The network of corridors felt like a labyrinth: convoluted, and never-ending. The cave they first awoke in, Lyall still didn't fully understand the purpose of. But it eventually fed into what he could only describe as some sort of sunken castle. Hauntingly empty, and sporting the occasional armored corpse in some random nooks. They were stuck wandering the lowermost levels for some time until they stumbled upon their newest companion, Leilan.
Then, once the tilting platform was cleared, things thankfully only went up from there. Gradually, but surely.
They had to walk two-by-two, essentially, given how narrow the halls were. But Alexander, turned out, actually made for fairly friendly company. As they rounded staircases spiraling upward, and walked slowly-brightening halls the higher they went, Lyall happily took the long-lasting distraction that their conversations provided.
It was in some sort of grand dining hall that they finally spread out again, and Lyall fell back into step beside Leilan.
"How are you faring, my friend?" he asked, warmly patting the man's shoulder with a slight smile. "I hope this venture hasn't caught you too off-guard."
Leilan returned the easy smile. "Well, I'm faring pretty well, though I can't say I was expecting any of this when I got here this morning. If you had asked me then how much of my day I'd expect to spend underwater, I would have told you 'zero.'"
Well, this was completely atrocious. He'd only just arrived, and no one warned him? In the slightest?
Lyall scanned the room, just remembering that they were supposed to be looking for his dog too. Though, he was thankful there weren't any land creatures to be found in here. Since. Underwater.
"I feel compelled to apologize again," he offered with a sympathetic glance. "They've completely blindsided you with all this."
"No, you don't need to apologize," Leilan assured him, with a wave of his hand. "You didn't trap me in a time prison and stick me underwater." He then narrowed his eyes playfully at Lyall. "Unless you did, in which case, we'd have a slight problem."
Huffing a laugh through his nose, Lyall raised his hands in mock surrender. "Ah, no. No problems from me."
"Good. That's what I like to hear," Leilan teased. "What about you, though? How are you faring?"
Lyall tucked his hands into his pockets, angling his shoulders slightly as they filed back out into the next series of hallways. "I'm alright," he answered with an appreciative grin. "None of us have perished yet, so. Steps in the right direction, I suppose." He lightly nudged Leilan with his elbow. "I believe I heard you mention Aphirah a little earlier?"
Leilan nodded eagerly. "Oh, yes, I'm from the West there."
Lyall grinned. "What were you doing before this?"
"The last month, I've been at the DMV's regular training," Leilan said. "It's much less glamorous. No sunny tropics, or shopping centers, or upscale beach cabins. But then I got transferred to here-- because I'm replacing a different 'contestant', I think."
Lyall quirked both brows. He'd been wondering what warranted a new contestant in the very middle of their stay here.
"I don't know who I'm replacing," Leilan added, as if seeing his curiosity. "I haven't been told all that much."
"Well, let's see..." Lyall began to mentally run down the full list of contestants.
It felt too optimistic to presume Tula or Hendrik would get booted off...
"Do you feel like there's a likely candidate?" Leilan asked curiously.
"I actually can't say for sure," Lyall said, determining to perhaps consult the internet sometime about which contestants seemed to fall out of the spotlight most with a slight wave of his hand.
Leilan chuckled. "You sure appeared to be thinking about it."
"Too many variables," Lyall said honestly with a dry laugh. "I'm resigned to put off the theorizing for now."
Leilan smiled at that. "True, we've got better fish to fry at the moment." He paused. "Speaking of which, a lunch would be great right about now, but they're making us adventure on an empty stomach."
Lyall groaned with exaggerated despair. "The cruelties never cease!" he cried. Then nudged Leilan with an elbow. "Got a hankering for anything in particular?"
Leilan hummed thoughtfully. "Admittedly, I cannot stop thinking about fish and chips right now."
That did sound good. "Battered or crumbed?" Lyall asked. "With true wedged chips, or the dainty States style?"
Leilan groaned a little, pressing a hand to his stomach. "You're making this harder, but the answer is of course battered and wedged chips."
"Oh, gods, yes," Lyall agreed emphatically. "A man of impeccable taste! I shall relent now that you've humored me so, and we may distract you from your current misery."
"It's too late," Leilan said with exaggerated mournfulness. "There are no distractions great enough for this."
