OOM - The Labyrinth Part I

[theresnodoor]

There is boredom. There is restlessness. There is anxiety. And there is recklessness. Stages of reactions following the common phrase of There's nothing to do. If left alone for too long, this condition can result in conversation, conflict, experimentation, explosions, discovery, and death.

Among others.

But sometimes, Fate steps in. Someone looks down and notices the ever-increasing stages and says, Hey. That looks kind of dull. Let me help you out there.

The common reaction to such politeness is gratitude.


Well into the stages of boredom, Rachel opens her eyes and finds herself not in her bedroom, her apartment, or even the Bar's couch. Instead of soft fabric, there are hard, rough stones beneath her back. Instead of open space, the walls are close and dingy and the ceiling is low. And when she sits up, sharp and sudden, she is staring out of an archway that leads into the darkest of dark hallways, despite the flickering torch on the wall.

Blue eyes dart in every direction and not a single one of them makes sense - including the other person, crumpled on the stones nearby.

Comments

[tobeclosetohim]

Except it's gone. There's a wall behind them.

"Well, that's brilliant." Crass and cold.
She liked this place less and less.





Especially as a growl started beyond them.
Somewhere out in the darkness beyond the light.

[theresnodoor]

Not just one growl either. Several. And not unfamiliar.

Turning away from the total-lack-of-arch-where-that-had-totally-been-an-arch, Rachel lifts the torch even higher. She doesn't need to, exactly. There are some animal sounds that she's heard so often she will never, ever forget them. Her first thought is Cassie but that, of course, isn't going to mean anything to Jo.

The torchlight only catches a paw, a stub of muzzle.

"Wolves," Rachel says quietly and switches the torch to the hand nearest Jo. "You need to hold this."

[tobeclosetohim]

She opened her mouth to say hell no. She'd need both hands.
But she's about to do that thing. Isn't she?



Torch and a gun. Well, she's managed odder. Maybe.
Jo took the torch. "Don't think this means I'm sitting it out."

[theresnodoor]

"Fine," Rachel replies and reaches for her shirt - but another wolf growls and she curses in her head. She likes these clothes, even if she doesn't have to pay for them.

Fine. Fine. She doesn't close her eyes but a soft cracking and squelching signals the start of the morph, with the light too dim to see the way her body begins to shift and change.

"Don't get bit. You don't want to see me try and patch someone up."

[tobeclosetohim]

So disgusting. And lacking any med skills.



It's not really that dim.



Not when one side of her is snapping bones.
And the other is snarling wolves advancing.

She wandered the torch low and forward in an arc.

Four at least, and unpleased at the threat of fire.
Hopefully Rachel didn't need them distracted long.

[theresnodoor]

Less than a full minute. They can't stand side by side anymore, though.

At the next low growl of the wolf, cut short when they all lift their noses and sniff the air, a grizzly bear, fuzzy ears brushing the stone ceiling, gently pushes Jo out of the way and steps in front of her, growling low in her throat.

There is a pause, just one. The wolves are reluctant to attack a beast that large; the bear is reluctant to attack first.

But when a wolf lunges, she has no compunction with swinging a paw to catch it at its furry neck and send it flying to bounce off the wall further down the hallway.

Which is about when the rest of the pack loses its reluctance.

[tobeclosetohim]

And, fuck, but the impulse to swear and to start shooting at both the bear and the wolves is great for the first few seconds. But it's attacking.

And so are all the wolves.

She only muttered -- "if this explodes in my hands, I will still find you and beat you to death with the stumps that get left" -- and fired her first shot at the wolves that weren't too close to the bear.

Er. Rachel. Fucking. Weird.

[theresnodoor]

Yes. Welcome to her life.

A life that includes a wolf giving a high-pitched yelp as the bullet hits home, and two wolves that leap simultaneously. Since she has to choose, Rachel turns her head to the side and opens her jaws, clamping down on the forepaw of the beast that had gone for her shoulder, then shaking her head hard like... well, a dog with a bone.

The wolf's cries of pain are a small consolation for the other one that gets in and sinks its teeth into her front leg.

[tobeclosetohim]

They're all moving.

In the shadows. While she has a torch.
It's hard enough balancing. Almost impossible.

Without aiming too close in case Rachel moved suddenly.

[theresnodoor]

There is a lot of sudden movement, with one wolf attached by the teeth to her leg, the other dangling by its leg in her mouth - and still snapping at her shoulders.

A sharp toss of her head gets the latter off her and skidding down the floor, where it jumps to three feet and comes racing back to them - aiming for the smaller shape beside the bear.

