The young woman eyes the stranger as she utters a half-formed thought. The figure before her, who claims he has rescued her, eyes her in confusion but his own face is hidden behind a mask which covers and obscures all of his facial features.

The minds of both strangers begin to race. The woman reaches out and takes the meal she has been offered. She unwraps the meal and smells it, her senses enhanced beyond those of humans. She mentally assesses the scent of the food, a meal consisting of some meats and veggies, all of which are kept cold but compared to other food that can be found on this level this is practically a three star meal. She eventually determines that the food is safe, and begins to eat it.

Luciano watches her and when she begins to eat he is satisfied and reaches into his pack, causing the girl to glance at the pack. It is a normal-looking, if a bit on the larger side, object and when Luciano retrieves a meal from inside of it she is a bit surprised. The meal is nearly identical to her own, but has a bit more meat than hers does. He also pulls out a bottle of almond water and he begins to drink it. The woman's savior takes off his mask, and allows his social perks to fully come to life, as he begins to eat.

Luciano looks a touch older than he did in Chronicle giving him the appearance of someone in their very early twenties. He has a handsome face with a skintone matching that of a typical Latin celebrity, but his eyes are a jade green color. He is distractingly handsome, especially to someone used to the unkempt and scruffy appearances of people who have been trapped in an eldritch landscape for decades.

The two are quiet for some time as they work on consuming their food. During this time questions half-form in the wolf-girl's mind as she begins to fully study her surroundings. The fact that she's on a bed is enough to raise some questions, and as she parses through her memories of what happened to her she begins to wonder more things.

Luciano's mind is also abuzz with activity. He studies her as he eats his food, and for the first time since he arrived here wonders if he will have to take a significant detour from his mission.

"So… you have friends and family right? Like here, in the backrooms?" He asks, looking at her curiously. She glances at him and nods.

"I was born here. But I do know that 'Here' is not… 'Everywhere'." She explains, demonstrating a vague measure of awareness of "Baseline Reality" the term used in Luciano's book to describe Earth and the mundane world. A part of Luciano is excited as he comes to grips with the fact that this woman is a true native of the backrooms, someone who was born and raised here and who has only heard of baseline reality through stories from those abducted by the backrooms.

"My mother is also a native of this place, but her father and mother are both from the other place. They work for the United Nations and Colonies of the Backrooms. My mother and I have been… We're different." She explains, and Luciano nods at her. It's obvious she's different. She is some type of dog or wolf girl. The organization she namedropped is one of the biggest factions in this particular limspace system, an attempt to build something vaguely resembling a coalition of civilizations in the backrooms. Luciano knows of it, both as a fan of the liminal archives and as someone with the book he possesses that documents all sorts of facts about limspace.

"I'm from the place some call 'Baseline Reality'. The same… general place as your grandparents." Luciano replies, causing the woman to nod unsurprisedly at this fact. He looks at her curiously when she does this, and she lets out a small laugh when she notices his curious gaze.

"Your equipment seems new. Clean, even. I've learned enough about this place to know that if someone here has new stuff that suggests they are a recent arrival. Even if someone lives elsewhere here it is difficult to keep their equipment clean." She remarks, a statement which Luciano learns from. That is a fascinating, if unsurprising, giveaway as to his nature as a new arrival. He falls silent as he considers what to say to her.

"Hmm… I've been here a few months now and I still have so much to learn." He admits, which causes the girl he rescued to smile.

"I could teach you, if you want." She states, confidently. He glances at her and this time he's the one who smiles.

"You want to do that? I mean I'd be happy to have a teacher, but I want to make sure you get home safely." Luciano tells her, causing her to gasp.

"That's really nice of you. I don't know if I can get back though. I'm not from this place. I'm far from home." She confesses, which causes Luciano to eye her curiously again, and this time she frowns.

"I'm from a different part of this world. I come from an outpost in a place with a sky. A land of long fields and farms. Not this… weird office. I've been here for a few weeks now, but it wasn't by choice that I came. I just haven't found a way to the next space." She reveals, pronouncing the word "Office" like it's foreign to her. Her statement is fascinating, though, since she has revealed that she is from one of the few levels Luciano needs to travel though to reach his destination with a sky.

The rest of her description also reveals something important, and Luciano instantly notes what she is saying. She's far from home, and to get her back to her birthplace will take a long time. Of the twelve levels Luciano has to venture through to get to the woman's birthplace, the level this woman is from is the 10th, the Almond Fields.

"Well… I mean I could use a travel partner. Do you want to join me? I've been looking for an exit for some time now, and you're telling me that there are other places here. Even one with a sky! I've heard of such things, from journals left behind in ruins, but I didn't know they were real until now." Luciano tells her, opting to continue with the narrative that he is from this setting's version of Earth. The girl's eyes widen when she hears his offer, and she nods brightly at him.

