Day 50: Courtyard (3rd Shift)

[toxicspiderman]

Getting up before the 7-11s opened on Sunday was anathema to any right-thinking man. Sangamon Taylor was no exception. When he wasn't on a field trip to Nowheresville. Where the locals were unconvinced that the Pope was going to personally write them a strongly worded letter if they had fresh Coke with their pancakes. Moving from bed to couch

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[cmdr_exposition]

It was still strange for Hayes to have too much free time on his hands. For years he'd had to resolve one crisis after another, and they certainly hadn't the time or the power for any kind of movies. It was kind of a shame that he didn't really care for the early ones, actually.

But not much of one. Even if they'd been showing something newer, which was highly unlikely given their refusal to even acknowledge that his century existed, sitting and watching would have nothing on being out here. Even inside, the air without endless recirculation and overtaxed scrubbers seemed almost impossibly fresh- out here, where it was actually coming freshly off of plants, it wasn't something he thought he'd ever be bored with again.

And, while the courtyard wasn't empty, it was quiet, which was good for making plans. The first order of business, he thought, sitting back against a tree with one more glance at TK's map, was to arm the Captain. That was obvious. What next, though?

[Come on over, Abe~]

[bprd_fishman]

No soothing rain to fall on his face, sadly, but the fresh air was still comfortable. Abe set his hands behind his back and walked the courtyard path, letting his mind wander in the relative peace of the daylight.

If he could alter the doorways a path out was even more useless, but a path in was as well. Perhaps Abe had been thinking this too Hellboyish and brute forced, perhaps the best way was to find some form of ritual or incantation...but there was nowhere to start. This place was useless. He hadn't even bothered appealing for a better library.

Along the path he came to a man sitting with his back against a tree, looking over some sort of document. Abe, naturally curious, walked around behind him and peered over his shoulder.

A map?

[cmdr_exposition]

Instinctively, Hayes turned to see who was coming, but it was just a fellow prisoner with a look of vague inquisitiveness. No cause for alarm, no reason not to be friendly; Hayes raised his hand in a brief wave of acknowledgment, then followed the other man's gaze to the map in his hands.

"You like it?" Hayes asked, holding it up slightly. "A friend drew it for me on my first day in here. It's been coming in pretty handy."

[bprd_fishman]

"Is that really a map of the facility?" Abe crouched beside him, tilting his head to look at the map. "How did he manage to get this far? I've only been able to see a few meager rooms." Of course it might be from compounded knowledge, which again asked the question of why nobody had thought to do that on a larger scale. The American government was efficient and organized compared to the Landel's Institute information network.

Belatedly Abe realized he was being nosy. "Abe Sapien, I'm sorry, I should have introduced himself," he said, extending a long and bony hand to his informed companion.

[cmdr_exposition]

Hayes shook Sapien's hand with a smile; it was hard not to be in a good mood out here. "Daniel Hayes. It's no problem, I can see this being more interesting than names."

The map hadn't impressed Hayes as much when he'd got it as it did now that he'd seen how hard it was to actually get anywhere, but now it seemed he'd had more luck than he'd known in meeting up with TK. "Well, he's been here for a while, and apparently that bulletin board wasn't always an exercise in steganography. He says before the staff cracked down, people used to share their partial maps on there."

[bprd_fishman]

"Hence the censorship. I suppose it's understandable on their part." Abe slipped down into a cross-legged position, taking the map out of Hayes' hands without bothering to ask for permission. He ran his fingers down it, tracing his own path. Two kitchens, so the second floor must have been the one he visited with Tobias.

"You've not been here long, I take it?" he asked, not looking up.

[cmdr_exposition]

"Of course you can borrow that," said Hayes dryly, but without real annoyance. Sapien was clearly just interested, and Hayes had dealt with too many scientists to be too put out by that kind of thing. "If you've got a pencil, we could copy it down- the more people know their way around, the better for everyone."

Now it was Hayes' turn to peer over the other man's shoulder, though the path Sapien's finger took didn't mean anything to him. "Just days," he replied, as a part of him was surprised at just how much had been crammed into so short a time. "I've been pretty lucky in my friends. How about you?"

[bprd_fishman]

"I don't seem to make friends very easily, but no one seems to outright loathe me." They were afraid of him, yes, but not loathing. Abe supposed he could consider the Scarecrow a friend, but the golem seemed to make friends far too easily. He should talk to him, find out how he was doing at some point...

Abe kept tracing the lines of the map, committing it to memory. The facility held no obvious labyrinths, getting around seemed almost easy provided the doors were working properly. Which they might not be. "Here," he said, pointing at the main doors. "These are locked, I take it, or guarded? It seems far too easy to simply walk out of the building if we know where the exit is."