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

[theresnodoor]

There is no answer. At this point in the morph, Rachel isn't capable of it until her throat and lips shift some more.

Though she does eventually turn to glance at Jo, very human once again. And lifts her left arm, the one the wolf had been chewing on.

No blood. No mark. No scarring of any kind.

[tobeclosetohim]

Once again. Creepy.


Also. Not totally sold on Not!EvilRachel.





"Impressive." Was that about being dead or her...whatever?

[theresnodoor]

Rachel lifts an eyebrow. Either for the word or the tone isn't immediately clear, but she shrugs and steps aside. Peering down the hall again, the complete lack of light that even the torch can barely help with.

Owl or cat would solve that problem. But those aren't exactly battle morphs, if something else comes at them. If Jo comes at her, for that matter. Her best shot to hit the right morph at the right time means walking around barefoot and weak in a dark hallway.

She glances at Jo and holds a hand out for the torch. "I can take it, for now."

[tobeclosetohim]

It was thrust at Rachel without any fanfare.
So much easier to hold on to the rifle then.


"So. That's. Special. And as awkward questions go."

Because she's walking, with a gun, down a dark hallway.
And not standing behind a bar being entertained and paid.

"Were you born with that?"

[theresnodoor]

Such eloquent conversation skills are met with narrowed blue eyes, but Rachel holds the torch in front of them and keeps pace. Even though the hallway is drafty and the stones beneath her feet are cold and Jo gets clothes and a weapon and Rachel thinks she can knock off the tone, if not the questions themselves.

"No."

Rachel is not unfamiliar with banter during the downtimes of danger.

It's just that at the moment, she prefers to be annoying instead.

[tobeclosetohim]

At least the girl isn't naked.

"Then?"


Jo's half paying attention, half not.

Her tone isn't very loud and she frowns at another split.

[theresnodoor]

A very good point, admittedly.

Most of Rachel's attention is focused on the hallway split, lifting the torch and scowling at the utter lack of signal from doing so.

"Then what?" she demands, irritation at the situation translating into irritation with Jo.

[tobeclosetohim]

"Right." The direction first.
Nothing looks different. Irritatingly.




"Then, where did it come from."

[theresnodoor]

She turns without thinking and stops the part of her mind that wants to question it. The torch illuminates... more stone. More dark passageway ahead.

Rachel scowls and glares into the darkness as they walk, speaking over her shoulder. "Can we maybe save the getting to know all about me game for later?"

[tobeclosetohim]

"Nope." Clear, cut.


But then she paused staring.




A light was shimmering at the end of the hall.

[theresnodoor]

Rachel stops at almost the exact same moment. A shimmering light that is definitely not a torch. And squinting into the hall does little but blur the light.

Holding the torch up is equally useless.

"Thoughts would be appreciated."

[tobeclosetohim]

"Light is better than darkness."

Jo's pace picked up.




"At least then I'll see what's coming at me."

There was something fuzzy coming into view.

[theresnodoor]

Rachel glances at her but says nothing, keeping pace beside her.

A voice that sounds suspiciously like her cousin is pointing out that whatever it is might not come at them if they don't go poking at it.

Rachel holds the torch out anyway.

And as they get closer, they find another archway which they pass under to find...




A room identical to the one they woke up in.

The shimmering light being another torch on the wall.

Rachel stares at the new source of light for a moment before turning her gaze on Jo. "Careful," she says, in her best deadpan, eyeing the woman. "It could attack at any moment."

[tobeclosetohim]

"You never know with Milliways."

She was sucker punched her first free night by one innocuous little drink.



But there's nothing in here. Walls and fire light.
And she doesn't want to carry her own torch.

"Back to the left?" But she's heading.

[theresnodoor]

Rachel turns in a slow circle, inspecting the room. But she, too, finds nothing of note. By the time she's finished frowning and nodding, Jo is already a few steps down the corridor.

Backtracking. Backtracking sucks.

"How many bullets does a rifle hold, anyway?"

[tobeclosetohim]

"Fifteen."


"Thirteen, now."


Beat. "If it was full."

[theresnodoor]

"...uh, check?"

[tobeclosetohim]

"Was a little busy before."

Jo glared, but was checking now.






"Ten."

[theresnodoor]

"And when you run out?"

There is no fear or worry in the tone. More like wary exasperation for people who need to rely on weapons.

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo kept walking. Back through the dark.

"I bash a skull in with the butt." Serious.




Never underestimate the power of a blunt object.

[theresnodoor]

Well.

Rachel falls behind as she digests that.

But when she catches back up, she's smiling, just slightly more comfortable.


They get back to the last fork they passed. Rachel glances down both and - again - sees no difference between them.

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo just walks through.

They've been down two of them. One left.



She keeps walking that way. "What do you remember last?"

[theresnodoor]

Keeping pace becomes following just a step behind. Naturally, and with no real shift in Rachel's demeanor.

She's too busy glaring at the darkness around them for much introspection.

"I was in my room," she says, frowning as she remembers. Changing and getting into bed, waiting for Tobias to situate himself on his perch before she turned off the light. "You?"

[tobeclosetohim]

"Yeah. I was catchin' a nap before heading home."

Home is very smooth, but distracted.

[theresnodoor]

Really not the time for Twenty Questions, as Rachel noted before. So she assumes the distraction has more to do with the environment.

Speaking of distractions... the newest one comes in the form of a quiet rattling further down the hall, just beyond where their shadows stretch.