OiM - How it All Began

[Venom3001]

"The one that went through the fire exploded, man!" Andreas pointed out.  

[NativeForeigner]

((Yeah, did you miss the part where I said "the flames licked the beetles shell and it "popped"?))

"Just use the damn rope!" Ro agreed, "Or do you wanna die?"

The cigarette that Henry spat at the beetle bounced gently off the ground and into the blood as it was eating through the floor and ignited, creating a small fire.

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Alastair sat across from Juliet eating a small sandwich. It was the end of a long shift and one of the benefits of living in such a small town is you could go almost anywhere and not be too far from home. He was looking forward to some sleep.
"You look a 'lil tired." he commented, his Scottish accent thick.  

[SirBayer]

Arthur hesitated. "Wait, without the rope the climbing hooks I have are useless," he said, but not particularly loudly, not appropriately for the rate they were running. In reality, he agreed; the ideas had apparently formed in both of their heads at around the same time, Andreas was just fast of mind enough to snap it out. "Do it!" he suggested, still running.

---

Juliet ran a hand down her face, rubbing sleep and water out of her eyes. "Yeah, I'm tired," she told him. "It was a long day. Glad you had your ticket pad," she muttered; she had forgotten to replace it in her belt and had somehow, somehow, left it at home. And it wasn't like there had been time to go home and get it by any means, not with what their schedule had been like that day. With a sigh, she pulled the headband out of her hair; it was starting to give her a headache, as were her sunglasses, so she removed them as well, tucking them both into a sort of hanging position on her belt. "At least there'll be some time to spend with Dad," she muttered to herself, unknowingly implementing dramatic irony.  

[Jokerman-EXE]

"Fine!"
Henry unwrapped the rope from around himself and pulled out his Zippo, a shiny golden lighter.
It wouldn't start as he was running, due to the wind, so he spun around. Just as he got the flame to catch, he tripped, falling. "Oof!" he cried, going down.
He looked up at the approaching bugs as he lit the rope on fire. Once it really caught, he threw it in front of him and began to scramble back.  

[NativeForeigner]

The rope landed in a loop, not really blocking off the hallway too effectively, by it was light and quickly catching.

Ro hopped over the rope and helped Henry up. He nudged the rope straight so it spanned across the hallway. Ro waved Andreas and Arthur over.

As soon as they hopped across the rope, they all took off again just as the first of the beetles crawled across the rope. As soon as the fire made contact, it popped, spreading both it's blood and the fire and catching a few more beetles.

The rest of the beetles hesitated for a moment, staying away from the fire. They easily bypassed the fire by crawling on the walls and ceiling. A few more beetles caught and spread some more fire and caused other beetles to pop, but the majority of the beetles continued to pursue.

The beetles were closing in, but the group was almost to the tower.

At least the rope bought them a few seconds.

*************************************************************

"I don't blame ya, it was a long day, busy too." he agreed, taking a sip of some tea. "Do ya need a ride home?"  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Henry got himself back to his feet and pulled away from Ro, trying to distance himself from the insects.  

[SirBayer]

"Come on!" Arthur encouraged, setting up for a final sprint.

---

Juliet tiredly nodded. "Isn't like I brought my car out here. Isn't like I could've remembered my car today." She had done some remarkably stupid things, she felt. Oh well; she just wanted to get home and eat a real dinner and see her father and get some real sleep.  

[NativeForeigner]

Ro was the first to the stairs leading to the towers. He stopped to wave everyone up. Henry was first to scale the stairs, followed closely by Andreas.

The beetles were getting uncomfortably close.

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Alastair shook his head, "It's alright, you're just havin' an off day, lass, go home, spend some time with your pa, and get some rest, you've deserved it."
He smiled warmly and put a hand on her shoulder, "C'mon, let's get goin'"  

[SirBayer]

((MUST. RESIST. TEMPTATION. TO. PUNT. SMALL. OBJECTS.))

Arthur started the final dash he had prepared, grabbing Ro on his way by so that Ro would be forced to start climbing the stairs. "Let's go!" he added to this action, rather violently.

---

Juliet weakly returned his smile and got up, heading for the door with Alastair presumably right behind. The cruiser was just outside, and she more or less dragged herself into the shotgun seat; she didn't do much of their driving.  

[NativeForeigner]

((It's hard, isn't it?))

Ro started with a stumble up the stairs but quickly regained his balance by climbing on all fours for a moment.
They made it up to the tower room, the beetles close behind. Serena and Monica were nowhere to be seen, Gregory was just waking up and had a hand on his head.
The door labeled "1" was slightly ajar, "Makes sense to start with 1!" Ro suggested.

The beetles started up the stairs.

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Indeed, Alastair was right behind her. After she got into the passenger seat, he slid into the drivers seat and started the car.
Soon, they were headed to Juliet's home.

((Wooooo! Roll a 6, for what, you ask? You'll just have to find out! twisted ))  

[SirBayer]

((Well, you know, not after the Crabomb.))

Arthur shrugged in agreement and went right for it, taking the lead now.

---

Juliet hadn't much to say; she leaned her head back against the headrest and let out a long sigh, shutting her eyes and relaxing completely.

"What do you do after work, anyway?" she inquired after the silence in the car got a little much to take.  

[SirBayer]

((Oh, roll.

...I rolled a 6. For real.))  

[NativeForeigner]

((Haha! Hey, at least you learned a lesson!))

Arthur reached the door, pushed it open, and went through, uninhibited.
Arthur felt a strange sensation about him. He remained in complete darkness and the door behind him had seemed to vanish.
He began to panic slightly, but he calmed when he saw Henry follow behind him, and then Andreas.

Ro was the last through the door, dragging Gregory with him. He closed it just as the beetles were entering the room.
One beetle managed to make it through, but ignored the group and showed no threat.

The blackness persisted for a moment and then slowly faded and the doorway came back into view. Once the blackness had completely faded, the group found themselves under a make-shift shelter with a small fire burning in the center.

The shelter consisted of four wooden poles supported a roof made of sheet metal. Hay was spread about everywhere and there were a few bales near the poles. A series of five, small logs surrounded the fire.

The door they had entered through was freestanding about five feet behind the fire. It lacked hinges and a doorframe. The beetle had settle down by the fire, but far enough to avoid popping.

Outside of the shelter it was snowing gently and the ground was covered in snow and ice. A few, snow-covered pine trees stood, elevated by a short, snow-covered hill, on either side of small path made up of various sized flat stones.

Ro immediately wrapped his arms around his chest and inched closer to the fire, "Holy Jesus! It's cold." he pointed out, shivering slightly.
He crouched down to observe the beetle, "They don't look to dangerous on their own." he commented.

*************************************************************

Alastair shrugged, "I just go home an' take a good, long nap. Other times I go out for a drink."
He shifted his grip on the steering wheel, "What do you do?"  

[NativeForeigner]

((Actually, the roll was just to see where we were going, you didn't have to roll, yet))  

[SirBayer]

((Well, whenever I need to do something, I should get something nice.))

Arthur cringed at the cold and shifted towards the fire too. "How...?" he started, but there was no point. There was no denying it; this was either a bad dream or it was all real, and Arthur was still hoping bad dream. Sadly, it hadn't gotten strange enough just yet. "I don't suppose we can go back through the door. Can anyone see any substantial distance?"

---

Juliet shrugged. "I go home, eat, and sleep, mostly. Waste time on a book or the internet or whatever." She was starting to fall asleep.