01. ACTION

[sparrowfeather]

[ it's dark, and cramped, and rose can't see a damn thing. as far as she knows, she had been hunting down the remaining iris gems with the party, but there was a wide crack she overlooked in those annoying ruins, and said ruins weren't very stable. she didn't expect the resulting crash to land her in a place like this, though. rose is getting sort of tired of surprises.

there's something rattling around in here with her, too, and she's well aware that for all she knows, it could be dangerous. rose squirms a little and then, with a grunt, gives the inner wall of the capsule the hardest kick she can manage. hard enough to break it and send her and some type of trinket tumbling to the ground. that's a start. ]

Owww... Man, what the hell was that all about? And you guys wonder why I can't stand places like this! Hey, Sorey, can you hear me up there?

[ no answer. not even an echo. more importantly, rose can't feel the presence of the seraphim anymore, either. it's just her.

when rose glances up to take a look, it takes her a good second to realize that this is not where she thought she was. she's positive that those ruins had been all dried up, but down here? rose has no idea, but it doesn't look like anything's in decay, and that sure is a lot of water she's seeing outside the clear windows. that part is pretty hard to miss. water is sort of mikleo's thing, not hers, and she does not see mikleo.

so... she's lost. great! what are these things, anyway? ]

Uh. Guys? Anyone? A little help, maybe? It smells like fish in here.

[ only then does she notice the little object by her feet. maybe it's an iris gem and she'll luck out, escape, save everyone some trouble, get a pat on the back. rose crouches down and tilts her head before picking up a rose in a bottle. nice. it's totally useless. ]

Ha, ha. Real clever. Giving a cute girl named Rose a rose? Nobody's ever tried that one before. Seriously, way to win me over. I'm swooning. Now, if someone could just--

[ aaaand then the shower goes off before she can ask for help again. seconds later, with an ear-piercing shriek of surprise, rose is drenched from head to toe. she's so loud that anyone anywhere near the shower room will be able to hear her. ]

Comments

[imsorey]

[There are normally a lot of loud noises around the base, so hearing the occasional yell or shriek isn't too uncommon. Even shouts from the showers aren't unheard of with the rowdy bunch they have on base. But Sorey isn't one to ignore a distressed cry, so when he hears the shout he automatically makes for the showers to see if someone needs help!

But he stops himself from actually going into the shower room, because someone could actually be naked and showering in there. There was a cry for help, but that doesn't mean he's going to walk in on one of the girls showering??? What does a protag do.

He just awkwardly stands in front of the door and knocks, calling out in the hopes that she hears him.]

Uh--hey, are you okay in there?

[sparrowfeather]

[ is that-- no way. her ears are probably just playing tricks on her.

she can't help but get her hopes up, anyway. please don't make her have to deal with this on her own. ]

Sorey? Sorey!

[ rose wrings out her dripping wet hair and her clothes before stepping outside and cracking the door open, careful not to slip (again) over the water spilled everywhere. when she peers out and meets sorey's eyes, there's a flash of obvious relief before her expressions twists into a piercing glare. ]

So, care to tell me what happened back there? I mean, what is this, another water trial? Suffering through just one was more than enough!

[ she could go on rambling, but she raises an eyebrow when she still doesn't sense the seraphim. ]

... Where is everyone? Where are we?

[ rose shivers. ugh, she needs to get out of these wet clothes. ]

[imsorey]

R-Rose?

[If Alisha was a surprise, Rose is even more of one. He knows enough to not think he's hallucinating, but that doesn't stop him from gapping at her.]

What are you--no, hang on, let me get you a towel.

[Scrambling back to get her a towel so she can dry off.]

he is such a Good Boy

[sparrowfeather]

[ rose can't help it when her lips curve into a fond smile. same old sorey, all right. he always turns her into such a big softie. ]

Ugh, thanks. That's a start.

