T - Bee, Dark, Xenon, Satra

[Bee]

Zeki had seen stranger things back home but not many, and not something that came this close to giving him actual hives. He was quite happy he did not need to eat any more because he wasn't certain he could eat ever again. There were people up there. The bits of actual flesh didn't show any signs of decomposition or bloat but he couldn't see if they were breathing; he assumed they were still alive, half because he simply had to. Perhaps the pulsing plant-thing was some sort of parasite.

He nodded at Senka. He couldn't imagine leaving them up there. How to release them from that disgusting substance was a slightly different matter. Zeki pulled the lamp off the desk--run by batteries it seemed, and also some old coins--and tried to get a better look in the remaining dark corners. The thing tingled to the touch but he paid it no mind.

"If we're lucky enough to have some acid," he said, not particularly hopefully, "I think I can control it enough to dissolve some plant and not get them. Or we can try to...reach up and cut into it, I guess." The prospect of that sounded about as appealing as jaming a pair of pruning shears into both his eyes, but he could swallow his disgust if he came down to it, he was sure.

[Dark]

Acid. Right.

Normal logic would dictate caustic chemicals be kept in a safe, controlled environment to prevent loss of limb and/or unruly death, but Corvie logic was another breed entirely she had found (if their captors were indeed Corvie, which might explain the...mass) and it was entirely possible that there were hazardous liquids left out in the open for them to abscond with.

All that she saw in the dim circle of light cast by the lamp, however, was the desk. There was nothing on top, so she opened the three drawers to see if there was anything useful inside. A pencil, a pair of scissors, and a box of matches.

Senka wondered suddenly if the darkness of their prison was coincidence, or intentional. "Does it react to the light at all? Maybe fire?" she gestured with the matches. If nothing else, they could use the scissors...though she did not want to get that close.

[Bee]

This might be a good avenue to investigate. He was sad that Senka had not been able to find anything he might bubble into a plant-prison key, but matches were a pretty good find. He was a little concerned about flammability, especially since as he got very close to what appeared to be a Highland-mix on the wall, he could smell some faint chemical. Burning them alive was a terrible way to release them.

"That was morbid," he muttered, making a face. He held the little lamp up close to the plant matter. It pulsed meanly and appeared to shrink back from the light, exposing more of the captive bird. That was certainly a little bizarre. He had heard of plants being photophobic in the sense that they preferred shade, but not such that they actively fled from light.

"Maybe that's why this room was kept so dark," he told Senka, musingly. Thinking about this scientifically, even if it was not his area of expertise (he couldn't begin to guess what had made this mess), helped him not think about how stomach-churning this matter was. "This guck really doesn't seem to like our lamp friend."

It might be slow going to get the mess to shrink away enough to maybe tug them out, but he preferred that to immolating them. "I'm gonna see if I can get enough off him to pull out, do you want to try to grab him?"

[Dark]

Even though she had never thought of herself as a true Corvie, there was something intensely satisfying about having a hypothesis proven correct. The experience was short lived, however. Reality intruded.

Particularly, a smell. Chemical, and it burned the nostrils on the inhale. She wrinkled her nose in discomfort, and attempted to breathe as little as possible as she approached.

"Sure," she agreed, and reluctantly took hold of the man's front limbs--carefully avoiding anything unnatural and pulsing--and leaned back, letting her weight and gravity help in their effort to free the poor blighter. He really didn't look so good, up this close; how long had he been hanging upside down, she wondered.

He finally pulled free of the mass with an unpleasant squelching noise that would probably haunt her til the end of days. They laid him out, and considered the quivering remains of the...mass.

"Do you recognize the chemical?" she intoned curiously, "It's not chloroform. A reaction to the...the plant?...maybe." The bloke's whole body reeked of it, whatever it was. But the plant itself hadn't smelled of anything at all. Strange.

She glanced towards the remaining victim, and wondered if it would be the same.

[Bee]

"Uh-uh," Zeki said, shaking his head. It must have been something else than had been used on them, but he didn't know what it was as much as he hadn't known what had gone into this terrible throbbing plant-beast. As much as he loved his planes, it would certainly be useful to have enough room in his head to be a specialist on everything. Actually, there was probably a Corvie working on that problem right now. In the most horrifying way possible.

Getting the other Card down was going to be a little trickier, with him being on the ceiling. "The desk!" he said, and together they pushed it over to what he determined to be the ideal location. He began the slow process of getting the plant to flee; it seemed particularly odious when it was right above his head. Black and purple fur was exposed. You look awfully familiar, he thought.

But finally enough was free of the trapped boy to tug him out, some feeling of recognition gnawing at him. They both gave the pull, and lowered the boy down as carefully as they could, first to the desk and then to the floor, next to the avian. A little more awkward with his wings, but accomplished. He was happy they managed to free the both of them; the triumph of two Corvies putting their heads together. Basically!

