saveourearth | 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

“That would be an awfully small letter if they could,” she says while tempering the small smile the thought brings. If they were to ask the mice to go through the trouble of writing a letter, then they should not expect them to write on human scale.

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.”

Russell nods along absently to the point about the letter. They couldn't work with mouse-sized writing, too likely to be illegible. But maybe they could compromise at something like cat-sized...? A little trouble for the mice to write, but he'd need a camera to help him read it, that's sort of fair. As long as mouse scratches aren't like chicken scratches.

"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?"

Consider instead if they had tiny cellphones, then everyone could simply text each other. The font would resize on each device as appropriate for the recipient.

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.

That's a thought, and a particularly cute one. A project for their tech-focused friends, should they need a project that's small and fiddly to occupy their time, perhaps?

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."

The mice might appreciate it. It would save them from traveling far and wide to collect the Numbered.

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.

Russell would appreciate it too - fewer times mice invade his flat is a good thing by him.

"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.

For her part, Nel has not even considered the risk of a cave-in within the tunnels. If there was a danger, she trusts that the dormice would give them some sort of warning. Still, she does not know what might be needed, “It couldn’t hurt. I think I have some candy in my bag...”

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.

Russell spent entirely too much of his youth hearing his mother's airy and optimistic notions of fate and destiny, and being annoyed with it, to comfortably go along with a lot of the Numbered nonsense. He goes with it for the most part, sure, but he complains and worries while he's at it.

"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.

Nothing below her waist in height per that guideline.

“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.

Run, run, follow me [Open Mingle]

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i checked their heights for this and had to laugh

She is pint-sized, and not much taller than when this game started

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