Need A Little Time to Wake Up

[decoy73]

((Manuel Figueroa continued from The Incredible Adventures of Butt Donkey))

There had been nothing. Manuel had called out to the twins (remaining triplets?), to no avail. The only real relief on that front was that the name Hayashibara did not come up on the announcements. Other than that, they knew nothing. Not even where they were. Everything had started to blur over in that regard since they'd likely seen the same tree in their walk-around at least three times. So there wasn't much of an issue when they decided to just go in a straight line until they hit water.

It wouldn't solve jack shit if they stood still, right? Beat him and Sal singing the same songs over and over until they were buried into the ground. Although this place was weird. Were these totem poles or what?

[Ohm]

((Sal Bonaventura continued from A Forest))

Manuel had taken the lead as the night led into morning and the two ventured out. Sal was too sluggish at this point to offer anything resembling direction or a plan as the night ran him haggard. His mind was like a storm cloud with perpetual lighting strikes at random. The only time it cleared up was when he listened to the announcements for a pair of names that weren't mentioned.

They still hadn't found them. Two days had gone by and neither had an idea for where they could have gone. Even with Manuel calling out to them there had been no responses or call outs. Just distant sounds of their classmates fighting for a grotesque prize.

Manuel was taking things easier than Sal was, as far as he could see. Nothing outwardly gave him the impression of the boy being too affected, he was still able to sleep soundly after all. sal wanted to appreciate that aspect of him, that he had been lucky to find someone like that despite his follies when he spoke out, but a pang of jealousy resided in him instead.

Compared to him, he was weak. Deadweight. Struggling to stand on his feet and eyes too heavy to look for details. Innefectual. Just like that night with her.

There was a sudden stop from Manuel as he looked around them. Sal gave an oof as he bumped into him. "What?" He said almost out of reflex as he tried to look at what his partner was staring at, but found his eyes too unfocused to be able to. "Where are we?"

[decoy73]

Manuel was caught off guard by Sal bumping into him, stumbling forward a tad.

"What? Where are we?"

Manuel looked at Sal, then at their surroundings. He could only answer honestly.

"I don't have any idea. We're ... somewhere."

[Ohm]

"Somewhere?" Sal asked with the incredulousness in his voice clear. Out of the two, Sal had expected Manuel to know something as he led the two forward and yet...

Sal couldn't help himself and started giggling. They didn't know where they were. They had wandered for days now looking for Yuka and they had no idea where she was, let alone where they themselves were.

If irony was an ocean, the two would have drowned in it a long time ago.

"Well, now what?" It wasn't question aimed specifically at Manuel, it was more aimed at everything. They were no closer to their goal of finding Yuka and in fact, it seemed with each passsing day they were getting further and further away. They had been lucky so far with the announcements and the fact that no one had found them yet. But luck was a fleeting and they could not rely on that forever.

Sal did not know what was the worst part about this place. The cold sensation creepin' his spine seemed to accelerate the more he stayed here. As if he was being watched. Dropping his bag off on the ground, he started looking around them till something caught his tired eye.

He'd only caught a glimpse of... he was not entirely sure what it was, but it was close enough to her for him to set off after.

((Sal Bonaventura continued in Falling Down the Rabbit Hole))

[decoy73]

"Well, now what?"

Manuel leaned against the wall as he thought about that question. He honestly didn't know. Yuka and Yuki were nowhere to be found, and the same could be applied to them. If they couldn't find themselves, what could anyone else do? He heard a giggle from Sal's general direction. Manuel just shook his head and sighed as he tried to figure things out.

"Sal?"

Manuel looked around. Sal's bag was there, but ...

"Sal!"

Oh, come on, now Sal was gone too? Manuel just grunted as he picked up Sal's bag. Everything was going downhill, just like the back of his mind had been whispering.

((Manuel Figueroa continued in The Chemicals Between Us))