NIGHT 65: SOCCER/RECREATIONAL FIELD

[albuquerquesnorkel]

[From here.]

Well, it was definitely winter. No snow or anything, but the noticeable drop in temperature made Riley glad for the extra layers he'd gone back to get. He should have tried to find a pair of gloves or something while he was at it; his hands were already freezing.

It was jarring to walk out from so much crazy onto a perfectly normal soccer field, white goalposts at either end and everything. Riley couldn't help laughing a little as he looked around, a slightly unsure laugh that was more a hope for normalcy than it was a sign of it. "Look! Soccer!" He turned back towards the building, and his face fell as the stark white walls revealed nothing familiar. "In a totally generic, big... place. Great."

When the beam of his flashlight fell back on the other guy, Riley managed to mentally snap himself out of it. "Sorry, you were saying? About another reason to stay in the dark?"

Comments

[repelling]

Despite his miniature outburst, (more a brief snapping, but no less immature, really, to his shame as the emotion passed, as it had not changed that skepticism was reasonable, that he had not been entirely clear in wanting to help), the other guy had not run straight for the exit. One possible reason: why trust his word? He could have left him, anyway, but instead he listened, even gauged the sky.

Seemed to process, to do more than humor it. As counter-intuitive as it was to think it a sign of intelligence to be willing to consider all this madness, this place left little alternative.

Uryuu would not admit to feeling bad at the way the guy's voice shook when he finally spoke, because he did not, because how could he? None of this was his fault. Really, the man was holding up pretty well. Waking up as he had did necessitate a certain suspension of disbelief, but that could only go so far.

Another nod at the list of possible contents for the shed. Balls would be useless (unless this guy had a good arm, and there were baseballs), and they could not count on bats; not in a mental hospital. Maybe plastic or foam, and that would hardly slow down a monster. In terms of corporeal, damage causing hostiles, Uryuu had only encountered roaches- mutated, over-sized roaches, but only roaches. (Another reason to believe more time had passed: his injuries were gone, both the toxic bite from the insects and his bow torn fingers were mended, without mark). He'd heard about the rest, and "only roaches" wasn't much of a reassurance when they were as dangerous as they were, and when a plastic bat wouldn't even crush their undersides.

"Right," he said, "Should we take a look?"

Safety gear could be useful. Maybe a net, too; it might slow something down. Already walking over to the shed, Uryuu stayed off the grass, taking the longer way around, closer to the walls. All that open space felt too exposed. The man's last question was a good one, but not easily answered.

"I introduced myself, remember. It's rude not to reply in same. ...but, I haven't seen as much, just-" he admitted as he stopped in front of the door, peering through the dark. Looked like a lock, and he reached to take hold of it, giving it a good yank. Rust rubbed rough on his palm, and it felt weak. No point in pulling out his flashlight (though the cold was beginning to make a sweatshirt sound tempting) when the guy had his.

Uryuu gestured. "Shine some light, please? It might give with a good blow."

The lock in the Entry Room had been similar, and released after a strike from the hilt of Kratos-san's sword. Perhaps it might yield to being picked as well, but that was one skill he had yet to teach himself. Plus, all he had that might fit were pens -- and their caps.

[albuquerquesnorkel]

"For what?" Riley asked as Ishida began walking around the field. "For a weapon? In a shed?" When Ishida showed no signs of slowing down, Riley quickly jogged after him, a tad nervous that they weren't cutting directly across the grass. It was a small hint of unnecessary caution that immediately set his teeth on edge. "And you still haven't told me what I need a weapon for."

Did he want to know? With his luck, probably not. But Riley was determined to survive whatever this was, and that meant being prepared, and that meant knowing what they were up against. You couldn't even begin to form a plan until you knew what would be standing in your way. Basics of hacking, really.

He stopped when they reached the door of the shed, careful to keep a few feet farther back than Ishida was. He did, however, shine the flashlight onto the lock when it was asked for. "I'm Riley," he finally introduced himself, ignoring the lock for the moment. "Riley Poole, actually. You might recognize that name from the papers, or..." A long shot, maybe, but Riley really was beginning to grow desperate. "A book, about the Templar Treasure? See, I wrote..."

His voice trailed off as he finally realized exactly what kind of lock bolted the doors shut. "Oh, come on. You don't even need to hit that. It's practically falling apart." Caution forgotten, Riley stepped closer and knelt down to examine it. "I can open this. Would you happen to have something long and thin, like a... bobby pin, or something?"

[repelling]

"No," Uryuu retorted, "I thought we could play a game of football. Unfortunately, I haven't heard of a supply closet called 'ILLOGICAL BUT CONVENIENT WEAPONRY'. Some have gotten their hands on swords, others have different abilities." Himself included. "You, you'll have to make do."

"I did tell you," he went on, sticking to the technicality to avoid having to say the whole of it. Not that he could for much longer. The guy had stuck around this long, outright saying monsters -- however much he'd already implied it -- might not push him over the edge. "Things."

Pulling his attention from the lock when Riley introduced himself, he lifted his eyebrows at the assertion that his name should be recognizable. Papers or a book. There was no reason to doubt it; although it could have been a badly-written mess, on the surface, he could give Poole-san a little more credit. "Templar Treasure? I've never heard of it."

He again reached to adjust his glasses, tone thoughtful. "It sounds like a big enough deal that even Japan would have reported it. Therefore, it's probably the case that... well, another thing you aren't going to believe. I'll get to that."

Again, surprise showed, here widening his eyes as Poole-san claimed he could handle it without force. Always the preferred option, when the option existed.

