[Closed] Down the Tubes: Breakdown

[fwips]

WHO: Breakdown crew
WHERE: The Bunker
WHEN: August 28
OPEN TO: Peter, Fang, Sam, Lyanna, Owen, Danny R
WARNINGS: Nothing yet

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There's no real rhyme or reason to the six of them that end up in the pod, and Peter figures if that's not a metaphor for life, he doesn't know what is — Most things are determined by the people who just happen to be around at the time. A little curiosity and the ability to swim is all it takes. One push of a button and they make a team, zooming off into the dark as they drip onto the pod's corrugated metal floor.

[Continued in the comments]

Comments

[iron_beneath_beauty]

It wasn't lost on her that she was one of the youngest among the group, save for Peter. Being 16, most regarded her as they would a child, though the rules of her world were different about such things than anywhere else it seemed. Perhaps in a continual effort to be taken seriously, Lyanna volunteered for this trip. Or perhaps because she was tired of sitting around and thinking about the past, she chose to come rather than be stuck with the quiet.

It didn't prepare her for the strangeness of their surroundings, though she should be used to that for now. Yet another pod, only this time, she had a chance to see it rather than hear others tell her about what they found.

She doesn't understand the question Sam asks, not having heard that sort of line before. She's left wondering for a moment if the woman is mocking her or something else. Why else would be questioned about her presence unless she was being judged by appearance or age. "What do you mean by that?"

[thegreatexperiment]

Okay. So snark wasn’t everyone’s default. The woman had a faintly Kindred air about her. Although Sam couldn’t put her finger on why. It didn’t matter, though. She could code switch.

Sometimes.

“Just a figure of speech,” she said, with a sigh in her voice. “Making conversation. I don’t really do silence.” One of her countless flaws, no doubt. “Anyway. This place is pretty much a horror show, so I figure instead of delaying the inevitable we should just conjure it up. In the movies, the thing with the chainsaw usually shows up right after the comic relief makes some kind of joke. And I figure that’s pretty much my place in all of this.”

Her life was a fucking joke, after all.

“I’m Sam, by the way. Resident vampire.” And big mouth.

[iron_beneath_beauty]

"Oh." She could understand that and flashed Sam a smile to compensate for her earlier sourness. "All of this has me confused. I have never seen anything like this before." The room, the technology that everyone else seemed able to understand. It was another sign that she was out of her element when it came to the Observers.

All she could understand were their mind games, even if the reason wasn't clear.

"What is a chainsaw?" She glanced over at her, blinking in confusion. Again, terms that she didn't understand. It was almost as though this girl was speaking in a completely different language. "You think that this is a trap?" That seemed to be the implication.

"I remember hearing that term before. Vampire. What does that mean? Oh, and I am Lyanna."

[thegreatexperiment]

Sam waved off the chainsaw comment. It was like talking about Twitter and Facebook with Avery. Confusing and ultimately irrelevant. But she did scowl, nodding grimly at the idea of a trap. Maybe it was because she still couldn't escape the memories of the Predators. Maybe she never would. And Sam was never sure how to feel about that from one moment to the next.

And that went double for Avery.

"I think vampire roughly translates to 'cursed with suck,'" she said dryly, hooking her thumbs through her back belt loops. "Just a type of monster."

Okay, that was maybe a step too far.

She looked over at Lyanna. "Don't worry. I'm not dangerous to you."

[iron_beneath_beauty]

It was almost like she was stating the obvious. "If you were dangerous, we would have seen that by now." Monster, that was the word she knew, but this woman was harmless. The dead villagers didn't come at her hands but from what lurked in the woods.

"How much further does this hall go?" Lyanna asked, turning back to the matter at hand. It didn't really matter very much to her who was at her side. Without a weapon, she was basically defenseless, save for the sheer will still burning inside of her. Somehow though, she suspected that the Observers were above making something pop out of the shadows here.

They enjoyed toying with their minds.

[thegreatexperiment]

“As long as the fuckers want it to go,” Sam replied with a half shrug. Scientific reasoning indicated that it had to end soon. But these were assholes who had figured out Einstein-Rosen bridges like they were a recipe for matzo ball soup. Thinking in terms of logic would only lead to madness. And possibly some drooling.

With a side of Frenzy.

And shut, what was it with these people repeatedly taking her at face value? Not that San wanted to be feared or anything. But. Damn. Everyone just went with it.

She was sure she wouldn’t have trusted herself. But then, she was paranoid.

Narrowing her eyes, she scanned the darkness ahead. “You can get behind me, if you’re nervous.”