It's Brittany, Bitch | Ερις (eristic) wrote in paxletalelogs, @ 2017-05-24 08:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | ares, eris, maui |
i can't stand it i know you planned it
Who: BB, Daniel, & Kal.
What: BB marshals the troops for a second closet invasion. It does not go well. (delicious, delicious plot for the Pax backstory stuff!)
Where: BB's apartment, then the lobby, then....?
When: Backdated like woah to Wednesday, May 17.
The month of April had not been conducive to BB's desire to further investigate the Pax Letale building; aside from the floor change, work and other, real obligations kept stealing time away from Brittany and her cohorts. Then the floor changes had thrown them all off course, and it wasn't until nearly the midpoint of May when BB sent out a distress call via text.
my place NOW 911 IMEDITELY b ther or b squr
Satisfied with her work, BB turned on her TV and let her brain go numb to 80s music videos on Mtv while she waited for a response.
When Kal received Brittany’s text, it was the first one from the girl and it took him a moment to remember who the hell “BB” was in his phone. They had exchanged numbers some time ago after discussing the oddities of the apartment and that was that. Kal was returning from a trip to the doctor’s, fresh with a sore arm from receiving shots prior to flying out to Africa for a Nat Geo mission, and was climbing the stairs to his place when his phone went off.
Turning, he retreated down the stairs but instead of heading to BB’s apartment, he knocked on Daniel’s to see if his friend was there.
Daniel was home, but had not risen from the sofa. While he had every intention of going to his neighbor's, he had no small reservations regarding BB's use of "911." So when he answered the door for Kal, he was still comfortably dressed in basketball shorts and white tee, his feet bare and his hair only nominally brushed. From the living room came the dim glow of his laptop, and the steady stream of music pouring from his television speakers.
"Hey. What's up?"
“For the little bit I know about BB, she seems to be highly dramatic. So, how serious is this?” Kal lifted up his phone, BB’s text clear on the screen, complete with misspellings and random capitalization. “I was just coming home but… you think we should go see?”
"I mean…" Daniel glanced back into his apartment, his shoulders sagging slightly as he thought of the work yet to be done. He had no client visits until the following day, and in truth he had been quite diligent in his morning's work; he had gotten enough done that a quick trip out to BB's was not entirely out of the question. He sighed, and dipped back inside. "Lemme get my phone. Who knows with her…"
He returned in a moment, locking his door behind him. He dropped his keys into one pocket, his cell in the other, and followed in Kal's wake.
BB had grown impatient while waiting for her recipient's arrival; she poked her head out of her apartment door, spotting them immediately in the hallway.
"Um, can you guys not read?" Nails rapped on the door frame irritatedly, and she fixed the both of them with a glare. Then she stepped to the side and waved her arm, ushering them into the closed space of her quarters as if she could pull them in with the mere movement alone.
“Hey, BB,” Kal said with a smile, moving past the small woman and into her apartment. He paused just inside the door and looked around at the more cramped space than what he lived in. “What’s the emergency?”
"Not tellin' either of you nothing until you get. In. Here!" She bodily reached out and grabbed Daniel by the wrist, hip-checking Kal in the same movement with more force than her small body should have been able to encompass. Then all three were inside her apartment, with her furtively closing the door with a few last glances out into the hall as though she were expecting a spy to step out from behind a non-existent planter.
"OK, so, you guys remember the stuff we talked about? You know, the dreams, and the stuff, back before the building went all weird?" She stepped into her kitchen, glancing between the two as she spoke. Her actions seemed to underline her words, as she touched the back of a chair, scooting it out, then back in, seemingly unable to remain still.
"I think we need to do it. Now. Like." She leaned forward, whispering conspiratorially. "Go back into the closet!"
"How is this '911' worthy?" Daniel asked. Pulling his wrist from her grip, he spread his hands wide, melodramatic confusion emblazoned on his face. His eyes narrowed; he studied her as though the truth might be written on her impish face. "Seriously, did something happen? Because I see no reason this couldn't wait until the weekend, or a couple beers, or at least til I'm done with work and actually dressed or somethin'. Why now?"
