theresnodoor | OOM: Part Three

Entry tags:

oom,
tobias

OOM: Part Three

A lot - a lot - of cafeterias later and Rachel and Tobias find themselves holed up in a storage closet. It had a light in it and it wasn't an air vent, with the added bonus of not seeming to be very popular with the crew. That was about all Rachel wanted to ask for just now.

Granted, a bed would also have been nice. But if she was going to start wishing like that, she may as well go all the way and demand a door back to Milliways, too.

They've gotten good at calculating time over the years. Ax did most of the work, with his literal internal clock, but they all had some sense of it. Between that and the occasional discussion of time from the people around them, Tobias and Rachel have come to an agreement about how much time has passed since they first arrived in this place.

Roughly, two days.

They're not confident enough to say forty-eight hours, either of them, but it's close enough. And while Rachel hasn't left Milliways much in that time, needing someone else's help to do it, each and every person she's discussed it with has made one thing very clear: the time limit.

If this isn't the Labyrinth, isn't Milliways at all, there is a time limit for her. The dead can't stay outside the door long and while she's heard the limit argued around others, more often than not, people agree on three days.

Seventy-two hours.

There's a storage closet, which is not much good for pacing, with a few shelves that probably aren't fantastic for perching, and around everything else they're not saying to each other, Rachel is hesitant to add this one maddeningly vague thing.

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That he still tries to be gentle with her, 'antsy' instead of 'impatient,' doesn't make it any easier.

"There's a time limit on how long I can be away from Milliways. How long dead people can be gone."

That... isn't what he's expecting to hear.

<A time limit...?>

Did he really want to know?

<And then what happens?>

"I go back. I just... I don't know, I go back."

Fade. Snap. Pop. Throw in a crackle and Milliways is in danger of copyright infringement on a subpar breakfast cereal.

"We need to find a better way out of here."

...

...

<Oh>

Tobias hadn't known that. In fact, it hadn't even occurred to him. The worst thing he's been imagining is that they'd be stuck here in this weird world where they were complete outsiders.

Together.

And now?

There was something worse to imagine.

Rachel walks past him, one side of the room to the next, back again. Her hands drag through her hair roughly, tossing it over her shoulders.

"So we need to figure something else out. We can't ask every single person here about Milliways, not like that. Maybe we just need... like a map or something, just figure out where we are. If we can get that, I can find someone with a door if we-"

She huffs a breath, angry, turns on her heel again to keep pacing.

"And we can keep looking for doors."

<Right>

<A map>

Somewhere to start.

<Bet there's one in one of the maintenance rooms...>

Because that's much better than spending any time thinking about what Rachel's just told him. Because that's... yeah.

Rachel nods, slow, and looks up at him again. "Should we... you think we should morph again? If we're going to maintenance, maybe there's some extra uniforms or something."

Tobias doesn't like the plan that much. He's still pretty awkward as a human. But she's right. The ship is big enough that most people are anonymous strangers; new faces aren't going to get much comment in most places.

And for what they want to do, human is probably the way to go.

<Good idea> which it is, even if Tobias wishes it weren't.

He takes a moment to prepare himself mentally, and morphs.

She promised she'd never ask him again. If it makes him feel any better, she hopes he knows it's not for her sake, but the best idea she has right now for looking around. Having human eyes. Opposable thumbs.

Even if she watches the morph closely, keeping her expression carefully blank.

He knows. Rachel is good at promises, after all, and he knows she wouldn't break that one. This if for the mission, and that makes it something else.

Once he's human again, he takes a deep breath, and lets it out in a sigh. It's an easy sort of gesture. Not familiar, but... familiar anyway. Or something.

He looks over at her and tries for a smile. It's not all that successful.

"Okay."

As if she weren't feeling sick to her stomach already. Rachel smiles back. At least, she's pretty sure that's the expression.

"We'll have to be quick. I don't think spandex and bare feet are part of the uniform here."

"Not among the fashionable." Wow. That is a lame attempt at a joke.

Tobias takes a deep breath and places his ear against the door of the little closet they're in.

Rachel watches him move past her, smirking a little. "What you know about fashion wouldn't fill a postage stamp, Tobias."

He snorts almost in spite of himself. "Yeah, but that's what I've got you for."

"Talk to me about that when you let me get clothes for you. I've seen what you get from Bar."

Not a polo collar in sight and she is so fondly exasperated, really.

His laugh is soft, and he shakes his head, listening at the door again. "Well, it sounds clear... I guess we should go?"

