Save Our Earth NPCs (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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saveourearth2020-04-03 10:47 pm
saveournpcs) wrote in saveourearth2020-04-03 10:47 pm
Run, run, follow me [Open Mingle]
Date: Saturday, 4.1.2020
Characters: OPEN
I.
It's midday when trouble seems to brew underfoot. Literally underfoot, in cases - wherever the Numbered are, they'll suddenly find dormice approaching them, running around their feet, in some cases up their legs, aiming to get their attention, and then running off - coming back again, running off once more in the same direction.
Trying to get the Numbered to FOLLOW.
II.
If Numbered decide to follow the mice, they'll be lead through the streets, fields, or whatever there is (in some cases, this might mean that the mice are trying to lead them through the military area aroudn the air base). Perhaps they'll run into other Numbered on the way - all mice seem to be leading those that they lead into the exact same direction.
III.
The direction of, it turns out, the tunnels under the cliffs. The mice will easily slip through the grates that bar the entries - the grates were made to keep humans out and let a tiny mice through easily. The Numbered, however... well, the grates were installed solid and sturdy to keep humans out. The mice will vanish in the tunnels and not come back.
Characters: OPEN
I.
It's midday when trouble seems to brew underfoot. Literally underfoot, in cases - wherever the Numbered are, they'll suddenly find dormice approaching them, running around their feet, in some cases up their legs, aiming to get their attention, and then running off - coming back again, running off once more in the same direction.
Trying to get the Numbered to FOLLOW.
II.
If Numbered decide to follow the mice, they'll be lead through the streets, fields, or whatever there is (in some cases, this might mean that the mice are trying to lead them through the military area aroudn the air base). Perhaps they'll run into other Numbered on the way - all mice seem to be leading those that they lead into the exact same direction.
III.
The direction of, it turns out, the tunnels under the cliffs. The mice will easily slip through the grates that bar the entries - the grates were made to keep humans out and let a tiny mice through easily. The Numbered, however... well, the grates were installed solid and sturdy to keep humans out. The mice will vanish in the tunnels and not come back.
no subject
Midday leaves the dormice to find one particular Numbered tagging along on a shopping trip in town with siblings taking advantage of the post-holiday sales. It’s usually the best time to stock up on wrapping paper or other goods for next year after all, and with such a large family, any savings adds up. Nel has barely gotten back enough energy to be on this trip after another plunge into a comatose state two weeks ago, but she had insisted on getting out of the house. She could only take so much resting.
Standing in an aisle looking at the leftover ornaments, she gets quite the surprise when a dormouse climbs over her boot onto her leg. Identifying the source of the pricks at her skin through her leggings immediately soothes her alarm, and she bends down to whisper after it returns to the floor, “You probably shouldn’t be in here...” Then she realizes it was not only one that had found her. Staring, she watches them run to and from her only a couple times before she realizes they want her to come. Nel stands and finds her siblings, telling them she is heading home early and reassuring them she can make the trip. Multiple times.
Leaving the store, Nel spots the dormice waiting. “You realize I can only get away with this once. If they get home before I do they’ll never let me go anywhere alone. ...I hope this is important.” The girl starts to follow the dormice as she sends a text to her mother at home to let her know she is changing location with a promise to update her soon, and that it must be something to do with the Numbers. Once she knows where she needs to go, she’ll text again.
III
Shivering upon arrival from the chilly trip to the tunnels, Nel pauses to push her hands against her knees to catch her breath. She had hurried as well as she could, but even bundled as well as she had dressed for the shopping trip, the cold has seeped through the layers and left her more drained.
Staring after where they disappeared into the grate, she waits until she has recovered to approach the grate. “Hallo...? Come on, I can’t go that way...” Another pause, then she sighs. “...Guess I’ll find another way in then.”
Swinging her bag around, she digs inside the pockets. If she is going into the tunnels, she’ll need something to light her way. She has her cellphone, but she does not want to risk dropping it or draining the battery. If memory serves however, she has an unbroken glowstick in the bottom of her rucksack that might help.
III
"Oh, hey... Nel, right?" Russell asks as he comes close, mostly watching the disappearing mice. "You're here too? Don't tell me..."
