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 Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2013 6:46 pm
Faroth was confused in kind, though his expression would be hidden from her. "I just..." he faltered, unsure how to continue. Should he even bring it up, or would that just cause more problems by pointing it out and thinking about it? He didn't want to say what his brain was asking, he knew that much.
Because, only a little while ago, instead of staring at me in fear and revulsion, you looked more like...you were going to kiss me...
"It's not important, I guess," he said instead, quickly attempting to cover. Hopefully, his voice didn't give away the heat creeping up his neck, nor the sudden strange sensation in his stomach. "That's good, so I won't question it," he added with a casual wave of his hand over his shoulder. Small blessings, he supposed. Not that he understood at all what sort of issue it really was, from cause to effect, other than stories of these hallucinations of death and decay. Why? Why see that? And what could have caused it?
His hooved tapped a slow, but steady rhythm up the stairway, the torch lighting the way before him. So far, no signs of anything bad lying in wait for them...no signs of an exit either though. As the stairs opened up to yet another hallway, he stifled a sigh. Couldn't they catch a break? Was a little daylight and fresh air too much to ask? Apparently.
The hallway curved away from them in either direction, and from where he stood, Faroth could see at least two doors on the opposite wall, one with a small decorative globe on the wall alongside. The other's was broken, the pieces scattered on the floor. Catching Celestia's downcast remark, he turned to see what she had seen. Dirt, spilling in from outside, forming a slight slope from the hall floor to the broken window. Well, that wasn't encouraging. He frowned, stepping towards the window. The total darkness of the structure had led him to believe that they were inside some sort of ancient structure, yet...he'd not imagined that that structure lay buried under the earth. He scooped up a fistful of dirt from the pile, causing a minor shift as more dirt took its place. He let the soil fall through his fingers thoughtfully. Maybe, if he were more the spiritual type, or perhaps had some sort of useful skills, like earth manipulation or soil divining, maybe he could have come up with some creative, amazing plan to save the day.
As it was, he sighed, brushed off his hands, and turned back to the princess. Her request was far from unreasonable. Though it probably hadn't been that long since they'd found themselves here, with all the excitement and danger and death-defying events, it certainly seemed like it had. He himself, normally quite a sturdy individual he thought...was feeling the strain. Both emotional and physical exhaustion took toil on one's state. They hadn't had much of a quiet moment in a while to collect themselves, so perhaps this was the time. "Alright," he agreed, crossing and removing the pack to set it on the floor besides Celestia's hooves. He removed the lantern that had gone out earlier and with a little fiddling, managed to get it lit again. He set it down, then stood. "You go ahead and settle in," he said, glancing down one curved hallway. "I'm going to take a quick look around first, make sure we're clear before we relax."
Without waiting for any argument, he set off, holding his torch high. As an afterthought, he called back, "I won't go far, promise. Easily within hearing range and I'll be back in no time." With that, he followed the curved hallway around, glancing at each door on one side, then the windows on the other. Even if it had only been some strange combination of scents and sights acting on hormones, he was having trouble shaking the effects completely. Perhaps, with a little distance, just a moment to himself, and composure might return. His excuse of checking the area was a valid one; it just wasn't the only reason he'd excused himself for a while.
There seemed to be a lot of doors, and if he wasn't mistaken, this 'hallway' seemed to be traveling in a circle. So...all these doors either led to a single massive room in the center...or maybe lots of them, like, slices of a pie. Ugh, what he wouldn't give for a slice of pie right now...
Not a good train of thought, Faroth.
Taking a deep breath, he pressed on, noting now something that wasn't a window or a broken window and a pile of dirt. An archway! It was dark within, but throwing caution to the wind, Faroth plunged in with his torch. Maybe it was a way out! Sure, they were apparently underground, but they'd gotten down here somehow! There had to be a way back out!
This wasn't it. He only made it a short distance before it became clear he wouldn't get any further. He placed a hand on the wall of soil, ears drooping slightly. Then, his fingers traced a series of odd grooves...some marks here and there along the floor and walls. Puzzling over this for a moment before realization struck: someone else had tried to dig out of here. For a moment, he was elated, assuming that it had to be someone else from their hiking group! Someone else was nearby; if they could just find them...
Then, the age of the earth, the markings seemed clear. This wasn't recent. This digging had been done a long time ago...well, by Faroth's best estimation. He may not be the ultimate expert...but he was a Faun. Sighing, he pulled back again, retreating from the blocked corridor. Well, that was out. He tried not fixate on the troubling thoughts swirling at the back of his mind. He didn't have time to dwell on what may or may not have happened here a long time ago; he had his own situation to deal with.
