[ jan truly said I WISH TO GO TO THE CAVES, so inside the caves they go.
First, once they get inside, it's immediately apparent that it is dark in here. The rabbit is peering around from Lucas' arm. It has better night vision than they do, but it is not a cat. And neither is Uruha despite his appearance, apparently, because he can't see in the dark. Luckily, there's a convenient lit torch near the entrance, as there often is in convenient cave systems. The torch will probably not burn indefinitely and can probably be extinguished, though, since it's just. You know. A fire torch. It's too bad they don't have a convenient flashlight that they would know how to use.
Now that you are in an enclosed system, please let me know where you are looking as you advance.
The cave entrance seems straightforward for now. It's a single tunnel going up into the mountain. There's the sound of dripping water in the distance, but not much else. The signs continue, the first of which says:
[uruha will take the torch since lucas's arms are full with a baby, unless lucas really wants it.
assuming not, as uruha holds the torch up, he does his best to look around at the walls and ground as he walks, wary of where he steps. if there's anything on the ceiling that's lucas's duty now.
after a pause, he'll walk over to the first sign?]
[INTO DA CAVES... He'll let Uruha have the torch because he is truly just cuddling this baby and being cold. He will keep an eye on the path ahead mostly, though even with poor lighting, he's got a freaky instinct to immediately snap his attention in the direction of movement wherever it might be coming from. imagine i said he doesn't look at the ceiling and we get divebombed by bats, but no, he is doing a visual sweep from ceiling to floor and also keeping an eye out for the potential source of the dripping sound.
Once they arrive at the sign, he'll pause by Uruha for a second.]
This way, I assume...
[Gazing down in that direction... Is anything immediately amiss from what little they can see in the torch light? Not the setting sun too. God.]
[ The sign just says OVER HERE. There's no secret--wait. In small, tiny little writing, Uruha will spot something...
GOTCHA
When he reads this............ nothing happens.
Ok, then.
Anyway, funny you should mention bats; there are some bats on the ceiling above the sign, though they seem uninterested in our compatriots right now. They seem oddly still, in fact. There's no source for the dripping currently. There's also no source for the new sound, which is a faint buzzing in the distance.
Looking at the ground, Uruha will spot some foot(paw?)prints that show people have walked through here not too long ago. It's two different tracks, one smaller and one bigger. They go deeper into the caves.
Past the first sign, following the footpawprints, the caves veer to the right before letting them out into a larger chamber where multiple paths open before them. It's an entire cave system and there doesn't seem to be anymore cheeky signs to follow near immediately. There are four different paths available that you can see immediately, almost like a star shape. To the lower left, to the lower right, upper left and upper right.
The chamber itself has a lot of stalactites and stalagmites and not much else going on for it. The sound of dripping water and buzzing is slightly louder here, but not significantly so. ]
[He's just sticking with Uruha for now since Uruha has THE LIGHT. Though he's also frowning a little at the buzzing sound being added to the dripping sound.]
[ Here are your tunnel options, which are oddly color-coordinated for my own sake.
The lower left has some blue gems lining the entrance. The dripping sound seems to be louder in this direction. There's nothing on the walls or ceiling for this path, and nothing of note on the ground either.
The upper left has some yellow gems lining the entrance. The buzzing sound seems louder in that direction. There's some chalk lines on the walls of the path, like someone marking their way through the path. Nothing of note on the ceiling or ground.
The upper right has some red gems lining the entrance. It is colder this way. There are mine tracts going deeper into that direction that they could follow, but nothing identifiable on the wall. There are some more oddly unmoving bats on the ceiling of this one.
The lower right has some green gems lining the entrance. It is warmer this way. There's moss slowly growing on the floor and walls of this path. There's nothing of note on the ceiling here at the entrance. ]
[Do the large and small tracks Uruha saw earlier just VANISH... The way his frigid ass wants to go down the path that's warmer just for the warmth, but only a little. Mostly he is just focused on finding Nadia.]
I think that would be a good place to start. They may have marked a trail, so if we don't find anything or it leads to a dead end, we could find our way back and start again.
[ Thanks for asking! The small tracks do vanish. Or more like fade as they walk in because the ground here is apparently terrible for footprints. But not fully; the smaller tracks seem to stop near the yellow. The bigger tracks seem to stop near the blue. But they could have easily turned around and kept going elsewhere...
They have chosen the yellow!!
The yellow is a long, narrow path. The marking is about waist high and follows them as they walk. The buzzing gets progressively louder, but never more than having say, a fly in the room. As they go, the path will get narrower and narrower, until they have to squeeze in one after another to fit in this tunnel. This also makes it harder for them to see...
