Labyrinth Adventure Reborn (Closed for lack of Attendance)
- Thread starter Floozer
- Start date
"Huh, yeah that's a good point. Chief? I don't suppose we'd get our supplies from the store house, would we?" Melanie asked.
"Alright Walsh, we're off!" Melanie declared, fur sailing with Walsh in tow as she turned and made her way to the door, throwing her spare hands in the air excitedly. "Thanks again Chief, thanks so, so much for all that you and your tribe have done for us. We'll make you proud, just you wait!"
The chief waves at them as they leave before stepping back into his house. Back at the store house is a new ant, a female for once, who stands in front of the door.
"Hey there... you are that outsider who showed up right? Nice to meet you, my name is Sally. What do you need?"
"Hey there... you are that outsider who showed up right? Nice to meet you, my name is Sally. What do you need?"
Swept up in her haste, Melanie had to ponder the question for a moment, before realizing that she didn't really have an answer. "Yep, me and my buddy Walsh are here to help repair houses, but uh, I don't really know what we need. Nice to meet you Sally, also, and I'm Melanie. What exactly are your houses made of?"
"Clay bricks! We have a furnace just outside of the village where we cook them. Hang on." She heads into the store house and comes out with a wheelbarrow full of bricks and a bucket of wet clay. "It is really simply. Pull out the busted bricks, lay down some fresh wet clay, put on new bricks. Rinse and repeat until the busted sections are strong again!"
"Alrighty, we'll just have to get in there and give it a try. Thank you oh-so much Sally," Melanie chimed, pulling out a brick to get a feel for it, before setting it back and hoisting the bucket into her arms. "C'mon Walsh, let's see if we can't fix up some busted homes. Are you busy Sally, or are you coming along to make sure we don't mess it up?"
"I am managing the store house. Best of luck you two."
Walsh grabs the wheelbarrow and moves off with Melanie. "This doesn't sound too hard right? I saw a few cracked houses on my way in here... lets start with those!" He leads her to the far end of the village to the first busted house. The corner is cracked and a few bricks are close to falling out.
Walsh grabs the wheelbarrow and moves off with Melanie. "This doesn't sound too hard right? I saw a few cracked houses on my way in here... lets start with those!" He leads her to the far end of the village to the first busted house. The corner is cracked and a few bricks are close to falling out.
"Righto, righto." Melanie muttered, looking over the bricks carefully, before ever-so-gently working one of the cracked bricks out of its spot. After throwing it to the side, she took another, and another, using two spare hands to hold the rest of the corner in place as she took one of the new bricks from the wheelbarrow. After slathering it up with wet clay, Melanie slid it in place, replacing the old brick, and repeating the process until the section was stable enough to stay on its own. "Hey, this is kinda fun. Try that one over there!" she pointed giddily to another cracked section, rubbing her hands together, and staining both palms with the gritty clay.
"Yea, I got it!" He pulls the damage bricks out piece by piece before there is simply a hole in the wall. He grabs some clay and smooths it into place before filling in the hole with fresh bricks. "It's kind of like those lego toys from back home. Ever heard of them? Little plastic pieces that you stick together and build things with? Real simple and easy to use." He moves over to another house and repeats the process.
"Ha, I sure remember stepping on them. What exactly were you up to as a Naleen, playing with legos out in the jungle, anyhow? Seriously though, those things were a fun time." Melanie's four arms worked like second nature as she spoke, her dexterous hands crossing over one another as she reached for more bricks and handfuls of clay. The action of repairing the homes was almost therapeutic, even if the strain of bending down and hefting bricks wrought sweat on her forehead before too long. As she scoured the buildings for more cracked sections, her mind wandered, with a self-satisfied smile imprinting itself on her face. "Any second now, I'm telling you. That grouch Korlish is gonna come waltzing on in, and we're gonna get some great big hugs, and he'll tell us how much he missed us, and we'll tell him how much we missed him right back. And Samara, too. I bet she's charmed together a search party. Hell, she could even be coming in here right now. As for Busco, I wouldn't be surprised if he'll have four arms too when he comes bursting through the walls with that hammer of his. Then bam, big ol' happy family versus the world." Though her words were pleasant to say and believe, they were bittersweet, as the image of Diana and the polar bear woman flickered in her mind.
