Re: Behold Atlantis

[Captain]

With the second set of worse, Miles's voice gained strength. Not simply by becoming louder, but by holding resonance and even commanding a supernatural quality. The fish, not larger than goldfish and certainly without the brain capacity to understand fish-speak, should such a thing exist, let alone human tongue, did as Miles commanded. The school as a whole moved towards Varina and pulled a lazy loop around her. Once... and twice, even. Once completed, Miles's tattoo faded back and the fish pulled off into the distance.

Esteban had noticed none of this. "C'mon, girl. I know you know more than you're letting on..." He was furiously hitting buttons on the GPS and scanning the screen for pertinent data. "Streams of incontinent flux occurring roughly every twelve minutes, okay that could be useful... setrianous occuriosity; that I can believe, given the... no, but what does this element STAND for...?" He seemed to be getting frustrated. "This is NOT in line with... 5, 6, or 7. 8 is even questionable. No. 6, 7, and 8 aren't even likely if 5 is blown straight up fuckin'...!" With a stifled scream of frustration, he chucked the machine.

It floated off, quickly losing speed and eventually floating gently to the sandy ground. "GOD. Science is supposed to hold SOME sway. What the FUCK!?"

[Fira]

Miles gaped, stunned. "What...the fuck...just happened?" He grimaced, rubbing at his throat. "Was that...my voice? Did they...understand me?"

Varina grinned triumphantly, ecstatic. "Oh my god, that is so ridiculously cool! Okay, okay, now you should...order Sharkpuppy to...to go get the GPS! How many types of fish can you control? How big of a group can you order at once? Ohhh, I want to test every limit your power has!" She was brimming with excitement, completely oblivious to Miles's discomfort.

Miles gave her a nervous glance. He wasn't sure he wanted to help with this research. "Um...If you're sure about this..." He coughed, looking down at the creature for a moment before steeling himself and raising his voice again, still nervous about the whole thing. "Sharkpuppy! Retrieve Esteban's GPS!"

The words rang out, but with none of the added tone and power they had before. The tattoo also remained dim. Sharkpuppy looked at him, but didn't do anything beyond that. Varina blinked, frowning. What had happened? Was Sharkpuppy not technically a fish? She needed confirmation, so she turned to the only other person there that could count as a scientist. "...Hey, Esteban? Is Sharkpuppy a fish?"

[Captain]

Esteban turned. "Fish? Sharkwhat? What? I'm sorry, I just can't keep up with any of these nonsensical ... argh. This is all gibberish. Complete garbled cacophany of BULLSHIT lack of logic. I swear to every holy and unholy deity, whatever's causing the abnormalities around here is beginning to PISS ME OFF!"

He stopped and frowned. "No, but hold. I know I... hm. Something about this seems familiar... too much so..." He looked around for a moment before closing his eyes and snapping his fingers towards Varina. "Recite the recent strange occurrences for me, if you will. I'm this close to catching the flow and understanding why there are so many missing links, but I cannot see the puzzle pieces."

[Fira]

Varina frowned. "Uh." She glanced at Miles, desperately wanting to solve her own problem before involving herself in Esteban's mystery. "Miles, keep trying, if you could. Maybe you're just not putting enough feeling into it...?"

She focused back on Esteban and recited the events dutifully, having just recalled them herself. "First, we all got on the ship. Then we crashed, and a huge sea monster, some sort of squid, possibly a kraken, attacked us and tore the ship in half. Then...a portal opened, and ghosts came and dragged us off...at least, I'm assuming so, since that's what happened to me...We got tattoos, mine on my elbows, Miles's on his forehead, yours on your chest, the others's....somewhere else, and we split up cause i got hurt. After that, we met back up, I got healed and the power to run fast, you...blacked out, I think? Oh, and Miles can apparently control fish if he puts his mind to it. The tattoos seem to be connected somehow, glowing brighter when the powers activate." She said all of this very rapidly, counting on her fingers as she went. "Aaand...that's all, I think!"

Miles just watched her, his head spinning. Too much information at once. He sighed, shaking his head. This was their business. He should focus on his own. With a small frown, he stared at the sharkpuppy, thinking hard. Why had the strange voice activated last time? Varina mentioned something about feeling...He remembered how angry he was when she first mentioned it, how focused he was on making her explain herself...

Maybe that was it. He cleared his throat and stared levelly at the creature, focusing on exactly what he wanted it to do. Once again, he straightened and used his best commanding voice. "Sharkpuppy. Retrieve Esteban's GPS." His voice resonated, and this time, the marking on his forehead glowed brightly. The sharkpuppy blinked and looked up, then stood and padded over to the gps, picking it up gently and delivering it at Miles's feet. His tattoo faded again, and he smiled. He rather liked having things listen to him. "...Thank you." He patted the creature, still smiling.

[Captain]

"Wait wait wait." Esteban was only half there, staring intently off into something past the ground in an attempt to reach it mentally. "Black out. Tattoos. Powers. Glowing... why does this sound so naggingly... fami...liar?"

He snapped to attention. "1996! Haverstown Asylum. Abandoned for a few dozen years, reports were coming that the place was haunted. I had a team back then. We..." his voice died. "...I..." He cleared his throat. "But this can't be the same thing. We abolished that... thing. Demon, whatever it was..."

He caught Varina looking at him and returned to the present. "Um. So, ghosts can inhabit people in a few ways. The most common is possession, where a dead spirit wishes to return to our realm and takes a body, a-a... a vessel, if you will, as its form of transportation. We've seen that in movies and heard stories. It's common. It's a thieving motion meant to replace the, uh... soul, essence, whatever you want to call what makes us US, rather than somebody else."

"But a less common form that still has a number of documented incidents is when a spirit gives its entire essence to somebody from our realm in order to achieve something. Okay, so it'd be like if... I don't know, like if some circus wrestler merged himself with a mother who was trying to free her child trapped under a car. She'd, for some time, have the incredible strength attributed to the spirit who'd taken himself into her, though it'd fade. As would he. The spirit never lasts beyond that act. It's one of the few ways I know that a spirit can just... end. Which is why it rarely happens, right?"

