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 Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 12:46 pm
Ariane heard the water long before she felt it, but the moment she could hear the snakes as well as was why she froze, standing completely still as she waited for further instructions; she liked water and she loved to swim, but where snakes were involved? Presumably dozens and dozens of venomous snakes? That was another story altogether.
She kept calm the best she could, despite the fact that her heart was racing every time a hiss sounded too close for comfort; she shuffled along, afraid to take a single step in case she ended up stepping on a snake and prompting it to bite her. Once she was on the elevator, it became clear to her that the hunters were missing.
Then there were the screams, the sound of-
Ariane waited at the exit after the elevator, trying to regulate her breathing, trying to calm herself down and get her heart to stop racing - she wasn't particularly looking out for anyone, but she just wanted to make sure that everyone that was out... Was out. The hunters that led them in... Other than them, there was-
"Caelius," She gritted her teeth as she looked around, "Did anyone see him? Sandy and Barney, they..." She looked down, back the way they escaped, and kept silent.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 3:52 pm
They'd made to the room, at least. Anything to get away from that giant monstrosity. They had to get to the elevator. They had to get out of here, now.
You know, the water and snakes suddenly come for them was a great incentive for escape, along with everything else.
Vanessa looked back to Sandy for a split moment, Volt summoned and ready at the older hunter's order. The hissing was audible. There was more here than just that horrible monster. And then Sandy was telling them to leave, right now. A word of thanks caught in Vanessa's throat, but she simply nodded and jumped to the escape. She ran forward, desummoning Volt for the moment so she wouldn't have to manuver his large size around during the escape. She could hear the screams behind her, and she bit her lip to force herself not to look back. She couldn't look back, not until she'd gotten herself to some semblance of safety. She couldn't throw away the life that the two older hunters had paid for with their own.
The fragments of bones clicked against each other in her pocket, the run having forced one out of at least a little of it's tissue surroundings. The tablet rested against her leg in the other pocket, it and all the other ones collected the price of two hunter's lives. Why did it seem like an older hunter always had to die in their missions?
And then there was the matter of Caelius, but Vanessa was sure he'd just pull another of his death-defying escapes somehow on his own. He wouldn't need any lowly trainees to help him.
There were several other trainees standing to the sides of the portal, waiting for the rest of their group to get through to safety. Vanessa stepped to the side of it and joined them, hefting Volt to her shoulder as she summoned him. The cannon's bulk rested there, and her hands found the holds on his trigger and topside handle. If anything came chasing after the last of the trainees, her long-range lightning could be good cover-fire. No one seemed to want to accknowledge what they'd seen of the older hunters, either. Perhaps they all wanted to keep the vain hope alive until proven wrong.
Maybe someday, more trainees would pass through those halls, and someone could carry at least a piece of the two heroes out for proper burial, as Vanessa was going for the unnamed owners of the bone fragments in her pockets.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 4:01 pm
Wilson stood next to Sandy and he still stood by the death hunter when the door slid shut without warning. He paid little heed to the familiar sensational of a rising elevator. Instead he raised his head to mindlessly stare at the ceiling. They were close, so close to leaving this horrible maze of rooms. The calm relief disappeared from his face when he heard something trickling in. He looked down: water. Its presence did not unsettle Wilson, not until he could have sworn he heard hissing. His flashlight flickered on. The room. The room was coming up too. His body stiffened with fear—below was the room with snakes. Wilson shot Sandy a panicked look, but she remained calm. How could she look so…okay? He glanced at Tedan and gave him a reassuring, albeit smile. “It’ll be fine.” The words sounded hollow to his ears.
His hands curled into fists, nails digging into his palm as he felt the slow sensation of water rising. Somehow, Wilson managed to remain frozen while the water level kept rising. For some reason, he found it soothing to keep his eyes closed, even when he could distinctly feel the water pooling around his knees. Eyes cracked open when he heard a hiss and Sandy’s command shortly after. They were here. The snakes were here. It was over. Over. Overoverover—
He took out his weapon. The mask dangled around his neck while he often between the exit, Sandy, and the water. Wilson hadn’t gotten to move much when she yelled.
Something flashed across her face as she began to fall. Pain? Fear? Something else entirely? He couldn’t get a good look at her before he turned, rushing for the exit along with the rest of the trainees. He couldn’t hear his thoughts over the screams and splashes, over the shrieks of his weapons as Gramps urged him to move faster and faster. Wilson didn’t even know he was repeating a mantra to himself over and over. It’ll be fine. It’ll be fine. Everything will be fine. Just before he left the elevator, Wilson looked back one last time, vainly hoping to see the figure of Sandy right behind him. The last he saw were her eyes as she disappeared under the water.
Once his boots brushed dry ground, he dumped his weapon and sat down, his back against the pack. Hearing Deryk’s voice, Wilson turned toward him. “Sandy and Barney. They’re…” He couldn’t finish.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 4:14 pm
When Sandy said jump, Rin didn't stick around to ask how high. She was simply gone. Bolting outside to join the others. Her gaze shooting about to the others. Not really recognising anyone in particular until she noticed Rep eagerly looking for someone.
She inclined her head towards him, a curious look on her face, "You almost look human, Rep, are you okay?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 4:21 pm
Rep immediately went on the defensive as Rin headed over, suddenly very self concious of how concerned he had to have looked, trying to look stern and composed rather than as rattled as he actually felt. It didn't really work, it was fairly obvious he wasn't currently thinking straight, trying to pretend nothing had happened, trying to pretend he hadn't just seen one, maybe two senior hunters die, trying not to think about the teeth in the dark and the snakes.
