Basement of Alpha Delt, UC-Sunnydale, Saturday Evening
Tara slid through the vents with surprising ease. She landed hard on her knees in a cold, dark space that she quickly realized had to be the house's basement and dusted off her skirt as she rose to her feet.
"M-maybe we'll be safe here?" she asked, but didn't sound too hopeful.
Karla
"Because there's anywhere safe in this freak-show," Karla mumbled, limping a little. She's landed on her feet, but not at all gracefully. That was a wrenched ankle there, yup. "Once we get out of here, I'm punching the next person who suggests visiting a spooky house or a frat party in the face."
Sorry, Jono. Not-so-sorry, Asher. But, yeah. Definitely in the face.
Warren
"If my roommate is still alive in here somewhere, I'm going to punch him in the face."
And if he wasn't, Warren was going to feel terrible about saying that. But at the moment, ruffled and shaken and still feeling as though the walls were creeping in around him, he was going to be hard-pressed to care.
He'd landed more or less perfectly, at least. But then, landing was something he kind of did. Even in the middle of a drawn-out panic.
Tara
"I'll help," Tara promised. "... but I really hope no one is dead. Anywhere."
She finally realized the basement had been transformed into a mock graveyard, complete with soil on the floor. "And wow, that was a bad choice of words."
Karla
Karla's lip curled as she looked around the 'graveyard.' It was bathed in an eerie luminescence and mist was swirling in, playing tricks on the eyes. "Personally, I'm less scared and more unimpressed," she decided. "And ready to kick Blarfingar's ass."
Warren
Just so long as the walls stayed put, Warren was going to deal with this. He still couldn't see the sky, was well aware that he was farther from it than he'd been before, and was looking more than a little twitchy about it, but his hands were flexed, claws at ready, and he wasn't about to try to leap through the ceiling or anything.
"Doesn't even look real," he decided. Except for how it kind of did, it was a more or less factual statement, right?
Tara
"Nope," Tara agreed, trying to sound more optimistic. "Just ... cardboard and potting soil, right? And maybe there's a back door somewhere around here."
Then the dirt atop one grave shifted, and she gasped. "Cardboard, potting soil ... maybe a few, um, rats?"
The way their luck had been running all night, she was almost certain it wasn't rats.
Karla
"There's nothing to be scared of in a basement or a graveyard," Karla added, glaring around in case someone or something wanted to contradict that statement. "A whole lot of posturing and atmosphere for no big payout in the end. Just like a male."
Uhh, no offense meant, Warren.
Warren
Yeah, Warren was going to wrinkle his nose at Karla all the same.
"Mice. Tiny little mice. That's what it is. Not even big enough to be ra--Aaah!"
It was not a mouse that grabbed his ankle, there! That was definitely not a mouse!
Tara
"Ra-Aaaaah?" Tara repeated, then her eyes widened as she looked down.
Nope. That green-grey hand clawing through the grave and clutching at Warren's leg was not any kind of rodent. Nor was the hand starting to emerge from a grave a few feet away.
"Oh, God, Karla, um, do you have -- 'dead people stay dead' magic?"
Karla
"Sort of?"
Karla had 'blasty mcblaster' kind of magic. It wouldn't guarantee that the creatures would stay dead, but it would ensure they were in too many pieces to be of use to anyone else.
"Warren, jump!"
Warren
Warren didn't need to be told twice, thankfully. He crouched and then leapt upwards, ripping the zombie's arm clean off at the elbow with the sudden upward jerk, wings pulling him away from the floor as Karla's magic swept below him, levelling that area of graveyard that had been trying to creep out from underfoot.
He cracked his head a good one against the ceiling in the process, and his wingtips were hitting wall on either side, but a bit of dazed staggering once he was on the ground again pretty much beat being devoured by zombies any day of the week.
"S'useful," he informed them both, lifting a hand to rub at his already healing, somewhat bloodied up scalp.
Tara
"Ow," Tara said, more dazed than injured, and flicked a chunk of she-didn't-want-to-know-what off her blouse with a nail. Even if Karla hadn't exactly killed the zombies-or-whatever, they seemed to be either waiting for easier prey or rendered impotent for the moment.
