estoria | « 001 ⇢ OVERFLOW.EXE »

That gets Armin to take a step back involuntarily. It's a bad response. A prey response. Armin knows this. He's no stranger to being prey, after all, but it happens automatically, he can't stop himself in time. That's unfortunate.

He clears his throat, a little awkwardly. "How instinctual is that?"

It's nothing personal, it's just that he's really not keen to be a snack to his savior any more than he'd enjoy being eaten by the beast. Or anything else for that matter. It's an unpleasant and recurring theme in the natural and unnatural world alike.

Now that was more the kind of reaction Mika had been expecting- recoiling in horror or fear. Yet even so, much as it might confirm his own prejudices, it still stings Mika a little to see someone react that way to him.

Not that he has any intention of admitting as much, especially to a stranger.

The question that follows puzzles him, however.

"What do you mean?" If he meant was the craving for blood instinctual, then yes, of course. Even now Mika can feel that insatiable thirst; if he listened closely, his vampire senses could probably hear the beckoning heartbeat of the human next to him. But if he meant was it something impossible to control, then that isn't the case, otherwise Armin would have found himself bitten by now. It took only exercising self-control to resist, and as long as Mika had at least a little blood on a regular basis, it would stay that way.

"... You really don't know anything about vampires, do you?"

"We must be from different places."

Because Armin knows very few things. He's realizing quickly just how few. At home, he'd thought he had a good grasp on most common knowledge, but here even that seems to escape him as often as not.

"Maybe you can tell me. What should I know?"

"..."

Really, Mika doesn't want to talk about this. He's probably already said more than he should to someone he doesn't even know. So he doesn't reply, not immediately, at least, instead still looking around for a way out of this stupid place.

"... If I'd wanted to attack you, you wouldn't have been able to stop me," he says finally, not even looking in Armin's direction. It's not much of an answer, but it's his way of making clear both the difference in power between a human and a vampire... And the fact that he's not actually interested in harming random humans.

Frankly, that much Armin had gathered simply by the evidence at hand. It seems useless to point that out, though. Instead he sighs softly. He has a friend at home who is more than a bit monster himself, but he has no interest in killing humans. It might be something like that. A monster with a touch of self-loathing, perhaps?

Somehow, it isn't funny. Armin feels instead that he can relate. He can't blame someone with a secret like that for playing his hand close to the chest. It's best to let it go for now. If Armin is a little extra wary now, it's only because he'd let his guard slip too far to begin with.

"Then I'll try to stay on that side. Which way did you come from? I've been in that direction, and there's nothing of use to us over there."

"Over there," Mika nods in the direction of the shack from before. At least, where his best guess is. It's a little hard to tell directions in this swamp.

Then they've covered ground in only one direction. That's too bad. Armin puzzles over it for a moment. "Continuing this way makes the most sense."

It's the opposite of where they began, and there's been nothing to indicate a change in direction would serve them best. Aside from that trap that's well behind them now, but it's far too late to right that mistake.

There's a moment of hesitation, as Mika wonders whether or not he ought to listen to this guy at all. But he frankly doesn't have any better idea, and if Armin has some idea what he's doing it wouldn't hurt to take advantage of that, right? Whatever gets him out of here the fastest.

Not that he's even going to bother replying before starting off in the direction Armin picked.

After a moment of hesitation, Armin starts off that way again as well. In what feels like an instant, he's well ahead again and bent double, trying to focus on breathing. Whether the vampire catches him up again or not, this will be an unpleasant journey. He can only hope it isn't much longer of one.

Well that was unexpected. Mika didn't even see Armin move, just one moment he was behind him, the next, a flicker of motion far ahead catches his attention. After a few seconds of being startled, however, Mika leaps ahead himself, easily covering the distance at a speed considerably faster than a human would be capable of.

"What was that?"

"I ran."

Short words are all Armin can manage at the moment. His lungs are aching from the abuse he's given them today. His legs shake. No matter how he tries to remind himself that it isn't real anyway, it feels as though it is. He's obviously doing something wrong here.

"Something...in a bottle...that I drank."

A bottle...? Oh.

"In that shack back there?"

This place seriously just gets weirder and weirder...

Armin nods, slowly straightening up. He's embarrassed to admit it. How foolish had it been to fall into such a trap, and so quickly? He hadn't been able to break through the windows either. There'd been no other way that he could find to escape.

"Can't seem...to stop."

Which is a pity, because he really hates running. He's not usually very good at it, either. Today seems to be the exception.

Well that's an interesting dilemma. And an annoying one, if it means waiting for Armin to catch his breath every few minutes. Though while the idea of simply going on without him certainly crosses Mika's mind, he can't help wondering a bit about how the strange effect works.

"... What if you only try to move a short distance?" he says after a moment.

"I arrive quickly."

A joke? Perhaps. If it is, the tone isn't there for it. Armin is feeling a little tired at this point, after all.

"Even one step?"

He's kind of going somewhere with this, and it actually doesn't matter all that much what the answer is. Not if what he's thinking is possible.

Are they going to attempt to leave one step at a time?

Ah. That sounds frustrating, but perhaps there's some merit to it. "I haven't tried. I've been trying to slow down, or stop, but only with an objective in mind."

"Taking just one step quickly isn't as tiring as running a long distance, right?"

Mika realizes it would be incredibly tedious, but that he's bothering to offer a suggestion at all is more than he'd normally do. Besides, unless Armin has a better idea...

"I suppose not."

It's worth a try! Though of course as soon as Armin makes an attempt, he finds himself standing under a tree, several hundred yards away.

Ah. He'll need a bit of practice at this.

"Sorry!"

Mika just shrugs at that.

"You're the one it's a problem for, right?"

... And just keeps walking. He already did what he could do to help, after all.

Hmm. That's that, then. Armin blinks, and hopes that he won't come across anything else particularly threatening.

He'd better keep practicing taking one step at a time, then. In the event he needs to run he'll be glad that he's saved the energy.

Armin's certainly free to tag along, of course, Mika just isn't going to bother waiting up. If Armin wants to stick with him, he'll have to figure out how to keep pace on his own, is all.

Try to tag along Armin does, in fact. It isn't as successful as he would like. He keeps finding himself running ahead, though in shorter bursts than before. He even tries closing his eyes, but that just ends with him sliding belly down in a bunch of swampy sludge. Ugh.

Still, he keeps Mika in sight. If he's defenseless, it can't hurt to stay close to someone powerful. He's willing to risk annoying the man for a little for that sake.

"Have you been here a long time?"

The colony, that is. This particular place aside.

For his part, Mika just continues walking on in the same direction, looking around for something--anything--that might give a clue as to how to get out of this place.

"No." The answer to both questions is the same, anyway. He doesn't bother returning the question, however. Why should he care?

That doesn't seem strange to Armin. He's only recently graduated training, only recently grown to age of majority. It would be far stranger if someone happened to be interested in him than not. At any rate, Mika himself is a far more interesting topic of conversation.

"What are the rules? -For vampire."

He'd rather not get himself into a situation where he becomes a desirable snack, after all. Even if it seems he's died young at home (that's hardly unexpected after all,) he's in no hurry to repeat the mistake again here.

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