Yang
Flea Market Artist
Posts: 1,001
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Post by Yang on Apr 12, 2022 10:27:33 GMT -6
Something can be gleaned, not far off...
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Post by Morgan on Apr 12, 2022 10:39:07 GMT -6
There was definitely a great deluge coming, and if nothing else it was promising lightning. There were already bright flashes in the sky, and little Whisper (perhaps smartly, perhaps out of instinct) shrunk down into their pocket out of shear terror and refused to poke her head out. The clouds were advancing at a nearly impossible rate, and the storm was LOUD. They could already quite clearly see streams of rain pouring down beneath the clouds. Morgan knew that they had to act, and now- or else who knew what would happen with the storm? It was obviously something conjured by whoever it was that ran this mysterious abode, and Morgan wasn't about to test their luck with it- chaos node or no. They bent down without thinking too much about it and grabbed the shiny little ring they'd found just a moment or two ago- and pulled it up. [10] l27R6WlT
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Post by Morgan on Apr 12, 2022 10:42:10 GMT -6
As the ring was pulled up in Morgan's deft but thin fingers, the chain that it was attached too also rose up out of the grass from where it had been practically invisible all but a foot away from the ring before. Now they could tell that the chain was quite long, and they weren't entirely too sure how long that was in it's entirety. So they quickly began to pull on the chain further, mostly walking theirself along the grass to follow it to where they hoped that it would end. Finally, it does end- and they were able to find the hatch. The hatch itself was well camouflaged along the ground, quite flush, and it really didn't want to come open. Morgan is able to find a little level beneath a handle on the hatch. They bent down, another crack of thunder sounding far too close overhead- sending little Whisper whimpering in their pocket. [11] Wzv|DCXz
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Post by Morgan on Apr 12, 2022 10:45:10 GMT -6
Their situation was dangerous, but Morgan knew that it could be much, much worse. They cower down slightly as the first of the raindrops hits their glasses- though the action was a bit of an instinct after the giant rumbling boom of the loud thunder that had just sounded off what felt like directly overhead. The wind picked up just as Morgan got purchase on the hatch- and it helped their weak frame to lift the otherwise impossible for them to lift hatch and nearly carried them off with it once it was nearly ripped off of it's hinges. Morgan let go at just the right moment and then lowered theirself down into the hole of the hatch. At this, they reached for the hatch as it began to rain quite hard- and they pulled and pulled. If not for the wind actively switching right at that moment to rip the hatch back the other direction they'd have never gotten it shut. For a moment, it was all their own breathing and Whisper's whimpering. [12] P|iKiNlx
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Post by Morgan on Apr 12, 2022 10:47:37 GMT -6
It was dark in the hole beneath the hatch that Morgan found theirself in. The storm raged above incredibly loudly, as if there were not at least a couple of feet of ground and a couple of inches thick of some kind of metal above them. Morgan knocks on the metal of the hatch after a moment, and is actually more shocked when nothing particularly strange happened in response. They reached into the pocket opposite of the one that Whisper was hiding in to try to find something of use. Finally, they draw forth a flashlight. Thankfully, they'd thought to bring this thing just in case- they often brought it with them whenever they went out to do some exploring anywhere that they could think of. They did breathe out a sigh of relief once they clicked the light on, even though it took a moment for their eyes to adjust. [13] a81kVg3e
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Post by Morgan on Apr 12, 2022 10:50:41 GMT -6
"Whisper?" Morgan finally asks, checking the other pocket now that they had a source of light and their eyes were able to adjust to the dim light. Whisper was still shaking in their labcoat pocket, they knew, but they didn't quite know if the boom had sent her into a panic or worse without giving her a good once over. Whisper doesn't poke her head out of the pocket but Morgan does look inside of the pocket. For a second, Whisper's little sunset-colored eyes blink back in return. She seemed fine enough, though plenty scared. Now that Morgan was certain of Whisper's safety, they looked around them to get a good idea of their surroundings. They appeared to be standing on a metal landing, their rubber boots had plenty of traction due to some kind of raised pattern on the metal of the platform. Around them was quite dark, but the echoing sounds told them they were in quite the large area. [14] ceRQI16g
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Post by Morgan on Apr 12, 2022 10:53:40 GMT -6
Being in a pretty large area didn't really bode well, but it did make the bespectacled human incredibly curious about their surroundings. Their plan had been to simply sit in the hatch close to the top so that whenever they heard the storm blow over that they could go back outside, but now they wanted to keep that hatch door in sight preferably but also check around the area. They hadn't been aware that there was anything like this before at any part of their other various research trips here in the past- that got the nearly feline curiosity all flared up in no time flat. For now, they decided to wander close to the edge of the little metal platform and look out over the area the best they could with their flashlight. The hatch seemed dry, and of course it would be- it wasn't like they were in the sewers or something horrid like that... Whisper pokes her head out just as Morgan looks out over the edge of the platform. [15] bQUyqhzT
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Post by Morgan on Apr 12, 2022 10:56:14 GMT -6
