Chapter Text
Through a window on the ground floor, Norton Campbell spotted the Reptilian outside. It seemed troubled. Frustrated, by the looks of it, as if it were searching for something lost in the poorly maintained grass. Norton had been on his way to the dining room to meet up with William but mild curiosity encouraged him to take up residence on the windowsill to watch for a moment.
It wasn't often that Survivors crossed paths with Hunters in the manor, as there were separate wings for either faction, but the grounds outside were essentially a neutral zone. Despite this, it was still usually Survivors seen outside. Emma, Melly, Kurt, Murro, William: they were the ones most commonly enjoying the outdoors. Though some claimed to have seen the Axe Boy out and about a few times.
This grey afternoon, however, they all were absent from this part of the property and the Reptilian must have been taking advantage of that. Norton watched it thoroughly scour the lawn. It appeared to occasionally pick a few things up and put them in a small sack, but Norton was too far away to discern what. Bugs? Plants? Soil? Stones? What could such a monster need with anything that would sprout from the grass?
It wasn't long before Norton strayed from pondering the Hunter’s concerns to the Hunter itself. Its form was foreign and familiar all at the same time; a body made of hard teal scales mocking the shape of a man, wrapped in ill-fitting clothes. He watched how its sharp-angled legs trampled the grass in long strides and how its tail stuck out to balance itself whenever it bent down to pick something up and how its pink forked tongue would flick out against what it held. Norton noticed that its tail swayed sometimes when it squatted and how its long neck would crane to look over at him through the window. Look at him through the window? The Reptilian narrowed its piercing orange eyes and flicked its tongue as Norton darted out of view.
Norton pressed his back into the wall beside the window. If he had been wearing his helmet it would have been knocked askew (or put a dent in the wall), but it was left in his room as usual whenever he wasn’t in a match. What the hell am I doing? He chastised himself, surprised at his flighty behaviour. He chalked it up to an automatic response from being in matches — months of conditioning from the awful cat-and-mouse games all residents were forced to participate in. Or perhaps it was just because he knew he likely got caught spying. He took a breath and sighed before peeking out from the side of the window. The Reptilian was… gone? He figured it must have jumped away.
Good riddance, he thought. It was never a pleasant encounter. The last match he knew the Hunter participated in was about two weeks ago. José suffered a knife wedged in the back of his shoulder. A pain Norton once experienced too.
Norton started back on his journey to the dining room and wondered if the Hunter felt disturbed by a Survivor watching it like that (assuming Norton could even be seen through the window’s glare). There was a part of him that hoped so, he would savour the small joy. The Reptilian was a reputable foe who always seemed to have a keen eye on the Survivors before landing on top of them for quite the scare. Similar to how a nearly 240cm tall reptilian beast suddenly wrapped around the corner Norton was just about to turn, making him gasp and stagger backwards.
The Reptilian snickered, "Make a habit of watching people at work, Campbell?"
Norton was stunned. The unexpected encounter caused him to fumble his reaction, stalling his answer. This was the first time the Reptilian had approached him or spoken to him outside of a game, the first of any Hunter — just as likely the first for any Survivor. In fact, it was the first time he heard the Hunter talk at all. Some Hunters were known to laugh, or make sickening little comments in your ear when they caught you, but the Reptilian was always silent. Norton was as surprised to hear it speak as he was to hear his name from that sharp mouth — not to mention the unmistakable Italian accent — and now here it was, towering over him on Survivor territory as if it owned the joint. Completely uncaring if another Survivor might pass by. Though Norton refused to waver, biting out, "No, I just saw you and wondered what you were doing out of your burrow."
"Burrow, eh? That's a good one. Could ask the same about you."
A part of Norton regretted getting snarky but didn't let it show on his face. Even if he was in over his head, his expression remained cold. "Can I help you? This isn't your wing. What do you want, an apology?" He sarcastically spat while remembering the Hunter’s first name: Luchino. A male name. He knew the Hunter had a surname but it was too obscured to read in the player information profile copy Survivors received.
