InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Your head is MINE."

Robert Drayton. (stringthetrail) wrote in bellumlogs,
@ 2010-01-02 00:14:00

Entry tags:

big bad wolf, gingerbread man, meg giry

Who: Robert Drayton.
What: Oh bother. Damn you elevators!
Where: The elevator.
When: Today in the evening.
Warnings: None at the moment.
Notes:

Unlike most of the current tenants in the building, Robert didn't know nor cared about the events that transpired between themselves. Having just moved in, he could already see his original intent and hope that it would be a quiet building were dashed. Far move from where I was, he thought. In all reality, he hadn't wanted to move. Going away from what he deemed to be his home base gave him a weird unsettled feeling in a way no one else could. But he had to. It was the best decision for his music and more producers were willing to sign in New York than Memphis (waaay too many blues players out there).

Speaking of which, it was time for him to go to the studio and practice. Hopefully he would be able to record a few sessions, listen to the end result and get one step closer to making a full-fledge demo.

So he stepped into the elevator from the second floor, pressed for the ground floor, and waited. The car began to slide down then paused, as though it was thinking, before moving up. It reached halfway between the fourth and fifth floor before stopping altogether, the regular lights switching off to the emergency lights. Staring, he pressed the ground floor.

Nothing.

So he pressed another floor.

Still nothing.

"Well shit," he muttered.

After pressing all the buttons on the panel (nope, nothing), he searched for a phone, but thanks to the miracle of antique elevators, it seemed when people were stuck in elevators back then they just sat in a corner and waited to die. Since Robert didn't enjoy the idea of screaming and wailing, he merely banged on the door once before settling on the floor, pulling out his harmonica from his jacket pocket, and began playing a tune which sounded suspiciously like Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues. Someone will need to use the elevator eventually. Then he'd get out.

Hopefully.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-01-02 08:35 am UTC (link)

James wasn't a superhero, but she was fairly confident in her ability to kick an elevator's ass for the greater good. She imagined that the task would require pants, so dragging on a pair of jogging leggings was her first mission. Followed by twisting up her hair and slipping a granola bar into her bra. Forty minutes was a long time to go without granola, the captive of the elevator would surely thank her.

The fifth floor was silent when she locked the door of 501, and upon reaching the elevator, she pushed the up button. Nothing seemed to be happening, so she pressed the down as well. There was a strange churning sound coming from behind the metallic doors, but it didn't sound productive.

After trying to pry the doors open by hand for a good ten minutes, James hurried back to her apartment and rummaged through packed boxes of belongings. She knew there were a few tools contained in one, and every city girl should own a crowbar. If only to keep next to their bed at night.

Finally, she returned to the elevator, and used sturdy steel to divorce the doors. They wrenched open with an audible sound, and she discarded the tool to the carpet. Squeezing lithe muscle partially into the elevator shaft, she peered into the dark chasm. It looked like a tunnel of death, but she saw that the elevator itself looked like it was two or three floors below.

"HELLO?" A shout down to the suspended box trapped between floors. She couldn't see anyone through the ceiling of the elevator, but assumed they would be able to hear her.

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stringthetrail
2010-01-02 08:52 am UTC (link)

Having alternated between making melodious music on the harmonica and napping, not to mention one failed attempt at smoking before he found himself face full of man-made fog, Robert found himself to be actually fairly comfortable in the little box of solitude. Sure Robert was hungry and he wasn't quite sure if there was a limited amount of air. Hm. Maybe he was dying right now. Awesome.

Then he heard a new sound coming from above him. Sounded like someone calling out to him. Maybe the elevator did have an emergency signal after all. "HELLO?" he called out in response.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-01-02 09:04 am UTC (link)

She hadn't been about to shimmy down this death trap without first knowing there was somebody inside. But once she heard the return shout hailing from below, James reached forward to grab an elevator cable with her hand. Leaning out over the dangerous pit and shouting again. "I'm going to come down!"

Although James pulled back a moment later, barely catching her hand on the side of the partially skewed elevator door. Righting her balance and managing not to tumble into the deep nothingness. The elevator cables were a rough steel, and what she really needed was some rappelling gear. Which she remembered from girl scout camp in seventh grade. But what she settled for, after returning to her apartment once more, was a pair of vinyl opera gloves. They'd do.

Kicking the crowbar into the elevator shaft, she heard it clang noisily onto the roof of the elevator after a silent fall. James wasn't sure if the victim of architecture would be able to open the roof, and it was better to have it down there just in case.

And then, crossing herself twice, she reached for the cable with one gloved hand, and then the other. Swinging out with slim weight and instantly sliding a quick fifteen feet before she was able to dig the heels of her running shoes into the cable, effectively stopping herself from dying.

After that initial mishap, and a long moment to catch her breath, James shimmied down the rest of the way. It was actually easier than she imagined, although it was no pole dance. There was very little grace in it, up until the moment she hopped the last couple of feet and landed on the ceiling of the elevator.

"Do you see a panel to open the ceiling?" It worked in the movies, but she wasn't really sure how real life elevators worked. But there was a crowbar if she had to get gangster on it.

