Parachute Mission
2018-11-17 15:12![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mosaic_archivePatrick checked the buckles on the tiny parachute one last time, and the watch-like PINPoint Jester was wearing like a second belt. "I guess that's everything. You're sure about this?"
Jester nodded. /It is not as dangerous as you think. People use parachutes all the time./
"Yeah, but they don't weigh less than two pounds. I still think you'll be lucky if you're not blown out to sea, like an oversized piece of dandelion fluff."
/I should go instead. I weigh a little more than you./
Jester dodged away from Tunneler as if afraid he was about to lose his parachute. /Nein. I want to do this. It will be fun./
/Just let him go, already,/ commented Blade, sounding very amused to the others.
"All right. Good luck," Patrick said.
Jester reached for the PINPoint at his waist, and was gone.
Freefall was amazing. Jester had always secretly wanted to try something like this... parachuting, hang-gliding, some kind of flight that didn't involve the cargo hold of an airplane. While traveling in luggage was never fun, it was just one of the small downsides of what they were.
But he didn't want to think of that now, not with the wind rushing past and the hugeness of the sky and earth. It was freeing to not be so hidden. Dangerous for them, true, but who was going to be looking up in the sky for falling puppets? This was as safe as it could get, short of being in the Nexus. After all, Totems couldn't fly. The idea sent him into a fit of snickers, he couldn't help it, as his mind started coming up with all the ways one could make a Totem fly - none of which were particularly safe for the Totem.
Somewhere in between mischievous thoughts of catapults and toy rockets, it crossed his mind that he should think about pulling the rip cord soon. He hadn't told the others that he was a little uncertain as to how to know just when to do that. After all, they didn't fall like humans did, mostly due to the weight difference. He'd need to be closer to the ground than a human, but not too close. He started to keep a watch on the land below, trying to make sure he'd land in the back yard of the house.
He couldn't wait to tell everyone how fun this was. And then, for just a moment, he froze. When he'd thought of everyone else, he'd felt something that couldn't be true. He knew the others were waiting for him in the Nexus, and yet that felt confused somehow. But the real shock was who was in the house below. The second shock, he realized as he tried to sort out how this could be possible, is that he didn't feel any of the wrongness that had eventually become so noticeable with Gallagher, the zombie, and Camille. Things felt exactly as they should.
Somehow, Rick Myers wasn't dead.
He didn't pull the rip cord until he was barely twice as high as the house's roof, and if he hit the ground a little hard as a result that was fine - he'd had far worse. The more important thing now, he felt, was to act as quickly as possible. After hitting a button on the PINPoint to store the ground coordinates, he fumbled with the parachute's release. It took longer than he liked to get it to work without moving fingers. As he darted across the grass to the fake stone that concealed a spare back door key, he was already thinking several steps ahead. From there, he expected to climb up a bit of trellis to reach the doorknob, and let himself in to find out what was going on. They would need to grab the emergency bug-out bags and get out of the house, perhaps back to the Nexus where it would be safe.
He stumbled and fell as he reached the stone. The reason was as obvious to him as if he'd heard the gunshot despite the silencer that woman must have used. Now he understood. Time had bent, somehow, but there was no time to waste. Plans already rearranging in his mind, Jester hit the button that would return him to the Nexus.
"What happened?" It was clear to Patrick, and all the rest as well, that Jester was agitated when he returned.
/There is no time. Get the duffel. I have the coordinates and will get us there, but we should all have PINPoints to return quickly./ Jester wasn't always so direct about giving orders, but the others knew to listen when he did.
Patrick put the waiting duffel bag on the ground and unzipped it so the puppets could climb in after grabbing PINPoints from a nearby bowl.
Jester continued to outline the plan. /Patrick, you will need to get us in the back door. Then, you return to the Nexus and get those potions ready the green-haired woman told us about. Six-Shooter will need to grab the bugout bags. I will need Pinhead and Blade with me. The rest watch for trouble and then we must all get back to the Nexus as soon as possible./ He knew, already, that in order for the past to remain as it was, what they had sensed before they came to the Nexus could not change. They had to get to the Nexus to use the potions. And then... maybe...
