hellhouse | [audio & action]

[NETWORK]
[The sound of something scuffing on someones arm could be heard. Scratching on fabric almost. There is a panicked sound of breathing.]

[The breathing gets louder...]

[Muffled sounding voice:] Wh-what the hell?

Klaus?! [And then a THUNK and a oof as he tried to move, the panic welling up. Trapped.]

Shit, shit, shit! [he doesn't realize the audio on his arm is on.]

[LOG]
He had been with Klaus at the time. They agreed to watch each others back as they took short naps. Ben had curled up knowing Klaus was going to be there. And he was! Klaus had been there when he drifted off to sleep and all was fine.

But then he felt something tight around him. Around his neck and his arms bundled, and it was clear down to his knees. Like a tight blanket. He started to tell the other he didn't need to be tucked in, but then realized the lit room they had been into was no longer light. The room was dark.

"Klaus?" He said, and started to panic. He tried to push up off the floor and realized it was padded. Then he realized that room with the jackets and the padding and "Oh no..."

Ben rolled to his back, breathing hard. "Wh-what the hell?!" He said in panic, a turtle on it's back, trying to get up now. "Klaus!?" he cried out for help, rolling to his knees and hitting a wall with a thunk. "Shit, shit, shit!" He cursed, trying to get up on his feet, stumbling over something... or someone.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Thinking clearly is for those not trapped in a straight jacket. Ben wasn't thinking clearly either, thus the getting up, moving around, and falling when he tripped on the poor girl. He feels for her though. He'd been so tired and had spent too long awake. Going from a ghost never needing sleep to THIS? This was hard. Needing rest, needing sleep, needing to stay warm. It was all new to him again.

And now he was trapped in a room in a jacket with a stranger.

He's also talking to Klaus and Rikki, to his arm. Trying to at least. And then he hears that it's Betty, and he stops trying to back away. The panic drops a little bit. It's still there, but he's not trashing around now.

"Betty!" He said with relief. "Betty yeah, okay. Good. God, I was worried you were.... but no. Okay. Okay. This is fine. We got this. I found this room before. I think. Straight jackets in the corners and it's all padded. I took a nap is all. I don't know who grabbed me and put me in this but my brother and friends were there so...Shit. Okay. No, I'm fine. I mean, mostly. Are you okay? Not hurt?" He rambled a bit, all real fast, trying to think.

Betty's got to get a handle on herself. She knows that until she does they're not going to get anywhere, especially her. So, she fists her hands hard - feeling her fingernails dig into her palm and takes a few deep breaths where she sits trying to use the familiar tactic to get her anger under control to calm herself. The sting of her fingernails against her palms is familiar and somehow oddly comforting in giving her some sort of sense of control in the midst of all of this. Enough so that she's able to focus on what Ben is saying rather than have her mind going a million miles a minute.

She's still scared, but keeping her fists balled and re-adjusting the way her nails dig in helps.

She's not sure what Ben worried she was, but she is a little afraid to ask in this place. So she chooses not to even touch that can of worms, instead trying to focus on his confidence. "I saw this room too, I was planning on steering clear." She admits, bothered by even being in here mixed with her own internal debate and worry about the state of her own mental health at times. Then again, that voice in her head isn't her own creating the worry - it's her mother's. Shaking her head, literally, to banish the thought. "I was alone when I laid down, so I was an easier target than you, considering you were with people." Betty notes, her mind automatically finding the way that he was taken the question they need to answer later.

"I'm not hurt, no. I don't see or feel anything, anyway." Betty looks over her legs and what she can see of herself. Other than the sting of her palms she's fine she thinks. "Since you were with people they'll come looking for you." Betty guesses, but feels a shiver go down her spine - was that a sound in the corner? Blue eyes dart in the direction of the corner opposite them and then around. "Did you hear that?" She asks before beginning to try and scoot and squirm closer. "I really don't like it in here." The blonde admits earnestly. "Maybe we can try and help one another out of these...try and get out before your brother and friends come...." Betty ventures finally un-flexing her fingers despite the fact that she can't do anything with them at the moment.

She's not sure how they can get one another out, but maybe if they work together... and maybe if they can both try and hold back their fear and anxiety at being here they can get out. That's a lot of maybes though...

It is absolutely okay to panic right now. He's in a panic. But he hears Diego as well. The words his brother said killed a lot of panic suddenly. He could hear her struggling a bit, but they were both calming down a bit, now that they were figuring things out.

"I'm starting to wonder if there are supernatural forces about this place. No mechanics in the walls, I don't remember being nabbed, and giggling children. Why is there a padded room here anyhow? Shit."

He took another breath. Diego was right. He could use his powers. this would be fine, but... he didn't want to scare Betty. And whatever that sound was from the corner, he heard it too. "Yeah, I heard it. Come... come closer." He said, and scooted more towards her. "I don't know what's going on, but I heard Rikki and two of my brothers on the device in my arm. They're looking for us. But lets save ourselves."

Calmer. He was calmer. He took another breath and rolled over. "Let me see if i can unbuckle your back straps. Get your hands free." He said, trying to scoot closer to find it to work on. Straight jackets tended to have buckles in the back where the hands are tied, right?

He really wanted to ignore what might be in there with them. Jesus.

It'd be a lot easier for Betty to think if she didn't feel something - some sense of foreboding - coming from the corner. And it's hard for her to stop allowing her eyes to continuously dart back toward it too. She can feel her heart pumping a little bit faster and that churn of anxiety in her gut. So between that and the various thoughts assaulting her own brain - related to her fear as well as the sting and welling up wetness on her palms - Betty can't really make out the extra voices.

In fact, Ben's probably lucky that she's managed to catch any of what he said at this point.

"I don't even know what to think - or how any of this would work." Betty's honest in that, she has no idea what to make of any of this, but she knows that she's out of her element, and as much as she wants to be strong it's easier said than done in this situation. So, there isn't really a hesitation as she scrambles to scoot closer, all the while unable to take her eyes off of the ominous corner - was that movement? "I'm good with that - I don't really like waiting on the cavalry." Betty says, eyes straying from the corner for a moment to look at Ben as she nods.

"If you can get me even loose that might help." But man she hopes that he can get them completely free and unbuckled. Turning - her eyes settling back as a groan of some sort erupts through the padded room - Betty squeezes her fists and tries to count her breaths to control the hammer that's replaced her heart.

Ben isn't focused on that. He wants to get out and he wants to get out with out freaking Betty out with his own powers. If this doesn't work though, he'd have to try. Thank god Diego had said something to calm him down. Now to just figure out if Diego was actually THERE or not. But that's for another time.

"I don't like waiting on others either." Ben mumbled, falling to his side as she came closer, scooting over to her and--falling still at that groan. "Jesus..." he whispered feeling it s hake through his body. Or was he just shaking.

Got to act fast.

He leaned in, teeth trying to find the buckle, trying to find the leather to start to untie her They had trained for this kind of thing. Powered kids back in the day, had to train just in case of kidnapping For all kinds of situations. And this was one of those situations. Using his teeth, He pulled, and wiggled, and cursed as he caught his tongue, but he was good at this. At unbuckling things with his mouth. He'd picked handcuffs once with a bobby pin and his mouth. He could do this.

That groan had him shook though. "Jus' a 'iddle moor" He said, tugging at her leather strap and... she'd find her left arm was loosening at last. A grunt as he pulled the belt and freed her first arm.

"One more. Keep an eye on that... ah, corner." he said, moving to go for the next one. If anything came out at them though he'd pull out the powers.

[audio & action]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject