Welcome to Gaia! ::

It would have been amazing to have the same kind of revelation that Cass had. UNFORTUNATELY Bix was simply staring at Dr. H. He had an awfully sour look on his face and was idly playing with the end of his braid as per his usual nervous habit.

Maybe if he could see the good doctor's face it would make him feel better but every time he saw that hooded figure he was right back in that gym with the voice over the loud speaker and the mindless slaughter for meaningless pendants.

He didn't respond to any statements about their failings. His face was just set in an unhappy frown and his red eyes were locked with displeasure on their 'supervising' host.

"So you deign to attend, Mr. Brant? How handicapable of you," Dr. H murmured, checking his watch. "Luckily for you and whatever stragglers arrive, my assistant has yet to arrive with the visual aids. Considering the comprehension abilities shown during certain tests..." his voice held a dark and terrible smile as he glanced at several of the trainees, "...I feel that large, shiny pictures will be needed in your ah...education."

Jude gave Bix a small wave as well as waving to Gale again he was acknowledged and then he just simply watched as a few more fellow Hunters poured into the room. The youth was glad to just slump down in his seat and simply relax and let his mind wander until the instructor saw fit to appear and when they did he sat up a bit straighter in order to look a bit more attentive.

When Dr. H mocked a couple of latecomers he said nothing, it probably would get him nowhere even if he did.

He glanced at Davey and offered a small nod toward him but there was no mockery in it, just a simple nod, Jude figured the one armed man had enough mockery to deal with.

The minutes ticked by in a silence that was steadily becoming...tense. After checking his watch for the nth time, Dr. H's voice hissed, "Clarice, where are you?"

There was a garbled, static-filled reply, and then, "The glue to dry? On the....puppets. Puppets. I see." The room's occupants could hear the man take a deep breath and hold it for several long moments, "Yes, I see very well. No, don't rush over, my dear. In fact, stay in the labs, I'd like you to re-test the golem pain thresholds. All versions. Yes, personally."

A louder reply followed by, "That wasn't a request, Clarice," a loud squawk followed, and the man reached into his hood and pulled out an earpiece, tossing it on the table. "Well, change of plans, my little ducklings." He walked over to a new section of the wall and touched it gently, opening yet another hidden door. "You would have visited this place eventually, so we may as well get it all explained in one fell swoop. Come now, follow along."

The door lead to a plain white hallway, and then another hidden door, which opened to...a giant stone cavern, filled with a familiar blue light. The crystals scattered about glowed with it and the bottom of the cavern was obscured by it. Dr. H began making his way down the stone steps, his only instruction being, "Note the lack of guardrails? Try not to fall, as this height would cause quite the...mess below."

Madison's eyes widened as the hidden door appeared - really, there was no reason for her to have been so shocked, given the hidden doors she'd had to go through to even get to the classroom in the first place! But her previous normal life hadn't had any secret passages, at all.

Poor thing.

The Hunter quickly got up and followed, shooting Bix a cheerful smile, and glancing back to her fellow Phoenixes as well. The white hallway was unremarkable, but beyond it... was beautiful. Crystals, and that soft gentle light that reminded her of the runes on Kouki's original stone.

And then she realized how high up they were. And the lack of guardrails.

Madison froze in sudden, instinctual terror. Oh god. Why. She wasn't in a golem now - if she fell, she'd die. For real. No comebacks... but she had to do this, somehow. Why the <********> weren't there guardrails?! This stupid, stupid place...

Kouki made a wordless sound of worry in her mind.



((Can someone, um, coax Maddie along? XD I don't care who it is.))

Leon kept quiet and picked at his ear with his pinky as to block out some of Dr H's arguements with his assistant, it just made him wonder how those two managed to get any work done. Either way he was glad to only hear half of the bickering and less was better. The Boxer just rolled his eyes at the sudden hole in the wall.

"Secret passages, figures. will it lead to a kitchen or a study and have a lead pipe in it?" he grumbled out lowly but still kept in tow behind Gale and the others

The subtle glowing hue to the cavern was a nice touch he had to admit. A nice change of pace from the stark white hallways that was for sure.
"Why do we have to go into a cavern again, I spent jack knows how long in that dark jacking place." Nidhogg whined for once in his head like some kind of whelp that missed out on suppertime. "Now now buck up, it ain't all a buffet of some sort, just deal with it." Leon growled back in response to the peace and quiet that was shattered in his mind. "unless you want me to flip out and accidentally drop my a** down these steps?" Sure he was trained to be agile on his feat and take a beating, but you can't KO gravity.

His face went into a neutral expression at the hold up in front of the stairs with the others and took a few steps in front of Gale and Maddie "Yer not gonna fall girlie, and if your going to freeze up now, what about during your missions?" he asked over his shoulder and jerked a thumb to face his chest. "if ya start to totter, I'll do all i can to keep you from rolling down the steps." he said with all the bravado he could muster.

"Stop trying to act all cool meathead."

"Oh you can just kiss the fattest part of my a** Nid."

Bix heard some uneasy comments from behind him and he spun his head to see. The spin to look suddenly made him bobble uneasily and also made him make a high pitched noise in his throat. He probably reacted worse than he should have for such a brief moment, but the prospect of dying seemed to straighten him up really fast.

He hoped Madison wouldn't be even more uneasy. "We're all fine.. alll good. I'll catch you!"

Or fall with you into oblivion... and by oblivion I of courssse meant a splattery, messy, deliciouss death. Mina laughed. Sometimes he hated how grotesque she could be.

"I have these big.. uhh.. manly muscley arms." Not. "But I'm sure that giant guy has it covered." He motioned the mass that was Leon.

Tika was late. Beyond late. By this point she was probably making a very bad impression on her superiors. The teens hair was a mess when she finally did show up in time to see the new exposed cavern.

She wandered over to really the only familiar face she knew. Bix.

"..I miss much?"

You probably missed every thing my dear ~