#the lighthouse.

alina winthrop: she receives a text that afternoon from adam telling her to meet them at the front of the lighthouse in an hour and she starts getting ready but spends most of that time debating whether or not she should actually show. alina is ten minutes late by the time she parks the car, and is surprised to find them gathered next to the entrance. “so has thalia given you guys permission to tell me what you’re hoping to find or am i just here for decorative purposes?”

henri rousseau: standing outside the lighthouse, iced tea in hand, henri gives his usual small wave at alina's arrival in greeting. "ha! decorative purposes!" he repeats, shaking his head as if to say of course not! ( not that alina couldn't be there for decorative purposes if she wanted to be, of course ). "nah, i think... like..." he drifts off, a little uncertain if they do have permission. he awkwardly bends a little at the knee, looking at thalia before whispering, "uh, can we tell her...?" 

thalia pham: if she had it her way, they would be attempting to break into the lighthouse, rather than letting alina have the satisfaction of knowing that they needed her. it's sweet that henri might be the only one glad to see her here, but a sour expression still weaves its way on to lia's face. she knows it isn't her place to dictate who knows what, but it still hurts to give the girl one small victory. "we're looking for something. the stuff we read about at the library yesterday, if you even remember it."

adam griffin: adam's surprised when alina actually shows up. he's sure she would've flaked if anything better came up, so he's grateful for her empty schedule. "yeah, honestly, i don't know what exactly we're looking for," he shrugs. "hopefully it'll point us in a direction. but maybe it'll just be an opportunity to explore a building your family so kindly restored."

roman keating: he doesn’t exactly care to be here, but he was hoping the entertainment would be far superior than anything else he could waste the day doing. with his back against the concrete of the lighthouse, he mindlessly shifts his attention back and forth between everyone as they speak, their words going in one ear and out the other. “so are we actually going in or are we gonna argue about alina being here the whole day?” he inquires with his eyebrows raised. “don’t get me wrong,” his arms raise in defense, “i’m all for cat fights so if one were to break out right now just forget i ever said anything.”

thalia pham: lia rolls her eyes at rome's comments. she had made a point not to argue about alina being there with them — things would be going very differently if thalia had decided to put up a fight. "the only ass i'm kicking is yours, if you keep talking like that." she folds her arms in protest."

theo walker: theo was the last one there. uncharacteristically so. he was up too late the night before doing research into the town's history, and slept way past his alarm. he walked up to meet his friends. "i thought y'all would have gone in already." he was slightly out of breath, he wasn't used to riding his bike so quickly.

alina winthrop: at roman’s comment, alina laughs. “scared, thalia?” she’s not serious. (when is she ever?) instead, before it can get any further, she produces a set of keys from her bag. “so you guys got a plan?”

mr. suzuki: it wasn't often that he heard people outside of his door. even less so a group of kids arguing about...god knows what. he was simply drinking his tea, enjoying the sound of the ocean, and waiting for his gardener to come help him with the yard when the ruckus started. he wasn't angry as much as he was intrigued. and did not open the door until they would eventually knock on it, sipping on his morning english breakfast and sitting in the chair he had positioned by the door. for when he had to take off his shoes.

adam griffin: "of course we have a plan." he grabs the keys from alina. "split up and look for anything. there was that room on the old blueprints and not the new one. maybe there's something there?" he shrugs and unlocks the lighthouse door, stopping in his tracks the second he gets inside. "oh, hey. mr.... suzuki? is it? sorry to barge in like this... but it's actually perfect that you're here! i have to do some research for my internship with the mayor's office; the winthrop's restoration projects. you know, re-election and all. and i dragged my friends here with me to help out. but, you'll obviously know a lot more than we'd be able to find out just from wandering around. i hate to put you on the spot, but would you be willing to give us a tour?" he's sure the lie is flimsy, making it up as he goes along, but the words are coming out before he can think about them. it's also nerves speaking, he's heard rumors about mr. suzuki for as long as he can remember.

mr. suzuki: well. he certainly wasn’t expecting them to barge him. still, he did not stand up from his seat. instead remaining there, and waiting for an explanation. it was rare for anyone to ever make it far enough to speak to him. he furrows his brow at the explanation, looking at the small winthrop girl beside him, and deciding that was enough validity to his claim. besides, he would’ve given him the tour anyway! he smiled, and stood up slowly from his seat. "yes, yes i can give you and your friends a tour." his voice was quiet, and feeble. years of silence contributing to this. "let me just leave a note for my gardener that i will be late in helping her today." and he looked down, slowly took a pen and paper from his desk, and began writing. everything about mr. suzuki was slow moving.

adam griffin: he’s surprised by how soft spoken mr. suzuki is, and he’s beginning to wonder if there’s more to him that the town’s rumors would suggest. “thanks so much sir, i can’t tell you how much i appreciate it.” as aito looks away to write the note, adam turns around and shrugs at the group. hopefully some of the insight they get on the tour can help them.

roman keating: walking up the spiral staircases is excruciatingly slow as they’re following behind the lighthouse keeper. rome hasn’t been inside the building since he and athena used to sneak inside when he was younger (whatever lurked inside was surely less scary than the keating home and the falsified stories he’d go to school with made attention pivot towards him). somehow being in mr. suzuki’s presence is less intimidating than he imagined it would be and if he was ever dangerous, that didn’t seem to be the case. “he could still kill us,” he whispers, motioning his hand to mimic a knife.

mr. suzuki: they began walking towards the stairs. and yes, he heard the hushed whispers, and no, he did not fault them for it. he was content with his life, despite what the rest of the town might think. "is there a specific aspect of the lighthouse's history you were interested in before we begin?" he asked, wondering if perhaps the griffin boy had gotten some kind of insight on his family's past.

alina winthrop: she follows, begrudgingly, trailing in the back of the group. patience has never been a virtue of alina's. neither was kindness; she laughs quietly into her hand at rome's comment even if a small part of her does believe in the rumors she's heard ever since she was a child. she's bored out of her mind already and the tour's barely even started. besides, it was a waste of time. they were here to find a secret room and it wasn't likely that aito would be making that a stop on the tour. without a word, alina slips into another room.

henri rousseau: still sipping on his iced tea, henri almost chokes on the liquid at roman's comment, spluttering into the straw as mr. suzuki speaks. possibly why he doesn't even realise as alina slips off (and definitely not to do with the fact his observational skills are lacking to begin with).

thalia pham: off the bat, lia likes mr. suzuki. besides being one of the few fellow asians in the obx, he’s surprisingly calm. but before she gets the chance to follow him and the rest of them up the stairs, she notices alina peel away from the group. lia rolls her eyes — seriously? she makes a spur of the moment decision to follow after the girl, turning on her heel at the last second. “where are you going?”

alina winthrop: she rolls her eyes at the sound of thalia’s voice, turning to face her. “couldn’t resist going after me, huh?” alina smirks. she looks around the room, and it’s familiar but that doesn’t help when she can’t remember where the secret room was supposed to be. “i just wanted to explore. tours are so dull, and it wasn’t gonna help anyway. it’s not as if we can just be like ‘hey mr. suzuki, by any chance, do you know about the secret room that isn’t on the blueprints and was probably blocked off before you ever started working here?’”

thalia pham: she has a point. but lia isn’t going to praise her for her recklessness. it might be suspicious that the tour started with the two girls and ended without them. “right, so you’re one of those ask for forgiveness instead of permission people.” lia narrows her eyes. “okay, whatever. if he finds us we can just say we were looking for a bathroom.” lia peers around, unsure of where they actually are within the lighthouse. “since this is your genius plan, what are we even looking for?”

alina winthrop: “it’s just a tour, thalia, i think it’ll be fine.” though she’s not really sure where to go from here. “how am i supposed to know? i’ve not exactly had a history of discovering secret rooms before. i was just trying to get out of the tour.” alina steps into another room, smaller than the one they had been in before. pictures of sailors and boats decorate the walls. she doesn’t think they’re any closer, but she doesn’t have any pictures of the old blueprints on her to make certain of it.

thalia pham: she's already regretting following alina down this impulsive path. lia isn't even sure that the boys are going to make it on their own — they're far too annoying to manage to not piss off mr. suzuki. but it's too late to turn back now. as alina looks at the hangings on the walls, lia's eyes are glued to the ground, hoping to find some kind of hidden trap door. but alas, there's nothing. she finds herself stepping through another doorway, into what appears to be a back room. "if anything jumps out at us, i'm using you as a human shield."

alina winthrop: alina follows thalia into another room, smaller again, unfamiliar. she thinks it must’ve been closed off the last time she came here. it’s not even really an exhibit. she pushes past thalia. “you don’t really believe all those rum-“ alina cuts herself off with a shriek as the floor suddenly gives way under them. she grabs at thalia’s wrist out of instinct as they fall through. “fuck!” pain shoots up her leg when they land.

thalia pham: lia doesn't have much time to react, and before she has time to register alina's fall, she's plummeting to the ground after her. she winces as alina yelps, shaking off the layer of dust covering her eyes so that she can see what happened. fuck. it looks like alina landed on her ankle. for a moment, lia drops her tough girl act. "can you move your leg?" she crawls over to the other girl, trying to assess the damage. it takes her a few seconds to realize that they've fallen directly into the secret room — at least, that's what it looks like. "holy shit. this is it." lia mumbles.

alina winthrop: tears spring at her eyes from the pain. she tries to move her foot but the pain only intensifies. alina winces, shaking her head. she’s really not that interested in determining where they have fallen. she can’t help but whine. “can we focus on the matter at hand? how the fuck are we gonna get out from here? do you see a door or something?”

