damned_institute | Night 65: Underground Lake

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Night 65: Underground Lake

[From here.]

This was all becoming a bit stale.

Especially the feeling of nausea that came with the transport. Harvey didn't want to think too hard on the implications of that. Just what exactly was done to their bodies when they were moved around like that? It couldn't be natural in any sense of the word, but it still beat trying to get down here the normal way.

His only real consolation was that he couldn't smell anything too well down here. It was a shame that they couldn't just keep on giving up that sense, but even Harvey realized how that wouldn't be "fair" according to Landel's rules. What really wasn't fair was the fact that they'd all been stuck in this place for weeks now, but...

Even he started to get sick of his own complaining, so he left it at that.

Once the other two seemed to have recovered, Harvey nodded toward the docks. "We know the drill by now, right? Let's make this quick." He needed to enjoy his voice while he had it, if that's what he was giving up.

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Seishin's gaze followed Silvestri-san's beam of light, which eventually illuminated a dock. There appeared to be a boat, as well. That seemed...a little too convenient, didn't it?

Once something rose from the boat, Seishin halted in his tracks. The beams of their flashlights revealed the white bones of a moving skeleton with staff. But rather than attacking them, it actually spoke.

A talking skeleton; a flirty one who had mistaken him for a woman, apparently. That hardly made Seishin feel any more comfortable, and despite the strangeness of the situation the former priest couldn't entirely stop himself from making a face. He didn't look that feminine, did he?

How was he even supposed to respond to this? Perhaps the situation would have been a little less complicated had it not involved a talking skeleton in charge of their only apparent way across...

Ilia sucked in a sharp breath of stagnant air. A talking skeleton. With a charming voice that seemed completely out of place. And was flirting with them. Both of them.

Ilia didn't suppose Seishin was all that manly as far as looks went. She hadn't suspected he was a girl upon first meeting but the situation had been different. Now they were thrown another curveball but at least this creature, whatever he was, didn't attack on sight. If anything...

The scientist's face lit up as a plan formed in her head. She gave Seishin's hand a squeeze, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Let me handle this."

Turning to the skeleton man, which wasn't as horrifying considering the things she had seen before entering the institute, Ilia offered him what she hoped would be a charming smile. She spoke up, her voice echoing a bit off the cavern walls. "Hey there! We were just passing through and wondering how to get across. I don't suppose a rugged guy like yourself would mind giving us a lift now, would you?"

Ilia couldn't help her momentarily imaging Welch as a vindictive thought ran through her mind. That girl had nothing on Ilia when it came to charming men.

Hey, now. Someone who didn't cringe at the sight of him? Maybe this voice really did do the trick. Too bad he had to give it up at the end of the night, though.

"That's what I'm here for, beautiful," he said with a small chuckle. "I know this lake like the back of my hand -- well, what's left of it, anyway, heh."

Of course, just because a couple of pretty faces waltzed up to the boat didn't mean he was going to forget his own rules.

"If you want to ride, though, you gotta pay the toll," he explained. "Don't worry, I'm not interested in money or material possessions. A sack of bones like me is mostly interested in a few things." He leaned forward, staring at the two patients with empty eye sockets. "Sight, sound, touch, and voice. You can pay for a trip across the lake by giving me one of those."

Leaning against his staff, he tilted his head to the side. "Since you asked so nicely, though, I'll let you one of you pay with your sense of smell for tonight only. Considering your other options, it's not such a bad deal, right?"

Seishin wasn't really certain what to think when Silvestri-san told him to let her handle the situation, not quite enjoying any of the implications that came with it. The former priest did not quite feel comfortable with keeping quiet about his real gender, even if he was essentially deceiving a talking skeleton. What if it found out?

Unfortunately, there wasn't anything he could do at the moment but to let Silvestri-san proceed, so he kept quiet.

But even then, nothing in Landel's Institute came for free. Passage across the ominous dark water of this underground lake came with the price of one's sense. It was possibly a heavy price when one considered whatever that could lie up ahead. A ferryman, was it? What sort of Hell would it lead them in? A worried frown appeared on his features.

But...it was the only way to cross, wasn't it? The only way forward, of possibly finding answers. If there had been another way, Landel-san would not have bothered with this, would he? Was it worth it? He wouldn't mind paying the toll in any case; it would be better if he did rather than Silvestri-san...

"You're such a charmer!" Ilia laughed and waved her free hand, as if she were shy hearing such a compliment. Generally those words from a man really would get her blushing, but coming from a skeleton... It certainly helped that his voice was smooth as silk.

