"I don't know... why do you want to know how to use the corridors of darkness?" The girl, apparently the leader of the group, lets out an aggravated groan. I notice she has a purple streak in her hair. "Isn't it obvious? So that we can defend ourselves, or at least escape from trouble." I feel a bit overwhelmed by the girl's intensity.
"Yeah, but the numbered are here to protect you..." The girl snorts derisively. "Don't you get it? We don't trust you and we definitely don't want to rely on you. You might not have noticed but we're put in danger time and time again because of the enemies you attract and even from the numbered themselves. Your version of fun seems to be destroying a city block every week. How can you protect us when you're what we need protecting from?"
I can't seem to find any words to say but the girl carries on without heeding me. I can tell she's thought about the issue a lot and is finally letting loose. "And let's say the numbered actually do care about our safety, wouldn't it make sense to give us a way to protect ourselves? If there's a fight we can evacuate. If someone attacks us we can escape. If we need help we can get it quickly. You know the numbered can't look after every single one of us and there will come a time when you can't or won't come flying to the rescue."
She finally gives me an opportunity to speak and I blurt out the first thing I can think of. "But you don't even know if you can use the dark corridors." This time her laugh is cold. "We don't have hearts, remember? We gave those up when we fell into this miserable place. There's nothing left in us for the darkness to corrupt. We're just like you in that regard." I feel shocked. Both at the knowledge she has of the dark corridors and at the self-loathing I hear in her voice. I never realized nobodies could feel hate for the state they were in, though I suppose it makes does make a certain amount of sense.
Though still lost in my thoughts, I know I've been beaten by this girl's arguments. Resigned, I ask one more question. "Why me? You obviously know what your talking about, so why not go to someone higher up? Honestly, I'm not even that great with corridors. I'm sure you could find a better teacher." The girl looks me up and down. She seems to be assessing me in her head. "Because you're a rule breaker. We know your the one who always steals from us. You think I don't recognize my skateboard over there." She jerks her head at one of the shelves. "If we go to Kexan or Aixus or someone else up there and they say no, that's the end of it. However, we know that you won't go to one of the higher ups to ask permission first. Like your sign so clearly advertises, you'll sell anything for the right price." She drops a heavy sack on the counter. From just the sound of it I can immediately tell it's full of gold coins. My eyes widen slightly. "I explained the situation to you so neither I nor you feel guilty for doing this, but make no mistake, we're not here to ask for a favor. We're here to buy lessons on the dark corridors from you." I pick up the gold filled sack and nod slowly. I don't know why, I still don't feel reassured. "Alright." My voice sounds dry. "I guess I'm giving dark corridor lessons."