"Because," she shot back, as though that were truly a valid answer. "Besides, I don't care what you look like, Kal doesn't care what you look like, so no bullshit about trying to impress somebody. And, also," she continued, jabbing a finger in his face, "they'd expect us to do something when people have free time, not in the middle of the week. So this way, there's less chance of getting caught.
"All you have to do is look pretty for Stephan, anyway, and let me and Kal do the dirty work. Right? Or are you worried that he's not gonna want to eat you alive just because you're in basketball shorts? Because, newsflash, he sure as fuck doesn't give a shit what's on you, Danny boy, OK? OK, now that we're all agreed--"
"Hey now," Daniel interrupted. He moved in between Kal and BB, looking at each of them in turn. "First of all I could get that reaction in anything, even these." He tugged at the hem of his plain tee shirt. "Second, who the fuck agreed? This is barely a plan at all, let alone one either of us can, with totally sober brains, agree to. I mean okay, the weekday versus weekend argument is solid. Otherwise..." He cut a look up to Kal. "C'mon, man. Help me out here."
Kal looked back and forth between the two, his gaze finally settling on BB and he let out a slow slip of a laugh. “You’re just nothing but high energy, aren’t you? I mean, I agree with Daniel. Yeah the weekday versus weekend argument works but you can’t just spring a mission on us and expect it to go according to plan. You want to investigate? Sure, but why don’t we just plan the investigation rather than just throwing Daniel and his shorts at Stephan?”
BB groaned, her eyes rolling to the ceiling.
"Because then we'll be here all day with you chickens planning everything out. This isn't complicated! We just go, distract Stephan, and get into the closet! Remember, I have these??" She moved toward her junk drawer next to her refrigerator and pulled out the spare set of keys that would have let her into any apartment. She held them up by the looping red wristband, letting the keys jingle as she fixed them with a "duh" look. Then she caught them up in her hand, crossing her arms over her chest while tapping her foot.
"Or are you guys telling me you're actually chicken about this? You two big, strong dudes, with less balls than me, and I'm, like, what, a quarter of your size? It's a fucking closet, you guys, not a bank."
Kal’s brows rose and he took a step back as he turned his attention to Daniel. He gave his friend a small shrug. Obviously, if anyone was going to make the decision to do this, it was up to Daniel and Kal was just willing to follow along. “You know her better than I do,” Kal murmured. “And you’ve been in the thick of this longer. If you think it’s worth doing, then I’ll do it.”
Daniel's lips pursed to a thin line. He ground out a noisy sigh, then threw his arms up in frustration. "Fine. We'll go. But only because you've got those keys, and I kinda am curious to see what else is in there. Maybe Officer Wolfe or whatever still has some shit left in there." He pointed at BB. "But listen, since I'm distracting the queen bee, you have to make sure you check for anything that looks like it might be remotely interesting to me. I'm not gonna do all the dirty work and end up with nothin' to show for it."
To further demonstrate his readiness, Daniel was first out the door, flip flops making little slaps against the floor as he went. Kal looked at BB and raised his eyebrows before turning out of the door as well and going into the hall, waiting for the woman to tag along and to give him instructions which he was certain she’d be more than ready to do.
Which, of course, she did. She was right behind them, pulling her apartment door shut with more care than she usually showed for her personal things, making sure it was locked before following them down the hall, skittering around the mountain that was Kal before falling into step beside Daniel's semi-pouty walk.
"OK, so, like, just like last time," she insisted, glancing over her shoulder to Kal, then back to Daniel. "You go down in the elevator, and He-man and I will be waiting in the stairwell, OK? You remember what the signal is?" She drew up to the stairwell door, one hand pressed to the handle.
"Yeah yeah."
Daniel moved straight for the elevator. He watched her as he quite pointedly (BB equally matching him in this impromptu staring contest) pressed and held the close doors button, staring until the very moment the doors shut altogether. He rode in silence down to the lobby, his hands in his pockets as he considered what he might say. Stephan had not been easy to lure away once; he suspected the concierge would only be more difficult now.
