Day 55: Courtyard [2nd Shift]

[sheepwood]

After what seemed like an eternity of being amused, irritable, bored, in pain, in excruciating pain, and any combination of those, Guybrush was met by the same soldier who had led him to the cafeteria. He wasn't offered a trip to the Sun Room to check the bulletin board, but didn't push for it anyway. That would have been more walking, and moving

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[unheroed]

Honestly, he didn't see why people would want to talk in this sort of weather except for one reason: distracting yourself from the cold. Harvey figured it was the best option he had at the moment, and so he wasn't necessarily bothered by the fact that the self-proclaimed prodigy had come to join him. It had been some time since the two of them had talked, though Franziska seemed as unshaken as always.

For some reason, he got the feeling that solid front she had wasn't completely genuine, especially since the first thing she did was try to point out his weaknesses. He realized that was probably her attorney instinct kicking in. It was always about breaking things down in the courtroom, whether it was people or arguments.

Her methods didn't really bother him, though, and so he only scoffed and shrugged. "I don't think many people are a fan of it. It got cold in Gotham, but it didn't snow that many days out of the year." And when it did, he tried to stay indoors somewhere with central heating. Anyone who found this sort of thing refreshing probably needed to get their head checked.

"Anyway, it's been a while. What have you been doing with yourself?" Probably nothing as interesting as exploring the basement, but he still would rather put the ball in her court first.

[iwhipthefool]

Gotham. Franziska filed that detail away under the rest of the information she had about Harvey Dent. She had never heard of that city, but it could easily be on the east coast. Most of Franziska's work took her abroad or to Los Angeles only. As she listened, she closed up her jacket and folded her arms over her chest, looking out over the slowly whitening landscape. "Germany is just as cold."

Her native country tended to be a bit colder really. Although Franziska spent most of her time indoors within the prosecutors' offices or in chartered cars, she was still quite accustomed to the cold. She didn't mind it as much as some people, even if she didn't exactly like it.

When Harvey decided to continue the conversation with the usual pleasantries, Franziska raised an eyebrow. Either he was asking to be polite, or he had something of use to say. Or thought she had something to give. To be honest, she'd done little but investigate and then run into that annoying brat again. "I find myself surrounded by fools incapable of doing anything but scream like ineffectual children in the face of danger. Yourself?"

[unheroed]

It made sense that someone who'd grown up in Germany would be able to handle the cold unflinchingly, and so Harvey only nodded in response to that. He'd never been there himself, but he knew it was far enough north that it had to get pretty damn cold in the winter. While the leather jacket the soldiers had provided them was doing a decent job of keeping the warmth in, it would have been more helpful if it was fur-lined or something.

Well, either way, he wasn't going to complain. Especially not when a girl half his age and a head shorter than him seemed to be managing just fine.

Franziska had responded with a small amount of surprise to his question, as if it wasn't the most common thing to ask. But the two of them had gotten past the pointless personal questions along with the "how long have you been here?" stuff. It seemed better to just cut to the crux of the matter, and she at least didn't hesitate to reply. Not that it was a very helpful one, though it was amusing enough to earn a laugh out of him.

"I've been lucky enough to work with people who are a bit more capable. Been working on the basement, actually." He'd just spoken with S.T. about how they didn't really need to hide that information, and he thought that Franziska was someone who was driven enough to benefit from it. "We were attacked, but well-armed enough to handle the threat."

[iwhipthefool]

The basement. Franziska folded her arms, clenching her fingers into one leather sleeve as she realized everyone was getting somewhere except for her. Why was she surrounded by such ineffectual people?! If only she could find someone who could actually do something here (and wasn't affiliated with her father in some form or another), perhaps she could start making progress, too. Of course, she had effectively alienated the one person with whom she had made any semblance of progress with this morning, but...

Ugh, just thinking of that made her sick.