"Okay, but sometimes... sometimes, you can have a, uh... a creature, demon or something that has the ability to infest a region. Now, the infestation is impossible to detect. Only able to observe. Given a couple hundred years, the place will look like Chernobyl or something. It just... corrupts, physically. It's eerie, but it takes far too long to happen for anybody to notice. They get accustomed as things change. It's dangerous and that's why. But just people people can't sense it doesn't means spirits can't. A lot of times, spirits in the region will spend YEARS trying to warn humans of the danger, and if that doesn't work, they leave. Because the infestation affects more than our dimension. It affects theirs as well. And since a lot of demons have greater sway on the spirit realm, infestation moves a LOT faster."

"BUT, and I've seen this only once, sometimes you'll find a demon or... I don't know... SOMETHING, that is so powerful that its presence affects the rules. Rules like the one I mentioned just earlier. Where, if a spirit gives itself up into a human, the human is temporarily granted with powers, but the spirit fades. THAT one. THAT is not always the case if there's a variable. Okay, so I'm assuming there's... some... thing, okay? Some... thing that's either here now or was here a long time ago. Its presence affected this place REALLY strongly. It's why we have these... these powers. The tattoos are a physical representation of the power. I don't understand how or why that works, but it seems to be why ancient tribes started using tattoos. They were hoping to be granted with abilities, but they were looking to the gods. Not to the ground, not around them. A few tribes discovered the secret, and... uh." He waved dismissively. "Human nature and all that. It's, uh... never been pretty."

Returning to a musing state and seeming to forget the presence of the other two, he walked a few paces away. "But last time, it was green. Last time, she... didn't feel quite the same. Last time, we could detect it. LAST time, it affected the... eyes." He shivered. "Okay, okay. So, calamity happened, but that couldn't have been because of something. That calamity sent this city underwater, and... shit's happened since, which is why spirits granted random people the ability to... help. Okay, so we're supposed to help. Help fix. Shit." He looked down at his chest and frowned. "But they... couldn't have been... human, could they?"

At that precise moment, a shockwave blew past them, throwing them off their feet. Had any of them been paying attention, they'd have noticed it come directly from where they'd landed when they entered the depths. Where they'd lay, two more figures stood. The girl had vines of blue stretching down her arms to her fingertips. The boy, however... nothing was immediately visible.

Somewhere off in the distance, something creaked very loudly.

[Regina]

Both Kindra and Babydoll had been paying close attention to the other three's interactions and their subsequent discussion. Babydoll, of course, laughed and mentioned that it was fitting that Princess Miles ruled over a kingdom of fish; how can one be royalty, of course, without loyal subjects to control? Kindra shot her a glare to hush her, to which Babydoll responded with an ice cold smile that resembled nothing like an actual smile. Kindra tilted her head during Esteban's explanation, doing her best to make some sense of what he was saying.

When the shock wave hit, both fell to the ground. Kindra was the first one to spring to her feet, (swearing in surprise) her nerves shortened and the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. Her adrenaline was pumping, fueling the flight or fight instinct she had come accustomed to. Her first action was to take a brief glance at the others to make sure they were alright, but her attention was drawn by the new people. She furrowed her brow in confusion. How could that be? There wasn't supposed to be anyone else who survived...right? She took a step towards them, her posture and attitude protective and alert, but not necessarily aggressive.

"Don't mind my asking, but who the hell are you? You two more ghost things?"

Babydoll glared at the newcomers. As if she didn't already have enough idiots to deal with in the first place.

"Oh, joyous day! Even more strangers with odd glowing tattoos who just happen to be stuck at the bottom of the sea. What a remarkable coincidence. I did so hope to encounter more individuals in this situation. Unless, as the bizarrely painted maypole said, you're simply more supernatural elements simply getting in our way?"

[Captain]

Esteban blinked. "BUT, OF COURSE! That would make PERFECT sense!" He spun and looked at the surrounding buildings hurriedly. "There's something about this that... that..." he stopped, looking at the rocks leading up into darkness above them. "Hold on."

And with that, he started climbing.

[Fira]

Miles waved Varina over, holding up the GPS. "Hey, Var! Check it out!"

Varina blinked, looking away from Esteban's mumbling for a moment. "Hmm...?" She noticed Miles first, looking pleased with himself, and then spotted Sharkpuppy sitting near him. That was odd. The makara was nowhere near Miles the last time she looked over. Then, she spotted the GPS he was waving around. "Oh! Miles, you did it!" She skipped over, thrilled that her hypothesis hadn't failed her after all. "I knew it would work!"

Miles grinned. He hadn't been this happy since the trip started. Well, except for the time when he found out Varina was alive, but that was more relief than anything. "What can I say, I have a knack for leadership. It comes with the Evereaux name!"

He strutted around a little, making Varina chuckle. "Oh yeah, sure. The tiara on your forehead didn't help with that one bit," she replied, with a sarcastic grin. Before Miles could retort, the water seemed to explode around them as another shockwave hit. Both of them fell, landing hard on the sand. After a few moments, Miles scrambled to his feet, heart pounding. What was that? After a quick glance around, he spotted Varina still on the ground. "...Varina!" He jammed the GPS in his shirt pocket and ran over, cursing the water for holding him back. He hoped that her ankle injury was as healed as she said it was. Falling like that might have hurt it again if she had been lying.

Varina put a hand to her forehead, wincing. The shockwave had knocked her right over, tossing her flat on her back. She was lucky the sand was there: anything harder and she probably would have gotten a nasty injury. Miles was at her side immediately, looking over her with concern. She looked up at him and smiled, amused. "Jeez, Miles. As soon as anything exciting happens you just run straight to me. Here, help me up."

