Frozen Poultry on Aisle 2 [Nameless and Genzo]

Ruairi straightened his back and puffed out his chest at the compliments – he was very smart and could light up torches so easily with his amazing magic skills! Practically perfect in every way for these strange, dark places. That had convenient torches to be grabbed off the walls. Yes.
"No time to waste, then!" He nodded, not too excited as he kept up his cool, refined adventure party leader persona, holding the torch in his hand like he was made for this. Eve's mad ramblings didn't bring him out of the moment, either, as he savored every moment of it. It was time to push forward.

The light of the store was left behind them as they proceeded further down the dark corridor. The light of the torch still felt dim, like the darkness itself was an unnatural force sucking out all the light that dared to press on… Or perhaps it just felt that way, the lone flame not as strong as the brightly lid aisles back from where they came from. The backrooms weren't empty for long, as the very first corner revealed stacks of various goods. The Rito was excited as he rushed over to take a look – but alas, no makeup in sight still. This was a good sign, however. There clearly were more products in stock here! But that was also proving to be a problem. With so many boxes and piles of random assortment of junk, it was getting really hard to try to push through.

"There is just… So much," Ruairi finally let out an exasperated groan. And despite that, he couldn't see what they actually wanted to find! That was the only thing he was worried about, rather than any potential workers finding them digging through. Pushing in further was proving to be more challenging, as there was less room to move everything out of the way.
"Can we even search through all of this? It is just so… Awfully organized! Surely they wouldn't just dump our precious blush in a messy pile like this? Surely they must have a more suitable storage room somewhere out here?"

Ruairi nodded – Even also agreed that surely there was an easier way to find what they were looking for, than to try to shift through these piles of useless items. His attention turned towards the lit doorway, a potential way to find what they wanted. Well, it definitely was more inviting than more darkness, but there might have been employees there. Would they be upset that they were here? That he had taken a torch? Or perhaps they could be pushed to help them find the blush instead! The Rito was already stroking his chin, plotting.

But he was still in the middle of it. Once a figure actually emerged from the door, he hadn't been ready to strike and take his chance. Instead, Ruairi pressed against the wall – the worst hiding spot there was, considering that he was also holding a lit torch in the dark tunnel. But… It looked like the man didn't see him. Perhaps he was a convincing torch holder after all – or perhaps the man was too busy shouting at some others in the room. He didn't really get it. What ice? What zombie? He had never worked a retail job in his life and could not understand the true horrors within.

The man disappeared off elsewhere just as quickly as he had arrived, the footsteps growing more and more distant until they couldn't be heard anymore. Eve seemed to be ready to go in, though it seemed like they definitely had gotten confirmation about there being people inside. The Rito tightened his grasp around the torch as he started to wade through the mops that he hoped were clean. If it was bright, the torch wouldn't be useful to them… But he kept it lit for a while longer, just in case they did need it. Ruairi gave the Kokiri a questioning look once he got close, before peering into the room to try to take a look at the situation.

Supposedly the coast was clear, but Ruairi frowned. They weren't alone, he could see as much, but as Eve walked inside… He just sighed and extinguished the torch against the floor before heading inside. It seemed like a break room of some sort, with the small bowl of offered treats and everything. He still preferred backstage and dressing rooms, though, especially as they tended to have less… Whatever kind of people he was looking at. The Rito's eyes suspiciously glared at the assumed workers, and he could just feel hit feathers stand on their ends. Those strange, moaning lanky things, wrapped in bandages… Were they even people? Were they even… Alive?

To be fair, the third strange man whose face wasn't covered looked just as strange. Ruairi frowned and he studied him with his eyes – he didn't really look alive, either. He'd say this one was living and breathing, sure, but not… Alive.
"Is… He even alright?" He had to ask Eve, glancing in her direction, but every part of him didn't want to let those strange, shambling figures out of his sight for too long. Were these people sick or something? What was it that the Kokiri said about an old graveyard…?
"W-Water?" The Rito snapped out of his thoughts once Eve mentioned it. He blinked and looked at her again, busy placing a pot of water on the stove.
"Why are you–? This isn't the time for tea!" He questioned the strange actions. They didn't have the time to sit down and drink! …Though maybe he could browse the offering of snacks once he walked past them.

