damned_institute | Night 37: M11-20 Hallway

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Night 37: M11-20 Hallway

[From here, roundabouts M16]

Celes tapped her foot and as she tried for the life of her to remember just where the Gambler resided. Hellfire, she should have gotten a straight answer from him. But then, it would have meant she'd also asked. Celes sighed and shook her hair from her eyes, adjusting her hair clasp. She walked for a bit, up and down the halls, listening for voices that were familiar. When the first hallway bore no fruit, Celes turned to the next one.

Halfway down, she heard the familiar accent of Luxord's voice through the door. There was still plenty of time to meet her subordinate, she'd been quick tonight. Celes rapped on the door three times and waited. "Master Luxord? Are you within?"

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Takaya nodded. "Yeah, I know." He shook his head. "It's all crap compared to the shit my sister cooks." He smiled slightly, the expression gone quickly, as he remembered her and her cooking.

"Sometimes though, the food isn't too bad."

Frey smiled as well, happy to see Takaya's expression lighten even for a brief moment--it was rare enough to be worth appreciating when it did happen. "I do miss rice. I gather from the message board that a great many people do. We had an excellent cook at the castle... he was a bit eccentric, but I think many of the best chefs are." Recruiting him had been a bit of a pain, but in the end it had been worth it for the morale boost such good food provided the troops.

"Fuck, rice. Half-way good fish, a fucking breakfast that wasn't all sugar and fried." Takaya shook his head. "With all the people complainging about it, you'd think that they would respond some how."

Takaya lay back on his bed again, arms up behind his head as he stared at the ceiling.

Frey nodded emphatically at the mention of fish--he came from a country dominated by an inland river, and fish were very much a staple of almost every meal. "I suppose that our happiness is not a concern for them, considering. They seem to do the bare minimum, even during the day."

"When I first got here, some of the shit they served." He snorted. "This is actually better in a lot of ways." Maybe they'd get lucky and there would be rice at the next meal.

Even Kagetora was bettter behaved if he'd gotten a decent meal.

"I'm glad I wasn't here then. Food makes such a difference in morale, doesn't it?" Though of course Frey was very glad he hadn't been here any longer than was already the case for many reasons, but bad food certainly wouldn't have helped the situation.

As he finally finished his food, Frey actually started to think about the fact that it was past nightfall, and once again they were still in the room. Of course nothing could be done about it last night, but tonight... Frey didn't think he should let his poor mood be any excuse for sitting about and doing nothing. "Takaya, did you want to... go anywhere tonight? I know it's the night that they..." Did things. It was a sensitive topic for Takaya, but Frey didn't know whether that meant he wanted to avoid the area, or try to help others in the same situation.

Takaya shrugged. "I don't have plans," he said. "If you do, don't let me stop you, go right on ahead."

He didn't leave his room if he could help it on these nights. He didn't sleep and he couldn't bring himself to eat, which, he knew, was stupid. He couldn't actually remember any of it, but the fear was still there.

"Unless," here Takaya frowned. "You wanted company." Could he go outside for a ..... kind of friend?

Frey shook his head. "I don't have any plans. I spent the day... well, I didn't end up figuring out anything to do tonight." He was armed now, so that particular mission was done with. Now what? Try to find a way out? The larger groups seemed better equipped for that, and certainly better organised, but Frey was hesitant to join one.

That left helping others who couldn't help themselves, or who got in over their heads. Was there any group doing that? Frey couldn't think of one. "I think... maybe it would be good to decide what I should do with my nights from now on. I always let the Star Dragon Sword make the plans, and now..." Frey shrugged uncomfortably--he'd never been a planner.

Takaya made a soft, noncommital sound. "I never really made plans either," he said. "I only started to leave this room again recently. I was tired of being a fucking coward, so..." He shrugged.

"The only plans I ever have though are crap. Spent a lot of time fucking wandering around. Stupid, but it gave me something to do." He usually wound up helping someone too, much to Kagetora's annoyance.

Frey wished, for what had to be the hundredth time, that Lucretia Merces was here. She would know what to do. She'd have them all out of this trap in a heartbeat! The strategist had taken a tiny, ragtag army and built it into something that could take on the Royal Falenan army--she could do just about anything, as far as Frey was concerned. But she wasn't here. What would she reccomend? Something new. Something untried.

"Should we keep trying to see what's outside the walls? The Star Dragon Sword seemed most interested in that, and it's the newest area we've had access to, isn't it?" So it seemed logical that the outdoors had the most unexplored areas, and the most potential for things no one had found or learned yet.

Takaya thought about that. Should they keep trying for outside? It wasn't safe, it was pretty fucking stupid actually, but what else was there to do? He opened his mouth to say just that when he found he couldn't actually speak.

Again. Shit.

"You're both idiots," Kagetora sighed, sitting up. "Outside the walls is dangerous, new, and interesting. It's the place where everyone is trying to get to, so logically it would be the best place togo in search of new and interesting things, find ways to help people, all that." He made a disgusted sound. "Of course it also distracts from what's going on indoors..."

