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[crazyequalsgenius]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, RICHARD BROOK. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 158.427.1.39 *** RBROOK has joined 158.427.1.39 <RBROOK> hi, this is rich brook! leave a message and have a lovely day! :)

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action; liminal spaces event

[grivences]

[ Robin has no idea how long it's been since she and Max were separated. Hours? Days? She hasn't felt comfortable stopping to sleep, spurred on by the emptiness of her stomach and the uneasy feeling that even though the rooms and hallways she's walking through are completely empty, somehow she can't help but think she's not alone.

She keeps going, keeps walking, legs tired and aching but feeling too nervous to stop, like a weird mishmash of a shark that will die if it stops swimming, and a prey animal, startled by the slightest sound. She feels like an odd mix of predator and prey, having started to change into a new kind of monster, but without any of the murderous hunger she felt the last two times she stopped being human.

She's in a long hallway, with doors dotted along either side. At first, she tried opening every door she came across, hoping that one of them would lead out. But after a dozen or so doors, she's accepted that the better course of action is to see what's at the end of the hallway. Only... The hallway doesn't seem to have an end in sight. As she looks forward, it keeps going and going, curving subtly to the right in such a way that it vanishes from view before she sees where it leads. If she turns and looks behind her, the view is the same. She is only half sure she's still heading in the same direction she started in, when suddenly one of the doors behind her opens, and she whirls around at the sound, eyes wide, not sure what or who to expect. ]

sorry for the wait!

[crazyequalsgenius]

Jim freezes just as still halfway through the door when he sees someone already in the hall. He doesn't move, just ... stares as though he's not sure she's really there, at first. (She is, he can hear her breath and her heartbeat.) He recognizes her from her eyes, the shape of her face, but is still coherent and together enough to pretend not to at first.

"... Wait. ... Robin?"

[grivences]

It's her, alright. A little shorter, and spikier, and decidedly more blue than before. But still Robin.

"Jim? You're here too?"

They haven't really seen each other in person since the first place they were trapped in. Robin really hopes this isn't going to form a pattern...

[crazyequalsgenius]

He does, too, though he knows the pattern is already in place and has nothing to do with anything either of them have done. For his part, he looks the same... a bit more pale, his movements a little stiff somehow, but still very much the man from the broom closet.

"Well, we're certainly not hallucinating each other. What door did you step through to get here?"

[grivences]

Robin gestures towards (what she thinks is) the way she came from. "Some door down there. But there was another door before that. And another door before that one. Et cetera and so on. There've been... a lot of doors..."

She's so tired, she's been running on fumes ever since she lost Max. It's hard to keep track of where she's been and where she's trying to go, other than the nebulous destination of Out.

"I don't suppose you know how to get back to the real world?"

[crazyequalsgenius]

"Hmmmm." He thinks it over, looking back down the hall in the direction she indicated. Of course, he had already guessed as much, but confirmation was good in a place like this where the facts of a situation could change with every door they went through. "Same for me. All I know is, I was coming from the other direction. But there's a door I didn't take, so ... maybe we could back-track?"

If that door was fruitless, they could try to retrace Robin's steps too: he had the memory to know the way back to where they were currently... or at least, so he thought.

"That color looks good on you, by the way."

[grivences]

They don't really have many options to choose from. Back tracking makes as much sense as trying to push forward, especially if Jim was coming from the other direction. So, Robin nods, and gestures for him to lead the way.

She's so tired, she almost misses the compliment. Instead she just kind of blinks owlishly up at him for a moment, before she remembers that words are a thing people use to communicate with each other.

"Oh, uh. Thanks. I didn't exactly plan for it, but... It's not so bad, so far." At least she hasn't felt hungry yet like she did as a centaur or as a weird angel-devil hybrid.

"You don't look like you've changed all that much."

Inwardly, she adds, 'Lucky duck.'

[crazyequalsgenius]

"Only on the outside," he snorts, pushing open the door. "It's all plastic and metal under the skin. Hurt like hell for a few days. Think of the worst muscle cramp you ever had, but put it everywhere."

He peers into the door and does a double take, then swears under his breath.

"This isn't even how it looked ten minutes ago. It was a locker room then, and now it's a cubicle farm...? Fuck, if it weren't so annoying I'd be fascinated."

[grivences]

When Jim turns to look into the door, Robin stands back, eyes boring holes into the back of his shirt, wondering what sort of plastic and metal he has under there...

"So, what, are you turning into a cyborg? I didn't even realize that was an option."

She knows there are more pressing matters at hand, but this is a way more interesting conversation topic than them being lost.

[crazyequalsgenius]

"Apparently, it is." He looks pretty bemused by it, himself. "I get some serious static electricity if I even look at a computer or a TV wrong. Made a real idiot out of myself in the arcade and broke one of the cabinets."

He shakes his head, frustrated more because he thought he'd grounded himself properly and wouldn't affect the thing, but had anyway. "The owner was really nice about it, but I still felt like I should have known better."

Stretching up on his toes, he tries to see over the winding maze of cubicles, looking for another possible exit. "Should we try through here...?"

[grivences]

"Are you okay...?" It might be a loaded question, given what they're all being forced to go through, but she still feels like it's worth asking all the same.

Jim was about the same height as Robin, when they first met. But now that she's started changing, she's shrunk about half a foot. So, she has no hope of peering over the top of the cubicles like he can. "Sure. It's as good a plan as any, I guess."

[crazyequalsgenius]

"Yeah, surprisingly." He made a face, as though he wasn't sure how to feel about that. "It just felt like ... a joy buzzer kind of thing, or that feeling you get before you shudder. Only stronger."

He makes his way through the cubicles, checking a few here and there to see if there's anything helpful or useful (there isn't).

"Okay, so - I don't know how to bring this up casually, but: is it just me or have you gotten ... smaller?"

[grivences]

Robin follows suit, peering into the cubicles they pass to see if any of them holds a clue or a key to their escape. But she can't help but roll her eyes at his question.

"Yeah... Whatever kind of monster I'm turning into this time, it's blue, spiky, and short."