Night 11

[fifthreplacement]

[Awhile after night begins, and after Sync has spent some time talking to Sil about what happened, a new post appears in the journals. He still hasn't used this enough for most to recognise his handwriting, but those who do will realise it's a little shakier than normal]

The basement isn't safe, especially around the crafters rooms. I don't know if it's still there or not, but there was a monster hiding in the carpenter's room. It's already killed one person tonight.

[He doesn't write any more than that, no 'be careful' or anything. It's a warning, and that's all. Sync doesn't care what happens to most of the people here. But for those few he's beginning to realise he does...hopefully it will be enough]

Comments

[angel_of_death]

Odd. So far as I know, none of the workers have left the rooms before.

[In the back of his mind, Walter's more than a little curious as to where they might have gone. They were the two crafters he had kept the closest eye on. What had changed so that they were both able to leave? And why had they left? Had the carpenter known something was wrong in his room?]

What is your status?

[fifthreplacement]

All the rooms were open, it seemed. They were the only two who left.

[What was his status? He considers that for a moment]

Alive and uninjured. I got lucky.

[angel_of_death]

Good. [He pauses, adding as an afterthought.] This isn't the first time the rooms have all been open. It was that way when it was flooding downstairs, too.

[Questions. He had a lot of questions, and fewer answers than he liked.]

Do you have any information on the monster?

[fifthreplacement]

The first time any of them have left though, to my knowledge.

Yes. The one who saved me and a mutual acquaintance told me of it. It's one of the servants to the creature sealed in the maze.

[angel_of_death]

I want a full debriefing as soon as you can manage it.

[fifthreplacement]

I can do that now. Where are you?

[He needs to go find Luke as well, particularly since the two of them are linked and Luke has no doubt realised he can't sense Asch any more. But Walter will be easier since he can simply ask where the other is - he has a feeling he's going to have to go searching for the other replica]

[angel_of_death]

I'm at the Cheese House in town. But keep a sharp eye out if you plan to come over here. The shopkeeper's nervous and I'm not entirely sure why.

[fifthreplacement]

I've noticed that. There's hardly anyone around. They seem to think something is up. But I'll be there in a moment.

[He's careful, keeping to the shadows and avoiding the open areas, but it doesn't take him long to get there, knocking lightly on the door before slipping inside, shutting it behind him and taking a second to adjust to the difference in lighting]

[angel_of_death]

[Unlike the shopkeeper and her baby, Walter is still on the ground floor. He doesn't know precisely who to expect; he's never had Sync's handwriting pointed out to him and he certainly doesn't have the sort of preternatural sensory capacities that certain other people do.

So he does the next best thing from knowing. He asks.]

Are you here for me?

[He's over by the counter, Sync will see, one hand cupping a chrome lighter in its grasp as fingers brush over it in thought.

A pity he doesn't have any smokes on him, or even the proper fuel for the lighter itself.]

[fifthreplacement]

Yeah. That was my writing on the notebooks.

[While he has a decent hold on himself, there's still a few obvious things that stand out enough to pick that Sync is unsettled. A slight shake to his hands where they're normally steady, a little more prone to sharp glances around the room if the shadows seem to move. Perhaps the most obvious is the way the fur that runs up his left arm is standing on end.

He approaches Walter, though he stops a short distance away to not invade personal space for either of them]

The creature in the carpenter's room is the same one Hope let out of the zoo some time ago. One of the Vernacht's servants, apparently known as Glory. We had the bad luck to find it and have it take offence to our presence.

[He closes his eyes for a second]

Asch is dead. The only reason I'm not is because someone I'm fairly sure was a certain shadowy man pulled me out of the castle and into town.

[angel_of_death]

[The lack of intrusion into his personal space, while not noted on Walter's end, is respected in turn, even if only on a subconscious level. He remains beside the counter, his notebook laid flat on its surface with a worn pencil resting atop it as he listens with lighter in hand, watching the nervous little movements the boy makes.

The description Sync gives of the creature is passingly familiar. Perhaps the same creature he had spied during his maze trip with Kaito.

It's all he has the time to think before the bombshell drops.


Asch is dead.


It's strange. He hasn't felt that creeping numbness in a long time. But there it is again, stealing over him as he stares in an unfocused haze, what little colour there is in his flesh draining from his features.

