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]

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.

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