Lyall hummed a laugh. "Well, let's try this, then," he said, tone turning genuinely curious again. "Are you a seasoned archeological adventurer of some kind already? Because I have to say, you're handling all of this unexpected 'adventuring' remarkably well."
"Oh, no," Leilan said with a laugh and a shake of his head. "The opposite, if anything. Bureaucrats don't get out all that much."
"'Bureaucrat'?" Lyall echoed, both brows raising in mild surprise. "May I inquire after your age?"
"I'm twenty-five," Leilan said. "I know, I look closer to twenty. I'm also relatively new to the job."
"As... an intern?" Lyall furthered, still amazed.
Leilan tilted his head to the side thoughtfully. "Somewhat, actually. I do a lot of other people's work for them. It's a bit like being an over-glorified secretary, honestly," he added with a laugh.
'Somewhat'?
"What would you call yourself actually then?" Lyall pressed, grinning with deepened curiosity.
Leilan shrugged. "A diplomat. I travel places to meet with people, trying to represent Aphirah, addressing concerns, discussing with people how to resolve them, putting in my opinions on legislation. It's a combination of being an ambassador for other people's interests and a catch-all member of the executive who's very easy to pass off work to."
Lyall nodded slowly with an impressed low whistle. "So... You're an interning diplomat?" He pursed his lips. "Well-compensated, I hope? That sounds like quite the workload."
"Fairly compensated," Leilan agreed. "But I'm not exactly swimming in vacation days."
"Ah. Overworked, then," Lyall concluded, "but at least not underpaid." His grin softened. "I also hope to hear that you find your work fulfilling in some form or other. It's certainly one of the more interesting answers I've received to the occupation question."
"I definitely do," Leilan assured him. "Although I'm surprised to hear that, considering our company on the island and all the jobs we've got here. You yourself are pretty unique as a young doctor, no?"
Lyall blew a dismissive raspberry. "You might be pleasantly surprised to find us in the similar boat of 'over-glorified intern/secretary'. I really shouldn't have lead with 'doctor'."
"No?" Leilan asked, tilting his head curiously. "If not that, what are you instead?"
Hm. Yes, medical professions left less wiggle room in general, as far as definitions went.
Unless you were basically camped out in the wintry rural north. Where legitimately, fully licensed doctors were a scarcity, and the village folk had to take what they could get.
"More like a nurse for the most part," Lyall answered. "And lab assistant. Filing documentation such as financials and patient records. Tech support and receptionist, when my younger brother isn't around." He shrugged. "Juggling a variety of responsibilities. But I am fully capable in the way that, say, a surgeon was on the western frontier. Perhaps a little short on the studies, but my field experience more than makes up for it."
"That's quite a bit," Leilan said, surprised and impressed. "You're practically a hospital in one person."
"I certainly try," Lyall said with a faint, appreciative grin. "Though, it's worth noting that my brother is the far better lab assistant and tech support. I'm serviceable at best."
"Do you get paid for being humble too or something?" Leilan teased gently.
"I couldn't make even a side gig out of that," Lyall said with a small laugh. "Mister 'over-glorified secretary'. You ought to lead with ambassador next time. Don't sell yourself short."
"Excuse you, I am a glorious height of five feet and six and three-quarters inches," Leilan said, pressing a hand to his chest with mock indignation.
"I." Blinking, Lyall mentally blanked momentarily before it hit him. He barked a laugh with a tinge of embarrassment. "Forgive my blunders, gallant intern of herculean strength. Allow me to amend by pointing out how you tower over mine self by a solid..." He took an imaginary measuring rod between them to count. "...two and a quarter inches. Practically a giant in comparison."
Leilan laughed. "That must be the first time I've ever been called a giant," he said with a grin. "But point taken. Perhaps we could both get better at knowing how impressive we are."
Despite his endeared smile, Lyall merely shook his head. "No, my good sir, I have to decline your sentiments. My ego is quite fine, I assure you."
"Fine as in not hurt, or fine enough already without inflating?" Leilan teased.
"The latter option," Lyall said with another laugh. "Narrow doorways are a hazard as is."
Leilan barked a laugh, rubbing his face with his hand. "Noted. No ego-stroking for you it is, then."
"Your ego, on the other hand," Lyall asked amicably, "is fair game?"
"Uh oh," Leilan said. "I have the sneaking feeling that whatever I say won't make a difference here."