Ruairi couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had to blink a few times, as if he was certain that the next time he opened his eyes, Eve wasn't just pouring herself a cup of tea and taking a seat by one of the tables, where she then proceeded to start her tea break… And promptly fall asleep, just like that. The Rito was just left standing there in stunned silence, the silence of the room only broken up by the sounds of her snores and the extremely slow munching of the weirdo. The weird lanky ones also seemed to slump down onto the floor in a rather uncomfortable position, and he honestly didn't know if it was an improvement or not. He still felt pretty unnerved.

"Oi! What are you doing?! We have to keep moving!" Ruairi tried to call out to Eve, but that didn't seem to work. Was the tea laced with something?! He didn't understand what was going on. In a huff, he did sit down himself and munch on some of the biscuits that had been set out for the workers, and they were a bit stale. Better than nothing, though. Was he going to have to leave the Kokiri here and keep going on his own? What if she never woke up? Everyone else in this room was off and didn't even seem to react to anything that was going on!

Luckily the snoring didn't last for too long, as Eve suddenly snapped out of her strange sleep.
"Finally!" The Rito huffed, as if he had to wait an eternity, and he couldn't believe she was still trying to drink her tea! He wiped off any crumbs that might have been stuck to his face.
"We don't have time for this! Do you suddenly know where we should be looking?"

If Eve had an idea, Ruairi was willing to follow. He tried to justify this strange break somehow, make it worthwhile use of their time. Maybe the strange Kokiri had needed this to understand that… They should take the door. To the storage room. Yes. He stood up, ready to follow, giving one last glance to the strange workers. The two that had been squatting almost lifelessly seemed to be stirring back into… Some semblance of life, if just moving could be called that. The one older man was still gnawing on the single cracker and looking as sweaty as ever, his eyes basically bulging out of his head. Yes… The Rito was glad to leave. This place just felt off.

And once they made their way in… It was apparent that there was plenty of items still in stock. The room was filled with so much stuff, that even figuring out a way to properly enter. Giant towers of boxes and stuff just loomed over them, and everything that didn't fit into boxes and shelves poured onto the floor. Ruairi couldn't even see what the floor was made out of – but the creaking sounds it made once he got in probably meant it was wood? Once again light was a problem, but he had another trick up his sleeve for a situation like this, where pure fire might be dangerous. Taking a deep breath, Ruairi focused what little magic he had onto the torch, giving it a few waves as if he was trying to draw something in the air. It was magic that was new to him, learned with very unorthodox ways, but he was able to muster enough power to create a ball of light that shakily floated its way up higher, lighting up most of the room. Content, he waded in, climbing over what he could, but it was such a slow method of movement. Luckily, it all wasn't a waste of time.

There was makeup. They had finally found where they stored the rest!

The Rito was elated. A quick examination proved that the ones he saw were once again not the blush they were here for, but Eve was currently snatching up everything else she could, as well. Of course Ruairi was considering if he should buy something else as well, but no, he was here for the blush. He had to remain strong. Everything else he took would use up space and money intended for the cheap blush deal! He had to push deeper, hop over the pile of strange costumes – something he quickly gave up on as he only managed to sink deeper, and instead made good use of his hookshot to swing closer. The air route was much faster and easier – his kind was made to fly, after all! He studied the shelves and boxes in great detail, moving little by little. At first, he was hopeful, triumphant even. He was so certain they could not fail, that they had finally found their goal. But… The further in he got, the more stock he went through without finding it and noticing how the options started to run out one by one… The Rito's face grew serious and grim.
"It's not here."