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stringthetrail
2010-01-02 09:33 am UTC (link)

The clanging noise surprised him and he moved backwards away from the source, then attempted to move again when there was more loud noises coming from above him. If it was a rescuer or a simple serial killer, Robert didn't really care as he was in no position to get away.

"Oh." He forgot about the ceiling. Standing, he reached and tried pushing around on the panels, finding a square starting to give way. However, it stayed stuck, not improving his situation in the slightest.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-01-02 09:43 am UTC (link)

"Hold on." Determined now that she'd gotten all the way down here, James collected the crowbar from the dysfunctional elevator's edge and pried it's prongs into the panel that had been shuddering with effort.

A moment later, it was knocked loose and shoved aside. She set aside the crowbar and leaned into the hole she'd just created. A smile like three scoops of sex, teeth drawing on her bottom lip. So fucking pleased with her work. "Hey there, stranger."

Reaching into her tank top, James pulled loose that snack bar and tossed it his way before straightening. Down to brass tacks, this whole rescue mission was beginning to give her the nerves. What if the elevator suddenly plummeted? "Okay, what we're going to do is--"

Startled eyes suddenly glanced upward to where the higher source of light was vanishing. That fifth floor door she'd wrenched open dinged closed for no apparent reason. effectively locking them both in the shaft.

"-- fuuuuuuuuuck."

A moment's panic, and she dropped into the carpeted, well-lit box of death beside him. A seriously concerned expression stitching up her eyebrows and worrying her eyes.

"Share?" Gesture to the granola. They might be here awhile.

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stringthetrail
2010-01-02 10:08 am UTC (link)

Robert nodded and his eyes remained upward as his (he supposed) rescuer managed to pry the panel open and start struggling her way in. "Hey," he responded, eyebrows raised. Not exactly what he was expecting, but at this moment he'll take any help offered to him.

He started stepping away to allow the girl to do whatever she needed to do when she threw something at him. Reflexively, he slapped the offending item away and it hit the door before bouncing into a corner. Frowning up at her, he found himself without room to care, quickly moving out of the way to avoid injury.

Not wanting to turn his back on her, he shrugged at her request. "Don't suppose you got a phone that gets any signal here do you?" Robert already tried, but lost that round.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-01-02 10:16 am UTC (link)

Not exactly a warm welcome. James' focus oscillated slowly to the granola bar in the corner. She could have taken offense to his lack of interest in nutrition, but she said nothing. Stepping over and snatching the thing right back up, shoving it decidedly -- and a little roughly -- into the cup of her bra again.

"I didn't bring a phone." A reply as bland as skim milk. James turned away from him in order to divert some attention on the elevator panel. The buttons were all lit up, but she pushed them anyway.

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	stringthetrail 2010-01-02 10:26 am UTC (link)
	Robert only takes offense to granola bars flung at his face, and rightly so. "Alright then." Leaning back against one of the walls, he watched her try what he already had. "Tried. They stayed on." He pulled out his harmonica again and began playing a slow sad tune. If they were going to be stuck down there longer, it was not going to be in silence. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_peepshows656
2010-01-02 10:32 am UTC (link)

Blue eyes blistered over the freckled ridge of a shoulder. Giving him and his harmonica a look of silent contemplation before turning back to the elevator panel. Maybe she should beat the hell out of it with the crowbar, that seemed like the most promising option. As James really wasn't sure how long she was going to last in this box.

"Somebody knows you're down here. Maybe they'll call the fire department."

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	stringthetrail 2010-01-02 10:34 am UTC (link)
	He paused his playing. NOW you got his attention, James. "How does anyone know I'm here?" he asked quizzically. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_peepshows656
2010-01-02 10:38 am UTC (link)

"I don't know." A little annoyed when her eyes scraped back to the ceiling. The crowbar was sounding good right now. How this guy had made it an hour down here, she had no idea.

"They told us you'd been stuck in here for the better part of an hour, so I came to save you." Twisting with sour amusement, she faced him with a lyrical extension of her arm toward the sky. Ta-da.

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	stringthetrail 2010-01-02 10:42 am UTC (link)
	He eyed her in confusion and with slight suspicion. Robert didn't see a camera anywhere...he was about to play again when her vague comment stopped him yet again. "Who is 'they?'" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_peepshows656
2010-01-02 10:48 am UTC (link)

"R1." Mentioned on the tail end of a mutter that said she wasn't paying much mind to the conversation at hand. Tongue between her teeth, she moved beneath the square hole in the ceiling.

Intense with her focus on the ceiling, she crouched before leaping like a slim boned frog. Fingertips barely scraping the ledge of the gap. She readied to try again, continuing their discussion with a preparatory inhale. "Friend of your's?"

