Missed Steps and Pitfalls

[adi]

Hrothgar jumped not as the man intoned, but as the door closed behind them. He had to resist the urge to clasp his hand on Kei's shoulder, instead choosing to grip the hem of his shirt tightly. Though he had long since grown out of his childhood fear of the dark, he was still unnerved.

He was all fine and accepting of night and darkness in general-- that's how the universe worked. Day and night were just two halves of the span of time. But when a building, in a city that was arguably well-lit even in the night, was deliberately deprived of light, it just seemed... off. An unnatural sort of darkness. Unsettling did not begin to describe the tall man's intonation.

But he and Kei were in the thick of it now. Though the man's warning seemed to be the last chance they had to turn back, Hrothgar had a faint feeling in the back of his mind that even if they did turn back, it would not be pleasant. As if they would be marked and watched simply due to suspecting something bad was going on in this building.

"O-of course not," he finally answered, steeling his nerves, staring forward at the only available light. The corridor seemed much longer than it had been before the door closed. It would not be the first time he worked as a scribe for something he did not agree with, but he had never had such an ominous warning, either.

[Nayt]

"Very well," said the man, before turning away from Kei and Hroth and beginning down the corridor.

Kei shot an uneasy glance at Hroth. She hadn't answered the man for a good reason. She did not know what to think about this. In fact, if she'd been on the spot and the decision was hers to make, she'd have probably said something akin to I think maybe we should look elsewhere for employment. She wanted then to ask if Hrothgar was sure about all this, but her voice would've been shaky and devoid of confidence, and they weren't too far from their would-be employer. Speaking doubt now would've probably been bad . . .

So she wound up hesitantly looking down the corridor, and just as hesitant, put her best foot forward and began to follow behind the researcher.

At the end of the hall was a split in the path, one going right and the other going left. The researcher turned left. Upon arriving at the end of the hall, however, they'd find that the right path actually lead to another long corridor, with a few doorways on each side, but ultimately with a set of stairs leading ever downward at the end of it. Just looking at the stairs and imagining what brand of creepier could possibly exist in the basement of this place made Kei want to die a little inside. Or turn and leave. Whichever came first.

Down the left side of the hall, which was a series of connecting corridors, the man continued on to the far end of the corridor, where he opened a large wooden door with a torch hanging before it, and set into a room difficult to see from afar. He was particularly fast for his age and would most definitely leave Kei and Hrothgar behind.

[adi]

Hrothgar was aware of Kei's uneasiness, and he truthfully felt a bit guilty about it. This place was unsettling, the man who met them at the door was unsettling, and his warning had been far beyond unsettling. On top of that the pay seemed far too low to endure the workplace provided.

He offered a small shrug in way of apology, trying to conjure a face that displayed his own disbelief in what he had just agreed to. The expression was only a half-lie. While he was still half-reeling and half-regretting the decision he had made for them, some part of him was curious as all hell.

He wasn't using any rational part of his brain, that he could concede. His sense of rationality was now weeping in a pile of discarded warnings and alarms in the corner of his mind. It was an impulsive gut-based decision that his guts seemingly wanted no part of, considering the way it seemed to flop as soon as Hrothgar eyed the dark stairwell towards the right. His rational mind and his guts were regretting his decision and drawing up harsh contracts of guilt already, but his sleeping mind was frighteningly comfortable.

For a split second he almost wanted to venture down those steps. It seemed familiarly foreign to him, as though he had seen a set of steps cut from the same dark stone or cast in similar dim light. He felt a similar feeling to when he was faced with great heights-- that inexplicable impulse to jump. He bit his lip and snapped his head back to the left.

Kei had continued after the doorman, her pace quickened to keep up with him. She had already neared the midpoint between the junction and the door where the man had entered before Hrothgar managed to get his feet working again just in time to jog down the hall and follow them into the room before the heavy door closed completely.

[Nayt]

In the whereabouts of the middle of the hall, though, Kei actually stopped. Hrothgar caught up with her, she turned to face him, and finally she reached out to take hold of his arm. It wasn't a romantic gesture in the least, though. She was just trying to get his attention and call him to a stop without being loud about it. Once she'd done both, she'd lean in close enough that she could reasonably whisper to Hrothgar without alerting anyone in the vicinity . . . if there was anyone in the vicinity to alert, that is.

"Hroth, we can still leave," Kei whispered to him.

They'd practically have to put their heads together to speak this quietly. The halls had a terrible echo to them, and the slightest raised pitch might well have carried throughout the whole facility if they weren't careful.

"I don't think he's going to come looking for us if we do."

One last opportunity to bail out. That was all she was giving the both of them. The both of them. Funny. At what point did they become partners? Technically, Kei should've been able to bail out on her own and leave Hroth to a sinking ship, but as of right now, she just wasn't going to do that. He was just going to drag her down into the ocean with him, and she was probably just going to go with it. So, when did they cease to be autonomous? Well . . . no matter. That was a subject best saved for later.

