#FINALLYYYYYYY i hope it's ok and lmk if you need anything changed!!!

[solstitios]

it's a small world @usb4 oct 31, ???? / in the maze

he's absolutely too tired for this.

dumb. dumb. dumb. dumb idea to agree to a maze in the dark. dumb idea to say you're going to take the lead in the group of your friends because you could navigate a burning building blindfolded. dumb idea because your friends are not trained to navigate networks of unfamiliar paths and being able to easily self-orient. dumb idea because now you're the one that's separated from the rest of your group. dumb. dumb. dumb.

(way to go, lieutenant, thought this was your full time job?)

it's not a matter of callum being lost now, no — even with the trick mirrors and smoke screens and the dimly lit halls of the re-purposed warehouse turned house of horrors — it's a matter of he is very much separated from his group, and therefore, everyone else must is lost and likely very far behind. at this point, everyone has probably been scattered.

after ten or so minutes of trying three different paths he'd committed to memory with no avail, he decides to wait. not something a firefighter would actually be trained to do in an active fire, but aside from trying to increase his chances of encountering someone from his group staying still, the cheap polyester from his costume nic had spent days convincing him of was becoming all but comfortable under his slacks and dress shirt. again, unnecessary layers — another thing he was not trained to wear. he was never letting him talk him into wearing a costume ever again.

now fifteen minutes into losing his group and growing antsy from wanting to leave, callum decides to wander a few more turns. he makes a deal with himself that if he doesn't run into any friends in the next five minutes that he'd find his way out alone.

suddenly there's immediate impact against another body around a dark turn that catches callum off guard and stammers backwards. "shit, sorry — my bad," he recoils almost immediately from the brute force and reaches out forward to the outline of the figure almost to help stabilize their own posture. he puts a hand on the silhouette when he sees the outline of a man, offering a quick "you good?" before the face registers. "oh, damn, daeho. sorry, man. i shouldn't have taken the corner so sharp."

callum doesn't know too much about the male who funny enough shares the same wall he does back at home, but from what he's gathered about his neighbor thus far, he seems like the kind of guy who knows how to navigate a maze well. at least, that's how he would come across to a firefighter who clearly has failed his own mission. "hey, you didn't happen to run into anybody who said they got separated from their friend, did you?"