Day 57: Sun Room

[bodhiandspirit]

It figured that night would end before Rita and Taura could progress any further. Rita wasn't particularly disappointed to wake up abruptly, as they had reached a dead end. Really, the institute was doing them a favor by bringing them back to the starting point, where they could regroup.

What she didn't appreciate was the loss of valuable time,

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[toxicspiderman]

In the dictionary next to grin, shit-eating, a picture of S.T.'s face at that moment would not have been inappropriate. People usually asked stupid questions, or good ones that he couldn't answer. The last two days, it had been S.T., what's in the basement? and S.T., how do I hotwire a car?, both of which were neither. Utena'd gotten the car going too, so he was batting 1.000 in GTA.

"Two sides, two shrinky-dink prizes. Fuck if I know what they do."

He pulled out a piece of paper, and drew a circle in the middle. "Ballroom is here." He added a couple of feeder roads to the rotary. "Both of them have two doors. Brain and brawn." He added a small room with what appeared to be a stick figure of roadkill. Then a jumble of lines. "Sphinx, with riddles and everything, and a maze. The first will definitely get you a shiny little trinket. If you find out about the maze, let me know."

Then he turned to the other side. "South all I know is the guys looked like shit after they came out. North is a hall of armor. If you've got any attachment to a weapon, it'll be there. Sentimental or missing metal tail-harpoon." He shrugged. "Beyond that you're getting blasted by something familiar to one of you." D.C. had been first through, tail in hand. "Probably whoever goes in first. Kill it, you're golden." Silver, really, but why let fact get in the way of a good metaphor.

"Not sure if there was three of them because that's the minimum for the doors, or because there were three of us." And that was all he knew that wasn't wild conjecture.

[roseoverture]

In response to her questions, Utena got a lot more than she'd expected, but it was exactly the sort of thing she needed, so she was definitely not complaining. She watched as S.T. sketched out the map, then took the paper to look over as he finished up his explanations. Borrowing a pen, she quickly scribbled down a few notes next to each room, knowing that she was liable to forget these things if she didn't. Sphynx, maze, hall of armour, tail-harpoon...? Utena was confused and even more wary of the basement than before, but kept writing anyway. The last thing she wrote was "3 people - 3 enemies?? Or 3 people to open door." She would bring at least three or four down with her if she ever went, then, either way.

"Wow, thanks for all that," she said, folding up the paper and stuffing it into her pocket for the time being. "I'm still not sure if I'll actually go down there, but if I ever do, that'll be great for figuring the place out." Until then, she had a few things that needed taking care of above all else.

All too soon, as usual, the two of them were cut off by the return of Landel's voice above their heads. That, at least, hadn't changed. It always seemed like they had so little time to do anything in the course of a shift. Where did all that time go, even?

"Thanks again, S.T. I'm going to see if I can find my friend here next," she said with a nod. "If you need help with anything, too, let me know, okay? I don't plan on going away again anytime soon."

Please be in there, Himemiya, she thought, picking up the pace as she followed the crowd of patients into the cafeteria.

[toxicspiderman]

"Good luck."  Sangamon knew he should feel bad, handing a teenage girl keys to the stupidest thing he'd tried here yet.

CHILD SOLDIER SPEAKS: BETRAYAL, TAYLOR-MADE
 ACTIVIST RECRUITED TEENAGERS FOR SUICIDE MISSIONS

Yeah, that was him.  Unfeeling monster to humans, soft spot for baby harp seals only because he'd lose his funding if he didn't go gooey over them on national TV.   He hoped she'd find her friend, whether here or with a golden ticket home.

Besides, she didn't have a magic shortcut.  Or she'd been holding out info, but was as guileless as a searchlight.  Not stupid, just earnest.  If she could make it through the brainwash corridor at rush hour, she'd be O.K.  At least with the illegal fighting ring, and she liked to surround herself with smart people, so she'd be set for the Q&A.

(What had happened to that other girl?  The one who acted like a fifty-year-old librarian trapped in a teenage body.  Utena hadn't been frantic to find her, not like this.)  Maybe that was why she was determined to stay.  Having to go around searching for your best friend was one thing.  Prostrating yourself for the sake of some guy you sat next to in freshman calc because you both hated waking up on time and only the seats in the front row were left?  That sucked.

This whole place sucked.  She needed all the luck she could get.  And a better shoulder than his to cry on once she realized her buddy had checked out, so he just let her march off on here quest, a shining beacon of youthful optimism.