"Huuuuuuuuh." It seemed a very alien way of doing things to June.
"This whole arrest thing is probably really messing with the gigs you had lined up, huh? Sorry about that, but March and October have more authority then me," He said with a shrug.
"I don't really care about arresting people and stuff, I just want July back, y'know?"
----------
"The real problem isn't the lock," August said while kneeling on the floor to squint at the door handle. "The wood's pretty old and these locks are by no means heavy-duty, you could probably kick it in."
"Okay . . ."
July was lying on one of the beds in the room, staring at the ceiling. He wasn't really listening.
"The real problem is June, October, and March. It doesn't really matter if we can leave the room if they'll just catch us the second we get out . . . of course they can't watch every inch of the property but they'll almost certainly hear us kick the door down." It was clearly intentional that they'd been given one of the building's few rooms that didn't have a window.
August sat back on his heels, brushing his hair out of his face. The problem with short hair was you couldn't tie it back and out of the way, he'd discovered.
"July, do you still have your bag? You had some of those carving tools of yours with you right? Maybe we could use it as a lock pick. That'd be quieter."
"No, June took my stuff," He replied unenthusiastically.
August starting jerking the handle back and forth, rattling the mechanism. Maybe he'd get lucky, and it'd be old enough to fall apart. He was not lucky.
Still lying on the bed, July turned on his side to look at August. "Fratha?"
"Yes?" August was now taking his boots off and emptying them. A few of his back up supplies where still hidden in the special cavity he'd put in the toe. Unfortunately, he hadn't had time to restock it, so he was out of anything useful.
"Why does June hate you so much now?"
"Oh . . . y'know . . . we've just had a bit of a falling out, I'm sure things will work themselves out." He made a point of not looking at July while he spoke, instead fingering a bit of wire that might be worth something.
"What happened?"
"You know how June can be. He's young and still working things out, I don't blame him really."
July sat up and frowned, "What happened?"
"Yalicena knows I was just as extreme and angry when I was his age." He started feeding the wire into the lock. It probably wouldn't be able to trigger anything, but maybe he'd surprise himself.
"Yua!"
"What?!" August asked turning to look at him, surprised that July had raised his voice.
"Stop avoiding the subject." The younger man stared at him with hard eyes. "I need to know what happened."
August didn't break the eye contact, but his hands left the door handle to fidget by his knees. He was so much worse at this sort of thing then he used to be. "July, you don't need to worry about it--"
"Tell me anyway."
August let out a small sigh, giving himself a moment to think. How to put it in a gentle way?
"October and September have simply put some ideas about me in his head that are less then truthful." He said it with a finality that would hopefully stop July from inquiring further. That was really all that had happened.
It didn't work. "What ideas?"
"It-it's hard to explain, July, and I don't fully know myself . . . They'd jump at any chance to tell June how I kick puppies every weekend if it meant having him on their 'side'. Or at least having him not on my 'side'." When had he gotten so bad at stretching the truth?
July frowned. It probably wasn't a satisfying enough answer for him.
Before he could ask any more questions, heavy footsteps sounded in the hallway, and August hastily shoved his boots back on and moved away from the door.
It unlocked with a click, and October peered in.
"Thought I'd check on you before turning in," He grumbled in a way that implied March had instructed him to do it.
The light from the hallway caught the wire August had forgotten on the floor. Tober bent and picked it up, the small length looked like a hair between his large fingers.
He just rolled his eyes. "You'd better not have any more of this stuff, August, I don't feel like searching you again."
"Nah, that's my last piece. It's too soft to be of any use in lock picking anyway."
October experimentally pushed on it with his thumb.
Satisfied with it's pliability, he took a glance around the room and then shut the door. It locked again with a clunk, and October's footsteps retreated further down the hall to his own room.
"Well, there goes that plan," August said after things went quiet. He threw off his boots again and flopped onto his bed.
"I'm going to sleep now, okay?" He told July. "I don't know if I can face both Jouken and sleep deprivation."
That got a smile out of July, though he still looked uncertain.
"I guess I'll turn in too."