Wires and Things

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Awkwardly enough, at the moment of her approach there a very loud, and very sudden knock on the door. The Slicer half jumped out of his skin as he heard aloud voice calling through the thick wood, someone like pressing themselves right up against it.

"Hey! Anyone in there!"

The Slicer froze.

The girl froze.

His eyes quickly dashed towards the body of Larry, then towards Mrs. Jubblies. Both of them were still on the ground, both of them looked very knocked out. He frowned, scowled, then let a bit of panic slip onto his face. His eyes grew wide and almost immediately he threw himself against the door. His fingers fumbled towards the lock, eventually turning them with a loud click. There was a pause, then the noise of someone trying to turn the door handle on the other side.

Poodoo.

Munin ignored the girl for a moment, trying to think of a way out, any way out. The door that he now stood in front of, the one that someone was desperately trying to open, was the only way out that he could see, with the only other opening being a vent up on the far wall.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

The device was jammed back into her bag. #thefake And she spun on her converse heels, spotting the same thing mystery-dude spotted but a half second before him. He was locking the door. She was already running to the other side of the room. She scrambled up on a chair and pushed herself on tippy-toes, reaching for the vent.

Only....

#tooshort

She doubted even mystery-dude could reach it on his own.

"Boost me up and I'll pull you up!" She tried jumping again, for good measure.

#nope

That lock wouldn't hold long.

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Panic still crossed his face, and for a moment he considered his options. Part of him wanted to just open the door and try to spin the story that the girl had knocked out Larry and Mrs. Jubblies and had tried to take him hostage, but he knew that as soon as the guards did a Security check they would find some...erroneous details in the background he'd made for himself. Munin had been king of lazy in crafting his alias, a fact that could now come back to bite him if he actually got caught.

A frown pulled across his lip. "Okay."

The word was practically forced out, admitted to only after he realized that he actually didn't have much of a choice. The girl had that device, but he still had that datacard. As long as he had that she wouldn't leave him behind, especially since if he got caught here it meant the loss of everything she wanted. Quickly the infochant crossed the room, a banging sound striking against the door. He half turned to listen for a second, then shook his head and rushed over towards Spark.

"Hurry." He made a an upward motion.

As he reached her though Munin hesitated, his lips turning into a frown as he realized that he'd have to do.

Lifting her wasn't that big of a deal...but boosting her up? He'd have to touch her shoes. Shoes that had been trampled all around the Coruscant underworld.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

He was by her. The door was pounding and banging. He was by her. #personalbubblespaceINVADED

He was freakin' by her. She couldn't help the slight creeping of red tinge her pale cheeks. Thinking about how close he'd be and that she'd have to put her hands on his shoulders for support once he actually boosted her. She shifted, awkwardly. Fingers adjusted a cap that didn't need to be adjusted.

The door shuddered.

A loud crack was heard as they physically cut through the lock. A single finger came out to poke him on the shoulder. Eww, physical contact.

"C'mon, c'mon. What are you waiting for?!"

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

He frowned, watching her cheeks go red. Was something wrong with her? His eyes flickered down towards her shoes, filthy as they were.

Munin was pretty sure that the rest of her was probably fine, he presumed that she showered. For a second he considered her, then slowly he closed his eyes and simply crouched down. Instead of grabbing her shoes however Munin instead wrapped his arms around her ankles. Instead of giving her a boost, the infochant suddenly just picked her up and held her so that she could reach the vent above. The feat was surprisingly easy for him.

The infochant didn't really exercise much, but Spark was pretty tiny and that helped things along.

Regardless, Munin held her legs as tightly as he could and would do so until she managed to pull herself into the vent.

Her shoes pushed up against his jacket and dirtied it, mud...or muck from somewhere sticking against the black cloth. He looked down and saw that, goosebumps quickly raising on his flesh and a gag reflex nearly triggering. The only thing that kept him from throwing up was the thought of getting caught, and the small mercy that at least it wasn't on his hands.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

"Eeeep," she squealed as she was physically raised up, almost flipping over his shoulder and back onto the floor. #almost At least he wasn't touching her butt. Then she'd be mortified. Thin lips pursed into an even thinner line as she reached up, keeping things professional. Fingers knocked the vent aside. Shifting, a knee may have knocked him in the throat.

"Sorry," she whispered. She began to heave herself up, scrambling inside the darkness. And it was flippin' cold. #frigid #ice Good to her word, she managed to turn in the small space and popped her capped head back out. Bracing her thighs against the side of the vent, she offered mystery-man her hands and wrists. Hopefully she'd have enough oomph to get his hands to the edge of the vent for a grip.

If not, she'd have to sneak in some force strength. No time to mull over the risks with that because the door was beginning to open.

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Her knee actually half pressed into his neck, causing him to nearly drop her in shock and surprise. Before he did so however Munin managed to catch himself, his hand slowly snaking up her leg just so that he could get a better grip on her. A scowl pulled at his lips, but eventually the girl managed to clamber her way up out of his grip and into the vent. He let out a sigh or relief as she squeezed herself into the small space, her face popping up half a second later.

There was another loud thunk behind him as someone pounded on the door. His head quickly turned back to see what was going on, eyes growing wide as he saw the heavy wood bulge slightly. Quickly Munin turned back to the woman, looking at her hand with a slight shudder.

Who knew where those things had been.

Eventually however the solid repetition of thunk, thunk, thunk against the door was enough to overwhelm Munins more delicate senses, and with only one more moment of hesitation the information broker grasped the girls hand. There was a slight stand, then quickly she began to pull him up just as he took a very short run, then jump. He hopped, crawled, and then pulled himself up and into the vent. The girl pushed herself back slightly, but as Munin slid into place within the tight metal enclosure he found himself mere centimeters from her face.

The infochant froze.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

Miracles happened because she got him up. But then miracles didn't happen because as she scooched back he tipped forward. Her back hit the floor of the vent. #ouchy And his body pinned half of hers down. Her cap knocked off her head as his face hovered inches above hers in the dark. He was backlit. Kinda.

Cheeks blushed furiously and she was thankful for that cold, dark vent.

She stared and froze. Just like him. #mirrorimage #totalINVASIONofspace

"Get off," she squeaked. Bony hips moved as she tried to maneuver out from underneath him and further into the vent. The disguised blonde slicer was all too aware of everything that was touching her. Cameron Centurion would only be laughing at her right now. #rudeSithLord

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Munin was about to do just that, though his own phobia wasn't even acting up at the moment. However, just as he was about to move, a process that would have been very loud, Munin heard a loud, almost explosive THUNK.

He froze again.

There was a clattering of weapons, guns, and a huge amount of shouts that echoed through the Server room and into the vents. Within seconds it became very clear that not only had the guards suspected something was wrong, they had already confirmed it. Munin practically turned into a statue, holding himself in place and hoping, wishing that the guards were too stupid to realize that the vent had been pulled open. He heard voices, some yelling, others more quiet, he heard Mrs. Jubblies groan, and then he heard the Senator himself speak.

"What the Hell happened here?!"

Munin's lips thinned as he looked at the girl.

He didn't want to speak, he didn't want to move, and he certainly didn't want to get caught.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

Hearing the senator's voice, she froze. Chills went down her back even though she was already past cold in that small, little vent. Her scrambling immediately stopped. She tried to slow her breathing - still pinned by....stranger dude. #whattheheckwashisname????

His face was still inches from hers.

She was just glad her glasses weren't fogging up. Brown eyes wandered to anywhere besides his face. His hair, the ceiling. The sides of the vent. She closed them. Dyed-brows furrowing as she waited. It quickly became clear that something wouldn't wait.

An itch in the back of her sinuses.

Eyes flew open. Freckled-nose scrunched up. A very, small mouse-like noise flew her mouth as she sneezed. Right into stranger-dude's face. Maybe if he moved fast enough, he'd get his hand up.

#Eeeeeeep

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

His face contorted into a mixture of rage, fear, and pure utter terror.

Was he going to die now?

Probably.

The Information broker went through a range of emotion that one could only describe a modicum of every human expression. He looked at the girl, his face completely engulfed in the ravaging might of complexity as he tried to understand what had just happened. Eventually his brain settled on the fact that he probably wasn't going to die and his hand came up to slowly, very slowly, wipe away the snot from his face. Munin couldn't say anything, but he didn't need to.

Instead his hand turned, and slowly he wiped the grime off onto his pants.

"Don't." He whispered to her, his lips moving closer to hers as he tried to make her understand without being too loud. "Do that."

His voice wasn't tinged with anger...more fear than anything else.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

Blink.

Blink, blink. A quiet sniffle. "I didn't mean to...," he would feel the hot breath on his face. Probably smelled a little like BBQ chips. OMGeeee. Why was he so close?!?!

#awkward

She wiggled and tried to sink her back further into the vent. Of course, she was already pushed in as far as she could go. Nervous laughter threatened to bubble from her throat.

At least she wasn't so cold...

"Wait. What's that up there?"

Head naturally jerked upward, as if she could peer around stranger-dude and at the opening that wasn't too far away. Lips smashed into his chin, nose, forehead, glasses all against his face somewhere.

#owowOWow

With a twist and a wiggle she pushed away from him and flipped over onto her stomach to start a crawl.

"Comeoncomeon!" OUCH. Face was really sore from where she smacked him. The dude had a hard head. She tried not to think about where his own lips had smashed against her skin.

#uggggh

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

He tipped his head back as she smashed into him, her clumsy and completely blustering movements half throwing him away in the tiny vent. There was a rattle, a slight bang as his arm was thrown wildly away. In the room behind him he could hear movement, the guards rummaging around as they tried to find where the noise was coming from. Munin's eyes widened as he heard one of the guards speaking, watching as the girls rear slowly drifted by his face.

For a moment Munin felt very conflicted.

Eventually however, as her entrancing wiggle furthered from him he came to his senses. Not only was he still in the vent, but he was actually closer to the opening. He frowned for a moment, then quickly began to follow along after the wiggling derriere.

The Infochant had no idea where the vent would go, had no idea if the girl knew, but at the very least it would allow them to get away and out of the Server room. There was no doubt in his mind that the Senator was catching on quickly. The man might have been a narcissist, but he wasn't an idiot. One didn't play both the Republic and the One Sith off each other by being an idiot, you had to have at least a modicum of intelligence, and Munin knew enough about the man to assume he had at least that.

"Hurry!" The infochant whispered to wiggles.

They had to get out of here, especially before those guards realized where they had gone.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

Her face still felt tingly and bruised. Knees and hands scrambled along the vent. She tried to keep her glasses from slipping further down her nose. She was going blind. Any light the vent at the other end offered was long gone, or blocked by stranger-dude. They were moving deeper and deeper into blackness.

"I'm goin--eeeeEEEEEEEEEP!"

Vent plating suddenly disappeared into blank air. She tipped forward. Arms waved wildly. But she kept tipping....tip....tip....

#uhoh #halp #wheredoesthisshaftgo?

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Without really thinking, or without really knowing why, Munin reached out and grabbed her.

It probably would have been easier, and more advantageous, to let her simply fall, but the human side of him won out in the end. His fingers dashed out with speeds that could only from from years of online gaming, his hands quickly finding purchase. One slipped onto her hip, fingers quickly, and quite roughly, digging into the skin beneath her shirt as he tried to hold her in place. The other caught at the lip of her pants, hooking into the hem of her skinny jeans and keeping her from falling down into the open pit below.

He held her there for a moment, frozen.

For a moment he ran through all of the scenarios in his head. How she could have a horrible skin disease, how she probably hadn't showered in weeks, how she could be covered in all sorts of disgusting things, and how he was now touching her in not one, but two places.

The infochant tried to take a deep breath, his eyes closing as he slowly tried to back himself up within the vent. The task took more doing then he would have thought, but eventually he managed to move back far enough that he could at least attempt to pull wriggles back into the vent with him. A task which succeeded, but only at the expense of dragging her skinny jeans down a bit.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

"Ooomphh," she felt a yank and a tug. Cheeks blushed furiously as she felt his hand press into her side. #beneathmyshirt!!!!!!!!!! Glasses almost slipped off her nose and into the gloom. But in the next instant, she wasn't flailing through space, she was tipping backward instead of forward.

Her back slammed into stranger-guy. A bony elbow went flying maybe into his ribs or chest as she whipped backward, threatening to knock him over and land on top if her momentum continued. Somehow she knew that the hem of her blue briefs with little pink holo coding symbols were showing. But she didn't have time to adjust as she was pulled from a certain fall.

#awkwardnesstimesfivebajillion

#stillgotdarknessonmyside

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Munin fell back with a loud thud against the back of the vent shaft, her elbow crashing against, and immediately bruising his ribs. He let out a very loud, and very involuntary groan. Pain lanced through his side, and immediately he began to regret not working on heightening his tolerance for agony. His eyes squeezed shut for half a moment, a curse passing from his lips as her entire body landed on top of him and knocked the wind out of his lungs.

"Oof." The noise was forced from his throat as she came to a rest on top of him, his hands still in the same place as they had been when he saved her.

Moving them never occurred to him.

Munin didn't do very well with pain, something that he now discovered as both his ribs and part of his face where throbbing with agony.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

Heart skittered all over the place. She trembled. The slicer told herself it was because of the adrenaline rush. She lay motionless on top of stranger-dude. She needed a moment. #ortwelve

Brown-dyed hair may have tickled his mouth as she moved her head.

"Thank....you," she breathed. Heart still stuttered against her bony-ribs. One hand slid awkwardly down one of his arms, the other finding his fingers still digging into her hip. She curled her fingers around his briefly, squeezing them gently. In that moment he turned into something more than just an annoyance and a dude who rudely pointed a blaster at her. Maybe an ally.

"You okay?"

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

He simply sat there for a moment, lay there? He wasn't sure how to describe it. The squeeze of his hand registered on his mind, and for once the odd bout of squeamishness that came with anyone but Huginn touching him didn't appear.

Probably because of the pain.

"Hm." Munin said, though it was more of a grunt then an actual statement. He wasn't really as wound up as she was, in fact he was downright calm, but the pain wasn't something that he was used to. The elbow to his ribs had actually hit rather well, striking between the third and the second rib. Munin could practically feel the bruise forming already, and unsurpisingly the injury was making it rather difficult to breath. The extra weight on top of him didn't help either. "Can't."

He took in a breath, his lips awkwardly close to her ear. "Breath."

Munin let out a strained sigh.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

What was he saying? Faux brown-eyes widened in the dark as she felt his hot breath cascading down her ear and neck. He was breathing and speaking like an old man. #mustbetheribs

Brows knit in worry.

She was about to very gingerly rock her hips up to wiggle down his legs and off. Only. There was one problem. She couldn't move. His grip was still in....places. Fingers gently tapped his own where she briefly squeezed his fingers.

"Let go and I'll move."