Daimyon, uncharacteristically, did not give much heed to Calvin’s arrival. He kept his attention on the woman—who the latter identified as Marianne—, though he had no idea how to exactly advance the situation. He was about to turn and ask the smith for further details when she suddenly spoke up, giving the poet a minor startle.
“There was...blood.” Marianne gurgled on her own saliva gathering in her throat. She spoke to nobody in particular of the two men who had come to her aid, but had her gaze fixed directly ahead, where the now-open elevator doors stood.
“...there was blood.” Stunned, she finally looked up into the puzzled pairs of eyes, both green and blue, and she flinched, beginning to panic. Her gaze fell to her hand, traces of red still on her fingertips, and she swivelled her neck around to notice the wall behind her, her own bloody fingerprints staring back at her.
“There was blood o-on the doors…” she whimpered, staring horrified at her hand.
“I swear, there was. You have to believe me, there's...there's blood all over those doors!”Her teal eyes went glassy, staring horrified into the gentlemen’s, like a doe caught in the headlights.
Calvin kept his distance, while still trying to calm her down.
“Hey, hey, we don’t think that. We’re in the same-” “...who are you? Where am I? Why are you here?” she retorted before the smith could so much as speak, and almost swatted away any hands that would try to reach her to comfort her, pulling up her knees to her chest defensively.
Inevitably, her torso stung, and Marianne couldn't help but wince as she backed up further against the elevator wall.
“Merely to hel—”Daimyon tried to sound reassuring, but it had little effect.
“Tell me where I am, right now, or I'm going to call the poli-” she interrupted flatly. Her voice faltered, hand emptily grasping at air where she'd normally kept her phone - on the bedside table of the ward bed she was given.
“...where's my phone? What's...what's going on?”“Jesus fuck.” Calvin muttered, looking at Daimyon.
“...long story, this.” The poet looked at Calvin, then back to Marianne.
“Filled with...unpleasant details.”Still like a frightened animal, she backed up further against the wall, her hand clutching at her dress hem leaving dried red hand prints on the white fabric. Somehow, she looked defeated as she whimpered again.
“...why am I here? No, why are we here?”“...and this we also wish to know. Or rather, we do know it, it just isn’t entirely...satisfactory.”The words, which usually came like a river flowing gently in its stream or a leaf falling at the height of autumn, sputtered out of Daimyon in a stiff manner. He swore he could hear the gears grinding and making horrible clattering noises in his brain. Once again his eyes found Calvin, who unfortunately did not look to be faring much better than him.
“We. Er. ” Calvin was stumbling, but it was clear Daimyon didn’t have much more to say.
“You saw the video?” Marianne nodded, an eyebrow raising slightly, waiting for him to continue.
“We’re stuck here. For a while, it looks like. A group of us woke up in elevators like this yesterday.There’s a bunch of us here, and we’re all just as confused as you, but.” His tongue felt heavy. He didn’t know what to tell her. He didn’t know what to tell himself.
“There are more elevators like this?” the woman voiced her primary concern. It said a lot that the first place her thoughts went was not to the well-being of the other occupants in their current situation.
In her head, if every elevator was exactly the same, there would be blood in each and every one of them. Even if Marianne didn't know what the words would have said, or even if they were a coherent sentence, the mental image came to mind, and gave the woman more resolve. The fact that the blood must have come from somewhere played at her thoughts. But she was alive. Or more alive than not, rather.
Wherever this was, the creators didn't seem to be playing around. That in itself was infinitely more unsettling, and immediately, the identified threat shifted away from the two men with her, and was directed to an outward force. Namely, that bear.
Monokuma.Calvin looked at Marianne, huddled on the floor. She seemed to be calming down, and he felt a shift in the mood of the group. He had forgotten about the words on the door, and they came to him in a flash.
“Abandon hope all ye who enter here…” Calvin muttered, to himself more than to the others. He saw a mouth turned into a peaceful smile. He felt sick.
“...!” The woman's eyes widened as she caught remnant snippets of what the darker haired of the two men murmured to himself. It took her a second, then five, before she straightened out her posture, arm reaching out for the railing to finally haul herself up. Her body was more sore than ever on the cold metal floor.
Daimyon moved to support her and rein in the sudden movements she was making with a hasty resolve. There was a newfound fire blazing in her eyes, but her body was a bit slow to catch up and she still looked like she could be toppled over by a breeze. Whether distracted by her new trail of thought or simply welcoming the help, a formerly startled Marianne did not fight the help she was offered, this time around. Her aqua orbs were focused on Calvin, trying to search out an answer in his uneasy face.
“...what did you just say? Please...please, could you repeat that? I think...I think that might be a clue…!”She needed him to repeat it to confirm it, but there was no doubt. If she heard what she heard, that was exactly what was written in blood on the elevator doors. Putting two and two together, if that was the case, that's what everyone's elevators would have said. Why was that significant? What did it mean…?
It took Calvin a moment to realize the girl was talking to him. He looked up, with a pained expression.
“Abandon hope all ye who enter here.” He raised his arms in a pitiful display of welcome.
“That was on in all the elevators. Looking at it now, I guess it’s advice.” “I wonder why...they chose those particular words. Why hope, of all things. I suppose it's a phrase I've heard before, but...something strikes me as odd about it.” Marianne pondered, pulling away from Daimyon’s assistance and standing on her own two feet now. She wobbled a little still, but was definitely much better.