The edge of the platform appeared to disappear out into an inky black nothingness that made the ocean at night appear brighter than the sun. Morgan couldn't have hoped to see anything beyond their face out there- but there was a nearby auxiliary ladder that looked to be attached quite solidly to the platform. So there was a way to go down, and Morgan assumed to come back up too if they were lucky. The issue was that they wanted to make sure that they could go back up to the top of the platform again whenever the storm would blow over so that they could get out again. The idea of being buried alive underground was a terrifying one- though at the very least this place looked much larger than the traditional wooden box for burials. Whisper makes another noise- one that echoes quite loudly. They glance down and notice that she had her head poked out of their pocket again. [16] AIB_b33n
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Post by Morgan on Apr 12, 2022 10:58:48 GMT -6
"Decided we w-we're s-safe huh?" Morgan asks her. Whisper doesn't seem to be looking up at their face, though. Instead, Whisper was focused out on something in the darkness. The human is actively reminded now of the time that Kaodie had done the same thing and ran all amok in some darkness that Morgan personally didn't trust. Sometimes it seemed like the animals that they traveled with saw better through the mansion's various tricks than Morgan theirself did. It was really worrying. At least Whisper had never tried to run away from them before- so they were reasonably certain that she wouldn't take off into the darkness by herself. At the very least, Morgan would be more worried about her falling out of their pocket on the climb down (already a slim chance at that) than running off. Now they had to make a decision. Go down the ladder to do some exploring, or stay up here where it felt a little safer... [17] Wo9AOaIt
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Post by Morgan on Apr 12, 2022 11:01:52 GMT -6
Morgan was one of those people that were rarely stuck in the planning paralysis stage of thought. They often thought through situations very quickly and then went on their way just as quickly- very rarely did they find theirself at the sort of stalemate that they were at now. This time, though, they weren't being prodded into doing something because of Whisper's incessant whining. No, Morgan wanted to go searching their own self- and that was enough to make up their decision despite the long tenebrous moment they took beneath the pounding sound of the rain above their head. They warned Whisper with a quick- "Sssh, hold on." Before hoisting theirself over onto the ladder. The ladder felt sturdy enough, they tested it with their meager weight to make sure, and then they began to slowly climb down. They ensured on each step that they had a good grip with their rubber boot soles before continuing the descent. [18] BJDAsWus
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Post by Morgan on Apr 12, 2022 11:04:21 GMT -6
The ladder was a lot sturdier and a lot longer than they would have ever guessed that it would have been. If they had been sure of the actions that they were going to take before, they were most certainly not by the time that they got halfway down that ladder. The human hadn't even known that it was halfway down the ladder at that time, and that made the sensation worse. For a moment they paused, testing their grip on the bars above their head. The ladder was quite cold and the rungs were doing a number on their hands. When was the last time that they had climbed up or down a ladder? It must have been a long while, because it was most certainly causing all sorts of stress on their joints. Whisper held tightly onto their pocket to make sure that she felt comfortable- even though she probably wouldn't have fallen without it anyway. [19] btNmgeeb
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Yang
Flea Market Artist
Posts: 1,001
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Post by Yang on Apr 12, 2022 22:30:12 GMT -6
Something can be gleaned, not far away..
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Post by Morgan on Apr 13, 2022 12:17:45 GMT -6
The rest of the path down was relatively uneventful- and Morgan couldn't quite be thankful for that stroke of luck. How were they supposed to be able to relax into that sense of calm whenever the mansion tended to come back with extra random danger after any prolonged period of calm? They were almost uniquely suited to be up on their toes and waiting for danger to happen. Often times, they even waited for the 'other shoe to drop' while they sat at home doing something as mundane as making dinner. Whenever they finally got to the bottom rung of the ladder, Morgan swung back around while holding on with one arm to pass the flashlight's beam over whatever was beneath them. They wanted to be able to see the ground that they were going to get down on before they tried. They wouldn't want to put theirself and Whisper into freefall if there was a long distance drop instead of floor... [20] FNZ_G1|N
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Post by Morgan on Apr 18, 2022 21:40:31 GMT -6
Perhaps luckily for Morgan, the floor didn't look too far away down. In fact, they had been expecting the floor to be covered in at least a thin layer of water, but where the 'water' they had expected would have otherwise been, they saw instead a layer of what looked to be sand or dust on the floor. The rain was still pounding on the ceiling above them (much to their chagrin, they'd have had an excuse to move back up the ladder and try to leave the strange hatch in the ground. Instead, the only real logical thing to do was to keep going down the rest of the rungs to check out the area down on the floor of the hatch. Whisper clings to the pocket a little bit harder as Morgan moves the rest of the way down the ladder to lower theirself to the dusty floor level.
[21]
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Post by Morgan on Apr 19, 2022 12:09:14 GMT -6
The first thing that both Morgan and Whisper noticed (though of course neither would know that the other did) was how much colder it was on this level of the hatch's room. As soon as Morgan's rubber boot soles hit the dusty floor, a chill seeped through that Morgan wasn't entirely certain at first how to explain. Finally, they settled on the old 'heat rises' adage in order to make theirself feel better. Whisper shudders in their pocket and pokes her head down again beneath where their pocket opened up at their waist. Morgan shivers a little too. Perhaps it wasn't too late to climb back up and ditch the little search of this strange area altogether? They tried not to second guess theirself, but it was a common enough occurrence that they had guessed that they'd second-guess it at soon as they'd gotten down. They decided that since they were already down there, they'd need to not make all of the hard work for naught.
[22]
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