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 Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2025 8:00 am
Quote: The Caves (5) : To any explorers visiting the new Reservoir, they may find that just a bit away from the sandy water are a set of caves. Some of these connect back to the lake, but others rapidly plunge into darkness. It wouldn't be hard to get lost in here, but thankfully there are some very odd lights to help guide you out. If you turn off your light down some of these dark paths, you may find yourself surrounded by glowing pastel lights. A closer inspection reveals that you seem to be looking at some sort of glowing caterpillars. An internet search will reveal that Destiny City scientists have been researching the strange, unnamed creatures, but the articles are very limited. If you take them out of the cave they seem to shrivel up almost immediately. They're neat, but clearly meant to be stay in their natural habitat. Dawn sat down on a bench to check her backpack one more time. She had done this twice already, once while packing it and once more before leaving her studio apartment, but this was one of her few days off and she wasn’t about to be on the nightly news as a ‘tragic accident’. Besides, she was not a professional spelunker and was well aware of the dangers that lurked in tight caves. Compressive or traumatic asphyxia was one hell of a way to die and one she was planning on avoiding. The first step was to make sure she was prepared, granted, she didn’t have the ‘correct’ equipment for a true spelunking dive but she at least had the bare minimum. And she had already informed others where she was, what she was doing, and when she should be back. Everything a solo hiker should always, ALWAYS, do. Not that the short strawberry blonde was expecting any danger, from the terrain or from malicious intent. These caves were ‘fairly’ well explored, how else would the scientist have found those little bioluminescent caterpillars? And there were quite a few people, both at the nearby Reservoir and in other cave entrances and tunnels. But there were always dangers when it came to caves so she came prepared, like any good scout did. Even one who had stopped scouting quite some time ago. “Alright! We are good to go,” She cheerfully informed no-one as she zipped up her bag, climbed to her feet and settled the backpack on her shoulders before making her way to one of the cave entrances, one of the ones that was a bit off from the rest. It wasn’t quite as well traveled. It might not have been as popular as the others but the path was marked, there were even guide ropes to help at first, however, the further she went in the less human interference there was. Her flashlight barely cut into the darkness, and yet, here and there little sparks of light flickered. “Wooooo,” The woman quietly said into the void, eyes taking in the view… and not the uneven floor beneath her feet.
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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2025 6:13 pm
Jadyn had heard a lot about the caves down by the Reservoir and he was curious about the glowing caterpillars inside them. Cave diving, or spelunking or whatever it was called, was not something the red head had ever done before. But he was definitely willing to give it a shot in order to see the glow worms. He had Googled everything he might need and bought most of it over the last few days in preparation for his exploration. The last few things he was missing he figured he wouldn't miss much as long as he had the basics and some emergency stuff. He had read about the caves and there were some easier ones to explore for beginners. And for safety's sake, he had let his sister know where he would be and what time she could expect him home. Any time after that and she should probably call for search and rescue. He was really hoping not to be that guy, though.
Looking at the map of the cave entrances and tunnels, Jadyn picked one that seemed less traveled than the others. At least this way, he probably wouldn't run the risk of looking like a beginner in front of people who were more experienced. Setting his backpack on a tall rock, he checked through it one last time and pulled his flashlight out from the depths. It was pretty neat, he thought. There were a few different settings and he could dim the light if needed. Once he'd zipped his bag up and strapped it to his back, he followed the guide ropes that were there for the beginning steps. This seemed pretty easy so far, but he wasn't that deep in the caves yet. As the light from outside began to dim inside the cave, Jadyn turned his flashlight on.
He turned a corner into the cave and stopped short at the darkness. His flashlight barely pierced the veil, though he could light up the ground in front of him at least. A voice echoed in the darkness and a chill went down Jadyn's spine until he noticed someone else's light moving around ahead. "Hello?" he called out to the other person, taking a few steps further into the cave. In the darkness ahead, he could see little lights that he assumed would be the caterpillars. He wanted to get closer, to see one and maybe even let it crawl over his hand.