She should have expected the toll, though, and her eyes hardened briefly. When he laid out his terms, however, the skeleton man's fare didn't seem quite as high as she would have feared. If anything, that was a walk in the park compared to their previous trials. She smiled again, pulled Seishin along with her closer to the dock.

"Oh, well then, we'll take you up on that smell option this time around." She turned to Seishin, giving him a short nod while trying to communicate her thoughts through her eyes and a squeeze of her hand. As the fighter of their group, she needed to keep most senses but smell wasn't that bad of a handicap. "I'll take the penalty tonight. I don't mind!"

Edited 2012-09-05 20:42 (UTC)

A charmer, eh? No one had called Charon that in eons -- not even the spiders he played cards with every Saturday night, if anyone could believe it! He liked this lady!

Even better, she decided to take him up on his offer without making too much of a fuss. That meant he could ferry across the lake with a bit of finer company tonight.

"All right, then, done!" With that, he brought his staff down against the wood beneath his feet, and the noise echoed throughout the underground lake. The sound brought a note of finality to the transaction. There was no going back now.

The ferryman took a deep breath. "Ahh, nothing like that damp, dark cavern smell." Well, it didn't smell as nice as that night he'd taken Stinky's sense of smell, but at this point the skeleton mostly just wanted to hear his own "charming" voice.

"Welp!" Charon gestured with his hand, beckoning the patients closer. "Climb aboard, ladies."

Edited 2012-09-08 18:12 (UTC)

Seishin hadn't expected Silvestri-san to pay the toll so readily. He cast her a glance that was a mixture of both concern, but otherwise kept silent. There was a tinge of annoyance, but the former priest managed to keep it under wraps for now. At least smell did not seem as much of an offer as the other senses would, he guessed.

The transaction had gone rather quickly. It involved nothing fancy; the skeleton merely brought his staff down against the wood. The sight of the skeleton man taking a deep breath to smell the damp air of the cavern was bizarre, but because he had already gone through that rabbit hole even before waking up in this place Seishin couldn't help but to take it in stride.

The novelist had to make an effort not to flinch as the skeleton once more addressed him as a woman. They could hardly play this game forever, could they? There were implication that they would have to make use of his services in the future, after all...

Just smile politely. If there was anything he was good at, it was maintaining a pleasant mask despite his true feelings. Seishin had little choice but to swallow his objections and play along for now -- hopefully, the skeleton man would take his silence as shyness. The former priest had always been the quiet sort, however, which was perhaps a small mercy.

"Ooh!" Ilia was surprised by the suddenness of the change. It wasn't a bad trade at all considering how dank the cavern air was. In fact, Ilia felt a little refreshed, able to breathe without having to deal with the smell of the clammy air.

Shooting her friend an apologetic look, Ilia carefully stepped down the dock and into the boat, still refusing to let go of her companion's hand. She wasn't afraid anymore, but she still didn't know if they could trust the skeleton man beyond taking them across the lake. She hoped to foster a continued friendly relationship for now, however. "Thanks for the ride. I'm Ilia, by the way. And this is... Muroi."

The skeleton might have been able to glean masculinity out of Seishin's given name. This lie was starting to become a chore to upkeep, but if it got them across the water Ilia wasn't going to let it go.

Edited 2012-09-16 06:22 (UTC)

Names didn't matter much to someone who had been dead as long as him, but he was pretty sure this was the first time anyone had bothered introducing themselves in a long, long time. And coming from ladies as charming as these two? Well, that wasn't something that happened every day!

"Hah! Fantastic." As he switched his staff out for a paddle, he continued speaking with Prince Charming's voice. "I don't really care what you call me -- ferryman, skeleton, bastard, Charon, I've heard 'em all." None of them were terribly unwarranted, if he wanted to be honest with himself.

Once the two were settled inside the boat, Charon pushed away from the dock, the dark water gently lapping against the side of the vessel as they moved. "Either way, you'd better make sure to keep your feet and hands inside while we're crossing. The folks living in the lake don't appreciate bein' disturbed."

Seishin had offered a polite nod of his head at the sound of his family name, but otherwise remained silent.

A ferryman with the name of Charon, was it? Though Seishin was hardly an expert on Greek mythology, he had come across the name on several occasions during his researches. A part of him was not fully certain whether to be darkly amused or unnerved as he wondered whether they would be ferried off to the Underworld. Be as it may, the trials that awaited them were best not to be underestimated, and for what could have been the hundredth time he had to wonder whether the end result was truly worth it all.

