Breathe In Half Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. IV)

Mie · Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 5:50 pm

Something seemed inherently wrong with just hopping aside, and allowing (what Jam genuinely believe to be) a mentally handicapped girl to pancake out onto the floor, so though given all the time needed to just move out of the way, the monkey muttered a dejected, "I deserved this," and tried to catch the falling star-eyed cat.

Though questionably noble, the spacesuited simian's efforts were in vain, and with Animus in tow, she sailed backward, tagging her head against the edge of her seat with a sound *THUMP!* (and simultaneous obscenity), prefacing the one she made upon hitting the floor.

Mischief managed, and thoroughly regretted.

psikeout · Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 9:16 pm

Rock didn't really do anything except kind of... raise his brows and scoot to the side a little to make sure his knees were clear of Jam's head before it pounded into the edge of the seat-bottom.

What? It wasn't safe to try to catch her with his arm in a sling. He could always share his pills later if he had to.

NPC · Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 10:10 pm

Ding.

"The train is now moving. Please remain seated until the train comes to a complete stop."

There was an inexorable leaning sensation as the train geared into motion again. The train whirred.

"The next stop will be," the train voice intoned, "…Hydroponics. To access this stop, please press the signal button located on your armrest."

Hydroponics came and went.

"The next stop will be," the train voice intoned, in exactly the same tone as before, "…Observation 1. To access this stop, please press the signal button located on your armrest."

Observation one sped past.

"The next stop will be," the train berated the passengers, as they sped past the respective destinations, "Gunnery 1."

"Lateral Service Hall 5."

"The next stop will be," the train informed the world at large, as the lights flickered, "the hel*BRT*fflleeeeeeee-e-e-e-ooooooorrrrrmmm…."

The train went black. There was the screech of metal. The dull drone of the train diminished into silence.

They stopped moving.

There were several lights on outside — service lights in the tunnel system and the general illumination of the light rings outside, but the train itself was offline. The doors remained shut, but dimly illuminated emergency labels informed the passengers that, except in emergency cases of atmosphere loss, the the doors would be openable.

Below the mono-rail track extended a vast trench, lined with vents and access doors and ugly pieces of equipment.

There was no sight of a train station, either ahead of the group or behind them.

Kythe-X · Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 5:04 am

The marble minded manx tittered as she tumbled atop Jam and sent them both for an unpleasant trip to ground level. Having achieved her goal of squishing the culprit responsible for waking her, she giggled a little more before pushing her body upright, only to find herself tumbling back into a seat when the train moved forward. Dark and spooky, dark and spooky. That was all this tunnel was to her. She would've hardly noticed the train had stopped moving if it weren't for the malformed dialogue over the speakers and of course, the lurching sensation of the train coming to a halt...

"Uhhhm, why did choo choo stop moving?" she asked the two simians with polite concern.

Mie · Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 1:19 pm

With a drawn out groan just a touch on the melodramatic side, Jam sat up, rubbing gingerly at the back of her head. She made no move to relocate to a bench while the train was in motion, but remained propped up on her palms on the floor with an irritated scowl directed at no one in particular, until the monorail decided it was done being functional for the time being. The perturbed primate, however, found it difficult to glare directly at the transport, as she couldn't figure out precisely what to glower at, and sufficed to laboriously peel herself off the floor with a low, but emphatic, "Eff, em, el."

Swatting the nonexistent dust off her backside purely out of habit, the simian girl huffed a sigh, and began to examine their surroundings, setting the knuckles of both fists on her hips.

"No clue," was all the answer Jam could spare for Animus' curiosity, which she promptly deflected back to Rock. "Any ideas?"

psikeout · Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 4:15 pm

Rock calmly stood up as the train stopped; when approached about what was going on, he was already peering out a window near one of the lit-up exits.

"Could still be experiencing some sort'a rolling blackouts around the colony," he conjectured. "If we don't screw with anything, it might power back up any second."

...

...

About ten or fifteen seconds passed.

"Or it might not," he added quietly, and turned the lever to pop open the door.

