A terrible blizzard has been raging outside, sending the Fortians deep into the Weyr. While gathering to study on one of these cold nights, a group finds themselves trapped in the darkness as the generator goes out…
Fort Weyr - Lost Archives
Surviving the ages is something that books are known to do, especially if they are left untouched for just as long. In this room, that's exactly what has happened. Put aside as trivial information or simply determined old enough to not impact present day life, these numerous articles stored in ceiling high shelves are the forgotten histories belonging to Fort.
Miraculously, the design of the room itself has prevented any of the books from damage. The rock base of which the room's foundation is actually one of the toughest rock known to man and cannot be surpassed by any creature living, while a layer of tiles of the smoothest stone gives this room a vibrant and mysterious appeal. The door itself on the room was sealed tight and allowed for a minimum amount of circulation, thereby preventing natural decay, although most articles may be brittle despite this. White marble has been used to create an insulating layer wall against the natural rock, giving the room an unnatural brightness and a enchanted atmosphere - while also giving it four distinct walls. The ceiling as well has been made smooth with an arching apex.
As for the books and mounds of information stored in this vault of information, the organization is clear. Books bound with hard covers are kept alphabetical in the towering skybroom wood shelves, where step ladders and scrolling ladders actually attached to the shelves move to assist a person in selecting a volume. The shelves are ornately carved, many crafted with a mastery none have ever seen. Meanwhile, scrolls have a sectional shelf where each scroll based on how they were itemized has a cubical square into which they are kept in. This shelf alone has over a hundred squares in which the scrolls stick out of. As well, any loose bits of information have been assembled in files that are stored in boxes along the back wall. Apparently, recording history takes up vast amounts of space and every where one looks in this room one would find a wealth of information. The ancestors of Fort live here.
It's evening at Fort Weyr, not long past the dinner hour. The sky outside is dark with clouds happily dumping their hefty load of snow on the ground, the wind howling outside and through the ventilation shafts. The lamps light the archive pleasantly, giving off a warm yellow glow. Jayashri is settled in a chair near a wall, her laptop open in front of her, the power cord running to the nearby outlet as she works on something, a large tome setting open next to her laptop. Ravi keeps lays draped across her shoulder, his tail flicking idly as he watches the screen with faint interest, chirping occasionally. The CompCrafter is occasionally muttering to herself, musing out portions of her project aloud.
Pralius has finally acquired a laptop of his own and he sits near Jayashri with yet another tome, tippy-tip-tap-typing away. Harkonnen is slumped half asleep across the venerable tome and Vlad sits on his shoulder, watching every typed key with intent interest and playing idly with a toothpick.
Karona comes down the passageway with an older and rounder man by her side. She looks utterly bored, but she's pointing out various things. "And down here's the archives. Been sent down a few times to research alloys." she tells the man, who wears the knot of a master ranked Harper evidently, though not in Fort colours. He must be visiting. He's nodding, and peering around the cavern. "Oh, I see, that's interesting." he says, and seems to mean it.
K'oss has been missing for a while, but as of yet Meahakumeleth hasn't been panicking, so he couldn't have been gone for too long. As it stands, he soon enters the library, and goes weak with relief. There are people here! He won't starve to death now! …people really need to tie a string to his ankle or something whenever he goes ANYWHERE.
Odisyn enters with his tool box, some klah in a thermos, his laptop and a book. "Aaah, nothing like the biography of the one and only Albert Einstein for some entertaining reading." He says as he enters. He moves to the library shelves and returns the book where he found it. "Lets see if they have Hoyle and Wickromansing or Stephan Hawking." He starts searching the shelves of the biography section.
Moydeo moves down into the archives, managing to find her way here, mostly by following others. She's accompanied by her young green firelizard who is curled up on her shoulder. She pauses as she enters, waving to those that are here. "Hello." She greets, and moves to the book shelves, to see if they have any of what she's looking for.
It's echoing footsteps that announce the arrival of someone else to this impromptu gathering. It's not difficult to recognize Elyciana from her shock of amber hair, not to mention the fact there's a tiny gosling trailing at her heels. That's strange enough to be there in such a deep part of the Weyr. Still, she strides along unabashedly into the area, her eyes immediately trailing over the shelves of books with a scowl, "Shards .. how is anyone supposed to find anything here?" In fact, she stops in the midle and looks fairly lost, until she manages to see Ashri - a familiar face who might know what to do. "Is there any way to find a sharding book in this place without going through the whole thing one by one?" For now she's totally focused on the girl and hasn't noticed anyone else.