When he stepped out of the elevator, his gaze immediately went to the broad desk that served as Stephan's favored haunt. There was no-one there, not even a book or magazine to mark Stephan's passage. Frowning, Daniel walked around the desk, certain that such trespass would call Stephan down like a summons. When long minutes passed and no-one came, he took his phone from his pocket and texted BB.
all clear
From within the stairwell landing, BB pocketed her phone and pushed the door open, bringing Kal in her wake. When she saw Daniel standing there, next to the concierge desk, her brows drew together across her forehead. She made an immediate beeline for him and it, her hands going wide in a questioning manner.
"What the hell, man? Where is he?"
“Maybe he’s getting lunch?” Kal offered, although he had to admit he never saw the man away from his desk except for when the floors had changed. Sticking his hands into his pockets he gave a shrug. “This is a good thing, right? He’s nowhere to be found so we can get on with it.”
"Man, I don't know," Daniel said. "I thought he slept here if you want the truth. The only time I've seen this desk empty was when the floors changed over, so forgive me if I don't feel like this is the best possible outcome…"
He looked over his shoulder, as though concerned someone -- Stephan himself, perhaps -- might be lurking in the shadows. There was no-one. The whole of the lobby was eerily silent. He shrugged, and shouldered between BB and Kal to head toward the closet. "Let's do this, then."
BB required no further encouragement, instead too intent on seizing the opportunity they had been gifted. She brushed past Daniel, pulling the previously displayed keys out of her pocket and quickly circled to the correct one on the chain. Then the door was open, with her darting inside, leaving the entryway ajar for the others to follow; clearly she'd only required the boys as a distraction, maybe for heavy lifting if it came to that, but for now, she was hellbent on getting back inside the closet and getting some answers.
It was dark upon first entrance, musty and slightly cold as though it were refrigerated. One hand smacked the wall, looking for a switch, bringing light exploding into life; BB blinked, her eyes bringing into focus the same metal shelving covered with the same odd items covered in the same many-layered dust. She did not note that she'd left the keys in the keyhole on the outside of the door, instead too intent on moving further into the space.
Kal stepped in after the woman and looked about the room. It certainly looked like a long-leftover collection of odds and ends, things people had left behind, but certainly not old. He looked at the top of the shelves of the room and considered blowing off the dust, but held back. They didn’t need to all be having sneezing fits. “So, you found this shit in a dream? Right? Or wait…” Kal laughed slightly uneasily. “It’s hard to keep track of all the weird shit that’s been going on.”
Daniel nodded. He trailed after BB, moving deeper into the room, reaching out at intervals to touch objects as he passed. None called to him or resonated with him, though not for lack of trying; he stopped at each framed picture, bit of statuary, or stray piece of jewelry that caught his eye. He stopped in front of one item he did not recall from before: the artfully mounted head of an albino fawn, its red eyes staring blankly at him. He touched a finger to its small nose.
"Look at this shit," he sneered. "What the fuck, right?" He leaned over, peering first at one side, then another. Small hairs raised along his nape, and he moved onward, turning left down one short, shelf-lined aisle.
BB had picked up a small bottle of perfume, uncapping and sniffing it, before returning it to its home. She'd had to bend down slightly to reach it, and rose to her full height, turning on a heel to look at the guys.
"Ugh, I wish I'd thought to check how many people have lived here previously," she muttered. She'd dug far enough, as much as she was able to, into Pax Letale's past, but even some ideas had eluded her. Frowning, she approached the shelf that had the familiar tiny golden apple on a necklace; she reached for it, and then was immediately distracted by something else.
"Uh, hey, you guys?"
Her hand withdrew a flyer that had been folded many times, but lay now mostly flat on the shelf. It was an advertisement for a Halloween party now a few years past, but the location was big and bold and unmistakable.
CASKET.
Pulling the flyer from the shelf, she walked it back to Daniel and Kal. "No way there can be two of them, right?"
