EV turns to look back over his shoulder as the light winks out from around him. Was someone just talking, he wonders. He walks back over to peer around the nearby counter. This part of the lobby is a corner where he can stare back down the hall he traveled previously or towards the back door that is across from him. He focuses, certain that he heard something. He sees a light start to emerge from a side passage, down the hallway. Pride couldn’t have made it back already. No, this has to be someone new. EV moves across the hallway and towards the front door. There is another hall parallel to this one and a few rooms that form somewhat of an island in the center of the building. He is currently opposite the connecting hallway that the new strangers are in. If I play this right, I can stay opposite of them and out of sight.

He doesn’t necessarily have a problem with other people, he just doesn’t have a reason to trust anyone. He typically avoids others all together but the previous visitors had gotten the drop on him. If his head hadn’t been down and his nose in the book, he could have noticed them approaching. What’s the deal with all the visitors today? No one ever comes here. He sees their light approaching the perpendicular hallway that joins his area to their passageway. He turns and follows the wall back across to remain parallel to the visitors. One of the island rooms is something of a break room and there are doors on both sides. Did I close those doors back? One could cross the island break room and reach the parallel hall which means you can see straight across if the doors are still open.

“Hello,” questions a yelling voice.

EV ducks at the sound and continues down the parallel hall. He feels a bit relieved at seeing the door closed on this side. There is a larger office ahead, on the right and he can take cover in there for the night. They’re probably just looking for a place to take cover for the night. I should be able to stay out of sight in the main office until they leave tomorrow. He starts to move past the break room door and towards the office.

“Hey,” calls a voice from the break room. EV freezes and looks back to confirm that the door was indeed closed. “Hang on, we need to—” EV starts shuffling down the hall faster. “Wait—” the voice says, trailing off.

Were they talking to me, EV thinks as he passes his original destination. That spot is too close. I should head to the one at the end of the hall. He reaches the doorway to his new destination and enters the door as he hears the break room door burst open behind him. This room has several smaller rooms that aren’t much larger than closets. These mini-rooms are identical and all have a single recliner in them. He gets into one of the rooms and pulls the door closed behind him. The green light of his bracers pulse and his dagger forms in his hand as he takes cover behind the recliner. He doesn’t maintain the light and it winks out as the dagger returns to its physical form. When the weapon or book dissolves, they disappear and are stored away somewhere inside of him or perhaps in the bracers themselves. He didn’t know which and he had stopped trying to figure that out long ago. He just knows they are put away and when he needs either of them, he can reshape them, returning them to their physical forms.

There’s just no way. I couldn’t have been seen. Who the heck was he yelling for?

“Where did he go,” asks a voice. The voice then laughs. “He sure is a slippery one.”

EV leans his head against the recliner behind him and he faces a wall that separates him from the hallway he traveled down. He listens to the visitors as they continue searching for someone. There has to be more than one of them—or who else would he be talking to?

“Not in either of those rooms.” EV notices that the talker sounds jovial. “Isn’t that the hall we were in before? I think we just did a loop—Oh, hey! There he is.”

Did they find someone, EV wonders. A knock thuds against the wall in front of him and EV quickly rises to his feet.

“What are you doing,” asks another voice. This voice is gritty and stern.

“I’m waving,” says the jovial one.

“I can see that. Why are you waving?”

“Because he’s right there. See?”

“No, because that’s a wall, not a window.”

“Oh—OOOH…I see now. We have to go this way. There’s a door on the other side.”

EV listens as the two seem to walk further down the hall towards the entrance of the room with his closet. He shakes his head as he turns to follow their sound in the dark. That’s not possible. There’s no way they’re seeing me, right?

“No, the next one,” says the jovial voice. A knock batters the door and EV stares blankly in the darkness as he looks to where he knows the door to be. “What are you doing? Trying to break it down or something?”

“Calm down. It was just a knock,” says the stern voice.

EV places his empty hand on the back of the recliner and tries to think of what to do. What now? There’s no way they blindly guessed I was in here. Do I see what this is all about?

“We’re just looking for our friends,” says the jovial one. EV walks over to the door and leans his shoulder against the wall next to it. “Don’t worry. We’re not here to hurt you or anything like that.”

“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to say,” EV calls out.

“He’s not wrong,” says the stern voice.

EV pushes down on the lever door handle and pulls the door open. The light that rushes into his room is blinding. One light source is up high and two more are close to the ground. It’s a three pronged attack and EV extends his arm towards it in an attempt to shield his eyes.

“Hey,” the jovial one says, elbowing the other. “Are you doing a blinding thing with your light?” The lights dim significantly and EV starts to lower his hand, blinking more frequently as he tries to regain his vision. “You’re just trying to scare the little guy away, huh?”

EV focuses where the lights were coming from. There is a colossal figure there with long arms, not unlike a gorilla. Huge boulder-like shoulders fasten the arms to each side. His clenched fists hang just above the floor and a spear is jutting over one shoulder. EV fixates on the spear when he sees it and zones out for a moment. How awkward would that be, he thinks, trying to fight with a spear with those long arms.

“I think the little guy might be damaged or something,” says the colossal figure.

“How about we stop all the little guy stuff,” EV asks, his eyes flicking up towards the top of the colossus. The figure seems to peer back at EV for a time.

It walks towards EV, where he remains leaning against the door frame, craning his neck up as the figure approaches. The figure places its hands on its hips and looms over EV like a mountain, before bending towards him. EV stares up at him without responding and just looks at the daunting figure as he leans towards EV, stopping a few inches from his face. He seems to appraise EV for a time, then nods before straightening again. “He’s right,” says the stern gorilla mountain. “The big guy’s got some backbone. I can respect that.”