[ rose unties her hair and starts toweling it off, too careless to worry about combing it out nice and neat. she looks terrible, but she couldn't care less at the moment, especially around sorey of all people. ]

Right. Sooo... Any idea what the heck's going on here? I thought I was the only one who slipped back in those ruins, and when I fell through the cracks, I ended up here. Not the same ruins! I mean, I don't think so, anyway.

[ a pause, and then her voice softens. ]

... Seriously, I'm a little freaked out. You're the expert, not me. You've gotta know where we are, right? I've never seen anything like this.

he tries

[imsorey]

You fell in the ruins too? The same thing happened to me.

[Oh god it's like a theme. He doesn't know if it's ironic or just a testament to how much time they spend in ruins. But he knows he has to fill her in before she goes on thinking that these are just some weird underwater ruins. She might freak out, but better to move forward with the information they've got.]

Alisha and Mikleo are here too. We're not in the ruins anymore though--we're on the planet Iniidae. Uh, don't ask me how we got from the ruins to here because we're still not sure. But we do know we're definitely on another planet.

Surprise?

[sparrowfeather]

[ so mikleo and alisha are here, too? that's... odd, considering alisha wasn't even traveling with them. what about the others, then? where are they?

all those questions die on rose's tongue the second sorey mentions another planet.

rose gives him a very long, very blank stare. it's impossible to read her expression; maybe she's mulling his words over, maybe she's not.

it becomes a little clearer when she bursts into laughter, though. with a loud snort, she gives him a sharp elbow to the shoulder, playful but reprimanding. ]

Come on, Sorey, stop kidding around! I was serious!

[imsorey]

I was serious too.

[Not that he blames her for not believing it. It's not much better than freaking out, but it takes a lot of suspension of disbelief.]

If you look around you can tell. Everything's different here.

[sparrowfeather]

[ she looks a little guilty when she sees sorey's downcast eyes. oh, man... ]

W-Well, yeah, but...

[ she supposes it's a little silly, but-- ]

I dunno, I guess I was just hoping there was some sort of explanation that made a little more sense. When I landed here, there were things that popped into my head about a mission, but I didn't want to think about any of that when my first priority was finding you guys.

Let's say this is another planet. Hypothetically, because I'm still getting used to something so goddamn weird. What about our planet? Because it's kiiinda in trouble, and we need to get back, don't we?

[imsorey]

I was sort of hoping that you were taking care of things while I was gone.

[It's more than a little concerning that Glenwood is now lacking a Shepherd AND a Squire, that much is true.]

Trust me, I'd like to get back, but I don't have the first clue about how to do that. We've been trying to learn more about how we got here in the first place.

[sparrowfeather]

Uhh, yeah, about that... You were with me the whole time. Mikleo, too. I'm sure you don't need me to state the obvious, but it just doesn't add up that you've been here this much longer than I have.

[ she frowns, palpable concern in her eyes. if they're all here, and with no way of getting back, no less, then what's happening back on earth? what about heldalf? if sorey was both here and there at the same time, then does that mean she is, too? like, are there two of her? her brain hurts. ]

And Alisha, too? Oh, man.

[ rose doesn't even know where to start. ]

Well, I'll do whatever I can to help, but I can't make any promises about getting us anywhere when you guys have been at a dead end this long. We need to stay positive, though, right? Just be optimistic! When it comes to that, I'd say we're a pretty good team. It's our job to keep everyone from giving up.

[ she tries another smile. a sincere one. panicking isn't going to get her anywhere, let alone the others. ]

... So... it's safe to say that none of the others are here, then.

[ optimistic or not, things are going to be a lot tougher without them around. chances are they could really help out. ]

[imsorey]

[He raises his eyebrows when she drops that bit of information; he and Mikleo have both been stuck on an ocean planet for months, not on Glenwood, so that's news to him.

But he files it away for later and mirrors her smile. It's a little skewed, but he's trying.]

No one else is here. Unless they're on a different part of the planet that we haven't been to yet, but I don't feel like that's the case.