The Oubliette and Surrounding Corridors, Saturday
There's no hope. No one's coming for you. No one wanted you, that's why you were taken. Except now, even Jareth doesn't want you. No one does. No one's coming. No hope. No hope. No hope no hope no hope nohopenohopenohopenohope...The three captives had been in Jareth's oubliette for days now, with the mantra getting ever-louder in their ears and
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Aphrodite
'Dite would have apologized for the sword, but she saw the glare and had to glare back for a second.
Until Kennedy used the word bizarro. It was such a 'Dite word that the goddess had to blink, a little impressed.
Not that she'd let Kennedy know that. "So, where would you look, genius?"
Very subtle -- Kennedy would tell her, she'd order everyone to look there. If it didn't work it was Kennedy's fault, if it did, 'Dite would take credit. This leadership stuff was easy!
Rinoa
What would be helpful would be if Rinoa could stop imagining peeling bits of skin off the guy in charge of this place, and could instead maybe focus on important matters like getting out of the oubliette.
She swept her eyes across the room again. Nothing. No helpful cracks or gaps, no markings, just ...
Just that pile of linens.
"Did anyone look behind the linens?" she asked. It felt like a stupid idea, but it couldn't hurt to try.
Aphrodite
"The linens?"
'Dite didn't mean to look at her new friend like she was crazy. But she probably was.
Just to prove a point, she started poking at the pile with her sword. "Rinoa, I don't even think they're linens anymore, they're just trash and there's nothi--" *Clank* "--ng there." *Clank, clank* "Um.
Jason "the Boy Wonder" Todd
Jason was still reeling a little from the trip down here, but he had enough of his bearings to know that linens weren't supposed to make noises like that. "What is that? More junk?"
Rinoa
"It sounds a lot more promising than anything else in here," Rinoa said, her hopes lifting for the first time since they'd ended up in this dank pit. Maybe for the first time all week, really.
She walked over quickly, tossing linens out of the way. If there was nothing behind them but some particularly ugly shelves, she just might scream.
Kennedy
Kennedy, impatient to do something and wanting to get well out of the way of that sword (seriously, some people shouldn't have sharp killy things), hurried to join her, shoving the reeking cloth aside until she thought her fingers brushed against something that didn't feel like floor.
"Heeeeeeeey," she said, sounding a tiny bit smug. "Score?"
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Scully
"Score," Scully agreed, shining her flashlight on the linens to reveal-- a door? A loose door, not connected to the floor or anything else. "Wait. How is that going to work?"
Jason
"How does anything in this place work? It's all insane," Jason said, peering at the door to try to see how it might open. "I swear, there'd better not be anything gropey in there."
Kennedy
"Gropey and too helpful to stab," Kennedy muttered through her teeth. Could you blame her for sounding a bit cranky about that? Crankiness turned to skepticism as she went on, "God, what are we supposed to do, stand it up and try to walk through it?"
She didn't actually say "Please," but it was very clearly implied. Because there was bizarro, and then there was completely freaking insane.
Rinoa
"It's like a fairy tale," Rinoa said, examining the door thoughtfully. "Or a cartoon. You have a door, you just need to attach it, and it'll take you where you need to go."
Could it really work like this? The place had childlike logic. Maybe it did. It wouldn't be the strangest thing in this labyrinth.
"It can't hurt to try," she said. They could all mock her if it failed. She didn't care any more. Anything, if it would help.
Aphrodite
Oh, 'Dite was going to laugh. She was going to laugh so very hard.
Except that it was the only door in the place. And she had this bizarre feeling it just might work.
Hey, this wasn't her world, it wasn't Fandom, and after the helping hands? Anything was possible.
She sighed. "Come on. Let's get it standing up."
No, Kennedy, you can't swipe her sword while she helps with the door.
Scully
Scully thought this was insane, but. It wasn't like they had any better ideas. She aimed the flashlight at the wall, then moved forward to help pick it up. "This way up. So, this side against the wall--"
She took a breath. "And I guess we just -- turn the knob."
Jason
"It can't possibly be that easy, can it?" Jason said. I mean, sure, it looked like it could work, but he didn't have as much faith at this point as he'd come in with.
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Kennedy
Kennedy shot Rinoa the briefest odd glance-- something about that wording, but she couldn't figure out what-- but shrugged broadly.
"What the hell? It can't hurt at this point."
Rinoa
So now there was a doorframe. A dingy one, and it wasn't even attached to anything, just ... propped up against the wall and trying to look convincing.
And they were in a pit, and they were running out of time, and the hands had mentioned a door. So ... this was a door.
Maybe the secret was in believing it. And so Rinoa closed her eyes, putting all of her energy into feeling it. This was a door. This was the door that would lead them out of here.
Her fingers closed around the handle, and turned. When the handle stopped, she pulled slowly towards herself, half-convinced the door frame was going to tip over and smack her in the head.
She opened her eyes to see ... an open doorway. Seriously?
"Just like that," she said, almost under her breath.
Aphrodite
'Dite let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. Then she took another one.
" . . . huh."
It was a doorway. 'Dite slowly put her hand through it. She touched only air.
" . . . huh."
After a moment, she waved at the rest of the group. "What are you waiting for? An invitation? We have things to do, goblins to beat up, people to find if we can -- go, already!"
See? Leadership!
Scully
Scully eyerolled, but restrained herself to, "I've got the flashlight, so maybe I should go first." And suited the action to the word by stepping into the corridor, listening, and saying, "Come on. There's air. And enough room to move...."
And hopefully the people down here hadn't been here the whole week they were gone.
Jason
Since 'Dite seemed to want to bring up the rear, Jason followed after Scully. Staying close to the source of light seemed like a good idea, after all. "And it doesn't look like there are any sudden drops." It was already better than the trip down that way.
Kennedy
"And thank the baby Jesus for that," Kennedy added as she fell in behind him. "No more groping for me tonight, thanks."
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