Lyall grinned victoriously. "You'd be correct. Your powers of observation are as sharp as your blade."
"I am resigned," Leilan sighed, "to a situation out of my control."
Bumping his elbow to Leilan's arm, Lyall chuckled. "You have chosen wisely, mister ambassador."
"No choice at all," Leilan lamented.
"Au contraire," Lyall rebutted playfully. "There's always a choice."
"As I recall, those choices were say 'Yes, that's fair game' or say 'No, it's not' and not be heeded," Leilan said with a light grin.
"Nay," Lyall countered. "Well. Sure, you weren't winning this one. But." With one hand behind his back, he gestured with the other to the sword at Leilan's hip. "You ought to go down fighting, right?"
"Challenging you to a duel seems a little extreme, don't you think?" Leilan joked. "Especially if duels are born out of an ego."
Lyall tutted with feigned disappointment. "Spoken like someone afraid to face an inevitable defeat."
"Now, now," Leilan said pacifyingly. "You haven't even got a sword."
"Perhaps I don't need one," Lyall posed, grin turning challenging in a bout of... something rebellious-feeling. Bordering cockiness, despite the unlikelihood of an actual duel taking place. Because that was ridiculous, no one did those anymore.
"Why would that be?" Leilan asked with a curious grin.
With a snap of his fingers, Lyall summoned a small flame and some sparks. "Ranged attacks, my good friend. Never bring a sword to a fire fight."
Leilan's eyes lit up in amazement at the underwater flame. "My mistake for forgetting your gift," he said with a laugh.
'Forgetting'... Lyall wondered what else he knew. How much of his personal life had been aired recently? Maybe he should skim the internet, just to get a pulse on what had become of his reputation.
With another little flourish of his hand, Lyall waved the flame out of existence just as quickly as he willed it. "Would you be confident in having to draw your blade, anyhow?"
Leilan hummed. "Against a target less fearsome than yourself? I think so. I took fencing, which I realize is not the most useful form of combat for anything that isn't a duel, but at the very least I know how to use a sword."
"I'm not quite so fearsome," Lyall relented with a chuckle. He was tempted to reach over to tap the hilt of Leilan's weapon. Obviously, he didn't. "My sister took up fencing once, I believe. Day-to-day use for this skillset? Nay. But you could practice, keep your skills keen, with her. She'd delight in having a proper sparring partner."
"Did she? I agree, I think that'd be fun," Leilan said with a smile. "I might be a little rusty, though."
"Only way to shake that," Lyall countered encouragingly, jabbing the air with an invisible sword, "is to dive headlong back into it."
"Well, if my swordsmanship lets me see another day at the end of this event, perhaps I will," Leilan said, parrying the invisible jab with an invisible swipe of his own.
As he played along by making a show of his "sword" bouncing off Leilan's, Lyall barked a mildly surprised laugh at the thought of... not surviving the DMV. Was that a real possibility? As in, had someone before legitimately perished at the hands of a magic testing facility?
Well. Given some case studies he'd found in the computer room... It wasn't something he could entirely rule out. So it truly was for the better he signed the contract when he did.
"Now, Mister Leilan," Lyall lightly admonished, centering his unseen sabre once more and taking proper position, "you must lead with more confidence. Gusto! Not 'if'--" With a swift lunging step, he jabbed at Leilan's chest again. "--'when'!"
Leilan stepped aside to dodge, greaves clanking as he countered with another jab. "But you already have me fighting for my life," he protested playfully. "My demise might be at hand."
Responding with a parry riposte, Lyall then pointedly broke from a proper fencing position. He whirled out of Leilan's lunging range and stopped a mere foot away to hold his "blade" to the man's throat. "Then really fight like it," he said, leveling him with a challenging gaze, and a hint of true warning in his voice.
Now looking intrigued, and a little surprised, Leilan tilted his head at him.
"If you insist," he said, and then before either of them could speak again, he ducked under Lyall's outstretched arm at super speed to dart to the side and lightly poke Lyall in the ribs with the tip of his index finger, as if it were the point of a fencing epée. "Touché."
Both brows quirked, Lyall faintly grinned in pleasant surprise. "Touché," he echoed, now intensely curious as he tried calculating where else to take this 'fight'.
