A Restless Night

You look into the brooding wood, and feel a dark sense of foreboding. The events of earlier flash through your mind and you decide that it is probably not a good idea to venture into the forest with such little light to illuminate any possible ambushers. You turn your back on the forest, and start to head back the way you came.

You glance at Evie’s face as you pass, and notice a look of relief flicker briefly over her expressionless face. She turns to follow you, and the pair of you walk slowly back toward the college.

You rack your mind as you walk, thinking hard about a possible shelter from the fast approaching night. You require a place that is firstly sheltered, and also relatively unused, so there will be only a low chance of meeting a demon during the night. Also heating would be very useful, and due to the wide disruptions the demons are probably causing, relying on mains power is not a good idea. This means a place with its own power supply would be ideal. This is the same for fresh water, another necessity that could be compromised. Finally food would be useful, though not necessary, as you can always go looking for food tomorrow.

You think hard on the problem, running places through your mind again and again.

Suddenly a thought comes to you, how about going to the pool? The college pool has both its own generator, and its own water filtration system. Even better it is generally empty, and is well stocked with vending machines, filled with snacks and food. You decide that this would be the best place to go, and start to head over to it.

You push open the doors of the building and walk slowly into it, scanning around yourself carefully, looking for any signs of other people, or worse things. You see nothing that could denote the pool is currently occupied, and begin to relax, letting go of the wariness that you have held so close as you moved throughout the college.

All the feelings you have been suppressing rush back, and the foremost one of these is hunger. Looking around you spot of vending machine close to you, and stride over to it. You begin to search your pockets for change when you suddenly begin to laugh at the stupidity of the action. Laughing to yourself you focus magic into your fist, and slam it straight through the face of the machine, ripping open the protective screen. You reach inside to grab a snack bar, and ravenously begin to eat.

You suddenly remember the girl, and turn slowly around to look for her, chewing your little snack. You spot Evie walking aimlessly around the seating area of the lobby, an aimless look on her face. Swallowing your mouthful of food you call over to her:

“Evie! Hey, you hungry? Chocolate, crisps and stuff here if you want some!”

The girl looks towards you for a second, then glances back down toward the floor, completely ignoring your offer. You mutter darkly to yourself, but let the dismissal slide. Looking around you see a sign pointing toward the women’s changing rooms, and therefore the showers. You turn back to Evie and call to her again:

“Hey Evie, you should go grab a shower, I’m sure you will want to wash a little of that sweat and grime off your body. The showers are that way.”

With that you gesture vaguely to towards the women’s changing rooms, and take another bite of the snack bar. The girl again looks up for a second, before dropping her head back down into her quiet appraisal of the floor. You feel a flash of annoyance, and quickly swallow the food in your mouth.

Injecting a little anger, as well as a touch of demonic seduction, into your voice you call out to her again, commading rather than suggesting this time:

“Evie! Go get a shower now! You! Shower! Now! MOVE!”

The last shout jolts her into action, and she quickly walks over to enter the girls changing rooms. You watch her go with quiet satisfaction, and finish the rest of the snack bar.