Walsh's face fell rather quickly. "Diana... was the naleen... not me. I was a tax accountant remember?" He looked away and worked in silence for a minute or two, remembering the loss of their family member. "God damn it... we have to find a way back to her... some how..." Work goes on between the two of them in relative silence after drumming up poor Diana's fate. They fix a fair number of houses, around 8 or 9 but honestly they lost count after a while and only stopped when they ran out of bricks. "Well... that will do it! Houses all fixed up and ready to weather the years!"
"Uh-huh," Melanie agreed. The solemn mistake had dampened her spirits some, but not enough to show. Melanie wanted to say that they'd find their way back to the door. She had a hunch, wasn't that enough? Assuming happy endings was what she'd always known. It was her instinct to hope for the best with certainty. She believed that those who took to the silver lining would have everything work out in the end. It was what she would've liked to say to Walsh, but couldn't bring herself to after the Naleen mixup. "How about we check back with the Chief? He's gotta be sick of us by now, but maybe they can tell us what the ants down here do for fun."
Walsh nods and they take their gear back to the store house before heading back to the chiefs house.
"Wow... you two really are making yourselves useful around here. First the food, now the houses. There really isn't much left to do around here, nothing that can't wait til tommorow at the very least. i assume you want a place to relax yes? We have some empty houses to the west, just find one and head on inside, they all have the same stuff inside."
"Wow... you two really are making yourselves useful around here. First the food, now the houses. There really isn't much left to do around here, nothing that can't wait til tommorow at the very least. i assume you want a place to relax yes? We have some empty houses to the west, just find one and head on inside, they all have the same stuff inside."
"Neato, thanks a bunch Chief, and glad to be of service!" With a wave, she turned to Walsh and smiled, trying to keep water under the bridge, as she pointed over to the empty homes in question. "C'mon bud, let's see what kinda place we'll be kicking back in, hm?"
"Yea! Sounds good to me!" The two of them walk off to the empty houses and simply pick the first one big enough for two. Inside the house is a large bed that is actually just a huge mushroom! A barrel full of water sits to the side for washing up and a second one for drinking. It is all one big circle room.
"Hmm, mushroom bed." he jumps onto it and bounces around "Woa! Bouncy!"
"Hmm, mushroom bed." he jumps onto it and bounces around "Woa! Bouncy!"
"Ooh! Suave!" looking the sparsely-furnished home over, Melanie was decidedly satisfied with what she saw. "Hey Walsh! Catch me!" She shouted, wanting to join him in his bouncing as she charged full speed at the mushroom bed. Both feet on the ground, she sprung into the air, and dove right at him.
Walsh let out a dog like squeal of terror as he was smooshed under Melanie, both of them bouncing around the mushroom at her impact. By the time they stop flailing about they are just a tangle of limbs and fur. "Hahahahaha! I give the dive an 8, but the landing only a 4!" He wiggles about until they are side by side. "These ant people... they are pretty cool folks. Simple living, but I am well used to that."
Melanie drummed her fingers against the bed absentmindedly as she spoke. "That's true. It seems like there are a lot of lifestyles in the labyrinth that every labyrinth-goer has to experience for a while. I can't imagine how you all lived like this for longer than a few weeks. Gathering food and repairing homes is fun and all, but to live like this for an entire lifetime? We've been here for a day and I'm on the cusp of being out of things to do." She set a fist in the palm of her hand, as if realizing something. "These labyrinth-goers, they've gotta know or learn how to adapt. The labyrinth deals the cards, and it's not afraid to give a bad hand. It's up to the people being dealt in to make something out of nothing." Melanie paused briefly in her tangent. "Labyrinth-goers... that's kind of a mouthful isn't it? What do you think Ms. or Mr. Labyrinth god calls people like us? Labbies? Dwellers?"
"Something tells me 'Crawlers' as we can only crawl about the vast labyrinth they have constructed and awe at it's marvel or some over played shit like that." He grabs her new arms and plays with them. "This is so strange... you are now part ant... don't get me wrong, I like it, but you are now a hybrid race."