She just ... wasn't sure how long that moment would be. Goosebumps still prickled along her arms.
"Okay -- whoever finds a way out first gets all the candy I can buy. I'm not even going to wait for the half-off sale."
Karla
"Oh, now she gives us incentive," Karla teased, in a much better mood than the other two because LOOK LOOK LOOK, HER CRAFT STILL WORKED! "Okay, there's got to be a way out," she said, starting to feel around the room for a door or a window or something. "Has to be something we can use to esc--"
REEELEEEASE MEEE!!!
Karla didn't turn around. "Please say that was one of you?"
Warren
"Yeah, no," Warren muttered, as the throbbing in his head started to cede. "I want out of here as much as you guys, but I try to keep the ominous psycho voice to a minimum."
Call it a lifestyle choice.
Tara
"I don't think my, my voice even goes that low," Tara agreed, and started walking toward the wall. Her plan was to pace the perimeter.
She held out both hands as she went, inviting Warren and Karla to take them. Three were stronger than one.
NO WAAAAAY OUT, the same voice as before said.
Karla
Clinging now! Karla was definitely clinging. For, uhh, strength, yes. Not because the deep, creeper voice was freaking her out or anything.
"Even a weak section of wall will do," she said, trying to keep her voice even. "Warren's strong enough he can probably tear out a chunk of wall by himself if he has to."
Right, Warren?
Warren
"Right," Warren replied, "maybe I'll just... I can do that. I mean," he reached for the wall, and damn near jumped out of his skin at a sudden pounding against it, followed by a sort of scurrying sound and something beating against the doors. He grit his teeth, growled right back at the pounding noises, and then sunk his claws knuckle-deep in the plaster. "Now it's trying too hard."
Honest. He wasn't freaked out at all by this, have some bravado.
Yeah.
Tara
"Did you just growl?" Tara asked in disbelief -- because that was clearly the important thing here -- then reached down into herself for as much power as she had in her frightened state.
"Patefacio," she told the wall. It was a spell to open things, one she normally used on stuck doors and the like, but if it weakened the wall even a little --
Karla
"Shhh," Karla murmured to Tara. "He doesn't know."
Yeah, it was a thing he did. Yeah, Karla had been keeping it that way.
Dammit. That meant they were totally going to have a Talk later. Hmmm, maybe it would get lost in all the other trauma?
"Pound on the wall, Warren!" Look! A distraction!
Warren
Warren turned a quick, perplexed, slightly concerned glance between Tara and Karla. Growl? Did he just...?
No, now wasn't the time. Now he was going to just raise his fists, plaster crumbling between his fingers as he ripped his claws free of the wall, and then bring them down again, hard, with all the strength he could muster.
And, as a guy who could carry about 500 lbs without breaking a sweat, in the air, that was a fair bit of force.
Yeah, he was going to be having a growl-related talk with Karla, later.
Tara
"Oh my God fresh air," Tara practically yelped, as the cool October night breeze wafted in through the growing hole. She felt giddy, free, safe, even as she knew all of those emotions might be premature. "Warren, you are amazing."
Karla got an apologetic look. Tara hadn't realized it was secret growling!
Karla
It wasn't Tara's fault that Warren had Issues about certain things. Like a tendency to make animalistic noises when his blood was up.
But whatever she was about to say was lost in an ear-pounding noise of triumph. Looked like Goodie-Bag was happy about something and whatever tickled his fancy was not something Karla wanted to see close up.
"Less praise, more pounding!" she shrieked. Behind them, more zombies clawed their way out of the ground and began shambling towards them. "I'll cover you!"
Warren
Warren wasn't going to take the time to speak, or even to let himself think too hard. Right now, there was air. He could see the barest glimpse of the sky above them, and that meant that he was bringing his fists down again, smashing more wall free. His wings spread behind him in a gesture somewhere between desperation and triumph. The first thing he wanted to do once they were out was grab the girls and fly. After being walled in on all sides, there wasn't much else that was going to make him feel better.
"You first," he said to Tara, not even waiting to see what was going on back there before grabbing for her waist and giving her a boost through the barely people-sized hole. "Karla, come here!"
Tara
Tara nodded, not wasting energy on words this time. Zombie moans resounded in her ears as she used a mock tombstone and Warren's leverage to boost herself the rest of the way up and through the hole.
