Special Collections Expedition, Thursday Afternoon

[one_who_goes]

Things seemed almost deceptively calm as the group gathered in the front area of Special Collections. Bookshelves stretched out in all directions for what felt like much further than the space should hold, and there was no noise save the distant rustle of the school's air conditioning units. If any apprehension hung over the group, it was due more to the situation than the surroundings -- at least right then.

It was an excellent day for a library adventure.





Raven
Raven was just barely keeping it together as she waited to enter Special Collections with the others. She was tense with restrained anger, hating the waiting when all she wanted to do was tear the labyrinth apart and destroy all the creatures within.

Her father would be proud.



Claudia
Claudia was actually fairly confident about going into Special Collections. She'd only just been in there with Scully, after all, and, well, despite having been in Fandom for almost a year, she didn't really think it'd have changed that much in such a short amount of time.

Yeah, sometimes Claudia could be kind of an idiot.

She had her drill with her, though. You know. Just in case.



Dru
Just walking through the doors into Special Collection was enough to put an already tense Dru on edge. She didn't know why. It seemed mostly normal, at least by Fandom terms, but given what was going on on the island, she wouldn't let down her guard until they'd found the book and gotten the hell out of there.



Ellie
Ellie was tense as she entered Special Collections. She expected this adventure to be dangerous and unpredictable, yet she wanted to be here. Wanting to help her classmates was a strong motivator. It was for that reason that she was trying to suppress her fear.



William
This was William's third trip into Special Collections in a relatively short period of time, and he was well aware of the fact that "normal" was... probably going to involve some danger at some point. So while he wasn't about to fool himself into being totally relaxed about this whole affair, nor was he unduly nervous.



Henry
Henry stood back, watching the students gather. He trusted the situation ... as much as he was going to be able to.

Mostly, he was thinking this would be an awful place to time travel from.



Dolf
Dolf wasn't feeling all that confident, but he was trying to project it anyway. Mostly, he felt a little wary, and a lot determined, his courage bolstered somewhat by the familiar weight of the stainless steel breadknife still strapped to his belt under his shirt.

He didn't know if he was going to need it. He just liked having it there.

Right. They'd do this.



Library
The first few minutes spent walking through the library were uneventful -- so uneventful, that the weapons the group carried might seem like overkill.

Eventually, though, they came across an odd scene: A rat munching happily on the pages of a book.

This wouldn't have been odd at all, save the fact that the rat was the size of a medium pig and much meaner.



Raven
Ordinarily Raven might try to take the rats' fear or aggression into herself to pacify them. Not today. Even animals had fears, and she was worming her way into the rodents' minds to find theirs. If they attacked, she'd use them.



RoUs
There wasn't a whole lot going on inside the head of the rodent who was leisurely munching his way through an antique volume of Persian history a few aisles over; mostly, he was all about the tasty, tasty paper.

But when he heard the group approaching, he waddled their way. For the moment, his fang-baring was strictly inquisitive. But paper wasn't much of a diet for an active RoUS, and he really didn't like being disturbed. It wouldn't take much to get him to attack.



Dru
"They need bigger mousetraps," Dru muttered, keeping a wary eye on the rodent. "Or maybe a really big kitty cat."



Henry
"Do you wanna be the guy who checks the mousetraps back in here?" Henry asked, backing up a few steps to reach for an encyclopedia. He wasn't going to throw anything just yet, but having something heavy in his hand was seriously comforting.



Raven
"If they attack, I will destroy them," Raven said, eyes flashing red. "We do not have time for them to delay us on this quest."



Rodents
The rodents who were slowly coming from all directions to join the first to emerge were not attacking. Shyer than their compatriot, they seemed content to watch and hiss at the unusual activity.

None of them seemed to think red eyes were healthy in a human; the fur on many of their backs was starting to rise.



Ellie
Ellie eyed the rodents, clearly concerned. Why wouldn't she be? She didn't much like them when they were normal sized. The red eyed girl threatening to destroy them oddly made her feel more at ease, though. Still, "I should have brought a baseball bat or something."



Dolf
Dolf withdrew the bread knife carefully from under his shirt. He kept it clenched in his hand, familiar and calming. They weren't being attacked yet. Maybe that meant they could just keep going. "Just keep walking," he said. "Don't make too much noise."



