damned_institute | Night 69: Underground Lake

No matter how many times they did this, Claude wasn't sure if he could ever get used to the sensation of having his stomach pulled up into his throat. Thankfully, the discomfort passed relatively quickly, and he got his bearings again.

As usual, the light attached to his hardhat lit up the sand beneath their feet, and the lake was only a short distance away. Claude couldn't say he appreciated the rank smell that clung to the air, but there were worse things to deal with. Like sea monsters and almost drowning.

"Yeah, I managed to see your message on the board between shifts, I just didn't get a chance to respond," he said. While he didn't like the idea of anyone forking over one of their senses for the night, Claude knew it was only fair for them all to shoulder the burden. "Did you decide what you wanted to do?"

It had been a while since they did this, and the weird transition hit Anise harder than it usually did. She landed fine, but she hunched herself over and hung her head and arms low to try and steady the spinning feelings in her head and stomach. After a minute or so, she raised her head with a sound that was a mix between a sigh and a groan, then straightened her shoulders, showing that she was ready.

She started walking, but it wasn’t long before Claude brought up the toll. Anise wanted to hear what Guy decided, so she watched him with an expectant look.

When it came to what sense to give up, Guy was almost guaranteed to pick his voice or his sense of touch. It had to do with the fact that in the end, hearing and sight were just too important. He wouldn't be able to do much of anything without being able to see, and if he couldn't hear it was possible he'd miss some vital piece of information.

Since he hadn't brought along anything to write on, the question had already been answered for him. "I'm going to give up my sense of touch." That wasn't a walk in the park, either, but he'd take the possibility of accidentally hurting himself over the other options.

"You guys can keep an eye on me and make sure that I don't do anything stupid," he joked as they approached the docks. The ferryman should be showing himself soon enough, right?

In the end, that was probably the most logical choice, but Claude still worried about Guy. Personal experience told him that a lack of touch was more difficult to lose than someone might think. As a swordsmen, it was especially dangerous for them to leave themselves vulnerable to injuries that could go undetected.

But, like Guy said, that was what he and Anise would have to look out for. That was why they were traveling as a group, right? If they couldn't depend on each other, just what did they hope to accomplish here?

"All right, got it," he said with a resolute nod.

A gravely voice suddenly bounced off of the cavern walls, cutting into their conversation. Charon, hidden as he lay within his boat, sang with all his might.

Ohhhhh, Boney was a warrior!
Way-ay-ah!
A warrior, a terrior!
John Fran-swarrrrrrrr!

He repeated the spirited verse again, but tapped out a rhythm by whacking his staff against the boat's side.

His sense of touch... Well, Anise couldn't fault him for that choice, seeing as she'd picked the same when it was her turn. She remembered how weird that had been - not knowing if the things she was holding were still in her hands, trying to walk straight on the uneven sand without any feeling in her feet... Hopefully Guy knew what he was getting into. And, well, whether he did or not, Anise and Claude were there to support him, so it was probably going to be okay.

As they reached the docks, Anise found it to be... surprisingly lively. And that was impressive, considering the only person there wasn't exactly alive himself.

"Ohh, I knew it..." Anise whispered, though she didn't make much effort to keep from being heard by the skeleton, "We haven't been here in so long, he's been so lonely that he's losing it."

When that gravelly voice started up out of nowhere, Guy had to fight not to startle. Of all the things that he'd expected, singing hadn't been one of them. Anise's comment probably wasn't completely accurate, but it was amusing to hear in light of the conversation that he and Claude had had about the ferryman earlier.

Was he really lonely? Or was he just trying to get a reaction out of them? Either way, he was clearly looking for attention.

Guy stepped up onto the dock and peered down into the boat, finding the pile of bones there as always. "Well, I won't be giving you a better voice to sing with, but you're welcome to my sense of touch," he said by way of greeting. Rather than get caught up in a lot of pointless chatter, Guy did what he could to cut to the chase.

"...Oh brother," Claude muttered under his breath. He'd actually been half-joking when he'd talked about the ferryman getting lonely, but maybe Anise actually had a point. They needed to consider coming down more often, if only to spare other patients from that awful singing.

Either way, Guy seemed ready to get on it with it, so he did his best to patiently wait while his friend negotiated the toll.

Whether Charon heard Guy's offer or not wasn't immediately obvious, as he continued belting out his song at the top of his non-existent lungs.

Boney fought the Roo-shi-ans,
Away ay-yah!
Boney fought the Proo-shi-ans.
John Fran-swor!

Boney went to Elbow,
Boney he came back agaaaaaain!

Then, he shifted into a rhythmic speaking style without missing a beat on his staff. "Going, going, gone!"

