Night 72: Main Hall, 1-West

[no_dont_go]

[from here]

Aigis was quick to take a spot where she would be easily seen. As far as she knew their plans for the night were simple. Get downstairs and go through the opposite door they tried the night before.

Resting against a wall, she calmly waited for her friend in the dark.

Comments

[freewill]

[From here.]

At this point, Castiel had expected to be the first to make it to this part of the hallway, which was so well-known for initial meetups. He was surprised, in a way, that Landel didn't just try to cut them off here. All he would need to do was send a few monsters this way, and they'd be distracted for the whole night.

He kept that thought to himself, of course. Castiel was hardly suspicious, but he also knew that thinking that way would go nowhere good.

Either way, he wasn't the first this time. Castiel spotted Aigis a bit further down the hall and nodded to her, but didn't draw any closer. Both of them clearly had their own plans, and they had already spoken earlier in the day. He imagined she'd be heading back down to the basement, while he would be going the exact opposite direction. At least they'd be covering plenty of ground.

As usual, Castiel leaned up against the wall, keeping a sharp eye out for Kratos and Lloyd.

[For Lloyd (and maybe Kratos).]

[redcladidealist]

[From here.]

When Lloyd stepped into the next hall and scanned the area with his flashlight, he finally found evidence that he wasn't the only person out in the halls. There was a girl or a woman he didn't know leaning against a wall, probably waiting for someone else. Lloyd might have approached if it had been just her, not eager to stand alone in the dark, but as his flashlight kept moving, he spotted someone else.

He'd only met Castiel just the once, but last night had been enough for Lloyd to recognize him again a moment after his flashlight flicked across the man. The teen didn't hesitate before striding over to him, wishing once again for a sheath to slide his sword into. Oh well. It wasn't like they needed to shake hands.

"Castiel." Lloyd kept his voice low. He looked around, but there wasn't any sign of anyone else. Turning his eyes back to the other man, he asked, "Have you seen Kratos yet?"

[freewill]

Castiel hadn't expected Lloyd to arrive first. Kratos tended to be the punctual type, though Castiel hadn't been waiting all that long either. Kratos would probably be along in the next minute or so.

He didn't understand why Lloyd would bother asking when it was clear Kratos wasn't here, but Castiel only shook his head. "He should be here soon." Kratos had never failed to show up for one of their nighttime missions, so Castiel had no real reason to worry.

For the moment it was only himself and Lloyd here, though, and he had to fumble for something to talk about. He glanced over the young man's clothing and the sword in his hand. "Did you bring the key with you?" It might be vital to their task tonight, so he wanted to be sure all of them had it.

[redcladidealist]

"I see." Last night, Lloyd had passed through this hall before the others had arrived, darting upstairs on his quest to collect enough metal for Al to transmute into a sword. He didn't know if Kratos had any other plans or things he needed to do before they made their attempt, but it made sense in Lloyd's head that there might be a chance that he'd passed through briefly already.

At Castiel's question, he nodded. That was one of the things he'd first made sure he had when he was getting ready for the night. "It's in my tool belt, in one of the pockets." He would have fished it out, but with both his hands occupied, that was probably more trouble than he needed to go to right now.

Although, now that he thought about it, there was something he wanted to bring out. Tucking his flashlight into his belt, he dug out the piece of paper he'd found with his possessions tonight. "I got another note from the rebels," he said, holding it out. "What about you? Did you get one, too?"

[freewill]

There was no need for Castiel to see Lloyd's key. He already knew what it looked like, so simply knowing that he'd brought it with him was enough. That toolbelt he had looked to be rather useful, though Castiel found that he got by well enough with his trenchcoat. He generally didn't bring that many items out with him at night.

As Lloyd started fumbling for something, Castiel waited as patiently as he could until he caught sight of the scrap of paper. "I did," he confirmed, but he focused on reading Lloyd's first, tucking his blade under his arm so that he could hold the note with one hand and shine his flashlight on it with the other.

"Hmm. It looks that we got the same exact note." He hadn't realized that was possible, but it seemed that the rebels had written out multiple copies of the same odd message. "It doesn't seem like we can do anything about this device for the moment, though."

[forsworn]

[from here]

By the time Kratos arrived at the appointed meeting place, it seemed that everyone else had already gathered. That was good: he didn't think he'd taken that long preparing, so hopefully this meant they would have the maximum amount of time to take on the third floor.

"Evening." He stepped up next to them and noticed that Castiel was reading something - presumably, a different note. "Did you both receive another note tonight?"

[redcladidealist]

Lloyd opened his mouth to respond to Castiel, but that was the moment that Kratos stepped into the hall. His dark form, barely illuminated by their flashlights, was hard to recognize at first, and Lloyd tensed until his father was close enough to identify his features. Relaxing only a little, he nodded at the question.

"We did," he said, "but our notes are the same. The rebels said they're going to help us take out Landel." A cheering thought, as he interpreted it, and one that obviously lifted his spirits, but it came with a catch. "The note says we have to do it at the same time as someone else as someone else taking out the security. I didn't even know there was someone working on taking the security out. How do we find out who's doing that so we can work with them? I mean, without Landel finding out?" That was the biggest problem he could see.

Even as he spoke, though, he nodded his head down the hall. Now that they'd met up, they needed to get moving. They could talk while they walked easily enough.

[freewill]

Kratos had good timing, and Castiel stood by as Lloyd quickly caught him up on what they'd already discovered amongst themselves. He did find himself relaxing just slightly now that Kratos was here. Lloyd seemed capable enough, but Castiel wasn't that used to him yet, and so spending time alone with him was still slightly awkward.

Considering Lloyd's questions, which were all valid ones, Castiel took a few moments to ponder. "It could be that others have received information about the security system, while we've been selected to take out Landel." Or to find the archive. The work would need to be split up evenly, but the issue of coordination was still present.

"I don't know if it would be safe to communicate by the bulletin board, but we could make an attempt. There are also the radios..." Not that Castiel had tried to use his yet, but if the rebels were responsible for them, which seemed likely, then chances were that Landel wouldn't be able to eavesdrop.

Catching Lloyd's nod, Castiel returned it and then started down the hall, his weapon held tight in his hand.

[To here.]