Xaria groaned as the water washed against her dry suit. Apparently her regulator had fallen from her mouth, and it was now lying on the slate, the mouthpiece sticking up into the air. Her head ached and she removed her goggles quickly, groaning as some of the pressure was relieved. How long had she been out? She unstrapped herself from her BCD, rolling over onto her back. From here, Xaria got a good look at what appeared to be the inside of a cave of some sort. Deciding it was time to move, Xaria pushed herself into a sitting position. From what she could see, she was fairly unharmed, no cuts, no bruises. Unclipping her fins from her feet, she removed her boots, dumping out an inch of lukewarm water from each. Then she started to unzip her wet suit, peeling the bottom half of the farmer jane first, the sensation of the cool air stinging her arms. She stomped her feet as she removed the upper half of her wet suit. Instant regret. She'd never been one for cold.. and this.. this was just ridiculous. She shivered, squeezing the water out of her hair, after which she removed her soaking under armor shirt so she was wearing just her simple two piece bathing suit. Dangit. It was too cold for this. Why hadn't she decided to wear a dry suit instead? Those things kept out the water and kept you really warm.
"Should have brought a fucking jacket." she whispered to herself. But she would have never thought to bring a jacket or spare clothing in a million years. She did some warm up exercises for Muai Thai, knees up, elbows in, weaving back and forth until her heart was beating quickly in her chest.. and she felt.. slightly warmer. Pausing to check her surroundings she noted one of the divers she'd come down with. This was the older blonde guy.. the one who was probably the oldest guy in the diving team.
"Hey dude.. you gotta get up. Get out of the water." She rolled him onto his side, tapping his face lightly with her hand.
Then she moved over to her equipment to see if anything had been damaged. Her oxygen tank was fine... and according to her dive computer, she had enough air for another short dive. Her BCD was intact, no scrapes or tears and the weights inside the vest were secure. She unzipped the pocket of her BCD. A pad of paper, a pencil, her gum. And then.. her dive knife. She unsheathed the blade, admiring it in the light. Like most dive knives, it had a serrated edge for sawing through thick rope, and a thin, hook-like protrusion on the opposite side to the saw. This was for cutting thin things. Wire, fishing line.. whatever. However, unlike most dive knives.. her's had a pointed tip. This part of the knife wasn't needed for any kind of cutting she could do while diving, but she had thought it looked cooler than the others.. and secretly always dreamed of stabbing a shark in the eye. Sheathing the blade, she pulled out her dive light. Flicking the switch on and off, she found it still worked.
Xaria brought her hand absently up to her chest to fumble with her pendent, only to find it wasn't there. She felt a pit in her stomach as she glanced down at her neck. She sprinted back to her BCD, tearing open the pockets and searching for her lost pendent.
"Shit shit shit!" Panic driving her to extremes, she started looking under and behind rocks. What if her pendent fell from around her neck while she was in the water? Reaching for her flashlight, she flicked it on and aimed it at the water, looking for that familiar glint of metal.
"Where is it?" she hissed.
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Feeling something touch his face, Eli groaned, bringing his hands up to his face. His head hurt, and it was rather dark and cold wherever he was. Sitting slowly up, he groaned, removing his prescription diving goggles and blindly feeling for the plastic bag with his glasses sealed inside. By the time he managed to slip on the glasses, his companion was sprinting back and forth across the ground, cursing and throwing things.
Blinking twice, Eli shook his head, scattering drops of water. Staring up at the ceiling, he admired the stalactites stretching down towards them like fingers. He unstrapped himself and started to remove his equipment, watching the younger girl sprint around the room. She was wearing nothing but a two-piece bathing suit. Normally he'd take off his wet suit as well, let it dry out or something to keep himself warm.. but.. he was one of the divers who chose to go commando under their suits. It was far more comfortable and less objectifying than wearing a speedo, and bathing suit shorts bunched funny under the wetsuit and made his legs fall asleep. So.. he was stuck in his wetsuit. Unless he wanted to go streaking around the cave. Which was innapropriate on all levels. He stared at the girl for a moment longer, adjusting his glasses before he spoke. She had been on the diving team. She'd come late, and not said a word as they had jumped into the water and made their descent.
"What are you looking for?"The girl whipped around, her blonde braid flying through the air.
"My pendant!" her voice echoed back, sounding panicked.
"Its small, like the size of a quarter, shaped like a triangle and it has a silver chain!" she practically shouted.
"Get off your ass and help me look!"She certainly had.. a dirty mouth. If she was his kid.. he would not had let her get away with talking to a stranger so roughly. Though she wasn't his kid. His kids were back at home.. Safe and sound. He reached for his bag, pulling out his mulitool, digging around for his photograph. His stomach jolted as he realized that it wasn't there. It was his turn to act like an idiot, tearing apart his BCD to look for his photograph.