There is the faintest scent of blood as the tunnel starts to curve, and, more distantly, the sound of soft sobbing accompanied by the buzzing as they keep going down.
[okay well. uruha is truly torn between his sense of duty meaning that he should be vanguard, as the one who can probably pull out a weapon with the least amount of hassle, versus his paranoia that lucas is going to maybe stab him in the back... but he'll go in front... (also because he has the torch and they need to see.)
anyway, sobbing??? HE'S NOT TURNING BACK IF ANYTHING HE'S MOVING WITH MORE URGENCY although he does keep in the back of his mind that it could be a trap.]
[HE'S PULLING UP THE REAR but his attention is also anchored forward toward the sound of the soft sobbing. NOT THIS BLOOD SMELL. He can't rush past Uruha but he will definitely be keeping pace with him. He can live without his paranoid fear of getting stabbed in the back being brought to fruition for another day...]
[ The path seems to curve into a spiral, leading them on further and deeper into the caves. The sobbing gets louder for a second before it cuts out when Uruha calls out. The buzzing sound also stops abruptly.
Then it starts up again, so soft it's almost impossible to hear, as someone speaks: ]
Don't--don't come here. I'm okay. Please go.
[ It sounds like Koharu to Uruha.
Lucas can only hear pained cries. There are no words. ]
[He's just assuming Uruha can for some reason be able to tell that it's Koharu from the sound of pained crying alone. But! Since he can't hear the voice telling them not to come, he just keeps following along after Uruha. SURELY THEY CAN CARRY ONE MORE PERSON ANIMAL WITH THEM.]
[ The rabbit doesn't pronounce itself on what it sounds like, because, like, it has no idea who Koharu is.
At the end of the spiral, there's a dead end. Or, well, sort of a dead end. It appears to be the yellow tunnel leads to a massive chamber with an equally massive wasp hive, buzzing softly. Unlike the picture no wives are currently out of the hive and it hangs precariously over the floor. There's a silhouette on the ground under the hive.
Uruha will recognize this as a small bird person; more precisely, as Koharu. She looks like a dove. Her wings are curled protectively around herself, though it's evident one of them is broken with the bent feathers and the blood. One of her legs is straight up missing. She sobs even more when she spots Uruha. ]
No... No, you have to go, it's not safe! Leave me!
[ For Lucas, well.
It looks like an oddly familiar flesh monster, with teary blue eyes and too many appendages. It is currently feasting on an animal, though all he can make out is a yellow dog paw. He does not hear anything but pained cries.
[well, uruha has no idea what lucas is seeing! so he stares at koharu for a moment, and then he looks at lucas.]
Stay here. It might be a trap.
[unfortunately or fortunately, even in the midst of everything, uruha is a pragmatist. he's also aware that sometimes you have to leave your friends and allies behind when they tell you to, which is why he's not going all in for saving koharu, but—without knowing what the danger is, he can't just ditch her as the first resort either.
[URUHA IS TRYING SO HARD TO BE A PRAGMATIST AND SMART EVEN WITH HIS DAMAGED SANITY STATS AND THEN THERE'S LUCAS who sees one of those awful creatures and a yellow dog paw and immediately loses so much of his logic.]
—Nadia?!
[He will at least allow the bunny to hide in his shirt and he's still keeping a protective arm over it but he's also now trying to dart past Uruha despite him being like STAY HERE about it to get a closer look. He is so uncaring of this hive of wives but he's also not out here trying to antagonize it either, he is just singlemindedly focused on paw.]
Uruha asks a question and Lucas steps closer, so from that point of view Koharu curls in on herself even more. She screeches: ]
No--stop--the wasps! The wasps, don't come closer! They'll kill you!
[ Lucas cannot hear this wasp warning, though the buzzing does get more intense as he walks closer. The monster's wide eyes turn towards him. It looks injured. The strange pained noises are coming from it and not its victims, now? Or maybe it was always coming from the crying monster? The yellow paw is attached to a yellow dog, and it is even a person type of dog because it's dressed...
though hey, good news! Lucas can now tell it's not Nadia.
It's Yves instead!
His smile wavers as he mouths a completely inappropriate hello, monsieur lucas through the blood pooling in his mouth. Or what's left of it. He must be so happy! The monster ate his scar away. He has no flesh on that side of his face anymore. ]
[LUCAS IS JUST LOOKING SO INSANE YELLING PEOPLE'S NAMES RANDOMLY WHEN ALL URUHA SEES IS KOHARU. HE ALSO DOES NOT HAVE ANY WARNING ABOUT THE BEES so he's going to try to get closer even though there is both a (PAINED???) monster here and a hive of wives. HE HAS NO FLESH ON THE SIDE OF HIS FACE BUT IT'S NOT OVER UNTIL IT'S OVER LISTEN.]
