Fic:Trapped
Oct. 27th, 2014 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meridian_roseTitle: Trapped
Fandom: Original
'Verse/Series: Metafiction
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 933
Prompt: For the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
therealljidol prompt "crabs in a barrel"
Summary: The self-aware characters find themselves stranded in a town from which the inhabitants don't want them to escape.
Content Notes: No standard warnings apply.
Notes: This takes place in the metafiction verse, where Helena, Sullivan, and Darcy are self aware fictional characters often annoyed at being subjected to their author's whims. There's an index of previous works.
The three heroes circled the town again. The magic barrier was impenetrable. It rose higher than they could reach, even with Darcy balanced on Sullivan's shoulders, and there were no trees near to the barrier that they could climb.
The landlady shook her head at them as she filled a bucket from the nearby well. "Why would you want to leave? Everything you could ever want is here."
"We're on a quest," Helena told her.
Sullivan picked up a stone and threw it towards the barrier. It lodged in the magical shield, making the subtle ripple of the almost invisible boundary flash turquoise before the pebble was spat back into the dirt.
The woman arched an eyebrow. "You should not attempt to escape," she said, and stalked away, hips swinging.
"What is it with this place?" Helena shook her head. "They act as if it's perfectly natural to be trapped."
Sullivan sighed, kicking at the dust. "It's like crabs," he said.
"I thought you got that problem taken care of in the last village," Darcy sniped. "Though you probably did go straight to the next cat house, so who knows." He and Sullivan had been bickering for the previous two chapters and Helena was getting sick of it.
Sullivan, for once, didn't rise to the bait. "I meant actual crabs, from the ocean."
"Oh." Darcy sniffed. "Some of us were raised in civilisation."
If Darcy kept this up, Helena would give him the fight he was spoiling for. She glared at him and then smiled at Sullivan. "What about crabs?"
"Well, you catch them, see, to eat later, and put them in a barrel." Sullivan mimed the task. "And if they worked together they could escape. Make a crab ladder or something. But they don't. And worse, if one crab tries to climb out, the crabs below pull him back."
Helena stared at him, stunned. "Why?"
He shrugged. "Who knows? They're crabs. They don't think like humans. But that's what these villagers remind me of. They don't want anyone else to escape the trap. They're dragging us down with them." He scratched at his chin, eyes thoughtful. "That's why they don't like magic. They think we'll try and break the barrier down with it."
They had to escape if they were to continue with their storyline. Helena was fairly certain that She (She was the only name they ever used for their creator) had plans for them that didn't end with them living miserably ever after in this backwater settlement.
They'd just walked, unawares, into the town only to find when they tried to leave that ingress was permitted but egress was not. Helena had tried walking backwards in an attempt to fool the magic, but to no avail. Every other attempt they'd made to breach the barrier had failed and, despite the townspeople's fears, the heroes possessed no magic.
Helena walked over to the barrier and ran her fingers across it. It rippled as she did so, and it felt like a summer's breeze against her skin. When she pressed her hand into the barrier, it grabbed as if she were sinking into sticky mud. She'd panicked the first time she did this, but now she watched with idle detachment as the barrier held on tight for a moment before it shoved her hand away like a wave pushing her back to shore.
Sullivan wandered over. "I'm worried about Darcy," he said, keeping his voice low. "He's been more of an uptight ass than usual."
"I've noticed." Helena thought about digging again. They'd dug down five feet before the village elder had demanded they stop, but maybe they continue the attempt under cover of darkness. Tunnelling under the barrier seemed safer and more practical than any of their ideas for getting over it.
"Do you think it's character development or plot related?" Sullivan shot a glance back at Darcy.
Helena tipped her head. "I don't know." Sullivan had started out as comic relief, and while humour was still an important part of who he was, he'd been given back-story and had been "fleshed out" into a fully realised character and an important part of their team. It was part of the authorial process.
If their creator intended Darcy to become insufferable then surely She had her reasons. Helena said as much to Sullivan, though she too felt a twinge of concern as she looked over his shoulder. Darcy had sat down by the well and now rested his head upon his drawn up knees, morose as she'd never seen him before.
"We just need to get out of here," Helena said, hoping she was right. "Maybe he's…do you think we have the term claustrophobic?"
"Yes. We knew the word arachnophobic back in chapter three, remember?"
She nodded. "He probably just feels claustrophobic, being penned in. And he has goals to meet, as do we, that won't be accomplished here. I'm sure he'll be fine once we leave this awful place."
Sullivan grimaced as he surveyed the town. "We couldn't have been stranded in Fourblades, during that wonderful feast, could we? No, it had to be some one horse town in the middle of nowhere. Have you noticed that there's barely even any farmland? We'll all starve come wintertime."
It surprised Helena to hear him voice this observation; she'd have expected it from Darcy but not Sullivan. This town was clearly affecting them. "We won't be here for winter," she said, certain that their author would give her an idea soon. Helena would rescue her friends, the townsfolk and their crablike mentality be damned.
Fandom: Original
'Verse/Series: Metafiction
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 933
Prompt: For the
therealljidol prompt "crabs in a barrel"Summary: The self-aware characters find themselves stranded in a town from which the inhabitants don't want them to escape.
Content Notes: No standard warnings apply.
Notes: This takes place in the metafiction verse, where Helena, Sullivan, and Darcy are self aware fictional characters often annoyed at being subjected to their author's whims. There's an index of previous works.
The three heroes circled the town again. The magic barrier was impenetrable. It rose higher than they could reach, even with Darcy balanced on Sullivan's shoulders, and there were no trees near to the barrier that they could climb.
The landlady shook her head at them as she filled a bucket from the nearby well. "Why would you want to leave? Everything you could ever want is here."
"We're on a quest," Helena told her.
Sullivan picked up a stone and threw it towards the barrier. It lodged in the magical shield, making the subtle ripple of the almost invisible boundary flash turquoise before the pebble was spat back into the dirt.
The woman arched an eyebrow. "You should not attempt to escape," she said, and stalked away, hips swinging.
"What is it with this place?" Helena shook her head. "They act as if it's perfectly natural to be trapped."
Sullivan sighed, kicking at the dust. "It's like crabs," he said.
"I thought you got that problem taken care of in the last village," Darcy sniped. "Though you probably did go straight to the next cat house, so who knows." He and Sullivan had been bickering for the previous two chapters and Helena was getting sick of it.
Sullivan, for once, didn't rise to the bait. "I meant actual crabs, from the ocean."
"Oh." Darcy sniffed. "Some of us were raised in civilisation."
If Darcy kept this up, Helena would give him the fight he was spoiling for. She glared at him and then smiled at Sullivan. "What about crabs?"
"Well, you catch them, see, to eat later, and put them in a barrel." Sullivan mimed the task. "And if they worked together they could escape. Make a crab ladder or something. But they don't. And worse, if one crab tries to climb out, the crabs below pull him back."
Helena stared at him, stunned. "Why?"
He shrugged. "Who knows? They're crabs. They don't think like humans. But that's what these villagers remind me of. They don't want anyone else to escape the trap. They're dragging us down with them." He scratched at his chin, eyes thoughtful. "That's why they don't like magic. They think we'll try and break the barrier down with it."
They had to escape if they were to continue with their storyline. Helena was fairly certain that She (She was the only name they ever used for their creator) had plans for them that didn't end with them living miserably ever after in this backwater settlement.
They'd just walked, unawares, into the town only to find when they tried to leave that ingress was permitted but egress was not. Helena had tried walking backwards in an attempt to fool the magic, but to no avail. Every other attempt they'd made to breach the barrier had failed and, despite the townspeople's fears, the heroes possessed no magic.
Helena walked over to the barrier and ran her fingers across it. It rippled as she did so, and it felt like a summer's breeze against her skin. When she pressed her hand into the barrier, it grabbed as if she were sinking into sticky mud. She'd panicked the first time she did this, but now she watched with idle detachment as the barrier held on tight for a moment before it shoved her hand away like a wave pushing her back to shore.
Sullivan wandered over. "I'm worried about Darcy," he said, keeping his voice low. "He's been more of an uptight ass than usual."
"I've noticed." Helena thought about digging again. They'd dug down five feet before the village elder had demanded they stop, but maybe they continue the attempt under cover of darkness. Tunnelling under the barrier seemed safer and more practical than any of their ideas for getting over it.
"Do you think it's character development or plot related?" Sullivan shot a glance back at Darcy.
Helena tipped her head. "I don't know." Sullivan had started out as comic relief, and while humour was still an important part of who he was, he'd been given back-story and had been "fleshed out" into a fully realised character and an important part of their team. It was part of the authorial process.
If their creator intended Darcy to become insufferable then surely She had her reasons. Helena said as much to Sullivan, though she too felt a twinge of concern as she looked over his shoulder. Darcy had sat down by the well and now rested his head upon his drawn up knees, morose as she'd never seen him before.
"We just need to get out of here," Helena said, hoping she was right. "Maybe he's…do you think we have the term claustrophobic?"
"Yes. We knew the word arachnophobic back in chapter three, remember?"
She nodded. "He probably just feels claustrophobic, being penned in. And he has goals to meet, as do we, that won't be accomplished here. I'm sure he'll be fine once we leave this awful place."
Sullivan grimaced as he surveyed the town. "We couldn't have been stranded in Fourblades, during that wonderful feast, could we? No, it had to be some one horse town in the middle of nowhere. Have you noticed that there's barely even any farmland? We'll all starve come wintertime."
It surprised Helena to hear him voice this observation; she'd have expected it from Darcy but not Sullivan. This town was clearly affecting them. "We won't be here for winter," she said, certain that their author would give her an idea soon. Helena would rescue her friends, the townsfolk and their crablike mentality be damned.
