Night 55: North of the Institute

[razing_phoenix]

[From here.]Hitting the ground hard, Guy clenched his teeth when the impact hit his ankles; he hadn't had the time to really plan his fall. Still, he had avoided any sort of serious injury, and after taking a moment to recover, he slowly got to his feet

Comments

[scarefaux]

[From here.]

It was fortunate there was a layer of snow to cushion the the fall from the wall as the Scarecrow's boot slipped immediately on touchdown, resulting in a solid landing on his backside. He got to his feet quickly, a little surprised by how the damp snow felt against his rear.

He had to admit that the institute looked so different from the outside, especially on a side he'd not seen before. Though the snow smoothed the landscape, he could make out trees and hills in the distance. Were there other buildings out there? Or another city? There was no road to follow- it was a little disorienting.

"Well, here we are," the Scarecrow said with a little bounce, eager to get moving. "Which way now?"

[stlg13bomber]

"Um..." Carter looked unsure. They weren't on the right side of the institute for the buses, but he couldn't see so much as a hint of a road under the blankets of snow. "I...I don't know. I've never been outside the walls, just in the town or in the forest."

He fished the flashlight out of his pants and tapped the end thoughtfully against his lips. "I guess away from the institute?" he offered, very unsure of himself. He was supposed to be leader here but he had no idea where they were going.

Oh, well. Did it even matter? They'd be taken back to the institute in the morning anyway, so wherever they went they wouldn't be stuck there. Carter rubbed one hand against his arm, trying to ward off cold, and set out into the snow. Maybe they'd find the road eventually.

[scarefaux]

"I've only been as far as town, and that's when they've taken us during the day," the Scarecrow said, taking a few quick steps to match Carter's pace. "Well, I did end up in town on the night the doors were enchanted and not a single one seemed to lead where it was supposed to." Well, that was not including the ones in the patient blocks, which had been spared that night from Wizard Landel's antics.

The Scarecrow felt odd now that he'd lost his flashlight, leaving him empty-handed. He felt in his pocket with his better hand, retrieving the watch after a moment of fumbling idly. Holding the piece to his ear, he could barely make out the soft ticks from the moving hands over the crunching of their boots in the snow

[stlg13bomber]

"Me too. I wound up in the pet shop with Kairi, it's how I got my ring to take us there the next day." He still had the ring, come to think of it, but he hadn't fixed it yet. He'd heard that you could fix the gem in it by putting blood on it or something but there wasn't any blood around here and Carter really didn't want to cut himself on anything. Maybe later.

Even the crunch of his own footsteps scared Carter and he kept looking from side to side, hyperaware of even the smallest of noises. If there were rats in a city, where you expected rats, what kind of monsters were out in the countryside? Even bigger ones. There could be poisonous pumas out here, or wolves the size of elephants, or killer moose. A little old crowbar probably couldn't take down a moose.

"Here. Hold the flashlight, okay? I might need both hands if something attacks." He handed his light off to Scarecrow.

[scarefaux]

The Scarecrow returned the watch to his pocket as he took Carter's flashlight, feeling marginally more useful than before. As he watched his companion looking from side to side, he took a look around himself. What was he expecting to attack them?

He shuddered, thinking of the possibilities: he could see trees in the distance, and while he didn't think the witches that lived in the Institute would bother patrolling the less-traversed areas, forests usually contained dangerous beasts. If the dogs from the field and the kittens in the Sun Room were any indication, it was likely anything living in the woods- lions, tigers, bears, or otherwise- wasn't going to be of the talking variety, so reasoning with them was out.

[To here.]