Luciano is unsurprised that she wants to travel together. His powerful social perks, coupled with what he did in saving her life, would work together to steadily get her to trust him. His offer to get her back to her home is also a kind and generous offer, which would definitely raise her impression of him further.

"I.. I think traveling could be neat! Traveling together I mean." She states, excitedly. Her new companion grins at her and the two begin to talk for a while. After an hour and a half have passed, enough time for his social perks to have had more time to work their magic, Luciano opts to begin to trust her a little.

"This place is my base. It's… weird. I mean you may understand it, seeing as you're a native of this place, but this outpost seems to follow me. It is never more than a short walk away from me, even though I've definitely walked for thousands of kilometers in the months since I arrived here." Luciano explains, causing the girl, Gianna, to look at him in confusion. The two stated their names to each other sometime after Luciano offered to escort her back home.

"That's weird. I've never heard of anything like that." She admits, straightaway. Luciano laughs, unsurprised by this. The only place he's heard of something like this is in his book, and even then there's nothing about the base moving and following whoever it is its designated overseer.

"Well you'll get a chance to see it in action tomorrow." Luciano remarks, lightly. This causes Gianna to smile happily. The two of them converse for a short while longer before Luciano decides to give her time to rest.

"I'm gonna go to bed. There are other rooms here, bedrooms even. I'll show you the bathroom before I go though." Luciano informs her, before he takes her stuff and wills it to vanish. This confuses her, but the look of confusion only persists for a few moments before she accepts it. The weirdness of the backrooms coupled with secrecy insurance is enough for the wolf-girl to just accept that there is something different about Luciano without asking questions.

Luciano takes a beat to show her to the bathroom lurking in the back of the bedroom. He teaches her how to use the shower, something that took him a beat, and then bids her farewell. As he leaves he uses "Always Cover" to give her a door and some semblance of privacy, while taking advantage of the cover provided by the thing to station one of his clones beside the door and out of view of the wolf girl. His clone immediately uses a tricky perk to seemingly splice out of existence, a Generic First Person Shooter perk named "Wall Hack".

Luciano steps across the hallway separating the rooms and uses "Always Cover" to give himself a door as well. He quickly sits on his bed and begins to do some reading. A few minutes later the explorer opts to go to bed, and moments after that he is out like a light. His clones remain conscious, able to be fueled by his own sleep while remaining fully alert and aware.

The wanderer, equipped with potent perks for sleeping, is able to get the few hours necessary for him to be operating at his peak, and when he wakes up he silently checks in with his clones. All of them are quick to report that nothing new happened while he was asleep, a fact which he is thankful for. He quickly orders the clone tasked with keeping an eye on Gianna to go and join the other clones, which the creature is quick to do.

Luciano dons his mask and retrieves some of his items from the inside of his backpack before he slips out of his room and goes to his new neighbor's room. As he does this he orders his minions and clones to go ahead and venture down the path the group will need to brave to reach the exit to this level. He wants them to scout ahead, and ensure that Gianna and him have a safe, uneventful day.

Luciano knocks on Gianna's door and the noise awakens the canine-human hybrid. She quickly tells him she is just waking up and he tells her to take his time before sitting down.

My enhanced senses allow me to hear as Gianna gets ready. I glance at the stuff I have for her, and wonder if she'll like the equipment. I'm already fully dressed, as I go to bed dressed in my gear and the only thing I need to put on is my mask each morning. I close my eyes and look at the world through the senses of my clones, watching as they begin to follow the glowing line.

I've spent months here so I'm hoping we're close to the exit. Gianna distantly washes her face, and spends a few minutes getting ready, before she calls out from the bathroom, yelling to make sure I can hear her. I glance at what I have for her.

In my lap is a set of body armor, a knife, and a cane. The stuff comes from my pack, but from two different sections of my pack, one of which is filled with gear for fighting and the other of which is filled with gear to make it easier to walk through dark or lightless places. I don't know if Gianna has any experience with guns, and while I could teach her I'd rather not do so here.

Eventually the wolf girl steps out of her room and smiles when she sees me. I grin back and get up, before handing her the stuff. She takes it and studies it.

"I have some stuff for you. We're going to head out through the dark room… dark rooms? I'm not sure which is the proper term here. We're heading through them again. This stuff is how I was able to get to you. I also left behind a trail I can follow even without my eyes." I explain, somewhat cryptically. Gianna takes this news in stride even as she begins to put on the body armor. She slips the knife in a holster on the armor, and takes the cane with a curious look.

We quickly leave the base and in minutes are in the dark room again. Gianna is wandering around using her cane, while I use my supernatural senses to see through the gloom and follow the line leading me further into the backrooms. I call out to Gianna, able to confidently know that there are no enemies here, and she follows my voice.

