Re: Behold Atlantis

[Captain]

Esteban turned to Miles with a bit of a rolled eye, though it was clear it wasn't meant rudely. Towards him specifically, anyways. "I try not to think what signs might mean. Thinking before you see creates preconceived notions of what you might approach, and that can throw off your judgement quite heavily."

"That said, I do think it's perfectly okay to think about things you HAVE seen. After all, most of this nonsense is unscientific and as such, HAS no rules. Without rules, it's quite hard to anticipate what you might see, but much easier to draw from existing knowledge to guess at current events. But, no matter. Here we are." He settled on the ground again and took a couple steps up the stairs. "I believe this is a temple, though I'm looking forward to what might be inside..." With each step, the GPS emitted a continually louder growling alarm.

*******

It wasn't a moment before it was clear that Kindra and Varina heading towards the noise wasn't very useful. A building ahead of them virtually exploded, filling the water with a thick white cloud as fragments were thrown away before drifting to the ground. From the cloud erupted Sharkpuppy, and... well, a much BIGGER Sharkpuppy. Easily 8 feet tall and nearly the same wide, the creature's two rear clawed feet crashed into the ground with every step, its forefins keeping its upper half at the same height. A tongue hung out of the mouth over rows of teeth, and six eyes set in the skull going up and back in lines glowed green. The creature was covered in dull green and blue scales with a few patches missing, showing a whiteish underskin.

[Fira]

Varina took one look at the gigantic creature and shrieked. Normally, the appearance of wildlife would have gotten her excited, but the noise, destruction, and just overall WEIRDNESS of the entire situation had frayed her nerves to their breaking point. She wriggled in Kindra's grip, panicking. "Kindra turn around holy shit I'm gonna die we're gonna die I am so fucking scared turn AROUND!" Her sentence ended in a sob. She missed Miles. She missed home.

~

Miles only barely comprehended that whole speech, and simply nodded with a vacant expression. "Ah, y-yes. A temple. Of course." He followed Esteban up the stairs, his concern growing as the alarm grew louder. "That alarm's not a good one, is it..?" He murmured to himself nervously, looking up at the building with dread.

[Regina]

Babydoll rolled her eyes at Miles' apprehension. She found his emotions rather silly: why be scared of something like this? It was just an unmoving, inanimate structure. Unless he was nervous about whatever was making the alarm sound, there was no need to feel nervous about entering.

"Oh, please. We've all survived an attack from a supernatural sea-monster and the sinking of an enormous cruise ship. Somehow, we are all walking along the bottom of the ocean. We're following a trail left behind by some underwater beast. For crying out loud, we've all got strange tattoos on our body that glow in the dark (or did you forget that, princess?), and yet you're afraid to enter a freaking temple just because Aladdin's" she jabbed a finger in Esteban's direction "device is going off? For all we've been experiencing, you seem to feel fear at odd predicaments."

She said it all with a tone of aggression, but as soon as she finished talking, her body language relaxed and she was calm and cool. She realized, of course, that any chance at getting on the boys' good sides had flown out the window, but in all honesty, she didn't care in the least.

***

Kindra stopped for a moment, taken by surprise at the creature.

That... that was a shit decision.

However, she had snapped out of her shock by Varina's cries and her movement. She responded by gritting her teeth and tightening her grip on Varina. She rapidly pivoted and started running as fast as she possibly could, fueled by the additional danger and adrenaline.

"Shit... that was an awful decision but so help me GOD I am getting us fucking OUT OF HERE ALIVE!" She took off for the direction that the other half of the group had gone. It was probably better to somehow connect with the only person who would possibly have some idea what was going on. Plus... she didn't know where else to go, and the thought that she could be leading the creature to the rest of the group didn't occur to her.

[Captain]

Esteban carefully ignored Miles and Babydoll as he stepped inside. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness - for some reason, the water outside of the buildings seemed to be illuminated without specific light origins. Inside the buildings, however... a completely different story. It was black as night with no signs of light, save for what filtered through the doorway behind them. The GPS was going crazy, blipping up a storm until Esteban silenced it without looking.

The two behind him would have seen nothing, even if their eyes didn't require time yet to adjust, but Esteban's own held a whole different reality. He saw familiar ghostly mirages of lives long past, re-enacting their movements again and again without ending, without ceasing, without conscious thought or reasoning. A figure stepped through him, but he barely noticed. Each step further into the building seemed to bring the figures more and more to life. A sweet music was lilting through the air and wafting through the underwaves towards him. It was... intoxicating. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he allowed himself to breathe the experience in. Never before had he felt so very closely connected to the realm of the dead, but it felt as though he had a foot in both at that very moment. To the physical world, he appeared to fade slightly, then flicker, his body becoming a translucent blue for a fraction of a second... and then he was gone. The body floated to the ground softly, crumbling into a heap, as though the muscles were no longer functioning. When he'd settled, there was no sign of life -- save, of course, for the tattoo on his chest, now shining several times as brilliantly as before.

*******

Reacting near immediately to the girls' shrieks, the creature came to an absolute halt. A pitched growl that dropped from nearly a squeak to a murmur rumbled out of its massive body before it plopped itself into the ground, ears they hadn't seen before swiveling forward and drooping onto its forehead. A low rumble that didn't sound terribly threatening echoed through the area. Sharkpuppy continued to bark and snap at the larger one, but seemed terribly excited.

[Fira]

Miles, completely ignoring Babydoll at this point, had closed his eyes as soon as he entered the pitch-black building, knowing that he'd need what little night vision he could get. After several seconds, he reopened them, and the first thing he saw was Esteban flickering, fading, and then suddenly collapsing, seemingly lifeless. He froze, unable to comprehend what just happened. He stood there for several seconds before a jolt of panic forced his brain to function again.

Esteban had collapsed, lifeless, and was either dead or unconscious. The investigator, their guide and only source of knowledge, was out like a light and he wasn't quite sure why. He was alone with Babydoll in an unfamiliar building and just a couple of seconds ago the GPS had been going crazy. What should he do? Who could he turn to? Where would he go? He closed his eyes and gave himself a command. Don't panic, Miles. Whatever you do: Do. Not. Panic. He sucked in a breath and squared his shoulders, forcing himself to make a decision.

