InsaneJournal

WHO: Rikki Chadwick and OTA
WHAT: Trying (and failing) to beat the impending rain home from work
WHERE: Starting at Stark Industries and moving to the front of the complex building
WHEN: Around 5:45pm
STATUS: In progress
RATING: PG, for some not so nice language. TBD if there's a change, depending on who tags in



It was nearly quitting time when Rikki noticed the skies darkening outside, ominously threatening unforecast rain. Rikki still didn't have a functioning cell phone and the internet was blocked from her computer at work. Frowning, she considered her possibile options. There was asking to get out a few minutes early, except it was her first day and Rikki didn't really fancy the idea of putting out that particular first impression, especially since her actual interests in the company were higher on the corporate ladder than she currently found herself. Rikki was a leader; answering phones and acting much like a switchboard or live action map didn't really suit her, but it was a foot in the door. So, that option, she decided, was out.

Tapping one foot anxiously, Rikki looked at the clock. It was only ten minutes. She could totally wait this out and then run like a bat out of hell back to the complex. Given she had no way to contact Galen and it hadn't looked like rain, so she'd told him she'd walk alone, she didn't have much of a choice.

With the phone quiet and all of her end of day tasks completed half an hour prior, the last ten minutes ticked by at a sluggish pace, feeling as though they stretched out over an hour's time. When it finally read 5:30pm on the clock, Rikki logged into her timekeeping form and clocked out, grabbing her backpack and sprinting down the hall to the elevators. Music that would pump her up was what she'd need to get home with legs, she thought, because she could hear the low rumble of thunder in the distance as she exited the elevator.

"Sorry!" she shouted over her shoulder when she collided with a coworker as she hauled ass to the front door, bursting through it as she hit the play button on her mp3 player and shoved the earbuds into her ears.

Rikki made it the majority of her way home in record time. She could see the complex a block ahead and she still hadn't felt a rain drop. There was no way it was going to start raining before she got back there.

A huge grin spread over her lips as she sprinted across the street, in the home stretch, bouncing enthusiastically out of the way of a car whose horn blared angrily at her as it stopped a few inches short of striking her. "Sorry!" she called to the driver, giving the elderly woman a sheepish grin and thanking her lucky stars that it wasn't some teenage kid behind the wheel who'd have just as soon run her down.

She was a good ten yards away from the steps leading into the apartment building, her heart soaring with relief when she felt it. The sky seemed to open up all at once and suddenly the rain was coming down in buckets.

"No, no, no!" she shrieked, feeling a stitch in her side as she picked up her pace, pushing herself to the limit. Four...five...six... A car pulled out in front of her, cutting her off for a few precious seconds before completing a K-turn and speeding off. ...seven...eight...nine...

Rikki sprinted across the street and made her way up the first three stairs. Ten. "Shit," she muttered, feeling herself wobble as her legs morphed into a tail and she fell flat on her face, scraping the palms of her hands on the concrete steps as she caught herself. Taking a deep breath, Rikki clawed her way up a few more stairs, grimacing in pain as she dragged her tail behind her. "Effing...Kansas..." she grunted as she pulled herself up to the first foyer. Closing her eyes, defeated and exhausted, Rikki rolled onto her back and stared hatefully up at the rain that fell back into her eyes. The complex was set back; the average passerby wouldn't see her, so that was a plus. It wasn't like she wanted anyone but Galen to know, but at least if it was another "displaced" person, she'd feel a lot less worried about becoming a science experiment.

Only giving herself a moment to catch her breath, Rikki rolled onto her stomach again and dragged herself a few more inches forward. The door was a few inches too far away for her to reach when she outstretched her hands for it. Even if it wasn't...the handle was up too high. Still, she pushed herself onward, dragging herself a few more inches forward so that she could at least reach the door. Maybe if she could just use it as leverage, she could get herself upright enough to—

"...yeah, that's not happening..." she sighed, feeling a lump in her throat as she let herself go limp, closing her eyes and resting her forehead on one outstretched arm. For the first time in as long as Rikki could remember, discounting the time in the pool — because she fully maintained that if Galen hadn't been there, she'd have managed to get back out of the pool on her own eventually — Rikki was at the mercy of someone — anyone — else. ...this sucked.