Roomie Adventures (Alina and Reverb)

<Alina>: [itbegins.mov]
<Reverb>: [therideneverends.jpg]
<Reverb>: [alrighty, I'm thinking something more freeform, where both of us can throw ideas in at any point]
<Alina>: [yeah, just need a setup and we can go from there]

<Reverb>: The story begins in the room of Reverb and Alina, at 7AM. The alarms of the clocks beep and ring, telling the girls to get the fuck up, 'cause this is a brand new day.

Alina wakes up as she usually does, in a jolt and a cold sweat, reacting to the sound of the alarm like it was a bomb. Obviously not one to have pleasant dreams, just looking at this. She quickly regains her composure, putting on a tired face that might be more for show than anything else.
Reverb grabs her clock and tosses it at the ground, groaning as she sits up. She yawns, glaring at Alina.
<Reverb>: ...mornin'...
Alina "Good morning" she says down, looking into her bag and at that journal of hers for a moment before putting them away to get dressed.

Reverb curses under her breath, tossing the covers onto the floor in a giant pile. She steps out of the bed, and drops to the ground.
Reverb starts doing push-ups, counting quietly.
Alina heads into the bathroom and looks in the mirror. When she does she sees a disgusting black mist surrounding her in the reflection with ghostly images passing behind her as well as her own scars being apparent. She reacts to this as if it was common, brushing her teeth
Alina gets dressed, taking care with that amulet of hers that she always wears. Its rather ornate looking, a reddish purple gem in the center of it

<Reverb>: "11...12...13..." she counts away, eyes shut tight. She can almost hear /him/ berating her. She moves faster, eager to get it over with.
<Reverb>: "...20." she says, pushing herself off of the floor and back into a standing position. She takes a shirt and jeans, and walks into the bathroom.

Alina looks in the mirror a moment longer, then goes to sit down back on her bed
Reverb rushes through her morning schedule. Each minute spent is another bad memory surfacing.
<Alina>: as she sits down, her eyes bulge a bit and she makes a violent coughing sound, just barely catching it with her arm. She hacks out a foul looking black substance, almost pitch black with rivulets of blood going through it. She looks down in surprise
<Alina>: "Shit!"
<Reverb>: "The fuck you shouting for?"
Reverb washes her hands again and again. It's instinct at this point. One wash, one year of... whatever word can be used to describe her situation.

Alina looks at the black ooze that she threw up, the toxins of the necrotic appendix that have been seeping through her body since she killed the Raubiter
<Alina>: "...get out of the bathroom I need it"
Alina swears in romanian under her breath, a bit of fire spouts from her mouth the size of a lighter flame as she does

<Reverb>: "Gimme a minute."
<Reverb>: Reverb walks out of the door, wiping her hands on her jeans. "...there, you can use it now."
Alina heads into the bathroom, the black ooze caked on her arm and a bit still left on the floor
Alina was going to wash it off, but with a second wave she heads to the toilet and vomits rather loudly, more of the gunk leaving her body

<Reverb>: "Jeez, you okay?"
<Alina>: The ooze /hurts/ to look at, it offends the senses in a subtle way that cannot be described.
<Alina>: "I'm f-*guh*-fine!"
<Reverb>: "Hmph, if you say so."

Alina gets up and washes the gunk from her arm. She heads back in, her expression has become a lot more stressed looking than you've ever seen it. She goes and cleans up the mess on the floor, luckily there are no stains on the carpet
<Alina>: "Just some indigestion is all"
<Reverb>: "I guess school food does that." Reverb says with a shrug, going through her notebook, as she chews on her pencil.
Alina grabs her journal, she flips through it and begins writing in it
Alina looks around occasionally, she's starting to realize her magic is fading, and with the position she's in makes her an easy target or worse, a conduit.
Alina sighs, figuring that she's forgetting her mission if she acts like this. She turns back to Reverb

Reverb doodles in her notebook, as she always does. She's not quite certain what she's drawing. It's building up to something human-looking, at the least. She'll find something to inspire her at some point.
Alina "Say, what do you have going on today?"
Reverb "Me? Don't think I have a lesson till... what, 3PM?"
Alina looks through her notes. A plan is forming. She needs to bide some more time, give her an extra kick or else she only has a few days left before she fizzles out. A supplement, just to keep her going, along with a treasure of lesser value to magic beings, is nearby.
<Alina>: "I heard of a place nearby, a cave. Might be cool to go check it out, a good relaxing hike, ya?"

<Reverb>: "Hmm... maybe."
<Alina>: "Might even find something nice down there. From what I heard its been abandoned for decades"
<Reverb>: "...I suppose that's worth a check."
Reverb swears to god if this is anything like Radioheart she will flip all the tables.

