River’s Notebook
-> Two groups with their own goal
Our goal: Complete ritual
-> Map: Apartment building? City?
-> Length: Seven days, no repeats
-> No shadows – real setting
-> Own identities? Same position as others in building (tenants?)
Rules
-> Be social
Other Group
-> Papyrus (Strength), Soot (Knowledge), Acorn (Social)
-> Goal: ???
-> Acorn “knows” us
Situation
-> Morning bell
-> Meals together on second floor
-> Logan (talkative) is a friend
-> Viewed as lovers? Partners?
-> Seven floors + open rooftop
They started their investigations all the way upstairs, on top of the building – the open (though fenced in) rooftop.
“Taking notes?”, Aspen groaned, lying flat on an open bench that got some nice sunshine.
“Taking notes”, River confirmed dryly.
So far, their only relief was that their own personalities were roughly accepted as normal. They didn’t like talking to people too much, and if they did, River did the talking instead of Aspen. Aspen was… a sort of tag-along.
They apparently “knew” various people, but were closest to Acorn – their enemy -, Logan – the stranger from before – and some other people they currently hadn’t met directly.
“What do you think about the others?”
River heard shuffling. Aspen moved to place his head on River’s lap, staring up from beneath the man’s notebook. River gave him a glance but ultimately continued staring at his notes.
“Not ideal, but as expected”, he sighed. He knew their team formation was good when he had gotten the info sheets for them, let alone when he saw them in person. “But… Probably nothing to worry about for today. Maybe not even tomorrow. It’s towards the end that I’m worrying about.”
One shouldn’t underestimate the power of a social butterfly.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
That Acorn was supposed to be somewhat close to River was especially dangerous. Someone who was good at talking could quickly turn himself into a victim when River was the one who avoided him.
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They took the stairs for going down, and the elevator for going up. Several floors were empty of people – just neat rows of numbered doors like you’d find in any apartment building. The floor was carpeted here, reminding River very much of a hotel, and while he did see fire extinguishers and other safety measures, River did notice the complete lack of any fire escape ladders or signs for escape routes.
Busier were some of the other floors. People wandered around between limited, larger rooms that were used as public spaces.
A couple of doors that River guessed were connected to larger rooms were locked, however, and even just approaching them got him very weird looks from other people walking around.
What made them pause the longest was the ground floor.
Or rather, the lack of access thereof.
The button for the ground floor in the elevator didn’t work, which wasn’t weird in itself – things could break – but the staircases ended in a locked door, stopping them from going outside.
They stood in front of it for quite some time.
It wasn’t just a door.
It was a security door. A thick, sturdy, imposing security door with a passcode and fingerprint lock.
“So, uh”, Aspen cleared his throat, “how high do you think is the chance that we just forgot the passcode?”
River mutely put his hand on the fingerprint scanner and promptly got an “Error – prints not registered”.
Neither of them had tried it yet, but both spontaneously had the thought that none of the windows in this building would open completely. The windows would only tilt, and if they tried to smash them in, they’d surely find out that there was safety glass used in the whole damn apartment building.
The staircase felt a whole lot colder all of a sudden.
“What are you doing down here?”
The voice made them twitch, but force of habit had them stay relaxed. Turning around, Aspen locked eyes with a middle-aged woman peering down the staircase.
“Weren’t you going to take a rest? If you’re just wandering around, you might as well come join us.”
How did she even know that? River’s thoughts raced, but he couldn’t remember this woman being anywhere nearby when he had told Logan about them wanting to rest a bit.
Sadly, this wasn’t the best moment to stand there and think.
“We were thinking of taking a walk”, Aspen tried to say experimentally.
“Don’t be stupid”, the woman responded as if it was the most natural thing in the world. “Now come up.”
Her tone made them obey.
She led them back up the stairs to the fifth floor, where they had been seeing people wandering around. Only when both of them entered one of the open rooms did she leave them alone.
River pressed the air out through his teeth. Figuring out the common sense in this setting was important, and now they knew one point at least: Leaving the building wasn’t just not allowed, it wasn’t even wanted.
It couldn’t be an apocalypse. The world outside looked perfectly normal. It also wasn’t shelter-like enough that he’d think of everyone here as conspiracy theorists.
Standing in the middle of the open space, River and Aspen scooted closer to each other.
No one was paying them any attention, instead talking to each other, reading books or watching something on the large TV, but they felt watched nonetheless.
