Trapped

[toastysocks]

Trapped In A Box Together Meme



You're not sure how, you're not sure why, but suddenly you're in a box. What's worse, is that there's another person with you making quarters less than perfect.

Rules:
①: Comment with your character | series | Preferences if any
②: Reply to others as if you're trapped in an tightly sealed non-open-able box that is rather cramped. Feel free to add more than two people to a box
③: Every now and then, the box will shift and roll to one side furthering awkward times
④: Play nice - Doesn't have to be shippy
⑤: Eventually you'll get out of the box but usually after you stop struggling

Comments

[ruggie]

[It had started easily enough, with a chance for a quick buck from Sam at the Mystery Shop. All Ruggie had to do was reorganize a few old things in the closet, dust off a few of them, and he'd get some spending money for the various snacks available. There was some risk, sure, because cleaning Sam's storeroom meant coming face to face with some things of dubious legality and at least one shrunken head, but that meant no one else was stupid enough to do it. It was his exclusive part time job.]

[but, well, the thing about risk is sometimes you do get knocked and drop some ancient artifact and you've got a 60-40 chance of something terrible happening]

[like getting trapped in a box with someone who was a customer at the time]

... well, good news, since you were buyin' something he'll probably try and get us out fast.

[The space, despite being magical, seems to be just big enough to fit the two of them. Ruggie is grateful for his small frame and the fact his spine is more of a suggestion than a hard and fast rule. He's able to slouch down in a way that can't be comfortable but does give the two of them a bit more breathing room.]

If it was just me, I wouldn't put him past leaving me here a bit to teach me a lesson.

[magicam]

[While Ruggie had been here to make a quick buck on some dubious, possibly dangerous handiwork, Cater's morning had been... a bit more chaotic. One of the first years had broken a particular teacup out of a particular set that couldn't easily be replaced, and in some small effort to sneak out of the hard work of setting up the afternoon's tea party, Cater had oh so bravely offered to see if Sam had a replacement in his stores somewhere.

Sure, they weren't manufactured anymore, sure the dorm supposedly had all the pieces, and the first year would probably be losing his head over it, but...

Weirder things just happened to be IN STOCK NOW at any given moment.

Luckily for them, he had one! Somehow. No one ever really asks how Sam has what he does. So, it's paid for, it's sent off to the dorm on express delivery (no one ever asks how Sam can deliver things faster than running them back would get them there, but... convenience) and...

And he's in a box?]

Eh?

[...There are both better and worse people to be stuck in a box with.]

About that... Cay just finished his transaction, so...

[So he's probably going to be collateral for teaching Ruggie a lesson, if Sam could even get them out of the box before whatever shadowy 'friend' that shoved them in in the first place decided to let them out.]

[ruggie]

[Ruggie's expression does drop when Cater mentions the deal is done,]

Payment and everything? Ah, dang it...

[That made things a lot less optimistic. Sam still took good care of his customers but if the payment was processed then there wasn't any sort of urgency to it. So long as they were out by class time the next day, they'd probably be fine.]

Ah! [his ears perk up at an idea]

What about your dorm head? He's gonna blow if you don't report in at Heartslabyul tonight, right?

[please, please, please let riddle's attitude be in his favor for once...]

[magicam]

Yeah...

[That... definitely made things a whole lot less optimistic. Sam took care of his customers, sure, but... technically, they weren't customers at the moment. Just a couple little imps in some trouble in the back - presumably - of his shop. And it's not like they could cause a ruckus from inside a box, so the incentive to help them was... probably pretty low, all told.

So that's a great reason to miss the tea party - Riddle might even understand... maybe...! - but also... not really the best news for their prospects of getting out any time soon.]

Yeah, yeah, he will! And it'll be off with my head... Aaah... Let me text him and see if he'll help...

[Because if he promised to come right back and finish helping with setup, then he couldn't be that mad, right?

So with a little shift, his hand goes into his pocket to retrieve his phone which... projects spooky horror-movie static on the screen instead of anything useful at all.]

Eh? Ehhhhhh? What kind of box is this?!