Yves, hold on—!
[HOLDING BABY IN ONE ARM AND BRANDISHING A KNIFE IN THE OTHER he's going in and trying to see if there is any angle he could feasibly grab Yves from without having to engage in combat.]
[ "are there wasps" my god. there sure are, my dudes.
The noise and the proximity is enough, and slowly some wasps start to make their way out of the hive. At least five of them. Sorry. Also, are these bitch wives wearing armor? Yeah. They're not attacking right this second, but they are hovering menacingly, and will probably not stay still for very long.
The rabbit is squeaking because IT notices the wasps THANK YOU. From Uruha's pov, Koharu struggles to drag herself away from Lucas, bringing herself closer to the hovering wasps. ]
You have to run--! They'll kill you!
[ on the alternate vision side yves does not have much capacity for speech, though he is looking at lucas with oddly bright eyes. eye. singular eye, the other one got eaten.
The monster is draped over him, not chewing on him anymore as it trains its many eyes to the wasps. It starts to crouch lower on top of Yves, dragging him further towards the back of the cave, making an odd, protective noise about it. ]
[do the wasps look like they're hostile towards koharu at all? the fact that she's bringing herself closer to them is something uruha notices—and if it seems like the wasps aren't going to harm her, that makes the decision for uruha.
ultimately, ruthless.]
Lucas, we have to go! It's not Yves!
[or is it? it doesn't take a genius to realize that something is weird going on, with yves being able to hear the rabbit when uruha cannot, and now them clearly seeing different things. but it doesn't feel like they have time to sort out this dissonance right now.]
[Well. Does the odd brightness of Yves' eye happen to come from the glowing cyan pupil denoting a Reliver.
Because if so Lucas is immediately abandoning his mission and running back toward Uruha. IF NOT I GUESS HE'D AGONIZE OVER THIS DECISION A BIT LONGER despite the armor-wearing wives just hovering menacingly despite the fact that this child in his arms is squeaking, but i cannot tell you the immediacy with which he'd abandon Yves to his horrible fate if he thought that was a Reliver.
OKAY WITH IT CONFIRMED IT'S NOT RELIVER AND JUST ZIA BEING POETIC LUCAS IS DEFINITELY HESITATING AND LOOKS LIKE HE MIGHT TRY TO SPRINT AFTER THIS FUCKING MONSTER.]
anyway unfortunately it looks like Koharu was trying to distract the wasps from them by crawling closer pitifully, wings flaring as much as they can with the blood and brokenness of it all. Two wasps fly down, not being wives at all, stingers at the ready. They seem to be having trouble getting past her wings properly to attack her. The other three are starting to fly towards our duo.
Yves was CRYING and SMILING and tries to mouth go leave me at Lucas and ISN'T A RELIVER he's a GOLDEN RETRIEVER it's STUPIDER. The monster is snarling with wide eyes at the wasps, using its tongue as a lash to keep them at bay from its slowly bleeding out prey. i ALMOST wrote breeding out im in shambles now
but they can like totally just walk away. turn around. leave. in fact, the rabbit whispers as much: ]
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holyspirits) wrote2025-03-09 08:53 pm
make your own memes actually
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First, once they get inside, it's immediately apparent that it is dark in here. The rabbit is peering around from Lucas' arm. It has better night vision than they do, but it is not a cat. And neither is Uruha despite his appearance, apparently, because he can't see in the dark. Luckily, there's a convenient lit torch near the entrance, as there often is in convenient cave systems. The torch will probably not burn indefinitely and can probably be extinguished, though, since it's just. You know. A fire torch. It's too bad they don't have a convenient flashlight that they would know how to use.
Now that you are in an enclosed system, please let me know where you are looking as you advance.
The cave entrance seems straightforward for now. It's a single tunnel going up into the mountain. There's the sound of dripping water in the distance, but not much else. The signs continue, the first of which says:
OVER HERE.
Outside behind them, the sun is setting. ]
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assuming not, as uruha holds the torch up, he does his best to look around at the walls and ground as he walks, wary of where he steps. if there's anything on the ceiling that's lucas's duty now.
after a pause, he'll walk over to the first sign?]
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Once they arrive at the sign, he'll pause by Uruha for a second.]
This way, I assume...
[Gazing down in that direction... Is anything immediately amiss from what little they can see in the torch light? Not the setting sun too. God.]
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GOTCHA
When he reads this............ nothing happens.
