Further Below

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 7:42 am

When the tunnel collapsed Sara wasn't too worried. She just shifted and moved along with the crumbling and moving stone until she could feel it come to a rest again. What she hadn't anticipated was how much this would mess with her orientation (and how much further down it had taken her when the stone masses had caused older tunnels further down to collapse as well) so when she moves through the stone in the direction she assumes the other rest of the team to be she's a little confused at how long it takes her to find open space again. And how different this tunnel looks.

"Okay, relax. I can't just go straight up until I hit the surface, I'm probably still under the hotel..." she mumbles to herself.

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 7:59 am

Everything in this tunnel was wet and water flowed in little rivulets across the floor, but it flowed in intricate patterns and occasionally uphill, heading down the tunnel towards a glow.

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 8:03 am

It was probably a bad idea to go off and investigate something, but you show a scientist (in training) water flowing uphill and they just gotta have an answer, even if it's just 'A Mutant Did It'. So Sara, shifted to look as much as the wall as possible, slowly made her way towards the glow, trying to stay out of the water to not make too much sound.

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 8:16 am

The tunnel opened up into a large room with columns. The floor of this room was covered in a thin layer of water. In the middle of the room, was a deep pool, towards which the water has flowing. A column of water grew out of the pool, supporting a metal platform. Sitting cross-legged on the platform was a blond woman. She might have once been pretty. She might even still be pretty if she cleaned up. As it was though, her face was smudged with dirt and her ragged clothes were a soggy mess.

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 8:23 am

Of course. Just missing Talia and Rick for the full set. she nervously jokes to herself. Someone who withdrew this far into the ground was bound to be too friendly for the world above or even worse. But if she wants to find the other X-Men again someone who's obviously native to these tunnels would be incredibly helpful...

Stepping away from the wall and into the opening to the room (but not into any water) Sara clears her throat to draw the woman's attention.

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 8:32 am

The woman's eyes flared with a blue glow and a watery form resembling an ancient Roman soldier rose out of the pool, marching towards Sara. "State your business." It looked like the watery soldier-construct's lips were moving and it sounded like he was speaking, but the woman's lips moved in time with the speech.

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 8:38 am

"Just... passing through?" she says carefully, more anxious about the rest of the water in the room than the construct. "I got seperated from my friends up there when a tunnel collapsed."

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 8:46 am

The woman seemed to consider that for a moment. "State your allegiance." Now that the construct was closer, Sara would be able to see that the detailing was meticulous down to the feathers in the crest of the helmet.

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 9:02 am

Show-off...

"I'm my own side." she says, figuring that's close enough to both the truth and what her counter-part in this world might say.

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 9:16 am

The construct collapsed, the water flowing back towards the pool as the blue glow faded from the woman's eyes. The water between Sara and the pool split, leaving a path of somewhat dry ground and the woman looked at her. She beckoned to Sara, waiting patiently.

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 9:25 am

Sara smirks. Wether it's a trap, a test or just common courtesy (yeah right), she's not about to fall for it. As she walks towards the 'path' the ground rises up in front of her to fill in the space left behind by the water, keeping her walking just above the waterline as she creates a stretch of ground up to the pool.

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 9:34 am

The column of water sank, bringing the platform lower. Now that Sara was closer, she would be able to see the surface of the columns on the sides facing the platform had been carved into relief images. The larger images all carried a horse motif while the supporting images showed people in various stages of life and death. The lines and surfaces were smooth and didn't look chisel carved.

"You are not one of the Generals lackeys. They are insufferably arrogant. And you're not one of the opposition. They don't have 'friends'. That makes you something of an oddity. And perhaps an intruder?" The woman looked at her intently.

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 10:49 am

"I'm just looking for my friends." she says calmly. Something about those 'carvings' seems oddly familiar though. Water... horses...

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 11:04 am

"Everyone is looking for something. I could find your friends, if they're in the tunnels somewhere. The real question is: Why should I help you?"

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 11:21 am

Dead people... offering to lead me somewhere... She thinks she's a Ceffyl Dŵr!