Frey let the insult roll off him, as he always did when it came attached to useful information. "And what would you suggest, then? Retracing the same areas people have been a dozen times seems unlikely to turn up anything new..."

"Of course not. But people have been outside, so there's a good chance there's information on the boards or at the least something you can trade for." Knowing Takaya like he did, the boy probably would just blindly wander outside without any attempt at learning more.

"I know I've seen quite a bit of information up there lately, though I don't know if it's been taken down."

Frey nodded, though he was a little disappointed that Takaya's Other had apparently bothered to make an appearance for such a small matter. Of course he would find as much information as he could before heading outside, but that didn't change the fact that they couldn't keep sitting around. Or at least Frey couldn't--idleness was not in his nature.

"The Star Dragon Sword spoke of a quarry." That had been the last time they'd spoken, really, except for the brief time they'd spent together that night--Takaya's first and last meeting with the Night Rune had gone more or less as expected, but they'd never made it anywhere after that.

"It's unlikely that there would be anything there," he said. "The best we can hope for is, possibly, a make-shift weapon or two. It's doubtful that it would be worth the trouble to hunt for and through for." Kagetora thought for a moment.

"The towns would be useful," he said. "I saw mention of at least two on the boards. Though they would certainly be dangerous to get into, there's bound to be supplies and perhaps better things to defend a person with."

This was much better. Actually thinking and getting something done. If not to go out, then at least to plan. He should probably let Takaya know what was going on, but he had to have some fun...

"Doyletown, the one we visited during the day, was some distance away. I found it difficult to assess the speed of the 'buses', but they seemed to be quite fast. I'm not sure we can make it that distance in a night, at least not one of this place's nights." The other town, Frey didn't know anything about at all. He jotted down in his journal to ask about it tomorrow.

Meanwhile... Frey glanced sidelong at not-Takaya. "You know, if you're going to continue to make appearances, it would be convenient if you gave me a name to call you by."

'Not-Takaya' smiled, the expression little more than a bearing of teeth. "Uesugi." Frey had done nothing to warrant to giving of his first name, and the fact that Takaya let him get away with calling him "takaya" was more proof of the boy's complacency in this place.

If only he could get him to be that submissive to him....

"Very well, then, Uesugi. I am, as you know, Freyjadour Falenas." Uesugi's attitude made it awfully tempting for Frey to tack his title of 'Prince' onto that introduction but he rather doubted it would make any difference anyway, so he took the high road and left it out.

"I will inquire about the other town tomorrow. As to the matter of arms, I'm quite well taken care of in that department already. Have you or Takaya given any thought to getting on the waiting list for proper weapons? There seem to be a few who are capable of making them, now."

Kagetora snorted, the sound similar to Takaya's own. "The boy is best with a shovel," he said, souding oddly amused by that. "Give him anything else and he's more likly to slit his own wrists before using it properly."

Kagetora on the other hand.... He would love to get his hands on something, anything sharp.

"Takaya will do no such thing!" Frey was appalled and, somehow, insulted by the suggestion that Takaya would try to harm himself. Had that been true, at some point? It was horrible to think that Takaya could be so unhappy. But Frey refused to believe that it was true now--Takaya wouldn't do that.

Kagetora laughed at that. An honestly amused laugh. It was still a cold and very cruel sound, but it was a laugh.

"No, of course not. He's more the type to jump in front of something at the last second. Less chance I'll stop him." He continued to grin at the thought. How amusing. Takaya had a .... friend.

Frey made a soft noise somewhere between a hmph and a growl, his jaw clenching slightly as he resisted the powerful urge to say something unpleasant. "I believe we're done discussing strategy for the time being." Which was as close as Frey was going to get to saying go away, you foul little man.

Kagetora's smile widened. "Oh, am I upsetting you? So sorry. I'm quite comfortable where I am," he added, settling on the bed as though relaxing for the night. Truthfully, he was debating giving control back to Takaya. They boy had been rather ... quiet.

"I think I'll just stick around."

Really, Frey knew better than to react to bullies--it only encouraged them. It was just particularly difficult to ignore this particular bully, since he was hurting not Frey but rather someone Frey cared about, and doing it while wearing that someone's face. The whole situation made Frey feel rather helpless, and that bothered him a great deal more than the actual confrontations. But getting angry wasn't going to help Takaya, so Frey just closed his eyes for a moment and forced his expression back into neutrality. "You are of course free to remain here if you wish, but I can't imagine you'll find anything of interest to you."

"I don't know about that," Kagetora said with a small shrug of his shoulders. Still, watching Takaya stumble around in the morning, confused and angry would be less interesting that anything Frey could offer him at the moment.

So, he stepped back from the front and it was Takaya that fell back against the wall, his head connecting soundly with a thud.

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