Kind-of-an-OOM: Car adventures!

[hasthehighground]

Clint's not entirely sure how Oswin's gained access to the car she has -- a sturdy four-door sedan.

Whichever way that happened, she has a set of keys and hasn't wrecked it yet. Clint's given it a look-over, including pulling out out of its parking spot and re-parking it in the middle of the lane, and now he's sitting in the passenger seat.

He hands Oswin the keys once she's buckled in.

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[hasthehighground]

Clint follows her directions, smashing back through the doorway -- just slightly too small, but thankfully not that sturdy, the steady thunk of flesh against a hard object as the ceiling catches the raptor by surprise. Unfortunately, it just clings harder as they back up, swinging around so its lower legs are scrambling for purchase against the back window, blocking the view.

In front of them, now that Clint can see, is the remains of a gift store. They've managed to knock over enough of the racks that the path back to the door isn't clear. "Get down," Clint says, as he takes the path anyway.

When the raptor isn't shaken by them pushing back out, he adds, pressing the P30 against the roof: "Cover your ears!"

He doesn't have time to see if she's going to comply, or to turn off his hearing aids. They turn themselves off after the first shot (smart tech), but his brain is already ringing. His audiologist -- fuck, he's so dead.

He moves the gun slightly, and shoots twice more in quick succession.

[souffle_girlek]

She has just enough time to wedge her fingers into her ears before the gun goes off, and the noise of it is still brutally loud. Three quick shots, followed by a heavy thud against the roof of the car. Oswin ducks lower, but the talons don't follow.

And that balcony is creaking again.

"That hallway, there, that's the restrooms, go!" She urges, before the light dims behind them. She twists in her seat, just in time to be able to stare into the unseeing eye of the dead velociraptor that's slowly sliding its way off their roof.

[hasthehighground]

Clint can't hear her, or the balcony creaking, but he catches sight of the hallway, matching it to the blueprints Oswin showed him, and accelerates.

The raptor hits the ground, and the car slows up immediately as it drags. That'd be bad enough, even if there weren't more coming in through the doors, but the rest of the pack's decided to move in.

"Okay," he says, and hits the gas. It's not like the car is going to survive this in drivable condition, anyway.

[souffle_girlek]

They move as if innocently curious, heads perked up, steps deceptively light-looking, claws held up against their chests like a pack of nervous mothers dithering at a school recital.

But then one bounces forward, mouth open to screech and any spell of innocence is entirely broken. Oswin tries her very best not to stare, tries not to hear their noises, tries not to hear the thumpthumpthump of the dead dinosaur's body as it's dragged along the lobby floor. Instead she checks and rechecks the electrical system, making sure that gate will be electrified after they go through it.

And then to be safe she checks it a few more times, in between shouting at Clint to 'here here turn here hallway that one here!'

[hasthehighground]

Clint glances at Oswin, briefly, and isn't surprised to see her talking. He can't make out the shape of her words from this angle and her excitement, so he falls back on the memory of the blueprint.

Crashing through the emergency doors almost shakes the dead raptor off, the vibrations of it thumping into the doors strong enough for Clint to feel in the car.

It's the next turn where they lose it, a sharp left after the emergency exit.

With the sudden reduction in drag, the car all but leaps forward.

[souffle_girlek]

The car's tires screech and squeal on the tarmac outside, nearly drowning out the noise of the creatures hunting them - they aren't far behind, the leader bouncing off the ruined emergency doors in its haste. Oswin isn't watching. If she watches the dinosaurs, she will be busy contemplating just how very sharp their teeth and claws are, how fast they can run, how very hungry they look.

So she's working, typing frantically. Restarting generators, re-starting electric fences where she can get a signal to run - someone on this island wasn't an idiot, and installed solar panels, and that's helpful. She's determined that no matter what, she'll be causing these creatures trouble for an awfully long time.

With her focus, she can't see the fruit of her labors - the garage doors loom open ahead, with their heavily-built gates waiting to crash down, strung with enough electric wire to bring down even the largest animals on the island, and ringing the lot, flashing yellow lights warning that they are live.

[hasthehighground]

"Get ready," Clint says, the well-lit garage of Milliways visible through the doors.

[souffle_girlek]

The car rockets through - engine screaming, tires smoking, sparks showering behind them as the ruined bumper is drags along the rough ground. It's simple really, the push of the button, and the emergency release on the gates fires - this isn't a controlled fall, this is the safety backup someone (another intelligent someone) put in place. The heavy gates fall with only seconds to spare, but they work.

Whole constellations of sparks ignite as the velociraptors slam into the live wires. It's hard to say which is more horrendous - the sounds of their screams, or the reek of burnt reptile.

[hasthehighground]

Clint can see what's going on in the rearview mirror. If he was thinking more clearly, paying attention to Oswin, he'd put this off until later, but right now all he's got is we need to close that before the generator runs out.

He swings the car back around, in a more controlled turn than before, and stops fifteen feet from the door, putting the car in park and jogging out.