As soon as Miles saw she was all right, he sighed. "Sorry for worrying, Var. Next time I'll just leave you there." Despite his tone, he still offered her his hand, which she gratefully took and used to haltingly stand again. She wobbled for a moment, a bit off balance, but soon stabilized. She offered him a grateful smile, but in return he just punched her lightly on the shoulder and pointed towards the large dust crater they had originally come from. "I think it came from there..."

Varina squinted, peering into the dust cloud the shockwave had created. She spotted a couple of figures in the center of it, though it was hard to tell who or what they were...except for the faint blue glow she should see emanating from one of them. "Ooh, looks like we have company! Hey, newcomers! Hello, there!" She waved excitedly at them, pleased to see new people despite the circumstances.

Meanwhile, Miles looked around at the others, pleased that they were all standing. However, Esteban seemed to be mumbling to himself again...and then he immediately started climbing a pile of rubble. "Oh, god..." He tugged on Varina's sleeve, trying to get her attention. "Hey, uh, Esteban's leaving. We should probably follow him before he runs off without us."

Varina frowned, turning to look at the investigator's halting progress up the pile. "Oh, you can't be serious...He's leaving without even explaining what's going on? Some leader he is...Miles, you go on ahead, try and stop him if you can. I'm going to go get the newbies!" Before he could respond, the girl had darted off, leaving him alone. He scowled, but got to work regardless. She was right, leaving newcomers behind without any explanation was a horrible thing to do. He half-ran, half-swam to the pile of rocks and quickly started climbing, though he didn't get very far very fast. Mainly because he was horribly out of shape. However, he still made as much of a an effort as he could. "Hey, Esteban! Esteban, wait!"

Meanwhile, Varina hurried over to the newcomers, grinning. "Hey, you guys okay? I didn't think we'd find another group of survivors so quickly!"

[Yuufa]

Okay, this was getting ridiculous. First her plane broke into two, then there were ghosts floating around, then she found herself underwater and now she seemingly teleported to some kind of place! At least it would explain the sudden change of her surroundings. This wasn't the only weird thing right now, though - besides the headache she got all of the sudden, her hands were glowing in a blue light. Wait, since when did she had those strange tattoos anyway? Oh and who the hell was that person right beside her? Was that a guy or a girl? She couldn't really tell, but why was she even wondering about someone's gender when there were more urgent things to think about? Well, nevermind thinking, her head hurt and that pissed Lorelei off. As if her situation wasn't bad enough!

Meanwhile, Tate just looked utterly confused and blinked. Where were the fishes he had followed? By the time he had found himself suddenly in this place, there were almost gone from his sight, but as an optimistic guy, he still pursued them to the best of his abilities. He was sad that he couldn't befriend them, but then again, there were other people here! Though he didn't really recognize any of them - safe for that young woman to his right who was holding her head. Not that he really knew her, but that frilly thingy stood out when he passed by her seat in order to get to his own. That would mean that everyone here was a survivor, right? Than Sally must surely be nearby!
Even though he meant to ask that, he noticed the glowing tattoos on Lorelei's hands and his attention was immediatelly fully focused on that matter.
"Wow, you got some shiny tattoo's there, miss! From where did you get them?", he asked in his surprisingly deep voice and looked at the blonde-haired woman with excitement.

Lorelei couldn't share that excitement and was surprised by that person's voice - well, now she had at least one answer to one of her thousands questions. She turned her head to the tanned fellow and frowned slightly, before replying:"Do I look like as if I would tattoo myself with such strange markings, mister? You surely jest. For your information, I don't know how I got them, they were suddenly just... there."

Tate blinked in response. So they just kind of appeared on her body? Well, that was strange, but also fascinating! If he had any tattoo's on him? It would be cool if had, but before he would look for his own tattoo's, he asked the other girl while holding a hand out to her:"Well, you can't judge a book by it's cover, right? Oh and are you alright? You don't seem too well."

At least that guy was somewhat polite. She sighed and removed her hand from her hand to grab the one that was extended to her. She pulled herself up and mumbled a quite "Thanks", before her attention was directed to the other people who have approached them. When the tall girl with the two-colored hair asked who they were, Lorelei shot her a confused and slightly irritated look. "Pardon me, but do I look like a ghost to you? Last time I checked, I still looked like a normal human-being. Furthermore, isn't it more polite to introduce yourself first before asking your interlocutor their name?", she responded in a distant manner and frowned, still trying to shake her headache away. The green-eyed woman sighed before continuing on, not letting the other woman time to speak up:"Well, whatever, my name is Lorelei Allinson. Like everyone here, I'm a survivor of that accident, though I'm still quite puzzled why that damn airplane broke into two pieces all of the sudden."

"I'm Tate! It's nice to meet you all!", Tate interrupted and beamed everyone a big grin. Then he scratched his cheeks and asked:"Have you guys seen anyone besides us? Like a little girl? About this height?"

Lorelei merely shook her head when Tate asked his question, before that other blonde girl showed up and was being all sarcastic. The young woman certainly didn't appreciate this kind of behaviour, so she simply stated:"You should work on your manners."
After that sternly statement, she directed her attention to the other woman, who looked much more friendlier than the other two. Well, not even looked like, her whole approach was a lot more sympathetic then what she got so far. Lorelei managed to smile lightly before reypling:"Besides that headache, I'm fine. Do any of you know what is even happening here? I mean, we are at the bottom of the sea and still seem to be alive - or we are dead and this is just a rather unpleasent version of the afterlife."

"I'm totally a-ok! Thanks for asking! Oh, what are your names anyway? And why are these guys there climbing that pile of rubble? Is there something interesting? At least it looks like this could be fun!", Tate answered and pointed at Miles and Esteban.

