[Center][img]https://i.imgur.com/rc5gJm2.png[/img]
[color=DEBA42]LOCATION:[/color]The Maw
[color=DEBA42]WORD COUNT:[/color]1,243(+3 EXP)
[color=DEBA42]MENTIONS:[/color] Link, Geralt
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Wearing shorts, Mirage was feeling the cold floor of the vent against his legs, as well as his palms, as he crawled. One could easily see from observation that the sections of skin going against the vent were slowly turning red, but despite the stinging sort of pain and itch from his scars, the pain in his stomach was still worse. Out of three possible outcomes, Mirage outstandingly managed to get the wrong one twice, before halting as he realized a particular scent was gifting itself to his nostrils. [color=DEBA42]"Cheese,"[/color] Mirage mulled, maybe he would've drooled if his mouth wasn't so dry. With a burst of confidence, he scuttled his way through the vent to find the source, and with it, a hatch that they could actually get through.

[color=DEBA42]"Bingo,"[/color] The legend vocalized his success, tilting his head to look back at the others and offer a quick nod before he poked his head out to look at the situation. He eyed the mousetraps, a bundle of them being placed around their exit. Quickly, he raised a hand to halt his fellow rescuers. [color=DEBA42]"They [i]were[/i] ready for something to come through here. Gimmie a sec."[/color] Now, Mirage might not have been an action spy, or much of an action hero now that he was a pipsqueak, but navigating something like this? Not much different from the 'Floor is Lava' they played before! Except there wasn't any ground for him, which was even more unfair with the still realistic possibility of, you know, dying. 

Thankfully, humans were more capable than rodents. The traps were of simplistic engineering: Avoid the trip, and you wouldn't get snapped. The side facing the small heroes was obviously not intended to be picked up by large human hands, and Mirage wasn't sure if he wanted to risk lifting it. But there was a pretty easy, if not somewhat anti-climatic solution. Leaning down, Mirage's fingers graced as far as his little hands could along the ends of the most center trap, getting between it and the wall below the hatch. It took a minute, but he managed to push it far enough to give him a slight amount of leg room, to which he lowered down to finish the job. Unfortunately, while he slowly scooted the center trap forward, he got nothing but big whiffs of that wonderous cheese. 

No possible people-meat. And he'd been to enough parties to know good cheese-- This stuff, despite being used for rodents, was effective clearly. Maybe that was just him starving and seeing it as more glorified than it actually was, but he didn't particularly care as he stomach growled at him like an agitated dog. He managed to turn back long enough to give the others the okay to come out, but with a warned [color=DEBA42]'Watch your step'[/color] considering he'd just made a straight path through the center. 

However, perhaps to the complete concern of his fellow vent-pals, Mirage was feeling desperate and conflicted. While Sakura had tried to reinforce his decision, Kamek had made things feel a bit more... Vague. If this 'Organization' was bad, and this was supposedly the 'best route' of all their options according to them, then Mirage felt like there was something fishy. How could this hellhole be the best solution, at all? Mirage had been against the idea in the first place, his gut gave him nothing but terrible feelings about the place and it had been nothing if not proven right.

Even pushing that trap was... Pushing his capabilities, though. Mirage looked beyond, into the rest of the area ahead. Sakura, Rika, and Bella were all in danger. He said he'd buy time for the others, but how he was now, could he really do much? Nadia's words from before were starting to hit home with him, noting if he had just eaten, maybe he could have sprung out fast enough to stop the chefs from locking that door. To that extent, a more anxious part of Mirage's personality began to chew at him for not thinking of things beyond his own potential safety. 

Without a word, Mirage pulled out the dart gun. He shot two darts, one to the side of the bar of the mousetrap, then one above it. The gun dropped to the ground as Mirage took his chance at the cheese, grabbing it and cramming it into his mouth. The trap activated, but the bar got caught on his platforms, allowing him to momentarily fester in his spoils. He almost melted as if he was the cheese, audible delight coming from him, though a ping of guilt too, as he turned and looked at the others. [color=DEBA42]"Sowwy,"[/color] He said, the cheese a comical lump as he swallowed it down. [color=DEBA42]"Curse or no curse, I'm not taking risks with this rescue effort."[/color] He added to his apology, trying to explain himself. Justify the fact he betrayed the groups' no-eating idea, maybe? But the mixture of hunger [i]and[/i] guilt he anxiously brought upon himself made it too much to resist. Like it or not, he'd partaken in food here now, too.

His eyes focused back on the area ahead. Multiple chefs, more forms than before. It seemed that his idea of coming this way would've been a terrible one, with how many people were here. But that didn't matter; They had a rescue to do, and who knows how much time there actually was to do it? With something in his stomach, Mirage was feeling a little scared of what potentially could happen, but also confident enough that he was ready to strike back against their large cooking oppressors. 

[color=DEBA42]"The girls need our help,"[/color] He reminded, unnecessarily perhaps, but making his struggle with the food obvious. [color=DEBA42]"Whatever way you want to run this, I've got this to still help out."[/color] He picked up the Dart Gun after wiping his hands on his shirt, but tucked it away as he spotted something seeming to hang from above them. He poked out for a moment, noticing a ladle hanging down. Nervously he gripped it, pushing up lightly which freed it from it's place before he quickly shifted it forward to make it fit back under to their momentary trap haven. 

It was a bit heavier than something like Geralt's cool nail, but something blunt probably suited a guy who's extent of melee combat knowledge was right hooks and poking someone in the eyes. He figured if worse came to worse, he could give someone a decent smack at the ankle. Or, as he spotted what almost seemed to be [i]sentient cups[/i], they'd smash with one good swing. 

Rather than make any sort of progressive move at the moment, he'd stay put until the three-man team had a more specific goal. There were a lot of options, and if they coordinated, they'd probably find a lot more success. [color=DEBA42]"If we make a scene, it could buy some time. Dangerous, but that hasn't stopped us so far, right?"[/color] He decided to make his own input, that obvious anger from what he heard of Geralt earlier and how Link attempted to ram through the vent like a bull straight off a Gaea farm making him recognize that they'd known those girls longer than he did, but that didn't matter too much. Just meant they were very motivated, which he could get behind. He had a feeling things were about to get messy, and tried to mentally prepare himself for the potential chaos to follow.