"Sure, you can help me."
Luchino's immediate, casual answer threw Norton off again. "Huh?"
"Bag of rocks." From a satchel hanging off his shoulder, Luchino pulled out a sack almost the size of Norton's head. It was heavier than Luchino made it look. "Needs a bit of sorting and a little birdie told me you'd be the best man for the job."
Norton glanced at the sack, confused and uneasy. He didn't know what to make of this situation. Upon entering the Manor, Survivors were told — warned, almost — that they may bump into Hunters on the grounds during downtime, but this was the first time of it happening to Norton. However, this wasn’t the grounds, this was within the designated Survivor wing. "What do you mean...?"
Luchino sneered. "Rocks. As in stones. They need sorting. Identification."
"What for? I thought you were a biologist, not a lithologist."
Luchino’s eyes appeared to light up at Norton’s retort, looking as if he were impressed. His tone stayed nonchalant, however. "A lot of things affect biology."
Norton didn't look convinced. "What's in it for me?"
"You get to see my lab." Luchino answered casually while returning the sack to the satchel.
"Uh?"
"No other Survivor has yet."
Of course no other Survivor had yet, why would they? Though, the prospect of it... As brave and curious as Norton thought himself to be, he wasn't sure about this. He wasn't even sure if he was being threatened or not.
"Well, what would you want instead?" Luchino's voice came across savvy. He knew that Norton didn't know, he could read it in his silent hesitation. Luchino shrugged after a moment and walked past Norton, rattling the floorboards under his boots. "Alright, if you're not interested."
The original plan was to find William in the dining room and then try to collect some others for drunken parlour activities. Though, drunk parlour games always needed good stories to be told alongside them, too...
"Alright."
Luchino looked over his shoulder at Norton. "Hmh?"
"If you're serious, then alright. Sure."
Luchino smiled. At least Norton thought he did, as he noticed familiar fine creases form in his face. "There is a door on your second floor, beyond the library, ending the hallway. If I'm not mistaken, there is a plant in a yellow vase by the window next to it. Should you wish to prove your courage true you'll come knocking in, what do you say, five minutes?"
"How would you know all that?"
Norton's suspicions of him smiling were confirmed when he chuckled, "Hunters are not forbidden from using 'your' library. I hope you keep your word, Campbell."
He watched Luchino boldly continue down the hall then exit through a side door back into the garden. He really didn't seem to care if he bumped into other Survivors, Norton thought. He must not care at all to risk one gossiping, either. Norton glanced around, realising he couldn't say the same for himself. Moderately confident that no one had been eavesdropping on them, he made his way upstairs.
The lonely door on the second floor that Norton had seen countless times but never saw anyone use suddenly looked intimidating. He knew this was the correct door because the library wasn't far off down the hall and the fern in its yellow pot was within view. He could only wonder how many times the Reptilian had slunk through the Survivor halls while everyone slept. His walk to get here was covert, but he flicked a glance over his shoulder one more time before swallowing his hesitations and quietly rapping his knuckles against the wood. He always thought this door had been locked by the owner, but that clearly wasn't the case as he watched the knob turn and was met with Luchino's impressed face on the other side. Seemingly noticing the apprehension in Norton's eyes, Luchino promptly stood aside to let him through. Unexpectedly, he didn't waste any time on teasing Norton for actually showing up and instead began the escort straight away, though he wasn't above a little small talk.
"What would you'd done if I never came?" Norton asked.
"Hm... wait another five minutes before accepting it and moving on, I suppose." He answered passively.
Norton tried his best to keep up, but his legs weren't long enough to match Luchino's unfair stride. He ended up trailing behind and was left looking at how Luchino's feet planted and splayed themselves with each heavy step. How his thick, solid tail swayed following the movement of his gait. He guessed Luchino must weigh around 145kg, but that would all be pure muscle. An entirely alien body, though Norton couldn't help but envy him. He found himself wishing to possess even a sliver of Luchino's strength to gift his younger self. It would have been more than enough to fight back with...