Alina looks in her journal. The supplement, the sanborn staff of house sanborn, a bastard offshoot of the galca line that attempted a coup and were crushed. Their last of them fled to New York and was hunted down to that cave where he entrapped himself. This will be fun.
<Alina>: "Lets get going then" she says with a smile, putting aside the journal
Alina gets up putting on a warm jacket and heads for the door
Reverb follows Alina out, taking her notebook with her. This might just be what she needs. Maybe.

Alina leads Reverb out of the school and begins heading to the forest.
<Reverb>: "Huh, this reminds me of that forest in Japan."
<Alina>: "Do tell" she says over, looking up at the trees. In her vision, she sees the spirits moving between the branches of the trees.

<Reverb>: "Oh, the suicide forest, they call it. People would go there to hang themselves. They never moved the bodies, and there are tons a signs saying shit like "It isn't that bad" or "There are people who will miss you.""
<Alina>: "Oh, that sounds horrible" she wonders what kind of spirits she'd see in a forest like that, its a grim thought.
<Alina>: "Ever been there?"

<Reverb>: "Once."
<Reverb>: "Not to, y'know... do it."
<Reverb>: "Just, curiosity got the better of me."

<Alina>: Its chilly out, and many of the trees are barren. The sky is overcast and a stark breeze blows through to the bone.
<Reverb>: "I think I drew some stuff relating to it at some point."
<AlinaG>: "I see. I understand, really, as sometimes when there's something like that nearby curiosity gets the better of someone. Never hurts to look... usually"

AlinaG continues walking along, up ahead they can see a steep hill, to the side of it nearly obscured by bushes and trees is the opening to a cave of some kind.
<Reverb>: "Yeah, usually. It... wasn't nearby, to be honest. I was driven there."
<AlinaG>: "Oh... did you choose to go or no..?"
<Reverb>: "...that's better left unsaid."
<AlinaG>: "I see"

AlinaG walks up the hill until they reach the opening of the cave. Inside its pitch black.
<Reverb>: "Well, shit."
<AlinaG>: "Wait... I got this"
<Reverb>: "How are we meant to see?"

AlinaG goes and breaks a stick off a tree, then grabbing a much larger one. She sets them both down, then begins twisting the smaller stick to create sparks for a fire
AlinaG after a minute of messing with it, manages to light the tip of the large stick on fire, making a makeshift torch
AlinaG could have magic'd something up, but that would /so/ blow cover

<AlinaG>: "There we go"
<Reverb>: "...right, in that case, into the belly of the beast."

AlinaG smiles, walking into the cave with Reverb behind her. The cave goes far, like a mining tunnel, and digs into the ground. There are mushrooms growing along the cave walls, and occasionally there are remnants of some animal's food or body.
<Reverb>: "Woah..."
Reverb already has her notebook out. This stuff is like a goldmine of inspiration

<AlinaG>: As they go in deeper, until the light coming in behind them is already a tiny speck, the sound of running water can be heard further in and an echo, some kind of large open area must be ahead. Eventually they find something strange. Leaned on the wall ahead of them is a 18th century musket, looking like it hasn't been touched since the 18th century.
<AlinaG>: Spiderwebs cover it in the space between the musket and the wall, an albino looking spider sitting in the center of it.

<Reverb>: "...damn, that looks... ancient. Must be, what, 17th to 18th century?"
<AlinaG>: "Frankie take a look at this..." she leans in, bringing over the torch for a better look. The musket is engraved with ornate silver, looking like it belonged to royalty.
<AlinaG>: There is a small symbol of what looks to be a fish on the butt of the gun, the sigil of the extinct house sanborn.

<Reverb>: "Hmm..." Reverb nods, already scribbling into her notebook.
AlinaG stands up and looks back to Reverb
<AlinaG>: "Ya want to continue on? I think we might find more where this came from"
<Reverb>: "...game?"
<Reverb>: "Wait, sorry, misheard you. Yeah, I think it's worth looking into."
<AlinaG>: "Then lets continue on"

AlinaG walks further down the tunnel. Along the path they reach a crossroads, so to speak. Their path continues on ahead, but has a large gap where another tunnel goes through, a large stream of water between the gap
<Reverb>: "Sure thing. Lead the way."
<Reverb>: [fak timing]
<Reverb>: "...well then, this is an issue."
<AlinaG>: The water looks murky, but you can occasionally see small albino fish swimming to the surface before ducking down below into the darkness
<AlinaG>: The fish somewhat resemble the fish back on the musket
AlinaG looks across the gap
<AlinaG>: "I mean.... we could find a way to jump across"
Reverb continues to sketch.
<Reverb>: "Oh, no need."
Reverb summons up a long, flat slab of crystal. It falls onto the gap, making a bridge.
<AlinaG>: "Thanks" she steps on it, managing to keep her balance as she goes across.
<Reverb>: "No trouble." she answers, walking across.