Aspen subtly pointed at a corner offering snacks and coffee. River nodded and let him go off, while he himself approached one of the large bookcases near the television.
There was some sort of nature documentary running. It was certainly beautiful to look at, but the people sitting on the sofa were almost unnaturally entranced with the sight of it. They did talk, but only ever to comment on what was happening on the screen.
River’s eyes slid over to the bookcases. It was normal at first glance… but not at second.
The lack of fictional books was acceptable, but the topics covered were too technical. He spotted various groups ranging from basic to deep knowledge about all kinds of things – biology, mathematics, physics, autobiographies, history…
Again, he didn’t see anything that was too odd. He even recognized a handful titles as books he knew to be respectable back in the day.
Was this some sort of educational camp? But this wasn’t a place for teenagers. The age range was too large.
He picked out a random book and took it over to where Aspen had found a place for them to sit. Two coffees and a piece of cake were on a little table.
Just as he thought about how to best pass time, someone joined them at the table.
…It was seriously impossible to stay alone here.
“Do you mind me joining you two?”, the older man asked. His skin wrinkled around his eyes. River guessed he might be around his late sixties, though that was a rough guess according to his gray hair and the state of his skin.
River made an invitational movement. He was beginning to guess that refusing social niceties was a bad choice here.
“Thank you.” The man let out a soft sigh as he settled into the comfy chair. What was his name? Miles? River thought it was Miles. “I was a bit worried that you weren’t around here right after breakfast.”
A new habit. River made a mental note to write it down.
“We needed a little rest”, he tried to evade.
Miles’ soft brown eyes moved between him and Aspen. “…Is this about Acorn? You didn’t sit together this morning. Didn’t even exchange a single word. Did something happen?”
“We had a bit of a disagreement”, River responded, keeping the lie to the same thing he had told Logan this morning.
“That’s not good.” Old man Miles sighed and shook his head. “It is fine to disagree on things, River, but you should never leave a disagreement unsettled. Being silent has never been a solution. You should talk it out and come to an understanding. Only together can we thrive as a society.”
This place was way too social for the two players’ taste. River forced half a crooked, ugly smile. “Yes. I will talk to him soon.”
“Communication is the basis of a good relationship”, the man scolded softly again. It was a true statement, but why did it sound so wrong out of his mouth? “We should learn from each other, not push each other away.”
Miffed at the man’s constant involvement, Aspen finally let a complaint slip. “It’s our business.”
The scene froze for a second.
Miles looked at Aspen in surprise, then smiled awkwardly. “My apologies. I simply hope for everyone to get along and learn from each other.”
“We do want to talk to him later, but privately”, River attempted to make peace.
“That’s understandable.” Miles’s smile turned softer. He looked to the side, waving at someone who waves back. Although he didn’t make an attempt to continue the conversation, he also made no move of leaving, instead taking out a slender book from a little bag he carried.
Aspen glanced inside it as he opened it – there was asthma spray inside, and some pills with a bottle of water. Medication. Miles might appear healthy, but many older people had issues with their blood pressure or heart.
“Hey Miles.”
Too focused on the bag, Aspen did not notice who approached. When he raised his head, he held back a snarl.
Acorn gave him the same vibes that River too had felt. Such a friendly smile. So harmless. His voice was melodic, his eyes bright and gentle, the slightly messy brown hair made you want to pat it down.
How he hated it.
Acorn glanced at River and Aspen, but kept standing close to Miles. He lacked all of the discomfort that someone thrown into this situation should be feeling. If one had to guess, he and Miles would be old friends.
“Feeling alright today?”, he asked in a pleasantly conversational tone that made Miles chuckle.
“You really worry too much about me. I’m fine.”
“You always say that, even if you’re not. Communication is important! You have to tell us if you’re unwell”, Acorn chided playfully, putting a hand on the older man’s shoulder. “I’ll be watching something with Soot and Papyrus, so see you later. Let’s sit together at dinner?”
“Sure.”
Acorn gave him a pat.
He then raised his head and his eyes fell on River and Aspen with the perfect amount of hesitation and awkwardness. The expression was so realistic that for a moment, Aspen wondered if maybe he was a shadow after all, someone with genuine memories of a fight with themselves.
“Uhm… See you guys later”, he forced out with a lopsided smile as he rubbed his neck and almost fled.
It left River stunned. He could do nothing but accept the judgemental look he got from people all around, for being the bad guy that fought with Acorn.
Ah, is this the “I’m nice on the outside, but rotten on the inside” strategy?
Thanks for the chapter!