[Fira]

Varina's smile faded. An airplane...? She desperately wanted to ask them more questions, but she pushed the desire aside for now to fill them in instead. "Well, from what Esteban has told us, we're all still alive...sort of. The tattoos came from some ghosts that I guess are...dead now? Like, DEAD dead. If that makes any sense at all." She sighed. Esteban's mumbled explanation had made sense at the time, but explaining it to others was a bit more difficult. "Basically...we all were granted ghost powers and now we have to...do...something." She chuckled at Tate, taking a glance over at Miles's struggle up the mountain of rubble. "Well, my name's Varina. The two climbing the mountain are Miles and Esteban. Esteban is...our guide, of sorts. He's the one with the dorky hat. As for Miles...he's my friend, and the reason why I'm here. I sent him to try and stop Esteban from leaving before I could catch you guys up. If you're here, it's probably for a reason. But..." SHe looked down, remembering what Tate had asked earlier. "If your accident was anything like ours, I think you two are the only survivors..."

[Yuufa]

As the woman who later introduced herself as Varina explained roughly what their current situation was, Lorelei shot a look to the two climbing man, asking herself what even the point of doing so was. It wasn't like the scenery would differ much from what they saw right now anyway... Unless they wanted to find something particularly.
"So you also saw ghosts when the tragedy happened? Hmmm... Well, I find it quite hard to believe, but given how our current situation already is, it might as well be the truth. Thank you for the explanation, Varina. Though wait...", Lorelei replied and frowned when the brown-haired girl mentioned that the two of them were the only survivors. She blinked and inquired:"What do you mean? Don't tell me there was another accident..."
The thought made her stomach already drop - so many people had already died on the plane and now there was another accident? Dear god...

Tate had also listened, but his lively azure blue eyes were wandering around. So they all had ghost powers now and had to do something? Awesome! What his powers were, he wondered? Maybe he could now shoot lasers from his eyes or talk with animals! Or he can even turn into a merman and start singing 'Under the sea'!
"Wooooow, it's just like in one of those adventure books! I wonder if we have to defeat Ursula or something!", Tate blurted his thoughts out and grinned like the cheerful idiot he was. When he heard Varina's words about his question, he looked at her with slightly widened eyes, still maintaining his smile, although it didn't seem to be so bright anymore. The tanned man ran his fingers trough his hair and tilted his head, saying with a smile:"But we can't be completely sure of that! I mean, they could still walk around here like us! We just need to stay optimistic! It will somehow turn out alright!"
He stretched his arms out and put them behind his head, standing in a relaxed position. "Sooo, should we follow the other two?"

Lorelei merely shrugged and waited what the other girls would suggest, though something came to her mind. The woman with the frills looked at the others and found their tattos, but she didn't find anything on Tate. "Wait, where are even your tattoos? You should have one too", Lorelei asked the other man and crossed her arms before her chest.

"Hm?", was the first response Tate gave, before his eyes shined in excitement,"Oh yeah! I also wondered about that! Now, where could it be..."
Tate simply took his jacket off and examined his arms, but he couldn't find any. He also rolled his jeans up, but they were also not there. The happy-go-lucky goof rolled them back and started to undress his shirt.

Lorelei's mouth meanwhile fall as he witnessed his antics. The jacket was fine and although she gave him a slightly undefined look when he rolled up his jeans, she was also ok with it. But now that guy just undressed himself in the presence of four girls! What was he thinking?! "H-Hey wait a-", she started and raised her arm, but it was already too late. She simply stared at him when he looked at his chest but couldn't find anything. Give that guy two melons and a bra and he could so pull a girl off! When he turned his back to the women, he asked them casually:"Do you guys see anything?"
"No, we don't, so please put your shirt back!", Lorelei shot back immediatelly and slightly turned red on her cheeks.

"Awww, really? And I thought that maybe I would get wing tattoos! That would have been neat! So, where did I not look yet...", Tate wondered and his eyes fell on his pants - or more like where his crown jewels were. "Maybe-" "DON'T YOU EVEN DARE!", Lorelei shouted the second she followed his trail and her cheeks turned even into a deeper one. "YOU ARE IN THE PRESENCE OF WOMEN, YOU SCOUNDREL! DO YOU KNOW NO SHAME?! OH MY GOD, THIS ISN'T HAPPENING!", she continued on and then turned around, not wanting to face that guy. He was either a pervert or a oblivious idiot - or both.

"Oooohhh, opsie! Totally forgot that, sorry!", Tate replied and laughed the whole situation off. "I should look there when you aren't around!", he said in a laid-back manner and put his shirt and jacket on.

[Regina]

As Varina introduced herself, Kindra took the opportunity to do so too. She didn't want to get off on the wrong foot with the newcomers.

"I'm Kindra. Sorry if my introductory manners weren't up to par, but by the way things had been taking place, the question actually wasn't that unusual." She half-grinned at the odd humor in the situation in which asking if a person was still living before inquiring their name wasn't very strange. Either way, she didn't want to accidentally start some kind of feud over misunderstood manners!

Babydoll, however, didn't care if she got along with the two. "My manners? Oh, do so forgive me for not being polite to two people who just dropped in on us literally out of the blue. Let me fix that." She bent into an exaggerated curtsey, a proper tone suddenly in her voice. "Clara Doll, but I'd much prefer it if you called me 'Babydoll', if you please."

Kindra glared at Babydoll's manners, but said nothing. She wasn't one to create drama, but she didn't appreciate the other girl's attitude. She turned her attention to Tate and Lorelei, turning over the mention of the plane crash in her mind.

"As for the accidents...we all somehow managed to survive a cruise ship sinking. Not exactly a relaxing vacation, if you ask me..." That was all she said to them, however, as her curiosity overtook her as she suddenly decided to run after Miles and Esteban and climb up the rocks after them, using her longer limbs to her advantage as she pulled herself up.

Babydoll was left to observe the newcomers as Tate searched rather shamelessly for his missing tattoos. The blonde wrinkled her nose in disgust and disapproval.

