Hush...

"Please be quiet in the library..." BP: 5 Lives: 0 Associated with 0e.

[sayakopter]

genkiknives:

[4thpilot]

Mister Smiles-a-lot followed the others into the lift before saying

"I’m Jeff!" the black haired kid said in his happy, bubbly tone "Nice to meet you, Quatre!"

Ah, he was sooooo happy to meet a friendly person! At least, he seemed less intimidating than Miss Blue-hair he had met first…

As he was looking at the two, he notice that another perso-… No, not a person, uh… The bird(?) from the library had joined them, and apparently quietly enough that no one noticed until now.

Oh well.

When she said they would need to figure it out themselves, she didn’t mean THEY as in those two joining her.

Well, so long as they weren’t causing trouble, it would be fine, right? Despite how creepy he looked, Jeff didn’t seem so bad so far, and Quatre was downright normal and friendly enough.

"My name is Sayaka," she greeted a bit halfheartedly. As she did, she noticed Jeff’s eyes roaming and followed his line of sight, only to find…

That bird! The one from earlier!

"So I’m not crazy!" she suddenly exclaimed, a bit of relief washing over her while staring intently at the unusually large, feathered creature.

Quatre went silent and just nodded once Sayaka responded. She didn’t seem to be very thrilled that she had new company, which made him frown a little bit.

He took note of Jeff’s reply, of course, but he felt like he didn’t need to respond since he’d already said the ‘nice to meet you’ part. It simply felt awkward to say anything else, what with how the blue-haired girl’s reply had been.

So, until she spoke up again, he had just stood there in silence, trying to think of something else to say.

However, when the presence of the bird had been pointed out, he smiled again before slowly making his way over to it to kneel in front of it. He was usually good with animals, but he knew that birds tended to be skittish around other creatures.

If it didn’t flee, he would indeed kneel down next to it and ask:

"Hey there, little guy. How did you get in here?"

How DID it get in here? If a bird could get in, there must be a way out of this place… right?

[booksandashes]

Nageki didn't flee, and just stood there staring at Quatre until he replied by saying

"I do not know. I just found myself stuck in a room with a large, rather frightening man in goggles,"

"If I may ask, where are are we? Also, please do not speak to me like I am a non-sentient being,"

He was sure the other did not mean to speak to him that way, but it was still just a tad annoying. The greenette then looked at the others, stopping at Seyiku.

"You," suddenly, the blue haired girl would find a tiny baby bird glaring up at her.

  "Do not insult the library, or the concept of them. Or books. Do not insult either one. Understand?"

[genkiknives]

Where the Heckie???

[genkiknives]

"Huh?"

"Sorry, I can’t hear you. Could you say that a little louder?"

[sayakopter]

"I want to wake up!" she loudly proclaimed, frustration more than evident.

Now she really wanted out. Patience was quickly abandoning her. She wouldn’t wait any longer while her potential allies were chit chatting with everyone else. They could catch up when they were done doing… whatever.

She felt a little bad, practically yelling at the scarred person(?) before her, and then suddenly walking off without a word. If she didn’t get away from there, though, she wasn’t sure what would happen. Getting to work figuring this place out would help ease her mind. Hopefully. At the very least it got her out faster.

Leaving through the doorway she had not entered from, Sayaka found herself with three paths to choose from — a lift, a hall, or another doorway  (which, peering inside, looked to be a library. What use was that?).

Lift it was.

[booksandashes]

excuse u libraries are great.

[nashrumack]

Nash had woken up alone in his room long after the other participants of the game had already left theirs, the effects of the drugs he had been given still lingering, as they had been more than enough to knock out a large man. He fell quite short of being even in the average range for males, so,...

[adsfadsfasdfgfhgfhgf-deactivate]

Ew, other people.