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	stringthetrail 2010-01-02 11:08 pm UTC (link)
	Having been swaying between confusion and suspicion, Robert's mood settled firmly on the former as the woman named a person responsible for her showing up in the first place. "Never heard of them. Just moved here." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_peepshows656 2010-01-02 11:58 pm UTC (link)
	"I suppose it's good you don't know them, then." Hesitating, James embedded her fingers in one of those vinyl opera gloves. Peeling it down in a thick, black scroll before it disconnected with her fingertips and flopped to the floor with a plastic sound. ".. since they did absolute fuck-all to get you out of here themself." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stringthetrail 2010-01-03 01:39 am UTC (link)
	Robert hoped she wasn't expecting him to help as he didn't know jack shit about elevators nor did he have any idea of how to get out of one. Other than girlishly screaming and banging against the doors like in the movies, and Robert was too good for that. "How did they even know I was down here?" he asked. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	stringthetrail 2010-01-03 01:42 am UTC (link)
	((ooc: I think Shane can come in soon, if you would like :D)) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_peepshows656
2010-01-03 06:21 am UTC (link)

"I don't know, nameless." Vanilla creme fingers seeking a hold on her axe handle hip. James gave him a solid, considering look. For this being their first meeting, her focus was unnaturally intense.

"Maybe they did something to this thing, knowing you were in here." Blue eyes were charmed, unaffected by the potential for malicious scandal that landed them here. Smiling, even as she glanced back up to the hole in the ceiling. Like a kitten planning to crawl out of a dumpster, James was plotting.

"Ever had sex in an elevator?"

((ooc: I agree, Shane to the rescue.))

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wolfishane
2010-01-03 07:38 am UTC (link)

((The rescuer has arrived.))

After speaking--briefly, thankfully--to Daniel on the forums, Shane had grabbed a crowbar of his own and walked out to the elevator doors on the sixth floor. He prized them open just enough to see through, peering down, taking a guess at the floor the elevator was stopped beneath. The third, it looked like.

He took the stairs down to the third floor, jamming the crowbar between the doors and forcing them apart. It was an old elevator, and it didn't take too much pressure to get them to give, even if they did screech a bit.

They opened and held, and Shane looked down. It was only about a five foot drop to the elevator, and he landed lightly on his feet, grabbing the cable to keep from putting too much pressure on the elevator car.

He leaned over the edge of the hole on the ceiling, looking down. "There was only supposed to be one of you." His tone was dry, blue eyes catching the light in the dimness of the elevator shaft, brighter than anything else above them.

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stringthetrail
2010-01-03 07:46 am UTC (link)

"If they knew someone was in here, figure they'd send the fire department in," he responded. Seemed ridiculous not to do so. Then again, maybe some random stranger wanted him to die and failed to at least let him know why which was a little unfair.

Watching her trying to climb back out of the elevator, he was surprised by her question, but simply settled on, "No."

Then a new 'rescuer' appeared up through the panel in the ceiling, and Robert looked up from where he stood, shrugging. "Now there are three of us," he replied, slightly wondering how much of an inconvenience it really was the shabby elevator failed.

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ex_peepshows656
2010-01-03 08:03 am UTC (link)

James made a small, noncommittal sound at her fellow captive's response. Attention wavering to the ceiling when she heard a screech of metal. A moment later, and somebody new was investigating the hole she'd cracked in the paneled lid of their tomb.

Baring the belly of a wrist across her brows, James shielded her eyes from the florescence of the elevator's interior lights, peering into the faint darkness that rose above them.

There were only supposed to be one of them?

"Well, which one of us are you looking for?" Flashing a casual smile, like he'd just happened upon their tea party and nothing more pressing.

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wolfishane
2010-01-03 05:02 pm UTC (link)

"I'll take either," he said dispassionately, looking back over his shoulder. So there was the man mentioned on the forums as well a woman. Probably the one who'd been talking to Daniel. The crowbar was behind him, holding the elevator doors open. "If I give you a hand, are you capable of climbing out, or do I have to come down there and give you a boost?" There was a touch of wry humor, so light it almost wasn't there.

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	stringthetrail 2010-01-04 04:49 am UTC (link)
	Robert looked between the two of them. It was already too late for him to go to the studio so he was no longer in a hurry. So he gestured to the woman instead of himself. "She can go first." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_peepshows656
2010-01-04 05:28 am UTC (link)

The man in the elevator earned a small smile. He was really beginning to grow on her once he'd stopped offending her granola bar. But the one standing on the roof was given a less amused slant of bluebell eyes. Being underestimated was fairly low on her list of enjoyable pastimes with men, and it was a short list.

It was really all the motivation James needed for leaping once more, all feline extension and great lift. Bare fingers catching the ledge of the missing ceiling panel, and using more muscle that she seemed capable of possessing, pulling herself up through to the other side. Giving the man a discerning look as she stood, James collected her own crowbar from the elevator's ledge. "Twins."

It was the only thing she said before tossing it through the doorway that opened to the third floor hallway, and stepping around him to hoist herself out of the elevator shaft. She vanished in a flash of lean legs, but reappeared a moment later to watch the rest of the rescue. Chewing on her granola bar.

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	wolfishane 2010-01-04 05:35 am UTC (link)
	He watched her with a lingering hint of amusement, a flicker of admiration. She was good. That just left the man in the elevator below, who he had a sneaking suspicion might not be quite as lithe, not as graceful. "She's gone first. You're next," he said, offering his hand if he needed it. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)