EVENT: MELPOMENE ▒ HOME

[ataraxites]

CHARACTERS: Ensemble production!
LOCATION: Corridors in the belly of the Tranquility
WARNINGS: Creepiness, disturbing imagery, violence, etc.
SUMMARY: Characters discover slices of sanctuary deep in the maze.
NOTES: Open to all! Covers Stage Four of the plot & Escape.

You've been running and fighting for what feels like weeks now. Exhausted and desperate, you find another door, stumbling through into— You're home, finally, far away and safe from monsters or spaceships. You're not alone, someone here who's been waiting for you, and they're so happy to see you. Relief overcomes you; you just want to rest, and there's no reason to believe anything here isn't what it seems, is there?

Comments

[circumitus]

When it becomes clear that the manticore isn't getting back up anytime soon, Rey heaves a heavy exhale and steps back. She throws her hand back and forth, wringing the blood still wet on the arm she had used to subdue the creature.

The look that Firo is giving her -- she's seen it before. Many times, actually. It's no skin off her nose, because she's used to it.

"Am not people," she simply says.

Rather, the proper response would've been I'm not human, but it's all the same to her. People had done their damnedest to dehumanize her at any given chance. She's not about to get twisted up in specifics.

[foundafamily]

He blinks. "What?" She certainly looks like a people. Then again, Firo's learned people can surprise you. Maybe she's something like a homunculus..?

"Either way..." He smiles tiredly. "Thanks. If we were back home I'd offer to buy you a drink, but... Ah, well, I owe you, all right?"

It's always humbling to be helped by someone outside his close circle. Not pleasantly so. But even Firo can't deny that he really did need the hand this time.

[circumitus]

There's visible relief that Firo allows the subject to drop before prying for more answers. It's not a particularly long and complex story that she feels necessary to indulge in their current circumstance.

Still wringing blood from her hands, Rey shakes her head at his mention of owing her. "No need. This is what I do."

Which is killing things. It's what she does best, and what she was made to do.

[foundafamily]

Is she a bodyguard? Or maybe a hitman, like Claire? He glances at the bloodied remains of the monster. Her style does seem a little similar to "Vino's"--which is leaving the target a puddle of blood and mush to ensure the job's been done. With the adrenaline slowly wearing off from their encounter, he's aching to ask. But escape comes first.

"Suit yourself." He shrugs and looks around to make sure nothing else is coming at them. "Guess we should get the hell outta here... But which way do we go?"

He definitely doesn't want to go back to where he just came from.

[circumitus]

Rey doesn't give her "work" so much a second glance, doesn't even seem to care. It's been awhile since she's had to get her hands dirty, and it's not something she takes great pride in.

She glances to Firo, opening her mouth to speak when the ground shakes.

It's not an earthquake, she knows. She's felt this before, back in her "bedroom".

She whips her head to the road before them, seeing bits and pieces of it crumble like puzzle pieces. Giving way to a black void gaping back at them from all around. The snow becomes nothing.

"Not that way," Rey says as she begins retreating several steps before turning completely, snagging Firo by the shoulder with her clean hand and forcing him to come along.

[foundafamily]

The grab is more than enough to spur Firo into following her. He doesn't even have time to be thankful that she's using her clean hand.

Should he be as stunned as he is to see the world just give way into nothing? Slow learner he may be, the absurdity of everything he's experienced up until now should have prepared him for something like this.

If he hadn't already given up on the idea that this is all a drawn-out nightmare, this would be the last straw. He's not crazy enough to come up with this.

"What the hell is goin' on here?!"

[circumitus]

Even Rey has more tact to realize that touching someone with the hand missing three fingers is preferable to smearing bloodstains across their clothing. Not that the thought's really crossed her mind, since she's more concerned with getting them out of this situation alive than worrying over the cleanliness of Firo's clothes.

"Just run!" She keeps him going ahead of her, occasionally glancing over her shoulder to check the state of the world behind them. She sees the manticore, bloodied and beaten, fall away into pieces with the darkness consuming the snowy road. It's crumbling, similar to the way that her bedroom disappeared when she had escaped with Charles.

Unlike her bedroom, however, there had been a discernible exit. A door. There is no door here. Only a road that keeps on going.

[foundafamily]

Firo obliges; when he looks back on this, he'll be glad that he was with someone who can take charge.

He doesn't look back. The future, though, is weighing on him. "We can't--" He takes a breath, "run forever."

There isn't even an end to the road or some sort of gate that might signal a way out. Like Rey, his room at least had an obvious exit.