Gunther's Room

On the western end of the third floor of the castle, not far from the library, there was an unused room. There were actually several unused rooms on this floor, but this particular room was rather large and filled nearly to the brim with extra furniture, all draped in white sheets to protect the historical wood from gathering dust. If you were to navigate your way around this crowded room, you would eventually find a door along the northern wall, behind which sat a significantly smaller room with two modestly sized windows that peeked out over a corner of the courtyard. And from this room you would sometimes hear suspicious noises.

Valentin of course knew all about the suspicious noises because he was the one making them. He had happened across the small room tacked onto the side of the larger one some time ago whilst deciding on what pieces of furniture should be re-introduced into the used areas of the castle, and which were to be consolidated here. It had held no furniture then - though he had since brought in a modest table for working on and some chairs and stools - but it did have a couple paintings. Several very nice paintings of young women, ships and horse had been draped with cloth and relocated. But one portrait of a middle-aged man with a comically serious expression had been left where he'd found it hanging on the wall and the faun had taken to talking to the portrait sometimes when he was here working for long periods. He'd named it Gunther.

The little room was ideal for tinkering because it was set some ways apart from the heavily used areas in the castle - which meant he could worry a little less about the noise - and a person glancing in from the hall wouldn't see the second door straight away. The windows were also a bonus in case things got a little.. smokey.

And Valentin was here working on this day. The light outside would have told him it was nearing evening if he'd been paying any attention, and he was currently stripping the wire on some old window air-conditioner he'd bought off an old woman a few months ago in Sindri's Cove. What was left of the device was currently strewed in pieces across the work table in front of him. Evidence of countless other projects had accumulated into piles all around the room. The mess wasn't normally a problem, and it was hard to stub your toes when you had hooves. But blindly grasping across the table to brighten the oil lamp across from him, Valentin's arm accidentally knocked over a pile of scrap metal tubing, which rolled across the table and clanged loudly to the ground, knocking the lantern on its way. Valentin cursed loudly and hopped quickly around the table when he heard the lantern's glass break.

The oil had spilled over the floor and a small hungry fire was quick to jump to life, though Valentin did manage to smother it with a hastily thrown vest and some amount of jumping and stomping. He glared with aggravation at the dimming sky that made the lantern necessary for work. He would probably have to go all the way to the basement for a new lantern.

Chayne hadn't yet been up to the third floor of the castle. This would be his first time. He knew the infirmary was on this floor, so it was probably in his best interest to figure out how to get there, just in case.

The flashlight he'd used to keep his witchlights in had broken and he hadn't gotten around to fixing it yet. By now he'd found the flashlight to be so effective that it almost wasn't even worth it to bring the individual witchlights with him. He'd brought two along with him anyway, despite the fact that it was already getting sufficiently dark though. Upon climbing the stairs up to the third floor, Chayne was also pleased to find that the lanterns in the halls were unlit.

Even still, Chayne took a wrong turn on his way to the the infirmary, going instead towards the western end of the level. Assuming someone would be in the infirmary in case a student was injured, he didn't bother poking his into any rooms which didn't show signs of life. He was surprised to find that almost none of the rooms in this wing did. Maybe no one was in the infirmary after all? He passed a window and guessed that it wasn't quiet so late yet. The fact that he was even able to guess this was satisfying. When he first came to Lillegard he hadn't been able to tell day from dusk.

Finally Chayne could see some light coming from one of the rooms up ahead. By the time he reached the door, however it had gone out. Of course, this wasn't something he'd complain about, but his eyebrows furrowed as he peeked into the room and saw that it looked nothing like an infirmary should. In fact, the covered furniture in the room reminded him of one of the books he'd read recently. He hadn't quite been sure what to picture when he read it, but now, stepping into this room, he assumed this must have been exactly it. Remembering the rather horrific plot of said book, Chayne called into the room. "Hello?" This was more to avoid frightening whoever had put out the light rather than check if anyone was actually in the room.

A charred and crumpled vest was all that was left of the small fire, along with the recognizable smell that clung to burnt things. Valentin plucked the article of clothing from the ground and prodded at a new hole in the cloth, frowning thoughtfully while he wondered if he had some scrap that would suit to patch this up... His ears perked up instinctively at a sound that might have been a door, and the faun froze in place to listen very carefully.

He didn't have to wait long before the word hello floated questioningly through the door to his small side-room. Valentin scowled a little to himself, wondering if it was some teacher that might land him in trouble for starting fires, or if it was just some curious student - which wouldn't be entirely more acceptable except that he preferred privacy when he was working. Of course, it looked like work was on hold until he fetched another lantern anyway.

Valentin's silent ponderings had probably made whoever had called wait for a drawn-out moment, but he did eventually slip to the door and curl his fingers around the knob. There he stood for a moment, trying to decide on a next course of action. If he opened the door and it was someone bothersome, then he would be annoyed. If he opened the door and it was someone hungry, then he would be dead. With a deepening frown, he decided that the best action was probably to sit tight and silent and hope they left on their own.

Yes, that was obviously best. So carefully taking his hand from the door knob, Valentin took a slow step away. There was probably a shadow or a heap of materials he could slip behind just in case the person found the door to this little room. Picking one particular large heap of scrap metal that he thought should shield him particularly well, Valentin tip-toed towards it. He nearly tripped over the fallen metal tubing that he had already forgotten about and hopped to maintain his balance. The work table to his right - when had that gotten so close? - suddenly connected with his hip and he hissed through his teeth at the too-loud sound of table legs scrapping audibly across the floor as it was jostled. The unintentional racket was finished off by the clanging of various pliers and clamps tumbling to the floor.

Chayne didn't go too much further into the room, not wanting to take anyone by surprise. The room seemed to be empty though. He couldn't even find any sign of the light which he was certain had been only a few minutes ago, and he could see relatively clearly right now, something which he was grateful for.

Chayne had just started to look around for a window, thinking the light he'd seen may have just been the sun dipping behind the trees and changing how the light entered the room. It was then that the sound of objects falling to the floor drew his attention to the door. If it had been just a bit brighter in the room, he wouldn't have been able to make out the door at all.

Chayne took a step forward in the direction of the door before he got second thoughts. Maybe whoever it was didn't want to be disturbed. By the sound of things, he may have already interrupted whatever he or she were up to. Maybe he wasn't even supposed to be here. The room did look to be unused. But then, if he wasn't allowed to be here then what made the other person allowed to be here? Unless it was a teacher, or maybe the doctor in charge of the infirmary.

Regardless, Chayne continued to walk toward the door, not going out of his way to make his footsteps quite. He didn't go all the way to the door though. Instead he made way for one of the draped sofas in the room and sat, not on it, but in front of it. He didn't want to disturb the room at all.

Chayne remained quietly seated here. Maybe whoever it was would come out on their own.. He took one of his witchlights from his pocket, examining it close up. When he held it up to his eye he could actually see through it and into the room. It only made it slightly easier to see in a bright area though.