As Charon-san made his comment, Seishin dared to lower his gaze to the faces of dead people floating beneath the water's surface. The knitting of his eyebrows was the only outward sign of how unnerved he felt by such a macabre sight, otherwise retaining his nearly stoic calmness. At the same time he was startled by a morbid curiosity regarding the nature of the Dead in the water. They did not seem to be zombies of some sort...

If anything, it underlined that paying the ferryman's toll was indeed the only way of safely crossing this lake. Nonetheless, he couldn't help but wonder: what did it mean for whatever that was ahead of them?

There was no doubt that Ilia had heard of Charon. Mythologies interested her since they were often tied to natural events as ancient societies understood them. This one was used to explain the transition of life into death. Ilia wasn't sure she was ready to face death just yet... or was it a commentary on the last trial that had led them here? The fight in the coliseum had certainly brought them face-to-face with the realities of life and death.

"Charon, then," she said at last. Ilia was putting her's and Seishin's life in this man's bony hands. The least she could do was be polite.

She gritted her teeth, trying to stay as centered in the boat as possible. As rock-solid she could be, there were still some things that sent her skin crawling. Dead bodies in great multitudes was one of them. "They don't like it? I hope you don't mean they'll actually try to get us if we bother them..."

He really had meant it when he said he didn't care what people called him. Most of the names he'd rattled off were things he'd heard from anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path. Hell, 'hey you' worked just as well as anything else. After being dead for so long, a guy quit being so particular about details like that.

"Whatever floats your boat," the skeleton said with a shrug. "Heh! Get it? Floats your boat? I'm so funny."

Those people in the lake had a way of drawing attention from whoever crossed it, so he wasn't surprised when the blond beauty asked about them. (Tch, bunch of show-offs.)

"They might," he answered as he continued dipping the paddle into the dark water. "They might not. Depends on how unlucky you are. There's a beastie that lives there, too. Doesn't like being disturbed from its naps. Awful at cards. I'd avoid it if I were you."

Seishin looked up to offer Charon-san a questionable glance as he mentioned the 'beastie', but the situation prevented him from actually voicing the question. He could only hope they wouldn't find out what exactly this 'beastie' was in another way...

And hopefully, it was not anything like Cthulhu...

Be as it may, it would seem the lake was more dangerous than he had initially expected.

"Er, ha ha ha..." Ilia could generally appreciate a pun in better circumstances. Here it was a little difficult. But she didn't want to offend their host and cause unnecessary trouble.

"Sounds like a lot of things depend on luck..." Ilia shook her head, unable to imagine what kind of thing could live down there with all those bodies. If it had been a normal creature, it likely would have eaten them all up by now, or at least caused the lake some turbulence. But other than the ripples moving away from their boat the water was silent.

"Sounds like a nightmare." She chuckled again, a little more confidence in her voice. "But if it's as awful at cards as you say, maybe it's not so bad as an opponent." Whatever it was.

"You obviously haven't seen how it gets when it loses at cards," Charon snorted as he continued rowing.

Soon enough, the torches from the other dock came closer, and the boat reached their destination.

"All right, ladies, this is your stop!" he told them. After setting down his paddle, he rummaged around at the bottom of the boat and mysteriously emerged with a small cloth bag. "Take these -- a present from me, heh. They'll make it easier for you to come pay another visit."

The torches on the other side slowly came into view, and eventually they reached the dock without any problems. As relieving as that was, Seishin had to suppress another wince as Charon-san referred to them as 'ladies' again.

He glanced curiously at the skeleton man as he rummaged through the boat and emerged with a...bag? Seishin blinked at it, before taking it with a small amount hesitance. He wasn't fully certain what Charon-san had meant with his comment, but he offered a bow of gratitude regardless.

Seishin then climbed out of the boat and stepped onto the dock. No sense in unnecessarily keeping the Skeleton man, was there? He glanced at Silvestri-san, looking if she required any help.

"Someone should tell 'em not to be such a sore loser," Ilia chuckled, feeling a bit more at ease with the banter. And just in time for them to make port at the opposite shore! A wave of relief rushed through her and exited on a breath of air.

She followed the bag with her eyes a s Seishin took it, unsure of what it could possibly be and only partly suspicious that it might be a trick.

Casting one more smile Charon's way, Ilia followed Seishin up onto the dock, perfectly capable of disembarking on her own tonight. "Hey, thanks for the gift. I guess we'll be seeing you later, for now."

She offered him a wave, thankful to be done with the ordeal this night.

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Night 65: Underground Lake

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Sorry for edits!

Sorry for the delay!

Sorry for even more delay!

/continues the delay train

choo choo!

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