[ He hears something in her voice, something — it stops the movement of his hands, and despite the water lapping at his shoulders, he turns his head to try and meet her eyes, to hold steady. ]
He will or he won't. But we got us.
[ Even to his own ears, even with the general I'm just here existing state of mind he inhabits daily, those words sound a little — less than encouraging. But it's all he knows. And he trusts in the two of them right now, while they're still here, and have an ability to control something about this situation.
Even if that means trying to tug on or break glass that doesn't have a chance in hell of budging. He sure hopes the guy comes back, though. And it's proving to be useless to find anything at all beneath the water, so Amos stands again, moves closer to her. For a moment, he reaches out to rest his hands on her shoulders, like maybe that could offer — something. What, he doesn't know exactly, it's just the way she's talking, the way she's holding that binder like it's a lifeline. It's a thought then, to ask more about — not Vermont, nah, it's New York that's home, she said. So he thinks about asking, in a minute, he'll come back to it.
Before he can say or do anything else, though, he glances around, just looking for anything at all that he might have missed, and as his eyes drift up, he sees those shadows, too. It's not normal, that's clear pretty quick, but what —
Suddenly there's a sound near the doors. It's almost faint, almost easy to miss with the rain and the water, but it's like a groaning sound, then a few mechanical clicks. What they don't know immediately is the guy did get it unlocked. The doors are about to swing open, but those shadows start to swarm and now it feels like the water in the building is swirling like a current, like they're being pulled up, at the same time the doors finally swing open. ]
Shit. Hold on —
[ Instinct, at least, takes over, and those hands on her shoulders grip her tighter, attempting to pull her closer before either one of them gets yanked away from the other, up into the — the fucking sky? ]
Edited (that feeling when you write a tag late at night and wake up and realize you wanted to add more sorry~) 2025-06-25 15:47 (UTC)
[ he stops, and karen almost feels bad for it - for distracting him, for sounding like she needs the help, the encouragement, or... not encouragement, exactly, but when amos pauses and looks back at her, it is that steadiness once again. whether or not what it is he says is encouraging (it's really not, in the grand scheme of things) but it is true.
they do have each other. and karen's not helping either of them by simply standing around. she holds his eyes for a moment, and then a moment before, before she nods - he's right. he is. they do only have each other. and if something happened to that man, just like this happened to them, then- karen takes a breath to steady herself (to uncertain results) and starts to look around them, frantic but now at least with a job. she doesn't find much in a way of cracks in the wall, anything at all.
amos appears to be just as unsuccessful as he stands, and karen - without really thinking about it - also takes a step or so closer to him, almost subconsciously needing the comfort. she's still looking at the window when she feels his hands come to her shoulders, and it's what fully brings her eyes back to his own. she's exhausted, hanging on by a kind of thread, but she isn't giving up. she hasn't, not fully, and a large reason for that is because of him. when he looks at her, she expects him to ask her another question, something else to distract them both by the passing time, and she waits for his words to follow. she doesn't even think about how her hand comes up to grab the fabric of his (now soaking) jacket, or shirt, or whatever it is he's wearing - one arm still wrapped around the binder, but the other now clutched in the fabric of his clothes at his side.
he looks around - one last time - and it's karen's turn now to speak. ] Amos. Hey- [ it's an attempt to get his attention back on her, and not on whatever it is that surrounds them. not on the uncomfortable shadows in the ceiling, or the faces that haunt them in the water. she even goes as far as to let go of his side and set her hand on his chest, trying to get his attention back on her, trying to keep them both settled for just a little longer, when-
the noise. she freezes, suddenly unsure if she hallucinated it. it came from the window, from the creases along the outside of the glass, but...can she let herself believe it? can she get hopeful? she turns to it, wondering if that groan, if those mechanical noises, if it's working.
except that as soon as karen starts to think it might just be that easy, that this might be their way out, she starts to feel the tug. she frowns, her eyes moving upwards towards the feeling and-
shit, hold on. that's amos. his hands on her shoulders grip her tighter, and karen suddenly realizes what's happening, what that mass in the ceiling must be doing. her eyes widen, not even sure what to make of that, right as the glass at her back starts to make another groaning noise. the window, the window is opening, they just have to-
water and errant papers around the room start to lift halfhazardly upwards, pulled by whatever suction is dragging at them too, but karen refuses to believe it. no, not what they're this close. her eyes go back to the glass pane, and she convinces herself she sees it moving, barely, but it is- it's opening, and they're going to get out of here, they just have to-
karen let's go of the binder, using both of her hands to grab hold of each of amos' sides. the sound of everything around them starts to rise, something about the suction, whatever is trying to drag them upwards, creating a low roar that feels like it's growing, louder and louder. she leans in close, having to raise her voice to get over the noise of it. ]
The window! It's opening! We just have to wait it out! [ karen can feel the air tugging at her jacket, her hair. it's getting stronger, slowly but it is. she widens her stands a little, stepping back and pulling amos with her, that much closer to the glass. ] Hold onto me, okay?!
