Armory Gallery

It was late in the afternoon that found Kutoutuo in the trophy room, looking at all of the gold and silver that were in various display cases. So many trophies adorned the place and he silently admired the glamor that they brought forth with their immobile presence. Boredom sure was a dead weight clinging to him as he walked about the room before seeing a door. Curiosity grabbed his attention and he walked over to open it before going through. Emerging through the door, he found himself in a room filled with sets of armor and various weapons that made him feel like he had won the lottery! Swords adorned the walls while spears, axes, and halberds stood in stationary racks next to the suits of armor.

Kutoutuo couldn't believe his luck before his eyes traveled to the bladed weapons on the wall and caught sight of a short broadsword that looked like the type used by the ancient Roman legionnaires. Without hesitation, he walked over and took the Gladius with his right hand before heading over to an empty space in the room. The weapon felt a bit heavy but Kutoutuo felt confident that he could wield it with control. He slowly moved the blade about, rotating his wrist to get a better feel of the Gladius and adapt to handling it.

A devious grin appeared on his face as he swung the sword downwards through the empty air, halting the blade only a centimeter from the ground before bringing it back up.

'This definitely is a bit heavier but I can still control the speed and momentum at least.' he thought to himself before holding the Gladius in an underhanded position.

Zuko was just walking around, fiddling with the matches in his pocket nervously. Stopping at the Trophy Room's door, he noted with confusion that another boy was swinging a sword around. "Uh....what are you doing?" he questioned quietly, hoping his accent wasn't too noticeable.

He stepped away from the door slightly...

Just in case the guy swung at him.

Seeing the door open from his side-vision, Kutoutuo stopped waving the Gladius around before turning to see the visitor and noted his appearance, seeing the features that was a trademark set found amongst the peoples in the Central Plains of China.

"Just checking out the swords here." he replied before placing the Gladius back on the display that he got it from.

"The name's Kutoutuo." he added as a quick note.

"They have swords in a Magic school? I thought they would've had gilded wands or something." Zuko blinked, noting that Ku-something looked Japanese-ish. Or Indian.

"I'm Zuko. Pleasure to meet you. Do you mind me asking your nationality?" Zuko questioned curiously. He was surprised at how social he was being, and, reaching in his pocket, grabbed a match and lit inconspicuously, breathing in relief.

Kutoutuo shrugged at Zuko's assessment. He himself didn't know why Hogwarts would retain such medieval-era relics here but he certainly wasn't one to complain. Perhaps future visits are in order.

"I'm half-Chinese due to my mother and half-British due to my father." Kutoutuo replied after hearing Zuko's question. Deciding to see if his own guess was correct, he then asked. "你怎么样?"

Zuko picked up a large sword, staggering as the weight surprised him. "中國和愛爾蘭. I speak Gaelic too. And a bit of English." he nodded, hoping he could recall more English words. "你出生於中國或英國?"

He hefted the sword, eyes widening as it crashed into the glass case holding the smaller weapons. "Uh...whoops."

"中國." Kutoutuo replied before his eyes widened in shock at seeing Zuko smash a glass case open by accident when he tried using one of the swords.

"Oh Lord!" he quipped before looking at the door leading to the trophy room. This wasn't going to be good although he hoped that no one heard it.

"Put that sword back!" he hissed in silence. They needed to leave and fast!

"我也一樣。哪些方面?" Zuko questioned, dropping the sword and wincing as the fragile steel clanged before a crack appeared. "Ní raibh mé a chiallaíonn!" he said, grabbing the pack of matches in his pocket to steady his mind.

"We should escape to wherever they look last." Zuko plotted.

"Or try escaping through another way that they won't expect. This armory room has only one way in and out. No way I'm going through there." Kutoutuo replied before seeing a ventilation panel behind a suit of armor. After pulling the suit of armor aside, he took the sword that Zuko dropped before prying the panel open. The air shaft was more than wide enough to allow young children to move and even rotate positions.

"你先走. 我将遵循落后，关闭面板." Kutoutuo spoke.

Zuko nodded, dropping to his knees and crawling into it. "好的。這導致在什麼地方，但?" he called after crawling down halfway. Ok. Where does this lead to though? He moved to sit cross legged, wondering how an ancient magic school was able to install steel vents. "Hurry up!"

He wondered if any teachers heard. Hoping not, he decided to try and save his own skin from the possibility of a teacher's ungodly wrath.

Kutoutuo quickly got into the shaft before pulling the suit of armor into place and fitted the panel back over. Hopefully, both of them would be long gone by the time someone arrived in the room. Adreanaline was running through his calculating mind as he thought about the blueprints of the ventilation system.

"Move right and then another right. Then left and then right. You should reach a three way crossroad from there." Kutoutuo replied as he followed Zuko through the air shafts.

"Kay." Zuko nodded, beginning to crawl through it, making a right then a left, if he he had heard Kutoutuo correctly. Stopping, he turned to look at the other boy. "Uh, I don't see a three way crossroad." he frowned.

A thought struck him. How did he know the way around the vents this well?

Hearing Zuko at the other end while crawling through the ventilation shaft after him, Kutoutuo sighed.

"It was two rights and then left and then another right." he called out before backing up to the last interception that Zuko took the wrong turn at.

"This way, follow me then." Kutoutuo called out before moving on but at a slow pace for Zuko to catch up.

Zuko turned around, wiping his forehead and crawling back behind Ku. "Oh. I get those confused." he excused, hands itching for his lighter. The shafts were hot, but not the good type of hot. Reaching his pocket, he grinned at the slight flickering flame before sticking it back in his pocket, closed and ready to follow Ku wherever they were going.

Even if they ended up in the staff room, nothing was as bad as the orphanage.

Kutoutuo continued to move through the ventilation shaft, navigating through the maze and turning in the necessary directions. Looking back, he noticed that Zuko had a lighter out and was apparently keeping up with him. Sneaking through the ventilation shafts sure made Kutoutuo feel like a certain theoretical physicist from a popular video game by Steam.

"We were getting close to the library." Kutoutuo called back while hoping that Zuko would hide the lighter. He didn't want to be accused of torching books or smoking cigarettes by any irate adult.

Zuko nodded, lighter still lit as he crawled after Ku, chewing on his cheek anxiously.

On.
Off.
On...

"Oh. Okay.....what is that again?" Zuko questioned, not remembering the definition of the word. English was still new to him- Irish and Chinese ruled his mind. Despite having read an English dictionary, that had been weeks ago.

Hearing Zuko's question, Kutoutuo was about to explain what the library is when he felt a cool breeze of air wash over him. He looked to see that they had reached a ventilation panel and he could see that it was a room for private studying. But he saw that the door of the room was open, giving him a view of the shelves outside.

"The library is a room where books are stored for reading. But you can see it for yourself since we're already here." Kutoutuo replied before bringing his feet in front of him and delivering some strong kicks to the panel until it fell off the hinges.

"Let's go!" he called out, getting out of the ventilation shaft.