalpel that she'd brought as a pathetic means of protection. Rosa's chest heaved with heavy breath as she attempted to calm herself. It was nothing. Probably just the wind. And even if it was someone else, she wasn't going to reply. Let them make all the noise, and draw the heartless, while she walked the last twenty metres and nabbed some supplies for everyone upstairs.

Pocketing her 'weapon' the woman sucked in a deep breath and turned to continue on her way. Her composure was wasted, because the next step she took saw a cluster of heartless appearing in front of her.

Rosaline froze. She didn't run, she didn't even scream. Her scalpel was forgotten as her brain went into overdrive, flinging wildly between its two possible responses - fight or flight. It would be a long mental struggle that she just didn't have time for...

[Mr. Sulk]

“Without a mouth, these things can’t smile, and without a heart, they just make us all sad.”

Mr. Sulk spoke in a very out-of-place optimistic voice, contrasting heavily with the content of what he was saying, as he kicked a broken-down metal door onto one of the heartless. Stepping onto it with his gray sneakers, Mr. Sulk turned his gaze to Rosaline. Instead of focusing on the heartless, for a moment he fixed his gaze on her and waved to her. “Hey, it’s Rosaline! Energetic Rosaline! Why aren’t you smiling? Don’t you remember ol’ sulky? We had lots of happy time that one week, last July was it? You came and helped clean me up; I was so happy to see you every time!”

His conversation starter was cut short as a shadow nearby jumped at him. Mr. Sulk’s reflexes jumped, causing him to spin and hit the shadow with his keyblade, having materialized only half a second before it struck the heartless. Mr. Sulk kept smiling under the mask. “It just wanted to make me sad, but I just live for the happy. Happy, happy, everyday!”

[rosaline]

Had her mind not been quite so overwhelmed, caught in a loop between the two tasks it could chose, she would have waved. She would have forced up a quavering smile to satisfy the ever upbeat patient that was Mr Sulk. She had dealt with him a few times, yes, just as the man stated. She’d been told of how he worked, and what his requirements were.

Rosaline hadn’t really paid all that much mind (she believed in treating patients more like people, than cases) but now it could save her life. Well, if she could find her damn tongue. It seemed to be caught somewhere down in her throat, with her breath and the rest of her voice. Squeezing her eyes shut and sucking in a gasp, the woman forced herself to speak.

“I-it...” she started, attempting to reassert her rationality and take control of the situation. She was trembling, and trying very hard not to cry. Her cheeks were flushing red and her pores were leaking the cold sweat of fear.
“It’d really make me happy if you took care of these guys...”
She gasped, and gulped a little. Oh dear, her stomach was turning. Could she really be that frightened? Hadn’t she ventured down here saying ‘to hell with losing my heart’ and other nonsense? Why couldn’t she stick to what she’d said? Follow through with her commitments!

That really was a personal issue for another time. Right in the now, this very second, one of the shadows thought it would be a better idea to have at her. It scuttled cross the ground, silently melded with the floor. Rosaline’s brown eyes fixed on it easily enough, but closing her hands around her scalpel was a different story. She fumbled, and her sweaty palms slipped in the titanium blade. It was remarkable that she didn’t cut herself! She managed to seize the small item just as the base heartless sprung up. Slashing at the creature with the small blade would not kill it, but the swipes seemed to do the job of fending it off.

[Mr. Sulk]

“It’d really make me happy if you took care of these guys...”

Though invisible to Rosaline, Mr. Sulk's smile spread like wildfire at this comment. He'd found the happy card, as he sometimes referred to it. Other times he called it the smilestone, making a pun on "milestone". He had a bunch of other names for it, but one thing was clear; whatever it was called, it was the type of comment that made Mr. Sulk go wild.

"If it makes you happy, I'm happy to do it." Said Sulk, gripping his keyblade to whirl around and knock a heartless back. He started what looked like dancing, jumping about, swiping the heartless away one by one. Often times he would skip around Rosaline, batting the heartless away from her, and springing up into the air.

After half a minute, the heartless had retreated, leaving Mr. Sulk alone with her. “You happy now?”

OOC: Forgive crappy post, please. XD

[rosaline]

Thank God she didn’t have to do anything. Fending off that one, little heartless had been more than enough for her. The woman just couldn’t do it! She couldn’t manage. She was so, so frightened. She was useless! At least in the field of battle. Give her a room of injured people and she could fix them right up. Broken bones and blood and guts and gore were all fine by her. Any real action, though? It sucked the steady ground right out from under her. She was reduced to a pale, shivering, gibbering, blubbering mess. Even when the danger was averted and it was clear that, for now, she’d be safe, the woman couldn’t control her emotions.