<AlinaG>: Above them they can see something strange looming over the running water on the ceiling above them. Glowing. Blue lights emanate from above, forming strands on the ceiling that occasionally drop down like a hanging vine.
<AlinaG>: http://thomasgoestojapan.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/glow-worm-2.jpg
<Reverb>: "Dang, this place is... amazing."
<AlinaG>: "I just heard of this place in a rumor... I didn't know it would be like this"

AlinaG looks up at the glowworm lightshow for a moment, her torch dimming down at her will so the glow is more apparent
<Reverb>: "Man, sights like these are once in a lifetime..."
<AlinaG>: "Glad we came here"

Alina internally wonders if she should have brought a camera. What is she saying. She's magic. She could conjure up the images when she gets back
Reverb has basically been sketching every thing she's seen so far.
<Alina>: "Its pretty nice looking, but want to continue on ahead?"
<Reverb>: "...sure, why not."
Alina nods, the torch lights back up as they continue on through the tunnels
<Alina>: As they go forward, there leads into a large open area and a small rickety wooden bridge going forward into the darkness, you cannot see what is below it or the other side, its nearly pitch black

<Reverb>: "Well now..."
<Alina>: "Nowhere to go but ahead..."
Alina takes the first steps onto the bridge. It lightly rocks as she does. She carefully tries to go ahead at a slow pace
Reverb waits for Alina to cross first. Reverb continues to sketch, this time Alina crossing the bridge.
Alina continues ahead, the bridge is very long. She nearly slips at one point, but regains her grip and shoves on. She eventually makes it to the end, the other side being what looks like the edge of a cliff leading to a very large open area.
<Alina>: "Come on ahead, be careful!"
<Alina>: Her voice has an echo in this cave

Reverb nods, beginning to walk across the bridge.
<Reverb>: Halfway across, planks in the bridge break, falling into the abyss below Reverb. She's still safe and sound on the bridge.
<Alina>: "Woah! Frankie, you alright?"

<Reverb>: "Yeah, I'm good. Not exactly a stranger to broken bridges."
Reverb continues along the bridges, walking a little brisker this time.
Alina looks on ahead. There is a chill in the air all of a sudden as you reach the end of the bridge. Alina goes down on one knee and inspects the ground, which looks... white. And powdery. Its snow.
<Alina>: "This... this is getting weird"
<Reverb>: "But at the same time, it's awesome..."
<Alina>: "Oh, of course" she stands back up

<Alina>: As they go forward, they start to see... trees. They are pale, nearly white, and lack leaves. They look ancient, and have spiraling dark patterns going up them while the branches have a smooth flow to them rather than the usual stark edges found in trees
<Reverb>: "This place is on some whole other level of crazy."
<Alina>: They also see a few more of the muskets, as well as entire sets of clothing, looking like they belonged to a soldier circa 1770, lying on the ground near them as if the person wearing them simply vanished

<Alina>: Golden coins also litter the ground occasionally, from many different countries at the time. British, spanish, french, italian coins from the same era.
<Alina>: "This is... this is something historical down here"

<Reverb>: "It's like everything just got... frozen in time..."
<Alina>: The further they go, they start to notice snowflakes falling down from the above, and a faint blue glow like that of ice begins lighting up the room until the torch becomes almost unnecessary. You can't exactly tell where the glow comes from and there's no sign of a ceiling or walls as they are beyond the pitch blackness
<Alina>: As well, the further in the more of the "bodies" show up, their snow dusted clothing sprawled in positions you assume the person was in as this happened

Alina looks around in an awe
Reverb is busy sketching every little detail she can of this place.
<Alina>: It feels as if you are standing outside at night in a field in winter, rather than deep in a cave
<Alina>: Then, they see the silhouette of a very large tree ahead of them, the width of it almost as big as a small house and blue snow touched leaves on it. The tree must go up some ungodly height down here, which makes you wonder how deep you are underground

<Reverb>: "...can we even be sure this is underground...?"
<Alina>: "I... I don't know"
<Alina>: As they get in closer, you see a figure sitting down leaning on the tree surrounded by the empty clothing "bodies" and their muskets, it looks like he must have been cornered. Upon closer inspection, though, you see its a skeleton in ornate 18th century clothing. Its bones... are entirely made of ice.

<Reverb>: "...holy shit..."
<Alina>: Sticking out of the ground near it is a staff, forked at the end in two like a (american) football goal.
<Alina>: "....What... what is this?"
<Alina>: The skeleton is leaned back, looking as if these were his final moments. There are holes in his garb, the size of bullets. The soldiers clothing that circles around him seems the most frosted, touching it causes them to snap like they are ice
<Alina>: It looks like this was a last stand of some sort. And its obvious nobody got out.
Alina looks around, she is speechless. Internally, though, her mind is focused on one thing. That staff.

