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BP: 5 Lives: 0 Color: Cyan

[maddeningscience-blog]

This Is No Place For Science

[gaugauuu-blog]

It was, admittedly, a simpler answer than expected. Before he was even done speaking, pink eyes were scanning the room, mostly behind him. He apparently hadn’t found anything behind the second door, beds probably didn’t sport any clues, but in front of the beds…

"Like these?" she remarked, stepping towards the bed she had fleed from not long ago. There was some sort of box — a likely place to store a key to the door behind her. Moreover, it was marked with identical looking triangles. There weren’t any numbers on them, but maybe if she pawed them as indicated she would yield results.

Sure enough, she did. Not quite what she thought to find though. A card and another note. And the note didn’t even explain the card.

Once again she turned her head to look towards her roommate, silently watching to see if he knew what to do with it.

[maddeningscience-blog]

As soon as she pointed out the chests, he turned, and was quickly at the chest at the foot of his bed. It wasn’t very hard to figure out what the symbols and numbers meant once you found the puzzle they went to, and soon enough, he had his box open.

“Ah, I see.”

If he hadn’t thought so highly of his own genius, he would have felt stupid. Just one turn would have been all he needed...

He didn’t dwell on it, though, instead promptly using the keycard on the door. The heavy, metal barricade slid open with a hiss, only to grant them view of... surprise, more doors.

Without worry, assuming the girl hadn’t immediately bolted past him, he bravely stepped out into the corridor.

Freedom now seemed to be the furthest thing from their grasp, as the hallway held the same cold, blank, enclosed feeling as the room. The only reason it felt as though it may be a little more unforgiving was the fact that at least one end had an open doorway.

Before the professor could move any further, though, a voice suddenly came over the loudspeaker, telling them to find the living room and causing him to visibly tense and glance about for the source of the voice.

Without another word to the bear, he clasped his hands behind his back once more and began the slow process of shuffling towards the open end. That seemed to be the most logical place to go next. That, and it was the closer end of the two.

[maddeningscience-blog]

This Is No Place For Science

[gaugauuu-blog]

A concentrated frown graced the girl’s features as she listened to every word. She didn’t recall volunterring to participate in any game. She didnt have time to participate in any stupid game!

At the mention of bracelets, she suddenly became aware of the unusual tightness around her left wrist. Immediately she drew her arm upwards, carefully examining the device. There was no making sense of it, however. What was she supposed to get from the number ‘5’? Was she the 5th person there?

Paying no heed to the advice not to, she tested the bracelet anyway. Indeed it was stuck right in place. It then became an inward debate of whether or not she should transform right then and there. She needed this device off; she needed to be out of here. But was she just just making it worse by giving herself away?

The internal back and forth was cut short by the human addressing her instead.

"I’m not, gau gau," she answered forcefully.

She hadn’t noticed a note when she awoke, but he just pulled it out of his pocket, right? Thrusting a hand inside her own, she was only mildly surprised to find there was in fact one there. She pulled it out and skimmed over it herself. Everything he had said was right there, but also…

"The triangles have numbers in them, gau." She looked back at the man, almost expectantly. He had been searching for something, after all. Maybe he understood what they meant.

[maddeningscience-blog]

Hojo narrowed his eyes into mere slits as she responded with ‘gau gau’. It was definitely something unusual to add to the end of a sentence, but unusual things weren’t unfamiliar to him. He did have to put up with Reno, after all, who enjoyed randomly adding things such as ‘yo’ and ‘man’ and what have you to his own sentences.

The scientist couldn’t say that he understood any of it. Why not just stick with regular English? He was of a much older generation, where languages had been much, much simpler, and while he didn’t quite understand it, it didn’t have much bearing on his life, so he supposed it didn’t matter very much, in the end.

“Yes,” he said, simply, as the bear pointed out the obvious.

He awaited a response, but when none came, he grew somewhat agitated. She wasn’t proving to be of much help.

“I believe we need to find something with triangles on it.”

[maddeningscience-blog]

This Is No Place For Science

[gaugauuu-blog]

She was surprised when the man continued to keep his back to her and even ‘ask’ for her help. That was good, right? He obviously didn’t expect her to maul him, so her identity was probably safe at least. In a scenario like this, however, that wasn’t enough to earn trust.

Despite the order, the girl stood frozen in place, albeit a bit more relaxed than before. A look of puzzlement mixed with her already guarded expression. What was she supposed to be looking for?