thalia pham: she nods, understanding of how much pain alina must be experiencing. there doesn't seem to be an obvious exit anywhere. just... lots of storage and clutter. "it doesn't look like there's a door anywhere." she dusts off her legs as she stands up, beginning to search across the little room. no luck. lia slides her phone out of her back pocket, but it doesn't look like she has service down here, buried underneath an entire lighthouse. "we're trapped." she mumbles, turning back to alina. "don't put any weight on that." lia points at her ankle. she starts to circle the room, scouring the walls for some kind of door.

alina winthrop: it's just her luck that there isn't a door leading out of the room. she waves thalia off about her ankle and attempts to try and stand without putting too much of her weight on the broken ankle. "i don't think looking really hard is gonna help," she deadpans as she watches thalia walk around. alina looks up the hole they'd fallen through. she can't hear the boys or mr. suzuki, but they couldn't be far. the lighthouse was only so big after all. she cups her hands around her mouth, and yells, "help! adam? rome?"

thalia pham: alina may have a broken ankle, but she doesn't have to be so rude. "can you just shut up and let me try to help you?" she asks as she slides her hand against the wall in an effort to find some kind of hidden compartment. but it's clear that they're out of luck. she stands on her toes to take a look at the hole in the ceiling — it's far too high for them to climb out. fuck. once alina starts yelling for help, lia gives up on her independence. "we're stuck down here!" she calls out.

adam griffin: it's difficult for adam to fake an interest in the post-restoration history of the lighthouse, none of it appearing to be helpful to him. however, he taps notes into his phone and asks plenty of questions. he's so focused on keeping aito's attention that he doesn't notice the group get smaller. it's not until they've reached the top of the lighthouse that he finally decides to dig a little more. "so to be honest, mr. suzuki, when i took on this assignment, i had a vested interest. my dad's been missing for about a month now, and i know my family, the griffins, had a hand in the original construction of the lighthouse." he pauses, taking a second to consider how much he should tell aito. deciding he's at worst harmless and at best helpful, he continues. "and i know it's a long shot, but i thought that maybe something of his would be here?" aito gives him a knowing smile, as if he's been waiting for adam to ask, and begins to lead them back down the stairs. adam's heart jumps into his throat, overwhelmed by the knowledge that he is about to see something of his father's, but it drops into his stomach when he hears the girls yelling. even aito moving quickly is too slow for adam's liking, but he finally gets a door that seemingly comes out of nowhere open, adam pushes past him inside. "fuck," he curses upon assessing the damage. though he wants to stop to look at everything, he has to see what's wrong with the girls first. "thalia, are you hurt?" he asks, glancing her over on his way to alina, who seems to have taken the brunt of whatever happened to them. "you can't walk on that, can you?"

alina winthrop: out of nowhere, a door opens, letting in more light. alina collapses, sitting once more. she won't admit it, but she's glad to see the boys — only because she wants nothing more than to get out of there. "thalia's fine," alina interrupts. once he's close enough, she pulls herself up and uses adam as support. "if i could, do you think i'd willingly lean on you?"

henri rousseau: to tell the truth, he'd been enjoying the tour. even stopping for a moment at the top to take a few photographs before rejoining the other boys on the stairs... that is, of course, until things kick off. the surprise is evident on his face, even as he grimaces when the hidden door is swung open to reveal alina and thalia. at least he has the sensitivity to hold back a joke about alina clearly sticking the landing. "jesus christ..." he murmurs, only when alina gets up "what in the scooby doo even happened to you guys?"

theo walker: theo listened to everything mr. suzuki said with some annoyance. it wasnt anything he didnt know already. when they got to the room with the yelling, theo just about pushed past everyone to get to thalia. but upon seeing she was okay, he relaxed, and began looking around the room. when alina was around, he never did much talking. while they were all preoccupied, his eyes landed on a key, which he took and put in his pocket. turning around, he saw that no one saw him, and exhaled in relief.

mr. suzuki: "thank goodness you both are safe..." he said as he listened to the small girl's complaints. he looks up at the ceiling and notices all of the work he has to do to fix it, then looks back down at the two girls. "a broken ankle is nothing compared to what could have happened. do you need me to call an ambulance, ms. winthrop?"

roman keating: once they reach the girls, he’s relieved neither of the two aren’t seriously injured, the joke he made earlier in the forefront of his brain. he laughs at henri’s comment. “anyone got a scooby snack?” with adam tending to alina, roman lets his eyes avert from the hole above them to the messy room. maps and various other findings lie haphazardly across a tiny desk while others are pinned to the wall.  even at first glance, roman likens the papers to what they discovered in the archives. "are we gonna keep this shit here or?"

adam griffin: wrapping an arm around alina, he allows her to shift more of her weight on to him. "thank you, mr. suzuki, but i think we can handle it." he fishes his keys out of his pocket, "rome," and tosses them to roman when he meets adam's eyes. "can you guys pack up anything that might be useful? or we could always come back. just grab whatever. i'll drive alina's car to the hospital and call her dad on the way." maybe news of a broken bone will go over better coming from someone jacob winthrop likes. "i'll go through the stuff later if you don't want to."