what in the longdark spitting-pit is that

[inourhead]

This was a bad idea this was a bad idea this was a bad idea.

Holly runs as fast as she can but the demon's faster. She has no idea where Lightning's gotten to; maybe he found a tree to climb. She on the other hand has been diverted into a treeless hill and she's careening down a slope, trying very hard not to trip.

And the demon's gaining on her.

She's never seen anything like it and neither has Crystal; maybe Book knows what it is but Book's asleep. It's mostly mouth - it looks like a cross between a floorlength mirror of a mouth and a snake to propel the mouth along.

And Holly's not fast enough.

The mouth catches her.





But it doesn't hurt.

Where are we?

----


with Minus (kappa)

with Mark (kappa)

with Max (Benedict)

in Terraria (kappa)

with Emma (Marri)

with Erin (Rockeye)

Comments

[follow_the_leader]

Emma looks around. It's getting dark. "We should probably go back," she says reluctantly. "But if I don't buy anything, my parents will be suspicious. Let's stop for something quickly?"

[joy_in_laughter]

"Holly and Crystal need their charms!" Jenny points out. "Buy them bracelets!"

[cry_me_a]

Alli rolls her eyes. "And then get yourself something too. Otherwise your parents will still be suspicious."

[follow_the_leader]

Emma finds herself a new pair of gloves, since her mother had been complaining that hers were wearing out, and then they all head into a jewelry store. Shortly, Emma has two bracelets. She didn't get them in the traditional elemental colors, since Holly and Crystal haven't identified with one; she just picks Holly's in a light wood and Crystal's in a darker wood.

She offers them to the girls. "For you," she says. "Your coins, see?" She points at the charms with the blessing symbols.

[inourhead]

Holly puts a bracelet on each wrist, then, glancing around the marketplace:

"Mouse?"

[cry_me_a]

Alli looks around. "What, you want to buy a mouse?"

[inourhead]

"Mouse, mouse, mouse. Mouse sleep. Mouse not-see, mouse - more mice."

[cry_me_a]

"...Emmaaaa, translate please."

[follow_the_leader]

"She uses them to make herself stay awake or heal blind people or whatever, and so she needs more?" Emma tries. "The mice seemed okay when she woke me up, though, I guess it's not like... immediate mouse death."

[joy_in_laughter]

"But the cute mice!"

[cry_me_a]

"What, seriously, you were hiding from them earlier."

[joy_in_laughter]

"Well, now they're cute."

[follow_the_leader]

Emma rolls her eyes and ignores them. "We can look," she tells Holly doubtfully. "I don't know of any places that sell mice, though."

[inourhead]

"Mice or -" Vague gesture. "Small, eat small. Mice good but -" Vague gesture.

[joy_in_laughter]

After some searching, it's Jenny who finally locates the store with some caged gerbils in the back. "Aren't they cuuuuute," she purrs, scooping one up to cuddle it.

[inourhead]

Holly picks up a gerbil.

It promptly falls asleep in her hand.

She puts it back.

[cry_me_a]

Ali peers at it. "Cute," she says grudgingly, "but I like the mice better. These are too... fluffy."

[follow_the_leader]

"You're weird," Emma tells her matter-of-factly.

[joy_in_laughter]

"There is no such thing as too fluffy," Jenny tells her indignantly.

[follow_the_leader]

While Jenny and Alli bicker happily about the ideal fluffiness level of pets, Emma tunes them out and looks at a much more alert-seeming Holly. "You saw the gerbil, touched the gerbil, are you good now?" she asks. "Or do you want to buy one? More?"

[inourhead]

"Mouse not - like gerbil," says Crystal. "Mouse, gerbil -" She mimes claws and bares her teeth.

[follow_the_leader]

While Emma has no doubt that this is perfectly true, she doesn't have any idea how that works with Holly's- whatever it is she does. "Um," she says blankly. "Claws," she supplies the hand gesture, and "fangs. Sharp," she uses her canines to attempt to demonstrate. "So- gerbil not like mouse- gerbil good? Gerbil bad?"

[inourhead]

"Mouse good. Mouse?" asks Crystal. "No mouse - gerbil, gerbil, gerbil, gerbil. Child gerbils."

[follow_the_leader]

Emma shrugs. "If mice are better, we'll try to find mice first."

She leads them back out into the Plaza of Women. She doesn't ask the owner of the gerbils where to go- it seems vaguely insulting, somehow. But she buys them all a bag of chocolate drops and gossips with the candy seller, and extracts the name of a smaller, more boutique store known for "more exotic pets." It's on the far edge of the Plaza, practically to the men's side, but when all is said and done it's not that large a square.

The owner of the boutique store eyes Emma's company warily- they're not dressed nearly as nicely as she is- but is polite and deferential to Emma, so as long as he restrains him to staring, Emma deems it not worth lecturing him. He assures her that he does, in fact, have what she is looking for, right there in the back, the latest trend, would she and her friends care to see?...

Emma sighs, and prepares to haggle. She waves Alli, Jenny and Holly towards the side wall where the mice are said to be. Go on, take a look, I'll be here bartering.

[inourhead]

Holly looks over mice to see how they compare with the mice at home.