The Muffin Man Has Claustrophobia [Labyrinth]

[Asclas Papadios]

Darkness, nothing but darkness, the large rectangular lights in the ceiling no longer cast their harsh unforgiving glow. It was a relief for the most part, but it was terrifying; and colder. The lights might have been blinding but they helped shed a little warmth to relieve Asclas of the chilling cold he was surrounded by in the Keepers Lab. It hadn't been the first time he was forced into one of these experiment holding cages and most likely wouldn't be the last; if he wasn't killed this time. He did well not to touch the shock inducing bars surrounding him in the cage. He had learned his lesson already; his hands had burn scars from when he tried to grab them. He had done this once before when he was captured but that seemed like decades ago - even so he had just learned his lesson. Being electrocuted twice was enough. His body still shook and convulsed in the dark from the early shock, his muscles where finally begging to loosen after tightening so firmly. Being electrocuted sucked but what was even worse was the after effect, the headaches, neasue, muscle cramps, vomiting; that he without want got to stew in. For some reason old childhood songs kept playing in his head, cheesy ones like the "Muffin Man" that his Foster Mother use to sing him. He found himself humming it without meaning to. Maybe it was his minds way of trying to keep from breaking. Though the Keepers had already done enough of that too him. He had a sharp pain in his bottom lip. It was from his fangs, fairly recently they had abducted him and thrown him back into the wild and when he awoke he found himself with fangs that dripped his venom. He wasn't use to having fangs is his humanoid form, it was strange. He feared he was becoming like one of those things deep within the Menagerie, an Anthromorph. Though lucky for him his was retractable so he kept it a secret. Plus being able to inject his poison into people without shifting could be a great trump card if the need ever arises. Asclas couldn't help but think what a great feeling it would be to bite into one of the Keepers necks and inject them with the venom they so graciously allowed him to use from his fangs. Letting every drop flow into their veins -the thought was enough to make him a little less miserable. He smiled at the thought of killing Keepers, in many different ways, one of his favorites would be to wrap his huge arms around their neck and squeeze until he heard it crack. Alas for now that was just wishful thinking, thoughts he would soon put on hold due the amusement they gave him. Not because he didn't like being amused, but because it made him smile and made his fangs protrude into his bottom lip. To which he replied with a muffled "Agh!" The pain soon subsided as his lip healed, quickly, a little to quickly actually. As he came to think of it, the burns on his hands already felt less tender, as if the nerves stopped aching. However, It would no doubt leave a scar - to which he did not enjoy. A permanent reminder of his time spent in a cage.

[Asclas Papadios]

Asclas shivered from the cold, and his breathing was raspy and hot. He was sure that if he could see it would no doubt create small vapors. He often enjoyed the small vapors; the small little white puff clouds - it was silly but they amused him. Lately he found himself appreciating the good things in life, even in a bad situation though as of lately, he just found himself in bad situations that got worse. It was hard to appreciate anything when things just got crappier by the second. He was reminded of an old saying his Foster Mom use to say "When it rains, it pours." It was a perfect way of saying 'life is really shitty sometimes.' He found himself wishing that the lights where back on, even if it meant he was being watched by the keepers. His cold blooded nature always came into play. in a more physical sense. It was mostly due to his shifting animal being a serpent, especially one that does not do well in the cold. He was freezing, and even though it right now it seemed as if he was in solitude he found himself wishing he wasn't alone. The thought of one of his Carna fellows popped in his head. James, he was warm. Really warm, and cuddly. He was like a big goofy fluff ball. Asclas would never tell him that though, otherwise he'd have to kill himself due to embarrassment. Honestly Asclas preferred his training with Grey over being shoved in an cold cage. At least with Grey it was a small chance of escape, when they were playing tag anyway, otherwise he just mercilessly got the crap kicked out of him during combat training. Though he preferred that over this, and would gladly take a month of harsh training with Grey than be stuck in a Keepers lab... Well, maybe a week, there's not a snowballs chance in hell he'd last a month of Grey's consistent training - not unless it froze over anyway. The darkness was cruel and unforgiving for most but Asclas had spent many days as a child looked away in darkness in a cold confined space. This bought back a sense of familiarity, some good in the sense that he was use to it, and some bad... In the same sense. It made his skin crawl just a bit, as a child he found himself counting parts of his body in an effort to keep himself sane, he'd start with both his arms, and legs, his eyes, his nose, his mouth, then his teeth, the hairs on his head, the scars on his body from whippings, the grooves in his fingers that he could feel using his fingernails. The last time he counted his hairs on his head he had roughly 102,687 hair strands, and enough time to count each of them over 3 times. He nearly starved to death that time. He quickly found himself begging to count his fingers, and then he heard a noise a large "clang!" As if someone dropped something metallic on the floor.