She emerged gasping and wiggling on the grass, and scooted backwards to make room for the other two to get out.
Karla
Karla sent a whip of witchfire across the first line of zombies, but she could already see more queuing up behind them. "You are right behind me," she ordered him as he hoisted her out the hole. "No heroics!"
And then she was diving out, getting a face full of dirt and weeds on the way.
Warren
Right, because exactly what Warren wanted to do when he could finally see the sky after a series of crushing walls and tight ventilation systems was stick around to battle the shambling undead, unarmed and single-handed.
He was heaving himself up right behind her, claws digging into the dirt for purchase and hands ripping as his feathers as he finally made his way out through the hole and into the night.
Yes, there was an absurd amount of stretching being done, as arms reached through the hole, and then sank back into the basement again.
Tara
Tara watched the stretching for a moment, grateful her friends had made it out with her and that they seemed to be as okay as anyone could be.
"Phone," she suddenly remembered, fumbling for the weight of hers in a pouch inside her skirt. "W-we should call 911 to get everybody else out."
Karla
"Are the cops going to be any better prepared to handle this than we were?" Karla asked, wiping some of the dirt off her face as she turned to look back at the house. "They usually aren't in Sookie's world, you know?"
Warren
"They might not be," Warren murmured, "but if we found our way out, other people might, and they could be hurt, at least. The cops might not take us seriously, not coming to a frat house so close to Halloween, but we have to at least try."
Tara
"They'll think we're ... drunk or high or crazy," Tara conceded. "But they still have to come out, right? Isn't that, like, the law?"
Not really waiting for an answer, she'd just hit the 9 on her phone when she heard a noise from her house and tilted her head up for a better look. All around the building, windows and doors were coming back into view.
A moment later, other people started coming out, alone or in bedraggled-looking clumps of two or three.
And a moment after that, Warren had scooped Karla and Tara up and flown away, carrying the girls toward the dorms. Getting home mattered more than the possibility they'd be noticed.
Scrabble and clinging awaited.
[OOC: 3 of 3 inspired by "Fear, Itself," preplayed with glacial_witch and not-a-parakeet. NFB due to distance, but OOC appreciated as ever.]
"M-maybe we'll be safe here?" she asked, but didn't sound too hopeful.
Karla
"Because there's anywhere safe in this freak-show," Karla mumbled, limping a little. She's landed on her feet, but not at all gracefully. That was a wrenched ankle there, yup. "Once we get out of here, I'm punching the next person who suggests visiting a spooky house or a frat party in the face."
Sorry, Jono. Not-so-sorry, Asher. But, yeah. Definitely in the face.
Warren
"If my roommate is still alive in here somewhere, I'm going to punch him in the face."
And if he wasn't, Warren was going to feel terrible about saying that. But at the moment, ruffled and shaken and still feeling as though the walls were creeping in around him, he was going to be hard-pressed to care.
He'd landed more or less perfectly, at least. But then, landing was something he kind of did. Even in the middle of a drawn-out panic.
Tara
"I'll help," Tara promised. "... but I really hope no one is dead. Anywhere."
She finally realized the basement had been transformed into a mock graveyard, complete with soil on the floor. "And wow, that was a bad choice of words."
Karla
Karla's lip curled as she looked around the 'graveyard.' It was bathed in an eerie luminescence and mist was swirling in, playing tricks on the eyes. "Personally, I'm less scared and more unimpressed," she decided. "And ready to kick Blarfingar's ass."
Warren
Just so long as the walls stayed put, Warren was going to deal with this. He still couldn't see the sky, was well aware that he was farther from it than he'd been before, and was looking more than a little twitchy about it, but his hands were flexed, claws at ready, and he wasn't about to try to leap through the ceiling or anything.
"Doesn't even look real," he decided. Except for how it kind of did, it was a more or less factual statement, right?
Tara
"Nope," Tara agreed, trying to sound more optimistic. "Just ... cardboard and potting soil, right? And maybe there's a back door somewhere around here."
Then the dirt atop one grave shifted, and she gasped. "Cardboard, potting soil ... maybe a few, um, rats?"
The way their luck had been running all night, she was almost certain it wasn't rats.