The broad alchemist had spent the duration of the strange rabbit's morbidly merry speech and following answer session in silence, positioned a few feet in front of and to the right of the door like a sinister sentry. One hand remained poised upon the lenses as he presumably listened to the exchange, his face pointed exclusively towards the screen and the abhorrent little creature that grinned down at them from it.

Zero, so many of them had assumed, at least until it dismissed the notion in its flippant way, and there was no reason not to believe it. That was the point at which Hilarius finally lowered his hand, to clasp it with its twin behind his back as the glass gaze turned instead to analyze his company, the new batch of suspects, one more time. There were more that had gathered here than he had met in the hallway, and not all of them were human.

When the rabbit vanished, he assumed that they were dismissed, and began to turn with intention of further examining this wretched building by his lonesome, away from the bustle and babble of the few straggling duos and trios of individuals that seemed to know each other. As he did, however, his attentions alighted upon a fresh figure, one that had not been there moments before.

Hᴜᴍᴀɴ.

Aᴘᴘʀᴏx. 20 ʏᴇᴀʀs ᴏғ ᴀɢᴇ. Hᴇᴀʟᴛʜʏ.

Indeed, this one was human; a small and slim one, attired like a mage. Mages, at least, were familiar, and he had not encountered very many of such things since his awakening from a sleep he should have never taken.

Hilarius examined this intriguing youth in cold, calculating silence for much too long.

Qᴜɪᴄᴋᴇɴᴇᴅ ᴘᴜʟsᴇ.

Aɴxɪᴏᴜs.

Nᴏᴛᴀʙʟᴇ ғᴇᴀᴛᴜʀᴇs: Bʀᴏᴡɴ ʜᴀɪʀ. Aᴍʙɪɢᴜᴏᴜs sᴇx.

No doubt if he had deigned to stare for longer, Hilarius may have received the opportunity to discern the last detail from the construction of the jaw and brow and the manner of conduct, but the recipient of that glittering glare had probably noticed it by now.

[booksandashes]

After being in the library for a while, Nageki had remembered that there'd been some sort of meeting announced via loudspeaker. He had probably missed most of it, but, whatever; he should probably go anyway.

Once he had finished the chapter of a book he had picked up, he carefully closed it and started to head towards the room the meeting was apparently going on at. When he finally ended up getting there, he found the annoying situation of someone standing directly in front of the door, making it very difficult to open.

Trying to suppress a bit of the annoyance in his tone, he started to politely ask "Excuse me, but could you mo-" but before he could finish that sentence he caught a glimpse of one of the others in this room.

Oh god.

It was him.

It was that extremely terrifying man(?) that was apparently his roommate.

"...e-erm..."

"...nevermind..."

And with that, the bird gave up trying to open the door, and quickly retreated back to the library.

[adsfadsfasdfgfhgfhgf-deactivate]

GUTEN MORGEN, HERR FUJISHIRO.

[booksandashes]

  "I-I think it’s a key card…"

Nageki had never really used one before, but, he felt like he had seen them before; enough to know what they were and how they worked, at least.

"I’m not sure what it would be for, though…"

"It’s possible it may have something to do with the door that should lead to outside of here. Maybe you could try to see if there’s something you can use the card on?"

[adsfadsfasdfgfhgfhgf-deactivate]

The alchemist paused, and slowly turned his head towards the square of plastic. A ‘key card’, was it?

Without another word, he marched briskly towards the stubborn door and the strange contraption mounted beside it. This, he paused to examine again, and commenced attempting to operate it amid a small bit of bumbling—in so far as this terrible specter of a man could ’bumble’, for his stiff movements did not lend themselves well to the word. Clearly, he did not know how ‘key cards’ worked, even though the things were certainly a human invention.

There was, finally, a click, and he grabbed the handle of the door at once. It turned. He pushed.

There was a hallway outside, but he did not step into it. Instead he stood in the doorway, his broad back to the timid bird-thing on the bed. Apprehension? Oh, no, none of that. Only assessment; only examination. A look before the leap. Even so, his bony knuckles were tight under the taut leather of his long gloves. He had not released the handle, or the key card. After a lengthy pause, he finally slipped the latter into one of his many pockets.

