[Instability Portal] Portal Abuse (Ami + Alecto)

[chiickadee]

Ami crept through the haunted house with a heightened guard. Ever since the billowing insanity attacked, she'd hated this place. Yet Haunted House duty remained. Exploring and eliminating creatures that lurked in the corner.

Which was what Ami was doing now. She turned a corner and caught sight of a strange horned doggish girl.

"It's always dogs ..." she mumbled, pulling out her guns. Always dogs.  

[Syusaki]

MegMeg! Do you know what place this is? [Does it seem like I know?] No. [Then I don’t.] The canine made little effort to keep her footsteps silent as she wandered around the house with keen interest. She poked her orange head into one of the rooms, but found it dark and empty. Alecto frowned as her tail constantly fidgeted. She had yet to find life in this place when she desperately wanted company.

An ear perked when she heard the sound of drawn weapons. “Hellohello!” she barked, her forked tail wagging excitedly. “I’m a dog, yes! What about you? You’re a reaper, right?” Alecto cocked her head as she stared at the funny coat.  

[chiickadee]

Ami didn't say anything at the girl. Instead she whipped out her guns and cocked one at the dog's face. One less dog in Halloween meant one less dog Ami had to worry about late at night before she slept. One less dog to haunt her, one less dog that would go on to bite her friend's arm.

However, she never got the chance, as a bright white light filled the room. She could've said "OH NOT AGAIN" if she wasn't otherwise preoccupied.

When she awoke, she was in Hogwarts. Same hallway. Same place. Same Ravenclaw robes, same monster lumbering down the hallway.

Well- only one thing to do. "RUN!"  

[Syusaki]

Wow, this reaper is really grumpy. (She smells human!) [Agreed. She’s not what we think she is.] But… Glowing eyes turned cross-eyed to stare at the gun pointed at her. Pouting, Alecto raised her arms. “There’s no need to show hostility.”

She squinted her eyes as a light entered the room. “Huh?” Once the light dissipated, Alecto realized her tail no longer existed and as she reached up to touch her arms, she found her hands were humanized. “…huh?” A rather dumbfounded student wiggled her fleshy fingers before the blond commanded her to run. If there was one thing she could do, it was blindly follow orders.

She ran.  

[chiickadee]

Ami ducked into a room, pulling the stranger with her, trying to protect who she could. Just like Dakota. Just like that strange fellow earlier too.

"And ... now the dog, right?" Ami said, turning to face the cerberus, which growled and drooled just like before. She'd done this before. Ohhh god. She was having this weird dream again, wasn't she.  

[Syusaki]

The reaper girl dragged Alecto into another room. She let out a tiny bark as she was tugged to the side. “Hm? The dog? Do you mean me?” Smiling innocently, she turned toward Ami. “By the way, I never got your name. I’m Alecto! What about….” Her voice trailed off as the door closed with a loud bang. Afterward, a loud, deep growl sounded behind the pair. Eyes wide, she slowly turned around to face the source of the noise. It was dark and her human eyes made it difficult to peer through the shadows, but there was enough light to allow her a glance at the huge creature in the middle of the room. She saw a giant dog head, but another growl revealed a second head, then a third. Alecto gasped. “A Cerberus!” she noted happily.  

[Syusaki]

Eyes glued to the 3-headed guardian in the room, Alecto groped around to tug at Ami’s sleeve. “Look! Cerberus! I’m related to him, you know? He’s a hellhound and I’m a hellhound also. Wow, I wonder if we can talk for a bit—“ Her rambling was cut off when the larger canine snapped its jaws menacingly in front of her. Her vigor died away as she took a step back. “Oh.” [There’s a trapdoor near it. We have to go through there.] Why? [The other door is sort of shut, stupid.] Oh. She turned toward Ami and pointed toward the door. “You seem like you know this place. We’re supposed to go through that door over there, right?” She didn’t allot much time for the blond to answer before the ghoul raced for the door.  

[Syusaki]

The wand in her hands was absolutely useless, but she continued to grasp onto it as she rushed for the trapdoor. Alecto ran around the beast, but immediately jumped to the side when she watched the Cerberus lift one of its large paws. She twirled out of the way and looked at the dog. “You’ll have to do better than that, sir,” she noted as she wagged her finger. Grinning, Alecto continued her race for the trapdoor and managed to swerve around the dog. The door within sight, she skipped toward it and waited for the kind reaper girl to catch up before she would head through the door.  