He huffed and forced himself to glance around the Hunter's wing. Beyond their own footsteps, the halls were quiet. Cold too. The decorum was slightly different from that in the Survivor’s wing; things simply looked a little older. At least by a few decades, if he had to guess. He noticed a lot of tears in various fabrics and gouges in parts of the floorboards. "Why's this part of the manor look so...?"
"We can thank the child for most of it." Luchino sounded like he didn’t want to elaborate. Norton decided not to pry, though he wasn't satisfied with that answer.
After turning a couple corners the wing was looking to be in better shape. Norton humoured the idea of the Axe Boy being forbidden from coming down this way, thought it was more likely just less traveled.
"What are the other Hunters doing?" Norton idly asked after spotting a camera standing on a tripod. Actually, that was the second one he'd seen in here so far.
"Don't know. Not my concern."
Norton wasn't satisfied with that answer either. How was he supposed to get fun dirt on Hunters like this? Luchino wouldn't shut up after making himself into a roadblock in the Survivor wing, so why was he so tight-lipped now?
Finally, they stopped at a door in a tucked away hallway. The door was impeccable save for the knob and escutcheon which was littered with scratches. The pressed copper resident plaque next to the door read ⟦Luchino Diruse⟧. Now Norton knew his surname. From his pocket Luchino produced a brass key far too small for his hand to comfortably hold, but successfully unlocked the door and stepped aside to allow Norton in first — though his guest hesitated.
"What? Come all this way and lose interest now?" Luchino jeered.
"Lay off." Norton slipped inside while Luchino snickered.
Luchino's room was much larger than his own or any of the other Survivor's rooms Norton had been in before. He immediately noticed how tidy it looked despite the amount of things the room held. Everything had a place, from a generous book collection to a wall of contained reptiles and amphibians to a workstation with many different scientific tools and instruments on it. The only parts of the room that looked disorganised were some shelves containing too much clutter for Norton to sort out in a mere glance. The most notable objects on display was a small collection of sharp-toothed skulls peering vacuously at him and a jar containing a snake specimen preserved in ethanol.
A medium-sized deep pile rug lay in the middle of the floor while the exposed mahogany floorboards had some noticeable scratches in them, similar to the door handle. The room had two casement windows of generous height, but one was sectioned off with a thick folding room divider sporting a carved floral design — likely made of rosewood. He guessed Luchino's bed was behind it, as the only other door he saw clearly led to a connected bathroom, judging by the tiling he spotted in a glance. He couldn't be certain about the bed area though, as he saw wires from an outlet in the adjacent wall stretched along the floor going up under the divider. He then noticed how swollen and heavy the feet of the divider looked, which struck him as unusual as dividers never needed that much support. Perhaps this really was a dedicated lab and he had a proper bedroom elsewhere.
Norton flinched when he heard the door close behind him.
"Not the burrow you were expecting, huh?"
"No." Norton chuckled dryly while walking up to one of the nearby terrariums and peered in. He couldn't see anything. Nothing under the heat lamp up top, nothing hanging from the most prominent branch in the middle, and nothing down on the substrate. In the paludarium next door sat a large toad, plain to see lounging in a bed of moss. It released a quivering croak. "Is this one empty?" Norton asked.
"No. You're just not looking hard enough."
Norton shrunk out of the way when Luchino padded over and released the door on the terrarium, promptly dropping in a butterworm. The bright orange grub wiggled in the dirt once, twice, before suddenly being snatched out of view by a comparable pink tongue. Norton then saw where the chameleon had been hiding in perfect camouflage among some leaves.
"She's a little shy," Luchino commented while closing the door and turning to head towards the workstation. He glanced around for a moment, realising he didn't have a second stool (or a suitable substitute) available for his guest. "Stay here. I'll... be right back." Luchino left, shutting the door behind him.