Then, still holding the door, he turned to Nageki. Yet in the bed, it seemed; out of fear, or something else? Was the strange bird-creature really a bird? At least it was, perhaps, the most familiar thing in this room. Hilarius was well acquainted with the nature of flesh and blood, and, indeed, with animals that spoke. It was these white walls and strange, silent devices of soft yet brittle substance that reeked of uncertainty.

Even so, the white lenses drilled the mourning dove: unblinking, milky and empty, like so many blind eyes.

So frail, so fragile. Sᴏ ᴀғʀᴀɪᴅ.

No, the wretched puppet master that owned this facility was not this bird.

Hᴇʀᴍᴇs ʜᴇʟᴘ ʜɪᴍ ɪғ ʜᴇ ɪs.

But that would be a matter to be dealt with later. For now, there was a game to play, and it couldn’t very well be played without first knowing the lay of the board. At last, the blank goggles removed their dead stare from their marginally useful little victim. Hilarius passed through the door and into the hallway without a word to him.

Another device beeped indicatively as he did, and he turned sharply towards it, but before Nageki could see much else, the door had shut behind him, and clicked its lock into place once again.

The man outside didn’t try to open it.

Nageki was by himself, at least for a little while.

[booksandashes]

After waiting a few minutes to make sure the other wasn't coming back, Nageki decided to look around the room a bit. He eventually figured out the puzzle needed to get out of the room and cautiously exited.

Very soon after, he found out there was a library.

Well, there's two options now, let's see; rooming with his apparent roommate, or doing exactly what he was doing before waking up here?

...Well, time to start setting up camp in the library; to the library!

[adsfadsfasdfgfhgfhgf-deactivate]

GUTEN MORGEN, HERR FUJISHIRO.

[booksandashes]

  The loud, booming monotone that sounded made Nageki flinch a little; horrifying in both appearance and voice… what fun… Not only that, but, he couldn’t help but feel that, in this case, fascinating was not a good thing to be-

He let out a quiet squeak as his shield was pushed aside and his neck was grabbed. The dove then went completely silent; this was a bad position to be in, and almost anything could get him harmed.

Once he was let go of, Nageki took a deep breath; he hadn’t realized it, but it seemed he had been holding his breath.

He felt around his neck and felt the collar. He took a look at, what seemed to be, a clock face hanging from it.

What exactly was this collar for, and, what did the ‘five’ on it’s face represent? …Now that he thought about it, to add onto the list of questions; where exactly was he, anyway?

[adsfadsfasdfgfhgfhgf-deactivate]

It must have become evident that Nageki’s company was not entirely sure about where they were, either; a glance at him would reveal that he, too, had an accessory like the bird’s, a bulky, modern thing that looked terribly out of place against the stern, old world elegance of the rest of the man’s attire. Methodical and pointed, he strode around the room, touching the walls and opening the other doors, none of which lead outside. At several points he passed close to the bird again, accompanied by his acrid odor as he examined the speakers on Nageki’s side of the room. Hilarius did not appear to know what they were, given the way that he inspected them so thoroughly. When that was done, he vanished into the back rooms for a proper analysis—so many hollow, waiting shells, the bare bones of a living space. They were the only occupants, it seemed: past or present.

A door slammed, and Hilarius strode back into the main room, clutching the paper that he had found in his pocket. Still without a word of explanation or otherwise to say to the dove, he suddenly veered towards and paused at the lock box at the foot of the other bed, and lowered himself to a knee.

He fiddled with something on the face of the lock, the goggles flashing as they turned between paper and box. There was a subtle click. He threw the lid open, and plucked up the meager contents: another paper and a plastic key card. He stilled as he read the former, and then crushed it into his fist with the first page. The key card was then the subject of the frown as the alchemist slowly rose again.