Ashri pauses as several people enter the archives, seeing if she recognizes anyone. Karona and her Harper company receive a polite nod, Odisyn moves by too quickly to get anything, and Moydeo receives a smile and a small wave. "Evening, Moydeo." And then she dives back into her terminal, hammering out some sudden thought, her typing speed slowing briefly here and there as she flips pages back and forth in the tome next to her. More muttering. And then Elyciana catches her attention. "Huh?" She looks up and tilts her head at the Beastcrafter. "Oh. Well, the Ancients did organize it." She quickly taps a few more keys on her laptop before getting out of her chair, starting to weave her way over. "What are you looking for?"
Pralius glances up at the new arrivals, nodding to each in turn, cringing at first when the unknown man enters, then it becomes clear it's not K'rius and he calms. He shifts Harkonnen from the record to turn it's page then Odisyn's entrance interrupts his train of thought with his rambling. Pralius can't help looking up, and once he does he just has to ask, "Odisyn? Do you always speak aloud about ancient authors?"
Odisyn frowns. "Elyciana its called the Dewie decimal system. Every topic has a number from zero to nine hundred ninety nine." He says, coming back with a biography of Stephen Hawking. "You just need to know what numbers got what."
K'oss regards Pralius quizzically when he cringes, then just shrugs. Weird person. Anyway! "So, uh, does anyone know the way to the Living Caverns? I seem to be lost. Again." he asks the group at large.
Moydeo perks. "Oh, hey Karona, is this your father?" She asks the girl, of the man with her, she then nods to Pralius. "From what I've seen Odisyn speaks aloud about ancient things, alot." She says, silently hoping said boy won't start now, she was hoping for a quiet time down here. She pulls out a book about runners, and goes to find a seat, before she looks back up, and at K'oss, blinking a moment. "You don't know how to get to the living caverns?"
Elyciana lets out her breath in a slow puff as she eyes each shelf in turn, a deep frown pulling at the corners of her lips with each passing glance. "Oh .. you know. Something on geese," she finally ventures to Ashri, her eyes focusing on the girl after a few more passes over the multitude of shelves, "I nearly got lost comign down here and I'd probably need a search and rescue party if I attempted finding a book in this lot." She flicks a hand disdainfully at the shelves around her and she even frowns a bit at Odisyn, "Honestly, Odisyn. Not everyone knows about dewey whatevers." A roll of her eyes and then she happens to catch sight of the rest of the people - Pralius and Moydeo in particular, as well as K'oss, even though her recognition of him doesn't go far, "Come to search for books in this mess too?" She considers the latter for a moment and smirks a little, "Perhaps I should have left a trail of some sort to get us back to the caverns." Waldo, the little gosling, cheeps as he ocmes to a stop at Ely's heels, nearly bumping into her in his haste to catch up. He wobbles a bit, his tiny red and white striped cap going askew. He peers up at all the people. Cheep?
There's an odd, muffled groan that echoes down the tunnels, the sound barely audiable within the library; if it weren't relatively quiet here, one might miss the strange noise altogether..
Karona blinks a little as she overhears her name, and quickly leads that aging harper over towards Moydeo. "Yes, yes, this is my father, Master Karell." she introduces, all happy and proud. Her father, the master. "His runner came in a bit late, but all safe and good." she says, quite relieved. She actually likes her father, even if showing him around is a bit of a bore. Karell tips his head at Moydeo. "Ah, yes. That's me."
Odisyn snorts. "Alright tell you what, I'll help you find what you're looking for. Anybody else who can't, just tell me what you want to find and I'll help." He grumbles. "There should be a librarian on duty. I shouldn't have to do this." Then when K'oss says he's lost he chuckles. "Um, I guess K'oss sir if you wait for me to help everyone find their books i could help you get unlost." He offers.
"Not everyone can be an ambulatory lexicon, Odisyn," Ashri retorts in her mild-mannered way. She pauses then, hearing the faint groaning, an eyebrow quirking briefly as she tries to figure it out before rediverting her attention back to Elyciana. "Geese, you said? Should be under Science in the five-hundred section somewhere. Five-hundred sixty-nine, if I recall correctly." She walks past the shelves one by one before finding the appropriate one. "Let's try down this way." She turns, scanning the shelves up and down for something on avians. "You should look on the other side so we don't have to go over it twice, Ely," she suggests. Ravi flits from her shoulder, attempting to be helpful with this scanning process, though from the way he darts to and fro he clearly doesn't know what he's looking for. But he's trying to be helpful! Whirr!
Pralius can't hold in a sigh, "Odisyn, you don't need to talk down to people to help them. Also, animals is in the back, though most of it's on runners and goats. Still, it might help." He nods to Karona's father, then to K'oss, "Go out, hang a left until you hit the lower caverns, then up the stairs."
K'oss eyes the books. "Don't ask me, I don't read things unless I have to." he tells them, shrugging. "I only read what I need to read, not for fun. And certainly not stuff like that. Books on runners, mostly." K'oss isn't a big reader or anything, clearly.