This was a very emotional time for her.

Rosaline was homesick. She missed her friends, and her family. She’d seen the friends that she’d made here lose their lives, too. The woman had never had to deal with the death of a person who really mattered before coming here. But as her friends dropped away one by one, their hearts eaten, she knew what it was like in great detail.

She really, really wished that she didn’t.

Otherwise she might not be so close to the brink right now, her composure might not have been so fragile, ands he might have been able to stave off the tears welling in her eyes. She’d be able to summon a better smile, one that wasn’t watery and twitching around the edges. Oh dear god, she was supposed to be more together than this! Actually look bloody happy, so the patient would be satisfied and she could keep doing what she needed to do and get the hell out of here and...the list went on. It went on, and on and on and she couldn’t see an end. Just like her stay in the asylum. It seemed as though it would be without end.

“Yes,” she replied, as resolutely as she could. Rosaline dashed away her tears on her forearm, soaking the sleeve and smudging dust onto her face.
“Thank you. You did really well.”

[Mr. Sulk]

Mr. Sulk didn't like this reaction much. She smiled, sure, but she was crying. Sulk was unable to understand conflicting emotions, so "tears of joy" registered as "tears of sorrow" no matter if a smile was apparent. From this, he decided to follow her, sprinting after her with the keyblade still out. Mr. Sulk could sprint with the best of them, fastest runner among the patients at the asylum, so keeping up with her wasn't hard.

"Tears aren't good! Tears aren't happy! Stop the tears and tell Mr. Sulk what he can do to help make you happy!" Said Mr. Sulk, refusing to let up on his chasing until she told him what she really wanted.

As the two rounded a corner, Mr. Sulk saw something up ahead; something menacing. He quickly sprinted in front of Rosaline, holding his keyblade in front. "Rosaline, please stop! You won't be happy if you get eaten, no matter what you say! I'll keep making you happy; I'll get rid of these guys."

Down at the end of the hallway was the head and torso of a person, completely wrapped up in bandages like a mummy. No legs, no arms, and on its chest sat a heartless symbol. The heartless moved forward, out of the shadows, showing two gigantic arms attached to its shoulders, holding the beast up off the ground.

"He doesn't look happy, especially without a mouth. Heartless can't be happy, and heartless make other people sad. I think it's time the heartless learned what happy people can do!"

[rosaline]

ooc: Sorry I didn't post yesterday, Triscuit. I was SWAMPED with work and assignments.

BIC: Oh dear God would her bad luck today never end? Well, okay, perhaps she was being a touch dramatic. After all, she'd made it all the way down to the sixth floor without incident. That was lucky! It was actually downright miraculous. And then, just when she had been faced with a heartless threat, the only individual in the entire asylum was there to save her. And he was saving her again. As the woman's dark eyes fell onto the monstrous form at the end of the corridor, she could only be grateful for the assistance of the ever-helpful Mr Sulk. He didn't have to help her, after all. And, really, after how she'd behaved in the past five minutes, he probably shouldn't. But from what she knew of him, such human pettiness wasn't in his nature.

And wasn't Rosaline thankful for that!

If it weren't for him, she would have continued right down the hallway, and run into the heartless and...well, after that she didn't really want to consider what would happen. But she'd stopped before she could bump into the man pushing his way in front of her. Her feet skittered across the filthy ground, and her whole body shook, but for the most part she was still. Fear gripped her again as she peered at the creature, but not as strongly as before. It was not a paralysing vice grip. Her mind raced, but not beyond its working capacity. Her heart beat, but didn't flutter. Her breath stalled, but only for a moment. And while she didn't scream, she didn't lose her voice.

"You can't fight that..." she started, her voice trailing off. Rosaline didn't have a particularly good reason for protesting about combating the heartless. It wouldn't make her happy, and running wasn't really a viable option; especially when they'd probably just run into a different, perhaps more terrifying, creature.

But there was one thought in her head. One worry. Strangely enough, coward though she was, it wasn't for herself.
"What if you get hurt?"
Even though she was a doctor, it wasn't like she could cure a bad case of death.

[Mr. Sulk]

Mr. Sulk kept his gaze looking ahead at the heartless, listening as it marched forward, slow and menacingly. He held his keyblade at the ready, eyeing the creature. He held a smile under his mask, never letting it falter, as he waited for it to approach. Behind him, Rosaline continued her attempt to keep calm, but upon seeing the heartless, Mr. Sulk knew she was anything but on the inside.