Rodents
Red eyes, a knife, and talk of baseball bats. The rodents were starting to feel, shall we say, not pleased with the bipeds in their feeding grounds.

One hissed and charged a little, backing off at the last moment to hiss again.



Raven
Raven's head snapped around to the one that had started to charge. Her body was still filled with pain, and that pain was hers to give. She held out her hand, sending a burst of agony to the rodent.



Rodent
It fell over, screaming in pain, and the others rushed forward to defend their fallen comrade.

Intruders, in their territory. This would be dealt with using claw and fang, quickly.



Claudia
Claudia pulled out her drill, holding it at ready, even as she started backing up away from the things. "Okay, so I'm thinking strategic retreat, here."



Dru
Even though it was breaking several school rules, Dru had carefully tucked her gun into the pocket of her hoodie before she'd entered the library.

Better safe then sorry and all that.

Now she pulled it out, but kept it pointed at the floor. "A very fast, strategic retreat."



ROUSes
Retreat? HA! The bipeds should have thought of that before they interrupted the ROUS feeding grounds!

Half the pack split off to bar the way the party had come, while the others pressed forward, snarling. There was an ROUS for everyone, and two for Raven. Red was BAD AND EVIL, and they were supposed to be the Big Bads around here.



Raven
Raven didn't flinch. Her lips curled in a half-smile as the two rats lumbered toward her. "Foolish creatures," she said, voice harsh. "You will not bar our way."

Have some more pain, unusually-sized rodents!



Great Big Rats
Those two rodents curled over, striking out with their tails at anyone or anything in range as the pain tore them apart.

The sight seemed to make the rest of the pack angrier, and they sprang more aggressively towards the intruders -- other than that girl with the red eyes. She was scary.



Dolf
Dolf wasn't going to stand here and freeze up any longer; he thought briefly of that time in the woods, when all the fighters had been battling soldiers and he'd been running around in terror. Not this time. He brought his knife down on the head of the nearest RoUS with all the force he could muster, gritting his teeth with the strength he had to put in.



Rat!
The knife stunned the creature, which collapsed. Its massive jaws snapped desperately but blindly, trying to find purchase in Dolf's calves.



Dolf
Dolf stepped backwards and out of the creature's biting range. He took the hilt of the knife firmly in hand - both hands, actually - and reminded himself that this was just like hunting.

He brought it down again. Just stop moving!



Rodent
The rat, mercifully, stopped moving. It wasn't quite a dead rodent of unusual size, but it was a dying one who seemed disinclined to do anything but bleed and make hissing noises at anyone or anything that came too close.



Dolf
Dolf was halfway into bringing it down again when the fact that the thing wasn't moving sank into his skull.

Still breathing hard, he lowered his knife and took another step away. Right. Okay. Onwards.



Claudia
Claudia took a cue from Dolf -- now that retreat wasn't an immediate option, and thanks for that, Raven -- and struck out at the nearest rodent with her drill.



Rodent
The rodent seemed confused by the drill as it reared back from it, chittering a bit as it tried to dodge the strike.



Claudia
Honestly, Claudia way preferred keeping the thing back rather than actually killing it, so she was down with the thing moving away. "That's right," she called at it. "Bad noise! Bad noise!"

Yeah, she was vicious.



Scaredy-Rat
The rat snarled once, but kept running back to its nest. It didn't like that noise.



Dru
It was safe to say that Dru's gun wasn't pointing at the floor any longer. Reminding herself to breathe, she sent leveled the gun and sent two quick shots towards the nearest critter.



Rat
The shots struck home, and the creature collapsed to the library floor. One eye slowly blinked, and the rat's ribcage slowly rose and fell as the life faded out of it.



Dru
Dru turned, looking for another target that wasn't too close to one of the others.



Henry
Henry had been paralyzed, but the noise of the gunshot startled him into action. He threw a book as hard as he could, trying to herd the students someplace that wasn't here.



Ellie
Ellie watched the action all around her, feeling somewhat useless. After a moment of being frozen in fear, she noticed the librarian attempting to herd them out of there. She also started to remember a few things from self-defense class. As she tried to make her way toward someplace that wasn't here, she sent a few kicks out at one of the rodents. She wasn't exactly graceful, but it was better than letting them attack her.