“I’ve heard of this place,” Kal said as he stepped closer and looked at the flyer. He hadn’t ever gone to the place, but the name had been here and there. He gave a shrug. “I mean, if it’s local then it’d make sense that the apartment complex hosts stuff like this at a nearby location. Why? Has weird shit happened here too?”
BB shook her head. "No, it's not that, it's the date," she said, tapping on the paper. "This is around the same night the murder happened. You know, the one that caused this whole place to close?" She frowned. "There wasn't mention of a Halloween party, and you'd think that'd be an important detail."
"You'd think," Daniel said. He craned his neck to peer at the flyer, but did not move closer to read it. He was too busy toying with another shelf, where a box labelled SW had caught his eye. It was just out of reach, of course, but he could only assume a warehouse-styled space such as this would have a stepstool or ladder somewhere about.
"I've heard the guy who owns CASKET is pretty well connected," he said. "If the victim or suspects or anybody involved was at that party, maybe he kept it from gettin' to the press. That's the kinda thing that ruins nightclubs, y'know?" He stood on his toes, his fingertips scratching at the box. "I'm sure the cops talked to everyone at the club that night. Think you've got any contacts who could check that out?"
"I-I-I might," BB crooned teasingly, waving the paper in victory. She pinched it between her hands, wringing it out like a large note bill. "And you guys didn't even want to come down here, and now we found an honest-to-God Scooby Doo clue!" She laughed, bouncing on her feet a little. Glancing toward the door, noting that it was still ajar, she stepped away from the scene, completely unaware of what Daniel was attempting.
"Shit, we didn't leave a lookout..."
“I’m sure Stephan’s still away from his desk. Nothing gets by him. He’d notice if this door was open,” Kal replied, glancing from the door to Daniel. “You need help reaching that?”
"Nah, I got it."
That was not precisely true, though Daniel was working quite hard to make it so. Stepping up onto the lowest shelf had only put more tantalizing items within view; he climbed higher, taking the second and third shelves with nimble, quick steps, as though the shelving was a perfectly serviceable, entirely safe ladder. His attention fully on the newly revealed treasures, he did not notice the slight wobbling of the case beneath him.
"Y'all I think this belonged to the same guy that badge is from."
The shelf rocked further. He tightened his grip and clambered up one more shelf. A second box came into view: a small thing of hewn stone, carved with images of a serpent rising from the sea. A white tag was stuck to the side of the box: Daniel could make out a single small K and nothing more.
"There's somethin' else up here."
He stretched out his arm, and that alone was enough. The shelf tilted over, throwing Daniel backward beneath a falling wall of steel and wood and tumbling boxes.
BB jumped at the crash, momentarily losing possession of the flyer as she spun around and saw her friend buried under a mountain of what most would presume to be junk. A shoe, a glass eye, and a few other objects tumbled away from the rest.
Almost in sync, the door they'd come through closed with a gentle click. The small woman, however, was fixed on the shelf, moving to try and lift it off of Daniel.
"Kal!" She wrapped her hands around one edge of the shelving, trying to lift it.
Kal was already moving forward, his foot crunching on something that had fallen off the shelf. He kicked it out of the way and pressed his foot firmly against the ground as he braced himself to lift the shelf. The shelf went up with relative ease, but the remaining items and boxes that hadn’t immediately tumbled off the shelf continued to slip off, falling onto Daniel, who, having regained his breath, met each one with a steady stream of swears. “I got the shelf, clear that crap off Daniel,” he said to BB, not at all bothering to keep his voice low anymore. The falling of the shelf had destroyed any possibility of remaining hidden and he honestly didn’t give a shit.
Pushing the shelf back to a standing position, he pushed it back against the wall and turned back to his friend. BB immediately dropped to her knees and started throwing things over her shoulder and away from Daniel's prone form on the floor. A helmet, boxing gloves, a stapler -- it seemed that nearly anything could be found in that odd room, but there was only one area of concern at the moment.