Speaking of which...he soon found himself back in the circular hallway, facing one of the mysterious central doors. Should he take a risk and investigate one of these doors before heading back? Or take a bigger risk regarding what may lay within if he passed on by, returning to Celestia and leaving whatever lurked inside the freedom to emerge at its leisure later when they were possibly resting and unawares?
This whole place was making him far too paranoid.
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Posted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 2:17 am
Normally, the princess might have protested against his leaving, but, honestly, it would probably do them both good to have some space. There was a tension just hanging in the air, something that she was sure he could feel as well, even if neither of them made mention of it. Perhaps she should argue against it, if only for the principle of the matter? No. There was no point, and Faroth was making his intentions to leave alone quite clear. Instead, she merely nodded, "If you insist," she said quietly before calling back out in a louder tone, "...though do not wander too far away, really; it is not safe here."
Like that, she watched the light of the lantern fade away, and she was left alone to herself, to her thoughts. Resting her back against the wall, the princess used it as a support to slide herself down to sit on the cold floor, eyes closed as her head leaned back. If she tried, she could still hear his hooves echoing with each step, yet fading away, as he walked.
Hopefully, nothing would go wrong on his end. Surely not; these horrible things were linked to him, and he was just being caught up in it. A bit of bad luck for the faun.
Or, more likely, just a bad luck for them both.
She had a bad habit, the princess, of taking responsibility for each bad thing that seemed to happen, whether or not she had control over the matter. It was as if, even now, everyone's safety remained on her shoulders, and she had to protect them. She just simply could not shake the feeling, nor relieve herself of the burden.
Even now, now that she had the luxury of resting, her mind was able to worry about the well-being of the others that had been on the trip; her faunies, little Ranuin...
Faroth's son...
Oh, spirits help her, that was right, he had a son! A family... and here she was, allowing intimacy between them. What shame she had felt initially seemed to return twice as strong. A princess, ha, she was nothing less than a harlot for acting in such a way with someone already with a mate. A hoarse, dry laugh escaped her lips as she shook her head... moving to rest the palm of her hand against her cheek and her fingers on her scalp.
Why did this make her feel so sad?
Was it because she was a disgrace, or because, even now, she could do nothing? He was out searching for an escape, and here she was, sitting on her royal a**, contributing nothing. Nobody would want someone like that; she did not want someone like that...!
Thinking back to his face, that scene, her face hot under her hand, she could have sworn he was leaning in... for... for a kiss...
That... she might have met him... had misunderstood the gesture...
It was really a blessing that the darkness had came and stopped from something regrettable happening. With how strange things were, it would have only been worse if they had... well... y'know...
Even so... That did not make her feel much better...
Ears flicking, she caught sound of his hooves starting to come closer again. Yes, when he returned, she must explain everything. About Equestria... about the ball... about the vision... It must all be in the open. Why, though, did she feel so strongly about explaining it to him? Why? Sure, a brief explanation was probably necessary, but to admit to so many personal things... There was no real reason to.
But maybe she was just hoping to have someone, someone not having been affected by any of it, say 'Celestia, you did the best you could do at the time, it isn't your fault. It's alright,' was all she really wanted. Maybe then she could let the guilt rest.
When his hooves stopped, however, fear started to fill in her. They had been there, right? Not just her imagination? What if he had been ambushed; but wouldn't he have made a noise at that? "Faroth...?!" she called out, her eyes straining against the dark for any sign of the lantern. "Faroth, have you been harmed? Need I come to you...?"
Spirits help her that he was alright.
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Posted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 9:47 am
The princess' voice seemed to shake Faroth from his indecision. He glanced from the door before him, down the hallway curving away, then back to the door before shaking his head. "No, no, I'm fine," he called back. "Heading back your way now." He continued in the same direction he'd been traveling, fairly sure at this point that the hallway simply made a complete circle.
He was no survivalist. Sure, he managed to get by on his own, but that was just normal, everyday life, not crazy situations like this. He'd thought it paranoid at first for wanting to check the doors. Yet, now he was brushing it off. It'd be fine...they'd just not let their guard down. Correction: he'd not let his guard down. He even entertained the thought that they could have locked the door below behind them to keep from being followed, but their only known pursuers were the spiders and aside from the big one...would a locked door really stop spiders if they were that determined? Not likely.
Okay, so he could let the princess rest, he'd keep watch and keep a fire burning. No problem.