Yet More Big Rats
The rodents kept snapping at Ellie's legs, but couldn't get close. They weren't hurt, exactly -- they just thought getting kicked was no fun at all.



Raven
Her own rodents dealt with, Raven glided over to Ellie. "Your fear, give it to me," she said, holding one hand out to Ellie and drawing out the emotion she sought. Then she turned to the rodent biting at her legs and unleashed that fear, mixed with pain as well.



Ellie
Ellie was suddenly feeling more confident. She was also in awe of Raven's version of distraction, and grateful, too.



Henry
Henry had taken off down a path between bookshelves into a deeper part of the collections -- where, he hoped, he correctly remembered there being a back door on the map.

He found no door.

He did, however, find a spreading pool of quicksand, with the bookshelves on either side of the aisle sinking into it. Further, smaller pools dotted the path beyond the large one. He glanced behind him, hearing the scrabbling claws of the rodents still in pursuit.

"-- I have no idea how to get across this," he admitted. "Anybody?"



GOD RAVEN
Raven stalked forward and teleported herself to the far side of the larger pool of quicksand. She turned and looked at the others expectantly.

When she finally got herself back under control, there was going to be a round of apologies for being so bitchy.



Claudia
"Well that was super helpful," Claudia muttered. She edged closer to the pit to get an idea for its length. "Maybe we can use one of the shelves to make a bridge?"



Dru
"I think I need to watch more Man vs. Wild," Dru observed. "Does anyone have any rope?"

She hadn't noticed anyone with it. But it was Fandom. Maybe someone had some sort of magical bag of holding and a handy length of rope.



Ellie
Ellie didn't have any rope. She woefully didn't have any super powers, either. "It's times like this I wish I could fly."



William
"We could try a human chain?" William suggested. "A normal pit of quicksand would not be deep enough for anyone to actually sink into." Although Special Collections was known for kind of playing fast and loose with the rules of what was 'normal'.



Claudia
"Considering that the bookshelves are sinking, I'm thinking it might be a little deeper than that."



William
"I suppose it's fitting that the quicksand inside of the library is behaving in a manner only really seen in fictional tropes," William replied. "The shelves, as you say, may well be our best chance at crossing in that case."



Dolf
"Maybe we can tip some of the bookshelves?" Dolf volunteered. "...Or just wait and use them like stepping stones..."

They'd just have to jump. By a lot.



Claudia
"I vote tipping. Which one looks tall enough to get all the way across?"

Because having their bridge sink into the sand wasn't really going to help them much.



Henry
Henry eyed them, considering both height and which set of books he'd care least about losing to the sand. He settled on a tall one to the right, just a few feet back from the oozing edge of the sand.

"I think this one," he said. "And we hope nobody needs the Estonian rarities anytime soon."



Dru
Dru moved up to help tip whatever bookcase they decided on. "Well it's either that or the Egyptology books. I fear mummies more so let's keep them around."



Ellie
"I can live without them," Ellie said, referring to the Estonian rarities. It was either the books or them, and she'd prefer not to get sucked into the sand.



Claudia
Claudia grabbed onto the bookshelf in question to help with the tipping. "Plus, you'll always know where they are. At the bottom of the random sand pit."



William
"Which may or may not even be here next time someone enters," William added optimistically.



BANQUET!
Once everyone was across the makeshift bridge, they only had to go a few feet before they found a banquet table laden with all sorts of foods -- succulent roast meats, exotic fruits, bottles of wine. It was probably a bad idea to eat anything from this place, but it smelled so good it was hard to resist.



Raven
The meat and wine didn't appeal to Raven, though the fruit almost made her mouth water and gave her pause. But after her suspicions about the peach cobbler, she eyed it warily.

They didn't have time for this anyway.



Claudia
Claudia had to admit, the spread had her mouth watering. But she remembered dragging Scully back to the dorms all too well.

Still, she could still, like, hang out here and just smell it, right?



William
William had never starved growing up, but meals in the orphanage could not by any stretch of the imagination be called 'elaborate'. So he was entirely out of his depth here, and maybe gawking just a bit.

"This seems," he managed finally, "just a bit too convenient."



Dru
Dru's little mental weirdness detector was pinging off the scale at the moment.

"Oh hell no."

But damn that pie did look good.



Ellie
After facing giant rodents and quicksand, Ellie couldn't help glancing longingly at the wine. Something just didn't seem right about this, though, especially considering their previous encounters.