But Rachel is busy, focusing on the second wolf and the way it dodges the swipe of her claws.

[tobeclosetohim]

It's a surprise, and forces her to focus.
And to hate the torch she's holding even more.

And not expecting, being busy watching Rachel, makes her less prepared for the sudden turn toward her. But the wolf was still probably even less prepared for the side of its head to explode from a too close bullet as well.

[theresnodoor]

The remaining wolf and bear are surprised by the noise, too, as much as the projectiles issuing from that explosion. The wolf even drops Rachel's leg, just enough leverage for the human to duck down and crush the creature against the wall, shoulder-first, until she hears the ribs crack - while the bear in her head is still startled by the shot.

Bleeding and panting, Rachel lifts her head and looks down both hallways, bead-black eyes glinting. But there is only silence and blood in reply.

[tobeclosetohim]

Her shoulder throbs.

She can't hold for recoil and the torch.
And not burning herself is higher up there.




"Impressive. Also, kind of creepy."

[theresnodoor]

<Only kind of?>

She's either slipping or wolves just aren't that big of a threat.

Rachel moves, trying to get out of Jo's way. Slightly difficult with so much bulk in the hallway but she hesitates to demorph right away. Part of her is waiting for the order.

The other part is telling that part to shut up and pointing out that another attack could come at any moment.

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo's gun is aimed at her. In her hands.
Flecks of things caught on it. In her clothes.

And Rachel is a really large bear in a not large hallway.



"If you're going to stay like that, you get to lead."

If she ever understand words at all, at this point.

[theresnodoor]

As the adrenaline wears off, being a large bear in a not-large hallway becomes very, very apparent.

<Fine,> Rachel replies, shuffling awkwardly until she's able to lead. The space is too small either way but at least this way, the grizzly's calm and confidence can take point over her human brain.

<But you still have to pay attention. I can't see anything like this.>

[tobeclosetohim]

The temptation to shoot the bear isn't horribly high.
But it's also in there. Living in Milliways isn't easy.
Even when it's becoming something that's nearer to normal.


And some part of her still questions if it really is Rachel.
Or some truly new brand of fucked-up Milliways is jerking.


At least she's not in front. And she has a gun.



Huh. And the hallway starts dividing before them.
"Oh, joy, options." Pathways going forward, right and left.

[theresnodoor]

Whereas Rachel is meditating fiercely on how quickly she'll be able to turn and attack, should she hear the cocking of that rifle.

At Jo's words, she lifts her head and sniffs. Bear sight is nothing to brag about - she hadn't noticed the divide at all until it was pointed out and her nose told her there was now air coming from three different directions.

<Eenie Meenie Minie Mo,> Rachel mutters - technically outloud, though she isn't waiting for an answer before edging forward.

[tobeclosetohim]

None of them look all that different, trying to lean forward and not into a bear, with a torch. It's just areas with light and shadows dancing.

Any one of them is about the same as any other right now.

So she'll following the lead of, erm, Rachel.

[theresnodoor]

Which is no help to either of them, as each direction smells how it looks - exactly the same.

And leading is not Rachel's strong suit.

There is a moment of very obvious hesitation before she starts moving forward. Straight ahead. Her favorite direction.

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo knows next to nothing about bears.

Except that one would not stand this close to real one.




"Can you, I don't know, hear anything?"
Jo frowned at the darkness as they moved.

[theresnodoor]

Rachel knows about as much about guns as Jo knows about bears.




<No.>

Though a more correct answer would probably be Not yet.

<But packs of wolves generally don't hang out in dark ugly castles.> She shuffles alone, trying to listen, to smell. There is nothing and that is more nerve-wracking than the fight they just came out of.

The fight and the pain in her front leg. The blood trail she's leaving behind.

Rachel stops.

[tobeclosetohim]

"I don't think anyone should be."
Hanging out in stupid dark ugly castles.


"Especially since Milliway's didn't have one last--"

Jo had to stop suddenly, all but running into the back of a bear.
She was hating that whole darkness thing even more, as she asked, "What?"

[theresnodoor]

<I'm bleeding.>

Yes, she just noticed. And Rachel makes no further explanation before the unpleasant sounds begin again and this time, there's enough room and light with Jo standing just behind her to get a full view of the demorph. Though from the back, bear to human isn't that disgusting. Just mildly hilarious when the first thing to change is the grizzly bear sprouting long blonde hair.

[tobeclosetohim]

"Well, you did just get attacked by wolves."

And god she had mentioned that she didn't know anything med-wise.

Jo can't exactly cut through all the space.
But she's sliding up one of the sides.
Between bear and the hard wall.

"How bad? Do you need stitches?"