Ruairi was frowning. For a moment he just stood there, uncertain what to do. Then, he tried to take another look – maybe he had just missed it somehow, maybe it was further in than he had initially assumed. Maybe it was somewhere else, just off to the side, misplaced. But no, no blush could be seen. Eve had started skittering in the piles of junk, but he barely paid any attention to that. At least, not until he could hear some particularly loud creaks that developed into ominous snaps and cracks – until the floor gave. The Kokiri let out a shriek as the floor swallowed her, the weights she had been poking coming down with her. The destroyed floorboards weren't going to stay as a localized problem, no; now that it had started, they no longer could support most of the floor, much less all the heavy items on top. The Rito didn't even have time to react until the shelf he had been browsing was pulled in, and the floorboards under Ruairi's feet slid off with him still on them.

He let out a yelp, quickly shooting his hookshot at something, anything, to save himself from the drop into what seemed like a bottomless pit. The hook attached to some floorboards above – but it was instantly pulled through with the slightest bit of weight, like the wood had already rotted into something soft and brittle. With a scream, Ruairi plummeted into the darkness.

The Rito coughed. He was still alive. The air had been knocked out of him alright, but he was alive and… Pretty much unhurt? He could move his limbs at least, and his hands patted the ground. Soft and plush pile of something. His eyes opened, and above, very high above, he could see the ball of magical light he had created in the storage room. Ruairi started dusting himself off as he sat up. Was he on top of a pile of… Coats? Costumes? Eh, whatever. They had broken his fall, but the hole… Was high up. Too high up. His hookshot wouldn't reach anything that far away…

"Where… Are we?" He asked, perhaps not even really expecting an answer. Why was there such a tall basement under this store…?

Ruairi could feel Eve shuffling about in the darkness – if he looked hard, perhaps he could even see her, as long as he didn't move too far. He glanced back up, the light above didn't really reach them down here, so if he wanted an answer to his question, they would actually have to see. During his fall, he had let go of the unlit torch, and a quick pat down of his surroundings didn't reveal itself to him. The Rito frowned, they'd definitely need another to be able to see their way and find their way back up. The Kokiri's pained yelp only cemented that fact: they would only get hurt if they tried to stumble about in the darkness.

There was no torch he could find, nor did he manage to see one nearby. But he didn't need a torch to create light, as long as they weren't moving! What he did need was something to focus his power onto. Ruairi did also consider just setting something on fire, but with who knew how much junk and dust they had around – a sneeze escaped him as he was in his thoughts – that might not have been the safest idea. The last thing they wanted was a fire in a hole they might not be able to escape in time…

So he felt around some more, to finding a splintered off piece from the floorboards that fell with them.
"Behold!" The Rito started. He had not made a big deal out of his previous amazing feat of magic as they were supposed to be stealthy, but no one would follow them here! His cool pose was lost in the dark, but once he started his artistic waving, the tip of the wooden piece started to glow gently with a white light. After a few twirls, Ruairi held his makeshift stick upwards, as the magic pooled into a bright, glowing orb. As it released itself from the implement, it started to float weakly, its path jittery until it stopped midair to brighten up their surroundings. The earlier ball of light had disappeared from the storage room, poofing as there no longer was magic keeping it going.

Ruairi took a deep bow as he was rewarded with a round of applause from the single member of the audience after his amazing feat of magic. Of his face was plastered a wide smile, content and confident. The magical ball of light did not seem to be quite so bold, occasionally flickering as if it could go out at any moment. The Rito did not pay it much attention as he straightened his back and finally took a good look around. Dark and damp, definitely, and the décor…
"Ugh. This style is just atrocious," he sneered as he took some steps closer to examine the walls and their… Decorations. If they could be called that. Nothing about the strange faces looked pleasant, and the stones had been marred by mold and whatever else that was growing on them. And the strangest paint job he had ever seen! No rhyme or reason there! Why had someone even decorated a basement, of all things?