Ok, then.
Anyway, funny you should mention bats; there are some bats on the ceiling above the sign, though they seem uninterested in our compatriots right now. They seem oddly still, in fact. There's no source for the dripping currently. There's also no source for the new sound, which is a faint buzzing in the distance.
Looking at the ground, Uruha will spot some foot(paw?)prints that show people have walked through here not too long ago. It's two different tracks, one smaller and one bigger. They go deeper into the caves.
Past the first sign, following the footpawprints, the caves veer to the right before letting them out into a larger chamber where multiple paths open before them. It's an entire cave system and there doesn't seem to be anymore cheeky signs to follow near immediately. There are four different paths available that you can see immediately, almost like a star shape. To the lower left, to the lower right, upper left and upper right.
The chamber itself has a lot of stalactites and stalagmites and not much else going on for it. The sound of dripping water and buzzing is slightly louder here, but not significantly so. ]
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anyway, if uruha goes to the entrance of each of the four paths and holds up the torch, can he gleam anything further about any individual tunnel?]
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The lower left has some blue gems lining the entrance. The dripping sound seems to be louder in this direction. There's nothing on the walls or ceiling for this path, and nothing of note on the ground either.
The upper left has some yellow gems lining the entrance. The buzzing sound seems louder in that direction. There's some chalk lines on the walls of the path, like someone marking their way through the path. Nothing of note on the ceiling or ground.
The upper right has some red gems lining the entrance. It is colder this way. There are mine tracts going deeper into that direction that they could follow, but nothing identifiable on the wall. There are some more oddly unmoving bats on the ceiling of this one.
The lower right has some green gems lining the entrance. It is warmer this way. There's moss slowly growing on the floor and walls of this path. There's nothing of note on the ceiling here at the entrance. ]
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he turns to lucas.]
Thoughts?
[even if they might be bad ones. :/ ]
I'm wondering about the yellow one—it seems like someone might've passed through it.
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I think that would be a good place to start. They may have marked a trail, so if we don't find anything or it leads to a dead end, we could find our way back and start again.
[LET'S YELLOW BRICK ROAD...]
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They have chosen the yellow!!
The yellow is a long, narrow path. The marking is about waist high and follows them as they walk. The buzzing gets progressively louder, but never more than having say, a fly in the room. As they go, the path will get narrower and narrower, until they have to squeeze in one after another to fit in this tunnel. This also makes it harder for them to see...
There is the faintest scent of blood as the tunnel starts to curve, and, more distantly, the sound of soft sobbing accompanied by the buzzing as they keep going down.
They can always turn back. ]
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anyway, sobbing??? HE'S NOT TURNING BACK IF ANYTHING HE'S MOVING WITH MORE URGENCY although he does keep in the back of his mind that it could be a trap.]
Is someone there—?
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Do you see anyone?
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Then it starts up again, so soft it's almost impossible to hear, as someone speaks: ]
Don't--don't come here. I'm okay. Please go.
[ It sounds like Koharu to Uruha.
Lucas can only hear pained cries. There are no words. ]
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[and he is ignoring what she says as he heads further down the path, even as his wariness grows, hand around the hilt of his knife.]
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[He's just assuming Uruha can for some reason be able to tell that it's Koharu from the sound of pained crying alone. But! Since he can't hear the voice telling them not to come, he just keeps following along after Uruha. SURELY THEY CAN CARRY ONE MORE PERSON ANIMAL WITH THEM.]
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At the end of the spiral, there's a dead end. Or, well, sort of a dead end. It appears to be the yellow tunnel leads to a massive chamber with an equally massive wasp hive, buzzing softly. Unlike the picture no wives are currently out of the hive and it hangs precariously over the floor. There's a silhouette on the ground under the hive.
Uruha will recognize this as a small bird person; more precisely, as Koharu. She looks like a dove. Her wings are curled protectively around herself, though it's evident one of them is broken with the bent feathers and the blood. One of her legs is straight up missing. She sobs even more when she spots Uruha. ]
No... No, you have to go, it's not safe! Leave me!
[ For Lucas, well.
It looks like an oddly familiar flesh monster, with teary blue eyes and too many appendages. It is currently feasting on an animal, though all he can make out is a yellow dog paw. He does not hear anything but pained cries.
The buzzing intensifies, but no wasps come out.
the bunny is trying to hide in lucas' shirt ]
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Stay here. It might be a trap.
[unfortunately or fortunately, even in the midst of everything, uruha is a pragmatist. he's also aware that sometimes you have to leave your friends and allies behind when they tell you to, which is why he's not going all in for saving koharu, but—without knowing what the danger is, he can't just ditch her as the first resort either.
so with that, knife ready, he steps closer.]
