Corpse threw his head into hands, wrapping them around the back of his neck as he leaned his elbows against the wall. He wasn't sure how to deal with these new emotions that Nova was causing him to experience. He figured it was best to give her some space, for maybe he was coming on a bit strong.
No, he needed to go after her, for he was filled with the fear of pushing her into another man's arms. Part of him was scared to death that he was in completely new mental territory while the rest of him was determined to not lose her. He'd never tried to win over some girl's heart before, and he wasn't sure how to go about it. Obviously, being overly jealous wasn't working out for him. He had to play it cool and get in touch with her emotional side. First, he had to find his.
"Hey," Corpse said softly, entering Communications where Nova was merely staring blankly at the screens.
She didn't acknowledge him with anymore than just a glance before brushing past him to leave.
"Wait," he said, not wanting her to walk away from him again.
"What do you want?" she said with exasperation, stopping to raise her eyebrows at him.
Corpse felt a pang of pain through his chest at the way she spoke to him. He'd tried too hard, and he lost the one person he thought he'd had a real connection with. It never occurred to him that she probably didn't see him the way he saw her.
"I'm sorry about earlier," he said.
"It's fine," Nova shrugged as if it weren't a big deal so long as they kept to themselves.
Corpse shook his head, heaving a breath of disappointment in himself, "It's not fine."
Nova could see that he was really trying, so she decided to stick around and let him talk if that's what he needed to do. Maybe he was actually opening up, and she didn't want to deny him his moment.
He attempted to calm his nerves, but with Nova staring at him, he was at a loss. He had replayed it in his mind over and over again how he would explain he was only acting out of jealousy because he liked her.
Though his motives were unclear to Nova, Nova was quite the mystery to Corpse as well. She'd kept to herself in the beginning but seemed to meld flawlessly with the others. She was the gap between social and anti-social. She had this aura that drew him in, him finding himself craving to be noticed by her when he was so accustomed to remaining unnoticed. She made him nervous, caused him to think twice, forced his adrenaline to rush, and it was thrilling for him to actually feel something.
Corpse opened his mouth, finally having the guts to just come outright with what he wanted to say, but, before he could speak a word, they nearly jumped at their tablets buzzing. Corpse inwardly cursed at the horrible timing as they curiously looked down at their screens, unsure of why there was an emergency; there couldn't have possibly been another murder.
Poki had looked around to make sure no one was in view before she slipped into Electrical. The low hum of the electrical boxes and dim lights made her stomach churn, reminding her of the moment she came across Rae's body.
Suppressing the overwhelming need to vomit, she clutched her stomach and gagged before shaking her head and pausing to take a calming breath though the metallic smell of blood still lingered in the air.
She came upon the vent in the floor and crouched down to open it, wanting to know where exactly it led to in order to find out where the killer must have come from. But, she found it was locked. Though the clanking of the small door sent a shiver down her spine as it jogged the memory of the moment she was behind the wall of electrical boxes, she tilted her head in confusion as it was impossible to open. The killer must have had a key.