[adi]

Hrothgar stopped as soon as Kei grabbed his arm. He looked at her if in a daze momentarily before things clicked and registered that Kei was speaking. There really was no ignoring that Kei was uncomfortable with this idea-- and Hroth was beginning to wonder why he was adverse to it in the first place. But he could see that Kei was clearly worried and adverse to this.

There was no reason to put Kei through something she didn't want to to-- after all, he had put her through enough with just Aiden. While it had seemed like a good idea at the time in his panic-stricken state of mind, it had been stressful. Later when explaining the situation step-by-step to Hollis, he realized it had been not only a stressful decision, but also incredibly dumb. On top of that, he wasn't even sure if working as a scribe for this place was something he actually wanted to do or not. The feeling, while pervasive and made the place seem familiar-- didn't mean that it was by any means friendly nor was the decision to work here a good one.

"Okay," he nodded. He gripped Kei's arm and traced his steps back to the intersection of the hallway, keeping his eyes rooted to the ground. He looked up briefly towards the darkened stairwell as they turned back towards the front door, and his grip tightened, as if to ward off that l’appel du vide. He would only awkwardly release her arm after they had descended the flight of stairs, followed by a sheepish tuck of his hands into his pockets.

[Nayt]

Kei released a sigh of relief. They were finally going to get out of this place. It quite frankly freaked her the hell out. Maybe working as a scribe just wasn't a good idea . . . which was unfortunate, as it was a skill they both excelled in (she had hoped), but whatever. If it was going to get them into more trouble, then no amount of money was worth the effort. They'd had enough trouble as it was. In fact, they'd thought they were finally working through all the trouble, only to wind up here. Of all the shit luck . . .

Hrothgar was starting for the steps, though, so again Kei took his arm. That . . . that wasn't the right way to go at all. Kei motioned down the hall, towards the door they'd come in from.

Sadly, it was right at that moment that one of the doors down the hall, leading to the stairs down into the deeper recesses of the facility, opened. From it emerged a small man in a white coat, similar to the researcher they'd all but ditched. He was an older man, cursed with gray hair, all rumpled and tossed every which way. He had a thick gray mustache that effectively clouded all view of his lips, walked with poor posture, and carried a stack of notes in his arms. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Kei and Hroth. Nearly dropped his notes, too.

Obviously, he did not recognize them. With a vaguely concerned stare, he took a step towards them, all the while asking cautiously, "Can . . . I help you?"

[adi]

"No," Hrothgar shook his head in response. It was a bit of a struggle to voice anything beyond that. He just wanted to get out of this building.

"Er. No, but thank you," he tacked on, realizing he had initially quite blunt. Hrothgar hadn't been expecting anyone to emerge from the dark stairwell. It had just been hard to imagine someone coming back out of it, the man had startled Hrothgar just a little less than he had the man.

"We were just leaving," he offered in way of explanation, pointing towards where Kei had been begun to pull him. "Sorry to have startled you, sir. We'll be on our way now."

[Nayt]

"I, uh, y-- yeah, we'll just be on our way," Kei added nervously.

"Wait, wait," said the old man as he took another step forward.

He eyed them with scientific scrutiny. These were not people that worked in this facility. Why, they weren't even wearing white coats! Incidentally, that was one of the only ways this old man really distinguished anyone from non-researchers and regular citizens. Chances were, he didn't actually leave this facility. In fact, he kind of smelled like it . . . if dark, dank, and creepy had a smell, that is.

"I've never seen you before," he declared, "What were you doing here?"

"I, um, we're just . . . uh . . ." Kei stammered.

She could maintain grace under pressure for only so long. Right about now was the point that she couldn't manage it anymore. Though, Kei would've been better off if she'd slept better last night, but still . . .

[adi]

"We only just walked up the hall," Hrothgar answered, realizing after he said it that he was not answering the man's questions. "Not very far, we didn't go into any doors or anything."

That still wasn't answering his question, and was not exactly painting an innocent portrait of them. Hrothgar would have stopped to marvel at his ability to choose the most incriminating words each time he was put under the spot, but his mind was already charging forward. Thankfully the eventual pitch into rambling was a gentle one, without much stammering involved. It was still some of the most inane nervous rambling, but at least it was not halting.

"We were looking for a job, and we are good at scribing. Er, working as scribes. So we saw this was a research center and thought, 'Hey researchers always need an extra set of hands for documentation', and so we knocked on the door and this tall man in a white coat, just like yours, but obviously bigger to accomodate his height answered. So we told him about our need for a job and he was very cold and warned us that you guys, or rather, your company? Your benefactor? I don't actually know how this place is run. But he warned us that you would all be quite disappointed if we spoke of what we saw here which was very creepy, but creepy money is better than no money, so I accepted the offer. And then we got about halfway down this hallway before our respective heebies and jeebies set in and made us reconsider the job offer and perhaps find a job somewhere less... here."

"Then you came up those stairs and we startled each other. Then, well. Here we are," Hrothgar finished lamely. "Sorry about calling your place of work creepy. I didn't mean any offense."

