Night 50: Main Hallway, 1-West

[heroesdontshave]

[from here]

It looked like the hallway opened up over here. Guess he couldn't expect to just run around and follow a linear corridor forever, but now he had to figure out which way he wanted to go. Normally, he'd just run down whatever hallway he happened to lay eye on first, but again, he was running a liiittle blind here.

He still wasn't seeing any people anywhere. Maybe everyone was hiding. If everyone knew the staff turned into monsters and tried to eat them, then it'd make sense that they'd try to keep low. Thankfully, he'd be taking care of whatever was wandering around this place, so they wouldn't have to stay hiding for long. Once that was done, they could blast their way out of there and he could find his way back to the others. Couldn't keep everyone waiting on account of him, right?

[running across Rita, The Trickster, and hopefully, a freaking flashlight]

Comments

[inherited]

"I don't think that's a good idea," Riku replied to his friends. He didn't like the idea of being people who took the first steps, especially when there was a chance that others would be attempting much the same thing that night. It would be careless of them to overlook the possible consequences of not thinking twice, and he figured they should think about it.

"Let's do something else first." What, he didn't know, but he had a feeling that Sora and Kairi's haste was unwise. This was where his insight was needed. His fingers wrapped tightly around his ring, and he realized this was the best idea at hand. Having the ring made him feel confident, even if he confessed that he wasn't certain that it would help them. The electronics store wasn't exactly bustling with ways to get out at night.

Not having a suggestion stopped him cold, but Riku looked at his friends expectantly.

[kingdomless.livejournal.com]

"And once again, Riku is the voice of reason," Kairi joked, smiling towards the two boys. Honestly, the older boy had a point. They had no idea what the ring could potentially do to them, and she knew that.

At the mention of doing something else, the once princess pressed her finger to her lips, tapping gently. "Hmmm, we could always go with the failsafe decision and once again try to get to the basement? Since last time we tried something stopped us in the Sun Room ..." the thought of whatever it was caused Kairi to shudder. It had been growing out of Riku, whatever it was ...

"Or maybe outside?" she asked in a softer voice, still somewhat worried about something lurking in the recreation field, whether it be a monster or someone under the control of the institute. "Or maybe something completely different, like up stairs to the other rooms ..."

[lighthearted]

What? Why did Riku want to hold back? Sora frowned for a moment, wondering if his friend was being contrary just for the sake of it, and yet he knew that wasn't the case. Riku was giving the opinion he thought was best, either because he was worried about the rings being a trap or... whatever else it was. But it looked like they would have to put it aside for now.

Especially since Kairi went along with Riku's suggestion without a second thought. If Sora tried to argue his side, he'd just look stubborn, and so he considered Kairi's suggestions with a sigh.

"Well, this ring should take us upstairs near the file room, in theory, so maybe we can wait on that," he said with a halfhearted shrug. "I'm fine with trying the basement again, if you guys are up for it. Both the Sun Room and going outside will get us there, so it's just what you prefer." He glanced between the two of them, waiting for a decision. In the meantime, he quietly slipped the ring off of his finger and placed it into his pocket. So much for that.

[inherited]

"Hey, it's not like I've always been a voice of reason," Riku joked. Their adventures on the Islands were often his ideas, and building the raft started from just that. Even if the source of his dreaming outside the Islands was very real, he hadn't always acted with reason. It was that fact that led to Kairi losing her heart and Sora being the keybearer in the end.

But Riku's mind didn't stray to memories of the past. Though Sora played off everything like it didn't bother him, the lack of enthusiasm implied the truth behind his actions. He didn't like that Riku was taking charge. A small battle started within himself at the sight of this—mock Sora for being so upset or feel guilty because he did—but instead, he decided to pretend that Sora was okay with everything. They could talk later, elsewhere, when Kairi wasn't there.

She didn't need to know that old tensions could still arise between them so easily. Even if Riku had a feeling she could tell anyway.

"Let's head outside," he decided. If he was going to take charge, he had to now. "We'll let other people handle the basement. We've tried there too many times." Or had made plans that didn't turn out. He was sick of it.

[kingdomless.livejournal.com]

Kairi stuck her tongue out at Riku before smiling, and she turned towards Sora as he spoke. However, before she could say anything Riku spoke up, giving them an idea. "Outside ..." she parroted, thinking about it. "Okay ... but we have to be extra careful since it's special counseling tonight ... who knows who's out there?"

Despite ether of the boys not openly saying anything, the once princess could feel a slight tense wave pass between Sora and Riku, but she quickly tried to ignore it. She didn't want things to end up like they had before the whole keyblade fiasco happened. They had fought during that time, and she never wanted to see them like that again. She'd do anything she could to prevent it, in fact.

"Should we go over the wall?" she quickly continued, frowning as she bent down to pick of her sword from the wall. "Last night I was in a forest outside of the walls ... we could try to get there?"

[lighthearted]

Outside, huh? Well, Sora probably hadn't gone out there as many times as he'd tried the basement, so he didn't mind that idea so much. So long as they didn't go to the quarry, anyway. He was pretty sick of heading in that direction, even though he knew it pretty well by now. He'd rather they try to find something new -- or new to him, at least. And if it was new to him, it'd be new to his friends, too.

They were going to have to worry about special counseling patients no matter where they went, so Sora wasn't too concerned about that. Both Kairi and Riku were aware of the dangers, and that was about all they could do to prepare.

"A forest, huh? Well, we could try to find it," he agreed with a nod. "I don't know what direction it's in, but it's worth a shot. And if we find something else, then that'll still be worth something, right?" The more that they uncovered, the better their chances of beating this place, or so he figured. Seeing how no one seemed to have any protests, Sora clicked on his flashlight and started to move, leading them down the hall toward the recreational field.

[To here.]