Almost immediately, Miles was in motion, checking the area around the fallen Esteban (he refused to think of it as a body until he checked its vitals) and ensuring that their surroundings, for now, were safe. With that confirmed, he moved towards the man, falling to one knee and checking for a pulse, first at the wrist, then, when that failed, at the neck. There was none. He was tempted to check for breathing until he remembered that he didn't need to breathe. Obviously, if he didn't need to, then neither did Esteban. He turned to Babydoll, opting for the nickname in the hope that she'd be more willing to listen to him. His tone was firm and clear, a commanding voice that was quite a bit different from his earlier one. "Babydoll, you need to get out of here. Go find Kindra and Varina. If something happened to Esteban, they need to know and we need to regroup. Bring them here. You understand?" Without waiting for a confirmation, he began CPR, counting compressions under his breath. "One, two, three, four, five, six..."

After a couple of repetitions, Miles paused to rest his arms. At that moment, something occurred to him. What had Esteban said earlier? Something about how they...weren't technically alive? With trembling hands, he checked his own pulse, finding the artery at his neck. He waited, adjusting his position every so often. There was nothing. "Shit..." He swore quietly to himself. Of course he hadn't bothered to check if there even was a need for CPR before he went off and did it. He sincerely hoped that the mistake hadn't harmed Esteban in addition to causing him a great deal of embarrassment.

With not much else to do, Miles stood and surveyed the area, trying to pick out information or items that could be useful to him. He stayed close to Esteban, hoping the man would wake up soon. He wasn't comfortable being a leader.

~~

Varina, having regained some of her courage, turned at the larger Sharkpuppy's noise. She shook Kindra's shoulder frantically, trying to get the other girl's attention. "Hey! Kindra! Wait!" She looked back again, realizing that she may have been too hasty. "I...don't think it's aggressive. And an adult of this species needs to be observed and studied!" She balled her hands into fists, determined. "As a scientist, it should be my duty to study them! ...Plus, I think we offended it." She wriggled, hoping Kindra would listen to her and turn around. She was really starting to hate this whole 'injured' business.

[Regina]

Babydoll's eyes widened and her eyebrows rose at first in shock at Esteban's collapsing. Quickly, they narrowed and lowered in a look of loathing and disgust. How dare he do such a thing? How did he have the gall to fall unconscious, or worse yet, die, when she was depending on him to get home, one way or another? She idly poked his leg with the toe of her shoe, nose crinkled in annoyance.

"Such a pity..." She muttered to herself, her tone suggesting that it wasn't a pity to her at all. She was too caught up in her own selfish emotions to notice that Miles was doing all that he could to help the fallen, to confirm if he was truly dead, to see if there was anything he could do to revive him. She only snapped back when Miles said her preferred name.

At his request, she paused. He used her correct name, for once. She considered doing what he asked. In such a situation, refusing to help him would only hurt her later. So, for once, she held back any rude comments and silently swam back to the other girls.

***

Kindra had been running high on adrenaline, so the monster's change in nature went unnoticed. She didn't stop until she felt Varina shaking her, and even then she reluctantly skidded to a halt, body tensed up in preparation for flight. Turning around to go back to the creature seemed to be the worst possible decision, but once she took in the subdued posture and Varina's energy, she changed her mind and chuckled.

"Heh, alright, kid. We can go look at Sharkpuppy 2.0." She made her way back to the thing, carefully getting closer to it.

[Fira]

Varina exhaled, relieved. She hadn't been sure that Kindra would go back. "Thanks, Kindra." She smiled. "You can set me down now, I'm fine with walking on my own so long as I have some support."

With the other girl's help, Varina hobbled over to the larger sharkpuppy, trying to think of a proper name for the species. Science was familiar. Science was something she could understand in the midst of a setting that defied understanding. It was a good way to distract herself from all of the problems at hand, and she threw herself into the task precisely because of it. "Hmm...It looks like some sort of Great White variant...that tail is distinctive...six eyes...?" She paused in her mumbling to think. "...Must be an adaptation to combat the low light..."

After a few more minutes of observation, Varina came to her conclusion. "...Makara Carcharias. The Great White Makara. Or just makara for short." She smiled. "We can't keep calling them shark puppies forever, after all, especially now that we've found what looks like an adult of the species." She reached out tentatively, trying to assure the newly-named makara that she meant it no harm. "I was originally considering calling it a dog shark or something like that, since it's very dog-like in its behavior patterns and looks like a shark, but that name's taken. And pretty unoriginal, so there's no fun in that." She shrugged, grinning, and continued talking. "So instead, I named it after this old legend my mom told me. Of course, I'm no professional, but I think I got the nomenclature right...my skills are a little rusty...from what I remember, it was the genus name first, then the species name, and of course since this creature doesn't seem to be from any genus I know of, I got to choose the name myself. In case you were wondering, makaras are Hindu creatures that are basically half fish, half mammal. This one looks a lot like one, so I named it after that. The only difference, really, is its eyes, but that's probably just an adaptation to the low light, though I am quite curious about the legs, especially since the adult seems to have shed it front legs in favor of fins, and I can't help but wonder why..." She trailed off. "Oh. I'm rambling again. Sorry."

OOC: for those who are interested, Here is what a makara looks like. and unlike gamzee's last name, the emphasis is on the ma, not the ka. :>

[Captain]

It took Esteban a moment to acclimate. One minute, he'd been walking into a darkly-lit building, and the next, it'd felt like a rubberband snap to his consciousness. Refocusing took more than a bit of work, and nothing quite seemed right as he did. First thing he actually recognized as off was his body on the floor below him. Not that it wasn't quite in focus, and certainly not that there were all variety of moving shapes like massive smoke wisps clouding his vision.