Norton hadn't expected to be standing alone in a Hunter's personal room today. The toad croaked again, reminding him that he wasn't really alone. He looked around and wondered how soon Luchino would return. Probably too soon to warrant any successful snooping, so Norton decided to play it safe and continue viewing the creature’s kept creatures.
After only five minutes the urge to snoop nearly got the better of him, but heavy footsteps approaching the door kept him in place. Luchino returned with a cushioned stool for his guest. He shut the door with his tail this time and found Norton standing on the opposite side of the room viewing the wall of tanks which were stacked on top of one another.
"This lizard has two tails." Norton stated with mild surprise, staring into the tank that housed a small and slender, long-bodied green lizard. Its entire head was a peculiar blue hue.
"He dropped his tail months ago and that's how it regenerated."
"Can you do that?" Norton turned to see Luchino staring at him with a pensive look on his face and Norton wondered if he shouldn't have said anything. It was intended as a playful jab, but perhaps it was a little mindless.
"I don't know." Luchino finally answered. "Sit." He plopped himself down on his stool and waited for Norton to join him at the desk.
Norton came and gingerly took a seat. Sitting next to Luchino like this, he couldn’t help but feel tiny. While Norton was by no means a small guy, the desk space felt cramped with the both of them sharing it. Norton made an effort to keep his ankles together just in case. The satchel's contents were dumped and a handful of different rocks clattered around, none larger than a human fist. Norton could easily recognize many of them. "So... what do you want me to do?" Norton asked.
"Just start telling me what you can about any of them. If I have questions, I'll ask." Luchino pulled out a notebook and a mechanical propelling pencil. The pencil wore a makeshift grip comprised of countless rubber bands to comfortably fit Luchino's large, clawed hand. He wondered if without it Luchino would feel as though he were trying to write with a toothpick.
Norton picked up the stone closest to him. "Alright, well, there's not much to say, but this is..."
Being situated next to a lake and dense forest enriched the manor grounds the with natural treasures, but few cared about mineral aggregate the way Norton did. Luchino idly noted along as Norton explained any geological facts of each rock that he could. Despite speaking English, Norton noticed that Luchino was not writing in it. He wrote in something else, and Norton could only surmise from his name and accent that it was Italian. His handwriting also appeared to be clean, which somewhat surprised Norton. That grip must be really good.
Luchino had asked a few questions here and there:
“Is it rare?”
“What method do you suggest for grinding it into a powder?”
“How's its thermal conductivity?”
“Is it toxic if licked?”
Norton assumed Luchino was just searching for new, safe rocks to use in his reptile enclosures.
"But this one, uh, this might actually be a geode." Norton told while turning over a pale, bumpy stone. It was about the same size as his palm.
"How can you tell? It looks almost identical to that one."
"I've... collected a lot of geodes off the property already. Their outsides all look similar to this."
"And their insides?"
"Just the common clear quartz so far. Like a white crystal. It almost looks like snow."
"I'm aware." Luchino snorted and seemed to smirk, making Norton think he might be being mocked. Luchino plucked the presumed geode from Norton's hand and eyed it before jotting 'Apri il geode.' in his notebook. He set it down with the rest of the rocks. "Here's my last question: would any of these be magnetic?"
Norton's brow furrowed briefly at the question, thinking again that he was being teased somehow, but he decided to continue acting relatively professional. "No... it's really unlikely any of these would have enough metal in them." He pulled the magnet from his belt and waved it over the stones. None of them moved.
Luchino released a controlled sigh and wrote one last thing in his notebook before closing it. "That's it then. Thank you. You are released."
"Released? You're making it sound like I'm here against my will." Norton watched as Luchino picked up three of the least noteworthy stones and walked to his unblocked window, opened it, then chucked them outside.
"Then 'you are excused'. There, is that better?" Luchino held his arms out and shrugged.
Norton scoffed with a restrained, incredulous grin and stood up.
"I appreciate the help, Campbell. Saves me time from scouring the library."