"Do forgive me for saying so, but perhaps there are ways of addressing this problem without you stripping down for us, hm? We might be on the bottom of the ocean near a sunken city, but we're not among the ruins of Las Vegas or any other city with a reputation for strip clubs. I'd ask you to stop."

[Captain]

Esteban was surprised to not be running out of breath. The mountain held more and more gravity the higher he climbed, so it wasn't long until it felt as though the gravity was affecting him far more than normal. It also wasn't until almost to the top of the mini-mountain that he realized he couldn't see anything. Climbing to the top was pointless. He frowned, but realizing Miles was climbing behind him, so he grit his teeth and continued on. In a while, he was faced with a flat cliff ahead of him and no way around it that he could see. Frowning again, he cracked his knuckles and reached for any little stone outcropping he could find. His fingers hit a few, and he found a spot he could grab. It took a while and several false tries before he found enough spots to actually hoist himself up, but immediately found a spearhead in his face.

Without thinking, he grabbed it, letting go of the cliff. Unexpectedly, the spear was pulled upwards. And fast. He found himself face-to-face with a dark-skinned woman.

"Um... hi?" he offered. Within an instant, he was thrown to the ground.

"Why are you HERE?" she bit out at him. He blinked. She gestured and brilliant light shot any sense of sight out of him. He yelped and shielded his eyes, receiving a swift kick to the back. "WHY ARE YOU HERE!?"

He shut his eyes and bend backwards at the kick. The light immediately went out. Rough fingertips lightly brushed his chest as he blinked furiously to clear the wash of white tinging the corners of his vision. "What...?"

"Shush." The woman ordered, tracing the circular shape on his chest before slapping him. "Where did you get this?"

Esteban rolled over and stood up. "I don't have to tell you anything! Who are you? WHAT are you? How are you alive and how didn't I pick that up?" He looked around and realized he was standing in a temple of sorts. It reminded him of what Stonehenge was supposed to look like before time degraded it. "Ghosts, by the way. It was ghosts."

The woman grabbed his shoulder, spun him around and punched him flat on the jaw. "How DARE you turn your back on me?!"

He threw her back. "How dare YOU keep hitting me without a good goddamn reason?!"

"How DARE YOU QUESTION MY AUTHORITY?!"

"HOW DARE YOU THINK YOU HAVE ANY OVER ME?!"

"How DARE you?!?"

"How dare YOU?!?!?"

Suddenly, he was being kissed. And quite viciously, too. Once it'd ended, he wiped the blood off his lip. "Um. Okay. So... who are you?"

[Fira]

After a long, exhausting, and arduous climb, somehow, MIRACULOUSLY, Miles reached the mountain peak. He tiredly grasped at the plateau, pulling himself up with shaking arms to finally collapse at the peak. It took him a moment before he could do anything, as he simply laid on his side and panted for a bit. "I am...SO...out of shape..."

Eventually, he managed to force himself into a sitting position, letting his arms fall at either side like useless noodles. He looked up at Esteban and the strange woman, eyes narrowed. "Um...Hello. Who exactly are you?"

Back at the mountain's base, Varina nodded at what Kindra said, entirely unaffected by Tate's accidental striptease. She understood the need to discover. "Yeah, our group was in a cruise ship accident. I was hoping for some sort of adventure, but I'd never expect something like this!" She sighed, though whether out of happiness or sadness it was hard to tell, and then turned to look back at the pile of rubble. Her eyes widened. "...Where did the other three go?" Suddenly, a flash of light appeared far above where the rubble mountain faded into darkness. And then, just as suddenly, it was extinguished. "Hm. That doesn't look good." She looked back to the others, pointing at the rubble. "I think the others are in trouble. Mind if we save the question-swapping for later? We need to catch up, ASAP."

Without waiting for a response, she immediately darted over to the mountain and started to climb, going at a fairly quick pace. Unlike Miles, she actually exercised frequently.

[Yuufa]

"Kindra, I see... Well, with our situation as of now, I can't really blame you for being cautious", Lorelei said as her eyes went to the other blonde girl. Why someone would prefer to be called Babydoll instead of their real name, Lorelei would not know, but to avoid any uncomfortable clashes later on, she would refer to her as such. It's not like the young woman was out for any arguments - she will have enough of them once standing in court anyway. Still, Babydoll's sarcasm didn't escape her, but she simply opted to ignore it and nodded slightly. There were more important things right now, anyway, like that cruise ship from where the others came from. Well, talk about a coincidence - not. How could two accidents in such a short time be a coincidence? Especially with them here.

Tate simply grinned when Babydoll was reprimanding him of some sorts. "Well, I just thought it would be easier this way, instead of guessing where it might be", he replied in a complete carefree attitude, not being fazed by Babydoll's behaviour one bit. When he was dressed fully again, he looked to Varina and heard what she had to say. He chuckled and said:"Yeah, I can relate with that! I thought that our flight would be just a normal one with a lil' bit of rain and lightning, but see where we are now! I still hope to make some fish buddies here while I'm here."

Lorelei couldn't agree more with Babydoll - how in the world could one be so- so- disrespectful? As if she wanted to see some naked guy she didn't even knew! Luckily though, he put his clothes back on and... talked about fish buddies. Was Tate even real? Before she could wonder whenever that guy was a masterfully skilled actor or a complete idiot, she saw out of the corner of her eyes the flash of light. When Varina started to run towards the rubble pile and began to climb it, Lorelei frowned. Climbing up there? Were they serious? The blonde-haired woman looked down to her boots, which were frankly anything but good for such a task. Well, at least they were boots and not pumps... still, not something you wanted to have in that kind of situation. "Oh, hell no. Do you guys think I've the stamina to make it up there? I'm not exactly the most fittest girl around here", she spoke as she walked to the rubble pile, but didn't really attempted to climb it at first.

