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Somewhere in the back of his mind, Jinhai wondered where Kato was. He'd been talking to him only seconds before they had wound up in this cavern, and he had the sneaking suspicion the boil was around here somewhere.

At least, he certainly hoped so. Kato was very nearly his closest...friend...acquaintance...whatever he was...and speaking of which, where was Brock? Jinhai had spotted Dis among the throngs of students milling about - being...well, Dis, but he hadn't seen Brock, and Kato's head of messy pale hair had disappeared.

He supposed he should go look for them, but the treasure was right here...Jinhai's fingers smoothed over the links of the silver necklace again, marveling at the intricate detail inlaid into the filaments. The sapphire glowed brightly, lights flickering off of its crystalline face, and it was so very pretty after all...

There were other pretty things there, as well. It was a very strange sort of experience, Jinhai thought, crouched by the edge of the pool. This was not part of his routine, being here - it was not something he normally took part in at all. His days recently were filled with papers and essays and maths and a variety of things while preparing for graduation - it was a simple thing, really. A safe, controlled, calm routine that Jinhai performed daily.

This was breaking his routine. He disliked feeling out of control, but the treasure was here and it was right in front of him...and it was so very pretty...and it wouldn't hurt to take just a few more, would it? His innate love for things such as this was almost always dormant, since Jinhai refused to show such an absurd weakness, but right now - well, his routine was already broken, wasn't it?

He reached out, fingers dipping into the water again, this time pulling out a small, gold ring, which he turned over in his palm experimentally. It was only after he straightened, taking a step away from the pool, that he realized he was still standing by himself in a room full of students.

He looked around.

"Kato?"

Sophie had been...around, moving from shiny piece of treasure to shiny piece of treasure for no particular reason other than she could. Though like most she did have ulterior motives, and she was actually looking at all the various trinkets in the water itself; it seemed almost strange to her, for all this to go in here. Maybe it was a water dragon's cave? Did water dragons even lust for gold? Honestly, she couldn't remember.

Eventually that got boring, and Sophie decided it was in her best interest to crawl out of the shinies somewhere behind Malcolm, soaked from head to toe as she stood up behind him, bowed with the effort it took to climb out. Then, silently, she shot out one foot, pressing down hard on the back of Malcolm's knee, hoping to make him at least buckle.

OvO

"Ooh, the glowing? Maybe, or it mi-OHMYJACK." Moira froze, staring for a moment, then sprang out from behind the stalagmite, quite possibly dragging Norvie along with her unless he released her hand. "Leeeeeeenie!! 'Canaaaa!! I'm so happy for you!!!" she squealed, practically jumping on both of them, slinging one arm around each of them. "Congratulations!!" The headcrab zombie was beaming from ear to ear, eyes moist with tears of joy.

The squealing caught Tex's attention and he turned, glancing over at Moira for a moment as he saw what was going on. A certain punk boil was staring at her, too, through silver eyes much like his own. They both knew her.

That was something Roch would remember after this was over.

Being so busy with Pyre, he did not notice someone coming up behind him - until it was too late. Before he knew it, the force on the back of his knee had forced him to buckle. By instinct though, as soon as he felt the hit, he had pushed his hand down on the treasure-bottom, getting a firm grip before turning around quickly, one leg outstretched as he tried to sweep his assassin off her feet.

Yes, he relied heavily on his staff, but it wasn't the only thing he was confident in... He wasn't in Defenders for nothing.

"I could possibly use some help taking samp-" Norvie started, but Moira was already gone, suddenly dragging him after her friends as the rat-boil gave a squeak of alarm, tail flailing behind him.

At least his near embarrassment had been thwarted. It didn't stop his heart from racing, even as he panted as they caught up with the other two, "Ah... Are... you er... heading to the pumpkin patch after this, then? Heehee," He quickly covered his own anxiety, finally wriggling his hand free of Moira's as they stumbled to the other couple, smiling brightly at both timid students, "You have my blessing!"

Arcana was hiding inside of Selene's neck while she tried to hide in his and yes...There was head butts to be had.

He pulled back with a wince and gave her a flushed, "SORRY OMG I AM SO SORRY"

Which only got worst as Westhor yelled to them, then Moira coming up and Tarot was standing there staring.

He could almost handle those three. ALMOST. And then Norvie mention Pumpkin patch and Arcana was just like.

"Nope...Nope...Just Nope." He shook his head. It seemed he would match Selene's Nononononono with Nope Nope Nope Nope.

They were a good couple together indeed.

"I....I..." he stared at the other people and bluntly said, "I am not ready for the pumpkin patch."

"Please go away..." And then Selene took off like a deer and took a dive in the pool. WAS THIS THE END ALREADY.

He seemed to be shell shocked...and then scrambled up to follow after her. "Selene...Selene its okay!"

Moira didn't seem at all bothered by Arcana and Selene's rapid withdrawal. "Have fun, spookies!" she called after them, waving both arms energetically and flashing a thumbs up whenever it seemed like one of them might be glancing back at her.

Then she sighed happily and turned around, grinning at Norvie. "They just started dating, Norvie! Pumpkins comes way, way, way later! You can't just ask about that! Silly," she added, ruffling his hair affectionately.