Suddenly, he broke the silence that had accumulated in the space between them, lofting the card indicatively between two long, rigid fingers. “WHAT IS THIS?”

The drawling question seemed to be addressed to Nageki, if the direction of the goggles was anything to go by—and there was something about that man and his thunderous voice that suggested that answering would probably be the wisest course of action.

[booksandashes]

"I-I think it's a key card..."

Nageki had never really used one before, but, he felt like he had seen them before; enough to know what they were and how they worked, at least.

"I'm not sure what it would be for, though..."

"It's possible it may have something to do with the door that should lead to outside of here. Maybe you could try to see if there's something you can use the card on?"

[adsfadsfasdfgfhgfhgf-deactivate]

GUTEN MORGEN, HERR FUJISHIRO.

[booksandashes]

  Nageki had just barely started to gain consciousness as the other stared at him. Everything was too blurry to see at the moment, and there was a… A rather wretched smell.

All he could smell at the moment was the overpowering scent of chemicals and blood; disgusting. Along with making him feel a bit nauseous, he couldn’t help but feel it was chillingly familiar…

Before he was able to figure out why that may be however, his vision started to clear, and he saw what was in front of him. About a second later, because of what was in front of him, he jolted upwards and into a sitting position, using his pillow as some sort of shield.

W-What in the world was this thing staring down at him?! Was it a human? From what Nageki knew, it didn’t look all too much like a human… Perhaps it was a sub-species? Oh, it didn’t really matter; what mattered was that it was a horrifying creature, whatever it was.

Eventually, the small dove managed to speak, quietly asking “w-why are you staring at me…?”

[adsfadsfasdfgfhgfhgf-deactivate]

The waiting scientist neither flinched nor budged. His frown didn’t change and he did not move. He could have seemed a grotesque statue, installed in poor taste, if he had not spoken then.

“FASCINATING,” he said, and his voice was a deep and booming monotone. From the presentation of that single word and the empty way in which it had been spoken, Nageki might as well have been a curiosity upon a shelf, a corpse preserved in formaldehyde: lifeless, meaningless, a specimen without a soul.

Perhaps that is all that the eyes behind the lenses saw.

After a no doubt uncomfortable interval of silent staring, the severe alchemist suddenly shoved the pillow aside and reached out to grab the device that hung from the bird’s neck. The gesture was rough and surprisingly unrefined for someone who had stood so still; after a brief examination of the face and its luminescent, ominous 5, Hilarius released the collar without a word or an explanation and turned upon his square heel in order to pace back to the middle of the room. Thankfully, he took his dreadful, burning smell with him. It was there that he briefly paused, his chin raised, before he rotated a perfect ninety degrees to briskly approach the door.

He tested the handle, which, of course, was a futile endeavor. In the wake of that discovery, he poked and prodded the strange device mounted beside it with a sort of ginger care. When he had finished the examination, he slowly wiped his gloved hand on the front of his checkered coat, as if the material were filthy. Already, it was as though poor Nageki had been forgotten—a blessing, perhaps, that would probably give the dear bird some time to acclimate himself to his new and unpleasant situation, and this new and unpleasant stranger.

[booksandashes]

The loud, booming monotone that sounded made Nageki flinch a little; horrifying in both appearance and voice... what fun... Not only that, but, he couldn't help but feel that, in this case, fascinating was not a good thing to be-

He let out a quiet squeak as his shield was pushed aside and his neck was grabbed. The dove then went completely silent; this was a bad position to be in, and almost anything could get him harmed.

Once he was let go of, Nageki took a deep breath; he hadn't realized it, but it seemed he had been holding his breath.

He felt around his neck and felt the collar. He took a look at, what seemed to be, a clock face hanging from it.

What exactly was this collar for, and, what did the 'five' on it's face represent? ...Now that he thought about it, to add onto the list of questions; where exactly was he, anyway?