Daniel's voice had gone thin and reedy with pain, but still he kept up an impressive monologue of curses. When at last he stopped to draw a breath, he managed to turn bloodshot eyes to each of his friends in turn. "Thanks," he rasped. He tried to drag himself to sit, but the bruising was too deep, and the moment he moved he knew his left tibia was broken. He swore again, and swept his gaze over his outstretched legs, searching for further damage. He tried to reach out touch the darkest of the bruises, but drew his right arm back with a cry; there was a break where the stone box had struck his shoulder, and a deep gash from which blood was pouring over his back. A thin sheen of sweat glistened on his face. He looked to BB, a weak smile on his face.
"I'm startin' to see a pattern with bein' around you and gettin' hurt," he said. He raised his good arm toward Kal. "Kal, help me up?"
Kal, standing wide-eyed behind BB, moved around the woman and slipped an arm around Daniel’s back to pull him back only a hair so that the man wasn’t directly amongst all the debris. “I’m not getting you to your feet though,” he murmured. “This looks fucking bad. We need to get you to a hospital. Or call Laura, the nurse who moved in? She might be home.” He pulled his arm away and found blood on his hand that had come from Daniel’s other shoulder. “Shit, man, this isn’t good.”
"OK, one, I am not to blame for you wearing shitty shoes," BB started, looking far more scared than her teasing words implied. She got to her own feet as Kal lifted Daniel, hands sliding over her jeans. She patted her pockets, suddenly realizing she did not have the keys they'd used to get into the place to begin with. Mouthing 'fuck,' she bent to retrieve the flyer she'd found, folding it along its well-used edges, and stuffing it in her pocket before turning to look at the door.
"Shit." Without giving further clue toward the source of her language, BB jog-walked through the still-standing shelves and somewhat skidded to a stop beside the closed door. A quick twist of the handle revealed what she'd feared -- they were locked in.
"OK, so, two, nobody panic," she offered, trying the door again and again and again as though she could free it through sheer force of will. It was already very clear as to what the problem was.
"Never a good sign," Daniel muttered. He tugged at Kal's arm. "C'mon. Don't leave me layin' here. I can stand up, just…" He sucked in a ragged breath, pulling himself up with his good arm again. A fresh gout of blood soaked his shirt for his troubles. He clenched his jaw against a groan, and spoke only when he could trust his voice again. "Keep my weight on my right leg and I'll be fine, I swear."
“In a minute,” Kal replied, giving Daniel a quick look before turning his attention to BB at the door and moving forward; BB changed places with him, one hand leaving feather-light fingertips on her friend's shoulder as though she'd help prop him up. “We have to try and get the door open first and I can’t do that while holding you upright.” And he mirrored all he had done the month before when Anaise had vanished behind the apartment door when the floors changed. Shoulder thrown against the door as well as all his weight had the same result--nothing. “Fuck,” he hissed before trying to throw his weight at the door again without any success. He spun on his heel and let out a sigh.
“How the hell are we getting out of here?” Kal asked as he returned to Daniel’s side and went to lift him to his leg as he requested, although every part of his mind was saying this isn’t a good idea.
BB's mouth opened to offer the ever-helpful 'I don't know,' but then her eyes tracked up along the shelves and she noticed something.
"You guys, I think I could fit up there." She moved away from the boys, around a set of shelves and pointed to a covered ventilation shaft that was similar to others in the building. It was high in the corner, even a few feet away from the closest top of a shelf, but it offered one potential route. Of course, none of them had any idea where it led, but as long as it was out, did it really matter?
BB pointed up, turning to look at Kal. "Can you lift me up there? Or, wait... We need, like, a screwdriver or something. Or a crowbar. Look around." BB started to sort through the shelves, looking for a implement that would lead to their escape.
"Uh, do you think that's a great idea?" Daniel interjected. "You wanna end up like me?" He pressed his hand against a shelf behind him, wincing softly as he brought his weight to bear on his good leg. Already he looked peaked, his color draining away with each passing moment. He swayed slightly on his feet, but stayed upright. "My phone's in my pocket. The right one. Maybe somebody can come let us out. At this point I'd call the fuckin' fire department if Stephan won't pick up. I have no pride right now."
Kal frowned and looked around for a sturdy structure to sit Daniel on. He kept his friend upright, keeping a strong arm wrapped around his back, but he didn’t like his coloring. “I have my phone too, but if the phones don’t work, yeah,” He looked at BB and gave her a nod, “I can get you up there, no problem.”
With one free hand, Kal reached into his pocket and pulled free his cell phone. “And my battery is dead,” he murmured immediately and with a frown. “Was working a bit ago though… BB, can you grab Daniel’s phone so I don’t drop him?”
BB huffed, but complied. She wanted to avoid any chance of getting caught while they had the opportunity, and calling someone did not fit into that plan. But she, with a large and slightly dramatic grimace, reached into Daniel's pocket to withdraw his phone. She almost fistpumped when she saw that they were inside an inexplicable deadzone.
"Nothing," she replied, turning the phone's screen to face the boys. "So it's the vent or we sit here until someone thinks to wonder where the fuck we are. So, you gonna help me find a screwdriver or what?"
"Yeah, I'll get right on that," Daniel said. But for all his complaining, he turned around as best he could, searching nearby shelving for anything that might be of use. At last he sighed, visibly disappointed, and noticeably more pale than before. "All right. Fine. Sit me up over there and I'll keep watchin' for a cell signal while you two MacGyver us outta here."
Kal, as gently as the large man could, placed Daniel on a box and went about looking for something to work on the vent with. “How about this knife?” He said as a moment, picking up a small knife, but the blade was thick and unlikely to bend. He moved over to the corner and reached to the corner of the grate, barely getting close enough to properly get the blade under the grate and pull at it. “Okay, BB,” He turned and looked at the small girl. “I think I should put you on my shoulders and you work on prying the thing off.”
BB took the knife with a small grin, nodding. "I like a man who gives me sharp objects. OK, you wanna give me a lift up?" She held the weapon, which seemed regular sized in her small mitt compared to Kal's, carefully, away from Kal as she put a hand to his shoulder.
“Here, just… climb on me… like a horse.” He squatted down next to BB and another box she could step on. “Just don’t pull my fucking hair when I stand up, alright? I’m not going to let you fall.”
"Just don't pull my hair," BB muttered mockingly in return as she followed his instructions, stepping up and over his shoulders. "Maybe you shouldn't grow it so long then," she added, before giving him a pat on the top of his head and producing a sigh from Kal. "Giddiup, Seabiscuit."
"All this kinky talk," Daniel said, "I feel like I oughta be recording this. Which isn't a bad idea, actually…" He raised his cell phone, the back of its case now sporting a narrow crack from his fall, and began to record the pair of them at work. "Now if we all die locked in here, at least somebody will get a kick outta watchin' it later."
Kal shot a glare at Daniel. “You’re awfully chatty for someone who got taken out by a shelf,” he teased as he got fully to his feet with BB sitting on his shoulders and moved in the direction of the vent. “Don’t drop the damn knife on my face either, alright? I already have one scar which makes me mysterious to the ladies, two may be too much.”
"Never know until you find out," BB replied in a singsong manner, but was careful with the sharp object all the same. She'd had brushes with defamation suits before, and she had no desire to add to that particular repertoire with physical assault, although it would make for a very cool story...
Still, she waited mostly patiently until Kal was in position and then carefully climbed to her feet, placing the soles of her shoes squarely on Kal's shoulders. She could just barely brush the edges of the vent's cover.
"I'm gonna climb on the shelf; hold it steady, OK?" She did not, of course, wait for an affirmative reply, instead instantly climbing forward onto the second topmost shelf, then the very top, which she had to crouch on in order to not hit the ceiling. Then she got to work with the knife, twirling the screws, stripping the first one almost to un-usability. She grimaced.
"How yah feelin, clumsy?" BB needed something to fill the space aside from the claustrophobic idea that they were trapped, and quite possibly so for a long, indeterminate period of time.