[chiickadee]

Ami ducked into the room, coarse wooden door slamming shut behind her. As she'd told Alecto, the dog was next, right? The dog always came after the thing in the hallway. Surely she could defeat it the same way. Dodging and ducking around the materials (like vases and old desks, chew toys for the cerberus really) in the room, until she bought enough time to slip right under the trap door. Yes, it was a flawless plan, and it was flawless because she'd done it many times before. She was beginning to realize this wasn't deja vu- she was actually experiencing these things over and over. What exactly were those portals then? Recurring time loops? Insanity? It bothered Ami that she couldn't pick it apart and figure it out, but then, that was life.

Besides, she had larger things to focus on. MUCH larger, actually. Her attentions turned back to the enormous three headed dog, which the orange-headed girl next to her was now trying to talk to. What in the world? First that boy had attempted to reason with it, and now this orange-head was trying to reason with it. What strange things happened at this school of Hogwarts! She never read anything like this in the books.

"Ami," she called out to the girl, who was now attempting to reason with the cerberus. "And I think you should stop before he-"

A snap of jaws.

"Gets angry."  

[chiickadee]

Actually, the orange-head was right. The way forward WAS through that trapdoor there. Ami knew because, as iterated before, she'd been many times. That, and she'd read Harry Potter so many times that she practically had the book memorized. It was her bible, and J.K. Rowling, her god.

She was going to tell her to go for it, but the firecracker ran after without her, leaving Ami in the tracks of dust she kicked up. Had this room been so dirty before? Well it WAS a doghouse. It would have been weird if it was clean. Ami was just thankful they were at least courteous enough to clean up any ... droppings the dog might have left. At least, there were none that she could see.

She put the thought far out of her mind, reaching down to pick up her wand that she'd dropped on the way in. It was useless, of course, she knew that, but something about the stick of wood made her feel comfortable, confident even. Like hey- maybe she really COULD take on the cerberus. She could do it, she could defeat the dark lord.  

[chiickadee]

Of course, then the dog barked a few feet away from her face, and all that confidence was lost. She screamed and threw the wand at the dog's face, which of course did nothing. It was like a tiny flick to the foot of a giant, a needle to a skyscraper. Without its magical properties, the wand would do her absolutely no good against this monster.

So instead she ran, bolting around the room like she was the flash incarnate. Ami would never EVER be a physically adept person- not even with Deus Ex's training regime, but even Ami knew that big dog equaled dinner time, and she was on the menu. She ran as fast as her little legs would take her which, with her stature, wasn't very far at all.

She ran headfirst into the wall, and ended up backed into a corner that had been filled with old books. Funny, at least she was going to die amongst her favorite possessions, buried in the pages of a good book or two. Had the situation been more pleasant, she might have actually WISHED for a burial with books.

Instead she got the snapping of jaws, and she was spat back out of the portal. Whoops.  

[Syusaki]

She waited, but the other girl never came. Alecto frowned. “Hello?” she called out, but there was no response. Sighing, she opened the door and hopped inside, only to find herself in the middle of a chess board. She quizzically looked around at the giant pieces. “What’s happening?” [It’s a giant game of chess.] Oh. What am I supposed to do? [There’s an empty space. Take one.] Obediently, she followed Megaera’s words and took the vacant seat. “What now?” [Just call out whatever I call out, okay?]  

[Syusaki]

It was safe to assume that Alecto knew Jack about chess, but at least Megaera did. It seemed fitting, considering Megaera was the one that liked books and puzzles. The game was easy for Megaera to navigate through.  

[Syusaki]

Alecto grinned as the other side’s king crashed into pieces. She smiled and began to take a step forward. Megaera’s voice shrieked inside her mind. [Wait! Not yet--] Everything turned to black, and when the ghoul woke up she found her tail and horns had returned. She curiously stared back at her dark hands. “Where am I?” she wondered aloud. Alecto looked around and realized she was still inside the house. She hummed before she stood up and walked out.