He'd now been sitting on the steps for a full fifteen minutes.

Nash had hoped that, maybe, just maybe, if he sat here long enough, he would somehow be transported back to the States, or even just civilization in general, because no matter what anyone said, an island in the middle of the ocean was most definitely not civilization.

Beside him, October said gloomily, "I tried the same thing."

His brother was currently sprawled in a lounging, lax sort of heap on the stairs, looking, as usual, as though he'd just melted where he stood. Nash hadn't even seen him in close to three years, but October hadn't really changed much; in fact, he looked even more like the painting of the melting clocks than ever before.

Voice a little muffled behind the mask, Nash said, "So, what? I'm just supposed to go over there and let something talk to me inside of my head and then I'll be a whatchamacallit doodad thingamajigger - "

"Hunter."

" - and that's that?"

"That's that." October gave a wide yawn that would have looked theatrical with anyone else, but for October, just looked perfectly normal. His hair was a little longer and his glasses were different than the ones that Nash had last seen him wearing, but everything else - minus the white and gold coat - was trademark October.

Especially the umbrella. Nash eyed it suspiciously, then looked back at their surroundings, tablets lining the walls of the room. He half wanted to turn around and go right back up the stairs, but that would have been running away, and if there was one thing Nash didn't do, it was run away.

That, and take as many naps as October, but really, no one in the entire world took as many naps as October did. It was still a surprise that he was even here, because it didn't fit him at all, being a Hunter, supposedly being involved in all sorts of "crime fighting shenanigans" (as October had put it). His brother may have been intelligent underneath things - a lot of things - but October was not exactly known for his prowess in effort.

The umbrella was pointed aimlessly in the direction of the tablets.

"Just go...I dunno, poke one or something," said October, and Nash gave him a mildly exasperated look.

"I'm not just gonna poke something and have it explode on me," he said, but October was already rolling over like he was preparing to take another nap, and once he was asleep, there would be no waking him unless a bomb went off, and even then, it was questionable.

Nash dragged himself to his feet, meandering over to the nearest wall and ran his fingers over the stone tablets. Nothing immediately jumped out at him (Was it supposed to?), but nothing looked terrible, for that matter; in fact, it looked relatively boring. Just slabs of stone all lined up, looking like a haphazardly built something or other.

"Just pick one."

October's voice was muffled. His face was tucked into his arm. How he could be comfortable while lying on his side on a flight of stone steps, Nash still wasn't entirely sure, but he'd long since stopped trying to understand October, because astrophysics was easier to understand than October Oxford Flynn.

Something wafted towards him - something - not quite right. October had warned him how this worked, so it wasn't entirely surprising, but it was still a deeply unsettling and unpleasant sensation to have someone else's thoughts inside of his head.

< Awaken. >

Nash exhaled a breath

I'm awake.

He wasn't sure if he was actually thinking it or not. It felt strange. It felt utterly and completely bizarre, Nash's brow drawn together in consternation, his lips pressing in a thin line as he tried not to overthink this. October was still snoozing - or giving the illusion of snoozing - his hood drawn up and over his head so that he just looked more like a blob of his brother than an actual human being.

< I...am awake? >

The voice fluttered through him. Nash sighed.

"Yes, you're awake, and you're..." He glanced at all the tablets spread out in front of him, a musing look on his face. "...one of these things, here, I think, hang on...I'm sure I'm supposed to just touch one of them or something, maybe..."

He lapsed into silence for a minute, considering, and finally saw that one of the tablets was glowing brighter than the others, the runes ebbing and rising. Nash reached out a hand and brushed his fingers over it, carefully - and the moment he touched it, the glow burst, expanding outwards, and then disappeared entirely, along with the tablet itself. instead, in his hand, was a metal arm brace in the shape of -

"Is this a centipede?"