And the extra light had not revealed where his torch had landed, either. Probably somewhere at the bottom of all that pile of… Stuff that came down with them. Ruairi let out a sigh. Maybe they could use the sconces on the walls, if they failed to remove any of them. It was always a good idea to have a moving source of light with them, after all – and his magical ball of light did not seem to be able to provide that function. How many times could he cast it, anyway…?
"Well. We are going to have to find a way back up – ah! And the blush! Maybe they could have stored some down here?!"

The Rito seemed to have the greatest idea ever pop into his head. Basements were always just full of all kinds of junk, right? The basement of a store must have been a treasure trove of lost merchandise!

Ruairi nodded a few times, agreeing. Surely someone would have used a basement as additional storage – they saw the room above as well as the corridors! They were already so filled with stuff, that surely there just was no room for more products, including the blush, right? He didn't know if that made the workers monsters though, as Eve put it, but it certainly was not in their best interest. Hopefully this basement wasn't too big and they would be able to find what they were looking for quickly…

The Rito followed Eve into another opening. Yep, it was dark and damp alright, and the light from his orb barely reach in to illuminate what was inside. And as the rays of light hit something in the darkness, contouring it with shadows and the brightly lit spots that almost glowed in the darkness due to the light coloring it had… It was clearly a skull. A giant, man-sized skull, just floating in the corridor, blocking it. Ruairi had to stop, and it took a moment for him to notice the legs. He felt his tensed muscles relax a bit. Oh. It was just a skulltula. A huge one, bigger than he had ever seen, for sure, but a man-sized spider was much better than a man-sized, floating skull, right? He glanced around, wondering if there maybe were giant webs around it had spun, too.

"What? Ew, no," he scrunched up his nose at the Kokiri's pleads for him to destroy that thing. Ruairie hadn't put on clothes that could handle the kind of washing one would need after squishing a giant spider! The gross goop would surely get just everywhere. …Ignoring the fact that he wouldn't even have the slightest idea how he was supposed to kill a skulltula that large.
"Besides, haven't you heard? Killing spiders brings bad luck. So you have to burn them instead, so it's the fire that does the killing."

Or something like that? He couldn't quite remember. He wasn't the most superstitious person out there, but it certainly was a good excuse to not get his hands dirty, at least. He was pretty sure he had heard someone say something like kill it with fire. The Rito looked around – they were going to need a torch eventually, anyway…

Ruairi crossed his arms and remained strict. He already mentioned how they should handle spiders, so he wasn't going to go and try to squish the thing! He of course conveniently ignored how he could even squish something that was bigger than him. Of course the spider wouldn't just happily keep hanging there while he tried to set it on fire with his little lighter trick, so after Eve suggested building a fire after a while of whining and groaning, the Rito nodded, pleased. Yes, that sounded like a great idea! They could light the wood on fire, and the spider problem would go away. While the basement was very damp, there was a lot of wood that tumbled down with them from above. That would probably be good enough, as Ruairi eyed the little piece he had carried with him. It felt dry and spongy – surely it would catch on fire easily.
"See if you can find a torch, too!"

He turned his attention back to the large skulltula. It kept hanging there, rattling and vibrating its skull-shaped abdomen at him. It truly was the biggest one he had ever seen, quite literally blocking the whole tunnel. Perfectly sized for the area – perhaps they could keep growing into such sizes, if they had to? The ones on the surface never got that big, as far as he had seen, though. And even this spider seemed to be more focused on scaring them off than anything else. Maybe even these large ones couldn't eat people like them? It didn't even try to attack them.

While the Rito pondered these deep questions, Eve had scurried off to grab some wood to start building a nice bonfire below the creature. The time had come to put an end to this once and for all. Ruairi held out the splintered piece of rotted floorboard and snapped his fingers against it a few times, until the spark caught and set it aflame. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he threw it at the pile of wood below the skulltula, hoping that it would catch on fire quickly.

…But what was there to keep the spider in place while the fire was building? Would any living creature just stay there and wait for themselves to be engulfed by the flames?