Something touched his shoulder, and he whirled. Not just turned, which is what he'd only been able to do since appearing underwater. He'd actually moved per normal speed, and perhaps a bit faster, which shocked him a bit. There stood... or, hovered to be more accurate, a woman with heavily bronzed skin adorned with gold and emeralds connecting shards of cloth too shear to be considered appropriate, but covering all the bits that would have made him blush. Her hand tightened on his shoulder. "Don't go back out there."

He started to ask 'Back out where?', but she dissolved into smoke. He frowned. "Okay... unusual. Normally, disappearances are a direct correlation between a memory and a completed action, but I'm no part of a me..." a thought struck him and he turned.

A flash as though through a lens, and he was seeing the building a long, long time past. A man, wearing similar garb to that of the woman he'd seen a moment ago, walked out the door with a longing look over his shoulder. Peeking behind him and seeing the woman's eyelid twitch as she stood otherwise stoically still, he decided to follow the man. Three children slipped by him as he walked to the doorway, but he ignored them and stepped outside.

The light was piercingly bright, yellow with a tinge of electric blue. Tracing the blue to its strongest point, he discovered its source to appear to be a very large circular structure, ornate with gold and coppery-colored fragments of metal. The thing seemed to be powering up, though Esteban had no idea for what.

Suddenly, the sky seemed to split. Dark leaked out of it before it closed again, but the cracks reformed instantly a moment later, before vanishing again. People around him were starting to panic, and Esteban could make out shouts of 'shut it down!' mingling with the screams. Sight and sound seemed to blur to a silence before there was an impossibly loud whoosh, accompanied by a cracking sound, and everything devolved into chaos. People were running around, buildings seemed to be collapsing, things were in the air that hadn't been a moment before. Water was suddenly everywhere, splashing up to smack him in the face as it filled the space from the ground up. He was pushed, both by water and people, back towards the houses lining the streets, and guided himself to the one he'd been in before. The water was rising far too quickly, and was just past his waist as he heard a piercing scream from beside him. A little boy, one of the three who'd ran past him, was just being covered by the water, it swallowing him completely as he floundered to jump back to air. Esteban grabbed him and headed for the door to put him on the roof, knowing how futile the action would be. As the boy climbed onto the roof, a small girl tugged at his vest. He helped boost her to the roof, and the woman carried the third out. She gave him a look halfway between resentment and appreciation before hoisting herself and the child to the roof. The water was at Esteban's neck as he pushed his way out the door.

Suddenly, a flash of a vision of yellow wraiths crippled him and he collapsed back into the house, completely submerging. The flash repeated, showing heavy horses and thick barbaric-looking creatures carrying sharp implements that were almost assuredly weapons. He tried to cough out the water he'd gasped in, but the flashes were relentless, snapping his mental stream to pieces and throwing him into a slight panic with every iteration. His body convulsed, and the last thing he saw before it all went black was a yellow claw reaching into him and pulling.

He sat up with a start in the exact place he'd fallen. Everything was dark. Heavy. He was moving slowly again. Somebody was next to him. "What... was that?" he strained to speak. It'd felt like a dream, but absolutely nothing like a dream. Had that been... real...?

*****

Sharkpuppy hopped around excitedly as Makara's nictating membranes closed and it started making a noise. It sounded like a hum sent through a garbled mix of growls and static. After a moment, she opened her eyes and mouth, and licked Varina. ALL of Varina. Even underwater, she could feel the clinging stickiness. Before she had a chance to react, though, slime either floated off into the water, or moved across her skin as though sentient. There was a throbbing pain that grew to stinging within a moment, but then it vanished, taking all pain that had been there before with it. Had Varina thought to look, she'd had noticed that any small scratches or cuts were just finishing stitching themselves back together. Her ankle had made a strange twist, back and then forth, but there was no swelling or pain coming from it, either. Sharkpuppy seemed ecstatic.

As soon as she was done with that, Makara turned to Kindra, beginning to close its second eyelids again.

*****

Far above, an aircraft pilot saw the dark clouds forming over the water and decided to ignore them. Three hours late and told to not land where he was supposed to, he'd decided to shortcut to the nearest airport and wait out the impending storm. Even in the air, the passengers were let know of what appeared to be a world-wide tsunami gearing up. Though most assuredly not actually a tsunami, the weather patterns were suggesting high turbulence both in the air and at sea. The clouds looked none too terribly inviting, but he was willing to brave it to get the passengers to safety. Flicking on the comm, he attempted to cheerfully say "Buckle up, passengers! We may have some turbulence in a moment. Thank you!" before shutting it off again and feeling the dread creep in.

Even before the first lightning strike, he knew it'd been a bad idea. But he'd flown in worse. He could make this. He could get them all to an airbase, and into a building and into safety before anything bad happened, and...

A ghost flickered through his console, appearing and vanishing as though zapped in and out of vision. The pilot froze. "What was that" he demanded to thin air. Another floated calmly through the hull and back towards the passengers, sending another shock of confused terror through the man. "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT." The turbulance once started, had not abated, and the plane was being thrown about viciously.

*****

[OOC: Yuuf can post now, and Foxy if she GETS HER PROFILE DONE BEFORE MY NEXT POST. Sorry for massive novelshit wordspamming, and moreso for the uneven storylines, but I hope this is a nice start to the next chapter. Since it's only been... what, 5 pages since the last?]

[Also, why does Miles's face always look squashed? ALWAYS.]