Glancing him over, Lyall quickly determined that physically overpowering Leilan was never an option. Neither was out-maneuvering speed-wise, which was the upper hand Lyall typically had on a bulkier opponent...
Well. Why the hell not.
With the hand still neatly held behind his own back, Lyall twisted just enough to reach Leilan's hand. Grip firm, he then spun an exact 180 degrees to yank Leilan forward, off his center off balance. For a moment, Leilan lurched with him, seeming surprised by the change in tactics. But then-- it happened in a time so fast Lyall couldn't define it-- his hand was empty, and he'd been spun by the shoulders, twirled to face the opposite way. He heard a lighthearted laugh from Leilan.
Lyall held out his hands to steady himself as his disoriented mind, delayed, registered what had happened.
So, Leilan was a sturdy individual, and quick to adjust with a fast-changing environment. Lyall could see why he made for a good diplomat.
He twisted around, far slower this time, to cast Leilan an impressed grin over his shoulder. "Touché," he repeated pleasantly.
Leilan returned the grin. "You know, I might just survive this, if I may be so bold."
Grin broadening, Lyall folded his hands behind his back as he straightened and inclined his head in yielding. "You could still use a little more vigor in your declarations of confidence," he said with a hummed laugh, "but that's more like it."
"You say this," Leilan said, pointing at him, "but I believe you've gotten distracted from your goal of ego-stroking. Which is how this whole duel business started." He grinned. "I count this as a double-win."
"Ah! Yes." Lyall's smile brightened at the reminder. "You've the mind of an elephant. Which is, a vault of a memory."
So... 'intern' diplomat. Might explain why Lyall might not have heard of him yet. Eyeing a coin pouch hanging by the sword on the man's hip, Lyall wondered if this strange fantasy adventure-themed event left Leilan with any credentials to confirm.
Backtracking to stand by Leilan's side, Lyall offered an arm to link with as he amicably went on, "Physically and mentally, nothing can get by you, hm?"
"Well, I wouldn't go that far," Leilan said with a chuckle, taking his arm.
Nodding, Lyall lead the way, turning his focus ahead to see how he might be able to leverage such an empty environment. "How far would you go, then?" he asked, trying to quell a prickle of concern at the sight of Alan and Alexander a small distance ahead.
"I know plenty of people who could run circles around me, mentally," Leilan said. "Which is actually quite nice. There's a lot to learn by surrounding yourself with people who are smarter than you, and a lot of them are my friends."
"A fount of wisdom, as well, I see," Lyall responded lightly with some humor. Then more sincerely asked, "Fellow, ahm, interning diplomats, then?"
Leilan nodded. "Those run in my social circles."
So, not all of them. A varied group of friends, then. Well-rounded. Good.
As they drew closer to their waiting companions, Lyall nodded to Alan for them to take the hallway first. "Who else do you find in your inner circles?"
He slipped his arm from Leilan's to fall behind just enough for them to fit through the doorway simultaneously, tacitly giving Leilan the go-ahead with a hand lightly pressing on his shoulder.
The cord by which the leather pouch hung seemed like it could be unlooped easily enough.
"Family, and the family of my friends," Leilan said. "It's rather intergenerational."
Lyall felt himself grin with genuine warmth at the answer. "A well-rounded so-- Oop!"
Truly-half distracted, he let his toe snag on an uneven floor tile and adjusted his light grip on Leilan's shoulder to keep from stumbling against his back fully. In the split second distraction, while Leilan caught his arm, he unlooped the leather pouch from Leilan's belt.
"You good?" Leilan asked, apparently oblivious.
"Yes, sorry," Lyall said, hastily straightening. With a small twist at the waist, he made a show of finding the culprit while he slipped the pouch into his own bag, then faced forward again with a slight cough. "A full, well-rounded social life," he started again warmly, gesturing for Leilan to walk ahead in the narrow corridor now.
Leilan did walk ahead, though he glanced over his shoulder at Lyall. "And you? Who's in your circles?"
"Family," Lyall answered with a fond smile. "And, more recently, the contestants here I've had the good fortune of meeting, and the honor to call my newest close friends."
Leilan smiled warmly. "That's wonderful. Who are those people here?"
Glancing past Leilan, Lyall smiled softer as he pointed with his chin. "Alvaro is definitely one of them. Cyrin Bridger, I trust quite deeply as well." With his life, even. "James Hawke, I'll admit I haven't spoken with nearly half as much as I'd like, but I sense in him rather a kindred spirit in a way I can't fully explain."
