songerein | closed ⚡🌠 where the pulse of the land offers no respite

[He just glances at her before he tries asking more of what she saw.]

Did you run into anything while you were with Alisae?

[Did that sigh of hers echo through the cavern? She hopes not...

But he is probably right that they should be focusing more on the mission, and not... something else. She has plenty of protection against all those feelings, after all, and his hand in hers helps.]

Just some bats on the way back up. Wish I could say that they were easy to fend off, but it made me wonder... if maybe they were impacted by the nightmares too? They attacked the cart more than they did us.

[A little, but it's better to bring her back into focus with what's around them.]

The cart... It had crystals in them?

Yeah. Filled with them. Mostly small pieces, but...

[A frown settles in between her brows.]

I thought it was a little strange... Bats aren't usually so aggressive, and I expected them to go after us more, if anything.

How big were they? And were they trying to destroy the crystals or take them?

Bigger than normal bats... Some bigger than others.

[She'll slip her hand out of his only long enough to show him with both, making up the size of a small cat or dog before taking his hand again.]

They were pretty intent on destroying the crystals, or what was left of them. A few tried to take some... my guess to move them someplace else to destroy them... away from us and the dreamotion we were using.

... Definitely some nightmare energy around them.

But you don't think they were noctaere.

They could have been...?

[Her lips press into a frown at the realization. ]

I don't know what they look like normally, but it's possible... I thought that they might have just been in the caves for too long but now that I think about it...

They were really aggressive. For bats, especially.

[...Hm...]

It's not impossible that they could be influenced by the nightmare energy, but not noctaere. Similar to the other creatures inhabiting the Wasteland, like the worms, sand sharks, scorpions.

[Another thoughtful frown.]

If we encounter one, let's try to take it down so I can inspect it.

[Eugh...]

If we keep going a little deeper, we might be able to lure some out... Just need to find some crystals.

Worth a shot.

We should try a different area than where you went then.

I mean... they're probably everywhere, aren't they?

[She motions up ahead.]

The only place we can really go is down...

It would depend if they moved on from here.

[If they're after crystals... If.

Though. That makes him realize—]

It's fairly quiet.

[His observation has that anxiety spiking again, because she hadn't even thought about it until he pointed it out, and now, that quiet rings louder than even his voice. So much that she lowers her own to a near whisper.]

You think they might have gone someplace else? We exhausted the caves pretty good when we were down here. I thought that maybe they were mad about us taking them away but now I'm not so sure.

It's not impossible the bats also used the crystals as some sort of food source... But it's hard to say without much more evidence. Keep an eye out for any large crevices in the walls. I'll look towards the ceiling.

Should we keep the lights?

[Her eyes are on the small lightning orbs that light their path, mainly, and as much as she hates the idea of throwing themselves into the dark—]

They don't seem to like it very much, so we could be keeping them away.

[...Hmmm.]

If we do, we won't be able to see. However, if it does scare them off, we may be able to hear them move.

I can try dimming them first.

Mm.

[She gives him a small nod in agreement.

Tifa isn't afraid of the dark, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't a little afraid of the dark when she's wandering through a large system of winding caverns with who-knows-what lurking down here in the shadows. Even with Eustace, his presence does a lot to help soothe her, but not enough to make the worries go away completely.

So she'll tuck herself right at his side when he does.]

Your ears might be able to hear them...

[It's said with a small sense of pride.]

Their wings were too big to sound like regular bats, though. More like a low... whoosh than the little flaps.

A whoosh, is it?

[He couldn't help but tease her a little as mimicks her sound before nodding.

The orbs dim, bright enough just to make out any oddities but not too bright that would catch anything unawares. He then conjures one to float around Tifa, offering them a bit more light on the floor so they can at least see their path and watch their footing.]

How's this?

[That will earn him a light slap on the arm first before she's huffing with a sigh of relief.]

Better.

[At least it's not completely dark, so she'll take it. And still hold his hand anyway, just to help ease some of that usual tension she feels sinking into her bones.

They continue like that for a while, walking through in the dim lighting, and every now and then, Tifa will start when she thinks she's heard something, but it's usually a rock cracking under her feet or the light snapping of the electricity that Eustace has conjured. The deeper they go, the more on edge she becomes, though, and as they venture down, hopping from a ledge to the one below, she sees something shimmer in the corner of her eye.]

Wait. Is that...?

[Crystals?]

[Eustace had kept his ears trained for any odd sound while keeping his gaze mostly upward... But any strange crevice or hole he notices, it's much too small for the size of creature Tifa mentioned. Perhaps the bats could squeeze through, but it would be pointless for either of them to try and climb up to investigate.

And because his eyes are up, he won't notice the crystals until Tifa speaks up, and looking in her direction...]

Let's take a look...but keep quiet.

[Just in case.]

[She'd been about to point out that these ones are even less of what they had found before when she had come to the mines, but she purses her lips together to hush herself at his warning first.

The crystals themselves are less of shards and more like dust shimmering in the dim light that his orbs provide, scattered across the floor of the cavern. There is little rhyme or reason to it, but there are patches where it's thicker and others where it's not, which could say more about where to look than she first assumes.

Silently, Tifa motions to a particularly thick pool of it on the other side of the room, and a small trail that leads into a place much, much darker than the rest.]

[Eustace will nod and together they'll follow that trail. As they do, Eustace strategically disperses the orbs until they only have the one, his ears pricked forward to carefully listen as they try not to step on the dust and shards.

And as they follow the trail further and further into the darkness, there will come a point where he stiffens and tightens his hold on her hand, carefully maneuvering her to be more behind him. Just from his posture and actions alone, she can guess that they may have found what they were looking for...]

[She can guess, indeed.

If they both squint in the dimmer light, she can make out a shadow that looms over them—a crevice in the cave walls, and one that is much bigger than the little cracks that they've come across so far. Something big enough... for a creature to live in, maybe?

A den, of sorts, she can only guess... but it's so dark and so quiet that she can't be sure.]

[A den for sure.... It's faint, so faint only those with sensitive hearing like him could catch, but he can hear the occasional rustle and sense a presence within. And go proceed any further without a plan would be foolish. Bats normally live in swarms and he would rather err on the side of caution even if it was just one.

So he taps on the inside of Tifa's palm and with a small gesture to move as silently as possible, he will lead them back far enough so they can at least whisper to each other without causing too much disturbance.]

We need a plan. I can't say the number, but I sense more than one in there.

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