open; in a crevasse

[alldeduction]

Who| Sherlock, Danny and then OPEN
What| Sherlock and Danny end up in a crevasse when it opens up under their shelter
Where| their hidey-hole and then boom in an ice crevasse
When| after Katurian's death and then through the next couple days I guess?
Warnings| uh none so far, probably violence eventually? will update as necessary


It took almost all night for Sherlock to find his way back to the shelter. The first lances of sunlight were lighting the perpetual overcast - the dark dark black slowly turning grey. He was shivering bodily, quite convinced his temperature had dropped by more than a few degrees, and that the eggs in his pocket - without the incubating body heat of their parents - had likely frozen. He was shaken, if he admitted it to himself. This arena was wearing on him. It wasn't that he hadn't seen worse sides of humanity. He had, many times. But this wasn't the same as a case. He couldn't simply solve, clean up, and move on. There was no logic or pristine order to survival in this barren place, and if he had the luxury of thinking of anything save the twisting hunger in his stomach or the lancing pain in his fingers too long in the cold, then he would decry it as boring. Snow and death and death and snow and not even a good mystery to tie it together.

Save one.

Why was he here.

He stumbled inside the shelter still shivering, happy to find Danny still there. The temperature difference in the shelter versus the outside was extremely welcome.

"Danny," was all he said, in case the man was asleep and cared to know that Sherlock was still alive. He didn't spend any more time speaking, however, moving straight for his sleeping bag to wrestle it open.
 

[ooc: we're going to tag a bit before a crevasse opens up beneath their shelter and they both fall in, but anyone who wants to thread with sherlock or danny or both in the crevasse can go ahead and tag in!]

Comments

open to either or both

[bronzed_future]

She was dying. Every minute of survival meant nothing in this wasteland of ice and snow. It was beyond her how anyone could find a group of people freezing to death any way entertaining. Her first night was spent hunkered down in a snow cave eating as much snow as she could handle. There were no calories in the snow, but it kept some of the pain in her stomach away. Freezing was a horrible way to go.

The days were rather mashed together in her mind. White on white on white didn't really break up the monotony of survival. It wasn't that she wanted to find a fellow player, but seeing some life would at least be reassuring even if they were trying to kill her.

A noise. No, a crack and crash that sounded dangerously close. She knew she should keep walking. Damn, walking away not towards the noise. Well, perhaps she would find something interesting wherever her feet where leading her.

She followed a slight crack that gradually became larger. At the edge of a newly open crevasse she sighed and started to walk on, but something caught her eye. For a moment she debated with herself, but she was tired of seeing nothing and no one.

"Hello!"

[alldeduction]

They had just managed to finally sort themselves out (no injuries, and all of their stuff had fallen down with them) when a voice called out. The crevasse made it impossible to triangulate the sound, at first - the distant Hello! echoing off the walls of ice around them.

But eventually he found her, his eyes turning upwards wand falling upon the figure leaning out over the crevasse. He gripped the spear and pointed upwards toward her.

"Danny," He said in a hissed whisper, "Up."

[danno_williams]

Danny was up and ready before he'd really consciously thought about it. At what point had Sherlock entered that part of his brain that was reserved for his team, partners and family. That side that just acted in these sort of situations...

When had Sherlock been deemed worthy to invoke that particular response? He quickly brought his focus back to the situation. "What, what do you... oh hello"

Interesting, a woman. Hopefully NOT here to kill them but out here, who the hell knew.

[bronzed_future]

She was unarmed and half-frozen. What a pathetically easy kill she'd be if whoever was down there decided to kill her.

"Are you injured?" Because they would tell her something so dangerous. Mentally she rolled her eyes at herself. Looking around she frowned, she was too exposed to be completely safe, but safety wasn't part of this place. "I don't suppose you need any help getting back up!"