He surveyed the two of them. He hoped they woke up before he and Senka were forced to wake them up. He really didn't want to dawdle in this room.

"Uhhh, check their vitals, I suppose?" he said, and investigated their well-being as much as he was able. They were both definitely alive, thank the stars. Then he nearly kicked himself in the face. Of course the Torquehelm boy looked familiar. He didn't seem him often, but Virtute's brother had become rather distinct. Stress and plant monsters addled his brain, evidently. His plan to let them rouse on their own was swiftly forgotten. "Mercutio!" he said, shaking him gently by the shoulder.

[Nathalia]

Both of the people they'd gotten down seemed to be alive and in good health...for their positions. Though the Bat-hybrid is looking a little shaky compared to the other one.
Perhaps they should check around the dressers in the room, while waiting on these two to awaken?
There are two dressers, one seems dilapidated and broken...the other smells of spice and looks like it once contained fine things..
Odd though, the top drawer seems to be locked.

[carcinoGeneticist]

The entire time the pair had been working at freeing him had passed in a bubble of fog, a haze too thick for Mercutio to effectively break free to speak, and certainly too deep for him to be of any use in his own rescue. He was just aware, on a distant level, of the sound of voices.

Then there was light, a sudden easing of the pressure around him. Breathing was no longer a struggle. Hands gently closed around him, easing him down.

For a moment again, darkness.

It was Zeki's shaking that brought Mercutio back to himself. His head swam and his eyes opened, and with a jolt, he was awake. "Where the fuck..?!" he hissed, before his brain reminded him that he had heard someone calling his name. He turned, looking directly into Zeki's face, then faltered. "Zeki? Where are we? What's going on?"

[Dark]

“You know him, then?” Senka questioned rhetorically, wondering about the connection--they didn’t look related, as far as she could tell--and what the statistical probability of two people who knew each other being taken hostage at the same time was. Unless they had been together when it happened, of course, but Zeki hadn’t mentioned anything previously that would lead her to believe so.

Well, at least they were alive, if a little worse for wear. And it was good to see them waking up. She would let Zeki field questions, though.

Senka cast her eye about the room, keeping at eye out. Not that anyone could sneak up on her without her knowledge--she unconsciously checked to ensure the security of her necklace--but it didn’t hurt to be cautious.

She hadn’t noticed before that moment--which made her rather leery, though she had most likely just missed them in the gloom--but there were two dressers in the room. One was in considerably better repair than the other, she noted as she drew closer to investigate.

She checked the shoddy one first, looking through the drawers for anything useful. The second smelled pleasantly of spice, a welcome aroma after the chemical smell that had been assaulting her senses. She checked the drawers systematically, and was surprised to find the top drawer locked.

Senka frowned slightly, and began to look for a key. She checked below and behind both dressers; if her search didn’t turn up anything, she would check the desk one last time. If nothing else, she could resort to brute force. There were benefits to being a Club.


For ref:
Tiny Iron Key: ...she will feel any approach as long as she is wearing the key once the person approaching her is within 50 feet of her. She will not know what or who is coming, simply that something is.

[Bee]

"I really have no idea," he said. "Neither Senka nor I can remember how we got here. We just woke up in the dark. We were in that cage--" he pointed--"and you two were...uh, in a horror story," he finished, pointing at the sick plant mass on the ceiling. Cripes, he hoped he never had to get near that stuff again.

To Senka, he quickly explained that Mercutio was his girlfriend's brother. (Sweet merciful zephyrs, now he was worrying again. The last time this had happened...the last time something this strange had happened, she had been transfigured to statuary.)

He didn't quite know why his fellow Corvie was suddenly going through drawers--maybe for more lighting, since the batteries on his lamp might not last forever, or maybe for weapons, to wield against some (quite probable, considering their circumstances) assailant. It might be good to arm themselves. As soon as their other companion woke up, they were out of here.

"And I take it you don't remember anything either," he said, dismayed.

[Satra]

Andrei slowly began returning to full consciousness after he was released. He groaned as his eyes fought to flutter open. There were voices all around him, but he was having a hard time processing their words. He grunted again, fighting to look around and get up, resulting in only some fairly pathetic wiggling and odd noises.

He took a few breathes in. Don't panic. Keep your cool. Haste makes waste. He focused on just vision for now. Get his surroundings in view. Assess the environment. It seemed safe for now... the voices sounded young. If that was safe, anyway.

His head was pounding. Had he been upside down? He really wished that that portion of his genetic Bat inheritance was more fully realized. He could stay upside down longer than most, but it did still affect him in the end. Just how long was he upside down? His chest also felt sore, like he'd been bearhugged by a tentacle monster. Heh, tentaclebear. NO! this was a serious situation! No time to get caught up in silly thoughts brought on by delirium.

"Nnnuhhh?"