Jester nodded. /It is not as dangerous as you think. People use parachutes all the time./
"Yeah, but they don't weigh less than two pounds. I still think you'll be lucky if you're not blown out to sea, like an oversized piece of dandelion fluff."
/I should go instead. I weigh a little more than you./
Jester dodged away from Tunneler as if afraid he was about to lose his parachute. /Nein. I want to do this. It will be fun./
/Just let him go, already,/ commented Blade, sounding very amused to the others.
"All right. Good luck," Patrick said.
Jester reached for the PINPoint at his waist, and was gone.
Freefall was amazing. Jester had always secretly wanted to try something like this... parachuting, hang-gliding, some kind of flight that didn't involve the cargo hold of an airplane. While traveling in luggage was never fun, it was just one of the small downsides of what they were.
But he didn't want to think of that now, not with the wind rushing past and the hugeness of the sky and earth. It was freeing to not be so hidden. Dangerous for them, true, but who was going to be looking up in the sky for falling puppets? This was as safe as it could get, short of being in the Nexus. After all, Totems couldn't fly. The idea sent him into a fit of snickers, he couldn't help it, as his mind started coming up with all the ways one could make a Totem fly - none of which were particularly safe for the Totem.
Somewhere in between mischievous thoughts of catapults and toy rockets, it crossed his mind that he should think about pulling the rip cord soon. He hadn't told the others that he was a little uncertain as to how to know just when to do that. After all, they didn't fall like humans did, mostly due to the weight difference. He'd need to be closer to the ground than a human, but not too close. He started to keep a watch on the land below, trying to make sure he'd land in the back yard of the house.
He couldn't wait to tell everyone how fun this was. And then, for just a moment, he froze. When he'd thought of everyone else, he'd felt something that couldn't be true. He knew the others were waiting for him in the Nexus, and yet that felt confused somehow. But the real shock was who was in the house below. The second shock, he realized as he tried to sort out how this could be possible, is that he didn't feel any of the wrongness that had eventually become so noticeable with Gallagher, the zombie, and Camille. Things felt exactly as they should.
Somehow, Rick Myers wasn't dead.
He didn't pull the rip cord until he was barely twice as high as the house's roof, and if he hit the ground a little hard as a result that was fine - he'd had far worse. The more important thing now, he felt, was to act as quickly as possible. After hitting a button on the PINPoint to store the ground coordinates, he fumbled with the parachute's release. It took longer than he liked to get it to work without moving fingers. As he darted across the grass to the fake stone that concealed a spare back door key, he was already thinking several steps ahead. From there, he expected to climb up a bit of trellis to reach the doorknob, and let himself in to find out what was going on. They would need to grab the emergency bug-out bags and get out of the house, perhaps back to the Nexus where it would be safe.
He stumbled and fell as he reached the stone. The reason was as obvious to him as if he'd heard the gunshot despite the silencer that woman must have used. Now he understood. Time had bent, somehow, but there was no time to waste. Plans already rearranging in his mind, Jester hit the button that would return him to the Nexus.
"What happened?" It was clear to Patrick, and all the rest as well, that Jester was agitated when he returned.
/There is no time. Get the duffel. I have the coordinates and will get us there, but we should all have PINPoints to return quickly./ Jester wasn't always so direct about giving orders, but the others knew to listen when he did.
Patrick put the waiting duffel bag on the ground and unzipped it so the puppets could climb in after grabbing PINPoints from a nearby bowl.
Jester continued to outline the plan. /Patrick, you will need to get us in the back door. Then, you return to the Nexus and get those potions ready the green-haired woman told us about. Six-Shooter will need to grab the bugout bags. I will need Pinhead and Blade with me. The rest watch for trouble and then we must all get back to the Nexus as soon as possible./ He knew, already, that in order for the past to remain as it was, what they had sensed before they came to the Nexus could not change. They had to get to the Nexus to use the potions. And then... maybe...