Nine Hundred Ninety-Nine Feet Below Fandom, Wednesday [NFB]

[designateddadfriend]

Travis would actually be a bit disappointed to miss the shenanigans this week, if he'd had any idea by this point what day it was up on the surface. Down in the cavern, it was as uniformly dark and dank and cool as it had been since he and Probie had fallen in.

Well. At least he didn't have to deal with the heat wave?

He'd given up on the ladder truck. And climbing the walls. And amping up his radio's signal to try to reach anyone up on the surface and let them know where he was. He was sprawled out against the side of the overturned desk, staring moodily at the little emergency lantern he was using for light, and generally being nearly as big a sad useless lump as he'd been after his husband had died four years ago.

He'd get back to being useful in awhile. Sometimes you just had to have a Sad Lump Day.

[Open if/when anyone else falls in a hole!]

Comments

[stykera]

Good news, Travis! You were about to be less lonely.

Bad news, your company included a currently chocolate cake-flavored alien who had not enjoyed being chased by a hole or hitting the ground down here.

"OW! What? Where? Nonononono."

[designateddadfriend]

Probie hopped to her feet, barking wildly. Travis got up a little slower, blinking in astonishment.

"Stark?"

[stykera]

Stark sat up, because laying on the ground was uncomfortable, and stared at Travis.

"What? Yes. How? Why are you... what?"

Look, he didn't deal all that well with being attacked, even by weird holes in the ground.

[designateddadfriend]

"We're . . . in a hole," Travis said. "A really deep one, apparently. Though how that works without way more damage than all this. . . ."

He gestured broadly around the little circle of lantern light from his emergency supplies. At the scattered rocks and branches and helmets and fire hoses and, oh yeah, the entire damned fire station lying on its back like an overturned beetle.

"I'd say welcome to Hell, but having met the Devil now, I kinda figure that has more sequins."

[stykera]

"We're not dead," Stark said. "I'd know. Hell wouldn't make sense. But...how? Why are we in a hole? There was a hole. That was following me. And the girl. And now...we're in a hole. I don't want to be in a hole. How long have you been here?"

Know what Stark did sometimes when stressed? Babbled.

[designateddadfriend]

"Depends," Travis said. "What day is it?"

He was not used to tracking days without getting the sun involved.

[lovethatjourney]

"Nice job with the hole," Alexis said, as this was clearly Stark's fault.

[stykera]

"I didn't do anything," Stark protested.

How dare, Alexis.

[lovethatjourney]

"Well you had to do something, because I didn't," she pointed out. "I was literally an innocent bystander, and then an innocent runner."

[stykera]

"I didn't do anything! I was walking and then you said something about a hole and then there was a hole then we fell in here! How do I know you didn't do something?"

[lovethatjourney]

"I was washing up from the stupid donut thing and whoosh, hole!" Alexis said. "I didn't do anything unless looking was doing something."

[meepmeepmeep]

"meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!"

Welcome to the bottom of the hole, Beaker. Please enjoy that cloud of powdered sugar he landed in.

[designateddadfriend]

Travis wold totally go to check on Beaker, but he was busy choking on that cloud of powdered sugar first.

What the hell?

[meepmeepmeep]

Well, this was what happened when you assigned Beaker donut-cleaning duty. Just...so much sugar.

"Meep meep meep meep mee?"

This wasn't Beaker first time down a giant hole, but. Hi?

[designateddadfriend]

Travis had seen enough of Beaker from afar to know better than to check him for a head wound in response to that meeping, but only barely.

"Um," he said. "Welcome to the hole?"

[meepmeepmeep]

"Meep meep meep," Beaker said, squinting way, way up to where he came. "Meep?" he asked, pointing.

[lovethatjourney]

"Aren't you the exploding kid?" Alexis asked, tactfully.

[meepmeepmeep]

"Meep meep meep!"

But he wasn't right now, and that was important!

[lovethatjourney]

"Okay!" Alexis announced. "We can throw the exploding kid at something to get out!"

No. Alexis, no.

[meepmeepmeep]

"Meep meep meep!" Beaker said, backing away.

[lovethatjourney]

And right after Stark came Alexis, who was not used to being transported to a second location and dumped somewhere like this if it wasn't in an exotic locale.

"So, what the hell."

[designateddadfriend]

Well, at least Travis had gotten past his startle with Stark, and thus was equipped to come over and offer Alexis a hand up.

"Let me guess. Weirdly mobile hole?"

[lovethatjourney]

"His weirdly mobile hole," Alexis said accusingly, gesturing at Stark.

Also that was a terrible way to put that.

[designateddadfriend]

". . . Yeah, I'm not touching that with that 30-foot pole over there."

He jerked his thumb at the convenient fire pole, still wedged beneath the overturned ladder truck.

"You okay?"

[lovethatjourney]

"Yeah, except the fact that I'm kidnapped by a hole," she said. "Who even does that?"