Night 55: M01-M10 Hallway
In the end, the owner of the other box never arrived. Firo spent dinner giving glances at the door while he ate, wondering if there was some delay or if he didn't have a roommate after all. By the time that Firo had finished eating and was then debating whether he should change clothes (it was nice to have something familiar here, but did he want to risk the clothes getting damage if the monsters were real?), he could hear the faint sound of the speaker in the room turning on, but no sound came from it.
He waited a few minutes, and then started looking around the room instead, opening drawers and rifling through the closet. Peter had said there should be a flashlight somewhere in here...
Firo didn't find the flashlight until he'd given up looking for it: he'd flopped onto the bed after testing the door-locked-and could feel something hard underneath the pillow. When he'd pulled said pillow away, a flashlight was laying underneath. That was one more point to Peter, but at the rate things were going, it didn't look like he'd have a chance to get out of this room after all, short of breaking down the door.
And then the static started. It started off low, easily ignorable, but then grew enough that Firo reached up to cover his ears in an attempt to block the incessant noise out.
"Cut that out!" he snapped irritably at the speaker, directing a glare at it as well-and then paused. Was he really trying to threaten an object...? Whoever was on the other end of it would be a more appropriate target, but whoever it was couldn't even hear him from here. Breaking the speaker would have been more effective.
A minute or two later, the static finally cleared, and a man began to speak. His words were direct (though Firo had no idea what he was talking about), and it wasn't long before he'd said his piece and the speaker turned off. In the silence that followed, Firo moved towards the door. He'd heard a click when the announcement had ended, but that could have just been the speaker, not the door... He reached out to test it once more.
The door opened. Warily, Firo poked his head out into the hall.
It was dark, but even so, he couldn't make out anything particularly guard-shaped in the immediate area. Peter had been right about the door, about the flashlight, and (according to hearsay) about the monsters. He wouldn't be satisfied if he just stayed in his room and passed up a chance to see it all for himself, though-and besides, he wasn't feeling tired at all now.
Firo pulled back into the room and turned towards the metal box. He had debated sparing his clothes earlier, but now that there really was a chance to go out... If he was going to have a look around, he'd be much more comfortable in his suit than in this stuffy uniform. Off went the beret, followed by the shirt and belt and trousers, and a few minutes later he was dressed in his own clothes, adjusting his jacket. He reached for his hat, but stopped himself just before his fingers would have touched it.
He didn't mind risking damage to his clothes tonight, but his hat... It was too important to take right now. If he were planning on escaping that would have been another matter-he wouldn't have even considered leaving it behind-but he was only thinking about having a look around and sneaking back in before morning... And if he was lucky, maybe he could even find a knife, in case the 'monsters' proved to be everything people had said they were.
Leaving the hat where it lay and picking up the flashlight instead, Firo headed out the door and started down the hall.
[From M9 to here]
He waited a few minutes, and then started looking around the room instead, opening drawers and rifling through the closet. Peter had said there should be a flashlight somewhere in here...
Firo didn't find the flashlight until he'd given up looking for it: he'd flopped onto the bed after testing the door-locked-and could feel something hard underneath the pillow. When he'd pulled said pillow away, a flashlight was laying underneath. That was one more point to Peter, but at the rate things were going, it didn't look like he'd have a chance to get out of this room after all, short of breaking down the door.
And then the static started. It started off low, easily ignorable, but then grew enough that Firo reached up to cover his ears in an attempt to block the incessant noise out.
"Cut that out!" he snapped irritably at the speaker, directing a glare at it as well-and then paused. Was he really trying to threaten an object...? Whoever was on the other end of it would be a more appropriate target, but whoever it was couldn't even hear him from here. Breaking the speaker would have been more effective.
A minute or two later, the static finally cleared, and a man began to speak. His words were direct (though Firo had no idea what he was talking about), and it wasn't long before he'd said his piece and the speaker turned off. In the silence that followed, Firo moved towards the door. He'd heard a click when the announcement had ended, but that could have just been the speaker, not the door... He reached out to test it once more.
The door opened. Warily, Firo poked his head out into the hall.
It was dark, but even so, he couldn't make out anything particularly guard-shaped in the immediate area. Peter had been right about the door, about the flashlight, and (according to hearsay) about the monsters. He wouldn't be satisfied if he just stayed in his room and passed up a chance to see it all for himself, though-and besides, he wasn't feeling tired at all now.
Firo pulled back into the room and turned towards the metal box. He had debated sparing his clothes earlier, but now that there really was a chance to go out... If he was going to have a look around, he'd be much more comfortable in his suit than in this stuffy uniform. Off went the beret, followed by the shirt and belt and trousers, and a few minutes later he was dressed in his own clothes, adjusting his jacket. He reached for his hat, but stopped himself just before his fingers would have touched it.
He didn't mind risking damage to his clothes tonight, but his hat... It was too important to take right now. If he were planning on escaping that would have been another matter-he wouldn't have even considered leaving it behind-but he was only thinking about having a look around and sneaking back in before morning... And if he was lucky, maybe he could even find a knife, in case the 'monsters' proved to be everything people had said they were.
Leaving the hat where it lay and picking up the flashlight instead, Firo headed out the door and started down the hall.
[From M9 to here]