Tate had been on Varina's heels, though he did turn to the other two girls. "Don't worry, just believe in yourself and you can do it!", he tried to encourage Lorelei as she shared her doubts. "We're not in some sort of comic, where belief is everything. I know of how much I'm physically capable and I can tell you that this isn't going to end well", Lorelei retorted and crossed her arms before her chest.

"Should I carry you then?"

"No.way."

"Why not?"

"Airheaded as you are, we would both fell from a considerable height and I do not wish to die like that after surviving that airplane accident."

"Aw, come on!"

"No is no."

[Regina]

Kindra pulled herself up to the top of the cliff not too long after Miles did. While she wasn't one to exercise regularly, she wasn't weak in the slightest and having long arms and legs helped her climb. She had heard the very end of the rather loud argument, and as she paused to take a breath, she had to admit she was startled. Wait, more people down here? Was she ever going to stop being surprised...?

Still, it seemed that the situation was under control. No one was hurt (well, Esteban was bleeding, but that didn't seem to be much of an issue), so she relaxed and stood with her hands in her pockets, an amused half-smile on her face as she spoke.

"Huh. Well, I guess we have more company now. Who's the new kid?"

Meanwhile, Babydoll stood as Lorelei hesitated climbing. The pig-tailed girl stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at the sheer challenge of climbing the small mountain, hating to have to do any physical work.

"Well, as interesting as that light was, I'd have to say that I'm not rather keen on having to climb the entire structure to reach the resting place of the Princess and his pauper and the other two freakishly tall ones. If there is some way that they can stop being so selfish and come down, I would be quiet content."

[Captain]

The lady turned to Kindra. "He hasn't offered his name yet. Not that it matters too far most." She shrugged. "Names are but a formality, are they not? But what are your titles?"

Esteban pushed himself to his feet grumpily. "She's nuts. That's all that matters." Turning to her, he grumped, "That light, do it again. And NOT--" he added harshly "--in my eyes. I need to see the city."

As if she hadn't heard him, the woman looked at Miles with a cocked head. "Your clothing... it seems different. Are you from another colony?" She half-grinned. "That might explain why there are so many of you. I only ever saw two Adache, and only upon the death of the clan leader."

[Fira]

"Another...colony...?" Miles furrowed his brow, murmuring to himself in confusion. Did that mean there were more places like this? Who was this lady? At her request to state his title, he paused. That was a bit of a tough question, considering he had no idea of the place's culture. His idea of a title might be completely different. After a moment, he decided to just go with what he knew. "Uh, well, my name is Miles Evereaux, and...I'm an heir, I guess? No title of my own yet, but..." he trailed off, struggling to find a good term. He doubted they had large companies in freaky Atlantis land. He quickly resumed speaking, borrowing terms he remembered from medieval culture to try and explain. "...my father is...an aristocrat, of sorts." He cracked a nervous smile, hoping he didn't sound stupid in front of the strange woman. The last thing he needed was for someone else to think he was an idiot. He paused for a moment, then added something else as an afterthought. "Ah, and...we're not from another colony. We're from the surface. Above the water."

Varina struggled near the end of the climb, breathing hard out of habit despite not needing oxygen. It seemed that she wasn't crazy- gravity did seem to be getting stronger. It was almost suffocating. With shaking arms, she managed to pull herself up onto the plateau, flopping ungracefully onto the stone. "Ugh..." She sat up, struggling for a bit, and immediately noticed the newcomer. This woman didn't look like anything she'd seen back home. It was obvious that she was something far different. She ignored that for the time being, though, instead turning to her friend. "Miles, you were supposed to stop Esteban, not follow him up..." She sighed, shaking her head, and dropped the matter. "Gravity seems to be a lot stronger here. I think the water pressure is finally affecting us. Looks like our ghost powers, or whatever it is that lets us stay alive down there, loses its influence if we get too far. Iiinteresting!" She made note of the discovery, getting excited despite the crushing gravity. Fish were her specialty, but any sort of science was fine by her.

Miles looked back the way he came when he heard Varina's voice, and made a face when she reprimanded him. "Oh, sure, send the out of shape rich kid up a mountain to stop Esteban's rampage. That will totally work. Because, you know, I'm so good at climbing. And persuasion." He scoffed, rolling his eyes, and then turned back to the strange woman to try and introduce the two. "This is Varina. She's a good friend of mine. As far as I know, she's title-free, not even an heir to anything. Pretty common."

Varina scowled. "I gave you the job cause I thought you could handle it! Jeez. And don't call me common!" She pouted for a bit before speaking to the strange woman. "I'm guessing you're asking about titles? Well, I'm not quite sure about the culture here, since none of our group is from around here, but my dad is a fisherman and my mom works at a store. I'm pretty low on the title scale because of that, I guess. But no one can beat me when it comes to fish knowledge. I could name almost any fish under the sea. If it's got fins, gills, or scales, I probably know it!" She grinned, proud of her chance to show off. "That's gotta make me at least a little more important than just plain common!"

[Captain]

The woman blinked furiously, her facial expression suggesting far more than confusion. "No... what?" She shook her head and held out a hand. "All right. You," she said, pointing at Miles, "Are Chelvet." Turning to Varina, she added, "And you are Denzin Kavari." To Kindra, she said, "You are Mirme." And finally, she turned to Esteban. "And you are... Akreva. Yes. That should do." Turning back to Miles, she shrugged. "Clearly, you don't remember what happened before The Fall, and your recent awakening has muddled your minds. Yes."

Esteban stepped in front of her. "Whoa, there. We have names. Names ARE important, and these names you're giving us? They mean nothing. Now, can I see the layout of the city, or do I have to guess?"

She rolled her eyes and pushed him aside, "Silence, Akreva. We are conversing. Go find somewhere you can help."

Esteban scoffed. "Excuse me?" She stepped past him and he flipped her the bird before he spun and looked around for REL/A again. "All right, I'll do it on my own. Couldn't have expected help from the natives anyways." He frowned. "Where DID I leave that thing, anyways?"