[ruggie]

[Ruggie wasn't the type to rely on his phone anyways and he's not surprised they crap out when it'd actually be useful. In fact, he was hoping more... when Riddle realized someone was missing he'd come storming in with a face as red as a tomato. And, sure, that might take a few hours but... it'd happen, right?]

Considering it's something of Sam's, who knows where we are...

[In time or space... the exact kind of magic going on was way beyond his level of skill. Ruggie stares sort of over Cater's shoulder, looking at the light of the static dancing against the unidentifiable material of the box.]

Well, considering it's magic we're probably not gonna suffocate!

[focusing on the positive(?)]

[magicam]

[Will Riddle storm in, or will he wait in the Heartslaybul lounge with One Dramatic Reading Light On waiting for his errant dorm member to come home like a mom waiting for a teenager who snuck out?

50/50 chance on either option, terribly unreliable for a hope at rescue...]

There's gotta be some way of getting ourselves out, right?

[There had to be a reason the inter-dimensional box sucked in the two of them instead of either just Ruggie, or the two of them and also Sam, and also whoever else was in the shop at the time... right?

Well, whatever the case - calling or texting someone isn't going to happen, so the phone goes back in his pocket, and the two of them are plunged back into darkness, at least until their eyes adjust.]

Haha~ At least there's that... Hopefully we won't be here long enough to find out...

[ruggie]

[At least the 50/50 of Riddle's tiny wrath was infinitely more likely than Leona coming. Ruggie's pretty sure Leona will only notice when he sleeps through three class periods tomorrow. Then maybe he'd worry and start looking.]

[Ruggie's eyes adjust to the darkness fairly quickly. Night vision was important, shishishi.]

Huh, well... if it's something magic there might be some sorta key word, or a counter-spell? Gimmie a sec,

[Ruggie's position was fine for just making space but not really convenient for moving his arms. He has to squirm, shift his body, and only then can he squeeze a hand between them to flick his magic pen up and out of his uniform pocket.]

Hmmmm. [... for getting his own wand out, it's not like he knew what to do. Cater was a third year, maybe he should have a better idea?]

... not a lotta room for gestures, huh. [not that any of this really needs a gesture, it was just always weird to cast without moving.]

[magicam]

[Counting on Riddle's Tiny Wrath(tm) was always a scary thing to do... but it was absolutely more reliable than hoping Leona would notice, unfortunately.

(And, wow, not everyone's a beastman, here...)]

Hopefully not one that has to be said from outside the box...

[Because that would just be their luck, wouldn't it?

...Though, if that was the case, then their hope was left with Sam, and since they hadn't been freed yet... well, all that really meant was that the box wasn't in the way in the shop. Unfortunately.

Anyway, as Ruggie moves to dig out his wand, it's Cater's turn to shift to smush against the wall and get as out of the way as possible. No sense in making it more difficult than it already is...]

...Not enough room for gestures...

[Look, he gets it, he uses big gestures to cast, too. It just felt... right.

And third year or no, he really hadn't studied... getting out of traps like this. Usually, it was either losing his head (inescapable...) or there was enough warning that he could just... split, and at least one double would be free. This was way too sudden!

...And he's not going to try and split now, just in case they were in the sort of pocket dimension that wouldn't let him just pop a copy outside. There was barely enough room for two, let alone three.]

Maybe we should... ask the box what it wants...?

[If it was Sam's, then... who knows if it was sentient or not...]

[ruggie]

[If another body got added then they would have to worry about suffocating- not from lack of oxygen but from being pressed into each other's clothes.]

I mean, it's a box... we never studied "box" in animal communication...

[He uses the space Cater made for him so graciously to... spin his magic pen in his fingers. Spin, spin, spin...]

Alright, can't say I won't try: what's it gonna take, box?!

[And the spinning stops, gem pointed up at the top of the box (well, he assumes it's the top because of gravity and his own sense of direction- they could be anywhere in any position, really) and a little spark appears in the dark of the box. From that spark, the walls of the box suddenly light up with script, written in the same color as Ruggie's magic.]

Huh?!

[Ruggie just seems startled it answered, give him a moment before he actually bothers to read it...]