"Listen, kid.""What?" she bit back ferociously, glaring over at him.
"Turn that flashlight off to conserve the battery, and lets do this rationally. We are going to sweep from one side of the room to the other." Eli stated calmly.
The girl stared at him for a while before grunting angrily and switching off the flashlight.
"Fine."The two combed the entire room looking for the girl's pendent and his photograph. But they came up with nothing. Not even a hint of where their stuff could have gone.
"DAMNIT." The feisty blonde female kicked a rock, anger lining her face as she started punching the air. Eli flinched as powerful jabs seemed to crack through the air, her face contorted with anger. Whatever she was doing, it kind of scared the crap out of him.
"Calm down..." he offered meekly.
"Calm down. CALM DOWN? WE ARE TRAPPED IN AN UNDERWATER CAVE IN THE MIDDLE OF GOD KNOWS WHERE AND SOMEWHERE ON THE WAY DOWN I LOST MY ONLY PICTURE OF MY BROTHER!" She was shouting now, red faced in anger.
Eli backed away slightly, putting up his hands.
"Come now.. we don't know its gone for gpod." he offered kindly.
"We can follow the river, because if your.. picture is anywhere, it would have been washed downstream.. right?" he was upset about losing his family photo.. but he was more sad than anything... she was.. seething.
The girl stared at him for a moment, the redness in her face faded and she stared at the ground.
"yeah.. i guess." she grumbled. Without another word she started to gather her things.
Eli just held his multitool in his hands for a minute before starting to move his equipment as well. He lay his BCD and tank right beside the girl's, helping her surround the two tanks with rocks so they couldn't roll away, not that the valve in the top would let them roll anyways, but one couldn't be too careful with expensive equipment. The two then stacked their fins on top of the pile.
"I'm Eli by the way." He watched as she pulled her feet into her scuba fin boots. They weren't designed for long running or walking for a long time, but the thick neoprine was better than nothing.
"Xaria." the girl stated, shoving her flashlight into a small airtight bag with what looked like a pencil and a small pad of paper. What she'd brought that with her on a scuba trip for was beyond him.
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Shadow sprinted across the caves at full speed, drool flecking from his mouth as he scented something delicious in the air. He paused for a moment to take in the scent of what seemed to be bread. Delivering an energetic bark, Shadow's claws scraped helplessly against the ground for a moment before he gained traction and was off like a shot. There it was.. his prize. Sauntering up to the window of the shop, shadow eyed the bread in the window hungrily. He stuck his head through the glass, solidifying his mouth on the other side in order to grab a loaf in his teeth. However, as he attempted to retreat, the bread remained on the other side of the counter. Shaking his head, Shadow tried again. But this time he leaped through the case with his entire body, grabbed that same loaf of bread and came out inside the shop. The loud screams and shouts of the shopkeeper were heard as he scampered through their store, knocking over display cases on his way out the door.
Scampering down the streets, he fled far away from the shopkeeper, who was still shaking her fist angrily. He headed up towards the city, on his way to Monster's Mirth Forest. He stopped sort as he saw a monster with one eye wandering up the streets. He paused mid step, tilting his head to the side as he surveyed her before shaking his entire body and continuing home.
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Amarante chopped a vine down with a flick of her sword. Living out in Monster Mirth Forest suited her. Not a lot of monsters tended to come through, and it was relatively peaceful. Best of all, it was far away from her home village. She perched on a twisted root, resting her chin on her knees. She'd have to go into town today. The only downside about living in the middle of nowhere was the lack of supplies. The trees did grow fruit and there were nuts.. but sometimes she needed something more. Something.. more filling. Just as she paced up her bag, Shadow came sprinting back from who knows where, dropping a soaking wet, half chewed loaf of bread on the ground. He barked twice, wiggling his butt excitedly.
"That looks delicious. Unfortunately.. i am on an all fish diet." Amarante grinned, patting him on the head.
"The shopkeeper is going to be mad again, thanks to you."Shadow just stared at her blankly, tilting his head down to the bread and then looking back up at Amarante. Then he picked it up again and sat up tall so his front claws were resting on her thigh.
Amarante sighed, breaking of a tiny chunk of bread and stuffing it in her mouth. Eeghh.
"delicious." she stated, rubbing his head.
"I'm going into town. You should finish that. I'm all full."Upon hearing the word full, Shadow snapped the bread up into his mouth, rows of sharpened teeth grinding it into submission. Before long he was at her heels and the two were on their way back to Stalac Heights.
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Shrubmarine stood beside his submarine, heaving a heavy sigh. He was bored.. exceedingly bored. Nothing exciting ever happened in the underground. No one new had shown up since that weird wolf woman.. and everyone seemed so busy with the election. No one had talked to him about taking them around in his submarine. Slumping against the side of the tentacled ship, Shrubmarine started to hum a
haunting melody as he waited for something to happen.