[Yuufa]

Despite the grim weather and overall tense atmosphere that has built up in the plane, Tate was happily humming a cheerful melody to himself while looking out of the window. Judging from the dark clouds that surrounded them, it would be only a matter of time before the rain would get heavier. It didn't bothered the black-haired man too much - it was just rain and although the flight could get a little roughy, they would surely handle it just fine. He trusted the pilot's decision and after his announcement, he was more at ease - not that he was tense to begin with.
Someone was tugging at his purple coat and he turned his androgynous looking face to said person. It was his neighbor, a little girl named Sally whom he got to knew only a few hours ago when they boarded the plane. The only reason why that sweet girl was sitting beside him was the fact that her younger brother took the seat beside their mother. Both Tate and Sally got into a few conversations during the flight, though he was the one who often joked around and made her and her family laugh. The little girl had seemed so sad to not sit by her mother's side that Tate just had to do something against it. Therefore, they got to knew each other a bit and he grew to like her quickly.
"Misse- um, Mister Tate? We will be alright, right?", Sally wanted to know, throwing a slightly scared look out of the window. The young man - who often got mistaken as a girl due to his feminine stature - smiled reassuringly at the girl and patted her head, answering in his usual cheerful manner:"Of course we will, Sally! Don't worry, be happy!" When he said that last sentence, he pointed at his bright yellow shirt with the huge smiley and said words imprinted on it. The little girl couldn't help but giggle and then return the smile with her innocent cute one. "If you say so, then I'll believe you, Mister Tate!", she said and looked more relaxed then a few seconds ago. The happy-go-lucky guy then proceeded to pick a candy out of his tattered jeans and offered it to her, encouraging her to take it:"Just eat this candy and you will feel a loooooot better!"
The eyes of the young girl started to shine brightly at the sight of the sweet offering, which she gladly took and thanked him for his kindness. While Sally was unwrapping the little present and tasting it, Tate meet her mother's gaze with his azure blue eyes, who nodded appreciatively. He smiled cheerily back at her and when he was about to face Sally again, something caught his eyes. The moment he did, some people started to scream in either confusement or terror - or even both. He on the other hand, just looked with big eyes to the transparent being that floated around - before he could survey it better, the plane suddenly started to shake around quite a bit. Reflexively, he grabbed on Sally with one hand, while the other found itself tightly grabbed on the armrest.
"Don't worry, it's just getting a little-!", Tate shouted to Sally when the plane began to be thrown around. Luckily, he and Sally had made sure that their belts were set in place, so they didn't get thrown around like other passengers, but no one could deny that right now, hell broke loose.


Finally, Lorelei could return to America - it's not like she didn't enjoyed her stay in Europe, but nothing was better than old sweet home. Furthermore, she wanted to go into her studies again, after her parents and friends made sure that she wouldn't take any books or papers regarding law with her. Sure, she was on vacation, but it didn't really hurt to learn a little bit in between, right?
Lorelei sighed a little and stared in front of her, listening to the song that her IPod was playing right now. It was something classic, which kinda matched to her outer apperance; blonde hair that was tied up with a clip, green eyes which seem to be indifferent to everything around her, a gray spaghetti strap top with a white frilly cravat attached to its front, a dark blue jacket on top of it, matching the color of the plaid skirt she is wearing. Her black stockings are covering up her legs and the brown half-boots with heels were chosen as her footwear.
Lorelei was in her own world until people started to scream. Confused about this sudden change of the acoustic level, she looked up and blinked when her eyes caught onto a transparent... something. It had the shape of a human, but it wasn't a person - was this a ghost?
"No way", she thought to herself before everything began to go downhills. The green-eyed woman let out a scream when the plane was being thrown around, desperately grapping onto the armrests and plastering herself as much as she could back into her seat. She shut her eyes close and bit her lips, hoping that it would get better.

It didn't.

[Fira]

((OOC: obviously, it's because kindra's ghostly height-stealing powers have sucked all of the tallness out of miles's body and has instead moved on to his face. soon it will be flat like a pancake. this is the only explanation. also, you might wanna resize that image to an 800 pixel width, it got cut off.))

Miles hurriedly turned away from his search for a weapon when he heard Esteban stir. "Esteban!" He crouched down, studying the other man with a concerned expression. "You all right? Can you move?" He paused for a moment before realizing he better explain the situation. "Oh, uh, I sent Clara to go get Var and Kindra. You collapsed so suddenly, I wanted to take precautions and assemble everyone in case you had died." He frowned, feeling a bit silly. "A knee-jerk reaction gone wrong, it seems. Once again." He shook his head quickly. "Anyways, if she's not dillydallying, the others should be here soon...Are you up for telling me exactly what occurred?"

Varina winced, feeling the odd motion of the bones in her ankle after the makara licked her. However, as soon as it had finished, she realized that the throbbing ache that had persisted at the edge of her senses had vanished. She cautiously leaned over to put weight on her injured foot, already preparing herself for the pain she was certain would follow. And yet...there was nothing. The girl blinked, staring incredulously at her ankle. She lifted her foot and made circles with it, and still there was not even a hint of pain. Still not believing it, she plopped down on the sand and rolled up her pants leg, shocked that even the ugly bruises the railings from the ship left during the crash, which now seemed years away, had faded away. "Incredible..." she breathed, awestruck.

She stared at the makara, her mind already whirling at 100 miles a second. She'd never seen or heard of any sort of creature with healing capabilities, especially enough to heal something as serious as a sprain. The makara's intelligence was also stunning, as it seemed to understand that she was hurt and had called for her to return. Perhaps that was just a coincidence, though. One always had to take evidence of animal sentience with a grain of salt. However, the odd healing powers still seemed a bit...off. She frowned, already deep in thought as she searched for an explanation.

[Regina]

Kindra wrinkled her face in confusion and uneasiness with the Makara's actions. She breathed a sigh of relief when Varina was obviously alright, but she still took half a step away from Mega Sharkpuppy. She was weirded out by it, and honestly getting licked by and underwater monster (no matter how friendly) did no seem like her idea of good. Varina looked lost in thought, but she still called out to her.

"H-Hey, uh, what exactly did Big Sharkpuppy do...?"

Meanwhile, Babydoll finally arrived at the other girls. She took one look at the fish creature and rolled her eyes. Sure, it shocked her for a second, but simply decided it was another nuisance to deal with. Perfect.

She casually strolled/swam up to the two, her relaxed manner the complete opposite of the message she had to deliver. As she approached Kindra and Varina, she called out to them.

"I have a message you two just might want to hear, even if it is a bother for me!"