With one last THUMP, he wordlessly collected the toll. "Ahhh, much better." After giving his skull a light scratch, he began pushing himself to a stand. "All right, kiddies, you ready to climb aboard? I'm not gonna stop for any bathroom breaks, just so you know!"

Either he was doing this on purpose to creep them out, or the skeleton really had lost it. For a moment, Anise was starting to wonder if they were going to have to shake him out of it and make him listen, but it wasn’t long before he answered Guy’s offer. The thud of the staff made Anise cringe a little. She knew just how Guy felt – or more accurately, didn’t feel at that moment.

Giving her friend a sympathetic look, she went ahead and climbed into the boat, scooting over so he’d have plenty of room for himself. If he needed a hand walking, he probably wasn’t going to ask Anise, anyway.

Now that she thought about it, she wondered if a lack of feeling would make Guy’s phobia better or worse. Part of her wanted to test it… but the rickety old boat definitely wasn’t the place for that. She’d just have to hold on to that curiosity for now. Instead, she tried addressing the ferryman. “Um, so… How many more of these dumb trials do we have to do?” Her reasons for asking were one part genuine curiosity, and one part wanting to make sure he wouldn’t keep singing the whole way across the lake.

When the ferryman outright ignored him to keep singing, Guy had to hold back a sigh as he crossed his arms over his chest. As if this whole process didn't take long enough, now they had to wait for the one thing that could get them across the lake to finish belting out some lyrics?

Luckily, it didn't last for too much longer, and in the end Guy was taken by surprise when the skeleton immediately transitioned into taking that toll from him. The bang of that stuff should have reverberated through him, but instead Guy suddenly felt like he'd been cut off from just about everything. He couldn't feel the weight of his sword hanging from his waist, or even his clothes brushing against his skin.

Not to mention that he could no longer feel even the ground under his feet. Guy wobbled for a second, trying to take it all in (though there wasn't much to take in, just a lack of it) before he realized that everyone was piling into the boat already. How was he going to manage this?

His first instinct was to grab onto Claude's shoulder to use as support, but even when he did so he couldn't feel a thing. If anything, that only set him more off-balance. He was going to have to rely on his vision alone, so he dropped his hand away and started to scoot toward the edge of the dock. He carefully eased his way onto the boat and then let out a sigh when he managed to sit down.

He'd definitely underestimated how tough this would be. How was he going to fight when he couldn't feel the hilt of his own sword?

He could tell the moment Guy's sense of touch left him -- those unsure movements said it all. Claude frowned as he tried to reach behind his back to gently guide him, but it did little good when his friend couldn't feel him at all.

In the end, Guy decided to try seeing to himself, and all Claude could do was make himself available in case he needed help. Thankfully, Guy managed to sit without tripping over himself, allowing Claude to settle onto his own seat with a sigh of relief.

Anise, meanwhile, was talking to the ferryman. That was probably just as well, seeing the skeleton seemed to favor her over him and Guy. He listened, though, as he was interested in what he'd say in response to her question.

"I dunno, Cutie, life is just full of trials when you get down to it," the ferryman chuckled as he exchanged his staff for a paddle. "Well, heh -- death is too, I guess. This boat gig ain't exactly a walk in the park."

Whether he was deliberately being difficult or not wasn't clear. However, Charon turned to look at Anise with an eternal smile.

"But if you're talking about the light at the end of the tunnel, then I guess you could say that's where we're headed next."

Guy looked uneasy on his feet, just as Anise had been. She hoped he could cope with it okay. Getting around without a sense of touch meant going against all kinds of instincts and habits that people spent their whole lives relying on. Maybe it'd be even harder for Guy than it was for her... though it was too late for take-backs now.

The ferryman's cryptic response was expected, and Anise was ready to sigh and give up on that line of questioning... but unexpectedly, he went on and delivered a more straightforward answer.

"Wait... you mean we're going somewhere else?" Eyes wide, Anise turned to look over the water for their destination, but at the moment, all she could see were the fading lights of the dock they'd just departed from.

If Guy wasn't so busy trying to adapt to the sudden change, he might have paid more attention to what the skeleton was saying and actually participated in the conversation. But it was probably for the best that Anise was the one talking to him, since he was the most likely to answer her questions.

With no sense of touch left, Guy made sure to use his vision as much as possible, though he regretted it when he peered over the side of the boat and saw those corpses staring up at them from under the surface of the water.

"Wait... the light at the end of the tunnel?" That wasn't necessarily a good thing, since a light like that often meant that you were heading to your death. He didn't want to jump to conclusions, but Guy remained at the ready, scrabbling to blindly find the hilt of his sword. Were they going to get dumped out of the boat or something? And if so, how was he going to swim?