Moydeo smiles. "Ah, nice to finally meet you Master Karell, Karona here was worried when you were delayed." She smiles. "Is your runner alright? No problems in the snow?" She asks, remembering that Karona had mentioned the animal was an older one. She moves to sit on a chair with her book about runners, flipping it open a moment, as she scans the index, of it, and nods, this was the right one. She looks up though, and shakes her head about how Odi talks about helping people. "I got mine, thanks." She says, aparently having been told where the book would be, before she came down here.
Elyciana stiffens momentarily at the groan that echoes into the room, taking a moment to glance over her shoulder with a hint of confusion crossing her face, "Is someone getting sick out in the hallway?" The gosling near Ely's heel cheeps in alarm at the noise and creeps closer to his surrogate mother, looking altogether nervous. When nothing further happens, however, Ely turns her attention back to Odisyn, whom she ponders thoughtfully, "I'd rather Ashri help. She has a way of not making me feel as though I'm two turns old." Idly brushing at her tunic for a moment, she sidles around a nearby table to follow Ashri into the dreaded maze of book shelves, "I agree … I don't read unless I'm forced to do so. I've better things to do." She hesitates for a moment at the entrance to one row, like it were some forboding cave of evil, before venturing down towards the proper section. "If we get lost, then, it's your fault," she manages with a slight snort and a smirk. With little webbed feet flapping against the rock floor, Waldo trots along after them both, his tiny hat bobbing up and down on his head with each step.
Cracklecracklecrackle… there's the half-buzzing sound of electrical equipment, louder now, though still muffled and far-off.
Odisyn snorts. "okay, so i'm not the most diplomatic person." Odisyn frowns, hearing the faint crackle of electrical equipment. "Did you hear that?" He frowns, moving to the door to peer out. "I thought I heard something." He follows after Waldo. "Do you hear it?" he asks the goose, looking down, then looks over at Elyciana.
Karona's father Karell nods at Moydeo. "Ah, yes, mhmm. Got quite an earful about my ancient decrepit … bag of bones?" He's recalling Karona's own words, though his tone is more bemused. Karona looks sheepish. "Hey, I…" She frowns a little at the crackling sound, and looks around briefly, though she doesn't dwell on it. "…I just…" Nope, she's completely lost her train of thought now. "I… What was that?"
Jayashri snorts softly, almost inaudibly at Odisyn before offering Elyciana a reassuring smile. "I'm down here all the time. We won't get lost that easily." Turning back to her shelf, she spies something promising, pulling a thinner tome out, flipping through a few pages. "Hrm…" Ravi, meanwhile, is trying to follow suit with another book, his little talons clutching the spine as his wings flap mightily. Urgh! And suddenly the book is free, too heavy for the firelizard to hold aloft, and he drops it. IT lands with a loud whump sending a spray of dust everywhere. "Shells!" Ashri chokes out, quickly covering her mouth and nose with her hand. Ravi squeaks and vanishes between. "I" cough "think" hack "this mi—" sneeze "might be it!" She scurries out of the dusty aisle, waiting for the debris to settle.
Pralius sniffs at the air, then murmurs quietly, "Nobody move… something doesn't smell right… smells like smoke…" Even little Vlad has noticed the smell, waving his toothpick like a weapon at the air. chitter chitter cheep, I am ruler, begone smoke. Harkonnen doesn't even stir from his book-bed, but Pralius still looks concerned. Glancing over his shoulder he asks, "Ashri, do you smell smoke?"
K'oss jumps when the weird noises happen, and jumps again as the book falls to the ground. "Don't do that, books are worth a lot!" not as much as a few hundred years ago, of course, but still. "Smoke? What smoke? All I smell is dust…." he looks at Pralius with a slight frown. "A fire here would be bad."
Moydeo nods. "Yes, she told me about it too, but, I'd glad it had no trouble with the snow." She agrees, and blinks, looking up. "That sounded like a crackle of some sort." She says, and sniffs the air, as she stands up from her seat. "I smell smoke too, maybe we should think about getting out of here if there is a fire." She says, frowning in concern. Phantasma gives a worried squak, and disappears into her humans sweater, looking for protection.
Elyciana pauses mid-step and inhales deeply, eyeing the ceiling warily at that crackly noise. Waldo the gosling, too, wobbles to a stop and cheeps nervously, the noise echoing slightly in the narrow aisle of books. Once she's sure that some lamp or another isn't going to fall on her head - who knows what might happen with her luck - she quickens her pace to catch up with Ashri, "How old are all the fixtures in this sharding place? IT sounds like they were installed when the ancients were around, too." Another glance upwards at the ceiling along with a frown. "I hear it. I'm not deaf," she retorts back at Odisyn. Each shelf is eyed thoughtfully and a few she stands up on her tiptoes to see further up, a finger tracing along each of the spines. Eventually she comes to a stop right next to Ashri, pausing to peer over the girl's shoulder at the book, "Well. That was fast if —" She ends up inhaling a large amount of dust from the ill-fated book drop nearby and staggers backwards, gagging and coughing. "Shards!" she manages to choke out, nearly knocking into a shelf nearby. Thankfully that's sturdy enough not to even wobble when it's jostled. Gasp. Cough. "S-smoke?" Cough. "Dust, Pral. That's all I can smell. And breathe." Gag.