[Fira]

Varina didn't even hear Kindra's question, completely caught up in digging through her memory for any records of animals with healing powers or anything of that nature. However, as soon as she heard Babydoll's voice, she immediately pushed her search to the backburner, looking up in hopeful excitement. As much as she refused to admit it to herself, she already missed Miles, and such a quick return would help ease the ache in her mind. She worried about him going off without her, silly as it was. Not only did she miss him, but he knew far less of the sea than she did, and hanging out with that sketchy Esteban character could only deepen that ignorance.

Of course, it only took her half a second to process the girl's words and realize that Babydoll was alone. The impact of the news was enough to drive her immediately to the worst possible conclusion. "Babydoll! What happened? Where's Miles? And Esteban? Why are you back so soon?" She spoke quickly, nervously, her fear plainly evident through her tone. After a tense pause, she forced the dreaded question out, feeling like a cold lead weight had been dropped in her stomach. "Did...did someone get hurt?"

[Regina]

Babydoll sighed and rolled her eyes in annoyance, not wanting to bother to relay the information. Alas, she had to, otherwise they might never make progress.

"Oh, don't worry about the short one; he's fine." She said in a tone that came dangerously close to annoyance instead of the expected reassurance. As she spoke, she casually crossed one arm over her stomach and supported her other elbow, guesting nonchalantly with her free hand. "The problem is with Esteban. He's up and fainted and may or may not be alive."

She suddenly placed her hands on her hips and struck a wider stance with an aggressively angry stomp of her heels. She twisted up her face in an angry pout as she spat out her criticism.

"Honestly! The nerve of him to up and fall unconscious! How selfish of him to even think of the possibility of dying and leaving us here without a proper guide. Humph. Some people have no etiquette." She turned back to the direction she came from before she gave Varina a chance to react to anything she had said.

"You might want to come along now. Oh, and bring the tall one, provided that monstrosity doesn't eat her up with all its lovely pointed teeth. Oh, what a mess that would make!" She made the last comment with a disturbingly dreamy smile as she began to swim back to the tunnel.

[Captain]

[[ooc: I'M HERE! I PROMISE! GUNJA DOESN'T WORK WELL ON NOOK, BUT COMPUTER IS WORKING!]]

The airplane wasn't experiencing simple turbulence - even a non-flyer could have deduced that. Most of the passengers were beginning to lapse into panic. It didn't help when the plane shook heavily and the air masks dropped from the ceiling. One passenger screamed "WE'RE DOOMED!", left his seat, roughly pushed the attendant who was trying to calm him down out of the way, ran over to the passenger-accessible airlock and started tugging. That sparked a few other passengers to follow suit. Whether they were trying to manically stop him to assist the opening didn't matter; there was soon a mob gathered around the only perceived exit as the plane continued to shudder and veer terrifyingly.

Another massive tremor and the plane was still for a moment. But only a moment. A scraping sound so deafening it could wake the dead ripped through the pit of the airmachine... and the plane was rent in two.

**********

Esteban closed his eyes and tried to keep mental balance as Miles barraged him with questions. "Yeah... I think I'm fine" he finally said, "And no, I'm not saying what I saw. It could've been a trick, or... or a fever-dream of some kind, or... I don't know. Too many variables I'm not aware of. Not going to make conjectures." It was another moment before he noticed REL/A blinking furiously. Ignoring anything further from Miles, he picked it up and starting clicking buttons, a very confused look on his face. "But..."

It took a moment for him to scan through the information. When he was through, he put the machine down at his side quietly, looked around the building, curled up while still seated, and closed his eyes. It was a while before he moved again. Wordlessly, he grabbed the GPS and headed for the door. Again.

**********

Makara didn't seem to wish to move. Noises too high-pitched to reasonably be coming from something of that size were echoing around and it was pawing at the ground. Sharkpuppy was barking at it, the gurgling somehow sounding cuter the louder it got. Finally, as if a decision had been made, Makara chuffed and pushed off, floating up and off into the darker waters. Sharkpuppy ran over to Babydoll and nuzzled her leg.

[Fira]

At first, Varina was relieved. He wasn't hurt. He'd probably just stayed behind with Esteban to keep the man safe. But then, almost immediately a cold chill of fear crept into her. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, Esteban was sort of their unofficial guide. Without him, they'd be totally screwed. She sincerely hoped he was okay, even if he was a jerk.

After a moment, she mentally shook herself, reminding herself that Esteban and Miles might be in trouble and that she still needed to meet up with the rest of the group. "We better hurry, Kindra. We've got some catching up to do!" She put on a brave smile, feeling a little more secure in doing so. "However it happened, I'm glad my foot is fixed. I should be okay with walking now." She took a few halting steps, betraying her lack of confidence for a moment, before taking off at a run, not slowed one bit by her surroundings.

~~

Miles still looked concerned, not relieved at all by the answers Esteban gave or the things the man did when the GPS started giving off signals again. However, he kept it to himself. Esteban didn't seem to be feeling well and he didn't want to make it any worse. Instead, he merely followed him when the man started for the door, only speaking up when he remembered the others. "Hey, Esteban. Could we wait outside the building for the others? Babydoll probably already sent for them, and I told her to bring them here."

[Regina]

Kindra had heard Babydoll's message, and rather than feeling fear or grief over Esteban's possible death, she only felt disappointment and a deep sense of regret that their small group would have dwindled down even further. She stared off at the makara, watching it swim for a second before shaking herself and realizing that Varina had spoken to her.

However, the other girl ran off before she let her respond. At least she wasn't walking and didn't need to be carried; it wasn't as though Kindra didn't mind carrying Varina, but she could tell that the brunette probably didn't enjoy it. Oh well. She took off after her, keeping up despite her trench coat.

Babydoll, meanwhile, looked down in disgust on the Sharkpuppy. Whatever that thing was, it wasn't cute. Seemed more like an annoyance than anything. She grimaced at it, then kicked the thing off her leg before swimming ahead of the others, not thinking or caring of the creature's feeling or reaction.

