[ He takes the canteen back with his head dipped again - it'll be faster this time, he doesn't have to make the container. It's nearly full when Mace positions that she'd maybe been trying to warn them, and he... turns the idea over in his head.

But that cracking sound above him, those snapping fingers like bones breaking themselves downward into claws. Why would she, if it weren't to dig them into his throat or to reel him up to the ceiling with her? Why fucking crawl at them like that, and not just...

Do literally anything that didn't come across as threatening?

He pauses them - partly so he can swallow down some water, but also partly so he can glance over his shoulder back the way they came. He's still swallowing, still clearing his throat when he tries to speak again. ]

If there's a fucking button, maybe we crack the door open and you can ask Mary directly. Assuming she's not spidering around over our heads like one of those cave spider-cricket things. Which, by the way, are almost more creepy than she is.

[ He's slowed down in his speaking, leveled out a little back to that baseline steady drawl. ]

Did you check to see if it was a one-way only? I sure as fuck didn't. We've just kinda been rolling with the assumption like jackasses.