[Valeria Kazakov]

There was a strange ringing in the anthromorph’s ears. The last thing she could remember was being on her scouting duty, walking along the edges of Nakoma territory and staying well way from as many Carna as she could. Then something stung the back of her neck and everything went black. Valeria only assumed it was the Keepers’ doing, dragging her back to the dreaded laboratory to poke and prod her until she bled dry and could no longer move, weak and sick to the stomach. It had happened before so she really wasn’t surprised. Scared – she was definitely scared. Valeria never kidded herself and never pretended to be brave; there was no point to it. The ringing gradually subsided and instead Val could hear metal clanging together and dulled voices on the other side of a door. She assumed they were on the other side at least because otherwise she would hear them clearer. Everything was black and Val tried to pry her eyes open but they already were. “Shit,” she muttered under her breath. Being in the labs and being blind was not a great combination. The amount of metal touching her skin told her she was almost naked. They must have been experimenting on her. But with what? There was no real way to know what you had ended up with until you were back out in the dome and could test out the abilities on someone else. Last time she found herself with empathy and she knew there were all manner of other abilities wandering around the Menagerie. A door opened and heavy boots thumped loudly towards the table Valeria was on. No one spoke and Val didn’t move as another needle pierced her skin. Instead, she closed her eyes and let herself fall limp, the world becoming hazy around her once again. *** The second time Valeria woke up, she was still totally blind. Except this time there were noises everywhere. There was thumping and clanging and banging and screeching somewhere in the distance. All the sounds blurred together and for some reason, despite her constant practice, she couldn’t separate them. The anthro growled softly, her ears twitching atop her head as they swivelled to try and funnel the sounds separately. “Breathe,” she murmured, but the noise was still too loud and she winced in pain. As panic began to set in, Val instead set her mind to focus on what she knew. Her hands moved around her body – she was clothed again. She assumed it was just her simple white tee and shorts – her shoes were missing. Then she felt hands wrap around her arms. “No!” she tried to scream, but she was certain nothing came out. Her legs were still numb and she was dragged somewhere unknown. Was she even still in the labs? She thought she heard laughing – perhaps laughing at her? Then there was another jab, this one in her leg, and Val felt a tingle pass through them as she realised they were preparing her for another test. What were they testing? “Labyrinth test subject number twelve,” she heard a voice scream into her ear. Then she was tossed somewhere and hit the deck hard. Her arm throbbed where she fell and she heard the thump ring out through the whole cell. It echoed, and Val understood that they were in some kind of large cell with thick walls. She assumed they were clear since the keepers generally liked to observe their subjects from all angles. Another metallic clang rang out through the cell and Valeria winced at the pain it caused. Metallic. It was a metallic sound. Val blinked but there was nothing. Where had the sound come from? She focused on the ringing and figured it was somewhere to her right. Crawling on all fours she stumbled over to where she thought the sound had come from. Her hands came into contact with metal and she grabbed at it hastily. The familiar shape of her weaponry comforted her slightly, and she fit both bagh nakh on her hands. She moved her hands along the ground again and found her bo staff, sighing once more. She picked it up and forced herself to stand. It was then that she heard it. Footsteps nearby and a terrible voice. “Freak! Weirdo! Monster! Abomination!” It called out insults to her and the hiss in its tone made her assume it was Carna. Valeria growled back, baring her teeth in the direction the voice had come from. Holding her bo staff in one hand, she reached out with her left, scratching at the empty space. The voice continued, louder, calling her all manner of foul things and causing hatred to rise up in Val’s chest. The whole room seemed to vibrate and she couldn’t work out where the man was. Gradually the voice seemed to be coming from everywhere and Val looked around, growling and striking out with her weapons, hoping to come into contact with something. “Pathetic Carna,” she shouted, wincing slightly at her own loudness. Her ears were throbbing and tears welled in her eyes as the voices continued to shake the room. What was this? Why were they doing this? For years she had outrun the Carna time and time again but Val knew there was no escaping this box the keepers had shoved her in. It was kill or be killed and Val was determined to beat whichever Carna dared insult her. “Ya vyrvu yazyk s moimi kogtyami.” translations | Ya vyrvu yazyk s moimi kogtyami. = I will rip your tongue out with my claws. ooc | Lustian! keen for some labyrinth stuff. lemme know if this is enough for you to work with or if you need edits and stuff

[Asclas Papadios]

