The Art of Searching [Finished]

[Bee]

While Freakshow had tried and tried again to get the handle to cooperate, Ezra felt around the door as best he could, looking for nothing in particular. There had to be some way to get the door open. He was not particularly adept with anything mechanical, but there had to be--one chipped stone gave way, and the door began to groan and squeal painfully as it slowly opened.

It looked like a dungeon, on the other side of their little room. Stone walls, damp and gray, lined and illuminated with the fickle firelight from torches. Gloom clung to every available surface, leeched the life from the air. Ezra liked it: it seemed peaceful, like a graveyard. A nice place for a stroll.

He stepped forward slowly. In the distance, the narrow corridor branched and turned, like a labyrinth. This was not so fortunate, if they wanted to find their way out swiftly.

[Kiki]

Bee and Dark receive 2 token each, to be redeemed in Ashwin's Shoppe. This will automatically be added to your recorded totals in the shoppe. Congratulations, and keep up the good RP!

[Dark]

Hadyn was in the habit of keeping a small tool kit on him at all times, never sure when he might be struck with the need to get out of, or into, trouble. It had all the usual things: wire cutters, fuse, a bit of explosive, a chemical flare, paint, a knife, matches, breath mints, and a rather substantial length of twine. Which was rather fortuitous, considering their current predicament.

He tied a knot, and went about hooking it under a bit of protruding stone in the door frame. He tugged on it several times to make sure it was secure, and nodded in satisfaction. There was no point to come back to this tiny little room, but the twine would help in one important matter: it they crossed it, they knew they were in trouble.

"Shall we, then?" Without waiting for Esmeralda's response, he set off down the corridor.

[Bee]

Ezra was surprised at how prepared Freakshow was, especially when he caught a glimpse of the contents of the little kit. Being around people who knew what they were doing and how to handle the world was always a curious experience, and he found himself wondering what the catmouse was going to do with his life. Aside, it would seem, from sleeping with relatives. He had an extensive background in "demolition," which Ezra took to mean he enjoyed destroying things. He was not averse to robbery. He obviously had no clear conception of morality. He seemed effortlessly destined for a very grand life in crime.

At the moment, Ezra seemed destined to do little more then wander down a labyrinth under someone's house, leaving a trail of twine.

So they wandered. Right, left, straight, again; it was obvious that whoever built this had no intention of any guests ever making it out.

Ezra's front paw snagged. He looked down. Twine.

"Freakshow," he said. "Trouble."

[Dark]

As they walked, Hadyn had been considering their misadventure--and he was convinced that their experience with the trapdoor had been some kind of strong, illusionary-based magic. It made him nervous to think whoever had cast that trap might still be in residence.

For all his lofty aspirations, and meaningless searching, he didn't have enough power to fight back in they came across someone of that caliber. Not yet, anyway.

He huffed, irately, when Esmeralda fumbled across the twine. He really shouldn't be surprised that they'd crossed their own path, but he still found the realization of that possibility rather bothersome when finally faced with. He furrowed his brows and considered their options. They would have to backtrack, obviously, but how far back should they go before trying again?

"Alright, then."

Turning, he started to awkwardly roll the twine up the best he could as they backtracked. He really would have to aspire to a bipedal form one of these days; thumbs would be a blessing.

[Bee]

They were getting nowhere, was the plain truth of the matter. Hadyn's twine was amounting to very little. What was the use in trying to find an exit in a room with no doors? The futility of the situation settled easily upon him. They weren't going to make it out of here alive. Things had to be moving, because there was overlapping twine everywhere but they could never quite seem to find their way back to where they had began.

He supposed he could cross grave-robber and subterranean adventurer off his list of possible career paths. Not that he was every likely to have a career of any kind, at this point, unless there as something for him to do in the blank thoughtless void of eternity.

