Nightshift 46: M11-M20 Hallway

[notthistrain]

Once again the doors had opened. Cloud believed most of what Yuffie had told him, but it was still unreal the way this place operated. They were clearly being tested, mocked, or both with the nightly routine, yet they didn't have many other options but to take the chances they were given

Comments

[replicatedorder]

One of the bad things about working like this was that he was forced to strain his eyes the entire time. It wasn't like he hadn't had to do it other times. Making notes in a journal while moving through various parts of Auldrant hadn't always afforded Luke with the best positions; sometimes he was forced to squint and look closely by a firelight. Other times, he had the fortune of stopping at an inn, which was well-lit most of the time. Then again, writing journal entries just meant he had to remember things. This required precision, and, of course, this place didn't exactly make that easy. Still, he did what he could, and just hoped that it would be legible when he handed it over to Cloud.

The good thing, at least, was that he was mostly done. The roof needed a couple more markings, but he could finish that in the morning. This was especially good with the banging on the door-though Luke wasn't an expert about knocking of all things, that didn't sound like a hand-coming just as he pushed aside his journal with a heaved sigh.

"Yeah, I'm here!" he called. Luke found himself quickly losing that frustration as he stood up to move to the door. When he reached the door, he opened it, pausing only at the sight of Guy. It wasn't that he was going to say anything about it, but it was a little amusing to see him like that. Even though he looked kind of funny, Guy had come all this way to help him out. He moved to press his back against the door while letting Guy step in a little, and as he did, he reached out to grab the flashlight out. That way, he was holding up one less thing.

"Thanks for coming," Luke said a moment later. His gaze already drifted to the meat cleaver. Not the best weapon, but in a place like this, he figured he could manage. He just wished that Landel wasn't so afraid of them; after all their fighting, he really wished he had the Key of Lorelei here.

[razing_phoenix]

Just hearing that voice put Guy at ease. He'd known through all of his worrying that it had been more or less unfounded, and yet he hadn't been able to help himself. He imagined that was a side effect of watching over someone for so many years. That protective instinct didn't go away so easily.

He didn't hesitate to hand over the flashlight when Luke moved to take it from him, since that was definitely the most precarious thing that he'd been holding. On the other hand, the meat cleaver was what he was really here to deliver, and so he flipped the blade around to extend it handle-first to his friend. "As promised," he said with a smile. "I know it's not much, but it'll work for now."

It wasn't like Luke would be able to perform most of his Artes here, anyway. Without being able to do a lot of fancy swordplay, all that was really necessary was the means to take out a monster, and the cleaver would work well enough for that in most cases. Unless they ran into something really nasty, anyway.

While Guy wouldn't be too surprised if Luke had already made plans, he could at least hope that there was space for him to come along as well. "As it turns out, I'm free for the night, so..." He bowed his head slightly, more as a joke than out of any seriousness. Luke might smack him if he got too polite with him. "If you'll have me?" Chances were he'd be taken along on some errand he'd already gone through a few times over, but Guy found that he didn't mind. He'd be doing it with Luke, so what else mattered?

[replicatedorder]

Kneejerk reaction as it was, Luke frowned in response to behavior. Serving as his friend or not, he didn't entirely like the habits and jokes that tended to come along with it. He just wanted his friend, and some part of Luke felt weird about it. It was the same as when he was titled as the Viscount for being a hero; it was true that he did a lot and he embraced it, but the similar air of awkwardness was still there within him. For the sake of not making a big deal out of it, Luke shoved it aside, but he had a feeling Guy would be able to tell anyway.

His hand extended toward the meat cleaver to take it, and remembering his awkward circumstance with the pipe and Yukari from the night before, he didn't decide to wave it around to see how adaptable it was. "This'll work," he commented instead of remarking about the evening's plans, and it wasn't too different from something he used once on Auldrant. Sure, it was slightly different in size, but he'd done the kitchen utensil weapon once before.

"I don't have any plans tonight," he went on. "I talked with Anise about the third floor and getting there, but ..." Luke paused, shrugging his shoulders. "Do you know if there's a way to even start?"

