Day 2: Trapped with the enemy (Moira & James)

[jamesthorn]

Eventually, Moira and he had grown too tired to continue their trek through what appeared to be a neverending series of passageways and rooms and stairs. Luckily, nothing else had tried to attack them so the night ended eerily quiet. They had camped in a well lit room and attempted to rest. James barely slept, feeling wind and bugs crawling over his skin, only to jolt him wake. He finally managed a couple hours of sleep after essentially just passing out from exhaust.

He wakes up grouchy and disoriented.  It is finally sinking in how fucked they are. They have no means of communication or guide. They are essentially just guessing their way through here. Even if someone came here wherever it was, they would never find them. Not to mention they have no food or water. This is probably why they have been snapping at each other ever since they woke up. 

"We have already been this way," James says, gritting his teeth in frustration. The rooms were just going in circles. "Twice."

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[jamesthorn]

As she rubs at his shoulders, James struggles to keep focused as he is overcome by the need to touch. A drink of water for a parched plant, considering the dry spell his love life has been in lately. He wouldn't say romance for him is necessarily a lost cause, but it's been a good while since someone touched him in this manner, with intention and care, mainly because he isn't the best at catering to things like this, often too busy with work and family. After the initial shock of the woman's forwardness, James calms the voice prickling in the back of his mind, reminding him to leave, reminding him he needs to find an exit from this place. Why not take a rest? He is tired.

"Okay. Yeah, that--that'd be great," he says, standing up, rubbing his hands on his pants to smooth out the wrinkles, and relieve them of the sweat on his palms. He sits on the bed where she directs him, and he smiles, feeling soothed by the softness of the cushion. "I can do that."

[chasingtwisters]

Moira keeps herself still as they go into a bedroom, ears alert for any sudden movements or signs of struggle. She thinks she's found the source of the woman's powers, fluttering beneath a glass mason jar like a trapped butterfly, a wisp of blue that sparkles like starlight. She knows she doesn't have much time, so she quickly scampers towards the counter on which its set.

"Good," the woman says, bending to whisper in his ear, soothing a damp strand of hair away from his face. "Why don't you lean back and close your eyes, sugar? Let me soothe your troubles."

Moira stalks towards the light, wondering how a sorceress could be so careless as to leave her source of power just laying around like that. But then, as she glances closer at the light, she realizes it's not a light at all, but rather, a snake. A single snake, as though it had been plucked off a head of other snakes. She curses internally, wondering who the hell could've summoned Medusa to a lair beneath Siren Cove, of all places.

[jamesthorn]

The woman moves quickly, faster than he expects, once he joins her on the bed. She touches his face, gently, soothingly, brushing the tips of her fingers through his hair, and he likes the feeling. But somewhere a warning calls out to him, his police instincts perhaps, for signs of danger, and he knows he should get up now. That this situation isn't right, but he is mesmerized by the blue of the woman's eyes. They are so different from anything he's seen, almost alien like, bright blue, rimmed in black, and he can't help being drawn further into her touch.

"Are you--?" He begins to asks, but he does as she says, leaning against the cushion. He needs to get up, he thinks again, as she moves on top of him. "Uh---"

[chasingtwisters]

The woman presses a finger to his lips, urging him to shh. "Let me take care of you, darling. You've got a long, lonely road ahead of you. You need all the rest you can get."

She pins him to the bed, her weight upon him like a stone. She soothes her hands down his shoulders and arms, pushing him further into the mattress. She leans back up to let down her hair, uncoiling the tie holding it together as a feint hissing noise grows louder by the second. Her eyes flash to a dangerous shade of grey, pinning him in place and daring him to look away.

"ROWR!" Moira yelps as she leaps onto the woman's face, sinking her claws into her skin and biting down as hard as she can.

[jamesthorn]

When Moira leaps onto the woman's shoulder, the action jolts James back into reality. He sits for a second, glancing around him, barely remembering walking into the bedroom now. He sees Moira, or rather cat-Moira, tearing her claws and teeth into woman's face, viciously attacking her. James stands there for a second stunned by the scene, until the woman regroups, flailing her arms and knocking Moira against the wall and to the ground.

He immediately grabs the nearest thing, a wooden tray set up on the nightstand, used to serve breakfast in bed. He uses every ounce of his strength to hit the woman in the face, feeling and hearing a crunch when he does. He hits her again even though she screams bloody murder. Of course, it is then that he sees the woman is no longer as she appeared. Instead, of her beautiful face, he sees a deformed creature, wrinkled skin and black eyes, and hair--her hair--it's alive.

"What the fuck--" James freaks out, backing away, stumbling over the chair behind him. He turns frantic searching for Moira. Once he spots her, he snatches her up from the ground and runs, not caring that she's liable to bite him too. He races back down the hall where they came, knowing the woman is on his heels. He comes to the hallway. It is no longer dark which is a good thing. But now he can fully see what those yellow eyes belonged to, giant snakes.

James turns back, but he sees the woman closing in on them. "Oh did I mention my pets..." she says in an evil voice.

[chasingtwisters]

Moira doesn't even mew in protest when James snatches her from the floor, still sore from hitting the wall. Damn, she thinks, what a bitch. She's going to fell that ache for days, probably, and it annoys her more than being carried by James as they run down another hallway. Moira hears the hissing of the snakes and really hopes James is up to date on his Greek mythology, seeing as she can't actually remind him not make the dumb ass move of looking the other woman in the eyes.