Daniel lowered the phone, thumbing off the recording, just so he could flip her off. That small gesture, only half serious, had to serve as answer enough; his color looked worse than before, and though he was fully conscious and no longer swaying on his seat, it was clear he was in terrible shape. He frowned, and set the phone down beside him.
"Like I wanna go home," he said, belatedly. "Still no service over here…"
“Just distract yourself with imagining Chris’s reaction to all this,” Kal replied with a smirk offered over his shoulder as he stood firm, keeping the shelving until securely in place so they didn’t have a repeat of what happened before. He imagined, somehow, that his friend would be pissed and somehow pin the blame on him for Daniel’s condition. But also pissed overall that they had gotten themselves locked in a closet. “I’m betting he’s going to give me a talking to for going into the damn closet in the first place.”
Daniel groaned. "You," he said. "What about me. I'm never gonna hear the end of it." He leaned back against the wall, laughing shakily. "Maybe I can borrow a cane. He'll probably kick my ass just for askin'." He reached across himself, pressing unsteady fingers against the blood soaked cloth atop his shoulder. "Maybe if I flash that puppy-dog look…"
"OK so," BB interjected, finally removing the first screw and letting it fall to the floor with a series of clangs, "one, I'm not surprised that the dude making you scream obnoxiously from your apartment is the peg leg, but two, I have to ask, is it the peg leg or is his dick really that big? Also, would it be weird if I bought you a gag ball, because it's legit so I can get some fucking sleep." A second screw joined the first, and the cover started to slip free of its moorings. BB could feel a slight breeze from within, the vent just wide enough for her to army-crawl through. Now that the potential was quickly solidifying into reality, she was starting to have second thoughts about trying this.
"Watch it, now--" Daniel started.
"On another note, how do you get claustrophobia? Is that something you're just born with?"
“It can be just introduced when you’re put into a new situation you’ve never been in,” Kal replied, looking up at the vent. “For instance, I doubt you hang out in vents and now that you’re about to go in, you may realize you dislike the tight quarters. Also, can we not talk about my best friend’s dick so specifically? Chris is just going to know and descend upon us to murder us all.
“Actually, maybe that’s how we can get out of here. He’ll come down here to kill us and open the door. We could totally outrun him. Well, I mean, BB and I can.” He glanced at Daniel and gave a shrug. “Sorry, bro.”
"Goddammit you two, I never said..." Daniel sighed, indelicately knocking the back of his head against the wall behind him. There was no sense in denying anything now; he was far too exhausted to even put on a good show of it, and nothing he could say would come close to throwing BB off the scent. "Whatever. Don't be such a bitch, BB. Fuckin'... peg leg. What a dick."
"Hey, I'm not kinkshaming, I'm just trying to understand," she replied cheerily, unscrewing a third and letting it fall with its brethren. She felt far less certain about her haphazard plan than she had previously, despite her tone, but she moved to clear the cover away as well as she could even with one screw still intact. Sliding it to one side, she chewed her lip as she looked into the darkness. Finally, she pulled out her own phone -- equally signal-less -- and turned on the flashlight app.
She turned slightly, holding the knife down to Kal. "Here, in case your friend shows up. At least you can make a show of defending Daniel before you run off screaming like a little girl." Glancing between the two of them, she nodded. "So yeah. I'll make this as quick as I can. You guys just...chill here." There wasn't much of an option otherwise. Gripping her phone in her right hand, BB turned and crawled into the vent head first; the last thing to be seen of her were her sneakers as she kicked along the aluminum shaft to propel herself forward.
Kal let go of the shelf and turned fully to Daniel. He was ready to say something but paused when he saw Daniel’s state. “Hey, maybe you should lay back down on the floor, you know? You could be… I don’t know, bleeding internally or something.” He stepped forward with his hands out, ready to aid his friend, but seemed to realize he had no idea what he could do and dropped his hands. “I know some minor first aid but I think this is beyond this. Just… let me know if you feel like you’re going to pass out or something, alright? I’ll start yelling at the door if I have to.”