Karla
"There's nothing to be scared of in a basement or a graveyard," Karla added, glaring around in case someone or something wanted to contradict that statement. "A whole lot of posturing and atmosphere for no big payout in the end. Just like a male."
Uhh, no offense meant, Warren.
Warren
Yeah, Warren was going to wrinkle his nose at Karla all the same.
"Mice. Tiny little mice. That's what it is. Not even big enough to be ra--Aaah!"
It was not a mouse that grabbed his ankle, there! That was definitely not a mouse!
Tara
"Ra-Aaaaah?" Tara repeated, then her eyes widened as she looked down.
Nope. That green-grey hand clawing through the grave and clutching at Warren's leg was not any kind of rodent. Nor was the hand starting to emerge from a grave a few feet away.
"Oh, God, Karla, um, do you have -- 'dead people stay dead' magic?"
Karla
"Sort of?"
Karla had 'blasty mcblaster' kind of magic. It wouldn't guarantee that the creatures would stay dead, but it would ensure they were in too many pieces to be of use to anyone else.
"Warren, jump!"
Warren
Warren didn't need to be told twice, thankfully. He crouched and then leapt upwards, ripping the zombie's arm clean off at the elbow with the sudden upward jerk, wings pulling him away from the floor as Karla's magic swept below him, levelling that area of graveyard that had been trying to creep out from underfoot.
He cracked his head a good one against the ceiling in the process, and his wingtips were hitting wall on either side, but a bit of dazed staggering once he was on the ground again pretty much beat being devoured by zombies any day of the week.
"S'useful," he informed them both, lifting a hand to rub at his already healing, somewhat bloodied up scalp.
Tara
"Ow," Tara said, more dazed than injured, and flicked a chunk of she-didn't-want-to-know-what off her blouse with a nail. Even if Karla hadn't exactly killed the zombies-or-whatever, they seemed to be either waiting for easier prey or rendered impotent for the moment.
She just ... wasn't sure how long that moment would be. Goosebumps still prickled along her arms.
"Okay -- whoever finds a way out first gets all the candy I can buy. I'm not even going to wait for the half-off sale."
Karla
"Oh, now she gives us incentive," Karla teased, in a much better mood than the other two because LOOK LOOK LOOK, HER CRAFT STILL WORKED! "Okay, there's got to be a way out," she said, starting to feel around the room for a door or a window or something. "Has to be something we can use to esc--"
REEELEEEASE MEEE!!!
Karla didn't turn around. "Please say that was one of you?"
Warren
"Yeah, no," Warren muttered, as the throbbing in his head started to cede. "I want out of here as much as you guys, but I try to keep the ominous psycho voice to a minimum."
Call it a lifestyle choice.
Tara
"I don't think my, my voice even goes that low," Tara agreed, and started walking toward the wall. Her plan was to pace the perimeter.
She held out both hands as she went, inviting Warren and Karla to take them. Three were stronger than one.
NO WAAAAAY OUT, the same voice as before said.
Karla
Clinging now! Karla was definitely clinging. For, uhh, strength, yes. Not because the deep, creeper voice was freaking her out or anything.
"Even a weak section of wall will do," she said, trying to keep her voice even. "Warren's strong enough he can probably tear out a chunk of wall by himself if he has to."
Right, Warren?
Warren
"Right," Warren replied, "maybe I'll just... I can do that. I mean," he reached for the wall, and damn near jumped out of his skin at a sudden pounding against it, followed by a sort of scurrying sound and something beating against the doors. He grit his teeth, growled right back at the pounding noises, and then sunk his claws knuckle-deep in the plaster. "Now it's trying too hard."
Honest. He wasn't freaked out at all by this, have some bravado.
Yeah.
Tara
"Did you just growl?" Tara asked in disbelief -- because that was clearly the important thing here -- then reached down into herself for as much power as she had in her frightened state.
"Patefacio," she told the wall. It was a spell to open things, one she normally used on stuck doors and the like, but if it weakened the wall even a little --
Karla
"Shhh," Karla murmured to Tara. "He doesn't know."
Yeah, it was a thing he did. Yeah, Karla had been keeping it that way.