[Fira]

Varina easily outstripped Kindra, her ponytail flowing out behind her. Whereas the other two were slow and held back by the water, she seemed to be unhindered. She saw Babydoll kick Sharkpuppy and scowled. The creature had done nothing to her. As she passed, she scooped the young makara up easily, carrying it like a football as she ran so it wouldn't get left behind. The water flowed past her, and she couldn't help but smile. The feeling of running again was exhilarating. Of course, there were several things wrong with her surroundings. She shouldn't be able to run this quickly. She shouldn't even be able to run at all. And of course, the whole "shouldn't be alive" thing that had been plaguing her since she had been taken to this strange underwater city.

And yet...she could ignore it. She could ignore all of it. She wasn't entirely sure why, but it didn't matter to her. She was able to be like the others and rejoin the group. That alone was enough to make her grin like an idiot as she finally caught up to Babydoll.

[Captain]

Esteban barely heard Miles. "Sure. Sure, we can wait outs--"

It wasn't a dream. It... no. That couldn't have been right. A cold chill ran down Esteban's spine as misty blue figures began to form and play out the scene he had just seen. But rather, instead of the man throwing a quick glance over his shoulder, his eyes met Esteban's, and he froze. "Uh..."

It wasn't two seconds before the man had grabbed Esteban's arm and pulled him out the door after him. "Hey!" Este called, attempting to break free from the pull. And suddenly, he was free. The unexpected release spun him weightless through the water, and when the bubbles cleared, he was no longer looking at the same place. "Oh, for the love of CRACKERJACKS!"

The temple was similar to the house. The base appeared to be some sort of soft off-white color, rather similar to bone or ivory. The accents were all gold and silver. Occasionally, something would have a bright crimson hue, and though sparse, it stood out starkly against the cool colors surrounding it. An altar stood with some sort of golden geometric object on top on the far end of the room. Various rugs lay on the floor, presumably regions to worship from. What to worship, though, Esteban wondered. As he took the scene in, yellow smoke began to curl into the room from cracks quickly appearing in the walls. The building began to shake, and within moments, rubble was falling from the ceiling in chunks quickly growing larger. What was left of the wall was turning a sick dark brown, bubbled in some kind of diseased imagery. The temple flashed to the image of a cavern, and then back. As if a television on the fritz, Esteban saw both locations, swapping in and out at an instant - the only nexus of solid visual being the geometric object.

And then... nothing. He was lying on the ground, breathing hard. The sound of footsteps was approaching, but only two voices were fading into audibility. The one was probably Miles, but the other was female. And then another, right in his ear.

' F I N D T H E S C E P T E R '

[Fira]

Miles gave a soft smile and nodded once, grateful to finally have a chance to relax...That is, until he turned around and spotted Esteban floating, once again unconscious. The man's eyes were rolled back, and every so often he gave a violent spasm. This was way out of his jurisdiction. Miles stepped back, horrified but frozen, unsure of what to do.

"Miles!" A familiar voice snapped him out of his stupor. He whirled to face the entrance of the tunnel they came from, his eyes wide. Behind him, Esteban drifted slowly back to earth, settling on the sand unnoticed. Someone was sprinting towards him, far faster than seemed possible under the water. Before he could get a good glimpse of the figure, they tackled him, sending him stumbling back with a grunt.

Varina had taken off in a hard run as soon as she spotted him, barely noticing how tense he looked. She tackled him, clutching at her friend as he stumbled back, surprised by the sudden impact. "Oh my god, there you are!" She couldn't help shaking him around a little before letting him go, her whole face brightened by a grin. "I worried about you a bit, I won't lie."

Miles blinked for a moment, then smiled, relaxing when he saw it was Varina. He raised an eyebrow at her sudden ability to walk once again, but resolved to ask her about it later. Right now he was much more concerned with other things. "I was only gone for an hour, at the most, and you already missed me? Honestly, I'll never be able to have time to myself if this keeps up." Varina paused, her smile fading a little. He let her be sad for a moment before chuckling and embracing her. "Missed you too, Freak." He murmured with a smile. After a while, he backed up, coughing a little. That was probably a bit longer than a normal friend hug should be.

Varina mock pouted and punched him lightly on the arm.. "I told you I hate that name." Despite this, she couldn't help smiling again, taking note of the hug and filing it away for late. "But good to see you're doing well! ...Where's Esteban?"

"Oh... Miles glanced over his shoulder, frowning slightly when he realized the man had returned to the ground and was stirring slightly. "Hmm. It seems that he's fine now. I don't know how much Clar...Babydoll told you, but he passed out earlier. Which is why I sent for you and Kindra in the first place." He paused for a moment, then perked up, remembering the scroll in his pocket. "Ah, almost forgot." He pulled the bluish scroll case out of his pocket, offering it to Varina. " I found this in the library you walked past earlier. I doubt you'll be able to read it, but you should at least find it interesting."

She took it, amused. "Of course you brought me a souvenir to study. I'm starting to think you actually enjoy my science rantings!" Miles made a despairing face, which made her burst out laughing. "Oh, relax. I'll look at it later." She walked over to Esteban, crouching down to look at him. Soon after, Miles joined her, unable to help shooting her a strange look. "Yo, Esteban! You okay?"

[Regina]

Kindra watched in surprise as Varina easily outpaced her. She hadn't expected the other girl to run quite so fast. Why was she able to move through the water so easily? She wasn't jealous, but legitimately curious. Babydoll kept right behind Kindra, feeling bitter that she couldn't travel as fast and conveniently as Varina could.

The two had caught up right in the middle of Miles and Varina's long hug. Babydoll scoffed and rolled her eyes, though she wasn't quite as annoyed when she heard Miles refer to her by her proper name. That was more like it.

Kindra smiled slyly. She KNEW there was something up with those two besides "just friends". Honestly, the two looked cute together, and Kindra could tell just by the way Varina went on about him, she was deeply infatuated with Miles. Babydoll wanted to simply walk over and join them before their reunion was finished, but she stuck out her arm to physically prevent her from interrupting them. She received a deadly smile and a passive-aggressive threat, but she was still pleased with her actions.