"No," he said, off-guard and thus speaking his thoughts more than he might otherwise have, "and I haven't had a chance to acquire sewing supplies yet. I do have- it's not as thin as a bobby pin-"

The end of arm of his glasses was a bit thicker than the pen cap's extension, and he wasn't about to offer his pendant, thus he fished into his pocket for a pen, pulled off the cap and offered it. He also held out his other hand, to take the flashlight.

"If that's too thick, I could try pulling straight the key ring."

[albuquerquesnorkel]

Riley decided, while he was staring at the pen cap lid, that he was going to have a stern word with himself later on for not thinking of things like this before he left his room. Sure, he hadn't been expecting to break into anywhere, but... well. From now on, he'd make sure to bring his own little lockpicking device wherever he went.

"No, that'll work," Riley assured him, accepting the pen cap and handing Ishida the flashlight. "I've never tried it with plastic before, but... the basic principle should be the same." He snapped off the little plastic extension without much trouble - one benefit of not having metal to work with - and turned towards the lock.

"Okay, first of all," he finally retorted as he pushed the makeshift lockpick through the keyhole, "how can you not have heard of the Templar treasure? The Knights Templar, and the treasure no one man should ever own?" He gently twisted the lockpick clockwise as he spoke. "Or that it was found three years ago? That definitely should have been reported in Japan." The lock gently clicked open, but Riley didn't let on that it had worked just yet. "And yeah, okay, scary things, I get it. But there are different levels of scary. Is it just slap-on-the-wrist scary, or... like, 'Silent Hill' scary?"

The thought froze Riley to the spot. "We're not in Silent Hill, are we?"

[repelling]

Taking and holding the flashlight, Uryuu bent forward - just a little, not enough to impede - to attempt and have a better look. As if watching someone jab plastic into a hole and wiggle it could tell much. Maybe it wouldn't for most, but Uryuu had always been very good with his hands, so he paid attention to Poole-san's. Wrists, fingers, every shift and twist. He would still have to ask, and almost did, but Poole-san had returned to the topic of treasure.

Not just any treasure, apparently, the Templar Treasure, Templar Knights, of course he had heard of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, of- "Oh."

The light wobbled as he almost dropped it in his surprise, as he stopped a disgruntled hand to his face at having forgotten. His interest in reading of the military orders of the medieval ages, beyond for history's sake, had been in trying to trace the Quincy -- it had been a nice idea, the Quincy actually having been knights, to a kid. Mantles! Crosses! It all fit! Except for the actual purpose, and thus dramatic contradictions in what they actually did. A disappointment, but it had been wishful thinking anyway, which had somehow been more worth attending than-

"That legend," he said, and resisted noticing the irony of a boy who saw and fought ghosts, who had once tried to find evidence that such ghost archers had once been part of such an order, dismissing the conspiracy theory of secret treasure. "I assume you played a part in finding it."

In another world or time, he added to himself. Poole-san's hands had stopped moving. "Not as far as I'm aware," and that plain, matter-of-fact, not sarcastic at all.

If they could be taken from worlds, obviously they could be taken to worlds, and the theme would fit. Uryuu couldn't even afford a cell phone; he'd never played the game. A few images that didn't quite match up.

"Have you finished?"

[albuquerquesnorkel]

Riley had almost meant the Silent Hill question as a joke. The fact that it wasn't taken as such... that, more than anything so far tonight, was what scared him half to death. He turned to look at Ishida, hoping to see a smile or some sign that the teenager had been joking right back, but there was nothing.

Riley's blood ran cold. It was enough to make him forget any of the prideful replies he had about playing a part in finding one of the most influential historical treasures of all time. It was enough to make him forget his well-worn sadness as yet another person probably knew the name Ben Gates, but had no clue who Riley was.

Silent Hill was fiction. Fiction. There was no way anything from that freak show could be here. Monsters didn't exist.

"Oh," was all he could manage when Ishida's question cut through his reverie. "Uh, yeah. Piece of cake." He tried to smile. Hopefully, it worked, but he stared straight ahead when he pushed open the double doors to the shed, just in case.

"You know," he said, refusing to step into the total darkness just yet, "I almost forgot for a moment that I'm stuck in a creepy nowhere place that drugs people." Riley didn't bother trying to smile this time when he took a step back. "After you."

[repelling]

It might have comforted Poole-san to know that Uryuu had also never heard of "Ben Gates", but the reassurance could not be given, clueless as he was to the issue. Or non-issue, as it were, in the face of the situation here. Uryuu could see that his answer had bothered Poole-san, or at least silenced him, but he found it odd that it had. No, not so odd upon further reflection.

The guy had been swallowing more and more of this, and his disturbance showed. Silent Hill may seem silly concept, an inane comparison, but if there was even a hint of reality to it, all humor would necessarily be drained.

It wasn't a bad go at a smile. Uryuu did not return it, but there was no severity in his expression, instead a mild curiosity. "I may ask you to show me sometime."

Poole-san stood and opened the doors, which creaked loud and hideous, the entire structure seeming to shake and sway with it. Uryuu swept the light over the innards as Poole-san spoke. A little less than five meters long, less than four wide. Not very big, and still but for the unsteady walls. From the door he couldn't make out much of the corners, what might lurk beyond the racks and shelves. The size might be an issue. Distance helped with the bow.

Those bats looked unexpectedly promising. Certainly not foam or plastic.

"Really?" he finally said, turning to the man with a twin twist of his lips, "I must be very good company." If he could forget. He bit back a line calling into question Poole-san's courage, as given the build up, it would be absurd to send him in first.

"Guide the way," he instructed, handing back the flashlight before he walked inside.

[ to disney land ]