The Past and Present

[AutumnRaven]

The small system of caves Was just the right amount of closeness To have Claustrophobia Setting in, Her chest feeling too tight and The air she was trying to breathe too thick. With stumbling footsteps that had her fingers Scrabbling Against the walls and her knees repeatedly scraping the ground, The young woman fled her pursuers into the very caves that she feared most. Breath Echoing back to her from the tight walls, Her hands suddenly met With open air and she fell forward into a dimly lit Bubble of a cavern. Before she could register much more then the tiny spiderwebs of cracks In the ceiling and the oddly round shape to the room, something stepped out from an adjacent tunnel across the small room.

"Fool! Didn't you realize if you ran, I would only end up finding you in the end?" The figure hissed sharply, lifting arms that gathered a dark energy around them and crackled with power.

The Woman scrambled to her feet dark curls Flying as she quickly lifted her own arms, shouting words of power in an unrecognizable language. With a reverberating boom that was similar to thunder, a blue light Suddenly exploded from her body, completely filling the Small space and driving the figure from the room. When the light and sound finally faded, the woman was frozen inside a large Crystal pillar that was similar to a drop of water breaking on the floor, small splashes and twists leaping Away from her small figure.

The hissing voice returned, full of venom And burning with the idea of the power that was so close To its hunger and yet safely far away behind the Crystal prison. "You may have protected your magic from me by putting your self into this stasis, But everything must come to an end one day. I will taste your sweet power and feast on your blood. In time..."

[Raven Rise]

The boy girl in the iceberg crystal.

The steady beat of dripping water and the echoes of his own footsteps were the only noises Patrick could hear in the cave. That was all right though, he didn't mind. He appreciated the silence in this place of solitude; it was always a relief from the voices. Patrick was in the first cavern of a small cave near his house, obscured by brush and roots hanging from its mouth that had dug through the rock in search of more nutritious soil. They discovered the place when Patrick was little, and while they said it was mostly safe, they did warn about a few areas. Despite this, heedless of the danger, Patrick went here whenever he got into a fight. Practically no one else knew where the cave was, and it was peaceful and quiet and so he had come many times before to simmer down. As he walked along a familiar ridge a drop of at least thirty feet to his left, he failed to notice a new stream of that was trickling down the wall, probably having just eroded its way to this new area from another higher up in the hill. Patrick stepped forwards, and suddenly gasped as his foot gave way. He felt himself fall onto the cold stone, yelling as he slid down the smooth Rok face into the abyss. "Oof!" he cried out as he crashed into another rock, bringing his slide to an end. For a moment Patrick just stood there, breathing rapidly, until he was able to calm himself down and get to his feet. "Well that was embarrassing," he said to himself. He shrugged a little dust off of his shoulder and looked around. There were a few paths he could follow, but he was worried he'd get lost if he did. He tried to climb the ridge, but it was too slippery and steep. Finally, he took a few steps back, and charged it with a running start, but still he failed. "Great," Patrick mumbled. He sighed to himself, and leaned back to rest his arm on the rock he had hit earlier. When he did, he jumped forwards. The rock felt really smooth, and almost... Warm. Patrick turned around and gasped as he discovered that it wasn't a rock, but some sort of crystal! Waving his flashlight over it, he discovered that it was as tall as the ceiling, and wider than he could stretch his arms. Patrick leans forwards and knocks on the crystal, when suddenly, it cracks and starts to split...

[AutumnRaven]

For so long she had been lost in her dreams, Endlessly wandering with no purpose. It had always been so quiet, Her senses completely cut off from reality Even in her sleep. But now, she could feel her body waking As her self imposed prison cracked around her, Releasing the tight hold it had encased her body with. Air Rushing gratefully into her lungs, The young woman's violet Colored eyes Opened Quickly And she involuntarily gasped. Heart leaping into her throat, she found herself stumbling forward, thin arms Flying out to catch herself as she fell Forward out of her crystal prison... and Quietly thumped Against Another person.

She didn't scream, but her body stiffened in alarm, Head turning up quickly To look into the face of the stranger. She blinked, looking slightly confused as she tried to focus on the bright fire he held in one hand. After a moment, she tilted her head slightly and refocused Onto what she could make out of his face..

[Raven Rise]

The air hissed through the newly exposed hints riot of the crystal as slowly the crystal widened. Patrick looked up a little higher than himself and noticed that there was something inside it. Despite the fact that a piece of the crystal could fall off at any moment and crush him, he move closer to get a better look, flashlight pointed at the object. Suddenly, with a heaving gasp, the crystal split wide open, hurling it's contents towards Patrick. A it collided with him, Patrick suddenly realized it was a person, and he did his best to catch her as she crashed into him. The person looked around, clearly dazed, then her eyes focused on his flashlight for a few minutes, and then looked up towards Patrick's face. He was surprised- her eyes were purple. "Ar-are you alright?" Patrik managed to say as he stared back at the person who just fell out of the giant crystal.