The two girls finally walked over to join Esteban when Varina called out to him.

"Hey again, you two. How's Esteban? Still breathing, right? Or living, at least." Despite Miles' statement that he had merely passed out, she was still concerned for him.

"Oh, so he didn't decide to selfishly up and die? Well, this is better news for me! Hopefully, he actually wakes up soon. Wouldn't want a dangerous carnivorous predator to come and mistake him for a snack!" As per usual, Babydoll didn't actually care about his physical state, but thought only of herself and how his presence could benefit her.

[Yuufa]

While most people started to run for the exit, Tate remained with Sally in their seats and hoped that everyone would soon calm down. What would they even do if they managed to open the exit? It's not like they could simply waltz out and expect to survive a fall from such height. There wasn't much the passengers could do now, so it was in everyone's interest to settle down and let the skillful pilot handle it. Panic surely didn't help anybody here - especially kids like Sally, who has now started to cry and call out to her mother. Said mother had her arms wrapped firmly around her son and looked with frightened eyes to the two of them, shouting her daughter's name:"Sally! Stay with him! Don't leave your seat, sweetie! It's going to be-"
She couldn't even finish her sentence before a loud screeching interrupted her and the plane was suddenly broke in two. Surprised by that sudden twist of events, most people who have been standing around the exit didn't reacted fast enough - death cries echoed through the plane and Tate watched in horror as they fell to their demise. In all honesty, he didn't knew whenever this was reality or not - could something like this really happen?
Tate didn't got the chance to think about that, because Sally's horrified outcry snapped him back to the matter at hands. He immediately turned his head to the side - only to watch how Sally's mother and brother fell down. His heart skipped a beat when he witnessed the last seconds of their much-too short lives. All Tate could do was to watch helplessly as Sally's family would be no more.
If the black-haired man hadn't glanced sideways to the small girl, he wouldn't have seen how she would have violently pull her seat belt away and was inches away to jump after them in shock. Tate reacted fast and grabbed Sally by her small wrist, while grabbing at the armrest with his other hand.
"MUM! BROTHER!", the girl screamed out and reached to the dark depth where her family has fallen into. She tried to jerk away from Tate, but the young man didn't allow her to follow them to death. He would try his darnest best to keep at least Sally safe! It was the only thing he could do now!
"Sally, don't-!", he shouted, but then shrieked when something suddenly pulled at his mantle and therefore made him look up. It was a ghost who silently seemed to scream at him. Tate wasn't too sure if it was the same one he had seen before hell broke loose, but right now, he couldn't care about that right now.
"What do you-?", Tate meant to ask, but never got to finish his question, because he felt how Sally had taken his moments of inattention to her advantage and jerked one last time from his grip away, this time successfully so. She started to fall down, screaming while doing so and Tate's mind went blank.
"SALLY!", he cried out in horror and immediately undid his seat belt, also starting to fall while trying to reach the small girl. He forgot about the ghost, forgot that he had right now decided to fall to his own death, forgot that he still woudln't be able to save the girl, but it didn't matter. He would try to keep her safe and believe that it would turn out alright somehow - he wouldn't stop hoping!
From the corner of his eyes, he saw how the ghostly figure dashed past him and then turned around, facing the fallen man. In a split of a second, Tate thought he had seen an understanding look at the ghost's face, but before he could proceed it, it already floated into him. A weird sensation ran through his body, first it was an icy cold, than it turned into a burning heat. Tate cried out and while falling, his mind was engulfed by darkness.

How much time has passed since he was out cold, he didn't know. In the first seconds he had regained his consiousness, he wasn't even sure where he was or what has happened. The latter came back to him soon enough, but the former was still a mystery to him when he sat up - slowly so. It confused him that he was being so slow and after a moment, he realized that he wasn't breathing. Blinking unbelievingly, Tate tried to take in a deep breath, but it was for naught. There was no air he could suck in and it didn't seem like he even needed it - not that he understood why it was like this anyway.
After that, Tate finally took a look around, though it wasn't easy to see anything, given that it was rather dark here. The only thing he was sure off was that the ground was full of sand. Was he maybe at a beach of some sorts? But then again, it wouldn't explain why he couldn't breath or why he was so darn slow right now.
As Tate wanted to stand up, he noticed something besides his hand and turned his head to it, only to see that it was a pink bracelet that would be far too small for his wrist. He still recognized it as Sally's bracelet and immediately wondered where the girl could be while taking said item into his hands. If he was somehow alright, surely she had to be too, right? Yes, he would see her soon enough! Tate was convinced that he only needed to search for her and who knows, maybe the other passengers were also alright?
A grin plastered itself on his face and he put the pink bracelet in one of his pockets before standing up. It was a chore, but it wasn't too bad. It could be worser anyway!
When he was finally on his feet, he looked around yet again and wasn't too sure where to head. Maybe an Eeny, meeny, miny, moe would do the trick? It's not like he had any clues to begin with, so he could very well rely on such tactics.
"Eeny, meeny, miny- huh?", he started, but interrupted himself when he caught a glimpse at something. Tate blinked and squeezed his eyes to get a better look at the something that was just moving now. When he was finally able to identify it, his eyes went wide - a swarm of fishes swam idly around, not really caring about his person. Dumbfounded, he stared at the fishes and then it hit him - that's why he couldn't breath or why he was moving so slow - he was underwater! Oh and he just talked under water! Well, that was weird - but also totally awesome!
His eyes sparkled in excitement as he walked to the fishes, waving at them with a great smile. "Hey there, my fish buddies! Can you guide me to some sort of, uh, fish police or something?", he asked the fishes, that immediately swam to another direction.
"Wait, I'm friendly!", he shouted and started to run - well, as well as he could in his current condition.