Turning her head away, Franziska looked out over the snow, finding the quiet, frozen landscape soothing. It was easier to think when the world was blanketed in white. It seemed perfect that way. No blemishes. Just pure powder stretching into the distance. The courtyard would have been much better if there hadn't been people in it.

"How far have you gotten? Doing better than that night in town, I suppose," she said, unable to keep a slightly contemptuous tone from her voice.

[unheroed]

It looked like someone was holding a grudge.

And maybe Franziska had good reason to, seeing how his lack of participation meant that she'd gotten some nasty wounds down her back. Harvey realized that she had probably recovered from them a while ago, and yet he got the idea that she was more bothered by the principle of his actions rather than the result.

As it turned out, he had been working at being more of a team player since then. Part of that was due to realizing that he wouldn't get anywhere otherwise. Relying on others didn't really sit well with him, but in this place he had no other choice. The three of them had gotten through a portion of the basement and had even taken down a hoard of monsters last night; he couldn't ignore results like that.

"Sounds like it's halfway through. Maybe a third." He didn't know what the coliseum was going to entail, but he realized it would probably require fighting something difficult (the sphinx with no opt-out, maybe?). "We got some sort of trinket for getting through one challenge. Apparently we need a second one and then we can get to the main event." And to what end? He had no idea, but he'd rather know.

[iwhipthefool]

At least Harvey Dent proved useful. The basement area had been whispered about for quite some time and, while Franziska wasn't a fighter in any respect, a mystery wasn't something she could let sit for long. It merely meant she would need to dupe someone else to going in with her, someone who could fight, or at least act as a meatshield. Scruffy would be perfect, but Franziska hadn't seen much of him lately as she'd been busy with Battler being an idiot and Klavier being a fool.

Two 'trinkets' were required to gain access to the so-called 'main event.' If Harvey knew what that was, he wasn't telling and if he didn't, then he was blindly walking into possible danger. Sadly, that seemed to be the norm here for most of the patients. They just blithely walked about, careening headfirst into life and death situations. Franziska would call it foolish, but the fact of the matter was there was no other way to progress here. They were being pushed forward in a single line toward some indeterminate goal.

She disliked that and her distaste at that realization was reflected in the way she crossed her arms and gripped one arm of her jacket. She let out a displeased hum under her breath and then turned her head back to Harvey Dent. "So there are two challenges one must defeat in order to win. I see. Are these tests of skill or strength?"

One she could do with her eyes closed and without the need of other people, but the latter? She would need someone to do them for her. Scruffy or Kibi-- Someone. Not that buffoon. She wouldn't turn to him again unless she was absolutely desperate. "And who do you go with?"

[unheroed]

Skill or strength. That was the question, wasn't it? It's what he and Sangamon had discussed at breakfast, and it was probably the first thing that someone was going to worry over if they weren't exactly the fighting type. Franziska had held her own against that zombie, but it had only been one and she'd still paid for it. He could see why she'd be apprehensive; hell, so was he. The mention of this coliseum was just another possible death trap.

"I've only done one part so far, but it was a mental test. We had to answer a riddle." Franziska seemed annoyed, though not at him -- more at the situation, and he couldn't fault her there. Still, chances were her nerves would get pulled at even more if he started going on about a talking sphinx. In the light of day, in relative normalcy (forgetting the guns and uniforms, that is), he could barely believe that he'd gone through all of that himself.

"My guess is that the other side will be a physical challenge, but don't take my word on it." It seemed like Landel's style, but this wasn't Landel's playground anymore, was it? There was only so much that the military would be able to change in such a small amount of time, but Harvey didn't want to underestimate them either.

The question of who he went with was a bit more complicated to answer, but one of his companions would definitely be recognizable to Franziska. "Well, Indiana Jones is always on the team," he said first and foremost. "Other than that, it switches up a bit. Last night we were with this guy called Sangamon Taylor, but there's a kid named Scott who comes sometimes." And apparently the boy who wore spandex and refused to give his name, but once again he made sure to censor some of the facts for Franziska's own sanity.