[ Amos. Hey — her voice, her hands at his sides first, then his chest. What she's trying to do (he thinks), it works for that fraction of a moment, keeps him from getting caught up in those shadows, the things he's been seeing in this room from the start, the way it's fucking with his head, and then — everything that's coming.
It'll come anyway, and it does. He almost covers her hand, in the way he thinks maybe he should, to acknowledge, to help her, too. But then everything just happens, and —
Guess you were right, he thinks, but doesn't say. The guy came back. Kinda.
Why the hell he thought if this guy actually did the thing and got the code entered, got them free, that things would just open up, simple as that, and they'd be able to get out of here. Why did he think even think that? Trapped in a flooded office that's shown him things he's been trying real damn hard to not even think about, things that no one and nothing should be able to know — why would anything that came next be normal?
Truthfully, he wasn't putting a lot of thought into what this would look like, exactly, if they did get rescued. Either they would die in here or get out. How exactly they would get from here to there — stepping back outside into that stormy night — he didn't care to think on, just figured he'd count them lucky for getting out at all.
But now, nothing just opens in a normal way, there's a whole thing now, where there's a not-small chance one or both of them might get sucked up into the goddamn sky, and he'd say he's at least a bit worried now. Not enough to convey much outwardly apart from an increased tension in his shoulders. His heart starts to pick up just a little, that feeling like they're on the edge of something and it's all about to break and if they don't hold tight enough to each other —
Alright, well, shit. Holding on to each other like hell is about all they've got for the seconds that tick by. He feels Karen shift her feet a little, and he does the same, trying to plant his legs more firmly, though he moves with her closer to the glass. He likes to think he's got a lot of strength, enough to keep her with him, but he doesn't entirely know what they're up against. It's a loud fury, everything all around them, and Amos' voice raises in return: ]
I got you!
[ Thing is, he knows she's got him, too. At least, as much as she can. She's a hell of a lot smaller than him, but he doesn't doubt for a second that she'll anchor with all her might. ]
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He will or he won't. But we got us.
[ Even to his own ears, even with the general I'm just here existing state of mind he inhabits daily, those words sound a little — less than encouraging. But it's all he knows. And he trusts in the two of them right now, while they're still here, and have an ability to control something about this situation.
Even if that means trying to tug on or break glass that doesn't have a chance in hell of budging. He sure hopes the guy comes back, though. And it's proving to be useless to find anything at all beneath the water, so Amos stands again, moves closer to her. For a moment, he reaches out to rest his hands on her shoulders, like maybe that could offer — something. What, he doesn't know exactly, it's just the way she's talking, the way she's holding that binder like it's a lifeline. It's a thought then, to ask more about — not Vermont, nah, it's New York that's home, she said. So he thinks about asking, in a minute, he'll come back to it.
Before he can say or do anything else, though, he glances around, just looking for anything at all that he might have missed, and as his eyes drift up, he sees those shadows, too. It's not normal, that's clear pretty quick, but what —
Suddenly there's a sound near the doors. It's almost faint, almost easy to miss with the rain and the water, but it's like a groaning sound, then a few mechanical clicks. What they don't know immediately is the guy did get it unlocked. The doors are about to swing open, but those shadows start to swarm and now it feels like the water in the building is swirling like a current, like they're being pulled up, at the same time the doors finally swing open. ]
Shit. Hold on —
[ Instinct, at least, takes over, and those hands on her shoulders grip her tighter, attempting to pull her closer before either one of them gets yanked away from the other, up into the — the fucking sky? ]
no subject
they do have each other. and karen's not helping either of them by simply standing around. she holds his eyes for a moment, and then a moment before, before she nods - he's right. he is. they do only have each other. and if something happened to that man, just like this happened to them, then- karen takes a breath to steady herself (to uncertain results) and starts to look around them, frantic but now at least with a job. she doesn't find much in a way of cracks in the wall, anything at all.
amos appears to be just as unsuccessful as he stands, and karen - without really thinking about it - also takes a step or so closer to him, almost subconsciously needing the comfort. she's still looking at the window when she feels his hands come to her shoulders, and it's what fully brings her eyes back to his own. she's exhausted, hanging on by a kind of thread, but she isn't giving up. she hasn't, not fully, and a large reason for that is because of him. when he looks at her, she expects him to ask her another question, something else to distract them both by the passing time, and she waits for his words to follow. she doesn't even think about how her hand comes up to grab the fabric of his (now soaking) jacket, or shirt, or whatever it is he's wearing - one arm still wrapped around the binder, but the other now clutched in the fabric of his clothes at his side.
he looks around - one last time - and it's karen's turn now to speak. ] Amos. Hey- [ it's an attempt to get his attention back on her, and not on whatever it is that surrounds them. not on the uncomfortable shadows in the ceiling, or the faces that haunt them in the water. she even goes as far as to let go of his side and set her hand on his chest, trying to get his attention back on her, trying to keep them both settled for just a little longer, when-
the noise. she freezes, suddenly unsure if she hallucinated it. it came from the window, from the creases along the outside of the glass, but...can she let herself believe it? can she get hopeful? she turns to it, wondering if that groan, if those mechanical noises, if it's working.
except that as soon as karen starts to think it might just be that easy, that this might be their way out, she starts to feel the tug. she frowns, her eyes moving upwards towards the feeling and-
shit, hold on. that's amos. his hands on her shoulders grip her tighter, and karen suddenly realizes what's happening, what that mass in the ceiling must be doing. her eyes widen, not even sure what to make of that, right as the glass at her back starts to make another groaning noise. the window, the window is opening, they just have to-
water and errant papers around the room start to lift halfhazardly upwards, pulled by whatever suction is dragging at them too, but karen refuses to believe it. no, not what they're this close. her eyes go back to the glass pane, and she convinces herself she sees it moving, barely, but it is- it's opening, and they're going to get out of here, they just have to-
karen let's go of the binder, using both of her hands to grab hold of each of amos' sides. the sound of everything around them starts to rise, something about the suction, whatever is trying to drag them upwards, creating a low roar that feels like it's growing, louder and louder. she leans in close, having to raise her voice to get over the noise of it. ]
The window! It's opening! We just have to wait it out! [ karen can feel the air tugging at her jacket, her hair. it's getting stronger, slowly but it is. she widens her stands a little, stepping back and pulling amos with her, that much closer to the glass. ] Hold onto me, okay?!
no subject
It'll come anyway, and it does. He almost covers her hand, in the way he thinks maybe he should, to acknowledge, to help her, too. But then everything just happens, and —
Guess you were right, he thinks, but doesn't say. The guy came back. Kinda.
Why the hell he thought if this guy actually did the thing and got the code entered, got them free, that things would just open up, simple as that, and they'd be able to get out of here. Why did he think even think that? Trapped in a flooded office that's shown him things he's been trying real damn hard to not even think about, things that no one and nothing should be able to know — why would anything that came next be normal?
Truthfully, he wasn't putting a lot of thought into what this would look like, exactly, if they did get rescued. Either they would die in here or get out. How exactly they would get from here to there — stepping back outside into that stormy night — he didn't care to think on, just figured he'd count them lucky for getting out at all.
But now, nothing just opens in a normal way, there's a whole thing now, where there's a not-small chance one or both of them might get sucked up into the goddamn sky, and he'd say he's at least a bit worried now. Not enough to convey much outwardly apart from an increased tension in his shoulders. His heart starts to pick up just a little, that feeling like they're on the edge of something and it's all about to break and if they don't hold tight enough to each other —
Alright, well, shit. Holding on to each other like hell is about all they've got for the seconds that tick by. He feels Karen shift her feet a little, and he does the same, trying to plant his legs more firmly, though he moves with her closer to the glass. He likes to think he's got a lot of strength, enough to keep her with him, but he doesn't entirely know what they're up against. It's a loud fury, everything all around them, and Amos' voice raises in return: ]
I got you!
[ Thing is, he knows she's got him, too. At least, as much as she can. She's a hell of a lot smaller than him, but he doesn't doubt for a second that she'll anchor with all her might. ]