Private Impromptu Spelunking

[Resh]

Wayland
Eloise Dinn
​

Resh tried for only a moment to contain the cascade of boulders headed their way, “It won’t work!” He assessed, diving deeper into the cave, lest he be crushed. He covered his head and fell flat on the ground, waiting for an impact that he thankfully avoided. When the pureblood opened his eyes, it was still dark. “You-- okay--?” He hacked, coughing away the dust that now blanketed them, which only shook more of that dust into his sinuses and led to more coughing.

Fumbling in the dark, Resh finally found his lightsaber, igniting it and illuminating the area in an indigo light. “It’s totally caved in.” He reached out a hand to try and pull at the rocks, but there was too much weight packed on top from the landslide. “It could take us days to dig out of this mess. And even then, we risk burying ourselves further by disturbing the earth.” Resh spoke more calmly than he felt. A few years back, the padawan may very well have gone catatonic in a predicament like this. But he had grown since then. He still had much more growing to do, but progress was progress. “We should look for another way out.”

 

[Eloise Dinn]

When everything else went to shit, Eloise could still count on Resh. So far he was the one person in her life who hadn't died, left, been sucked into the Nether, or gone crazy. He was just there, the last bastion of safety and normalcy, always around when she needed him. Somehow, the Pureblood was the one constant in the universe. He didn't change.

Except he had changed. Eloise didn't see him for a few months (or had it been a year? shit, she didn't know) and suddenly he was several inches taller. His shoulders had broadened, his voice had deepened, and his scrawny, skinny frame now sported lean, agile muscle from hours of daily training. He was still a bit dorky, as teenagers typically were, but looking at him now made her keenly aware of the difference a year could make.

Clearly she had missed out on a lot. It pained her that it had taken them being assigned on a mission together for her to reconnect with him. She'd just been so busy with her healer's work. At least, that was the excuse she told herself, to avoid pinning the blame on Diogo's disappearance and the emotional turmoil that had followed. She would never admit that she had gone no-contact with everyone because she was tearing herself to pieces over an ex-boyfriend.

Before she had a chance to so much as ask Resh about his old interests - was he still reading comics and getting all his dance moves from Spacenite? - they were being shipped off to Wayland. And just as quickly, it seemed, they ran into trouble.

“You-- okay--?”

Eloise groaned, slowly but surely peeling herself up off the cave floor. Throwing herself out of the way of the falling boulders had left her body bruised and sore, but she had no serious injuries. "Yeah," she grunted, blinking as her eyes futilely tried to adjust to the near-total darkness. "What about you?"

Resh soon found his lightsaber and ignited the blade. Bathed in indigo light, the cave-in almost looked pretty.

“It could take us days to dig out of this mess. And even then, we risk burying ourselves further by disturbing the earth. We should look for another way out.”

He sounded much calmer than she expected, given what had happened the last time they got into trouble. "Agreed," she said. "Who knows how long it would take for help to reach us." Activating her own green blade, she held it up, peering deeper into the cave. "You think there's any truth to those rumors about there being monsters down here?" Which was, incidentally, what they had been sent to investigate.

Resh​

 

[Resh]

"Well, uh, let's hope not," Resh cleared his throat, a little more anxiousness creeping through as he became suddenly conscious of the echo of his voice. The sudden cave-in seemed an ill omen itself. These caves had a draw to them. Not overt, but an almost subliminal luring. There had to be something about this place, it was just a question of what exactly. And if it was dangerous, it was up to them to remove it.

Here at the entrance of the cafe, Resh could now see remnants of vegetation. But it had all withered and blackened, "There's nothing about the environment that suggests these shouldn't be thriving. At least, not while the entrance was open." Resh was mostly speaking to himself, but loud enough to keep Eloise in earshot. He stood up, ears perking at the subtle whistling of wind, "There's a current in here. Which means there should be another opening. Let's go." He headed inside, entering a narrow chamber of stalagmites and stalactites, giving the impression they were weaving through the gnashing teeth of a massive beast. What they didn't yet know, was that a very real beast was already aware of their presence.

Eloise Dinn​