"Hybrid, huh?" Melanie tested the word a few times. "Hybrid... I like it! Truth be told, if there's anything good to be said of the labyrinth, I'm seeing the transformatives I would've wanted to shoot for back home thrown around like candy. But this? I was way too broke to buy anything like this. I mean think of everything I can do with these! Maybe it's irresponsible, but I think I'd like to become even more of a hybrid. Everyone needs a hobby after all, and it does sort of remind me of everything I liked about home."
"Well, I won't stop you! Right now you got a wolf tail and ant arms. What were you at the start? A possum? So you are a three way split right now. I am thinking you need some scales next. What do you think? Scales... maybe some bat wings? Really just try and grab back the fun stuff!"
"Ooh! I like the way you think!" Melanie purred. "Bat wings sound nice! Any kind of wings sound fun really, but bat wings, or dragon wings even? Top notch. Maybe I could get some feathers down my forearms or something. There's something in the back of my mind, I don't remember where I got it from, but I think there's this one fabled race- maybe they're real, I don't really know- and they had scales on their arms and legs and some other places, but not everywhere. They had something to do with fire, like they could light their tails and keep them lit. I'd like something like that. Woah, do you think that I can get some sweet elemental powers with certain transformatives? My eyes glow now, so that's something." Melanie was giddy with all the possibilities, and was getting all kinds of wrapped up with the potential. "-but if I had scales, what color would they be? Black, like my hair? That'd look good with the green chitin, and what if I found a way to streak it with pink to match and-"
"Woa woa woa! Take it easy girl! One part at a time alright? We don't even know if we can find all these pieces let alone custom color them!" He laughs and pulls her into his chest again. "Mm, it is so good to have you back Melanie. i was so worried when we all got split up like that. I hope the others are safe.... though something tells me Busco is just fine. dude is huge and his hammer is bigger than he is. But Samara and Korlish make me worry."
Melanie snuggled up against him. "It's only natural for you to be worried. Hell, I'm worried too, and I've only known them all for a few days. I can't imagine how you're feeling through all this, but hey, Sam and Korlish are smart. Nothin' but us ants down here, and I have a feeling that they'll be alright. Y'know what I've always believed? Look for the silver lining, always, always, and it's all work itself out to be fine. Me? I'm still waiting for that happy ending, but it's not all about the destination either. I've lived by the silver lining rule my whole life, and it brought me to you guys now didn't it?"
Walsh nods slowly back to her "Yea... I suppose that makes some sort of sense. I just thought that things would be like you said. With us fighting, fucking and treating this place like our playground. So far it has done nothing but throw us through one hoop after another. I'm not blaming you... I just set my hopes really high and now reality is slapping me back down is all." She pushes his face into the crook of her neck. "At least we know they are somewhere down here with us."
Tsk, "playground." Melanie almost winced as she recalled the memory, and her use of the word in describing the labyrinth. In fairness, she didn't know a thing when she had said it. There had been no raptors, no polar bear woman, no split families... like Walsh said, it was just fighting and fucking. "I'm sorry about that by the way," she said softly, rubbing his head with her chin as she wrapped her arms around him. "It shouldn't make up for anything, but I'm sorry that I once treated this all as a game. Up to now, it's been on me. I wasn't careful, I spat in the polar bear lady's face, I pushed when I should've pulled, I lost my knife, I badmouthed the labyrinth, I almost made Tom cry. I've been trying, I've sure as shit been trying, but maybe I haven't been trying my best. This moment now, it's me turning over a new leaf. Things will work out, but if the path on the way to that point is rough, it won't be because of me this time."
"It's only normal to make mistakes right? Everyone makes them... it's more about what you do after making them. you either wallow in them and let them devour your life... or you learn from them and walk forward. So this is us walking forward I guess. Diana isn't lost... she is just stuck. We will get her out before we leave this place... even if she is not the same as we remember." His grip tightens around her. "But that is for later. For now we have to get everyone back together!"
The little heart-to-heart did Melanie's heart a solid, and she savored his warm fur as it brushed against her bare stomach. "Stick to the silver lining..." she tried again, imprinting the words into her mind for when she needed them. Suddenly ecstatic, and newly convinced that their stuck friend would be alright, Melanie declared her new revelation. "Science is amazing these days. Even if she might not be the same when we come back to her, we can still bring back the old Diana, I'm sure of it."