[Nayt]

The old man listened patiently, taking in every word and nodding his head every few seconds. He was tempted to twist his mustache thoughtfully about half-way into Hroth's story, but was utterly incapable of it due to his hands being full of notes. So he briefly looked to Kei.

"Young lady, might you help an old man out?" he asked quickly.

"Uh . . . sure?" Kei whispered, so not to interrupt Hroth. He was kind of on a roll and accurately describing the circumstances, after all. It was best not to put him on another train of thought. That would've just ended in tragedy for the both of them, she was sure.

The old man transferred his notes over to Kei to hold for him, which effectively freed up his hand so that he could properly tease the end of his mustache.

"I see," he said, his inner psychoanalyst giving him a temporary Greoul accent, "You say you're a pair of scribes? What styles of shorthand can you use?"

[adi]

"Pittman and Gregg," Hrothgar answered autonomously. He didn't answer for Kei, recognizing the accent as he asked a question. Mentioning Gabelsberger might pique the researcher's interest, and their goal was presently to get the hell out of here. He had been expecting some sort of displeasure from the old man, having called his workplace unsuitable several times. Of course he had apologized immediately, but that didn't make it less of an insult.

He wasn't sure what the man wanted from them. He was sure, however that he would prefer not to work in this building. Or with that ominous man who answered the door. Hrothgar was especially sure he did not want to work anywhere near that darkened stairwell, which he actively had to try and avoid looking at. Instead he trained his eyes on the man as he twirled his mustache, observing as much of the stairwell as he could from his peripheral vision.

"Why do you ask, sir?"

[Nayt]

"Gabelsberger," Kei replied, ironically lacking the same foresight as Hrothgar.

It seemed whenever Hrothgar had foresight, Kei did not. Which meant that Kei most definitely had the foresight in their partnership.

"Pittman and Gregg," said the man as he motioned to Hrothgar with his free hand. His other was devoted to teasing the end of his mustache. He motioned then to Kei. "Gabelsberger."

He teased his mustache one more time, before folding his arms over his chest and nodding in personal affirmation. This was good. This was very good.

"Well, you see," said the man under his impressive mustache, "I could use a good pair of scribes. I assume you were brought in by Hessenfeld? Well, I pay much better, and the environment is much less dangerous!"

[adi]

"We didn't exactly, uh, catch his name," Hrothgar admitted. Watching the man fiddle with his mustache made him want to scratch his own face. He had almost forgotten that he had gone a while without keeping up shaving.

"He was tall," he offered in way of description. "With close-cropped hair. Very blunt." He wanted to say the doorman had a hooked nose, but he wasn't positive. He was quite impressed he had remembered the military cut the man wore-- as the only true impression he had gotten was anxiety.

The man finally stopped twirling his mustache and crossed his arms, which Hrothgar was thankful for. The constant reminder of facial hair reminded him that poor hygiene itched. Hygiene was a luxury that he and Kei could not easily afford, but the man seemed cheerful and honest-- at the very least less unsettling than the doorman.

"Where would we be working?"

[Nayt]

Kei realized belatedly that her answer was very, very wrong. She probably shouldn't have said anything at all, in fact, because now they were receiving a counter-offer. It . . . well, okay, higher pay was a perk, but she still wanted to get the hell out of here.

"Ah, yes, that was Hessenfeld," the man replied with a sagely nod, "My lab is downstairs, in the library. You see, we're researchers that don't believe in blind science. We'd sooner study for years than run headlong into accidentally . . . exploding the world, or something to that extreme."

"In other words," a disappointed voice arose from behind them, followed by a series of booming steps towards them. They wouldn't even have to look behind them to know who was coming.

Hearing that man's voice again, Hessenfeld's, ran chills up Kei's spine. She froze up, practically turned white as a ghost, and would have probably fallen over at the smallest push.

"They're philosophers," Hessenfeld declared, "Hardly what I would call a scientist."

[adi]

"I-I rather like philosophy," Hrothgar awkwardly interjected. Hessenfeld's voice had silenced the other three and his presence all but sucked the remaining life out of the already gloomy corridor. It was up to someone to break the silence, and somehow Hrothgar always rose to any occasion that called for a heaping dose of awkward.

"Not to say that sciences are not important or fascinating!" he hastily added, not wanting to earn more of the tall man's ire. He and Kei had just tried to skip out on work they had asked for, so he was sure they had enough ire already for the man to turn it into one of those small grudges between new acquaintances. "Both are the process of inquiry about the world around us-- you can't really get much more important or interesting than that!"

"Besides that, the two practices are quite interrelated," Hrothgar gesticulated nervously, not wanting to offend either of the two men. "Science would not have grown without philosophers to pose dreamy ideals to work towards while philosophy would dwindle if there were no scientists to expand man's knowledge into the concrete. You could make the comparison that scientists and their work are the solid bricks and mortar by which philosophers and dreamers build the towers of man's acheivements. O-Or something like that. I don't remember the exact quote by Mendelsson, but it's something similar to that, I believe."