My clones are outside of the darkness, a few rooms away, and they are carefully inspecting it to ensure there are no dangers that might endanger my companion or myself. Gianna, meanwhile, has no idea that I myself am supernatural, despite her seeing me use my inventory, and for the time being I'd like to keep that the case. For now I'll make this leg of our journey a carefree hike.

We explore the darkness, with me keeping my eyes peeled to make sure nothing suddenly appears in the gloom, while Gianna follows the sound of my voice. It takes us about an hour of wandering through the dark before we suddenly step into an illuminated room. I am unbothered by this transition, but when Gianna makes it she needs a minute to adjust.

I give her that minute and ask her for the cane, while my clones enter a distant room where a trio of hounds are tearing the place up. They dispatch the monsters with frightening efficiency, making full use of my abilities to defeat the monsters and then turning them into currency rather than raising them as zombies. This act raises the amount of units I have in the store by a significant amount, which is quite nice.

When we begin to move again it is not particularly fast. By myself I can move at full speed unimpeded by any concerns for other people, but with a companion I have to regulate my pace. I have to be patient, while Gianna moves and take into account her stores of energy as well as ensure she follows after me. A part of me is tempted to allow her to see the glowing line created by Quest Markers, but I don't want to start giving her serious reasons to ask questions.

We slowly explore a few rooms before Gianna needs to sit down. Because of Gianna and her only average speed, as well as the enormity of some of the rooms, it's been a few hours since we left, and when we enter a small hallway Gianna stops me.

"Can we take a break?" She asks, and I smile and nod at her. We sit down across from each other and I put my pack on the floor next to me.

I reach into it and pull out a bottle of almond water and a meal which I quickly hand to Gianna. She gratefully accepts them and looks at me curiously.

"Can… I help you?" I ask, slightly amused by this. She explains that she wants us to eat together.

"Oh! I… I only eat once a day. I'll eat when we are back in the base." I explain, which causes her to frown and try to give me the stuff back. I brush off her attempts, before expanding on my remarks.

"Back in baseline I got used to only eating once a day. I don't need to eat as much as other people do. Just eat, it's important you keep up your energy." I remark. She hesitates but eventually accepts this and begins to eat.

We get up a few minutes later and continue to venture deeper into the backrooms. Our day of exploration is, thankfully, uneventful. When it ends we go back to the outpost, and I give Gianna a brief tour of the place.

"This is… a lot bigger than I thought it would be." She confesses when we find ourselves back in the hallway after I gave her a brief tour. I nod and grin.

"That statement pretty efficiently sums up my whole experience with this place." I reply, causing her to smile at me.

"This is a weird place. I've come across rooms big enough to house entire farms, barns and all, with ceilings so high I couldn't see them." Gianna states, and after what I've seen here I believe her. I get out a meal and almond water and give it to her and then get my own and begin to eat.

The rest of the "night" is relatively uneventful and from here we begin a new routine, one which differs from my last routine mostly due to the slowed speed of travel. It takes us a week to reach a place of any real importance. Where we reach though, is a place of great importance.

On my eighth day of traveling with Gianna we step into a gigantic room, one multiple miles long where the carpet covering the floor slowly fades away and is replaced by dirty concrete.

I already know what this space is: it's a "Gradient", an area where one level gradually gives way to the next, and where travelers can safely and reliably travel back and forth between levels. In this case one end of the room is in the level known as "The Halls", the very first level all wanderers who find themselves in the backrooms limspace system land in, and the other end of the room is in the level known as; "The Basement". My clones arrived here a day ago, but there were no monsters.

"Okay… Finally, some variation." I remark, grinning at Gianna as we step into the room. I shiver as a new notification appears in my mind's eye the second I step fully into the gigantic room, and I feel my clones despawn all of a sudden.

[Alert: Welcome To The Basement

You have successfully escaped one level of the backrooms. Now you are entering The Basement, and to celebrate this you now have three new perks: 'Natural Detox', 'On Your Toes', and 'Cat Walker'. Congratulations! Now use these perks, and your others, to aid you and your new companion.]

The notification continues, somewhat, and provides me with descriptions of the perks. The first one is an immune-system booster that helps me resist the effects of radiation. The second perk gives me spatial awareness and discipline and various other traits designed to help me survive encounters with entities. The final perk is meant to help me survive if I need to climb the area where the next level is the most dangerous, catwalks high above the majority of the level, that are crawling with entities. It gives me luck, enhancements to my running speed, and boosts to my long-term planning that actually enhance me noticeably even now. My grin relaxes as I step more fully into the room.

It'll take Gianna and I a few minutes to fully cross this place and enter a new version of a familiar space: a narrow hallway. This time the walls are made of gray bricks and the floor is hard concrete. Gianna stays close to me as we walk down the lengthy hallway, and I glance upward and see the blinking lights of the eerie catwalk high above us. I can distantly hear the sounds of entities roaming the catwalk, particularly the heavy footsteps of hounds.

One level down, eleven to go.