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!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Annja was pretty sure that none of this could mean anything good. It was really weird to see a small town looking like it had just suddenly come out of nowhere.

Which, she supposed it probably had as soon as the Labyrinth started eating the island.

She looked around, looking for someplace to get a little warmed up.

Edited 2010-12-11 04:44 (UTC)

Well, there were plenty of cozy-looking junk piles to warm up next to! Or else...

"You look terribly cold, dearie," a heap of garbage observed as it shuffled up to her.

At least the heap of garbage had a head?

Annja was startled until she saw that the moving pile had a head. She managed a polite smile.

"Yeah, it's a bit colder than I expected it to be."

"Perhaps you should come inside," the junk pile suggested. Or, rather, the Junk Lady within the heap. "Warm up. A little heat will be good. Good, good."

Annja gave her a more natural smile. "Oh, thank you. I'd appreciate that. I can't stay too long, though."

She was not going to be rude to the first person in this place being helpful.

"Oh, no, stay as long as you like, as long as you like," the Junk Lady coaxed, shuffling over to a door and pulling it open, warm light inside. "It's nice in here, yes it is."

It did look cozy and warm in there and Annja stepped inside. Surely it wouldn't hurt to warm up for a little bit before going out and looking for the rest of the team and heading to the castle.

"It's very nice."

"Very nice," the Junk Lady agreed, bustling across the room and rummaging through her things. "Very, very nice. Take this, Dearie," and she was now returning with a teddy bear in one hand, which might even look a touch familiar. "It will help you relax, warm up. He's very soft, isn't he?"

Annja's eyes widened even as she reached for the bear. "Very soft," she parroted. "Where did you get him?"

Not that she cared, much, how the bear had ended up here. She pulled him closer to her, burying her face against him. "I thought I had lost him."

"Everything that gets lost needs a place, Dearie," the Junk Lady explained, though it really didn't explain much of anything at all. "And I'm sure there's plenty more where that game from too, you know. Would you like more? I have some books. Plenty of books."

"I looked everywhere for him," she said softly, running her hand along the bear's back. "Books? What kind of books?"

"This and that, this and that, and a little bit of other such things." There was a clatter of pots and pans and other such detritus as she made her way across the room to go digging for something else. She surfaced again with a small armload of leather-bound journals. "A little girl's dreams about growing up, they are. Very interesting. Very."

Annja's eyes widened as she stared at the journals. "Oh my god. Are those what I think they are?"

A small voice -- that sounded annoyingly like Roux -- in the back of her mind was telling her that something was not right here. Annja was doing her best to ignore that voice.

"How did those get here? I never showed anyone those."

"But you missed them, didn't you? I bet you did." The Junk Lady made her way back to deposit the books in front of Annja. "Would you like more, dearie? There's always more."

Annja hadn't felt like this in a long time. Those journals... the teddy bear... those had been the things that kept her going when she was a little girl. They had gotten her through the times of loneliness and uncertainty at the orphanage all of those years.

"I did," she admitted. "I missed them so much. I never knew what happened to them after they disappeared when the fire and the floods destroyed part of the orphanage."

"Well, see, it's all better now, Dearie," The Junk Lady cooed, reaching out a leathery hand to stroke at one of Annja's. "It's all right here, and you don't have to go anywhere again. Everything you could possibly want, it's all right here."

Annja was quiet for several moments as her mind poked at something in her memory. Her bear and her journals were here and they were so important to her, but there was something that didn't feel right. Something about this whole thing was disjointed.

"This is wrong," she murmured, her brain chasing after an elusive thought on the edge of her subconscious. "Something's missing. I'm supposed to be looking for something."

"Something?" The Junk Lady seemed a little perturbed at that idea. "I can't imagine anything you could possibly want. You have your journals," she pointed at them, "and your bear. Warm, warm Mister Bear, right? There isn't anything else!"

No, but there was something else.

"Sean," she suddenly said, shaking her head to clear it. "Sean." Annja quickly stood up. "The kids! I'm trying to find the kids that are missing from the school."

There were a lot of things that had been weird about this week, but as her brain refocused, Annja would have to say this was one of the weirdest.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. You've been really nice and caring, but there are some kids out there somewhere that need my help."

Well, so much for that 'nice and caring' thing that the Junk Lady had going for her.

"They don't need your help! They don't need anybody's help! Now, you want to stay right here, don't you? With your bear! Not out there in the cold in that maze!"

That would be Annja heading to the door. "I'm sorry, but as much as I like it here, those people have friends and loved ones that are worried for them and we need to find them." She looked at the Junk Lady. "Can you help us find them?"

"No." And with that, the Junk Lady thrust her nose in the air and proceeded to look as petulant as possible. "Find them yourself."

Apparently, she wasn't keen on giving away all the lost things.

And she wasn't all that nice, either.

Annja frowned at her.

"Ahh. You're like him then. Good to know." She shook her head. "And here I thought you were nicer than most of the things that are out here."

Annja was still holding the teddy bear, but set it down gently on a pile. "I'm thinking that none of this is real and you're working with Jareth to keep us from rescuing the kids." She opened the door. "I hope you never need help from someone because your karma is going to be a bitch."

Annja was moving quickly out the door to find the rest of her group.

Damn goblin thing. Damn teddy bear.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Outside the Labyrinth

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: Talk to the residents of Junk Town

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: Talk to the residents of Junk Town

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: Talk to the residents of Junk Town

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: Talk to the residents of Junk Town

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: Talk to the residents of Junk Town

Re: Talk to the residents of Junk Town

Re: Talk to the residents of Junk Town

Re: Talk to the residents of Junk Town