[adsfadsfasdfgfhgfhgf-deactivate]

GUTEN MORGEN, HERR FUJISHIRO.

PROCESSING.

Silence. Then, the creak of leather. The clench of a fist.

PROCESSING.

PROCESSING.

This was INCORRECT. INCORRECT. Something was amiss.

Indeed, something was amiss. This was not the dank, damp air of the writhing Labyrinth, nor the warm and rich atmosphere of Guildereim. There was no smoke. There was no spice. There was no acid, nor bile, nor the iron smell of blood. No sweet odor of churning elixirs basting the remnants of a dragon’s claw, or simmering the tongue of a unicorn.

MISSING DATA.

Previously stiff as a board, something rose from the bed like a machine, in precise, practical movements; it was an apparatus unfolding, a weapon deploying, rigid and unoiled but focused and dangerous.

No, wait—it was a man.

Or something like one.

STATUS: FUNCTIONAL.

When standing, he towered at six and a half feet, but while his chest and shoulders were naturally broad, the rest of him was, politely, thin; frankly, emaciated. His head was haloed by a tangled mess of pale, silvering blond, grown dark and dirty with grease and the curdled smoke of an endless array of arcane concoctions.

He frowned meaninglessly at the floor as a gloved hand lifted to the apparatus upon the gaunt face, and the long, stiff fingers of the other reached out to the wall to claim balance from it. The digits paused briefly to trace the scar that twisted the frown into a subtle sneer. Then they pressed against the white, wrinkled forehead, as though with some passing curiosity, and finally drew themselves down the cool brass of the barrel that hid the eye.

Click-click-click-click, snickered the goggles as the army of lenses was rearranged. The blank, vacant stare of that opaque glass panned across the room while its owner considered what he was seeing and where he was. Most unnatural. Most unfamiliar. MOST UNUSUAL.

PROCESSING.

Hilarius turned his head downwards, at last. He touched and studied the wrist, or, more specifically, the strange adornment that had been fastened upon it, but said nothing—and if he had wondered about it, it did not show on that frozen face. He thoughtfully patted his pockets, all eight of them, stacked down the front of his long, tall-collared coat. They had been stripped of many of their contents, but as he searched the last, his fingers paused upon an unfamiliar piece of paper. This he extracted and examined.

Silence.

The creak of leather.

The paper was carefully folded and tucked away again, and, slowly, the alchemist arranged his broad hands behind his back—a back that was much too straight—and traversed the length of the room in three wide strides. He was not alone. There was another bed.

And there was someone—or something—in it.

A narrow shadow cast itself over the head, accompanied by the empty glass eyes and imperturbable frown. They pointed themselves at what could be seen of the hapless occupant, silent, surreal and intently patient, like the bizarre remnants of a nightmare.

For all of the perfect stillness and honed attention, that terrible shadow may as well have been content with watching the little bird sleep forever, drilling the soft head with that bleached glare until it had long decayed to the skull.

Hilarius had never been particularly known for his bedside manner.

That suited him quite fine.

COMMENCE OPERATION: “NONARY GAME”.

[booksandashes]

Nageki had just barely started to gain consciousness as the other stared at him. Everything was too blurry to see at the moment, and there was a... A rather wretched smell.

All he could smell at the moment was the overpowering scent of chemicals and blood; disgusting. Along with making him feel a bit nauseous, he couldn't help but feel it was chillingly familiar...

Before he was able to figure out why that may be however, his vision started to clear, and he saw what was in front of him. About a second later, because of what was in front of him, he jolted upwards and into a sitting position, using his pillow as some sort of shield.

W-What in the world was this thing staring down at him?! Was it a human? From what Nageki knew, it didn't look all too much like a human... Perhaps it was a sub-species? Oh, it didn't really matter; what mattered was that it was a horrifying creature, whatever it was.

Eventually, the small dove managed to speak, quietly asking "w-why are you staring at me...?"