He needed to focus on their situation in order to keep his thoughts from wandering. Otherwise, his mind kept wondering where Raina and Ranuin were. Were they okay? Were they still safe with the rest of the group? Hopefully heading for home. And would he be able to say the same soon? What had happened to separate them? What sort of place was this anyway? Stone tables and carvings and giant spider beasts and seductive illusion traps with entrancing figures, promising infinite pleasures for those bold enough to take part--
Ugh! Not again! He ran his free hand through his hair with barely-contained frustration. Damn this place and its nonsense! He needed to be focused on survival, not...other base desires.
He hurriedly slipped a mask of faux composure into place as the glow of the lantern he'd left with Celestia came into view. No time for this; the princess was depending on him to help get her out of here. And he'd promised, no matter what it took, he'd get her home to Laisidhiel. He took a deep breath, let it out, then closed the distance.
"It's a complete circle," he explained of his return from the opposite direction. Eying one of the broken sconces, he had an idea and figured it was worth a shot. With a little creative maneuvering, he managed to lodge the burning table-leg-torch into the light sconce creating an instant torch-holder. Sort of. Eh, good enough. He then took a similar seat against the wall, the lantern glowing softly between them. He was attempting to be discrete about it, but he didn't look directly towards Celestia. Some part of his mind noted with amusement that he was mirroring her behavior, but for different reasons. Instead of visions of death and horror, he was wary instead of something a bit more...pleasant crossing his mind and distracting his thoughts again.
"Found an archway on the other side," he explained, shaking his head before she could get her hopes up. "Thought it might be a way out, but...the passage is blocked not far in. Dunno if it collapsed or what, but it's full of dirt now. Guess that just leaves these central doors. There's several of them, all around the center of this place. Haven't been inside any of them yet though." He'd been considering it, honestly, until she'd called for him. Eh, they were probably safe enough to rest here, at least for a bit.
Eyeing the pack on the floor, he mused aloud, "What do you think? Rest for a bit, maybe have something to eat to keep up our energy?"
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Posted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 1:22 pm
A sigh left the princess's lips as he called back out to her, relief replacing worry. He was fine, and she was fine, and they were fine. Not everything was fine, considering they remained buried underground with no appearance of escape, but they, themselves, were fine.
That, alone, was good, at least.
"Is it?" she mused, glancing in his direction as he neared, yet looking to the side of him. Her mouth opened to comment optimistically at the sound of an exit, only to be stifled before the hope had time to form. "Oh... shame, really..." That would have been nice, but, naturally, too convenient for this type of situation. As much as she would like it, it seemed a bit... anticlimactic... for it to be so simple.
Glancing just to the side of herself, the princess smiled warmly before nodding and motioning for him to sit beside her. "I think that may be a pleasant idea... Perhaps we could speak; before this, we had not particularly done such a thing," as she spoke, her thoughts drifted again to the other room, to him, to wondering why it was that she was instigating this type of personal conversation.
"Or... we could just rest... if you'd prefer..." her tone was a little awkward as she brought her hand back to her lap, but not as much as earlier.
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Posted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 3:44 pm
The grey faun leaned back against the cool stone wall, arms propped up on his knees, eyes towards the ceiling with a sigh. As the princess' words reached his ear, he considered them. He hadn't been the one to suggest they stop to rest...but he wasn't arrogant enough to pretend that he didn't likely need the pause as much as she had. He may well have continued pushing forward, however, without suggesting they stop if she hadn't said something. Whether out of pride or simply determination to get somewhere safe as soon as possible, it was hard to say.
He certainly hadn't planned to sleep or anything, however. After his earlier explorations were left somewhat incomplete, and he still didn't quite trust this place, well, he was going to remain on his guard even if they were resting. He stretched his legs out in front of him, enjoying the relief for his tired hooves. "No, it's fine. Sitting is resting," he acknowledged with a nod, reaching for the pack. As for talking, well...he assumed that she'd want to make some sort of small talk. Perhaps it would help put her at ease. If it helped, then sure, they could talk. In the meantime, he also planned to refuel a bit.
He tilted the pack towards the lantern to allow some light in, considering their supplies and what might be best for now. He pulled out the small bag of trail mix supplied by the fairies, leaving the rest for now. The pack was set down again between them, as well as the small bag of dried fruits and nuts; an open invitation for Celestia to help herself to something if she wished. He figured that the mix might be somewhat valuable, but for the size of such, they might get the most energy from the nuts and the sweet dried fruits, even if they only had a small amount.
Taking a few bits from the bag in his hand, he nibbled at them slowly, one at a time, aware that they might need to make things last, the way the situation was unfolding. "So," he started, still staring down at his hands, "what would you like to talk about while we enjoy this fine feast?" It was a lame attempt to keep the tone light, but it was an attempt.
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