That could have either been great news or terrible news, and Claude didn't know which. Judging from past experiences, though, it was probably more ominous than he wanted to think.

While he was on the same page as Guy, and worried that they may need to be at the ready for something nasty, Claude remained still. When crossing over a lake filled with dead bodies, it stood to reason that annoying the guy who was rowing you across the water wasn't the best idea.

That was why he tensely waited for an answer, leaving the questions to Guy and Anise.

"You guys should form your own comedy routine, you know that?" Charon snorted. "Anyway, I meant exactly what I said. Dunno why you're making such a fuss about it, sheesh."

As he spoke, he shifted the boat's position, turning further left. The gentle waves created by his paddle rolled across the quiet lake. Unlike the other two docks, the destination they were approaching was dark and difficult to make out from where they were.

"Probably won't get to see you guys much after this," he admitted. "Well, unless you decide to visit lil' ole me -- or you decide to hightail it the way you came from, heheh."

Edited 2013-04-02 22:27 (UTC)

They wouldn’t see the skeleton after this? If they wouldn’t have any reason to come back to the underground lake, then… Could that mean…?

Anise was afraid to get her hopes up, but it almost sounded like they were actually getting out of here. Could that really be true, though? All of this had probably been set up by the Head Doctor. Was this just going to be another trap? Or was this like a rat maze, and they’d finally reached the end of it?

It was clear that Guy was still suspicious, and he had good reason to be. Cautiously, as if anticipating being told the whole thing was a joke, Anise dared to voice her optimism. “You mean… we’re getting out of here? There’s an exit?”

It didn't take long to realize that the boat wasn't going to the other side of the shore like it usually did, and as they moved further to the west side of the cave, Guy tried to see if there was anything waiting for them there. He couldn't hear anything, which meant they weren't likely to go plummeting off of a sudden waterfall or anything like that.

Still, all of this sounded way too good to be true, and Anise seemed similarly uncertain about it in the way that she asked her questions. All of them had been searching for a way out for so long. To suddenly have it given to them like this, with no prior warning, just seemed out of place.

"We don't have to do any more of those challenges?" They'd gotten through two of them already, so maybe that was enough, but the ferryman could have at least mentioned that beforehand. Still, even if this was the real thing and they did get out, they couldn't just run off like this, not without telling their other friends. Guy didn't know what to make of it at this point, but they were just going to have to wait and see. They were already on the boat, so there was no turning back now.

It seemed pretty hard to believe. Considering who was telling them this, Claude wasn't sure how much stock they could put into that information. Granted, the ferryman had never outright lied to them before -- at least, not to his knowledge. On the other hand, they all knew he wasn't exactly the most charitable guy around here.

Once again, Anise and Guy had already asked the most pressing questions, so Claude waited for the skeleton to go into more detail -- if he even went into more detail at all, anyway.

"Maybe, maybe not," Charon cryptically answered in response to both of their questions. "Maybe what's waiting for you on the other side is one big challenge. Ooh, that sounded pretty ominous, huh."

He gave a gravelly chuckle. "To be honest, I don't know what's out there. When you're dead like me, you stop caring about those kinds of details after awhile.

"Either way, I just know I don't have much reason to ferry you three around anymore. My old bones get pretty tired, you know? Gimme a holler if you want me to come get your asses for some reason, but otherwise those presents I gave you awhile back? They should bring you right over...there."

By now, they were starting to approach the dock that was attached to a dark platform. What looked like a flickering lantern light attached to a wall revealed the entrance of a startlingly large tunnel. After a few minutes, the boat finally reached their destination, and Charon stopped paddling.

"You kids have fun now, heheh," he said. "Just try not to die. Maybe I'll see you around again."

He didn’t know? “Seriously? You’ve got all this free time down here, and you never thought to check it out?” Anise still kind of wondered just where the ferryman came from, and what his relationships to Landel and the institute were. Maybe he couldn’t leave the area around the lake.

Since they were parting ways now, it looked like she’d never figure it out. There were more pressing mysteries to solve… like finding out what was down that tunnel. Anise was quick to hop off the boat, glad to be on solid ground again. She didn’t mind boats, but that was because they normally floated over water and not faces. Those people in the lake were another mystery Anise probably wasn’t going to see solved.

She took a few steps away from the dock, pointing her flashlight at the opening to the tunnel. Could that really be the way out…?

Even if it was, it wasn’t like they were home free. Luke was still back there… and Ilia and lots of other people they couldn’t just abandon. Anise needed to find her parents and Ion, too. But maybe she was getting ahead of herself. They still didn’t know if this was a trap or not. If this path led to another set of trials, Anise was going to lose it.