"I think lying down and patiently waiting for death might be our best option," said Ezra thoughtfully, and he leaned against one of the walls, only to find it swinging as though he had slammed into it. Stone shifted, there was a blur of changing surroundings, and before he knew it, he was in a very red, red room.

It looked like it had been the site of some party. It was elaborately decorated, and the windows that opened to nothing but more stone were bedecked with fine red silk. There were intricate masks littering the floor, partially devored refreshments on the tables, and upon the red walls were hung more pictures of faeries. Fire sprites, demon dancers, delicate fingers clutching bloody knives.

Ezra glanced at the wall behind him.

"Freakshow?"

[Dark]

From the very beginning of their careening journey into disaster, Hadyn had known what to expect from his Torque companion, but it still hadn't quite prepared him to deal with such steadfast negativity when trapped in such a stressful situation. It was wearing on his nerves rather quickly when compounded with the current twine issue.

He was considering the benefits of telling Esmeralda where to shove it--though it probably wouldn't phase his companion in the slightest, and would more than likely send the depressing feline into another long diatribe about the futility of existence--when he heard the grating of stone and whirling of rusty gears.

He spun around and found himself looking at an empty corridor. Not good. Not. Good. He spun around, trying to conceive how they could have lost each other.

Taking a moment to enjoy full-blown panic, his ears suddently twitched, picking up the faintest sound of his name. He followed it to what appeared to be a solid stone wall, "Esmeralda?"

He leaned closer, placing his ear against cold stone and listening hard. Stone gave way and he went whirling with it, skidding to a halt as it spit him out on the other side.

Feeling just a tad bit dazed, he gained him feet. "Well... that was different."

The twine had snapped when he'd been flung through, for what little good it had done them.

[Bee]

Ezra nodded. It was an awful lot of different to contend with, considering that they had set out with the simple intention of committing robbery. Probably not a wise idea to contemplate what might have led to the creation of such a room as this; it was apparent that the architect or owner (or both) of the mansion was an intensely eccentric character, and Ezra had enough experience with crazy to know that there was not really a fun flavor of madness.

Best to try to get out the way they had come in, he thought, and pushed himself against the wall--nothing happened. That was...unfortunate. They would need to look for other avenues of escape, apparently. He began tearing through the room--insomuch as he tore through anything--and bid Hadyn to do the same. If there were kooky ways into rooms, there had to be kooky ways out, and he was beginning to feel like the malicious-looking little fairies were staring at him.

[Dark]

Hadyn didn't feel in any particular rush now that they were, essentially, back where they had started. He took his time brushing off imaginary dust from his swiveling entrance. It was all rather funny, really; and he thought he might feel better if he could actually laugh about the situation.

At Esmeralda's request he began to poke around the room, examining nooks and crannies and shifting paintings. It should probably disturb him more that he found himself admiring the fiery chaos glaring down at nothing; the effect was rather soothing, actually. Amongst such passionate crimes and unspeakable heresy Hadyn felt, comparatively, in relatively good control of his life.

It was towards the end of the long hall that Hadyn noticed the painting, almost plain in comparison to its neighbors, of the dark, twisting staircase leading up into infinity. The realism was almost too much. He reached out a paw to touch the course paint that it was surely composed of. He touched air.

He took a step forward and the "painting" swallowed him.

[Bee]

Ezra, noticing that Hadyn had essentially walked through a painting, followed on right after him. The corridor they had passed into was extremely narrow, and about two feet in front of them began a staircase, the steps short and closely packed and made of grimy stone. There was really nowhere to go but up, so up they went. It was not particularly long staircase--even in the gloom, Ezra could see the door at the top.

When they went through, they found themselves back on the main level of the house. In a library so large that it would put the public library of Capital City to complete shame. Bookshelves touched the ceiling, built into all the walls in the room. There was a small sitting area in far corner. The room was vast, but somehow felt small an intimate. It had that calming, old-book smell.

Seeing no signs of imminent danger, Ezra let himself relax.