Not a moment after her shift ended Wyn is picking her way down to join up with 'the gang', drawing up short as she walks into a whuff of dust. Her nose wrinkles and she sneezes suddenly and loudly, for such a petite and dainty girl, "AhCHEWWWWW!" and then she blushes and waves a hand, sidling up to Pralius. Waldo gets a little grin and she looks around with a grin, "Pardon.." she says.
Karona snorts a little. "My father is exaggerating. His runner didn't look too hot when it arrived, looked suspiciously like it'd injured itself on the way. But he made it." Meaning her father. Safe and sound. "Anyway, he's asked me to give him a tour… you've been here longer than I have, anywhere interesting we ought to see?" she asks, of Moydeo. And where's her father? He's wandered off to peruse a nearby shelf.
Odisyn grimaces at the description of the broken runner. "Shards, you're snappish tonight. Fine, i'm going to go read my book." He goes over to one of the tables. "This is an ancient timer library, meaning that its that old. The stuff in here is priceless, and unfortunately the dust is bad."
K'oss peers over at Karona and her father. "A runner was injured?" he asks, suddenly concerned. He is the resident Journeyman beastcrafter, after all. "Did you let one of the beastcrafters know, or did you just leave it in the stables?"
"All I can smell right now is this sharding dust!" Ashri manages between hacks, coughs and more sneezing. Fortunately the air in the library is relatively still, so the cloud is quick to settle back into place. The CompCrafter is quick to scurry over to the abused book, bending over to pick it up. There is now a -quite- definite buzzing noise, and the sudden crackle of electrical equipment shorting out, the groan from down the tunnel echoing loudly even in the library, and then a clunk. And with a suddenly quiet 'zwwwiip' the lights blink out. "Sear it all!" The CompCrafter lets expletives fly as the library goes completely dark. Well, save for the glow of the two laptops on the table. They dim as power it removed, but continue to provide a soft ambiance to the front of the room. "Is everyone okay?" Ashri straightens, holding the book to her chest, now unable to see where to put it back. But she has the book! Not that it will do her any good in the darkness…
Pralius sits, bathed in the glow of his laptop screen. He'd been about to welcome Wyn when everything had suddenly gone black. Taking a deep breath he asks, "Is everyone okay and does anyone have glows? Wyn? can you come where I can see you?"
Odisyn grumbles as the room goes dark. "SHARDITALL. I wanted to read!" He growls, fumbling for his laptop in the darkness. "This is only good as long as the battery is," He warns. "and it needs to be recharged or it will go out in a couple of hours." He growls. The laptop opens and starts up, but the light isn't very much. He sits down, leaning in close with his book up against the screen, hogging the meager light from his computer and trying to look cross.
Elyciana jumps just a little at Wyn's sudden sneeze, causing her to inhale another load of dust. Bending double, she coughs and wheezes, taking a few further steps backwards from the dust cloud. Eventually she manages to clear her airways and weakly say, "Hello Wyn." Waldo is all but trembling with nervousness, a soft cheep escaping him. He looks extra fluffy now due to the fact he's covered in dust, even his tiny little woolen hat that's perched askew on top of his tiny head. Once she's able to breathe properly again, Ely starts to edge along the shelves towards Ashri and the fallen book, being careful not to jostle anything further. No need to bring about any further clouds of dust or falling books today. "That better be the right book after all that," she ventures at the girl, smirking a little. "Let me —" And as soon as she reaches for it, the lights go out. A muffled curse escapes her and she complains, "Alright. Shards. I didn't touch anything. I swear it." Perhaps she's used to being blamed for such things. The only noise from her general area now is the startled cheeps of Waldo echoing through the cavern.
Moydeo blinks. "The runners injured? Have you had a healer look at it? How bad is it? Maybe he shouldn't ride it home if it's too injured." She says in concern, and K'oss' questions cut off her own, and she nods to him as well. She blinks as it suddenly gets very dark in the archives, as the lights go out. "Ok, who turned out the lights?" She asks, and moves into the light of one of the laptops.
"I didn't do it.." Wyn says as she freezes mid-step, peering around in the darkness. Pralius' voice draws her attention and she takes a few steps toward him then as she gets into the glow, smiles and moves close to his side. "How romantic..what'd ya invite so many people on our date for?" she teases. She glances back to where Ely and Waldo are, "Ely you ok? Got Mr. Goose?" she asks then hrms, "Ashri? You alright? Moydeo? Everyone?"
