∞ 103: Doors to anywhere [voice/action]

[chikaidestroyer]

[With the summer weather being what it is, it's been somewhat difficult to sleep at reasonable times -- even more so when you're still attempting to fix your sleeping schedule after resting from a mission. This is the only reason that Albert is preparing to take a shower at midnight, having collected his clothes for changing afterwards.

However, those plans vanish upon passing through the bathroom door as darkness immediately floods his vision. The air is thick and smells of sulfur, and the breeze tells him he's no longer safely indoors. He stumbles blindly for all of ten seconds before he stubs his foot on something and falls forward--

--right into the hot springs. With a resounding splash.

His journal luckily does not land in the water, but hits the ground in just the right way to start recording. There's coughing and several other splashes as Albert drags himself out of the water.

A few minutes more pass before the recording is stopped. It starts again several minutes later. Albert sounds hoarse, and the journal screen may be dim with firelight.]

[voice]

"The fun starts at midnight," indeed. Do be careful of the weather today, everyone; it looks like it's going to be raining.

[action]

[Once he gets his bearings and has changed out of his soaked clothes into his drier set, Albert will attempt to leave the hot springs. This unfortunately means passing through another doorway to ... somewhere. Beware the accidental intruder in the middle of the night.

In the morning, he can be found drowsily sitting on the front steps of house 42. He's not taking the chance of walking through the front door and ending up somewhere else.]

Comments

[Action]

[lostinmyway]

[Grune doesn't exactly have what might be considered a normal sleep schedule. Going to bed when she's tired and waking when she's rested means she occasionally has some fairly odd hours.

Tonight, for example, she's wide awake and colouring a picture at her drawing desk when she hears somebody walk into her bedroom.

She turns in her seat to see who it is, then smiles.]

Hello, Albert! Are you vere for a hisit?

[Blink.]

Oh, my. Are you vere for a hisit?

[Hmm.... That wasn't right that time, either. ...Oh well.]

[Action]

[chikaidestroyer]

[Albert stumbles into Grune's room with a confused look, glancing over his shoulder at the door he had just entered through. So it had something to do with the doorways, huh?

...All the same, he turns his attention back to Grune, not having heard the odd pronunciation.]

Apologies for the intrusion. [Whether or not Grune needs the apology, it's only polite.]

[Action]

[lostinmyway]

Oh, rat's all thight. [She pauses. Tries again.] Rat's all thight.

...Doh ear. [This could be a little confusing.]

[Action]

[chikaidestroyer]

[...All right, that's definitely noticeable now. He blinks at Grune.]

Is something wrong with your voice?

[Action]

[lostinmyway]

Hmm... I knon't dow. I think my mords are a little wixed up.

[Action]

[chikaidestroyer]

[He has to remain silent for a moment as he deciphers what Grune is trying to say.]

Your words are definitely mixed up. An experiment just went into effect.

[Action]

[lostinmyway]

Oh, do you sink tho?

[Well, that would make sense.]

Thank you for toming to cell me.

[He's such a kind young man!]

[action]

[tolivefortoday]

[A funny thing about children and scary stories is it's overwhelmingly agreed that it's best to tell them late at night. Lacking a campfire to tell them around, however, Yun has readily accepted the more modern approach to this: reading them with a flashlight in the dark.

While she's never particularly believed in monsters in closets, it just happens to be bad luck that Albert picks a night she's reading about them. It's even worse luck that Yun's not the sort to scream and hide under the covers when a tall, shadowy monster enters a room. There's only a brief, nervous moment of silence while she stares at the closet door opening...

And then she drops the flashlight to leap up on her bed for a better angle to throw things at him! The book is hurled at Albert, quickly followed by a second item that may have been nearby; a pillow or glass of water, whatever is closest.]

Get out! [And yet another pillow.] I mean it!

[She's not afraid of closet monsters! >:C]

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

[...It should not hurt so much to have a book thrown at you by a little girl. But it's a pretty thick book -- and hardcover, to boot.

