Haunted House GP

[londoncallingmods]

 The house doesn't exist, that's the first thing anyone who might find themselves inside it would want to know. Now, you might ask how one could find themselves inside something that doesn't exist, but you'd honestly be better off asking yourself how you could leave something that doesn't exist. After all, ideas and concepts can't be burnt or broken, and you can't breakdown a door that's not there- Or was there and then decided to be somewhere else for a while...

 

You wake in a house though, a house that doesn't exist. A house that defies the laws of reality. There are corridors that go on for days, rooms full of nightmares, and millions of doors that lead you anywhere but out. Trapped inside with you are dozens of other people, all searching for an exit, or an explanation.

 

Behind every door you'll find your darkest fears, maybe even memories you've tried to forget, or secrets you never wanted to share... 

 

(OTA! Here is your first of two Halloween gps! This one is, of course, set in the haunted house where your pup can run into anything you can dream up! Deadly traps! Spooky monsters! An existential crises! Top level your pups waking up or running into danger, and then go ahead and tag other players! Since this is all magic-y and spooky don't worry too much about time lines and who bumped into who first. Only rule is that your pup can't escape until November 1st! Have fun! Also, because there are two GPs going up this week, both are open to new top levels for two whole weeks! And, of course, you can keep tagging long after that if you want. :D I'll post reminders daily on slack.)

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[dr_spencer_reid]

The nod was all he needed.

Spencer was certain he didn't have time to find a vein, and so he plunged the syringe into the crook of the man's right elbow. He moved quickly, and with more confidence than one might expect, injecting the drug into the man before immediately moving away to stand at Sunny's side.

[akatawitch]

Right arm still raised, eyes hardly daring to blink, Sunny backed them out of the room until she felt the wall of the hallway against her back. Only then did she swing her arm down, slamming the door shut without laying a hand on it.

It stopped, then. The light was gone, the whoosh of air churned up by the bush spirits, the strangled sounds of a man struggling for his life's breath.

Sunny didn't dare open that door again, though. No, now that her adrenaline didn't have to pump so hard, those tears in her eyes started spilling out and she found she was crying.

[dr_spencer_reid]

The way it ended, as abruptly as it began, was yet another indication that perhaps none of this was real. At least, not in any traditional or physical sense. Spencer opened his mouth to say as much, only to stop himself when he realized Sunny was crying. ...Suddenly facts and explanations seemed less important.

"Sunny," he said, his hand hanging awkwardly in mid air, then slowly coming to rest on her arm.

He wasn't good at this, he never had been. Moments like this only served to remind him how painfully ignorant he was when it came to physical interaction. Though his mind didn't fail him completely, a glance down the hall reminded him of where he'd awoken, and the reality of those events. It reminded him of shooting Tobias, and the emotional relief he'd felt when Hotch had embraced him. A simple interaction that had eased the guilt and fear. He was certain nothing else could have helped him more in that moment.

So that was what Spencer offered Sunny now.

Thin arms wrapped around her, and he pulled her close, not thinking of the knife or the power she clearly welded.

[akatawitch]

When she was little, Sunny's mother used to scold her for carrying on when she got upset. So she'd learned over time how to do more and cry less.

This wasn't going to be one of those moments.

It crushed her all at once just how much she missed Orlu and Chichi and Sasha, all the fear of that encounter which they had had to comfort each other through, being told by their mentors that fear was something they'd just have to deal with on the path to mastering magic.

And when Spencer of all people hugged her, well...

She let her right arm dangle, still holding the knife tight in her grip, but her left arm hung on and she hid her face in his shoulder and just took a minute to unravel.

[dr_spencer_reid]

Spencer was silent at first, rubbing her back lightly and letting her get it all out.

When he did finally speak up, his voice was soft and gentle.

"It's okay. It's alright, Sunny. We're alright."

[akatawitch]

"He killed all those children," she sobbed, trying to pull herself together.

[dr_spencer_reid]

Spencer knew he had nothing to say to that. No response that would ease the pain of knowing what she knew. He'd learned a long time ago that you couldn't ease that pain with kind words- You simply learned to live with it until it was slightly less painful.

So instead he simply held her tighter for a moment, before slowly letting go and taking a step back to look at her properly.

"I think we need to keep moving," he said, rubbing his bruised wrists as he fidgeted slightly. "I do have to ask though- How... How did you do that? With your knife, I mean."

[akatawitch]

Sunny sniffled hard and stepped back, stubbornly wiping tears from her face with the back of her hand. She would be all right, she knew. And Spencer was right.