With a groan, Lorelei woke up and held her head, trying to remember what had happened. It quickly came back to her and for a moment, she wished that it hadn't; the panic, the still moment, followed by a loud screeching - the plane that broke into two pieces and the screams. Oh my god, the screams. People falling to their deaths everywhere - fathers, mothers, children, friends. She had witnessed so many death in such a short time and as if that wasn't enough, there was this ghost. If she remembered correctly, it had the shape of a woman, but she wasn't all too sure. What she knew was that it seemed to shout at her, but she hadn't heard anything. It looked... frightened or maybe angry, she wasn't too sure. What she was sure of, however, was the fact that it looked at her hard, before nodding and then undoing her seat belt, making her fall from her seat. Lorelei remembered that she had screamed in utter panic and tried to grab something, anything that would save her from certain death, but then the ghost had entered her body. The sensation she had been feeling back then was so overwhelming, that she simply blacked out.
As Lorelei shakingly wanted to breath deep in, she noticed that she couldn't. Alerted, she tried to suck in air, but it was to vain and she began to panick. Why couldn't she breath?
"Oh my god, I'm not dead, right?", Lorelei thought as she stopped trying to pump air into her lungs and gulped. She tried to stand up, but found it to be quite difficult. Something seemed to slow her down, but she didn't really see anything that would do so. Bewildered by her current situation, she looked around and as sand whirled up, she realized that she was underwater. This piece of information confused her greatly and she decided to pull herself together, before doing anything else.
After calming down a bit, a million of questions invaded her head - where exactly was she? Was she dead? And if not, why was she still alive?
The blonde-haired woman knew that she could ask herself these questions all she wanted, but she wouldn't get answers just by sitting here. Therefore, she looked around again. It was dark, but if her eyes were still working, there were buildings of some sorts in the distance.
Deciding that there was nothing else she could do, she decided to walk towards the buildings, hoping to find anyone, anything there that would provide her to some answers.

[Captain]

Esteban heavily pushed himself up and to his feet. His glasses had disappeared a long time ago, but he pushed an invisible pair up the bridge of his nose before pulling his hair back. "I won't hear it. Close-minded individuals need only open their eyes. It wasn't I who did so for you." He coughed and started looking around for his GPS. "Though I AM curious what did... it's a major stepping point if someone reaches out of what they know to be real and consider the possibilities beyond it. Care to pass on the details?"

[Fira]

Varina blinked, stepping back a little in surprise at Esteban's sudden revival. "Oh! You're awake after all!" She smiled self-consciously, still feeling a bit silly for her prior ignorance. "I just...put the pieces together. It was all THERE, I was just too stubborn to see it."

Miles raised an eyebrow at Varina. "I think that's the fastest I've ever seen you change your mind about something." He gave her a pat on the shoulder, smirking. "It's about time you stopped being stubborn."

She smiled in response. "Oh, don't worry, I'm still stubborn. Just not in this case. I have PLENTY of other things to be stubborn about, don't you worry!" Miles groaned, and Varina giggled before turning back to Esteban. "In case you were wondering, I got healed by the sharkpuppy- erm, the makara before I came here. I'm good as new, and all ready to walk again. It also seems that the adults of that species are friendly, or at least not used to humans." She finally set the sharkpuppy down, after a long while of carrying it football-style. "I think the one we encountered was a female, as it seemed to be very familiar with the pup here, and it was quite friendly. Possibly the pup's mother...Oh, and my magic ghost tattoo apparently lets me move fast underwater. Not the most useful of effects, but better than a bad one, I suppose." She smiled. "So what did your group discover? Besides the library, any strange occurrences or places? Clues?"

[Captain]

Esteban stopped and looked at her from under a single raised eyebrow. "Yes. We've discovered more." He returned to looking around. "At least, I have. I really don't know about the other two. They've simply been following me around. I'm fairly certain neither of them has a clue what they're doing or looking for, just grateful to be alive. Admirable, I suppose, but inevitably foolhearty." Either completely oblivious to the fact that Miles was standing there or entirely uncaring, he continued. "See, I think there's a line between comfort and discovery. Personally, if I walked into a house where the front door closed by itself and a giant ax sliced through me without leaving a spot of harm, I'd see it as recourse to figure out what rift, entity, or deity was behind it. I wouldn't be satisfied to be running around, glad to still be breathing. But that's how the enlightened mind works, I suppose..."

It was at this precise moment that he spotted the device. "Ha!" he exclaimed, clambering as quickly as he could towards it. "All right, baby..." he muttered, once the machine was safe within his grasp again, "What can you tell me about the last half hour?"

[Fira]

Varina snickered, while Miles just looked offended. "Well, sorry I happen to enjoy not being fully dead yet! At least I don't have any weird narcolepsy powers!" He frowned, a little more hurt by the snub than he probably should have been. He thought they'd been getting along nicely, too.

At about the same time Esteban found his GPS, Varina couldn't help but notice something strange. A school of fish passed by, as they often did, but stopped as soon as Miles raised his voice. They stared at him for a moment before turning towards Esteban. Her eyes widened, and she jabbed an elbow into Miles's ribs.

The boy winced and rounded on her, clearly upset now. "Wh-what was that for!?" Varina kept her eyes on the fish. This time, they looked at Miles again before turning on her this time. She glanced away from the creatures for a moment to look at Miles's face. His tiara tattoo was glowing. She smiled, which only incensed him more. "Don't tell me you actually agree-"

"Miles, hush."

"Wh-huh?" Her abrupt command shut him up, if just for a moment. 

Varina simply pointed. "...Look."

His brow furrowed, Miles listened to her, looking in that direction only to find a school of fish observing him intently. "...Yes, Varina. It's fish. Amazing." He rolled his eyes, but winced when she elbowed him again, gently this time.

"No, not just the fish! ...Tell them to do something, Miles!"

"You can not be serious."

"Just do it!"

Miles groaned. He could not believe he was doing this. "Ugh, fine...Uh, fish. Go...swim around Varina, or something."

Varina scowled. "Like you mean it, please."

He gave her a look, but sighed, relenting, and straightened up, using his best command voice just to shut Varina up. He was still certain that nothing would happen. "Fish! I order you to swim around Varina twice!"

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