Mie · Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 11:36 pm

"Of course not," lamented the second primate, albeit in a surprisingly good-natured tone. She'd taken a single, lunging step after the partially mummified monkey who went before her, but stopped short, wobbling on the balls of her feet, before throwing a cautious glance back over her shoulder.

"Rock," she whispered, behind a raised hand, scratching her head with the other, as she edged closer. "What do we do with -- uh... I mean, with her bein'... y'know, special, an' all... should we really just... leave 'er?"

psikeout · Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 12:01 am

"I'unno; she can follow us if she wants to," Rock replied indifferently, and dropped out of the vehicle, onto a safe patch of steel alongside the monorail track below. "Sh'might be able to hear you talkin'bout her, though," he added, not trying too hard to hide his voice, himself, beyond lowering it a little as he started digging something out of his (now considerably lighter) duffel.

Duct tape; a modification tool for true professionals. Throwing aesthetics to the wind, the ever-practical simian used it attach his flashlight beneath his rifle's forestock, flicked it on, and started to jog on through the tunnel, letting the sling help him support the gun in his one good hand.

Mie · Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 3:00 pm

While she couldn't really have expected otherwise, Jam was perturbed by Rock's indifference, and physically waffled between Animus and the door. At last, her conscience got the better of her, and the black and green-clad primate huffed an exasperated sigh as, half-way out with both hands gripping the top and side of the threshold, her head oscillated back toward the cat.

"You better come along, too, Annie," she told the feline, her begrudging tone thinly veiled, as was the hopeful edge to her amendment; "Unless you just wanna stay an' see if the choo-choo comes back up -- I dunno, but... it's... prolly safer f'you're somewhere someone can keep an eye on you, but... Your choice."

And with that, Jam disappeared out the door, and into the darkness.

Kythe-X · Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 5:00 pm

Animus tilted her head for a moment, a perplexed look plastered across her face to complete the emotion. The bandage monkey had already gone but he seemed pretty boring but the tone of voice that Jam came out with made her slightly confused. She knew the choo choo probably wouldn't start. She was already bored of it now, anyway. Now the two most entertaining people had left the train and were now making their way down the dark spooky tunnel - it was only natural of her to hop out after Jam and follow them. She didn't say anything though but maybe that was for the better.

psikeout · Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 3:06 am

For a walking casualty, Rock was still pretty spry. He must have been fully aware that they were in a tremendously large and long tunnel, because he was absolutely booking it through that little service trench in the bottom of the passage. They had to really cover some serious ground if they wanted to get anywhere in any kind of reasonable time frame (see: not spend an hour or two wandering in the dark).

It may have actually been a surprising just how far and how fast he was able to go like that—possibly even a challenge to keep up with—maybe not so much a challenge in Jam's case, as quick and energetic as she was compared to him, but still worrying, as this determination came with ill effects. Where the spirit was willing, the body was not yet prepared to comply, and as soon as his stamina began to wane, his run slowed to an unusually uneven jog, and then finally, a brisk, but weaving walk.

He relented and stopped to and grasp the top of a nearby vent's frame, breathing heavily. The rifle was allowed to dangle from its sling; the flashlight beam cast straight downward, and the tunnel became darker, while, as before, his eyes did not, both staying a little too prominently visible for the given lighting conditions. They noticeably lost their focus momentarily; from his view, everything was tilting and blurring, flecked with those star-like sparkles of overexertion, all beneath an incessant pounding from inside his skull, while a low, disorienting thrum came from deeper within.

He shook his head once or twice, steadied his breath, and dug into his duffel bag again. A quick swig of water from his canteen seemed to make him feel a little better. He wiped his mouth on his arm and looked to the two girls tiredly.

"Tunnel's friggin' ridiculous."

psikeout · Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 1:17 pm

OOC: Y'knooooow what. I think we oughta just... try to find something more significant to do and let this thread rest. I don't think anything of particular interest is going to happen, and exploring did not prove to be all that, so... I'm out. And, with general consensus from those still involved, I am locking this down, too.

I hate to be the uncultured slob who can't stay interested without action, but I'm in no position to make things happen, since I'm not running this story, and I'm all outta juice.

Breathe In Half Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. IV)

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