“Well, we didn’t mean anything by that,” says the jovial one. “I was just trying to guilt trip the knucklehead here.” The jovial one slugs the gorilla mountain’s arm and immediately regrets it as he begins shaking his hand fervently. The gorilla mountain looks up and around as if confused and the jovial one starts to look around with him. “What are you doing?”

“I just felt a breeze or something,” says the gorilla mountain before turning back to smile at the jovial one.

“Oh -ha-ha,” the jovial one says with no amusement. “You’re hilarious. —Anyways,” he says, turning back to EV. “Don’t mind him. That’s Greed. He’s big, ugly, and has a terrible sense of humor but other than that, he’s actually kind of cuddly, once you get to know him.”

Greed harrumphs, folds his arms, and looks away.

EV is still pressed against the interior of the door frame and he watches, not really knowing what to make of the two. The jovial one is shorter than Greed but is more rounded across his midsection. “I’m Gluttony,” he says, thumbing into his chest. Gluttony has a wide stance and he moves the thumbing hand down to grasp around a flask that is attached to his hip. EV suppresses a smile as he equates Gluttony’s silhouette to something like Santa Clause but notices that it isn’t a sack of toys that is slung over his shoulder. His other hand is gripping a long handle and the head of a mace is resting behind his head. It occurs to EV that Gluttony seems to be waiting for something, even while Gluttony’s face is flooded with a delighted grin. “And you are?”

“Oh—right,” EV acknowledges. “I guess—you can call me EV.”

“You guess? Do you mean, you’re not sure?”

Gluttony’s grin seems to be widening in amusement but EV just shakes his head. “No, it’s not that.” EV sighs. “I’m probably going to be leaving with some others soon. The leader said he knew another Envy and he hated the guy. He didn’t want people reminding him of the other Envy when they addressed me so he said I should go by EV.”

Gluttony bursts into raucous laughter, leaning his head back and clutching at his stomach. EV suddenly feels awkward as Gluttony tries to regain his composure. “You’ve got to be joking,” Gluttony says, continuing to chuckle. “First time meeting you—and insists on you using another name. That’s rich, I love it.” Greed coughs and looks away as he tries to suppress a smile. Gluttony looks over at Greed and then clears his throat. “Oh, right. We actually came in to see what was taking so long. Where is Pride and Lust?”

“They left,” EV says, looking down and away.

“They left? Why would they do that? They were just supposed to come in here and check on you.”

“I told them about someone else that might be able to help.” EV continues but doesn’t look up. “He doesn’t live far from here. I figured he might be able to, you know, help save the world?” EV shrugs weakly and zones out, looking at a darker patch in the carpet.

Gluttony senses EV’s reservations and nods. “Worried they will still be out after dark? Don’t sweat it. I’m sure they will be fine.—you know, Pride might actually get insulted if you worry about him like that.” EV’s eyes jump back up Gluttony. “But I’m certain that he would tell you that there is no one more capable than him and that you shouldn’t waste your time on such things. What’s important here is that you’ve decided to come with us, right?”

EV shakes his head. “I haven’t decided that. They left before I said yes or no.”

“Oooh,” Gluttony says with dawning comprehension. “So you just deflected by throwing some other guy under the bus?”

“What’s a bus,” Greed asks.

Gluttony raises his hand towards Greed. “Shush! Can’t you see the grownups are talking?”

“No, it’s not that,” EV begins.

“Yeah, yeah,” Gluttony replies. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with us but you can’t just keep dangling something in Pride’s periphery and expect him to keep looking away. He eventually catches on—“

“And he gets pissy,” Greed interjects, “when he thinks someone is wasting his time.”

“Yeah,” Gluttony continues. “It’s best to just be upfront with the guy.”

Greed makes his way over to the nearby windows and peers out. “They’re not going to be making it back tonight,” Greed says. “Let’s just settle in for the night and expect them to be back in the morning.”

Gluttony nods. “That’s probably for the best.”

“So, you’re with them,” EV asks.

Gluttony chuckles, with no apparent humor while shaking his head. “He really left that part out huh? You certainly got the whole -go on an adventure & save the world- pitch but he forgets to mention anyone else that might be coming along? I suppose that sounds about right.—But yeah, with the two of us, Pride, Lust, you and your friend, that makes six of us so that should make things a little easier. Don’t you think,” Gluttony asks as he looks up at EV.

As the question airs, EV zones out again as he notices something about Gluttony. There is a covering over his eyes which he previously thought was a headband. EV’s brow quickly furrows. Uh—what? Wasn’t he the one that saw me? -How-? The word stretches out in EV’s mind as he forgets about being in the company of others.

A thoomp! sounds out nearby and snaps EV out of his reverie. Gluttony spits a cork over onto the floor. He meets EV’s gaze and says, “don’t worry. Take your time. " He then turns up the flask and takes a long draw, followed by a satisfied, “Aghh.” He goes to put a cork back in but doesn’t remember what he did with it. He just shakes his head, before his jug and bracers glow in a pulse, the cork reappearing within the opening. “Welcome back,” he finally says as he returns the flask to his belt. “I’m guessing you do that a lot?”

“Do what,” EV asks.

“Eh, not important. So you think you’ll come with us?”

“I’ll know by tomorrow.”

“Good enough,” Greed says. “I’m going to take a look around. EV, think you can show Gluttony a place for us to rest tonight?”

“Yeah—there’s lots of places, actually.”

“Good. Just plan to be up at day break.”