[Regina]

"Mirme? Well, it's certainly an interesting name." Kindra had begun to offer up her own name (though she wasn't sure what she would say for her "title") before the woman interrupted. Although, the argument between Varina and Miles was a little more than amusing to her, but she decided not to comment.

She shrugged, curious about finding out what the strange lady was talking about.

"So, out of curiosity, what exactly is "The Fall"? We really are from the surface, but I gotta admit I wouldn't be opposed to learning more about this place and the culture." She said all this with a smooth, relaxed tone, doing her best to keep the situation devoid of conflict. She offered a polite smile to emphasize her genuine words.

[Fira]

Miles blinked at his newly-given name, or title, or whatever it was. It sounded like "velvet". He hoped that that was a good thing. "Uh...thank you. What does it mean, if you don't mind me asking?" He frowned when she mentioned The Fall, and some sort of...awakening. What exactly was going on? He gave Varina a questioning glance.

The girl smiled, interjecting her theory in response to both Miles and Kindra. "Well, if this place is Atlantis, The Fall's probably when the city sunk. At least, according to legend. As for an awakening..." She paused for a moment, thinking. After a bit, she shrugged and gently brushed a finger along her tattoos. "...It might be something to do with these. I'm not so sure about that just yet, though." She dipped her head politely to receive her new name, even if she didn't quite understand what it meant. It sounded pretty, at least. "Thanks! Do you mind if I ask your name and title?"

Miles noticed Esteban scrambling around and smirked a bit, patting his breast pocket where the REL/A still rested. Varina noticed, but simply grinned, saying nothing. She was proud of him. It served Esteban right for being a dick to them.

[Yuufa]

"Look, no matter what you say, I'm not going to climb that mountain. Given that Cl- Babydoll is also not willing to do so, it's better if someone stays behind with her. I don't trust our situation enough to let anyone be alone. Who knows what could come up next?", Lorelei argued and crossed her arms over her chest, giving the young man a stern look. Hopefully, this convinced him to let go of the matter and follow everyone else instead. Their conversation was a waste of time right now and she was tired of repeating herself of not going to climb that stupid mountain. No, this would not be a good exercise for her and no, the view wouldn't pay off, given that it's only sand, sand and more sand to see!

Tate was a little bit sad that neither of the two girls was going to give in, but he didn't wanted to push them anymore. Well, he mostly spoke with Lorelei, but Babydoll made it more than clear that she would stay here. The black-haired man ran his fingers through his hair and sighed, before replying:"Okay. It's a bummer that you won't come, but if you really don't wanna... Oh well, I'll just explain everything to you after we'll get down again! And describe what a good view we had up there! See you later, guys!"
With that, the happy-go-lucky guy started to climb the mountain enthusiastically, determined to reach the top as quickly as possible.

Lorelei merely sighed when Tate finally gave up on persuading them to follow the rest and started to scramble on his own. She could only hope that he wouldn't fall down after being too eager to catch up with the others as fast as possible. But then again, they were under water, right? Shouldn't he be able to just swim if he falls? Ugh, this whole ordeal made her head hurt...
"I just hope they're soon done with whatever is up there. I don't have time for this, I need to study", she mumbled to herself and massaged her temples, slightly upset that she needed to deal with this crazy stuff.

The higher up he was, the more difficult it became to climb, but he still managed just fine. He did get to hear a few words here and there, but as of now, it didn't really made much sense to him, so Tate simply didn't thought about it. When he finally did pulled himself up, he saw the others and another woman he hadn't met yet. Was it another friend? He sure hoped so!
"Whew, I finally made it! It's not every day you get to climb a mountain under water!", Tate announced his coming and looked around. While admiring the view (or more like trying to distinguish any details in the vastness), he explained to the others:"Lorelei and Dolly aren't coming, so they'll just stay down and wait for our return. I tried to get them to come, but boy, were they stubborn!" He finally glanced at the unknown woman and beamed her a bright smile, approaching her while saying:"Aaaaanyway, who is this new friend of ours? Hey there, miss! I'm Tate and it's nice to meet you! Are you living around this area?"
He extended his hand as a friendly gesture and his smile remained plastered on his face.

[Captain]

The woman regarded Tate with a raised eyebrow. "Greetings... Miamr?" She looked confused at the outstretched hand and took a step back. "Um... perhaps... I am confused?"

"YES. THANK YOU. That's EXACTLY what I've been saying." Esteban suddenly abandoned his search. "YOU don't know what's going on any more than THEY do, and I've but a rudimentary idea, so your idea that you understand who we are can go... stick itself in a cactus for all I care!" He threw up his hands at that last bit, turning to peer into the darkness off the summit. "Fact is, something happened here, and you were probably here to witness it, am I right?" He rounded on her again. Makara roared in the distance and she whirled her head to look, but he grabbed her shoulder and spun her. "YO. WHERE YOU HERE? The Fall? Is that when the... yellow stuff attacked? Is that when you went underwater?"

He expected her to whip his arm off her shoulder, but she gently placed her hand on his forearm. "That... was The Fall, yes. When we were attacked by..." she shook her head, "No, I STILL don't know what to call them. They..." she closed her eyes and her eyebrows dropped. She pushed Esteban away and turned around. "They killed the Elders and our Adache immediately. It... it was a ceremony, but..." She took a deep breath and turned to look Esteban directly in the eye. "What do you need?"

Esteban was surprised. "Finally! Somebody willing to help me, not just ask questions. Gods!" He pointed out over the edge of the summit while holding eye contact with her. "Out there is a, uh... chalice? No. It's got a name, but I can't... remember it. It's like... Christian thing?" He gestured in front of him, suggesting a shape roughly one foot wide and two and a half feet high. "It's gold and has a red thing at the top, like a ruby or something, and it's got like..." he flicked his fingers in outward motions from where the ruby would have been.

The woman shook her head confusedly. "You mean the Tus?"

