Welcome to Gaia! ::

A ledger would appear on both boys' respective metaphorical doorsteps quite a few days before Chris ever got a text from a mysterious stranger. All preparations were finally in place and it was time.

Chel waited at the portal with her smaller backpack; she never liked the big hulking ones they stocked for the overprepared. She much preferred something lightweight that she could maneuver around in easily; sun habits died hard.

They both knew where and when to show up. Chel was just early out of anxiousness. She hadn't been lying to Jack; this was her first official Death mission and she didn't want to ******** it up.

"You can read, fascinating." Jack didn't look up from checking the laces on his boots. Chel's Dr. Dong jokes had long since made him immune to jabs at the name; that, and he was going to do his best to keep things smooth for her sake. Look, he'd even done the boyfriend-girlfriend moment before Chris had arrived, having kissed her hello and murmured a few encouraging words about her first mission out.

Not to say he was safe from more vomit inducing scenes while on the mission, though.

Touching the runics at his belt to remind himself that they were there, he looked to Chel. "At your orders, captain boss."

He calmed down with only a stray giggle here and there. Dongming. He returned Chel's fistbump and skillfully avoided looking directly at Jack. He still felt wrong, even after the laughter, because of what he'd done in the dream.

The other side of the portal killed what little joy he still felt. His heart thumped as he looked at the mouth of the cave. It was clearly larger than the last one, and he knew if there were tourists going in and out freely the danger of him ******** up and getting lost was low, but neither helped him feel more at ease. He didn't let himself hesitate under Chel's gaze, though.

"No, no. I'm good man. Let's get this s**t done."

Chel took Chris' hat andput it on her own head facing backwards. "I'll be takin' this as ransom then. Y'know. Mission fees."

She led them in, Jack in hand and Chris by watchful eye through the tourist section, which was woefully empty due to the activity in the area. Earthquakes weren't exactly good for cave business. All the while bantering with Chris about yeah but I found this new protein shake-

Eventually they found themselves in a sidecave, the dagger jutting out of a rock just so. Chel ripped it from the ground and the illusory barrier disappeared, opening into a huge opening mouthpiece. It made sense that Chel had set the barrier there, because behind it was a skeleton massive enough to fit a house in. Chel knew it as a behemoth, but it wasn't so obvious had she not been looking into it.

"I called him Tiny. Seemed like a good name," she told them, dusting off the dagger and sticking it in her belt. It wouldn't be good for a barrier, but it would at least be reused. "Go do your lifer thing yeah?"

A little too aware of their surroundings, Jack tuned their banter out and focused on watching and following. It would just be their luck if an earthquake happened now. But at least the threat had scared off even intrepid tourists; civilian casualties were a pain to include and another obstacle none of them needed right now.

When Chel revealed the fake wall, he eyed the giant skeleton warily. In their line of work, just because something was dead didn't mean it was dead. Scanner in hand, Jack ducked in and got a closer look. "How far did your friends end up investigating again?" he asked.

Chris wandered closer by virtue of panicking over Chel falling. But when she seemed fine enough he slowly unwound. He stepped between the ribs of the beast and jumped up to hang from one massive bone.

"How much of this mission is gonna be a surprise? Do we know anything that's going on down here?"

"Yeah s'kinda uh ... I know somethin' big's down there and s'probably stirrin' up s**t, but that's all I got. Where's yer sense of adventure?" She swung down onto the ribs, falling somewhere near Chris, but swinging her legs more. "Hey Jack if I fell would you catch me?" All while swinging vicariously.

To his question about diving, she let go with one hand to scratch her chin, holding on to the rib with the other. "Well I dunno. I tried just swimming but s'too deep. There's definitely a little tunnel though, and s'got more of the blue crystals. Uh- you'll see those in a bit."

Both hands firmly on the ribs again, she said, "Scanner say anythin'?"

He remembered the last time she'd asked if he'd catch her was on a cold China mountain, merely a joke back then. Jack wondered if she was literally going to test it today.

"Maybe--What?" He threw Chel a look. "You didn't mention any blue crystals before." His mind immediately jumped to the black crystals from the knights vision, and his lips pressed into a thin line for a moment. He definitely didn't want or need more fake memories thrown at him right now.

"Both of you, get down from there," he told them. "The faster we do this, the faster we're out. Where are those crystals, Chel?"