"This is what I'm good at, so I'm... happy to be of help." Norton spoke with forced politeness, as if he were new on a job and speaking to a rough foreman. He was glad he no longer needed to end each sentence with yes sir and no sir.
Luchino eyed him. "Good to know. Would you like me to walk you back to your wing?"
"No need, I remember the way."
Luchino seemed pensive. "Well, if you bump into anyone on the way, though they likely won't bother you much, just tell them you came to speak with..." he was clearly trying to remember the name of someone but it was escaping him. "The mortician."
"Aesop Carl?"
"Yes, him."
"Why him?"
"It's... not my place to say. But rest assured you will no longer be bothered then."
Norton appeared doubtful but chose not to question Luchino's advice. This experience hadn't been terrible. Luchino even made an effort in hospitality by bothering to fetch him something comfortable to sit on. His requested insight was clearly appreciated and he felt as though Luchino had been genuine the entire time. With his hand tense on the doorknob, he expected to hear some from of farewell but Luchino did little besides stare at him from the other side of the room as if he were expecting Norton to say something instead. How do you amicably say see you later to what is essentially your enemy? One that he might meet blades with tomorrow. Did he think it tactless? Unwilling to do the honours himself, Norton pushed out a stiff "Alright..." and exited Luchino's room. His stomach growled as soon as the door shut behind him. His watch read 5:27pm.
Norton didn't expect to leave with so much on his mind, but he was thankful he did not bump into any other Hunters as he made his way back to the Survivor's wing. He wasn't too familiar with Aesop. He knew him as a diligent, albeit quiet, teammate but he had no strong feelings towards him one way or the other and that was probably because he rarely saw Aesop around in general. If Aesop really was spending all of his free time in the Hunter's wing then that would explain that. But why? He wondered if Aesop was assisting a Hunter like he had with Luchino.
Norton eventually met up with William and they collected a few more Survivors for late drunken fun in the parlour but he didn't speak a single word about having been in the Hunter's wing or the Reptilian's company. He didn't even mention seeing him dawdling outside. Every time he thought about bringing it up made his stomach feel full of sloshing ice water. He realised he didn't want to be subjected to another ruthless barrage of questioning regarding his actions and motives.
Norton decided to continue drinking after the others turned in as the evening dragged on. He knew he'd likely get up in the middle of the night after what he did in the afternoon and a little extra drink would surely help him stay in bed. He wondered if he would ever end up in the Hunter's wing at night now that he knew about the door. He wondered if...
"Norton. Hey, c'mon." William's moderately slurred speech pulled him from his thought.
"I thought you were off with Kurt?"
"Nah, he found Margie, thankfully. I figured you'd still be here." He sounded proud of himself.
"Yeah, y'found me," Norton chuckled into his glass for one last swig, "let's go."
William helped Norton get to his feet and lead him back to their shared room. Sometimes Norton wondered what he'd do without William, or without a considerate friend holding a lantern to guide him through the darker hallways at night. William chatted the entire time, laughing at the best and worst parts of the evening. Norton really appreciated it. Anything to distract him.
"I was getting kinda worried about you earlier," William said as they entered their dorm. A cozy little room with two beds in opposite corners. William's was closer to the door while Norton's was closer to the only window. They shared a single desk, closet and bathroom. It was a king's palace compared to what Norton was used to, anyway, but couldn't be weighed up against the Reptilian's room.
"Earlier when?"
"Uhh... late afternoon? I just thought we would meet up sooner."
"Oh, yeah, sorry, I got caught up in something outside."
"Norton."
"...What?"
"The shelf's gonna break if you put any more rocks on it."
Norton looked to the shelf over his bed, which was close to overflowing with various little stones and hammer-cracked geodes. William might be right. "Then I'll just get a bigger shelf. What's your point?" He chuckled.
"My point is, do you think you're gonna stay put tonight?" That was completely unrelated and they both knew it.
"Yeah. Don't worry."