The velociraptors were thrown back when they hit the fence, but there's still some charring flesh on the wires.

Clint makes eye contact with one of the raptors who didn't hit the fence. It turns its head to look at him better.

The garage door makes a satisfying thunk as it hits the ground.

[souffle_girlek]

If Oswin were a bit less boneless with 'holy heck it worked and we're home', she'd have stopped him. But the whole turning and stopping doesn't register until she's stared at him jogging away from the car for a few seconds.

"CLINT! NO!" There's true panic in her voice because what is he doing they're safe now. Of course, it's a bit muted - she can't get her dang door open because the unfamiliar layout doesn't lend itself to quick opening with shaking hands.

[hasthehighground]

There's no lock on the garage door, so Clint just scuffs at ground with his foot. "Hey, that was pretty great with the -- Oswin?"

He's just turned around to see her panicked flail with the car door.

[souffle_girlek]

The door finally opens (albeit with some entirely unnecessary hitting and kicking because it won't open when she wants it to), and she staggers out and away.

"What were you doing?" She demands once she's gotten her feet underneath her properly. "What were you doing?"

So maybe she could figure it out, logically, if she took a moment to stop and think. She would even call it smart. But all she's running on is the image of him walking back towards the dinosaurs seared into her brain.

[hasthehighground]

He catches 'doing' the second time she says it, and feels a faint sense of sickness, that he quickly represses. He'll actually have to learn to lip-read instead of just use it in a pinch, if Milliways can't fix this.

"Hey," he says, gentler. "We're okay. I just didn't want anything trying to get through, later."

[souffle_girlek]

She's shaking now that they're safe. The freak-out she distracted herself from before is creeping up around the edges. She nods at Clint's explanation. What he's saying makes sense, even if she's pretty sure she'll be revisiting that moment again in the nightmares she's getting entirely too used to. It's just... Too much.

She turns to go lean against the car, but... the car is battered and bloody and has holes in where there weren't holes before and... The last time she felt this off, she found herself curled up in a corner bawling her eyes out. Firmly she tells herself that she hasn't broken down that badly in a year, it is not happening today.

Maybe.

There's... so much blood.

"I think we killed it."

[hasthehighground]

"Here," Clint says, when she turns towards the car before straightening back up. He has an arm out. "I could do with a hug." He tries to say it light, and teasing -- but he's concerned.

He doesn't really need stabilizing, not yet (and he already has his coping methods deeply entrenched), but he's found other people find it useful.

[souffle_girlek]

Oswin turns again, already nodding. She doesn't even care how badly her cracks are showing - a hug sounds really, really good.

Her weight is pretty slight, but her grip is tight, and hugging him means she doesn't have to work so hard keeping herself up.

[hasthehighground]

He wraps his arms around her, though he doesn't hold her nearly as tight as she holds him.

"Oof," he says, after awhile, once he figures it's safe to comment. "I do like air, Oswin."

[souffle_girlek]

He is warm, and solid, and alive, and now that she's had a few moments to absorb that, she feels much more stable. Or at least, less like crawling into a corner and shutting down.

"Sorry, sorry." She's not, but still, it's not nice to squeeze someone's lungs out. "Just... nerves. Reeeally not liking the after bit."

[hasthehighground]

"It's okay," he says, once the vibrations against his chest die down. He's pretty sure she's just apologizing for being on edge.

"I'm going to need to get to the medical suite, here." Hopefully she's calm enough to take that okay.

[souffle_girlek]

Her frame suddenly tenses up again, because what, no, no.

"Oh my stars, where, I'm sorry, I didn't even see, I am so sorry..." She's babbling worriedly, her hands fluttering where she was just holding on for dear life, because how did she miss that he was hurt? Of all the self-centered, idiotic moves...

[hasthehighground]

Clint can't help it, when she starts talking a mile a minute-- he laughs, taking a half-step back. "Oswin," he says. "I can't hear a word you're saying, sweetheart."

[souffle_girlek]

Her eyes go wide with surprise, and she blinks at him for a long moment.

Then she squints.

Then she buries her face in her hands, because of course, of course, she really ought to have realized and she is most assuredly the stupidest person on this rock. Since talking into her hands is entirely counterproductive, she looks up to talk to him.

"Seriously?" She's making sure to keep a check on the urge to talk out her sheer frustration at her own idiocy, and making sure not to turn away. "Since the lobby?"

[hasthehighground]

"Since I fired in the car, yeah," he says. "You'll want to get your hearing checked, too."

Clint turns away from her, towards the car. It's ... well. It's a good car. A good car that they've brutally tortured, with the help of some dinosaurs, but a good car none the less. "We should put this back," he says, with a faint laugh, walking towards it. "Maybe no one will notice."

He pockets a couple of the keychains that are lodged against the windshield wipers, before getting in.

They'll be fine. Though after visiting the medical suite, they'll probably get drunk and watch anything but Jurassic Park.