Much as he'd like to deny it, it seems unlikely that the mice are just singling him and Walter out for... whatever's going on.
no subject
Hearing the greeting and her name, she swivels her head back the other side and plops to sit down. A smile is ready for him as she returns the greeting, “Hallo Russell! Yeah, Nel’s right.” She takes no offense. After all, she is one from a set of five kids in the Tilly home. Most people take time to learn all of them.
“And yeah, some other ones led me here too. They seemed keen on getting our help, so I came.”
no subject
"Our help, right," Russell says slowly, looking sidelong at the grated tunnel. All that swarming and rushing, and now the mice just vanished on them, apparently. "Though I can't figure what they need our help for, they get in the grate easy enough..."
no subject
“I imagine they want our help with something in the tunnels.”
no subject
Russell sighs and stops complaining with that, because there's not much point in complaining about mice that aren't even around to hear his complaints. Not when he's venting at a kid, especially. Instead, he approaches the nearest grate and tests tugging and pushing it with his bare hands. It sure feels secure.
no subject
Her search is halted briefly as the girl stops to watch Russell apply force on the grate with no visible movement from the metal. “I don’t think you have to break in. A couple of people I know at school always brag about getting in the tunnels when the tours aren’t going.”
i checked their heights for this and had to laugh
"Is that right... They might be full of it," he cautions, as he gives up on tugging at the grate. He's unsure of that even as he says it - he remembers hearing similar boasts in his own school days, but he never checked into whether any of them were true.
But that's not the biggest issue here - he is. He pointedly straightens to a height nearly half a meter taller than Nel, and smiles lopsidedly. "Or there might be a tunnel you can get in... But can I?"
She is pint-sized, and not much taller than when this game started
At the caution, Nel gives her shoulders a shrug as she cannot rule out the possibility, “They could be, but I am hoping they were only exaggerating how far down they’ve been.”
When Russell makes a point of demonstrating his height, Nel puts her search efforts on hold to gather her feet under herself up to stand for comparison. He is much bigger than her, but not so wide. His cousin has more bulk to him. “...I guess it depends how you feel about crawling?” Height should not limit him as much as his shoulders if they have to enter in a horizontal manner.
no subject
For the moment, she's onto something, and Russell grimaces at the notion. His cousin has a lot more bulk to him, between his growth spurt contrasted with Russell's increased gauntness - despite eating plenty and exercising. Russell's bone structure never made for especially wide shoulders in the first place.
"I... wouldn't enjoy it, but..." He bites at his lip, considering the nearest grate again. "If it widened out a little ways in, perhaps."
no subject
Nel has noticed the change herself, as she only sees Russell intermittently. Nevertheless, the same logic would apply to most adults regardless of how thin they may or may not be.
His hesitation is noted, and she shakes her head, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I bet we can find a bigger entrance if we look far enough. We can look where most people don’t go.” And thus, where no one would have thought to put a grate.
no subject
"A bigger entrance would be good," he agrees with some relief, but looks back the way he came. "And maybe some supplies. Snacks. Water. Other lights than my mobile." Just in case of a cave-in, the reason they're grated in the first place.
no subject
Then her attention turns down to Russell’s legs. Specifically where his knees happen to be in height to her. From that, at least she can guess the bare minimum of space he may need to avoid crawling if she adds his head and neck to it. Crouching to enter seems like a fair compromise. She holds a hand about where that looks to be and asks, “So maybe if I find a hole this tall?”
Clearly her job will be to search for a hole while he gets supplies.
no subject
"Something like that, yeah. And no shorter. If I had to wriggle on my stomach..." He shakes his head. It might be possible, in an emergency, but he's not volunteering for it. Not even if the mice swarm him again. "And I'll borrow a saw, in case the small tunnels don't work."
Maybe not the most responsible distribution of responsibilities. But if it means she won't venture in alone in pursuit of mice, that works.
no subject
“Sounds like a plan,” she says in agreement. She has confidence the saw will not be needed, but she has been wrong before and would not tempt misfortune by saying the thought aloud. Crouching back down, she drops the items she pulled out back into her rucksack and dons the bag on her shoulders.
“Right! See you soon!” she says cheerfully and turns to walk over the tunnels.