Esteban snapped to attention. "Yes! That! It was broken, and I need to find it." He frowned. "...I think."

"It was... well, I thought it was taken by the... the things, but I found a piece a few cycles ago." The Makara roared in the distance again and the woman flicked her eyes from the source to Esteban and back. "I'm sorry. This has to wait." She dug around in a leggings pocket and pulled out a square chunk of gold. Walking past Esteban, she pushed it into his chest and continued walking, throwing a "Stay here! I'll be back!" over her shoulder before swimming off the cliff.

Esteban barely caught the fragment. Turning with her, he was about to call after her when he noticed Tate for the first time. "Uh... when did YOU get here?"

[Fira]

Varina watched the whole exchange with interest, her eyes gleaming. So she was right after all. The Fall had to have something to do with the sinking of Atlantis. She pieced together what she knew so far. "So, there was a chalice called the Tus and it got broken in The Fall...It was an artifact, probably powerful, maybe connected to the well-being of this civilization, hell, maybe even the whole world with how things have been going...and we have to find it. Somehow." She started to count on her fingers as she listed off the facts she knew, both for her benefit and for Miles to understand. "Esteban somehow knows about this, and an Adache...I'm guessing it's someone like us, with ghosty powers. The titles she gave us, then, are probably the names of our powers. Which means you're a ruler of some sort, considering you can order fish around, Miles, and mine...I have a feeling it's something powerful. It sounds pretty...squiddy, so for lack of a better word, I'll assume it's kraken or something cool like that." She shrugged. "That's just my speculation, though. I still don't know what the powers exactly ARE, but it's helpful." She crossed her arms, giving Esteban a look. "I wouldn't be so quick to discount a native's idea of who we are that easily, if I were you...Akreva." She grinned, using the word the woman had used to describe him.

Miles grimaced, nodding gratefully at Varina for the explanation. "Glad you caught all that. This is almost too much at once for me..." He sighed, laying a hand on his forehead. "If I had to guess, Esteban probably knows what happened because of his power. It sounds crazy, but Akreva might have something to do with vision...maybe? He looked like he was having some sort of freaky vision when he passed out. You only caught the very end of all that, Var, but that's what I think happened." He crossed his arms, frowning. "Though, still...Ruler? Really? Why'd I have to get the one power I know I can't use right?" Miles gritted his teeth, pained, and threw his arms up. "Sure, give the one person without a trace of leadership skills the leading powers! Absolutely hilarious, ghosts! Thanks! ...God, I'm so fucking useless." He put his face in his hands and sunk to the rock, completely at the end of his rope.

Varina scrambled to her feet, concerned. "Oh, Miles..." She stepped over to her friend and sat next to him, laying an arm around him comfortingly. This was exactly what she feared would happen. She was silent for a long while, trying to figure out what she could say. "...Hey, if it counts at all...I don't think you're useless."

Miles looked up at her, scowling. "You're just saying that to make me feel better. Have you even seen me? I'm a fucking joke. I've been a joke since this trip started!" He scoffed, shaking his head. "I wanted this to be a nice vacation, and what do I get instead? We get sent to the bottom of the goddamn sea! Some best birthday present this is." He paused to rub at his eyes with the back of his hand, not meeting Varina's eyes. "This is all my fault, Var. You can console me all you want, but nothing's gonna change that. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be here." He grimaced. "Even with fucking ghost powers I'm still useless. Story of my life right there."

Varina exhaled. Shit. What could she even say? "...Miles. Hey, look at me." Miles sighed and grudgingly turned his head, his brown eyes meeting her blue. Varina hurriedly continued, completely winging it. "Listen, I don't care what you think, you're not useless, okay? You're my best friend for a reason, you know, and this was not your fault! You wanna know whose fault it is? The stupid cup's, or the kraken's, or, hey, maybe even they guys who planned this cruise in the first place! Not you." She said all of that very quickly and had to pause for a moment to suck in a breath before continuing. "You were never useless. Not to me. And this is still a great birthday present. I'm not dead yet, right? And neither are you! We can get out of this still. Somehow. And until then, it's gonna be an adventure! We can practice our powers until we're both good at it. If we were perfect at it from the get-go, this wouldn't be a great adventure, right? So let's practice together!" She grinned at him.

Miles scoffed, smiling a little despite himself. "...Yeah, sure. I guess. I did like getting sharkpuppy to retrieve that GPS for me." He smirked. The thrill of potential competition was getting to him. "I've already had some practice too, unlike you. You better watch out, or I'm gonna leave you in the dust. If you lose, you're gonna be doing my homework for a week! But..if I lose, I'll find a way to summon one of every fish in the ocean for you to study before we leave." He smiled, pleased by his bet. "Deal?"

Varina grinned, throwing her arms around him in a tight embrace. "You've got yourself a deal! I'll wipe the floor with you, rich boy, just you wait!"

[Captain]

Esteban watched the two for a little while before he interrupted. "Okay, hold up. No, it is not a chalice. It's an... icon, yes. Artifact, arguably. But above all, it's a KEY. A key to something very big and very important but I don't know how to find it or anything. Or, the REST of it, rather."

"Secondly - yeah, I know this from visions. 'Visions' isn't a very appropriate word, but considering I seem to be mentally teleported or some shit, it's the best I've got besides uncontrolled transtime astral projection." He ticked points off on his fingers as he spoke. "Third - there's plenty of darkness around and probably some bed in a building somewhere where you two can at least give each other the excuse to be so sappy Go have at it." He waved dismissively, "But first," he pointed at Miles, "I'll take REL/A back. I need to track the rest of the Tus." Before Miles could say anything, he held up two fingers. "I heard what you said earlier about Sharkpuppy. Give."

"Speaking of," he turned, "What DOES that crazy bitch want with that creature? And where," he turned to Tate, another unstrung thought pulled to the surface, "Is your tattoo? Or don't you have one? Where DID you come from?"

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