"Yeah, I'm gonna pass."



Henry
"I make a rule of not eating mysteriously appearing feasts," Henry agreed.

But he pocketed an orange, all the same. One of the science types might be able to figure out what was weird about it. (And if nothing was, hey, tasty snack for later.)



Dolf
Every bit of Dolf's instincts was telling him to take the food and make sure that good use was made of it, because they never knew when they'd see food again. But everyone else was responding so badly to it, and it made him wonder--

He wound up following Henry's example, pocketing just a little bit. It might help, if they came back home. "It might be useful," he said, just in case anyone was looking at him.



Henry
"This is where it should be," Henry announced with some relief as they finally got to the section of Special Collections where journals were kept.

If he looked dismayed, it was only because there were what looked like thousands of thousands of diaries jumbled on the shelves. He grabbed one at random, making a face.

The thing was full of poetry.



Dolf
Dolf's expression was grim. There were so many books, and he had no idea what the book would be like, in the end. He pushed up on the tips of his toes to reach one of the highest shelves and yanked out the first one.

It was full of hearts, so he'd just move on to the next one, now.



Raven
Raven's own dismay seemed to snap her out of the single-minded rage that had been driving her through the library so far. "There are so many," she said, staring at the shelves.

She picked one and flipped it open, scanning the pages for any mention of Sarah or Jareth or a labyrinth. Instead she found scrawled passages about longings for a boy that apparently didn't know the author existed. She couldn't help but cringe.



Dru
Dru had grabbed the nearest diary and started to read. After a page or two she slammed it shut. "Daddy buying you a used car instead of a new one is not a world ending event. Get a grip."

That book went back on the shelf before Dru pulled down another. This could take a while.



Claudia
Claudia grabbed a few almost at random and started flipping through them. "Blah blah, no one understands me," toss that one back on the shelf, "blah blah blah, everybody laughs at me," toss, "blah, what will they all say," toss, "aaaaaaaand poetry about teen idols from Tiger Beat. Aren't you special." Toss.



William
"Good l-," William stopped and corrected himself, "grief," he managed, staring at the hot pink plastic-rhinestone-and-glitter encrusted monstrosity he'd selected. Flipping through the pages, he frowned in dismay. A lot of complaining about being constantly compared to their older sister, but nothing of relevance.



Ellie
Ellie leafed through another one with a lot of rambling about being misunderstood. In another, there were complaints about life being so unfair due to a disagreement over curfew. She rolled her eyes before tossing that one aside.

"How much useless teen angst can there be?" she sighed, reaching for another diary.



Dolf
Dolf picked up another book. And another. And a third. It felt like there was no end of them, all these girls' diaries, making him feel a little uncomfortable and a little curious but mostly, mostly just despairing.

He was positive they were never going to find it.

He had to set his foot down on a shelf to get high enough to grab the next one. It looked pretty simple, or at least it wasn't pink, which was something. It was so close-- he just had to pull it a little further towards him, and--

-- he slipped off the shelf, smacking into the floor with an Oof that was quickly muffled by a diary-to-the-face.

His eyes went back open a second later. The word Labyrinth stared him in the face. Literally. "Um, everybody?"

His spine hurt.



Henry
Henry looked up from his volume, which was mainly composed of transcribed (and badly misspelled) song lyrics. "Something?" he asked hopefully.



Dolf
Dolf quickly peeled the diary off his face. He squinted at it, running his eyes over a few more lines of text, little drawings in the margins. Familiar stuff, talking about dances, and other things, and--

"I think I found it," he said, struggling to sit up.



Raven
"What does it say?" Raven said, swooping in behind him. Impatient for the information, she managed to fight the urge to rip it out of his hands.



Dru
Dru put down the book she'd been looking at, grateful that she didn't have to read anymore horrible emo poetry. "Are you sure?"



Dolf
"It talks about the Labyrinth," Dolf said quickly, before he'd be put into a time-wasting situation like having to yell at Raven about pulling books out of his hands. "I'm very sure. There are some pictures, even."

He held up the book. Now Raven could take it.

[OOC: Preplayed with the wonderful awesomebigsis, faithandscience, notmyownage, trigons_child, svetocha_blooms, and swordsandsoccer. Open for post-adventure interaction.]