Karona nods quickly at K'oss. "Oh, yes. I made sure of that. That runner's not going anywhere for a while, he'll have to find another to get home." Checking to make sure her father's out of earshot, she adds, "Honestly, some people should not be allowed runners." she adds, with a roll of her eyes. But, if he won't come by rider, runners really are his only choice for visiting.
Odisyn snorts at Elyciana's "It wasn't me." "I know it wasn't. That's nothing anyone in here could have caused. But I don't know where the generators are, so while I have a little technological training, I don't think I'm qualified for that thing." he grumbles from his laptop, finally giving up trying to read. "There has to be a glowbasket somewhere in here. I doubt electricity is the only source of light this far back in the caves."
"No glows, just a book." Ashri looks around, trying to see if there is enough light to adjust to the darkness. "Ely, can you find Waldo and pick him up? We should migrate back towards the front." She puts her hand on the bookshelf, using it as a guide as she walks slowly and carefully forward to ensure she neither trips nor steps on a little gosling. "The blizzard must have knocked out the generator." She makes it to the end of one of the bookshelves, now at least able to see the glow from the laptops. "We should try to get back up to the living caverns where there are glows and fire." She moves up toward the front now. "Wyndrei? Is that you?" Unable to see a face, the voice is at least familiar. "Let's all just stay calm and gather around the table. How many of us are there?" she looks around, trying to count the faint outlines. "We should hold hands and have those with light spaced in between so no one gets lost." Well, at least her logic comes in handy in a crisis.
Odisyn's outburst gets nothing more than a roll of the eyes while Pralius is wrapping a protective arm around Wyn, "I thought they might like to watch." He chuckles, then nods, "But seriously, if everyone's alright, we should do as Ashri suggests. We have three laptops between us for light, at least for as long as the batteries last… hopefully we can find some glows before then." Vlad is enjoying the dark. He's flitted from his shoulder perch to fly around the room jabbing random people with his toothpick, which Pralius has blunted, at least. Harkonnen is simply deposited in a pocket for now.
Moydeo nods to Karona. "There's plenty of runners in the stables, and as I said yesterday, I think one of the owners is selling some stock." She shrugs, and looks to Wyn. "I'm fine, how are you?" She asks the healer, and then looks to Ashri, and nods. "Good idea." She says, and moves over to where she hears the trio. "Holding hands, good idea, who's going to lead the way?" She asks, suddenly wishing she had a laptop.
There're a lot of shuffling noises and several cheeps coming from the darkness amongst the book shelves, along with scuffling and a few footsteps. Eventually a soft sigh escapes into the air and Elyciana's voice echoes throughout the darkness, "I've got Waldo. I'm not sure he likes the dark, though. Probably thinks there are certain people in here wanting to sneak up on him and eat him." Sarcasm galore in that comment and it's almost possible to hear the smirk that's probably on her face right now. More footsteps in the shadow - deep and echoey and eerie. This goes on for a few seconds before - THUMP - and a sharp intake of breath. "Sharding book shelves!" Ely's voice soundso ut again, this time in obvious pain. There's a few moments of silence before Ely obviously manages to find the edge of a shelf and follow it along - there's a sight sliding noise as her fingers trace the wood with each step. Eventually she comes into view of the dim glow of the laptops, which makes her figure look even eerier. "I don't think I'd want to trust you with the generator anyhow, Odisyn," she retorts to Odisyn with a roll of her eyes that's probably partially unseen. Being careful not to bump into anything else, she carefully creeps further towards the dim illuminations of the laptop screens, "Atleast the laptops are proving useful." Waldo gives a mournful *cheep* from his position cradled in Ely's arms, his little hat definitely askew now after all the scuffling.
Wyndrei grins some at Pralius though in the dim light, who'd know? "Well then we'll need more light.." she teases. "Right..yes Ash is't me.. and I agree..getting to heat and light is a good idea.." she says as she slides her hand down to hook at Pralius' waistband, "You'll need your hands for carrying the laptop.. I won't let go.." she promises then holds out a hand for someone else to take. "Poor Waldo.." she comments. "I'm good Moydeo.. be better once we're to the surface again."
Karona just stands perfectly still in the darkness, frowning at where K'oss was, though the silence is a bit deafening. "I. Uh." Something brushes up against her arm, and she squeals! A high-pitched girlish noise. Turns out, of course, that it's just her father, and a calm "It's me, Karell." seems to calm her down just slightly, though she does cling desperately to the harper's arm, at least, she presumes it's his arm.
"Ow!" Ashri jumps as Vlad jabs at her behind. "Sharding flit!" She bats at the impaler, growling menacingly at the whirling eyes, which is all she can really see of the brown. Inspiration strikes, however, whilst she does battle with the evil creature. "Say, does anyone have firelizards old enough to follow directions? Maybe go and steal some glows?" She moves over to her laptop, unplugging and starting to fold up the cord for storage, seeing as it isn't doing any good at this point. "I can take the lead, since I'm the shortest. Pralius, I think you should be in the middle, so you'll be closest to anyone that might need your services. Odisyn, take up the rear, please. Now, I know we have Wyndrei, Moydeo, Elyciana, and two others here at least. Am I missing anyone?" She puts the cord in her satchel. The ill begotten book has been laid upon the table, and the tome that she was working with is soon to follow her laptop's power cord. She starts as Karona squeals, the sound reverbing through the high ceiling of the archive. "Ack, easy there. There aren't any ghosts here." At least, that's what the logical part of her mind is saying. The howling sound shuddering down one of the ventilation shafts says otherwise.
Odisyn raises his hand. "I can do that. Vulcan is very biddable." He whistles. Vulcan, Aries and Apollo appear. "Can you boys go get glow baskets?" They disappear. "It might take a few minutes."
Pralius nods, stowing his own laptop as well, though Wyn's hands at his waist earns an invisible blush. "OW!" He swats a Vlad, "Stoppit, can't you see we're in trouble enough? Sharding thing." Vlad, for his own part, continues looking for things to impale on his toothpick. Karona's yelp catches his ear, then he processes it as surprise. Putting one hand in one of Wyn's he nods solemly, "Let's stick together, guys. If anyone needs me, say my name or healer, please… don't want to overreact to surprise."
Moydeo nods to Ashri. "I have one, he's not with me though." She says to her fellow candidate, and then blinks as Odisyn solves the problem with his own flits. "I think K'oss was here, but he seems to of wandered off or something." She blinks, wondering where the rider went. She then nods to Ashri, and Pralius, and flails around for a hand she can hang onto.Elyciana brushes her fingers through the downy feathers on Waldo's back, sending up a cloud of dust intot he air that makes her cough anew. Turning her face away, she does her best to clean up the little gosling without causing him too much distress. She lets out a slow sigh and holds the bird close to her chest, taking a few more steps inwards towards the group, "Honestly. Rom isn't much for orders. He does his own thing, so I'm not sure what help that'llb e." It's a wonder where the fire lizard got that attitude from, though she doesn't make note of it. Further and further she edges closer in, though she ends up jumping rather badly at Karona's shriek, banging her knee on a nearby table. "Shards! Put a lid on it," she hisses, half in pain and half in annoyance. Even Waldo lets out an alarmed cheep, his little body quivering in fear. "Oh … Ashri. Whatever you think of doing. Just as long as I don't lead. I don't want to be responsible if we end up in the cavern of pillows rather than the living caverns." She lets out a low chortle at that, despite the situation, "Imagine being there in the dark." Out in the dark she gropes and somehow she manages to catch onto Moydeo's flailing hand, "Can we go now?" Seems Ely has no idea whose hand it is she managed to grab.
Wyndrei doesn't let go of Pralius' waistband til his hand takes hers and she squeezes it and falls into line quietly. Her other hand is free and she waits, shifting on her feet to shuffle a bit, not really wanting to take any steps since no one else is really moving yet. "Meelo could but.." and Odisyn's flits take care of things, "…He's not here anyway.." and she quiets, content with her deathgrip on Pral's hand.
Karona mishears Jayashri, likely because she's panicking and not really paying attention. "There aren't many ghosts here?" She repeats, or thinks she's repeating. "That's supposed to be reassuring?" Her voice may be slightly higher in pitch than normal. Elyciana's hissing gets the smith's attention. "Why? WHY should I put a lid on it? What would that help? I'll scream if I want to!" Her tone is more than a little defensive, but she still sounds quite obviously freaked out and panicking.
Moydeo grabs the unknown persons hand, not letting go for anything at this point, oh dear, might be a problem when they get to where there's light though. "Karona, calm down! Panickings not going to help us get out of here!" She calls to the woman, wherever she might be in the dark, it was sharding hard to see in here! "Where's the line starting?" She gropes about with her free hand.
Vulcan pops in first, carrying an open glowbasket that sways back and forth around, sending very bright light wiggling around a little. He chirrups apology, setting the basket down on the floor and sweeping over to Odisyn. Aries pops in next after a few moments with a second glowbasket. He simply drops it, and joins Vulcan. Apollo returns with a flashlight, chittering eagerly he sweeps in, dropping it near Elyciana and circling around to land on one of the shelves.
Jayashri winces as Karona's voice raises in panic. "No ghosts!" she calls, trying to calm the girl. "There are no ghosts!" she stresses, picking up her laptop and holding it open in front of her. "Okay. I'll take lead. Moydeo, hold onto my waist, then—" She pauses, trying to determine the least harassing order for all involved. "Uhm, Wyndrei, Pralius, Elyciana, you there, girl, and that Harper, then Odisyn." The order of operation is just then decided as the firelizards make a reappearance with their baskets of glows and flashlight. "Ow! Shells, that's bright!" She holds up and arm to shield her eyes, her pupils shrinking painfully in protest to the abuse. "Okay, looks like we can forgo the laptops. They won't be as bright as the glows anyway." Setting her computer down, she begins to shut it off. "Ely, may I take the flashlight since I'll be up front?" she asks, closing the lid to her machine.