Leilan's own smile softened. "All wonderful people, from everything I've seen myself."
Flicking his gaze back to Leilan, Lyall tilted his head slightly. "I have to admit, I'm quite curious what you've seen. How this all has been framed for the outsider looking in on this insane rat race."
Leilan chuckled faintly, shaking his head as he looked ahead again. "Well. Speaking of rats, the show has the energy of a livestream of mice in a lab cage, except it's a highly sensational reality TV livestream."
Quickly peeking through the coin pouch hidden within his own satchel, Lyall indeed found a modern Aphiran passport, a regular wallet, something of an electronic key? a necklace with a conch-shaped shell, and a protein bar. He had to huff a laugh at the random protein bar.
The passport opened naturally to Leilan's page of identifying information, like it was frequently opened there. There was a seal not typically present in regular citizen passports, found in the right corner. A golden crest featuring a fierce raptor. A lightning bolt was clutched in its talons as it glanced sideways at the portrait of Leilan on the opposite side of the small page. And, quickly letting the rest of the pages flip for a split second, he found the booklet was stamped from cover to cover, confirming he was indeed well-traveled.
Lyall wasn't familiar with the symbol yet, but something about it just really screamed "government agent". So, safe to assume there was some truth in Leilan's claims. That, or he was a very convincing liar.
"'Highly sensational'," he repeated, sounding amused.
"Oh, yes," Leilan said amusedly, with a wave of his hand. "It's got the drama of a soap opera and the depth of an inflatable kids' pool. There's so much happening, it's been four weeks, and I still have no idea what they're putting all of you through it for."
Lyall laughed aloud at that. "Amazingly succinct," he agreed wholeheartedly, patting a hand on Leilan's sturdy shoulder and letting his arm loosely hang to brush the man's back. And, in the same moment, deftly looping the pouch back to his belt with his other hand.
"But that's just what it's looked like," Leilan said. "What does it feel like?"
"On a good day," Lyall answered honestly, mentally trying to parse through his findings on the pouch contents, "it feels like a mandated tropical getaway with a strange college dorm aspect to the experience. As per the pamphlets we were given upon arrival. On a bad day..." He pursed his lips, glancing off in thought before tentatively asking, "Where exactly did you last leave off on our soapy saga?"
"Not yesterday, but the day before that," Leilan said.
"Oh, shit," Lyall murmured. "So you witnessed the... wayward wendigo venture?"
They stepped out of the narrow passageway, back into the open air where they could finally see sky and sunlight again, and Lyall saw the slight wince on Leilan's face. "Yes."
"Ah," Lyall said ruefully, scanning the expanse of city built at the foot of a cliff, below sea-level. "...Shit. Well." Tilting his head sideways, he shrugged. "There you have it."
"That was a bad day, to make an understatement," Leilan said.
"A severe understatement," Lyall agreed, trying to calculate the most efficient route from here back to ground level. Then glanced back to Leilan with another brief flash of seriousness. "I trust you can infer from that debacle just what exactly they may have in store for us moving forward?"
Leilan pursed his lips, thinking. "You think they'd place us in actual hazards? Everything they've done so far, they seem to be certain we'll make it out of."
The question, simple as it was on its own, was a good way to lose themselves down a litany of rabbit holes. Debating the ethics, the matter of fellow human beings being granted through a rigged game of genetics-- and then proceeding to abuse-- the abilities of a higher power, the concept of timelines and potential pathways, how free will played into everything, if such a thing truly existed--
"Earth to Lyall," Leilan said, waving a hand in front of Lyall's face. He smiled apologetically. "Sorry. Forget I asked."
Blinking, Lyall grinned back with a hint of embarrassment. "No, it's fine. I'm simply multitasking..."
Up ahead, already a level higher than them, Alexander waved an arm and pointed upward at a shaft built into a hollowed out in the cliffside. That was probably their ride.
"...though our skillful navigator," Lyall said, casting the young diplomat a more encouraged smile, "has already successfully charted our route." With a slight bow at the waist, he swept an arm outward, politely beckoning Leilan onward. "Shall we?"
"We shall," Leilan said with a chuckle, stepping ahead and following Alexander.
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