Daniel answered much too quickly. "I'm fine. I'm not gonna look like some pussy when BB gets back. All… passed out on the floor." He scoffed, puffing up a bit, though still leaned against the wall. "I'll be fine. Just cracked a rib or two, I think. I mean, besides the leg. But yeah.
"So you think Chris is gonna kill me now that BB knows?"
Kal sat down on the floor and let his back rest against a shelving unit. He picked up one of the items that had fallen earlier and tossed it in his hand, some type of a paperweight, and raised his brows. “Probably. But to be fair, he’ll kill me too. Although… maybe not. It depends on what BB does with the information. We visited my grandmother this past weekend, kuku, and she was super nosy and asked if you were Chris’s boyfriend. He looked like he was going to murder me but, you know, I’m here.”
He frowned a little and eyed his friend, who was chuckling in spite of being nearly breathless. “But I kind of have a feeling BB won’t handle the information quite like my ninety year old grandmother who wants nothing but Chris and I to find happiness. Not together, mind you. Just in general.” He couldn’t help but laugh, but it was a little tainted with concern.
"Yeah… but she fuckin' owes me though, after this." Daniel gestured to his leg, where purple-black bruises already coalesced around the break. "The least she could do is keep quiet about it." He laughed at his own unintentional joke. "Guess that makes two of us, huh."
Daniel swept a finger over his phone, peering down at the broken screen, which proudly continued to display its lack of a signal. His bleary gaze moved to the duct work's entrance. He could no longer hear his friend, and briefly felt a rising panic that she would be stuck, or not return. "God damn I'm gonna need a drink after this."
“How about we get you to the hospital and if they don’t hand you great pain killers, I’ll bring around some weed and liquor once we get you home? And you can make the decision of whether or not we let Chris know your… condition… right away.” A laugh bubbled up and a smile formed; Daniel greeted both with a nod so enthusiastic he immediately regretted it. Kal dropped the paperweight to the floor and it rolled to the side. “God, it’s like making a plan of what to tell my grandmother after I was out all night and got in trouble. Gotta make a plan of how to break the news that’ll include the least amount of yelling.”
"He can yell all he wants," Daniel said. "Be better than angry silence. If looks could kill he'd be a fuckin' mass murderer. I'm really not ready to deal with that and a busted leg…"
Suddenly, the door to the closet-like room swung open, nearly hitting a shelf closest to the entrance. BB stood behind it, one hand on the knob, her somewhat-curly locks strewn with dust and cobwebs. She held the keys that had been left behind in the door in her other hand.
"Come on," she whispered, waving her hand at them in a hurry up gesture. She glanced out into the lobby furtively, holding the door wide, then looked back at her compatriots waiting patiently in their make-shift pen. "We need to go."
Kal got to his feet without a word and turned to Daniel. “You ready, bro? We’ll get you out of here and I can dump you into the backseat of my car. You need BB to grab anything of yours?” He offered his arm, squatting to help Daniel lean his weight to him. “I can carry you like a damsel too, if you need me to.”
Daniel answered with a weak laugh. "Shut up," he said. He leaned heavily into Kal's arm, awkwardly -- and at first, ineffectively -- balancing the pain in his right arm and left leg. His left arm drew tight around Kal, holding himself up as best he could. Once he was fully standing, he took a moment to orient himself, to test his ability to even maintain this position for long. Satisfied he could endure at least a little while longer, he nodded to BB.
"A change of clothes and my wallet would be nice," he said. "And maybe some real shoes. This is the one time I'm cool with you usin' those keys on my door."
BB's brows rose and fell, a smirk clear on her lips. "Gonna be a struggle to not abuse the privilege, but I promise I won't rifle through your drawers." She held the door wide as Kal carried Daniel through to the hallway; glancing back into the room, evidence of their loosely-defined 'investigation' was written all over the space. She winced, hoping they wouldn't be able to trace it back to them particularly, but there was nothing for it now. Instead, she snugly closed the door behind them and went off to start collecting the things Daniel needed before they headed to the hospital.