"You here to see the caterpillars, too?" he asked with a soft chuckle, a quiet gasp leaving him in the next moment as his foot slid down faster than he wanted it to, thanks to a few tiny rocks that rolled under his weight. "s**t... Gotta be careful in here, huh?" This he said mostly to himself, but it was still handy information to remember. The caves were made naturally and nature didn't care if humans couldn't walk there. He'd landed in a crouch, one hand grabbing a nearby stalagmite. "Hope you're doing better than I am..."
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2025 4:15 am
She had stumbled over the uneven floor, a dip in the stone had her entire upper body jarring as she took a step forward. She was lucky she hadn’t face-planted, but it at least reminded her to train her flashlight on the ground. The hello had Dawn turning towards the voice, and a second… third?... source of light as well as swing her light up towards where she thought her company was coming from. Not that there was any other way. One way in, one way out, at least as far as the map had indicated. “Yes,” The young woman was answering when her light caught her new companion nearly falling. He was far enough away she couldn’t really make out anything but his scramble to stay upright, even if in a crouch, was clear enough. “Are you Okay?” Dawn asked, instantly going to check on him, only to find that her own footing wasn’t all that great, tripping over something and landing on her hands and knees, the little fuchsia star charm clinking on her backpack where she had clipped it. Her flashlight cut off as it hit the floor and bounced off into the darkness. “Well poo,” The intrepid explorer ‘cursed’ as she did the smart thing and just sat down, her hands and knees smarting where they smacked into the hard ground. “I think it might be safer to just sit here for a bit. What do you think?” She asked her guest. Her eyes were adjusting to the dim light, his flashlight actually illuminating more than she realized now that she didn’t have her own source of light messing with her night vision. “Oh,” She had noticed something, “Hey, just sit still for a second and turn off your light. They are everywhere!” It had been hard to notice the glow closer to the ground because her flashlight had been brighter, it was easier to see them in the dark crevices and recesses where the light hadn’t been doing much but now, without her light Dawn could see so many more. So very many little points of glowing light.
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Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2025 10:15 pm
“I’m alright,” he called back. “How about you?” A pair of graceful ballet dancers, they were. Suddenly her side of the caves went dark as she went down again. “You good?” he called out to her. He snickered a little at her version of a curse; it was cute. “Did you lose your flashlight?” He made to stand up to go and help her, but she suggested sitting for a bit. “Might be a good idea,” he chuckled. For both of them, really. Carefully and with a grip on the stalagmite he’d grabbed before, he took a seat on the slightly damp cave floor.
He had just relaxed a bit, though he still kept one hand on the stalagmite just in case, when she told him to turn his flashlight off. He was confused as to why until she clarified. “Oh!” He was quick to shut his light off, but it took a moment for his eyes to adjust. Finally, they came into view. “So many colors…” he marveled, leaning closer to inspect a pastel blue one. “I didn’t realize they came in so many colors.” He smiled then and reached out to let a pale green one crawl up his fingers onto his hand. He chuckled a little, the little worm's legs tickling as it moved. “This is so cool!” he said loud enough for his companion to hear.
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Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2025 5:22 pm
“I’m good. A little scrapped but okay.” In the darkness Dawn prodded at her knees gently, noting the sting and making an educated guess that she would need to at least flush all scrapes out once she got outside and could see clearly. “Technically but its fine since I have a spare. I even have extra batteries if needed!” Even in the darkness, a little battered and definitely bruised, Dawn was chipper. “You never know when being over prepared is just the right amount of ‘prepared’.” The young woman watched the colors around her, as much as she wanted to reach out the gentle throbbing in her hands reminded her that it was a bad idea. So she just observed. It really was beautiful. “Right? It's almost like stars. Like we are in the middle of space,” She was grinning, not that anyone could see, and was just enjoying the view. “I wonder what makes them glow.” It never occurred to her that it might be dangerous, outside of going into a cave that is. Something this pretty couldn’t be bad! It just went against the natural order of things!
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