His occupied hand slowly drops, resting the lighter on the notebook atop the counter.]

...I see...

[fifthreplacement]

[He had a feeling that might affect Walter. While he knows little of the relationships Asch held, the two had seemed close from what interactions he'd seen, both at the house and from reading back over the journals. Sync doesn't understand it fully, but he doesn't need to. He understands the feeling of loss]

He should revive before midnight, if I have my timing right, in his dorm.

[His voice is quiet, a little more melancholy than he was expecting. Having seen Asch be killed in front of him and being unable to do anything...it hurt, strangely. Nowhere near as much as he expected it to hurt others. But it twisted a little in him]

[angel_of_death]

[Walter nods slowly. He doesn't have that close relationship with Asch any longer, but it's plain enough even to him that the death is felt. It is still loss. The loss of a comrade, if nothing else. The loss of a comrade he had once cared for.

But life did not wait for one to get over loss. This one is probably more temporary than he is used to, at any rate. If the pattern holds. He doesn't have any reason to allow himself to believe it won't.]

…You said the carpenter and weaver were gone from their rooms. [The way he speaks is slightly halting at first. But he forces his way through it, willing his thoughts to focus on the situation.] Perhaps one of them was aware something was wrong. We might be able to find out more if we can find them.

[fifthreplacement]

It could be, either that or they're aware of the tension in the air and wanted out of the castle. I don't know where they'd be however.

[Sync falls into the stratergising with ease, wondering where the two might be. Before shaking his head for a moment]

I can look for them later. First though I'm going to need to find Luke. The idiot's wandered off again and he's going to have felt it.

[Finding out more about why things happened was important. Making sure Luke didn't die as well was more-so]

[angel_of_death]

Should we split up to look for him?

[Hopefully Luke wouldn't be foolish enough to go wandering back into the maze, but between the Town, the Castle, and the Garden, there's still a lot of ground to cover for one person.]

[fifthreplacement]

I can search on my own if you're needed here. I'm going back into the castle either way, knowing him he's blundering straight into whatever could be the most dangerous and right now the castle seems to be it.

[Luke had a very specific kind of luck. The sort that usually put him alongside whatever was most likely to kill him, while usually surviving it without too much trouble]

[angel_of_death]

[Walter isn't about to deny the validity of Sync's concern. The red-heads were alike in that regard, stumbling into trouble precisely when they were the least prepared for it.

The agent steels himself, focusing on what can be done in the present. He'd have to check on the shopkeeper's status before deciding on whether to set out or not.]

I can still keep a decent watch on foot traffic to and from the town from this shop if I'm needed here. I'll keep my notebook open. Write if you spot any of them, alright?

[Naturally, he would do the same.]

[fifthreplacement]

[Sync nods at the question, shifting to get ready to go. He had a redhead to find]

Yeah, I will.

[angel_of_death]

Gale.

[It's a short interjection followed by an important caution. He remembers the writings in the notebooks about a loosed creature using the voices of loved ones to its advantage.]

Watch yourself while you're searching in down there. If you're talking about the monster I think you are, you're probably dealing with something that can read minds and make illusions to put that knowledge to use.

[fifthreplacement]

[He glances back, listening to what the other has to say and nodding]

So I've heard. It draws people in with the voices of those they care for. In which case it's going to have a very hard time getting anywhere with me.

[Sync doesn't care for anyone, after all. And nor would he trust enough to go blindly to someone calling for help]

[angel_of_death]

Then if it has half a brain to it, it will change its tactics for you quickly.

[A fear to stun. Tricking the basic senses to confuse and delay. Both and more were fair game.]

Go for a wide attack if you think you're caught in a deception. A narrow attack is a waste of your energy unless you have the senses to see through the illusion.

[fifthreplacement]

[He nods, understanding]

I have the same ability to sense things Asch does, learned it off him. [More like stole it, Sync] But you're right. So long as no one else is around to be hit by it, if I run into it again I can handle it long enough to at least get away.

[angel_of_death]

Right. [He'll trust Sync to be capable in that regard.] I'll see you later then.

[How much later, he doesn't know. But inevitably. As long as they both are stuck in this world.]