“We'll just have to...well, find a way out, I guess. How stuck...could you possibly be, in this…”She took a careful step, and then another, past the poet and the smith, for the first time getting a proper look at the outside. It seemed eerily familiar, but still alien, all at the same time.
“...place. Last I remember, I was in a hospital bed and-”The woman froze for a second, immediately turning around with an embarrassed expression tinged with guilt.
“I'm really sorry. I never even introduced myself properly. My name is Marianne. If we're all infinites here, like the video said, then I believe I'm the Infinite Herbalist. It's nice to meet you.” she breathed at last. It seemed all the words had tumbled out at once.
Calvin slid a gauntlet off of his hand, and offered it in a handshake. His knuckles were blue, as if there was no blood flowing through his hands.
“Calvin. Infinite Metalsmith. I…” The sentence trailed off, and Calvin looked down at the ground.
“The pleasure is mine. It's just a shame we could not have met under better circumstances.” Marianne's head cocked to the side at the metalsmith’s curt reply. She reached out to meet his hand for a handshake, only noticing the gauntlets for the first time. True to his profession, she supposed.
As she shook his hand, she couldn't help but notice it was distant. Not as in it wasn't attached to his body, but it very well may have been. Her keen intuition as to what the human body should and should not look and feel like prompted her to subconsciously reach for her cord necklace, a habitual reflex when something seemed out of place. Where there were usually two lipgloss tubes hanging from it, now there was just one: the lighter coloured of the two.
Marianne cursed under her breath.
Not wanting to appear inherently weird for holding Calvin's hand for so long, she pulled away disjointedly and bowed her head politely before sheepishly scratching at her arm, not looking either of the gentlemen in the eye.
“...I'm sorry I freaked out at you two earlier. I didn't mean to worry you.”Calvin slid the gaunlet on, back over his cold hand. She was thinking, and Calvin was half convinced it was something about him. Daimyon spoke up.
“There is nothing to be ashamed of. We all, ah...react differently when unexpected situations arise. Yours was...still quite tempered, I would say.”As Marianne was steadily regaining her presence of mind, so was Daimyon. With the last tugging remnants of the early morning despair wearing off of him, he started feeling lighter and smoother—a very welcome change which also manifested in his speech.
“At any rate… I am Daimyon, Daimyon Londe. I also work with flowers; mine are just made from letters, words and lines. Infinite Poet, at your service,” he too introduced himself and took a very short bow as he had always.
“Enchanted, Mister Londe.” Marianne mimicked the poshest British accent she could muster, finally smiling a little as she returned his bow. For the first time, she noticed how peculiarly he was dressed. Curiosity killed the cat, she had always heard, but she was tempted to casually enquire about his sexuality. Then she decided against it. There was certainly nothing to be gained from false accusations, especially when you had just made someone's acquaintance.
“Um…” the dark haired woman dusted herself off, not allowing the silence in the atmosphere linger too long. Her hair was a mess from her waist down, and would definitely need a brushing. Somehow, her body clock registered the situation much before she did, and her stomach released a threatening rumble.
“...forgive me, I...what time is it, here? The last thing I remember, I was just about to have lunch, and then, well…” she opened her arms and looked around the corridor,
“I got here. I hope I didn't wake anybody. I really hope it's not the middle of the night, and that I frightened you two so much that you awoke and-”She caught herself rambling, coughing a little as she finally moved away from the elevator. The first thing in her field of vision was a door with a small pixel image on it. She would have to enquire about it later.
Calvin cleared his throat. He raised his hand, pointing to the break room behind him.
“It’s about breakfast-time. Everyone’s probably eating in there.” He was in no rush to go, but he knew that Daimyon was likely hungry. Marianne too, if she was asleep as long as she said she was.
“I support that notion.” Daimyon nodded. Now that they were out of the elevator, there really were few other places they could go to. Especially with the unruly stomachs they all possessed.
“Food sounds like a good idea! I'm really hungry.” Marianne admitted with a nervous laugh.
“I'd really appreciate if you gentlemen could escort me there.”She paused for a second, with her finger on her chin in contemplation.
“If I remember correctly, of all the Infinites, there was nobody who was able to attend to others medically. Is there anyone who may need medical assistance? I realise we are in a hospital though, as...this looks like Axis Mundi. This is where I last remember being before I woke up in that elevator. Still, it's different.”Rubbing her arms emphasised how frigid the environment was. It was quiet and eerie, and Marianne was glad for some company. Very glad.
“Lead the way, Calvin, Daimyon. I would like to meet all the other Infinites, too!”The promise of sustenance was more than enough to return Marianne to her usual self. Maybe it was ignorance that kept her going, having no knowledge of the night prior, but she gave the gentlemen the biggest smile she could muster. Her teal eyes were tired, but from before, were much brighter. If they were paying close attention, they may have noticed her giving the gentlemen a shaky wink. Anything to keep spirits up, after all; making friends before enemies was an inherently good idea.
Calvin stared at her for a moment. What was her game? He needed to meet the other new members, and he still wasn’t fully acquainted with the original group. He looked at Daimyon. He wasn’t close with the Infinite Poet, but dealing with the newcomer, he was glad for any bit of familiarity he could get.
Daimyon, on the other hand, did not have any concerns or if he did, he did not show them. In fact, he seemed very happy that Marianne was a similarly gregarious fellow.
“You have the right idea already. Let us go!”