"And how do I know I can trust you?"

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 11:29 am

"You can't," she said. "But your other option is wandering the tunnels just hoping you run across your friends. You could do that for years."

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 11:40 am

"And what do you want in return?"

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 11:43 am

"What are you offering?" The water of the pool smoothed to a glassy calmness.

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 12:28 pm

"Can't say I have much on me after squeezing through piles of rubble, but if you have any stone you need cleared out faster than you can do it yourself..."

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 12:34 pm

"I could always use another room," she said, nodding. The water gently moved the platform away from the pool and set it down on the floor. She stood up stretching, "Follow me." She began walking towards the back of the room, water around her spinning up into flowing patterns in the air before settling back down into the water. The dry path for Sara suddenly continued around the pool, falling into step behind the woman.

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 12:41 pm

Seriously? A whole room?

Trying not to groan Sara follows her, continuing to expand her stone-bridge to walk on.

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 12:49 pm

In the back of the room stood two figures in riot-gear body armor. They flanked a small opening and as the woman approached, they snapped to attention and saluted. The body armor was extremely wet and there were no faces behind the face shields. Through the opening was a much smaller room lit by waterproof lights. Most of the room's furnishing consisted of a random assortment of junk, all showing signs of damage from the moist environment. If it were less creepy, damp, and cold, it might have been cozy. "I'd like another room, about the size of this one through there." She indicated an opening where it looked like water had been working on wearing away the beginnings of a new room. She dropped down into a throne-like chair made of an odd assortment of metal. "Do you think that a fair trade?"

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 12:59 pm

"Do you have somewhere to dump the stone?"

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 1:02 pm

"Could you dump it in the large room? In a pile or a block makes no difference. I've been needing new material to work with anyway."

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 1:13 pm

"Sure, whatever."

Putting her hand on the beginning of the doorway Sara 'melts' along with part of the stone. A river of stone snakes through the room towards the previous one, flowing away from the room to be and into a growing cube on the other end, only making the faintest sound of rushing sand.

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 1:31 pm

The woman watched with fascination, humming to herself as she absently fumbled in a box of junk. Finally, she asked, "Do you have a name?" She pulled out something that resembled a small knife and starting sharpening it.

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 3:42 pm

"Flowstone." it comes from somewhere in the stream of, well, flowing stone.

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 3:48 pm

"You're not from around here..." She snickered and gestured to the room, "Well, there's no one from around here, but you know what I mean." She eyed the knife, inspecting the edge and went back to sharpening it.

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 3:51 pm

"No, I'm not. And I don't plan on staying long."

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 3:52 pm

The woman clucked her tongue, "Testy, testy. You don't like it here?"

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:00 pm

"So far I've been attacked by a building, an evil version of my husband, dumped in the sewers and had a tunnel collapsed on top of me. So no, I don't particularly like it here."

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:02 pm

"Psh, you've been on the kiddy ride, Flowstone," she said before suddenly switching to a wistful tone, "not that I can blame you for wanting to be somewhere else."

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:28 pm

"Oh so you're not just hiding down here because it's so cozy."

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:33 pm

She jammed the knife into a piece of wood sitting nearby and stood up to argue with the stream of stone, "Hiding?! Who said anything about hiding? I'm not hiding!"

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:39 pm

"Of course not. Love it here. So damp and musky. How long did it take you to erode out this room?"

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:41 pm

"I don't remember," she said, crossing her arms. "Not like I have clocks down here now is it?" She seemed to be arguing with the air now.

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:42 pm

"And why are you down here then?"

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 5:02 pm

"Because maybe hell really is other people," she said. "Or maybe just existence is hell and down here I don't exist. Why would you care anyway? You just want to get back to your 'friends' and get out of here."

by **Sara Stanton** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 5:19 pm

"I don't know... We have terrible people in our world, I'd like to believe that means there are decent ones here."

by **Kelpie** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 5:22 pm

"Everyone has their own definition of 'decent' and the only 'decent' people that exist are the people that agree with you. That's the generic you, not the you in specific."

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