[alldeduction]

Sherlock narrowed his eyes against the glare from above, shifting his weight and the spear. A quick glance was all he needed to tell him that she had no rope - not unless she was purposely hiding it in very inconvenient places.

"I very much doubt you have a method with which to do so," He called back up, completely ignoring the question of injuries.

[danno_williams]

The best thing they had to get out of this ravine was Danny's ax. Which he'd been using as a weapon but was actually really supposed to be used for climbing ice mountains and shit. Not that it was any good without a rope but whatever. It had a pointy edge which was good enough for government work as they say.

She didn't look good, but it didn't matter. One lucky shot out here could be your end. Danny kept alert as he watched the byplay between Sherlock and this unknown woman.

[bronzed_future]

She really should leave them in their frozen jail to freeze, but maybe Myka had gotten to her more than Helena thought. A quick glance around to see if they were still alone and then Helena moved closer to the edge of the cavern's opening.

"Oh, you'd be surprised how inventive I can be." It was too dark for her to get an accurate measurement from her position. "How far are you down?"

[alldeduction]

"Approximately 25 feet," Sherlock said, though he kept his hands on the spear. He glanced over at Danny, eyes asking the question he didn't bother to say outloud. To trust or not to trust?

"Inventive or not, you'd need supplies."

crevasse fun and games, open to one or both

[ordonaturalis]

The discovery of the crevasse- and the secrets held within them- had, much to Morrigan's chagrin, been entirely accidental. A misplaced step, a calling on powers she no longer possessed which delayed her reaction enough she tumbled. And then a second, reflexive, demand of those powers.

And their answer.

The cracking of the ice and subsequent noise sends vibrations powerful enough through the ice that it is only minutes before she has crawled along the wall of the expanding trench, set on scavenging what could be from the bones of the fallen camp. It was not the dark haired mage Sherlock had previously met which approached from the shadows, however. Shape-shifting had it's benefits, even if she was forced to move slowly, slamming each leg into the ice to move.

However slowly, the spider approached.

Eeee.

[danno_williams]

From the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of something. Something was moving, and not in a familiar human way.

He picked up the ax and started towards it. When he finally got a look at what was moving and was now making noise. It took him a second to shut his jaw. He turnd around and bolted the other way.

"Sherlock, there's a big fucking spider behind me. We are running... NOW."

[alldeduction]

Sherlock had been adjusting the spear in its hand, grumbling to himself about the unwieldy weight, when Danny suddenly appeared, spouting gibberish. His face hardened.

"Hallucination isn't a confirmed symptom of hypothermia, Danny, what have you eaten in the last tw--" But he was cut off abruptly when his eyes finally fell on the massive spider behind him. His already pale face went white as a sheet and he stumbled backwards a step as he clutched the spear tightly.

"Impossible. Impossible. A spider that size would never be able to survive with this level of oxygen in the atmosphere--"

[ordonaturalis]

The key to shapeshifting was not merely know the form of a creature, but the mind. A mage must become the animal, in every possible sense. Therefore there is a long moment of flexing mandibles as the spider- sustained only on fish and birds these many days- considers not the men, but the prey before it.

Fortunate, for the men, that Morrigan had not quite reached the level of cannibalism. Or found herself desperate enough for approval from their kind and thoughtful masters to seek to provide entertaining deaths just yet. Still. That didn't prevent amusement.

So the spider continues it's approach, scuttling down the wall to reach the ground, eyes opening and closing one row at a time as Morrigan takes a moment to enjoy the shocked face of the arrogant- and magic doubting- man (and his associate) before her. But moving no closer. Changing back to human form could wait another few seconds, surely.

[danno_williams]

"Get it together or get the fuck out of here Sherlock," Danny growled, "We don't have time for you to lose your marbles." He tried to find a defensive position, and found, well, nothing. So this was what his mentor meant by 'and all other hazards'.

Fucking capitol pricks running this whole thing.

Ax in hand yet again, he tried to get ready for the inevitable.