Pralius winces, "Karona!" he'd caught the name from everyone else yelling it at the screaming girl. Moving quickly, Wyn still grasped in one hand, and tries to clamp a hand over her mouth, hissing, "Quiet. There're no ghosts, stop panicking! I don't want to have to give anyone stitches. We just need to get back to the fire in the living caverns." Then there's bright glowlight and he's wincing, "Shards! Where'd they swipe that unlidded glow from? I hope noone important." Straightening to his full height he says, build the line around me. Ashri in front. Let's get up to where there's more light before one of us gets hurt."
Odisyn eyes. He picks it up. "There's a note on the glow. Its from Jr'di, he wants to know if we're all okay." Odisyn frowns. "Vulcan must have run off to him for help."
Elyciana squeezes whatever hand she managed to grab tightly as she nearly stumbles forward, hissing slightly in surprise, "Really. This isg oi to be the death of me." Or perhaps the death of Waldo, as he keeps getting jostled about with each wrong movement. The poor little gosling is cheeping mournfully with each step, but atleast he's not wiggling. Another step and her hip runs into one of the tables and she lets out another disgusted sigh, "Of all the places to get lost in the dark. It has to be one with a bunch of things to run into." Eventually she opts to stay still, keeping her hand firmly clenched in her partner's outstretched one while she waits for the line to move. Or atleast something to happen. It's the arrival of that flashlight BANGing into the floor right next to her foot that causes her next movement. She lets out a scream. A genuine girly scream and jumps to the side, nearly dropping Waldo in her haste. Thankfully she manages to clutch onto the bird and regain her balance. "I .. I told you not to scream!" she chides Karona, perhaps trying to blame her slip-up on the other girl. But now there's a wash of light on the scene and she actually sees whose hand she's holding - Moydeo's. As though an electric shock runs through the connection, her hand jerks a little but doesn't let go, "When did you get here? I thought you were in the back?" It's no use complanining now, as Ashri is moving the line forward and she grudgingly grumbles, "Fine .. fine .. let's go then, yes?"
Moydeo blinks her eyes at the sudden lights, and then at who's hand she's holding. "Gah!" She shouts, and yanks her hand away. "I could ask you when you got here! Gah, jeez, *she'll move over toward Ashri, Pral, and Wyn. "Come on, lets get out of here now that we got light. Sooner we can get up top, the sooner we can tell somebody that K'oss is lost down here somewhere."
Wyndrei stays with Pralius as he's moving toward the shrieking girl and she remains content not to add to the din of noise as it pitches high then low. She remains right where she is, one hand free, one hand in one of Pralius', though in truth she's close to him, fingers curled tight as his hand. Her eyes flutter at the sudden light and she turns her head a little then nods to Moydeo's comments, "Yes..out..up..something."
Karona isn't quite a girl any more, though she's certainly acting like one today. Still, Jayashri's insistence on there being no ghosts does calm her some. "A-are you sure?" she asks, in a much quieter voice. And then Elyciana is screaming, which makes her squeal again, stopped by Pralius' hand trying to cover her mouth. She just completely flips out, flailing her free arm — because one hand is still gripping her father's arm so tightly she may be cutting circulation — and trying to shove Pralius away. "HELP!" she does manage to get out, though it's muffled through Pralius' hand.
Odisyn gathers up everything and nods. "I've got my stuff. Lets go." He scribbles quickly on the note. "Fine, we were in the library, lights out." He reads before giving it to Vulcan. Vulcan chirps and disappears directly from the table top, not even bothering to leap.
"Hey Ashri, you think they're going to make us walk all the way back to the barracks in that blizzard?" Moydeo asks the other candidate. A blizzard strong enough to take out lights aparently! If they still have to go to the barracks, she is SO going with Ashri, so they can get lost together, or find their way there together.
Elyciana jerks her arm even further away from Moydeo, actually wiping the offending appendage on her pants to remove any lingering feeling from it. Ew. Runner germs. "Fine! I'll just walk back here alone then." she offers with a roll of her eyes and a sarcastic noise deep in her throat. Tucking Waldo more securely in the crook of one arm, she somehow manages to stay within view of the dancing glow basket lights and flashlights, pausing every so often to sidestep around obstacles. Thankfully she manages to keep up pace with the rest of the group without too much trouble. "Let's just get out of here before the ghosts really come to eat us," she retorts with a smirk, perhaps trying her best to needle Karona. "They're probably the ghosts of book worms, though. They're likely not that scary."