She watched as he went on to open the door she was now aiming for. What little she could see past him was not encouraging. More doors? After he had vanished for some time, she advanced a few steps, equal parts curious and cautious. Before she could get any further, though, he was on his way back out and sounding even less enthralled. As unsettling as he smelled, perhaps he wasn’t the real threat here. Despite the thought, she tensed as he approached.

"What are you looking for?" the girl finally questioned.

[maddeningscience-blog]

About the time she asked her question, the man was already nearing her, hunched over slightly and hands clasped behind his back. As he stopped, he straightened back up, bringing his hands back around to the front as he did so, only to dip his fingers into a pocket and produce the note that Zero had given him in one smooth motion.

He flipped it open, bringing it up to eye level as he adjusted his glasses with his free hand.

“Welcome. I am your gracious host, Zero,” he began, choosing to read out the entire note for her to hear. When he was finished, he simply locked eyes with her from behind the piece of paper.

“Did you get one like this?”

Perhaps she had and was in too much of a panic to realize that there were a few things on her body that were out of place. Hojo hoped that she wasn’t as stupid and/or useless that she so far seemed to be.

“Or are you this ‘Zero’ character?”

He figured that chances of that were slim, though, considering she looked as bewildered as he felt, but it never hurt to ask.

[maddeningscience-blog]

This Is No Place For Science

[gaugauuu-blog]

Turning, she noticed the unwelcome presence with his own back turned. An opportunity. Leaping out of the bed, she sprinted over towards the door opposite, expecting an easy getaway. Her heels were loud and would surely give her away, but the exit wasn’t far. Just get there, open it, and—

No door knob. Pushing on the large hunk of metal didn’t help either. Finally she just did her best to grab on to the thing and pull it open, but after a few moments of pointless straining, her fingers released and she breathed out a frustrated “gau!”

Was it a trap? There was a door behind the weird man, as well… Quickly turning and keeping her back to the unmoving barrier, she eyed the human. 

She needed to get to that exit.

[maddeningscience-blog]

“Ah, you’re awake,” the man said, simply, not yet turning to face her. “Help me search this room.”

They hadn’t even introduced themselves, and he was already getting bossy. Honestly, though, there wasn’t very much else for them to do here, was there? They needed to find the way out. Besides, he wasn’t exactly one for smalltalk... or even introductions. He didn’t care for names, as he had no use for them, unless they were one of his specimens. Those he usually named himself, such as ‘Red XIII’.

He shuffled to the door that lead to the bathrooms, turned the knob, and pulled it open. He couldn’t say that he wasn’t surprised that it opened so easily, but when he was met with nothing much more than what looked like a closet, he didn’t feel disappointment. If it were a way out, that would have been too easy.

After disappearing into the new room for what seemed to be an eternity, he finally emerged with nothing new aside from the knowledge that the easily accessible room was only a bathroom.

“Bah. Waste of time.”

He began to shuffle towards his roommate after a short pause.

[maddeningscience-blog]

This Is No Place For Science

Dark eyes cracked open, only to narrow in a wince in an attempt to get rid of the pain from the sudden bright light that flooded the owner’s vision. He realized that his head hurt... more than that, it also felt a little strange.

A moment or two found the professor sitting up, every passing second clearing his mind and body of the dizzying haze that seemed to envelope them. A quick scan of the room told him that this was no familiar place. Although it did feel somewhat similar to the holding cells in the Shinra Headquarters, it was nowhere near the same.

Hojo paused when his gaze fell onto a bed opposite his---or, more accurately, the being lying in that bed.

Whenever he was sure that he could stand without his legs giving out, he did so, making his way slowly over to the other bed to examine the creature.

His gait was nothing more than a slow, shuffling walk, the sound of boots scuffing the floor filling the room as he traveled, stopping as he reached the edge of the bed, a little too close for any normal person’s comfort. The man knew no boundaries, or... rather, did not care about them.

For what would seem to be the longest time had the subject of study been awake, the scientist simply stared silently from behind rounded glasses.

There seemed to be nothing unusual about the other until he discovered the bracelet it wore, and, out of curiosity, checked his own wrist for a similar device. As he did indeed have one, he simply said “ah, yes,” and then proceeded to check his pockets for anything else that may have been planted on him.

A note was produced, but he didn’t quite understand the meaning of it, yet. The room would once more be filled with the scuffing sounds of his shuffling as he went about searching it.