fh_adventures | Outside the Labyrinth

Outside the Labyrinth

It seemed the time for research and planning was through. In Jareth's address to the island, he gave them twenty-four hours to traverse a Labyrinth that seemed to change on a whim in order to take back the friends that he had stolen.

Team Distraction was entering first. Anyone with as much power as this Jareth seemed to would probably have some nasty surprises in store. They'd go in ahead of the second group to spring as many traps as they could while the other team ghosted in and headed directly to the castle.

Well, that was the plan, anyway. Let's see how long things went as smoothly as our would-be heroes would like.

[For the members of Team Distraction, please! If you want to RP out how the teams were formed and decided, there is a place to do so here! ~~Wait for OCD or the biting fairies will get you~~ OCD ready to go!]

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"It's better than the Dora song," Deadpool pointed out.

"Well," the Junk Lady wheedled, "this is a junkyard. This is where things go that people don't want, isn't it?"

It made sense to her, at least.

Gross, were they going to have to spend the night in a junk city? Kennedy, unsurprisingly, didn't think this prospect was at all appealing, so naturally she headed for the poshest looking (relatively, anyway) place she could find.

It'd be nice to get out of the ick for a little while, at least.

"Hey," she called, moving in like she expected she'd be invited. "Is it cool if I take a breather in here for a bit?"

It was nice in here...

"No, it's where we dock our ships! We both want and need those," she insisted.

She was so afraid for her own ship right now. And her poor droid might have permanent trauma.

"Oh? Well, come inside, then, and we'll see what we can do about that..."

Or they could stand out here all night arguing about who owned the ship. Either way worked well enough for her tastes, so long as it stalled Jaina and her companions for a while. Maybe an entire day, wouldn't that be nice?

"You know what? No," she said stubbornly. "And it means we won't stay, if that's how you're going to be about it."

"It is," Rinoa said. "It's freezing out there."

So she might steal a moment or two by the warmth of this room. Not long. She couldn't stay long.

"I ... noticed that music box, in your window," she said. "Is that yours?"

The door opened and a little old lady peered out. "Well, hello there! Aren't you a vision! Oh, but you must be cold out there. Come in, come in!" She smiled invitingly and beckoned her inside.

And, all at once, the Junk Lady's face went from pleasant (if a bit eerie) to utterly enraged.

"Oh, no, no, no, you don't want to do that! There's nothing out there for you, nothing at all. Here's where you need to be. Here's where you'll find everything you're looking for."

Everything. Barring, perhaps, a few people or other. Nothing important out there at all.

"Oh, everything is, Dearie," the Junk Lady replied, shuffling forward and reaching for Rinoa's hand, to lead her into the room. "Everything, it's all mine."

A pause.

"Unless you wanted it, maybe. Did you want it? It plays the most wonderful music, you know. Maybe you know it already? I bet you do."

It was bad that the enraged face didn't much affect an annoyed Jaina at all, huh? Yeah. "Well I found something I'm looking for, and you're being impossible about it, so as far as I'm concerned, this isn't where I need to be."

The Junk Lady was used to having to coax her ~~victims~~ visitors inside a little more, and was pleasantly surprised to have Kennedy just walk right in. "Come in, come in! It's not cool at all -- it's toasty warm, and I have just what you're looking for!" And she did, too. The room was closely packed with all sorts of things that were much less junk-like than the stuff outside, and some of them were awfully familiar-looking.

Oh,look! It's a nice goblin lady, inviting her in!

". . . what?" Forgive her, it was throwing her off a little.

But the place was warm, and she wasn't attacked when she took a step inside, and there were piles of pretty things everywhere.

She sat down on the nearest chair, still a little . . . surprised. "Thanks." Pause. "You're not suddenly going to attack me, right?"

"And you want a map," the Junk Lady scoffed. "A map here will do you no good. No good at all."

She shook her head, seeming practically disgusted by the thought.

Who in the world asked for a map of the Labyrinth? It wouldn't be any good unless the map changed from one moment to the next as well, and even then, you would get tripped up if you took the pictures on the paper for granted.

"No sense. No sense about you."

There was something oddly dreamlike about this room. Everything looked so familiar. She couldn't stay, though. She had places to go.

It felt rude to pull away from the old lady. She might be lonely.

"It looks just like mine," she said. "One I had when I was little. The music ... was my mom's."

Part of Jaina wanted to ask about her StealthX and Sneaker, but... she could always get a new StealthX and droid. If she wasted too much time arguing over material things, they chanced losing people, and that was so much more important.

"Well, thanks for being absolutely no help," she bit out, entirely annoyed.

"Such pretty music," the Junk Lady cooed, leading Rinoa in across the room toward a chair. "So, so pretty. Have a seat, dearie, open the box. Let's listen to the pretty music for a while."

PILES of pretty things! Perhaps things that she wanted? Weren't there just some lovely things all around!

"Attack you? Oh, heavens no, Dearie! Why, you're snug as a bug in a rug in here. Isn't it nice? No, nobody attacks anybody here in the Junk City. It's so awful out there in the Labyrinth, isn't it? Wouldn't you like to stop and rest here a while?"

"Ungrateful," the Junk Lady muttered, shaking her head and turning to shuffle away. "Ungrateful, spiteful girl..."

If nothing else, she supposed she could be satisfied that she had, indeed, been no help at all.

A job well-done, that.

"I can't stay," Rinoa said, apologetically. "Not for long. I only came in to get warm. And ... and to hear the music again."

She'd lost the music box years ago. Maybe her father had put it away, finding it too painful to listen to. Maybe it had simply been packed in the wrong box.

Nonetheless, she sat down, bringing the music box onto her lap. "Where did you find this?"

Squall. She should be focusing on Squall.

Well, now that she'd mentioned it . . .

Aphrodite leaned back, her sword against her leg. "You know, that's very nice of you. Really." She looked around. "You wouldn't have a scabbard laying around, would you? I didn't create one before my powers went kaflooey, and --"

She stopped, her eyes drawn to an object on the other side of the room. "What is . . . that?"

"Oh, here or there somewhere," replied the Junk Lady, reaching to open the box herself, and then petting at the back of Rinoa's hand, trying for 'motherly' and managing 'creepily touchy,' at best. "It's all forgotten treasures, here. Many more where that came from. Wind the key, dearie, the song won't take long. No, no."

"Oh, a scabbard, a scabbard, I've got lots of scabbards. You never know when... ohhhh, you like that, do you?" She bustled over to pick up the item and buffed it against her shirt to get some of the dust off. "That's a nice little paperweight, isn't it?"

And, indeed, it was -- if you were looking for a paperweight that was solid gold, shaped like an apple, and inscribed with the word kallisti on the side. "Very beautiful. Very, very beautiful."

Jaina had brought a glowrod so there was at least light, but at some point she had to stop and say, "We might want to rest a bit. Come sunrise it'll at least be easier to tell which direction we're going."

Yay for you, getting the entitled little rich kid?

"Do you?" Kennedy asked, still skeptical of a place like this in the middle of all that junk. "'cause I'm pretty sure I've never talked to you before, so how would you know?"

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Page 4 of 9

Outside the Labyrinth

Re: Set Out!

Re: Talk to the residents of Junk Town

Re: Welcome to the Junk Lady's abode

Re: Talk to the residents of Junk Town

Re: Talk to the residents of Junk Town

Re: Talk to the residents of Junk Town

Re: Welcome to the Junk Lady's abode

Re: Welcome to the Junk Lady's abode

Re: Talk to the residents of Junk Town

Re: Welcome to the Junk Lady's abode

Re: Talk to the residents of Junk Town

Re: Welcome to the Junk Lady's abode

Re: Welcome to the Junk Lady's abode

Re: Talk to the residents of Junk Town

Re: Welcome to the Junk Lady's abode

Re: Talk to the residents of Junk Town

Re: Welcome to the Junk Lady's abode

Re: Welcome to the Junk Lady's abode

Re: Talk to the residents of Junk Town

Re: Welcome to the Junk Lady's abode

Re: Welcome to the Junk Lady's abode

Re: Welcome to the Junk Lady's abode

Re: Welcome to the Junk Lady's abode

Re: Keep Going!

Re: Welcome to the Junk Lady's abode