[alldeduction]

"Yes, it's my sanity we have to be worried about when faced with a giant spider," He snapped back. Danny's words had indeed, however, had the effect of dragging him out of trying to figure out how it had happened, and into 'what to do about it' mode.

He slipped in beside Danny, the two of them blocking off the crevice, and he angled his harpoon to aim for the spider. Maybe if it launched itself at them he could skewer it before those mandibles got too close.

"I believe fleeing may be the wisest course of action, even if we 'have it together'," He pointed out darkly.

[ordonaturalis]

The spider starts to rear up, reacting to the presentation of weaponry, and then enough was enough. Instinct was going to be a far more difficult thing to combat once first blood had been had. She completes the motion, rising up onto the four back legs-

Then in a flash of light, there is only Morrigan left behind. Her formally white outfit looking far the worse for ware after this time in the frozen wastes, but the look of smugness was not tarnished in the least.

"A most practical course of action. Which may be wise to follow, yet."

Flaily Danny, my favorite kind!

[danno_williams]

Danny had given up on keeping watch when the sun had finally slipped behind the horizon. He figured that if he could barely see anything, the chances of someone discovering the shelter was slim to none. He'd curled up inside and taken a well deserved nap.

Time passed, he didn't know how much had passed exactly when he felt a someone touching him. He startled and rolled off the sleeping shelf they'd created ax in hand. Danny'd found himself in a pretty respectable battle stance before the proverbial cobwebs cleared and he saw it was Sherlock.

"You suck." he let out a relieved sigh, "You suck so hard, now I'm never getting back to sleep asshole."

With a groan he hauled himself back up to the shelf.

[alldeduction]

Sherlock barely registered the battle stance, not even flinching as Danny drew the axe. Anyone woken in this place would react that way - but he had absolutely no fear of Danny turning on him.

Not yet.

"It's dawn," Sherlock said, but his teeth chattered when he spoke, and his nearly-frozen fingers fumbled with the zipper of his sleeping bag. "Eggs. Left pocket." He shifted towards the shelf so that he was within reaching distance of Danny, finally getting the sleeping bag open with a low grunt.

[danno_williams]

"Fucking short arctic nights," Danny groused as he quickly stuck his hand in the indicated pocket and pulled out an egg.

He stared at it for a few seconds before shrugging as he very very gently tried to poke a hole in the top with his ax. "If I'm lucky, this one was unfertilized or whatever." Danny watched the travel channel just like any other schmo. Some people ate crazy shit.

He peeled off the top and looked in. Oh thank god, there was something in there but it wasn't too far along, he could choke it down and pretend it was a piece of gristle or something.

"So, what's the game plan? Stay here and hope no one notices the two schmucks in the corner?" He took the egg like a shot. He'd take his chances with the salmonella.

[alldeduction]

Sherlock shimmied as gracefully as possible into his sleeping bag and then shoved his way onto the shelf next to Danny - completely uncaring about the proximity because who needed dignity when it was this god damned cold.

"Food foraging alone is no longer an option. Between the storms and the--" He cut off abruptly, a frown deepening as he tried to warm himself up in his sleeping bag, rubbing his arms. "... the others, it is only likely to get us killed faster."

[danno_williams]

"So we hold tight and hope we don't die from salmonella?" He groused, "Awesome."

He sighed, "Ok, I'll take next watch. You curl up and get some sleep. You look like a goddamned popsicle."

[alldeduction]

"The chance of our resident seabirds carrying salmonella is relatively slim, and the chance of you contracting a case bad enough to introduce typhoid fever even slimmer. At worst you'd be sick for a few days. I think, perhaps, we have worse things to worry about."

He grumbled as he tried to warm up, but it was absolutely useless. The cold seemed to have sunk right into his bones.

"'Popsicle' sounds like an accurate term. We're at severe risk of frostbite." He was fairly convinced that the numbness in his fingertips was a very bad sign.