"You can't fight that..." she said behind him. He turned his head a bit to look back at her.

“Why not? It’ll make you happy!”

"What if you get hurt?"

Mr. Sulk broke his smile for a second, but only a second before returning to his huge grin. “Would you be sad if Mr. Sulk got hurt? Well, for you, Mr. Sulk won’t let himself get hurt!” He stated before turning and charging full speed at the heartless.

The beast, balancing itself on its left arm, swiped at him with its right. Mr. Sulk immediately veered to the left, running up the side of the wall, dodging the arm before landing behind the monster. He turned and swiped his arm out at its left arm, with its right arm still in the air, hitting it hard enough for the beast to lose its balance and fall. Mr. Sulk took the opportunity to lunge high into the air, bringing the point of his keyblade down on the head of the beast. The beast exploded into particles of black dust, defeated.

“Mr. Sulk’s not hurt. Let’s go make you happier. Why are you down here, Rosaline? Shouldn’t you be up on the safe floor?”

OOC: Sorry it took a while. xD

[rosaline]

ooc; YEAH< YOU SHOULD BE! >:V
Nah, it's cool =3

bic:

The woman watched with tense anticipation as the man leaped and swiped and twirled. Her voice sat firmly lodged in her throat, with different squeals and words of worry left unsaid. It was better that way. What if she spoke? Surely that would distract him. Mr. Sulk seemed so in tune with his weapon, and the rhythm of the combat that to interrupt him would be an irreversible disruption. If he lost his flow then, surely, the creature would take its advantage.

In the back of her mind, Rosaline could not help but wonder just what would happen if he failed. If the creature did win. Would it eat his heart? Or just kill him? What if he was still alive, but injured? She wouldn't be able to run with him. But she couldn't just turn tail. Her scalpel would be useless here, but she'd have to try. Perhaps even distract the thing, so Mr. Sulk wouldn't be set upon. At least by this monster. She was sure that others were nearby. They so often ran in packs.

But her paranoia was unfounded. The heartless didn't even have another minute left of life (if they even lived). It was the first time that Rosaline had seen such a large beast felled. The flurry of dark dust was almost pretty. Knowing what it had been, however, ruined the illusion. And even so, Rosaline didn't care. Her brain had switched over. Her eyes still flitted about, but no longer with that frantic air. Instead they were assessing, calculating - seeking out injuries. After all, even if he was hurt, she doubted that the man would say anything...

But he truly did seem okay. This time. They had to get out of here as soon as they could, supplies be damned. There'd always be another day with a better plan.

"We're running out of food up there," she replied, without really thinking of the implications. There was an almost hopeless sigh to her voice. even if she didn't abandon her self-imposed mission and took back food...they'd run out eventually. Something had to be done about this heartless threat, or else everyone was going to die.

"I can down to look for some."
All by herself. Smart girl. Not.

[Mr. Sulk]

Mr. Sulk listened as she explained her reasoning for risking her life so much, and smiled. "Such a happy thought, coming down here to help everyone out. Let me help you help them so we can make some more people happy!" Mr. Sulk said, taking her hand and running down the hall, pulling her behind him. He rounded a corner and stopped in front of a large room.

"I came here earlier looking for sad people to make happy. Apparently one of the staff people tried to lock themselves in here with a bunch of food and supplies to last them. They were taken by the heartless, but that means the food is up for the taking, so we can bring it back to the twelfth floor. He used some of the hospital carts to tow it around, so it'll make it easier to get it to the elevator." Mr. Sulk explained

Mr. Sulk had only gone to the twelfth floor once so far. Otherwise he's been searching the lower and middle floors for signs of life, trying to save anybody he can. He'd managed to memorize many things, and that included a method to get one of the elevators working.

"Let's get this up there! Come on!"

OOC: Hope you don't mind me making Mr. Sulk drag you along. XD I just wanted to add in some plot movement, but if you want I can edit it.

[rosaline]

As she was dragged off down the hall, Rosaline nearly tripped over her own feet. Thankfully, momentum seemed to favour her in some form, and her feet moved of their own accord. It was a clumsy gallop at first, but in the end she moved just fine. Perhaps she wasn't as fit as she'd like to be (her lungs started burning within a matter of seconds as they ran) but she guessed that would have to change if she was going to make a habit of this heroic stuff. If she couldn't fight, she'd have to be able to run away. Fatties did not last long doing that. Although with some of the creatures around here, she thought that even a professional sprinter might have some troubles.

But she seemed to have lucked onto the one person in this place with the equipment and mentality (or rather, lack of sanity) to take on the heartless lurking here, there and everywhere. Though she didn't feel comfortable she felt the safest that she had done in a long time. It was refreshing. And though she was still a little overwhelmed by all this, the woman managed a smile. A small twitch at the corners of her mouth. And she didn't even realise it!

But it disappeared soon enough.
"The elevators are still working?"
She thought...well, that they wouldn't. Surely, the power would have been cut or...something? The jittery doctor didn't know if she'd like to be stuck in a suspended metal box while there were heartless everywhere, either.

And yet even so, there would be no way to get all this stuff up to the top floor without an elevator. Again, the mission would have been a waste of time. So, elevator it was.

"Lead the way," she said, resolutely, heading for a cart and seizing the cool steel handle. Now one of these, she could drive. And it felt good to have something weighty in her hands. It wasn't sharp, but she could surely propel it at an attacking heartless if the need arose...

[Mr. Sulk]

Mr. Sulk layed his left hand upon a cart, grabbing it firmly, as he moved out of the cell. His right hand still held the keyblade, a strange weapon. Mr. Sulk never put in the time and effort into wondering how he got it, as that was how he was. He just used it, killed heartless with it, and helped people.

Mr. Sulk went around the corners, going through the halls towards the elevator. His memorization of the floor was beneficial to the both, since he also knew where heartless could hide.

Approaching the elevator, Mr. Sulk released the cart to walk over. He kneeled down, ripping a board off the wall, and started fiddling with a few wires. A loud lurching sound followed, very brief, but bound to attract attention. The sound found itself replaced by a buzzing as the lights outside the elevator indicating the current floor changed. The elevator was coming down from floor ten, the last place Mr. Sulk had spent trying to find survivors.

"Get ready. Mr. Sulk remembers last time there were some monsters hiding inside to take his heart." He said, readying his weapon.

[rosaline]

Gah! Could that have been any louder? Rosaline visibly flinched as the groaning lurch rang through the corridors. It would only have to be a moment to attract unwanted attention. True, there could be worse than Heartless (like if there was a warring faction of asylum occupants as well), but that didn't mean she wanted to deal with the creatures of darkness. Her ineptitudes had been made clear enough already that day! Mr Sulk was probably the last person to care (if anything, Rosaline thought he might rejoice in an individual he could help so much) but that did not stop the woman from feeling...well...inferior. Unsettled. What person wanted to be faced with their weaknesses in such a stark light?

Staying tense as the doors rolled open, Rosaline half expected a hoard of heartless more fearsome than the one from down the corridor to burst out. When the tarnished metal parted, however, there was only one figure there. It was small, and white, with long arms that dragged across the floor...quite similar to the straight jacket that Mr Sulk had on. There was the obligatory mark of its kind emblazoned upon its forehead. Even more harrowing was the mouth beneath it. When it opened in a manic parody of a grin, two rows of razor teeth were revealed. With lightning speed, the heartless leaped forward, right towards Mr. Sulk's face. It knew its target to be the keybearer - the other one would be easy pickings for later.

[Mr. Sulk]

Mr. Sulk waited patiently as the doors opened and saw the single heartless sitting there. "Wow, what a grin on this one! A smiling heartless! That seems like an oxy-whatever to Mr. Sulk!" He said before the heartless lunged at him. Mr. Sulk found the heartless trying to bite at his mask, and found it comedic. He had made the staff make his mask out of a very strong metal, meaning the heartless was just wasting his time. "Mr. Sulk thinks this heartless isn't the smartest type." He said before punching the heartless off with his free hand. He spun his keyblade and lunged it down at the heartless, thinking it an easy kill, when the creature suddenly dodged to the side. The beast disappeared for only a second before reappearing below Mr. Sulk's face, coming up and headbutting his chin. Mr. Sulk was knocked back, but kept his smile. The smiling patient grabbed his keyblade by the chain coming out of the handle's end, spinning it around like a chain mace. He whipped it at the heartless, hitting it square in the face. The creature lurched back before Mr. Sulk hit it again, sending it into dust.

After the moment of excitement ended, Mr. Sulk tried to put his teeth together, but winced back in pain. The headbut had hurt his jaw and gums, making it painful for him to smile like he normally would. Mr. Sulk's grin underneath his mask shrunk in size, but still remained there. "Let's get going, shall we?"