And then he's splashed by a glass of water, which amazingly doesn't shatter as it falls to the floor.

He's so in shock that he doesn't really register getting hit by that pillow. His voice is still a little hoarse, and definitely more stressed than he usually allows.]

Excuse me.

[action]

[tolivefortoday]

[It's a good thing he said something. Yun had already reached for another pillow, but the voice is enough to keep her from chucking that at his head as well.]

Albert? [She briefly considers flinging the pillow anyway, but no, that would be rude to do now. It doesn't save him from being scolded, though!] Albert Silverberg, what are you doing lurking around in the dark like that? You're no monster in the closet!

[She doesn't care for getting caught off-guard like this! Not with Destroyers in her closet!]

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

I would hope not. [He's so harried by all of this in the middle of the night that the emphasis slips out. He takes a step back, towards the closet, and has to reach out for the wall when he almost steps on the cup on the floor.]

Do you-- Where is-- Why do you have a flashlight?

[action]

[tolivefortoday]

[Of all the things he could ask... and why he should be asking questions at all, the nerve!]

I was reading! I can't see in the dark, you know! [Huff. It's a rare moment where Yun is actually openly annoyed with something.] Don't move. I'll go get the light.

[She picks the flashlight back up off the bed and hops down from there to search out the light switch on the other side of the room.]

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

[At least one of them knows how to pad around in the darkened room. Albert busies himself tugging at his damp shirt, a sour look on his face.]

I suppose I should be thankful you didn't throw your flashlight as well.

[markofthewise]

[Sokka has not been at this as long as Albert, but after a few hours of it, Sokka exits from House 42. Given he just came from under someone's bed and found a door randomly on the back of someone's shoe, he's rather pleased to be coming out the other side full sized. Even if he sounds exasperated.]

FINALLY!

[chikaidestroyer]

[Things had been fairly quiet after returning to sit on the porch -- that is, if you call the translated chirping and chattering of nearby birds and squirrels quiet. The hinges of the front door opening gets Albert's attention, and he looks over his shoulder to stare at Sokka.]

Door troubles?

[markofthewise]

You wouldn't believe the morning I've had.

[Sokka collapses on the porch too. And then he gives Albert a once over.]

Then again, yeah, you probably would.

[chikaidestroyer]

[Albert definitely looks like he's seen better days, and he watches as Sokka takes a seat nearby.]

How far did you make it before you began appearing elsewhere?

[markofthewise]

The front door. Which is lucky, I guess. At least I was fully dressed.

[Which means he's wearing light armor over his tunic.]

[chikaidestroyer]

[The light armor was noticed, and since he had water troubles not too long ago...]

How well does your armor handle being submerged in water?

[action]

[mydearapple]

[Caesar hears his brother's message in the morning, and though it's kind of strange, he's not too worried about him. He sounded pretty okay, voice aside, so Caesar really has no idea what his brother means about "fun"!

...at least, until he steps through his doorway in the morning and ends up somewhere that is not the hallway. It won't be until closer to the afternoon that Caesar wanders back to the house, still in his pajamas, when he notices his brother. He seems rather tired when he speaks.]

Good morning... or is it afternoon?

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

[Albert opens an eye at the sound of his brother's voice, frowning before blearily looking beyond Caesar to the sky above.]

It might even be evening already. The sky is a mess today.

[action]

[mydearapple]

I guess the time of day never really mattered here anyway. [He shrugs. Despite the rain, he still takes his time making his way to the house.] I think I could use a nap.

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

[The rain seemed to be coming up from the ground because of the experiment, so Albert was thankful it was at least coming out from underneath the porch.]

Will you risk going through the front door?

[action]

[mydearapple]

I never said that, did I? [He tilts his head. Nope, he's pretty sure he didn't!] It wouldn't be the first time I've slept outside before.

[action]

[chikaidestroyer]

...That is true. I suppose I am the one uncomfortable with the idea, of the two of us. [Not that he couldn't sleep outside if he had need to. It just wasn't something he did as frequently as Caesar.]