[AutumnRaven]

Swaying slightly On unsteady legs, The young woman momentarily pressed The fingers of one hand against the side of her forehead, frown Momentarily puckering her Expression. She blinked a few times, feeling The magic in her body stir And spread through her vocal chords. Finally, with the aid of her magic, She understood that the young man she had fallen into was speaking what was called English. When she Finally spoke, her voice was Soft and melodious, accented Very slightly, But was clearly English. "I-I'm ... I am dizzy, But I am in fair health..." Her expression slowly became increasingly confused, eyebrows angling in. "Who... Who are you?" She asked, voice beginning to quiver slightly.

[Raven Rise]

The girl looked to be about Patrick's age. As she answered his question, Patrick detected the slightest hint of an accent, but he couldn't quite place it. He still couldn't believe that he found her- first off she was trapped in a crystal for who knows how long, which seemed impossible in and of itself, and second was the fact that once it cracked, she reanimate as if she had only been sleeping for a few hours. "Who are you?" she asked unsteadily. "My name's Patrick," he responded, now becoming curious. "What's your name, and if you don't mind me asking, how did you get stuck in that crystal? I've never heard of anything like that happening before..." As he spoke, Patrick began to shine his flashlight around the chamber, deciding which tunnel would be best to exit through.

[AutumnRaven]

"Patrick..." She tested the name on her tongue, Unfamiliar with its origin. It seemed to suit the man in front of her somehow And she quietly accepted it with a nod. Her violet eyes Finally turned to focus on the fragmented crystal behind her, dark brown curls Swaying with the motion of her head "I am known as Rinnorra... And I willingly placed myself within this Prison to escape death." She said quietly, Fingers fluttering out briefly to touch one of the pieces of the blue gem That was sticking out.

[Raven Rise]

"Well I can't say I have heard a name like yours before," Patrick chuckled to himself, but then frowned at her next remark. "Say, Rinnorra, what do you mean placed yourself in? Last time I checked people couldn't grow crystals that fast... but of course what do I know?" Patrick had never heard of anything like trapping one's self in crystal before, let alone being able to survive in crystal. As Patrick watched the young woman stare at her former "prison" in what seemed like some sort of sentimental longing, Patrick's curiosity only grew. Then something occurred to him. The odd accent, the unusual mannerism, the confusion over his flashlight. "What year is it, Rinnorra?" Patrick asked.

[AutumnRaven]

(I may be a little slow in replying this week. I'm sick)

Turning Slowly from her contemplation of the Crystal, Rinorra Tilted her head to one side as she looked up at Patrick With her violet colored irises. She quietly thought Over his questions about her former prison, But was completely sidetracked when he suddenly asked another question. Blinking a few times, The young woman considered, Slight confusion blossoming onto her face. "Patrick... It is 1706, is it not?" For some reason, her heart was beginning to pound within her chest, Beating a study tattoo against her ribs. Nervously, her hands tightened into fists At her sides.

[Raven Rise]

(By all means, recover first. It's more important.)

Patrick saw confusion well up in the woman's curiously purple eyes as he asked that final question. "Patrick... It is 1706, is it not?" she asked, voice trembling. After the statement, Patrick was silent for a few moments. The year she thought she was in absolutely blew his mind. It was so distant, it seemed impossible. It should have been impossible. Nothing in science said that a person could go into suspended animation and survive any longer than a natural lifespan, let alone outlast it by over 4 times! "Well, Rinnorra, I hate to brake it to you, but... 1706 was three centuries ago. The current year is 2013." Patrick shrugged, not sure what to do next. He wasn't sure what to do about anything. Once they got out of the cave, how would Rinnorra react to the outside world? Should he ask her to stay with him so he can teach her about it before he wandered off alone, or should she just go? Or maybe... Maybe he should hand her over to the Feds. Patrick almost immediately decided that that was a bad idea; if they believed the story, they'd probably want to take her into custody and run all sorts of unpleasant tests on her and the crystal, and Patrick couldn't allow that. Finally, Patrick decided and said, "Look, I know this is probably shocking for you, but unfortunately, we don't really have time to discuss your... Situation here. See, we're in a cave, and we need to get out. Once we do, we can go back to my apartment and figure out what to do. Sound good?"