Rachel nods and steps up behind him, listening. "Yeah. Just go quick. If anyone stops us, I'll talk to them."

"Got it." As always, being human is a little bit disorienting for Tobias. Things look so different. Fortunately, he's been practicing, so he manages to remember the way to the nearest maintenance area, leading the way, but not getting too far from Rachel.

Because she's right, she'll be better at talking to anyone they need to talk to than he will be.

It's all about confidence. Walk like you know where you're going and you think you belong there, people will mostly believe it. Even barefoot in spandex. The one time they're stopped, a man with neatly combed hair and his uniformed buttoned up to his chin frowning suspiciously, Rachel steps in front of Tobias and beams, urging him not to break stride.

"Sorry to run, sir, we're going to be late."

And in a place like this, so many people and this much structure, the man only pauses and lets them go. Rachel figures he's probably late for something of his own.

Once they're out of earshot, Tobias tosses a grin over his shoulder. "Not bad," he tells her.

They're almost there, too.

Rachel flashes him a grin right back and stays close. Uniforms will help them blend in a little better. Without them, too many awkward questions are going to get asked.

Plus, she'd like some shoes.

"Locker room?" Tobias asks, double-checking as he jerks his head at a door as they round a corner in the maintenance area. "Should be able to find stuff in there that fits."

And he's pretty sure that they're in the middle of a shift, so it should be empty.

She nods, checking behind them as Tobias steps toward the door. "Yeah. Let's go before someone else shows up."

Hopefully the spaceship has futuristic unisex locker rooms or there will be some awkward discovery here.

Tobias darts in, trying to stay quiet while he looks around. "Looks clear," he says, trying to keep his voice low.

It looks like... a locker room. Nothing especially fancy or futuristic about it.

The future never seems to make any important upgrades. It's sad.

Closing the door behind them softly, Rachel takes a look around and moves past him toward an open storage locker. There are brooms, mops, a few buckets. But there in the back, a row of laundered uniforms hanging on a rack.

"Clothes, check. Find us some shoes?"

"On it."

Tobias looks around, trying a couple of lockers and finding that while they have some sort of weird locking system, it's apparently broken on some of them. So, there are plenty of those thin deck shoes to choose from. Now all he has to do is find them in the right sizes.

It doesn't take Rachel long. She's got a pretty good eye for sizes anyway, but she has actually shopped for Tobias before. She just needs to make sure the cut of it isn't obviously male or female and she's on her way out, holding two dark uniforms, neck to ankle to wrist but not entirely skintight.

Tobias has managed to find two pairs of shoes. One set he knows fit him, the other he hopes work for Rachel. He holds those out to her. "I think these will work?"

"...yeah."

For all her pride in being able to lie when she needs to, Rachel can't keep the surprise out of her voice for the fit of the shoes. She glances at Tobias as she takes them, smile just a touch proud. "I should have taken you shopping with me more often."

He's handed one of the uniforms, slightly shorter than the other but with broader shoulders.

"Because of my impeccable fashion sense?" Tobias suggests, not really understanding that smile of hers, but unable to keep from smiling back.

He takes the uniform, looks it over, and nods.

Rachel just grins and shakes her head, amused. Setting the shoes aside to unzip the uniform, she just steps straight into it. The morphing outfits were chosen to be worn under clothing anyway so it zips up easily enough.

It is, sadly, and obviously according to Rachel's wrinkled nose, not her favorite design.

"Where next, you think?" she asks, running fingers through her hair to comb it straight.

Tobias manages his own zipper a little bit more slowly than Rachel, and looks up with a slight grin at her expression.

"I guess we should find a map. Then we can figure out some sort of search plan..." That would let them search a ship this huge in under a day...

That sounds unlikely enough in his head that he doesn't bother saying it out loud.

"I saw a few in the halls when we were looking at the cafeterias yesterday. A place this size, we can probably just walk around a little and find another." She puts a foot up onto a nearby bench to help with pulling the uniform shoe on. "So we need, like... what? A library? Another history class?"

"A library actually sounds like a good idea, if we can find one. That or an empty classroom."

"Look at us, actively trying to go to school."

Rachel smirks as she gets both shoes on and checks over her shoulder at the soft sound of voices. Not from the hallway door they'd come in at but down the back of the locker room, maybe a gym or training room. Straightening, she holds out a hand for Tobias'. "We better get going."

He nods, that small smile still hovering around the edges of his lips as he takes her hand. "Yeah." He takes a deep breath. "Let's do this."

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OOM: Part Three

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