Into the Shadows (Vest)

[Maya Frostfawn]

Maya peered in the direction Vest was pointing. She blinked. "No, I hadn't noticed before," she commented, considering the ramifications of her companion's discovery. It seemed like the possibility that the room shifted alongside the manipulation of one of the torches was becoming increasingly likely. "Yes, there are several others at our disposal, and no way to determine what they will do, if anything, unless we remove them from their holders." She paused as she studied each of the torches, their flickering flames, spewing a steady stream of smoke into the air. The footprints on the walls, the meandering trail they made to see if she could determine from whence they had originally came. But she found that as time passed, she could determine nothing; it was as though she did not have enough information to go on. "Let's try this torch," Maya commented as she strode toward a torch on her left. Another breath and she had pulled it from its holder, and stood still, waiting. But nothing happened. It was just a torch they could use for light. "I suppose this might prove useful in the future as a source of illumination, but it could also make it easier for our pursuers to figure out where we might have gone if they ever come to this room," she began. "Do you think we should put it back or hold onto it?" she asked, as she reached for the torch that was closest to it with her free hand. Another moment and the nuit had pulled that one out of its bracket as well. The sound of a shot being fired, as though from a bow, filled the air as a dart shot toward her. She barely had time to react, but she stumbled out of the way, forcing the dart to sink into the mud by her feet, where she had just stood. "That was a little too close for comfort," Maya commented, as she set the torch back carefully, and the one she held in her hand as well, the one from before, simply so she would have more hands to work with. Any hands to work with, for she figured she may need them in a crazy place such as this. Another moment and she had taken a few more paces around the room and pulled another torch from its bracket. The minute she began lifting it, the floor ground apart, the mud made an unpleasant squelching noise, and the pair were dropped into the world below as the torch slipped back into place and the floor closed up behind them. A strong, musty scent wafted up toward Maya's nose from below, and after a few moments of the air whipping her clothes around her as she plummeted toward some unseen place, she landed torchless in a pile of hay. Moldy hay. She could see its green hand stretching over the flaxen strands of hay alongside a mixture of dry dirt and mud. After taking a moment to brush herself off, she looked around the room they now found themselves in. It was small and square in nature, with a high ceiling, whose uppermost point she could not make out past the dark shadows that clung to it. The pile of hay they found themselves on took up most of the room, but four doorways led out of it, one in each of the four cardinal directions--north, south, east, and west. Light drifted into the room from each of those passageways. But it was not enough to truly see where they led from where they sat. Another moment and she had slid down the length of hay and landed, awkwardly, on the floor. Brushed herself off again and begun to take a look around. "Where do you think we should go now?" she asked her companion, silently wishing they hadn't marked the torches they had tried upstairs. Word Count: 651 Words

[Vest]

Vest screamed in surprise and fear as she fell into the depths of darkness. Wind rushed by her and her hair whipped into her face before she came to a sudden stop in a musty bed of hay. She sneezed a few times before she unburied herself from the thick plush of hay and climbed out with a grunt. She looked around the room before turning to the woman as she asked what next.

“Well, each door shows light, and this place looks more like a barn than some weird room in that fucked up place we were just in.”

Vest sighs and looks up at the ceiling, mentally taking back her saying it looked like a barn. The ceiling was extremely high. So high in fact that Vest couldn't really see the top of it through the darkness. She waved off the feeling and turned towards the rest of the room, walking over to a door and pressing her ear onto it. There was the sound of voices, two maybe three, each with a distinct tone. They were talking about something, horses maybe, Vest couldnt figure it out as they were too far. She pulled aaway from the door and waved over to the woman.

“Hey, come here, I think I hear voices. They don't sound like they are hostile, but I figured I would let you hear.”

Vest stepped aside and allowed the other to listen in. Would this be the end of their crazy show inside this mad house room of illusions? Vest got giddy over the idea, because if she had to stay in here any longer she felt she would go insane and start bashing everything.

WC: 281



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[Maya Frostfawn]

Maya walked carefully over to Vest and the door she had chosen, gradually closing the distance that had once rested between them. Another moment, and she had positioned herself so her ear has hovering but a breath from the door's body. Without breath or a heartbeat to distract her, it was easy to discern that there was noise coming from the other side of the door. Voices. Their owners were talking in even tones, casually with one another. They seemed to be friends. She could only make out a few of the words, but from what she could discern, nothing of what they spoke should pose any danger to her or her companion. After another moment, she moved away from the door. "I would agree, they don't seem hostile. However, I'm not sure how they would take to us dropping in on them, if they are in a private residence as opposed to a public place. Which... we would have no way of knowing until we open the door and venture inside." A pause. "Being, however, that those who chased us into this strange place are hostile, and likely not all dead yet, I think it may behoove us to risk the door and see if we can escape and return to our daily lives. Wouldn't you agree? Especially when we consider how many voices seem to be behind this door as opposed to behind the walls we left behind." She smiled softly, reached for the doorknob that opened the door. "On three," she said, before counting off slowly, giving time for her companion to prepare for the worst, should the worst meet them on the other side of the door. But what met them on the other side of the door when she did open it, was nothing to fear. It was just a trio of men, sitting around and talking, drinking something that smelled faintly alcoholic. Like it had been watered down quite a bit. Maya smiled at the men as she strode into what looked to be the main portion of a stable, as though they had just left some sort of storage area behind. "Good day, gentlemen, don't mind us, just passing through," she said casually as their eyes followed her, as though confused as to where she had come from. The confusion, or whatever it was, didn't last long, however, for they soon returned to their talk and drink, leaving both her and Vest to make their way out of the area unmolested. When they made it back onto the city's streets, she turned to her companion. "Well that was an interesting adventure." Let's not have another, she thought to herself. "I'm glad we're both in one piece." A pause. "Do try and stay out of trouble for me, won't you?" she continued. "But if you do ever find yourself in it again, and it manages to harm you, feel free to drop by the Clinic and I'll stitch you right back up." She could always use the practice, and the pay. "See you around," she said as she began to walk away, wanting to put as much distance between her and her most recent adventure as possible.