The Edge of the Dorm Grounds, Friday Midday

[life_inshadow]

Tara was well aware that doing anything besides staying in her room was stupid, and self-destructive, and -- other things that would disappoint people who cared about her.

Which was why she wasn't telling anyone. (It was just barely possible there was a flaw in her logic, yes.) But she'd been feeling stronger and stronger with the thought projection spell, and it had been so long, and could it really hurt to pick her way through the bog to the edge of the labyrinth and just think at the people inside? So, after finding a relatively dry spot by the labyrinth walls, she did exactly that, trying to let Karla, Bobby Emma and the others know people were thinking about them and trying to get them out.

Just in case she ran into any trouble, she had a few defensive spells up her sleeve and she'd worn shoes she could make a clean get-away in. She was being stupid, but not that stupid.

[OOC: Open. She was going stir-crazy.]

Comments

[it-bit-me.livejournal.com]

"Hey, lady!"

The Fire Gang had grown a little bored in the Preserve with no one but themselves to entertain so they'd ventured out to see what fun there was to find.

"Where you and your head going?!"

[life_inshadow]

"Hey," Tara said, blinking a little awkwardly at the creatures. They seemed friendly, just ... fuzzy. "Um ... back to the dorms, I guess? I j-just came out here to try something out."

[it-bit-me.livejournal.com]

"Trying something out?" Fiery 1 shrieked shrilly, glancing at his fellow gang members before shambling towards her. "Trying what out? You gonna throw your head?"

Fiery 2 piped up, "We've been throwing our heads since we got here!"

[life_inshadow]

"Nothing like that," Tara said, involuntarily taking a tiny step back. "My, my head's pretty attached." A pause. "Yours isn't?"

Weird. And possibly demonic.

[it-bit-me.livejournal.com]

"Why would you think that?" Fiery 3 informed her, shambling behind his fellow gang members. Tara would soon see why when he swung a long arm and knocked the head off Fiery 2.

"Hey! Don't go knocking other people's heads off!" Fiery 2 shouted, spinning around headlessly. The head, of course, rolled towards Tara.

[life_inshadow]

Tara shrieked. Just a little.

Then she bent down to tentatively scoop up the head. "Uh ... I guess this is yours?"

How did you give somebody his head back?

[it-bit-me.livejournal.com]

The headless member of the fire gang ambled closer but didn't make any move to take his head back.

"I got an idea!" A brilliant idea, he thought. "Let's switch heads! Take your head off and give it to me!"

The other members of the Fire Gang all chimed their agreement.

[life_inshadow]

This was getting gross. "You guys can just trade heads?" Tara said, trying not to sound as squicked as she was as she carefully held the fuzzy thing in her hand, turning it so she could see the face. "Isn't that ... k-kind of unsanitary?"

[it-bit-me.livejournal.com]

"Unsanitary?" Fiery 3 repeated, obviously confused. He dropped the subject though because the Fire Gang wasn't one for learning things. "You need a hand with that head?"

And then an arm came flying at Tara courtesy of Fiery 3.

[life_inshadow]

"Uh --"

Oh, hey, Tara had TK. She remembered that, sometimes, and this time she floated the hand back toward the fire gang, following it with the head. "No thanks, I'm pretty much good with the ones I have."

[it-bit-me.livejournal.com]

"Whaddya mean, lady?" Fiery 2 asked, not comprehending why she wouldn't wanna play 'switch the body parts.' The three Fire Gang members surrounded her and swayed back and forth.

"You can't go anywhere with a head like that!" Fiery 1 said, shaking his head very loosely held on on head. "It's not allowed!"

[life_inshadow]

"Not allowed by who?" Tara asked, biting a thumbnail. "I like this head. I've had it a l-long time...."

[it-bit-me.livejournal.com]

"By us!" Fiery 3 yelled, swinging his leg back and forth. It looked so loose though as if it might fly off at any moment...

The other two Fire Gang members continued swaying, almost like they were dancing a circle around Tara.

"That head ain't right for a place like this," Fiery 2 agreed. "You gotta change it! We wanna take your head, lady!"

[life_inshadow]

Tara stooped slightly to show the gang members her neck. "You can't. Look. It's all attached."

Please, let them not have guillotine or super strength...

[it-bit-me.livejournal.com]

They were just kinda dumb and didn't understand attachment like. Besides, they got distracted from looking at her neck when Fiery 3's leg flew off and hurtled itself towards Tara.

The other gang members started hooting with laughter.

[life_inshadow]

Tara reflexively caught the leg, then looked at it, bewildered. "How is that funny?"

[it-bit-me.livejournal.com]

"Because!"

Well, did Tara really expect answers. Besides, Tara shouldn't be thinking of how funny something was because another leg, this time from Fiery 2, came flying at her head.

The laughter continued.

[life_inshadow]

"... I think I'm going home."

Tara let the legs drop to the ground and -- slowly, almost casually -- tried to make it through the circle of Fiereys and back to the dorms.

[it-bit-me.livejournal.com]

One of the Fierys jumped in front of her, holding his arm and waving it in her face.

"Where you going, lady?" he asked like she hadn't just told them. "You don't wanna lose your head?"

[life_inshadow]

"Sorry, remember?" Tara said, with more patience than she realized she had left. "I like the head I have."

They really weren't very bright, were they?

[it-bit-me.livejournal.com]

"Come here, lady!" Fiery 1 said and came towards her, arm outstretched. "We wanna take your head! Come here, lady!"

"Yo, it's time to lose your head, lady!" Fiery 2 said and tried to converge on Tara too.

[life_inshadow]

Attacking felt absurd, like fighting with stuffed animals. Tara repeated, "NO, sorry" -- god forbid she stop being polite -- and hastened her pace to a run. She wasn't trying to knock either fiery over, but she also wasn't making a special effort to respect their personal space.