[razing_phoenix]

As expected, Guy did notice Luke's reaction, and it was enough to make him straighten and square his shoulders almost immediately. He still wasn't being casual, and he realized that, but he never liked to relax too much, even when he was in these hallways that were hardly ever frequented by monsters. If it chafed against Luke that much when he did things like that, then Guy would have to try and quit it. Easier said than done, but he'd keep it in mind.

He was glad to see that Luke approved of the weapon at least as much as he needed to, and he tried not to show off his own sword too much. It was definitely better quality than the cleaver Luke was now holding, but Guy still wasn't accustomed to how short the blade was. He really should have asked Okita about the status of the sword he was apparently obtaining for him, but this past dinner hadn't been the right time for that. Tomorrow, maybe.

It was good that Luke had met up with Anise, too. Guy smiled just at the thought of them reuniting, imagining it up to Anise's excited voice and Luke's uneasy (but relieved) smile. He wondered how long it had taken before Anise had mentioned their upcoming marriage.

The issue of the third floor was more sobering, though, and Guy's brow knitted as he put a hand to his chin. "If there's any way of getting there, I haven't heard of it," he said, not bothering to sugarcoat. "We can look around the second floor for any clues for how to get up there, though, if you want." It seemed like as good an idea as any, and if Guy was going to be completely honest? After what had happened in the basement, he was perfectly content to head up for now.

[replicatedorder]

"Yeah, that's also what I know," he said with a frown. "But it's better to go up there than to go back down to the basement. Even if you can't tell me what happened there, I know it was something bad." Another assertion of information, to make it clear that Luke was apparent something happened. He regretted not telling Cloud that bit of information, but knew he would at their next shared meal. If not there, Luke intended to experiment with the bulletin a little to see what he could tell others. "But ... uh, that's gotta be what we do now."

An epiphany occurred to him just then. Luke glanced back toward his journal and what he had been previously drawing. A roof. "Hey, Guy, how come people know about the roof, but not the way to the third floor?" Knowing this place, there was some uncomfortable, unfortunate explanation, but he felt the need to ask. Really, he figured it was something stupid like the fact that the floor was somehow skipped when they went up on an elevator. It seemed to match the atmosphere of this place.

[razing_phoenix]

What? Why wouldn't Guy be able to tell Luke about what had happened in the basement? He'd already hinted at it, after all. "That's where..." But even though more words should have come, they didn't. He wanted so badly to tell his friend that's where Sync killed me, but it wasn't working.

So that's what Luke meant. He must have figured it out when speaking to Anise about all this earlier on. Guy clenched his teeth and let his arms fall to his sides in a sign of irritation. "Well, that's annoying. Guess I shouldn't be surprised, though." If they were able to warn everyone about what the basement led to, then people wouldn't continue to fall into that trap. It made perfect sense, really.

At least Luke went ahead and brought up something that Guy could talk about, although he quickly realized that he didn't have a good answer for his friend. "That's a good question. I only ever got my hands on maps of the first and second floor, so I'm not really sure." Maybe there was some secret way to get up to the roof? He hadn't heard much about it, but that wasn't a huge surprise. People didn't like discussing things that important on the bulletin board, after all.

[replicatedorder]

Luke noticed Guy's inability to speech and it annoyed him immediately. Those bastards who ran this place made it impossible for him to share what happened; just seeing that made him tighten his hands around the flashlight and handle of the cleaver. They needed to make everything harder on people, and it was obvious that they needed things to go their way. At least, Luke did have a plan around that; he just hoped they didn't come and try and shut him up for trying to employ that. With their stringent controls on things, he wouldn't be too surprised.

Without removing the tension, he slipped away from the door, allowing it to click close, so he could go grab up his journal, and the maps that Anise provided him. Not wanting to show Guy his own handy work, he simply grabbed the one with the roof, and turned to show it to his friend. "Someone's been up there before," he explained, pointing out just how detailed it was. According to the map, it was full of monsters, but it still opened some possibilities. "If we can get up there, maybe we can climb down to the third floor."

Sure, it was a little insane, but that wouldn't keep Luke from trying. Tonight wouldn't give them that possibility, but it was something to work toward.

