damned_institute | Day 72: Breakfast

They had made it. It had required leaving Tsubaki behind to deal with her brainwashed roommate, but they'd gone all the way up the escalator, and this was it, the third floor--

Good morning, patients.

Sora shot up in bed, eyes wide, and let out a huff of surprise and aggravation. That wasn't fair! They'd made it all the way up, only for it to end like this? He fell back onto the bed and slammed his fists into the mattress to vent his frustration before he realized that Link was still asleep. Whoops.

It was hard to know what to do from this point on. He needed to go back to Farwell, but the third floor was important too. He could probably rely on his friends to handle things here while he traveled back to the rebel city, but he just didn't know.

He dragged his hand down his face and then slowly sat up again, as the door opened and his nurse came to get him. On the way to the cafeteria, Sora realized that the Head Doctor sounded kind of down. Was he upset because so many people were trying to go to the third floor now? Well, that was what he deserved after everything he'd done!

Sora stood in line for his plate of french toast and then peered around the cafeteria, looking for any sign of Tsubaki. He wanted to check in with her first.

[Tsubaki.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sora wasn't all that surprised that the night hadn't gone on too much longer for Tsubaki after they'd left. He and Tsurugi had only had the time to find that book and then ride the escalator up to the top, which really wasn't all that much time when you thought about it. He was just thankful that there hadn't been much of a chance for Korra to do any real damage...

Then again, there had been those scorch marks which they'd seen when first entering the Sun Room. That might mean that another group had fought her before them.

Sora did what he could not to worry about it. Everyone seemed to be okay, and that was what mattered. He returned Tsubaki's smile and then started to lead them to an empty table as he explained. "We were safe, yeah! Everything was pretty quiet, but we got far enough to make sure that the switch really worked. And it did! As soon as Tsurugi pulled that book out, a secret door slid open." He could still barely believe it. Secret passages were always cool in his book.

Breakfast was the last thing on her mind. She didn't give a thought to the cafeteria line and instead followed Sora.

Switch? Hold on a minute, what would one of those... "You mean that was what was in the library? The switch to make the path to the third floor open?" she questioned, giving his back a quizzical look.

There'd been no time to ask about the library, not between them discussing the notes and then finding Korra in the Sun Room. How the library had a connection to the third floor, Tsubaki still didn't know; it had seemed odd when Sora had mentioned it, and doubly so now.

Whoops. He was getting ahead of himself, wasn't he? Sora paused in the middle of a bite of french toast when he realized that Tsubaki had never been given all of the information to begin with. It was hard to keep track sometimes, especially with a night as hectic as that one.

"Right, sorry!" he said once he'd swallowed his food. "I forgot that you weren't there when Tsurugi explained it to me. Basically, there's this one book. It's called... the Oxford Book of Prose, or something?" That might not be the exact name, but it was probably close enough that Tsubaki would be able to find it if she went looking around on her own.

"If you go at night and try to pull out that book, it'll open up a secret passage at the back of the library. That's how you get to the third floor." They hadn't even encountered any guards, though Sora got the feeling that was because they'd gone pretty late in the night.

"It's all right, I didn't want to slow you down by asking," she said, carefully tucking in her chair under her. She'd be happy to finally hop in the shower and wash away the evidence of the night. "I figured there must be some way to reach the third floor, but I didn't think it would be something like that."

Knowing the key had been on the first floor made her wonder how long it'd been there. The whole time? And did it lead to... Landel's office?

She refrained from frowning at the thought, and instead voiced another question. "How did anyone figure that out? It seems so... random."

At least all of the information had been shared between them now. Hopefully that would mean that they could all make a try at getting to the third floor, and eventually someone had to find that archive, right? Sora had no idea what would be waiting for them there, but it was clearly important.

"I'm not sure," he said in response to Tsubaki's question, shaking his head as he took another bite of his food. "Kratos told Tsurugi and Tsurugi told me, but I don't know who told Kratos." It was possible someone had just noticed there being something weird about the book during the day and then had decided to check it out at night, but even then, it was impressive that someone had noticed something so small.

"Either way, we know for sure now that it works! So that's some kind of progress, right?" He smiled at her and then realized that she didn't have any food with her. Without really thinking about it, Sora slid his plate toward Tsubaki so she could try a few bites of his french toast.

Day 72: Breakfast

no subject

no subject

And now that I am off my mini-hiatus, here you are.

<3! AS LONG AS YOU FORGIVE ME FOR BEING FOREVER SLOW.

no subject