Nerves of steel. Well, at least she can appear so, until Elyciana screams, which makes the Computer Crafter jump, startled, her mouth half-opening as if she were about to let out a shout herself. It hangs open for a few seconds before she clamps it shut quickly, looking about furtively to see if anyone noticed. Ahem. Well, since the Beastcrafter is clearly in no condition to be handing over the flashlight, Ashri tucks her laptop into her satchel before making her way over, bending down to pick the instrument up. She points it toward the ground before clicking it on to avoid further blinding anyone. "No ghosts," she reaffirms. She carefully aims it upward, providing additional ambience to the room as she moves around the table and going to stand in front of the door, forming the start of the line. "Odi, give a basket to Pralius. Wyn, Moydeo, get behind me so Pralius can line up. Ely, can you tuck Waldo into your shirt so he won't get lost and you're hands are free to hold onto Pralius? Karona," Yes, she finally caught the girl's name "get behind Elyciana and Harper, behind Karona, if you please. Odisyn, take up the rear with that second glowbasket." Ashri frowns as Elyciana offers some of her snide humor, but opts not to call the goat herder on it. "We'll see about getting to the barracks after we get to the living caverns, Moydeo." She chuckles, her tone betraying the faintest hint of nervousness.
Pralius falls into line, keeping Wyn close by him and grabbing one of the over-bright glows. His own satchel gains an extra few pounds as Vlad, bored of impaling bookshelves, settles on it for a quick ride to the light. Pralius sighs, trying to drag Karona into place, "relax. I'm a healer. I'm not going to hurt you."
"I'm so glad we got that little fire urn," Wyn says softly to Pralius then her eyes flick to Ely as she first snaps at Moydeo then prods at Karona. She whispers to Pralius, "I guess that whole frustration thing gets her too," then turns and offers a hand to the girl. "You can walk with me, Ely," she says softly, then Ashri is assigning positions and Wyn grins, "Or what she said.." she comments with a grin. She smiles at Karona, "And I'm a dragonhealer..so.. "
Karona whimpers at Elyciana's comment. Ghosts of book worms? So, scary and gross? Ewww! Apparently she's reached her limit, and she even lets go of her father's arm to shove at Pralius, biting the hand over her mouth if it still won't let go. Healer or no, she doesn't fancy being held prisoner, and that's what it feels like, regardless of what it actually is. And then she scrambles backwards, until she's clear, and bolts for it, running screaming from, well, the dark cavern. Who knows where she's headed? Certainly not her.
Moydeo nods, and moves into line behind Ashri, and looks to Wyn, and then the rest of the group. "Everybody left?" She asks the group, and then blinks at Karona. "Karona! Wait!" She calls after the girl, but too late, Karona's gone. She groans. "Great, now somebodys going to have to be sent to find her too." She says. "Come on, lets get going, and get out of here before we loose anybody else!"
Elyciana heaves a soft sigh and gently tucks Waldo as best as she can into her tunic, offering soothing noises to him as she does so. It's hard to belive she can be so endearing to a little creature like that, but she does manage it somehow. "Fine, fine," she grudgingly admits and maneuvers around here and there until she's behind her appointed person - Pralius. She stays there for a moment, looking apprehensively at him and then to Wyn. Well. They're better to be around than Moydeo in the dark, anyhow. She's spared the need to move right away due to the fact Karona goes screaming past her and she blinks once, "Well .. I didn't think my comment was that convincing." Still, she does smirk a little. Perhaps all her sarcasm is easing her own tension in this scary situation. Still, she goes back to the situation at hand, so to speak. "Let's get going before Pral or someone else goes screaming off into the darkness." Shuffling a bit, she sidles into place behind Pralius, "Ready, then."
"Yeowch!" Karona doesn't get much of Pralius' hand, but enough. Shoving the glowbasket at Ely and trusting in his own senses he clamps a hand on Wyn's, "Let' get out of here… it's just left then straight… and I'm going to have to clean that bite… now." Pulling Wyn along, he makes a quick exit, turning right and moving quickly. Looks like Pralius is allergic to people bites.
First Karona rushes past, and soon to follow is her elderly Harper companion, making pleas for the girl to stop. Ashri just barely manages to avoid getting run over by the panicked Smith when Pralius and Wyndrei come darting past. "Woah!" She grabs ahold of the door, swinging it further open as she clings to it. "Well… I guess they have the right idea." She chuckles, nervously. Sliding down from her semi-perch, she looks to the remaining assembled. "We should get going too." Since Moydeo and Elyciana are already ready, and Odisyn isn't far behind with his glowbasket, Ashri takes a breath, pointing her flashlight into the seemingly endless darkness, breathing a soft sigh outward as she ventures forth into the darkness with her companions. Will they find their way back? Or will a search and rescue have to be sent after them and all the rest? Only time will tell… And the darkness beckons.