Guy wasn't that surprised when the skeleton gave them a series of cryptic replies. Did he really not know what was waiting for them through that tunnel? Guy realized that in the end, the ferryman could be just as much of a captive as the rest of them. It made him strangely nervous to wonder at what kind of background he had, and how he'd died in the first place.

There wasn't time to ask about any of that now, especially when they were essentially being kicked off. Guy made a note of the fact that they wouldn't have to bother with the boat at all if they wanted to get back here. That was some good news, at least.

Getting off of the boat was going to be yet another challenge. Guy groped for the edge of the boat with both hands and then pushed himself up, almost losing his balance when he stood up faster than expected. The boat wobbled under him, and Guy decided that the sooner he was off of it the better. He staggered forward, and his foot caught on the boat as he stepped off of it, almost sending him right onto his face.

He grabbed for Anise to steady himself, purely out of instinct, and then paused and stared at her when he didn't react.

It made sense, of course. Physical contact with women was what triggered him, but if he couldn't feel anything at all, then there was nothing to be scared of. He was speechless for a moment, waiting to see her reaction, almost as if he was waiting for the phobia to suddenly kick in.

If they wanted to find out what was in the tunnel, it sounded like they would have to find out themselves. That wasn't so surprising, though. Wasn't that pretty much how the rest of Landel's worked? Claude imagined that would go double for the supposed exit (he was still pretty skeptical about that in the first place, to be honest).

Anise was the first out of the boat, but when Guy tried to follow suit, Claude furrowed his eyebrows and tried to reach for him. "Hey, hold on--" He remembered how disoriented he'd felt when he'd paid the same toll awhile back. The last thing they needed was for Guy to go toppling into the lake water!

Unfortunately, Guy lost his balance before Claude could steady his friend. The moment he gripped onto Anise to keep himself from hitting the ground, Claude froze and grew wide-eyed. He'd fully expected Guy to flail and panic, so the silence that resulted came as a shock.

"Um, are you okay?" he asked as he stepped onto the dock himself.

Edited 2013-04-20 06:04 (UTC)

"Yeah, real smooth, Blondie," the ferryman snorted as he began to push his boat away from the dock. "Just latch onto that little cutie there, why don'tcha." If he'd had any eyes, he would have rolled them. Instead, he began to paddle himself into the darkness without another word.

Anise was still staring down the ever-stretching darkness of the tunnel when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She glanced up, saw Guy, and braced for the worst.

Here it comes...

... But nothing happened. Guy was simply staring down at her, and by the time she realized, Anise had been staring back.

A few beats, and then... "Wh-whoa!!" For once, Anise was the one to overreact. As soon as it clicked, she cried out in surprise, whirling around to face him properly. She took his outstretched hand in hers, feeling it over like a foreign object. Nothing? No screaming? No trembling or flailing or backing away?

It took but a few moments for surprise and confusion to turn to celebratory glee. "This is amazing, Guy! You're cured!" Letting go of his hand, Anise instead threw herself at his chest for a hug. Maybe it was premature to call it a 'cure,' but a little optimism never hurt anybody! Or so she liked to think. When it was convenient.

It took Claude and Anise a moment before it sunk in for them, and it was no surprise that Anise had the stronger reaction. Guy stared down at her, and for some reason he couldn't hold back a smile. She just seemed so thrilled about it, and he had to admit that it was nice to be able to do this, even if he couldn't feel it. Then again, if he could, this wouldn't have been possible in the first place.

"I don't know about a cure," he said with a shake of his head. "More like a nice side effect." Still, Guy could grant Anise this one thing. After a pause, he managed to move his arms around her to return the hug.

He didn't feel her weight against him or the warmth of her body, but it was nice enough to realize that this was something Anise had never had the chance to do before, and if it made her happy? Well, that was good enough for him. The timing might seem strange when they were about to walk into the great unknown... but then again, wasn't that the perfect time for a hug?

"Hey, who would've thought something nice would come from that toll?" Claude remarked with a lopsided grin. Considering how bad Guy's phobia was, it was kind of weird seeing him and Anise hugging like that. Of course, he couldn't blame Anise for taking the opportunity to hold onto him. They had apparently known each other for years, and the only time Guy could even so much as put a hand on her shoulder was when she was in mortal peril -- which was pretty sad, when he thought about it.

With that realization, Claude fell silent and turned away under the pretense that he was checking out the immediate area for anything unusual. They had never been to this part of the lake, after all, and he didn't want to let his guard down. Besides, he doubted now was the time for a group hug, so he figured he just ought to give them their space.

Night 69: Underground Lake

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject