Run, run, follow me [Open Mingle]

[saveournpcs]

Date: Saturday, 4.1.2020
Characters: OPEN

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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.

Comments

[saveournpcs]

Whenever he touches the fur, there was the same slight ripple as before - but now that he stands in it and sinks deeper due to his full weight being on a lesser space, his feet will actually touch the mouse's skin. At this point, he's literally waist-deep in.

Walking towards the tail will definitely be easier because he won't have to go against the grain.

As his feet touch the mouse's skin, the soft rising of the body due to the intake of breath hitches for a moment, and when it continues again Benjiro feels the urge to align with it, slow down his own inhaling and exhaling to the rhythm of the mouse. At the same time, a heartbeat that is almost deafening resounds in his ears, together with a feeling of warmth, of belonging, of safety, like a mother might feel to a very young child. And he receives an echo that makes him, or used to make his preincarnation, feel safe.

[warped_replica]

His upward attention is quickly retracted as he sinks into contact with the skin below the field of fur and the air current from the breathing of the mouse dwindles. He freezes in place until the breathing cycle continues, and as his shoulders relax, he exhales. A pause follows as that urge to slow down rises. Benjiro does not breath in...at least, not until the shock of the thunderous heartbeat startles him into a gasp in the next instant.

Rather than becoming fearful or more anxious, a very different kind of feeling overtakes him. A warmth so absolute in a way he has never experienced blankets him. It quiets the anxiety. His thoughts go still for a moment. Tears seep into his eyes as he stares off in the darkness with his flashlight lowered.

He’s safe. He knows how to hide. He knows how to mend.

A cool tear slipping down his cheek stirs him out of the stupor, and he sniffles softly as he rubs his eyes with his free hand. Whatever that had been, it was intense. It would be hard to describe later on when he reports to the other Numbered, but the knowledge and trained awareness left in its wake give him a lingering sense of security.

More aware of his body, he realizes now his breathing is trending unnecessarily slower. Tapping two fingers together quietly to get the rhythm of seconds into a physical sensory, he cues mentally to switch his breath in or out every three seconds. He keeps tapping until he has collected his thoughts enough to focus on the task at hand.

Surveying the way that follows the fur, he elects to travel that route with steps kept silent and tentative. He can always climb again after circling to the head from the cavern floor if he finds nothing else unusual on his travel towards the tail.

[saveournpcs]

There is nothing unusual on his path to the tail, just more fur the ripples that go through it every time he sets down a foot.

[warped_replica]

So long as the rippling from his steps does not increase in intensity or frequency of the rippling reaction, he keeps his pace slow and steady. Along the way, Benjiro keeps a running total of strides in his head to track an approximate distance while heading towards the tail and thus the bay.

As he makes his way, he also turns his flashlight upward at regular intervals to check the ceiling for any signs of openings or questionable cracks.

[saveournpcs]

By the time that he reaches the tail, he's standing under the Channel - not too far in, but the tail continues outwards. Apparently this specific mouse prefers to sleep stretched out instead of curling up.

[warped_replica]

Coming to a halt as the fur starts to slope more precariously downward, Benjiro peers down and sees the tail trailing. A look around at the back end is confirmation as he recognizes the relatively lower slopes as familiar to seeing Bunsen stretch out on his belly at home.

Looks like he might follow the tail from here. To do that, he has to get down, so he searches for a ledge he might be able to jump to along the cavern wall down lower or to the sides.

[saveournpcs]

He'll find one, and getting down won't be an issue. There's less space between wall and tail than there is between the wall and the rest of the mouse, but there's still space enough for Ben to walk.

[warped_replica]

Finding the right sort of ledge, he makes his jump easily and scales down to the floor of the cavern. Once back on the floor, he adjusts his duffle bag to bring it in closer when he realizes how much less space there is around the tail. It strikes him as odd that the cavern appears almost molded around the mouse. The tunnel it had come here through could have collapsed, and yet, the tail has ideal space. So long as there is no need to move at least.

Once again tracking distance with minor adjustments for a smaller stride in less space, he follows the tail.

[saveournpcs]

The tail goes on for a WHILE, and the tunnel continues to appear like it's perfectly moulded around it. Eventually, that means that Ben will have to duck as he walks because the tunnel becomes lower, the curve of it ...curvier.

[warped_replica]

He is not well suited for small spaces, but the teenager will duck or crawl as far as he can safely in hopes of at least shining his light at the end of the tail and whatever may be at the tip around the curvature.

[saveournpcs]

He can make it to the end of the tail, though it gets really crammed in towards the end. Tracing the distance that he travelled is hard at this point, but he can tell that he's well over a mile out under the ocean at this point, perhaps even two or more.

And at the end of the tail... the tunnel ends. There is another metre or two, and then comes a cave wall.

[warped_replica]

Huh. It is not so surprising, but still strange.

Upon nearing the end of the tail, he digs out his phone and takes time to snap multiple pictures of the finding with his flashlight aimed to enhanced what he can capture without washing it out. Phone tucked away again, he lies on his side to study the cavern wall. Perhaps he can snag a sample to take back for analysis.

[saveournpcs]

He can take a sample!

That aside, the cavern wall doesn't really provide much information - however this cave was made, it's been like that for long enough that time as worn away all traces of it. It doesn't feel exceedingly moist nor dry, there's no marks of tools... nothing. Just cave wall.

[warped_replica]

Using one of his tools from his duffle bag, he chips a decent sized sample from the wall and seals it into a ziplock bag. A sharpie is used the label it, then he takes another photo with his phone where he chipped out the sample to show Sadie.

With no more room to move, Benjiro reverses course. As he goes, he takes occasional photos and samples from the tunnel wall approximately every quarter mile. He snaps a couple different angles when he meets back up with the body of the mouse, then turns away from the tail to follow the cavern around to try to locate a rear paw.

[saveournpcs]

A paw? Yes, he will find a paw. A really big paw - it alone is the size of four double-decker buses.

[warped_replica]

In locating the rear paw, he similarly does his best to track distance from the base of the tail to estimate half the width of the giant mouse while laying in its current position. He attempts to take a photo of the foot. As it is so big in such a narrow space, he elects to set the photo timer on his phone to snap a shot of a nail of the foot with him standing next to it for scale as well. Phone retrieved, he moves onward.

Benjiro continues walking in the space around the giant mouse to locate the forward paw of the same side, or perhaps, merely the shoulder if the paw is tucked.

[saveournpcs]

As he walks, the direction-changing breeze that has been around in the tunnels as well becomes stronger and warmer. Definitely, significantly stronger as he continues on in search for a front paw. It's starting to be more of a storm than a breeze.

[warped_replica]

The strength of the breathing, especially during the exhalation, slows his pace to a more cautious one. He keeps his flashlight trained ahead, but occasionally turns it upwards. Best not to go too far forward.

He’ll keep a look out for that paw, but now any sign of an ear or whiskers.

[saveournpcs]

The wind keeps getting stronger, until at the very beginning of the inwards wind, it almost knocks him off his feet.

[warped_replica]

The sudden strength of the air current at the start of the inhalation has him grabbing for the cavern wall and dropping into a lower stance to brace. Once it lessens a little he tucks his flashlight in his waistband as before and heads upwards in a second climb.

Best to not continue circling if that rush could worsen by going any further. Especially since he is near where he has been trying to get if the mouth is somewhere right ahead.

[saveournpcs]

It's impossible to tell how close he is actually to the mouth, as the wall of fur has remained unchanged, but he can tell that he's walked a bit under a mile in an upstream direction.

[warped_replica]

Too close to be comfortable if nothing more. Figuring the distance of his current position from the mouth of the river allows him to appreciate how exceedingly long this mouse happens to be while stretched out from near the head to the tip of the tail.

Keeping an eye out for anything different in the endless fur and on the cavern wall, he repeats his previous techniques to ascend back up to the top of the den.

[saveournpcs]

One difference is the strong winds that will tear at him - he'll have to find a way to secure himself against the cavern wall to not be blown off at the beginning of inhalation.

[warped_replica]

Initially, the ascent is merely a little slower than the first time he climbed at the middle. He has to go a little slower to secure his grip on the rock against the two forces of gravity and the strong air currents. He can account for that with some careful searching for better holds. What he failed to anticipate is the sudden strength in the rushing air at the switch to inhalation. Between the strength of the reversal and the surprise of it, he is yanked free from the cavern wall. He has no claws to bite with into the stone.

Scrambling to catch another hold during his drop, he manages to briefly snag a spot with one hand to decelerate the fall. The yank at his shoulder is absorbed mostly by his muscles, and reorients his position for impact along one side. When he lands, he lands with a solid thud. It knocks the air out of him, and stuns him.

...ow.

Flashlight still functioning but cracked beside him, he rolls onto his back with teeth gritted to gather his wits about him. Now painfully aware of his mistake, he realizes he will have to back trek a ways to try again. Once he lies still for a minute to wait and see if anything is broken.

[saveournpcs]

When he hits the ground with a thud, a sympathetic shudder runs through the giant body next to him, shift to the side - luckily not towards the side Ben is on, so he doesn't get smushed, but he can hear that it hits the other side of the cavern and the far end of the ceiling.

And feel it. It does shake the cave quite a lot. Rather resembles an earthquake.