Though at the question, she felt herself instinctively freeze. She could not make the words come out.

But she could answer in a roundabout way by offering, "I can take care of those bruises for you."

[dr_spencer_reid]

"Is it magic?" he asked bluntly, not offering his wrists- Not out of a lack of trust, but because he wasn't ready to focus on them, or what he'd gone through before finding Sunny. "I mean- It has to be, right? ...Actually, that would explain a lot about this place, better than a diagnoses of shared hallucinations anyway."

[akatawitch]

A direct question was easier in getting Sunny past years of conditioning, no matter what he'd just seen. Her mouth opened, closed, opened again... "Yes."

[dr_spencer_reid]

Spencer was silent for a long moment, a distracted look on his face as his mind processed that.

Eventually he spoke. "If we weren't currently trapped in a nightmare, I'd be asking you to show me more- But I suppose not dying probably takes priority over my curiosity and childhood dreams of being a wizard- Or a Jedi. Not that much of a difference really, outside of a need to fit into a specific genre..." he said, clearly about to stumble into a long and nerdy ramble as he seemed to momentarily forgot about the madman in the room behind them.

[akatawitch]

Absurdly, Sunny found herself smiling a little as she dug into her bag and fished out a little bottle filled with blue powder. "But I can show you something. Your wrists, please."

What she was about to do had to be worth all the whippings in the world, but her cover was blown and he was injured, and at the very least it gave her something to focus on and recenter.

[dr_spencer_reid]

Spencer looked down at his wrists, then held them out in offering, watching Sunny with curious eyes.

[akatawitch]

Sunny poured a healthy pinch of the powder into her palm and after taking a moment to study Spencer's injuries, she closed her eyes to concentrate. The first time she'd done this had been after Jibaku had tried to beat her up, leaving a nasty bruise on her arm that she hadn't wanted her mother to see. Fixing it had hurt a lot, because she hadn't had the focus to do it properly. She'd learned, since then. There shouldn't be any pain.

She focused on the image in her mind, the flow of blood, the burst vessels under the skin. And when she had a clear image in her mind, she blew, letting the powder fly.

It was not a grave injury; the damage would be swift to heal.

[dr_spencer_reid]

The bruises faded, and Spencer's brows went up slightly as he watched them heal.

"That's- That's amazing," he said after a moment. "What is the powder made of?" he asked, unable to keep his curiosity in check.

[akatawitch]

"Some of the ingredients are quite common," Sunny answered, in an oblique sort of way, resealing the little bottle so she could place it back in her bag. Doing magic had steadied her, as she'd hoped it might. "Some you wouldn't have heard of before."

[dr_spencer_reid]

Spencer nodded, still staring at his wrists.

"That man back there," he said, finally looking up to look at her rather than the healing she'd done. "Is he the one you told me about? ...He knew you, Sunny," he said quietly, the concern he felt leaking into his voice and causing it to crack slightly.

"Did he hurt you?"

[akatawitch]

Sunny was quiet for a long moment. She didn't look at Spencer, trying to think of how to answer that. "Not in ways you're probably thinking," she said quietly. "But yes. He's the man I told you about."

[dr_spencer_reid]

"Are you okay?" he asked. "Seeing him back there- That can't have been easy for you."

[akatawitch]

"No." Sunny had of course discussed Black Hat with Spencer before, though she had heavily edited the details. Emotions crawled up her throat and threatened to choke her again. "I need more distance between me and that door."

She picked a direction and started walking, expecting Spencer to follow even if she didn't look back at him. Thus far there had been no rhyme or reason to it all, and perhaps rather than try to reason with the house she had to give in to chance.

[dr_spencer_reid]

It took Spencer a beat to catch up, and he soon fell into step beside her.

"This structure has a very labyrinth like feel to it," he noted. "I don't suppose you brought a ball of yarn."

[akatawitch]

Sunny shook her head. "I don't, but why?"

[dr_spencer_reid]

Spencer was still smiling faintly at his own little joke, and he shrugged one lean shoulder.

"That's how Theseus escaped," he grinned, trying to make light of an uncomfortable and unsettling situation.

[akatawitch]

Almost absurdly, Sunny snorted and swallowed a chuckle. Of course. "Well as long as we're strategizing based on our research, if we come upon two people where one always tells the truth and one always lies, I'm gonna let you handle that."

[dr_spencer_reid]

"I do like riddles," Spencer admitted, feeling a touch more relaxed now that they were away from that room.