You are led onto more solid earth, and you can hear a gentle echo around you from your and the father's footfalls, with Hugh not far behind. You can hear the flowing of water further off in the cave.

"I visited this place when I was younger. All the tours happened at night, after the bats had flown out." You hear a click from the father's other hand. "There, that's better."

"Oh, this is pretty!" Hugh says, pausing for a moment after he does. "Um, sorry 'Gabriel'."

Fuck year! :V

"Hm? Why? What do you see?"

Walk forward a little bit...

"Hm? Why? What do you see?" You ask.

"Oh, well the walls are almost like burnished glass, with green spots reflecting the light, and pointed cone-like rocks from the ceiling." Hugh says, a bit of cheer in his tone. "And there's something else, a strange moving light on the ceiling like water!"

After a few more steps. "Oh, there is water! That explains it."

"Yes a small underground spring runs through here. I don't know if you need to eat or drink, but there's that if you need it." O'Malley says.

"Now then, we're getting closer to the bat's nest. There shouldn't be many left here, most of them are out hunting." The old man places your hand in Hugh's. You hear him grunt, and the sound of splintering wood. "And that's the safety guards out of the way. Come on boys, not much further." You can hear his shoes hit stone a bit lower in the passageway.

>>14375864
"Hm..."

Feel around a bit on the walls and the floor.

"Hugh, you don't have to come with me if you don't want to; I'm sure it'll be boring watching me just trying to imitate bats..."

"Hugh, you don't have to come with me if you don't want to; I'm sure it'll be boring watching me just trying to imitate bats..." You mutter.

"Well, to be honest Gabriel, I've felt... Sad somehow just being up on that roof. I don't know how to describe it, but it seemed like..." He pauses. "Like the world was anxious for something, and looking down on me."

"I'd rather be here, helping you, than looking down on that city by myself for another night."

Hugh leads you down lower, your hands finding purchase on the rough stone expertly for a very short climb.

You reach out, touching the cold stone walls. For some reason, you feel a kind of nostalgia as you do so, and shiver a bit. You hear soft squeak-like screeching from further in the cave.

"Quiet now. They tend to fly away if something loud disturbs them." The father says.

You keep walking forwards over the uneven ground, nearly tripping once. Hugh keeps you steady.

The squeaking becomes louder as you head inside.

>>14376186
Let's keep quiet until Father or Hugh gives the signal that we've arrived at our final destination.

>>14376228

You can hear the squeaking coming from the ceiling as the father hunches over to you.

"Here we are. There's a few up there." O'Malley whispers, patting you on the shoulder. "The mothers nursing their babies while the fathers hunt. They aren't going anywhere.

"According to that pamphlet, the bats get back around sunrise. So you'll have to stay up." O'Malley pats you on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Gabriel. I haven't prayed in a while, but tonight I prayed for you and we got this sign. The bat must have come into the church as a messenger."

"If you'd like, I can stay a bit longer. We can talk." O'Malley says. "Quietly."

>>14376528
Well, since we have time to kill, let's talk about Father.

How have you been recently? Seen any good movies? Read any good books? Any issues with the Don or other people (besides us loosing our sight and Leon coming over)? You know; small talk.

"How are you Father?" You ask, setting down as you relax, trying to understand how a sound can allow the bats to see.

"I've been alright, Gabriel." O'Malley says. "Other then that man coming by, fewer late night disturbances. I'm healthy, well fed. That's enough for anyone, I think."

"I don't think the mob will try anything soon. If what the Don said was true, his son was acting alone." O'Malley adds.

"Read any good books?" You ask him.

"I have been brushing up on my history. I got a book the other day about the civil war. A battle almanac. There are a few conflicts to the south a ways, bit it never happened up here." O'Malley adds.

"Why do you read about war, father?" Hugh asks.

"Well, I was in one once. I suppose I'm interested in learning why so many fight, like I did." O'Malley says. "It's been forrty years, and I still don't think I know why I did."

"So far, I haven't come up with a reason why the soldiers back then fought either. Maybe they were just trying to protect their country." O'Malley sighs. "Maybe I'm the only one who thinks it was a mistake to fight."

"Well, Gabriel, I have to go to bed now. I'll be back for you two in the morning." O'Malley pats you on the head. "Take care of yourselves."

rebump

>>14377072
Sorry; was busy with work and friends.

"Ok, Father..."

Let's begin our training...

>>14377277

You hear the father walk far off into the cavern.