Dammit. That meant they were totally going to have a Talk later. Hmmm, maybe it would get lost in all the other trauma?
"Pound on the wall, Warren!" Look! A distraction!
Warren
Warren turned a quick, perplexed, slightly concerned glance between Tara and Karla. Growl? Did he just...?
No, now wasn't the time. Now he was going to just raise his fists, plaster crumbling between his fingers as he ripped his claws free of the wall, and then bring them down again, hard, with all the strength he could muster.
And, as a guy who could carry about 500 lbs without breaking a sweat, in the air, that was a fair bit of force.
Yeah, he was going to be having a growl-related talk with Karla, later.
Tara
"Oh my God fresh air," Tara practically yelped, as the cool October night breeze wafted in through the growing hole. She felt giddy, free, safe, even as she knew all of those emotions might be premature. "Warren, you are amazing."
Karla got an apologetic look. Tara hadn't realized it was secret growling!
Karla
It wasn't Tara's fault that Warren had Issues about certain things. Like a tendency to make animalistic noises when his blood was up.
But whatever she was about to say was lost in an ear-pounding noise of triumph. Looked like Goodie-Bag was happy about something and whatever tickled his fancy was not something Karla wanted to see close up.
"Less praise, more pounding!" she shrieked. Behind them, more zombies clawed their way out of the ground and began shambling towards them. "I'll cover you!"
Warren
Warren wasn't going to take the time to speak, or even to let himself think too hard. Right now, there was air. He could see the barest glimpse of the sky above them, and that meant that he was bringing his fists down again, smashing more wall free. His wings spread behind him in a gesture somewhere between desperation and triumph. The first thing he wanted to do once they were out was grab the girls and fly. After being walled in on all sides, there wasn't much else that was going to make him feel better.
"You first," he said to Tara, not even waiting to see what was going on back there before grabbing for her waist and giving her a boost through the barely people-sized hole. "Karla, come here!"
Tara
Tara nodded, not wasting energy on words this time. Zombie moans resounded in her ears as she used a mock tombstone and Warren's leverage to boost herself the rest of the way up and through the hole.
She emerged gasping and wiggling on the grass, and scooted backwards to make room for the other two to get out.
Karla
Karla sent a whip of witchfire across the first line of zombies, but she could already see more queuing up behind them. "You are right behind me," she ordered him as he hoisted her out the hole. "No heroics!"
And then she was diving out, getting a face full of dirt and weeds on the way.
Warren
Right, because exactly what Warren wanted to do when he could finally see the sky after a series of crushing walls and tight ventilation systems was stick around to battle the shambling undead, unarmed and single-handed.
He was heaving himself up right behind her, claws digging into the dirt for purchase and hands ripping as his feathers as he finally made his way out through the hole and into the night.
Yes, there was an absurd amount of stretching being done, as arms reached through the hole, and then sank back into the basement again.
Tara
Tara watched the stretching for a moment, grateful her friends had made it out with her and that they seemed to be as okay as anyone could be.
"Phone," she suddenly remembered, fumbling for the weight of hers in a pouch inside her skirt. "W-we should call 911 to get everybody else out."
Karla
"Are the cops going to be any better prepared to handle this than we were?" Karla asked, wiping some of the dirt off her face as she turned to look back at the house. "They usually aren't in Sookie's world, you know?"
Warren
"They might not be," Warren murmured, "but if we found our way out, other people might, and they could be hurt, at least. The cops might not take us seriously, not coming to a frat house so close to Halloween, but we have to at least try."
Tara
"They'll think we're ... drunk or high or crazy," Tara conceded. "But they still have to come out, right? Isn't that, like, the law?"
Not really waiting for an answer, she'd just hit the 9 on her phone when she heard a noise from her house and tilted her head up for a better look. All around the building, windows and doors were coming back into view.
A moment later, other people started coming out, alone or in bedraggled-looking clumps of two or three.
And a moment after that, Warren had scooped Karla and Tara up and flown away, carrying the girls toward the dorms. Getting home mattered more than the possibility they'd be noticed.
Scrabble and clinging awaited.
[OOC: 3 of 3 inspired by "Fear, Itself," preplayed with glacial_witch and not-a-parakeet. NFB due to distance, but OOC appreciated as ever.]