What's not safe?
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—Nadia?!
[He will at least allow the bunny to hide in his shirt and he's still keeping a protective arm over it but he's also now trying to dart past Uruha despite him being like STAY HERE about it to get a closer look. He is so uncaring of this hive of wives but he's also not out here trying to antagonize it either, he is just singlemindedly focused on paw.]
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Uruha asks a question and Lucas steps closer, so from that point of view Koharu curls in on herself even more. She screeches: ]
No--stop--the wasps! The wasps, don't come closer! They'll kill you!
[ Lucas cannot hear this wasp warning, though the buzzing does get more intense as he walks closer. The monster's wide eyes turn towards him. It looks injured. The strange pained noises are coming from it and not its victims, now? Or maybe it was always coming from the crying monster? The yellow paw is attached to a yellow dog, and it is even a person type of dog because it's dressed...
though hey, good news! Lucas can now tell it's not Nadia.
It's Yves instead!
His smile wavers as he mouths a completely inappropriate hello, monsieur lucas through the blood pooling in his mouth. Or what's left of it. He must be so happy! The monster ate his scar away. He has no flesh on that side of his face anymore. ]
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Lucas!?
[WHAT ARE YOU DOING, SIR. uruha's just kind of ??? he glances up to see if any wasps are here yet or.]
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[LUCAS IS JUST LOOKING SO INSANE YELLING PEOPLE'S NAMES RANDOMLY WHEN ALL URUHA SEES IS KOHARU. HE ALSO DOES NOT HAVE ANY WARNING ABOUT THE BEES so he's going to try to get closer even though there is both a (PAINED???) monster here and a hive of wives. HE HAS NO FLESH ON THE SIDE OF HIS FACE BUT IT'S NOT OVER UNTIL IT'S OVER LISTEN.]
Yves, hold on—!
[HOLDING BABY IN ONE ARM AND BRANDISHING A KNIFE IN THE OTHER he's going in and trying to see if there is any angle he could feasibly grab Yves from without having to engage in combat.]
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The noise and the proximity is enough, and slowly some wasps start to make their way out of the hive. At least five of them. Sorry. Also, are these bitch wives wearing armor? Yeah. They're not attacking right this second, but they are hovering menacingly, and will probably not stay still for very long.
The rabbit is squeaking because IT notices the wasps THANK YOU. From Uruha's pov, Koharu struggles to drag herself away from Lucas, bringing herself closer to the hovering wasps. ]
You have to run--! They'll kill you!
[ on the alternate vision side yves does not have much capacity for speech, though he is looking at lucas with oddly bright eyes. eye. singular eye, the other one got eaten.
The monster is draped over him, not chewing on him anymore as it trains its many eyes to the wasps. It starts to crouch lower on top of Yves, dragging him further towards the back of the cave, making an odd, protective noise about it. ]
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ultimately, ruthless.]
Lucas, we have to go! It's not Yves!
[or is it? it doesn't take a genius to realize that something is weird going on, with yves being able to hear the rabbit when uruha cannot, and now them clearly seeing different things. but it doesn't feel like they have time to sort out this dissonance right now.]
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Because if so Lucas is immediately abandoning his mission and running back toward Uruha. IF NOT I GUESS HE'D AGONIZE OVER THIS DECISION A BIT LONGER despite the armor-wearing wives just hovering menacingly despite the fact that this child in his arms is squeaking, but i cannot tell you the immediacy with which he'd abandon Yves to his horrible fate if he thought that was a Reliver.
OKAY WITH IT CONFIRMED IT'S NOT RELIVER AND JUST ZIA BEING POETIC LUCAS IS DEFINITELY HESITATING AND LOOKS LIKE HE MIGHT TRY TO SPRINT AFTER THIS FUCKING MONSTER.]
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anyway unfortunately it looks like Koharu was trying to distract the wasps from them by crawling closer pitifully, wings flaring as much as they can with the blood and brokenness of it all. Two wasps fly down, not being wives at all, stingers at the ready. They seem to be having trouble getting past her wings properly to attack her. The other three are starting to fly towards our duo.
Yves was CRYING and SMILING and tries to mouth go leave me at Lucas and ISN'T A RELIVER he's a GOLDEN RETRIEVER it's STUPIDER. The monster is snarling with wide eyes at the wasps, using its tongue as a lash to keep them at bay from its slowly bleeding out prey. i ALMOST wrote breeding out im in shambles now
but they can like totally just walk away. turn around. leave. in fact, the rabbit whispers as much: ]
um can we please go before we die
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