"Well, if you want to run, help yourselves. I always did like a good chase," she drawls, like some kind of villain out of Buffy. Moira digs her claws into James, not maliciously, but to hold on as they round another corner, trying to keep ahead of the snakes.

[jamesthorn]

"Shit, shit, shit," James mutters to himself, glancing around him as he makes a break for it down the hallway. He figures if her pet snakes are going to attack them, they might as well. It's better than dying at the hands of an evil bitch. He dashes down the hallway as fast as he can, feeling Moira squirming in his arms, he squeezes as tight of a grip as he can, hearing the snakes around them snapping at them as they go by. He doesn't know what to do, or how to kill this woman, but he just runs as far and as fast as he can.

He gives one good glance over his shoulder, and he sees her still, chasing them. As they come back into what he now recognizes as the woman's garden, he dashes behind one of the trees, hiding in the shrubs, hoping they are concealed. He looks down at Moira. "If you have any bright ideas, now would be the time," he tells her even though she can't talk back.

[chasingtwisters]

Moira rolls her eyes, unable to help herself, even in cat form. Of course it's up to her to save the day, even without access to her usual powers and currently trapped in cat form. She quickly glances around the garden, trying to think of what she can use. She needs to behead this gorgon to kill her, ultimately, and she can't actually do that as a cat. Finally, her gaze lands on a hoe, recently sharpened and leaning against the side of the fence surrounding the garden.

With a determined mew, she squirms out of James' tight grip and bounds away from him, hoping he'll catch on to her plan. She bolts out right in front of the woman, instantly catching her attention and holding it. She runs as fast as her form allows her to, dodging in and out of plants and weeds, keeping ahead of the hissing snakes.

As she runs past the hoe, she makes a significant gesture at James, hoping he'll get the hint.

[jamesthorn]

When Moira leaps out of his arms, James literally has a heart attack. All he can picture is the snake-haired woman capturing Moira and feeding her to the giant pets they saw back inside, and okay, he isn't Moira's biggest fan but he doesn't want to see that happen. He knows for certain he needs Moira with him if he expects to make it out of here alive, so this is purely a survival instinct. Nothing more than that.

"Moira..." he hisses in the direction she ran. Knowing she isn't coming back, he slowly creeps out of the bushes. Just in time to see Moira darting in and out of the women's legs, spinning her around and around. He realizes what is happening, as Moira darts by the garden hoe, the blade sharp, glinting off the water from the pond. He slowly reaches down for it, hoping he isn't obvious enough that he will redirect attention to himself. But she only has eyes for Moira, as she screams giant screeches attempting to grab Moira by the tail. Eventually she does, holding her up, the snake hairs snapping at Moira in anticipation of a treat.

He clutches the hoe in his hands, running close enough, and then he just swings for the fences.

[chasingtwisters]

Moira hisses when she's grabbed, thoroughly displeased. If she's going to bite it being fed to snakes, she sure is hell is coming back from beyond the grave and punching the responsible party right in the face. She growls and claws at the snakes snapping up at her; if they're going to attempt to eat her, they're still going to have to try and swallow her razor-sharp claws.

Thankfully, moments later, there's a wooshing sound of a blade cutting through air before finding it's target: Meduda's head flies across the garden yard like a golf ball, snakes and all. Moira lands gracefully on her feet on the ground, looking up at James and actually smiling at him as much as she can as a cat. She's actually impressed, for once, so much so that she goes and nuzzles his ankle, an action she will thoroughly deny ever happened once they get out of this place.

[jamesthorn]

Relief floods through James when it's all over, and he stumbles just a little, breathing hard and heavy as he drops the hoe to the ground. He actually didn't think they were going to make it out of there for a minute. Apparently neither did Moira because she threads happily through his feet, rubbing against his leg, tail squishing. He smiles to himself after a second because that was absolutely insane now that he thinks about it. Crazy evil lady with snakes for hair just tried to kill them. He shakes his head, ready to move on, but then he pauses, frowning, but slowly smirking to himself.

He scoops Moira up from the ground before she has a chance to get away again and then he charges back up the steps, back to the hallway that lead them into the woman's lair in the first place. He has a suspicion they might have just caught their first break. When he rounds the corner, he is proven correct. "Cut off the head of a snake..." he says, looking around at the piles of dust, where the woman's pets once stood. "Guess we have somewhere to sleep tonight."

[chasingtwisters]

Moira purrs, nodding happily as James brings them into the house. Here, they have food, shelter, and warmth, almost as though this whole experience was a vacation and not a batshit detour into utter chaos and killer insects. She lets James carry her over to the counter, where he sets her down before fetching her a bowl of water and a bowl of cream. It's an extremely thoughtful gesture, and she mews her pleasure before indulging in both of them, licking them until they're spotlessly clean.

When she finishes, she follows James to where he passes out on one of the couches in the living room area, half-curled under a raggedy blanket. She plops on top of him, nudging the blanket forward until it covers him more fully. She doesn't know why she does it, but he deserves to be comfortable after the last two days.

That task complete, Moira settles down by James' head, turning around until, satisfied, she settles down and shuts her own eyes to the world.