[log] Event: Breaking Down [open]

[snowblindmods]

Characters: anyone pulled into the Escherverse
Location: Escherverse
Date: Morning 220 - Night 221
Summary: All alone/Even when I was a child/I've always known/There was something to be frightened of
Warnings: general horror, violence warnings; make sure to put more specific warnings in the subject lines!

Comments

[jumpthegun]

[There's a noise of frustration, then the sound of claws clicking across the ground as he moves toward the girl. Hold back. Hold back. She doesn't have a light. Hers was stolen, like his. But those eyes... She has eyes that he wants. Useless eyes, but he still wants them.]

You're walking toward a cliff.

[He tries to maintain some distance, knowing his aura might affect her. It would be so easy to jump and catch her, to bat her body with one massive paw.]

You need to turn back.

[spoileralert]

I don't know if I can believe you.

[ She keeps inching along, more careful now with this warning. Does he have enough control to help her? ]

[jumpthegun]

I could swallow you whole right now. Why the hell would I be lying? [Logic much?] I'll knock you out if you keep moving that way.

[spoileralert]

I don't know, because you're crazy?

[ He's sane enough to make a pretty convincing argument, though. She changes direction, moving a little faster now that she's covering old ground.

She's pretty sure it's flat for a ways, but she hadn't been counting steps. Maybe she should start, but she doubts she can remember enough to make that useful and not just confusing. ]

[jumpthegun]

[He would laugh if he were really capable of it. At least he can manage a light huff. John can't help padding closer as Steph walks. She might be able to hear the odd clack of claws in his gait as he more drags along his injured foreleg.]

People like you stole my light... my eyes. I took Dr. Volakis' light.

[Just putting it out there.]

Are you afraid?

[spoileralert]

You're talking about swallowing me whole, of course I'm afraid.

[ She doesn't see any reason to hide it. It's not like bravado is going to change anything about her situation. ]

What-- what are you? Do you know?

[jumpthegun]

Sorry. [He does mean it. Even if the urge to pounce is growing stronger. Without her light, Steph is a slightly less enticing target, though.]

I'm... [He blinks his many eyes, trying to sort out for himself what the angles all mean.] I think I'm the hound. Something like it. I'm walking on four legs, and I've got black fur and more eyes than I know what to do with. Half of them are put out. I'm an anomaly... Bloody hell. Who said we were gonna turn into these things at the end? They were right.

[spoileralert]

The- the Baskervilles Hound? We had to read that for school. It was just an ordinary dog.

[ She doubts very much that Watson looks like an ordinary dog right now. ]

[jumpthegun]

It's not a story. [The words are snarled and end with a snap of teeth closer to Steph's head than may be strictly comfortable.] And I know it was an ordinary dog. I shot the bloody thing.

[spoileralert]

[ She flinches, and has to make a concerted effort to get her legs to move again. ]

I d-didn't mean to imply it was.

[ She read the book, after all, set in the late 19th century. ]

[jumpthegun]

[John tries to rein himself in. He's getting angry for no reason. No. There is a reason. She helped to steal the lights, even if hers is gone now. She has her eyes, even if they don't work. The dog stops padding along behind her.]

Stephanie, I need you to turn to you two o'clock and run. There's the entrance to some sort of other room I can't fit through. You need to get there. Very soon.

[spoileralert]

[ Two o'clock. Oh god. How do clocks work again? She needs to calm down. She takes a few deep breaths as she turns in what she sincerely hopes is the right direction and breaks into a sprint. ]

[jumpthegun]

[John manages to hold back for a bit. He even manages to force out words of direction.]

Little more left. Just-just there. Keep going. Run!

[But it's only fifteen seconds, enough time for Steph to get a good ways there before the instinct to give chase wins out. He sits back on his haunches and howls, giving Steph a few more precious seconds before John is bounding forward, the thud of his three good legs hitting the ground hard behind her, accompanied by now-mindless snarls.]

[spoileralert]

[ She runs, just a little short of full speed. She knows how this is going to end, but she does it anyway.

Finally she slams into the top half of a wall. She curses as she falls, and quickly crab-walks into the space she felt at her legs. ]

[jumpthegun]

[It's only a short few seconds later that the hound slams into the wall, as well, trying to shove himself through the opening and barking ferociously. All he can see are those eyes, those eyes that should be his and someone who is still whole, who has not been consumed like he has been. She's still someone. He's nothing.

Steph will be safe as long as she keeps her distance for all the terrifying snarls and scrabbling claws, John can't make his body fit through the small opening.]

[spoileralert]

[ Steph gasps as she hears him hit the wall, and searches the little tunnel for an alternative exit. She's getting as far from here as fast as she can. ]