"Eh..yeah. I'm okay." he bluffed, though still checked now and then to see if he could see anyone else heading out of the cave. "Just a bit knackered. Running though that labrythinth s**t really tired me the ******** out. Heh." He laughed uncertainly, aware he was likely sounding out of sorts but not really able to do anything about it.
"They make us do some crazy s**t eh?" Yeah, joking about it made it feel less real, that'd work.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 4:29 pm
Rin frowned rather slightly. Something was definitely bothering him. She turned to look back at the trickle of surviving hunters.
"Who are you looking for?" She almost wanted to add a snide remark how it certainly wasn't a friend but s**t just... seemed too real right now. Her heart was still hammering in her chest. She was so sure she was going to die in there on more than one occasion.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 4:38 pm
Rep shrugged his shoulders. "Mostly just looking to see if everyone makes it out." It was a lie, he didn't even know who "everyone" even was. But he didn't want to admit that right now, not while he was so very raw and anxious, not while his nerves felt pushed to breaking. Still, he gave her a sidelong look, she looked pretty upset herself and maybe another pair of eyes might be handy.
"Eh. Just looking out for another sun hunter, rank over me. Guy called Jordan. Takes other people's problems personal and s**t. Just want to make sure he didn't try and shoulder those guys problems in there too and get himself killed." He shrugged. "If you see any sun coats come out, gimme a heads up I guess." He wasn't really in the mood for his usual hostility, he'd save that for /after/ the mission.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 4:52 pm
"I remember who Jordan is you crazy s**t." She tried feebly to lighten the mood. Still turning her attention to people coming out. Keen eyes seeking out the man in question.
There was no way Rin was going to think about that right now, especially when Jordan is one of the few people Rep seems to respect.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:06 pm
Any excuse to go on the offensive, it made him feel vulnerable to admit he'd even been so much as /looking/ for someone else, a real man wouldn't give a crap. He crossed his arms with a snarl. "Well I didn't ******** know how good your memory was okay? Women are notorious for having ******** brains like a sieve. For all I know it could have been displaced by thoughts about, I dunno, ******** shoes or something.
He turned his attention to the fear detector still on his wrist. "And some ******** good these things were, that thing was almost right on top of us before they went off."
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:32 pm
"...Dead?" Harrison finished for Ariane. "And Caelius is missing? Isn't that a ******** surprise."
He wrung out his shirt and coat tails one squeeze at a time.
They all stood around to see who would come out. If it was the monster...well, Harrison wasn't too far from the exit portal.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:35 pm
Perhaps it had been seconds, perhaps minutes, perhaps even hours: it was hard to tell with the humid climate, though it did seem to be getting dark.
Still, noone arrived to tell the trainees anything. There were no assurances, not even someone to yell at, someone to ask questions, anyone. They were alone.
The box of flare guns was still on the table, and so was Sandy's supplies back. Both of them were opened, and though the box was empty, there was a black leatherbound book and a spare flashlight in the the bag, just a corner of it sticking out. OOC - At this point, your trainee can either EXIT, that is leave this station and return back to think over things, or they can explore what remains in this area a little longer. - Simply put any investigation cues, such as exploring the supplies, etc etc, in bold
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:44 pm
Ofelia knew from watching people get bitten by snakes that, well, snakes were a bad idea and making noise and moving around with them was an even worse idea. It didn't surprise her when the woman got bitten (it did make her upset - snake bites hurt) and it wasn't until she was running with the rest of them that it even clicked that the leaders and companions that had brought her into this weren't going to be leading her out of this.
Everyone was scared, everyone was frightened - but that was also what made an adventure, right? Not everyone could come back alive, that was common sense - only main characters usually survived something horrible. Did that make Ofelia a main character in this club, or did it mean this club had activities that were catered into culling the numbers of it members down every time someone went out?
When they all reached outside Ofelia finally caught her breath, moving over to the table to have something to lean on. It was then that she noticed the black leather bound book peeking out. she reached down and took it, not giving a s**t that it probably belonged to Sandy and therefore she needed to respect her private property, but wasn't it the responsibility of the others in the adventure to send word home to families? Also Ofelia was a horrible curious person and didn't give a s**t about people's privacy.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:47 pm
Saya grew tired of waiting. They had far too much time to wait for Sandy and Barney to come back-- and it was obvious, they weren't coming back. Saya started to unfold her legs, intending to walk over to the table, wondering .. Well, where were they supposed to go or do now? Perhaps, this would have the answers.
Saya was hesitant to take it out .. yet, what was there to lose? Except, as she walked up to get going, another female trainee opened it first. Saya peeked over Ofelia's shoulders, tentatively grabbing the spare flashlight to give the trainee better lighting.
"D-Does it say anything important?" She asked, hesitantly, her breathing still unsteady and rushed, her fingers wrapped around Sandy's flashlight nervously. Sandy's .. flashlight ..
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:50 pm
There was nothing in the book that actually involved writing. It was simply filled with pages and pages of dried and pressed flowers, of various types. However, there seems to be something caught in one of the pages:
The flashlight is making a strange clunk noise, as if it was hollow and something was wedged inside.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:53 pm
"Huh, that Ah dunno. S'got lots an' lots of pretty flowers, Ah'mma keep them safe an' sound, but there's this kinda note thing here too. Ya got any idea what it can mean? Ah dunno if it's sommin' meant ta be read." Ofelia turned and looked at the person who approached her, someone she didn't know but shrugged off as a chance to meet someone knew. This wasn't the time, of course, and she held the note over. "What 'bout the flashlight yer holdin'? Dun sound like its got batteries or sommin' in it - open it up!"
Now she was eager, like this was some kind of game. A treasure hunt, ignoring the people who had died to get them out.
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