The metallic cling still rang in Asclas ear, it was oddly familiar however; he had heard it before. Everything was still dark, he couldn't see but he had this feeling, this pulling sensation that he wasn't alone. He still had the feeling he was inside some type of metal cage, so he tried not to move, but then he heard the sounds again, but this time he heard a voice. "Pathetic Carna!" It cried out. His heart began to race, and his emotions began to flare. Hatred, seemed to be the most prominent followed by fear. He had grown close to his home in Carna and hearing spouts against it in such a manor was enough to make him angry. Sure he had his own agenda and reasons for being apart of Carna, and not so good intentions but it was still his home for the time being. Disrespecting it, was like disrespecting him and he didn't like to be disrespected. He tried to move towards the metallic sound, though when he did a sharp pain shot through his leg. He had been stabbed, not deeply but something had hit a nerve. As if they jammed a needle in him one to many times in the wrong spot before getting it right, or maybe they got it right each and every time and just wanted to be sadistic a-holes. His leg was numb from pain but it was slowly begging to have more feel to it the more he moved it around; almost instinctual he found himself crawling towards where the metallic sound came from, but as he did images flashed in his mind. It was like when he would have his PTSD episodes, getting flashes, scenes and relieving memories that felt a little to real. He was being dragged by Keepers, though the memory was jumbled. One of the Keepers looked familiar, she had the face of Step Mother, and was singing "Do you know the muffin man" before stabbing him with a needle. "Darn missed the vein" She said, in a joyful tone before giving it three more goes before finally getting it right. The next thing he remembered was being thrown in a room, with glass walls before everything went dark. He snapped back from his episode only to realize he had bumped into something, apparently he was still crawling without realizing it. Wrapping his hands around it he cut the palms of his hands. "Agh!" He screamed before removing his hands, letting the object drop to the ground. The sensation he got from the pain jolted his senses he could feel everything within a 10 foot radius of him, it wasn't much but was enough for him to know there was another humanoid figure near him, he couldn't quite make out everything but it did let him know that what he cut himself with was his knife, he had handled it enough times for his mind to be able to perfectly make out its shape. His leg was finally starting to gain the last little bit of its mobility, and his hands where already starting to heal themselves. He then came to the sudden realization that he wasn't electrocuted. He had moved much further from where he was before but hadn't gotten even the tiniest of shocks and the burning sensation and numbness he felt earlier was gone as well. He couldn't make out just what the hell was going on. He also began to realize that he had nothing on but a pair of boxers briefs and a undershirt. Not only that but someone else was in front of him, just a few feet away. "Whose there!?" Asclas screamed, his voice raspy, it almost hurt to speak. Was this the person that yelled out the insult about Carna? He grabbed his blade, his hands where slowly beginning to heal themselves, but he could still feel the blood dripping from his hands, making it's way down the blade. It was painful to hold the blade but he figured better pain than death. His mouth twitched, he could feel his fangs fighting to come out, he hadn't gotten use to them just yet. Often he found it hard to keep them contained and just let them roam free when he was alone. Thinking through what had happened so far he figured he was being tested on by the Keepers. He just didn't know how, other than the fact that he was drugged to high heaven and that he was now being forced in a room alone side another person in nothing but his boxer briefs. OOC: Sorry if it's a little short, let me know if you need me to add more for you to go off of. Sort of rushed this post out before work. Haha.

[Valeria Kazakov]

Vibrations rippled through the floor and Valeria found herself slowly moving away from them. She thought she could feel the creature crawling to where she had found her weapons. Perhaps she left some behind? Her hand gripped her staff tighter and she felt the talons tear into her own flesh slightly. The pain made her senses sharper, the voice fading slightly as she focused on the movement of the other creature. It felt heavy and she thought perhaps it was a male, bulky enough to cause thick vibrations on the cool surface of the floor. Valeria heard someone call out and once again the noise was painful to her enhanced sense. Wincing, she cowered away from the sound. It was then that she felt it, someone breathing down her neck. And then there were arms around her, squeezing her torso and neck, pulling her towards them and tightening their grip. “Let go!” Val cried out, and the figure merely laughed. Growling, she focused her energy and pushed a thought of her own fear outwards. The anthro didn’t understand that it wasn’t only being projected from her skin-to-skin contact with the imaginary being. Instead, the emotion flowed out from her like perfume and filled the entire room. The being behind her loosened its grip just enough and Valeria took her chance. She pulled forward, breaking out of its hold. Whipping around, Val struck across the figure’s face with her claws, hearing him cry out. But then as she thrust her bo staff at it, she hit air. The girl frowned and once again voices cried out from all around the room. It called her all kinds of things and Valeria growled again, moving around in circles as if to try and find the source of the insults. Then a voice called out, one that Valeria could pinpoint. She turned in the direction and growled loudly, tapping her bo staff on the ground to scare whoever it was. “I’ll kill you Carna,” she called out in response. The other voices had dulled down to a whisper so Valeria focused instead on the area where the male voice had come from. She figured that was the Carna that had started the outcries and now his buddies were egging him on too, trying to agitate the anthromorph to scare her. They began thumping their feet on the ground, vibrations echoing around the entire room. It got louder and louder and louder. Someone screamed. Valeria realised it was her voice. Fear gripped her heart and her chest heaved as she panted. She couldn’t feel the fear rippling outwards, filling the entire room, her own powers unknown to her. Val didn’t understand the danger of what the keepers had done to her. She didn’t understand the danger of sending her fear through the room. Already she had forgotten she was merely an experiment. The room was dark, and the voices echoed everywhere. But that one voice was louder than the rest. Clenching her teeth, she ran towards the louder voice, bo staff primed for attack. “I’ll shut you up myself then!” Valeria called as she swiped her bo staff left, aiming for the last spot she heard the creature in. “I am not a monster.” ooc | eh not my best... her chempathy will probably mess with Asclas a bit... sorry not sorry xD also ending it there so you can decide whether she hits him or not