[razing_phoenix]

Guy was as annoyed, if not more so, by his inability to talk, but there was no point in either of them dwelling on it. There didn't seem to be any immediate way to fix it, and so they would just have to look for other options for how to get back at this place. Guy drew a little closer into the room and then took the map from Luke when he handed it over. He recognized Anise's writing and smiled to himself, but then took to examining the map itself.

It was very detailed, to the point that it made Guy suspicious. Why hadn't he heard more about this until now? Maybe it had been special circumstances that had allowed someone to gain access to the roof, but figuring out what that was wouldn't be easy. "Yeah, it's worth a shot, but first we've gotta figure out how to get there." Which was already obvious, but sometimes it was worth setting Luke on the right track. The redhead had a tendency to jump too far ahead of himself. "I guess the first step would be asking Anise where she got this." It had been after Guy had copied her maps, at the very least. He knew she wouldn't have kept something like this from him.

The roof also sounded dangerous, which meant that they'd probably want to get a large group of them together before heading up there. Guy sighed and handed the map back to his friend. "So let's stick with the second floor for tonight, I guess." There wasn't any better option, as far as he could see.

[replicatedorder]

Recalling where Anise got the maps from, Luke had a feeling that going to her might not give them the results they needed. "She said she got it from the bulletin," he explained. "Before they decided to make everything harder on people." Not that he knew how well distributed things were before, but Luke could easily imagine. Anise was able to get maps then. That was enough of an explanation of how much things changed. "I-I have a pretty good feeling that she probably will be as clueless as we are." In a way, he berated himself a little for not asking that very obvious question when they were talking. Then again, it was too late now to worry about it.

"So sticking to the second floor pretty much seems like our only option," he said with a sigh. "Damn ... Why can't this stupid place make any sense?" It seems really illogical to assume that no one had made their way around the second floor completely; from what Luke could see, there were a lot of people here. And if there were others providing maps and no stories of people being ritually killed every night, it seemed unlikely to assume that people were less than proactive. No one wanted to be brainwashed-or, at least, that was his logic.

His outburst given, Luke returned to his desk to tidy up his journal and put it away, with the exception of the map of the second floor, which he kept out. Better for tomorrow morning. He grabbed his own flashlight and tucked it under his arm the same way Guy had been, and handed Guy's back to him when he reached him again. "Better get going, right?"

[razing_phoenix]

That did complicate things, then. If Anise had just snatched them off of the bulletin, then anyone could have put them up. Chances were that they wouldn't be able to ask about it on there unless they used some sort of veiled language, but it might be worth a shot just to solve this mystery. There was a chance that someone had just made the map up to try and mislead people, but Guy didn't want to assume anything. "Yeah, we... might be out of luck, then," he agreed. At least Anise had managed to copy it down before the staff had started watching the board so closely.

While Guy couldn't blame Luke for being frustrated, he couldn't stop himself from letting out a lighthearted laugh. "You'd better get used to this place making no sense. If there's one thing that doesn't change here, it's that." Most people got to a point where they stopped trying to explain the odd things that happened and just accepted them as best they could.

Nodding when Luke returned with the second floor map and his flashlight, Guy took it in hand and then turned toward the door. He had to pause for a moment when he wondered which of them should take the lead. It was usually always Luke, and yet his friend wasn't used to this place yet. "Do you know where the stairs are?" It was a subtler way to ask Luke if he wanted to lead or follow.

[replicatedorder]

One of the good things about drawing maps while Guy was coming was that he wouldn't be going out completely blind. Luke didn't know all the various intricacies of the institute, but he at least recalled where the stairs were. "Yeah, I remember from drawing it," he replied. His hands shifted to fold up the map for the moment, so it would at least be in a different condition. Plus, even if Guy offered to lead, Luke wasn't sure he would have wanted that. It was a thing that he forced himself to do, even in the most difficult of conditions. Making decisions for himself was one of the big changes, and his friends had always been there with him. Now that he was here, it only seemed logical to continue down that vein.

Luke took the proactive position by easing around Guy and opening the door. His flashlight pointed forward, he started down into the hallway, hoping that he wouldn't run into anything problematic along the way. And if he did, at least he would have the meat cleaver, which felt decidedly better than a stinky old pipe.

[to here]