Night 50: Cafeteria

[herr_inspektor]

[from here]

The dark of the cafeteria took enough time to adjust to against the light and colour of what had occurred in the Sun Room that for a moment Lunge only waited by the door, too cautious to move any further into the room without being fully prepared. It seemed unlikely that two ‘guardians’ would be placed in such close proximity to each

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[quarter_english]

[From here.]

The idea that Jones had a plan was comforting, in its way, although L would not have described himself as someone who required that kind of comfort; in this case, it ameliorated his concern that a useful ally was going to get himself killed for nothing. Jones seemed to be staying in the Sun Room out of a feeling of responsibility for his younger followers, and L could understand this, but he hoped that Jones would know when to cut out. Dent, too.

He wondered again about the glint of metal he'd seen in Dent's hand, and frowned. Had Dent flipped a coin? The outcome of the flip of a coin was a flimsy basis for a decision which should have been obvious, particularly when it appeared that Dent was making the wrong choice.

The cafeteria itself seemed to be clear, but nonetheless, L took up a spot near Lunge, watching what was unfolding in the Sun Room. The woman's level of theatricality was absurd. Eye-shaped lasers? As he watched, he analyzed what had just happened

[herr_inspektor]

He'd heard Jones reeling off orders for the rest of the group at his back, orders he didn't understand interspersed with names he only partially recognised, but soon enough L appeared at the door next to him. That was a relief- whoever else made it to the door would undoubtedly not speak the same language as him, and the odds were they would need a translator. "German," he answered absently (the question implied that L had heard differently), stepping aside as the curly-haired young man hurried in after them and... was that it? Was everyone else stopping to fight

[quarter_english]

L shook his head in response to Lunge's answer, then spoke again in German. "I heard English. Keman can't understand us, but it's obvious that he understood her." How can we each hear her in our own language, but we can't understand each other? he wondered. "I think tonight's trip will prove to be a waste of time. We should have taken a different route. There is one thing, however: whatever the mechanism is that provides translation, Landel is able to turn it on and off with... it sounds like a computer. It isn't the first time that we've seen the suggestion that a computer system controls this place."

He watched, impassive except for a faint frown, as the scene unfolded in the next room. What can be explained by projection, and what is likely to be real? The woman, certainly, could be located somewhere on the balcony; the other Special Counseling patient might have been placed there to protect her operations. Yet was possible, he knew, even probable, that the woman was only demonstrating powers she truly possessed. A week ago, the

[herr_inspektor]

At least L could still understand him- and the woman in the Sun Room, who sounded as though they'd somehow managed to conveniently bend whatever rule Landel had just put into place, but that was neither here nor there. Ending up in group of three without any means of communication whatsoever would simply have added insult to injury. Their joint mime seemed to cool any passions Keman might have directed towards the Sun Room, at least, given that the electricity across his fingers was rapidly fading along with the young man's expression; he wasn't happy about it, obviously, but that wasn't Lunge's problem.

What was his problem was working out their next move. They couldn't wait around forever, not while Jones and the others were still in the middle of a fight (and a massively unfair one at that- their only real option, it seemed, was to make an escape), but at the same time they couldn't go on ahead without further guidance. He roughly knew that there was a trap door in the refrigerator, but they could search all night for it and still

[quarter_english]

The sudden language barrier made it difficult for L to express his displeasure with Keman's decision to charge back into the Sun Room, a decision which Lunge didn't seem to like any more than L did. Pointing out that the goal was to reach the basement posed just as much of a challenge--but it was reckless to be pulled into an unnecessary fight, and senseless to give up ground that they'd gained.

Apart from that, he didn't have the impression that the woman would cause permanent harm to the people who had stayed behind to confront her. Living toys were more interesting than dead ones. The rest of the group would be fine in the morning; if they weren't, it would be because they had gotten into the fight to begin with, not because their numbers had been lower. The woman seemed like she would have been as equal to seven opponents as she was to four.

He shot an impatient, scornful look in Keman's direction, one that made his opinion--That was stupid--clear. It reminded him of Matsuda, and of the times he had been forced to take rapid