Day 60: Recreational Field (Third Shift)

[razing_phoenix]

It was definitely a good thing that Tear had tracked him down, seeing how she'd had a wealth of interesting information for him. Granted, a lot of it he could have guessed himself, especially the details about Landel's capabilities, but it was always good to have it confirmed by a trustworthy source

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[razing_phoenix]

It wasn't that hard to see that Luke was losing hope with each piece of news that was given to him, and Guy felt guilty for that. It wasn't like he wanted to depress his friend, but he wasn't going to coddle him either. And even if Luke was reacting this way now, Guy was sure that he would come to accept it in time and he'd be able to take his rightful place as leader in the end. It was a large burden to bear, but somehow Luke had ended up with it. The boy of prophecy; the one with the red hair. This wasn't Auldrant, but that wasn't going to stop Luke from being Luke, was it?

"Well, I can't say for sure that no one has escaped, but if it's happened then I certainly didn't hear about it." He shrugged, digging into his bag of lunch for the fruit slices there. "It's possible a few people managed to get away last night, even. Let's hope for that." And more than that, that those people would either come back or send information to them.

Of course, they had unearthed all sorts of details about the history behind this place over the weeks, but it was impossible to know what was useful and what wasn't. Still, there was one fact that he was going to have to make clear to his friend. "Well, as a matter of fact..." He paused to chew on the apples and glanced across the field. "Anise, Claude, and I have been working our way through the basement. There are rumors that it'll lead somewhere, but we haven't made it all the way through yet."

If they did find a way out, though, how were they going to take the others with them? Tear and Luke wouldn't have any access to the part of the basement that they were exploring now, and Guy doubted there was any way to get around that. What did they do, tell them to go through the coliseum challenge? How could Guy encourage his friends to do such a thing?

[dispersive]

"Oh I guess that's true." It was hard to find evidence of people escaping since, well, they escaped! They weren't going to come back and pass on their heroic story to a wandering patient. They would be gone, never to be seen again or maybe they had compassion enough to try and thwart the hospice from the outside. Either way, it couldn't really hurt to ask around. Rubbing at his jaw, Luke tacked on a note to his brain to put up a bulletin or ask some people he could come to trust about it.

This endeavor might be fruitless, but at least he would be making some kind of progress. The young man had a lot to catch up with, if Guy's admissions to uncovering some basement were anything to go by.

"Is that what you guys were doing last night?" If that were the case, then: "Why didn't Tear go?" She was the trained soldier in their bunch. Trekking through new territory seemed pretty reckless without a skilled guide. True, they had Anise, but it seemed like Tear's perspective would be a bit more critical and calculating as they moved through a treacherous place.

Then again, she seemed to have an important roll within the small medical circle. If there was a shortage of healers, Tear would need to use her expertise in order to save others. You couldn't always do what you wanted, he reminded himself. Sometimes you had to do what was needed.

"I guess if she needed to help out with healing..." Luke answered his own question, even if it wasn't exactly the answer he was looking for.

[razing_phoenix]

It was only a matter of time before those questions were going to be asked. Guy tried to think of the best way to phrase it, something that wasn't going to make it seem like the others were being left out. It wasn't like this situation was ideal for him, but there wasn't much they could do to change it now. He just didn't want to get the idea in Luke's head that he needed to race down to deal with the coliseum.

"Basically, you have to have gone through another part of the institute to even get there. If you pass one challenge, it leads to another. So Claude, Anise, and I did that first challenge together, so we're able to go into the caverns together too." It was good that the three of them were all able to stick with each other, at least.

Granted, Tear focusing on making the most of her healing abilities was another good point. "Tear hasn't expressed too much interest, probably because she's been working on the healing thing, yeah." And he had no idea about Natalia at this point. No one really seemed to, honestly. Had Luke even met her? Probably not...

[dispersive]

Okay, Luke was trying to piece this all together as Guy talked. It didn't help that this whole situation was so ridiculous that you couldn't even find edges of logic or common sense to hold onto in order to reach the next step. All his friend's explanation did was uncover even more questions. It all left Luke rather stunned, drained even. Why would this place add challenges that could lead them to freedom, maybe? Was it simply a trap for the unsuspecting or the under experienced?

If it had been anyone besides Anise and Guy, Luke would have felt concerned, but he knew they could handle whatever was thrown their way. Actually, now that he thought about it, concern was the furthest thing from his mind. He felt rather numb.

"You know--" the young man started as his eyes shifted between Guy and the ground below him. "--the longer I sit here, the more I feel like I'm going to wake up any minute from a crazy dream..." so why concern himself over any of it? This world or this thing he had created was too bizarre to truly exist. Maybe it was a side effect of his dispersion. Maybe he was cracking up. And maybe this was all real and he had to suck it up like everyone else.

With a frustratingly heavy sigh, Luke leaned over and propped his chin on his left hand. "What a pain..."

[razing_phoenix]

That wasn't really the reaction that Guy had wanted. While he couldn't blame Luke for feeling that way, he was going to have to face the reality of it eventually. Everyone did once they had been here long enough, and Luke wouldn't be any exception. The rest of them needed to be able to rely on him, and while Guy had no doubt that Luke would be capable of handling this place once he'd gotten more used to it, he was still so new.

Except this was the fourth time that he'd been new, and so Guy realized that he was being a bit impatient with his friend. Not that he was showing any of that outwardly, but he still felt bad for it.

"Yeah, it is a pain, but it's also the reality of it. You're not dreaming." If Luke couldn't separate the real Guy from some dream version, then what kind of friends were they? He gave his friend his most charming smile and then reached over to clap a hand on his shoulder. It was real, he was real, and while it didn't make sense for Luke to come from essentially sacrificing himself to ending up here, that was still what had happened.

"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of this place soon enough." It was probably pretty obvious that he and Anise were used to it. Tear and Luke were bound to follow along -- Natalia, too, if she was still here.