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

Yeah...

[The word comes slowly.]

But you know how she gets. If we don't at least check in by the time she's expecting us back, we'll never hear the end of it.

[A small sigh.]

All right, I'll have someone send a letter to her.

[That at least puts yet another worry at ease.]

Make sure they include a little note for the dogs, too. Wouldn't want them to worry, either...

You can write that.

[... Wow????

Tifa pouts at him.]

So cold...

You would be able to write a better letter than me, that's all.

And they'd be sad if you didn't at least say something to reassure them that things were going well...

[They are both of their dogs!!!]

Bri and Valo were both pretty upset they couldn't come. And Melody, too.

[Though, Melody is still copying everything that Bri does, so...]

[......

Cheap move, wife!!!]

I can add something to it after you write it.

[Hey, it worked, didn't it???]

I can do it right now while we walk, if you wanna hold my sandwich.

[A small sigh as he reaches out to take her sandwich.]

Might as well mention we might stay the night, just in case.

What happened to being back within the day?

[Not that she minds, of course... If anything, it might be better that they do rather than have to drag themselves all the way back home after all is said and done. Especially because neither of them knows what to expect when they get down there.

So with her quill and her journal in her hands, she scrawls out a message that will appear on the papers they left behind.

Might be a little longer than we thought, so make sure to get the dogs home safe tonight. Will likely be staying the night.

Make sure to give Valo and Bri extra kisses from us before you tuck them in, too. But don't forget about the others.]

Edited 2023-10-08 18:11 (UTC)

Just in case. Don't want to have to send another note letter.

[And he'll just wait looking over her shoulder as she writes.

...Yep, as he thought she wrote something cutesy.]

Is that all really necessary....

[She looks up at him over her shoulder, genuinely confused.]

... What?

[A furrow of her brow as she looks back down at the page. Did she strike a nerve somewhere with this? :( ]

As if you don't spoil them all before we go to bed...

[Small disgruntled sound.]

That's that.

[AS IF THERE'S A DIFFERENCE (there isn't; because he has definitely picked up Melody and rubbed his nose against hers more than once when he thinks no one is looking—).]

It's not like Mirabelle needs to know...

[He should never assume that no one is looking. She is always looking—fondly.

There's the smallest twitch of her lip into a smile as she shuts the journal, leaving it at that. She supposes she shouldn't embarrass him anymore than she already has...]

Think we're way past that now.

[Mirabelle already knows how much he spoils and loves his dogs. Hell, she's sure the whole of Reverein knows at this point, but it's not like it's a bad thing? She doesn't think so anyway, but maybe Eustace has that outer image to uphold.

Tifa knows better than that, though.]

Anyway. I feel better now that they know. [She takes her sandwich back from him.] Now I can focus.

[Grumble grumble...

He lets her have the sandwich before starting walking again, the caves just up ahead.]

We'll first do another sweep of that cave and then continue further, see where it leads us.

Down that same path we were headed?

[Less of a question and more of a confirmation, because she continues with a pensive hum around her sandwich.]

Could try following that crystal dust we found...

Edited 2023-10-08 23:10 (UTC)

[A small nod.]

I think following that trail would be our best bet for now. Either those are remnants from whatever destroyed them, or it could be from whatever took them away.

Hm... either way, we're bound to find something at the end of the trail...

[It's not something that she's looking forward to, but they've made some good discoveries so far, the tagged bats being the biggest thing. It'll likely be a while until they get any news back on those, so anything else that they can discover will be helpful.

Of course, it doesn't take them long to get down to where they had been before, to the cavern with the bat's den inside and the crystal dust trails leading off the path that they had taken to get there. Tifa stops to take a look around, squinting through the light of Eustace's orbs to see where the shimmer of it goes, and she motions up ahead to a path that winds and then dips into a steep decline.]

... That way?

[She looks a little unsure of it—it doesn't look very safe—but that's never stopped them before, has it?]

[Hm... As he thought, the crystal trail continues. It's clear the trail also lead to the bats, and a quick look over reveals more shards within, so they were still on the right track there. But then what of this other path? Had the bats gone further down or is it something else?

It's then that he hears... Snuffling sounds? And soon the sound of digging which Tifa will also be able to hear. And it's further down that very path that looks unsafe, but...]

Stay close.

[Just a quiet call as he looks towards the path. Dangerous or not, they need to go, and Eustace will quickly take the lead.]

[She can hear those sounds... though faintly. It makes her brows furrow, the familiarity ringing a bell in the back of her mind as she follows Eustace to their newly discovered trail. This one is windier, and it looks as though it burrows into a cave-like hallway below, and she only exchanges a wary look before they begin their careful descent.

Meanwhile, the sounds only start to grow louder, and by now, she's sure that she recognizes them.]

... Are there moles down here?

...If not moles, then some other burrowing creature.

[He slowly raises one of the lightning orbs to cast a wider, dim light, and they can see a large shadow in the distance, already half inside the wall.]

[She squints in the dimmer lighting, the sounds already starting to grow further away as the creature continues to dig, dig, dig deeper.]

Well, if I learned anything from being through the mines under Reverein, it's to keep an eye on your feet at all times if that's the case... They like to leave surprise holes everywhere you look, and especially where you don't. Sora and I learned that the hard way...

Really? But wouldn't they be more focused on the walls?

You'd think, but...

[Just as she says that, Tifa trips a little over a loose rock, and of course her panic would spike just as she's about to tell him how she'd fallen through a hole big enough for her to fit through down in the mines—

She grabs hold of him, one hand on his arm while the other takes his hand, and she holds on with an iron grip and a sheepish, nervous laugh.]

... how else are they going to get further down?

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