You listen to the soft squeaking screeches of the bats for a while, the sounds gaining a depth to them as your hearing adjusts to them.

You try to imitate the sound, quietly. You do so for several minutes, varying the pitch and tone until it is perfect. You can hear yourself, but your vision does not return.

Hugh tries to imitate the sound as well, a bit less successfully.

>>14377312
Keep at it! Trying aiming it at the wall.

>>14377358

You feel out where the wall is, screeching at it time and time again, imagining the shape of it.

Hours pass with nothing new happening. You collapse to the ground, exhausted and discouraged. Whatever it is, you're not doing it exactly right.

>>14377429
Hmm...

Try perking our ears up?

>>14377429
Bumping.

Still going with trying to mess with our ears.

>>14377500

You listen, silently.

You slowly begin to hear more and more. The flowing stream far off down the tunnel, Hugh's toes grinding into the ground as they clench and unclench, You hear the soft echoes off of the walls, and then, after a while, you hear a far off screeching. It slowly builds, getting closer, as a wall of sound drives into your ears. You are lost in a chaotic mass of noise, the flutter of leathery wings nearly drowned out as you feel a few of the bats brush past you. You feel a pain in your ears, and suddenly you feel as though a hole has been punched into them, widening the small holes into your head. The noise becomes much more manageable.

Your hearing has improved.

>>14377825
Hurray!

Now let's try using the ultra-sonic wave again. If we can hear it, let's try walking around and using it. Then, let's try walking around and using it without looking stupid.

>>14377844

You listen to each individual bat's screeching for a while. The noise is different for many of them, just at a very high pitch. You puff up your chest, and screech. You can hear right where the sound impacted the wall, imagining every curve and "seeing" dozens of tiny, swift blurs in the air.

Bats.

You stand up, screeching again, for longer. The cave becomes a cycle of noise, and you can even see yourself, standing upright amongst the huge swarms of the small flying creatures. You walk steadily, screaming at a higher pitch that you could not hear a few days ago, and the positioning becomes more acute. You can tell exactly where Hugh is sitting, his eyebrows higher on his face in an expression of surprise. The higher pitch seems to reverberate off of the walls less. You laugh in surprise, the sound like throwing a stone into water, giving you the barest indication of your surroundings. You make a deeper, bass tone, and can feel Hugh's body, the walls, even the bats vibrating as you do so, giving you a clear image of them.

>>14377955
"Hugh! Hugh! I can see them!"

This is going to look really awkward, running over to someone while screeching. D:

>>14377997

"What? You can?" Hugh says, reaching up to grab you by the shoulders as you run up to him. "That's great! All I've been getting is a headache. I didn't think we got headaches."

"I hope none of these guys got hurt running into me." Hugh says. He seems to not even notice your screeching. You have a good guess at his position now that you're closer to him. You refine the screech a bit more, and soon you can hear the sound impact every crevice in the cave, and Hugh. You see the mass of strangely-shaped faces of the small winged creatures up on the ceiling, and realize that there is now a resemblance between them and you.

You have learned to see with sound.

Forgot mah pic.

>>14378116
Ba-da-da-daaaaa~

I guess we'll chill until Father comes back to pick us up...which is the next day. Ask Hugh if he's tired yet.

>>14378183

"Hugh, are you tired?" You ask him.

"Not anymore! This is great! We could go flying now that you can see again!" Hugh says, shaking you a bit. "If you think you can, that is." He smiles. "Actually I'm fine right here, too. All these little guys are really cool. They're like weird birds that hang upside down."

>>14378230
Perhaps we should try this outside. Ask Hugh if it's daylight/close to dawn so we know if we'll get spotted or not. If we have time, TO THE SKIES!

>>14378270

The two of you make your way outside. You find that a series of short, high pitched bursts lets you see quite well. You and Hugh are greeted by the cool of the night.

The two of you fly for some time into the night, diving and weaving with the pure joy of flight.

You have learned the meaning of brotherhood.

>>14378359
I guess we'll revel in our new-found brotherhood while we wait for daylight, sleep, and then Father's arrival come next night.

In the mean time, let's ask Hugh what he thinks our next course of action should be after we get back to the cathedral.

Alright, that's it for today. We'll pick this back up on Monday. I have had something come up.

I shall remember your suggestion, brave anon!

>>14378470
Will it actually be at 21:00 4chan time, though? Cause you always start at like 2:00. D:

>>14378477

It's like 6 for me at 21:00. So yes? Just today I miscalculated the time and got on at like 16:00 instead.