<Alina>: The ice of the skeleton has the tiniest bit of icy glow to it, and looks like it was flawlessly smooth and identical to the shape of a real skeleton. It has a slight shine to it as well.
<Reverb>: "Man, now this, this is one hell of a find..."
<Alina>: "No kidding..."

Alina walks over to the staff, she touches it once, testing if it would do anything. Nothing happens, so she tries to pick it up out of the snow it sticks out of. It doesn't budge at first, but eventually comes out
<Reverb>: "Nice staff ya got there."
Alina feels a bliss something incredible. Relief. The staff empowers her, giving her that little bit of energy that she's been needing as she's been running on none for so long.
<Alina>: "...I think I'll keep it."
<Alina>: "Its a nice thing to bring home, ya know?"
<Alina>: As she picks it up, though, there is a rumbling sound. It seems as if something was triggered somewhere.

<Reverb>: "Shit, that can't be good."
<Alina>: "Oh crap..."
Reverb grabs Alina's arm, and starts running back from where they came.

<Alina>: The clothing nearby begins to rustle, and snow begins forming in making bodies to fill out the clothing. The snowmen begin rising, picking up their muskets.
<Reverb>: "No time, let's get moving!"
Alina fucking books it with her. The snowmen form as they run along, just finishing as they run by. Loud cracks, gunshots go off as bullets just barely miss the two of them from behind.
<Alina>: They make it to the bridge, that damn rickety bridge.

Reverb turns around, dropping a block of crystal in front of her. Should hold off the bullets.
<Reverb>: "C'mon Alina, keep moving!"
<Alina>: "right!" she goes on ahead onto the bridge, trying to go as fast as she an across it.
<Alina>: Bullets smack into the crystalline shield. It starts forming cracks as shots crack into it, this isn't gonna last them forever
Alina is now trying to run across the bridge, nearly tripping a few times but each time barely getting back up
Reverb groans, pushing the shield forward. As Alina reaches the end of the bridge, she wastes no time walking across it herself.

<AlinaG>: The soldiers continue firing into the shield as she crosses, chipping and cracking at it as they follow in pursuit
AlinaG has made it to the other side, waiting for Reverb to cross
Reverb keeps going, forming shards in her hands and tossing them like javelins at the snowmen.
<AlinaG>: The javelins pierce right through the chest of a few and they fall back before the snow in them melts away, leaving the clothing

Reverb joins Alina on the other side, panting slightly.
<AlinaG>: "C'mon, this way" she runs ahead with the torch to lead them. The snowmen are beginning to cross the bridge
<Reverb>: "Gotcha." she says, running after Alina.

<AlinaG>: They continue on through the tunnel with the snowmen trailing after them. As they make progress, though, the walls themselves seem have splits of rock that fall off and form snake like rock creatures. They slither after them, one of them pouncing at Reverb
Reverb grabs the creature, throwing it behind her.
<AlinaG>: The rock snake is thrown back, hitting one of the snowmen and causing it to collapse. The snowmen still rush after them firing off shots as they do
<AlinaG>: One of the shots grazes Alina's side, she grunts but keeps running

<Reverb>: "Motherfuckers..." Reverb turns around, stamping on the ground. Spikes extend from the ground and ceiling. She turns and continues to run.
<AlinaG>: The snowmen are minced by the spikes, but a few manage to get through.
AlinaG strides across the crystal bridge over water.
Reverb runs across the bridge. Once she reaches the end, she snaps off one edge of the bridge.

<AlinaG>: The snowmen make it to the edge, but stop abruptly right there and lower their weapons. They look up, seeing the glowworms above them.
<AlinaG>: They turn back. It seems they can't go past this gap.
<AlinaG>: "Phew... oh shit that was close"
<Reverb>: "...let's keep moving. Don't want to take any chances."
<AlinaG>: "Right..." she pants

AlinaG continues on through the path they came in
<AlinaG>: They continue along without any trouble, luckily. It isn't long before they reach that old musket they saw when they first came in
<Reverb>: "On your guard."
<Reverb>: "Never know with this place."

AlinaG walks on past the musket, heading towards the small light at the end leading outside
Reverb follows Alina.

<Alina>: They eventually make it out of the cave, the fresh cool breeze brushes against them
Alina lets out a sigh of relief
<Alina>: "Well... that was fun" she says, she doesn't seem to notice the gash on her side left by the bullet
<Reverb>: "Well, that was fun."

Alina leans on the staff, balancing herself
<Reverb>: "You alright?"
<Alina>: "I'm... fine" she looks to her wound, its still bleeding "I hope"
<Alina>: "Lets head back to the school, I'll get this checked out"
<Reverb>: "Sure. Here, let me help."

Alina is a but hunched over, the pain starting to actually come apparent to her
Reverb approaches Alina, extending a hand.
Alina takes her hand for support
Reverb starts walking back to the school, holding Alina up.
<Alina>: "Thanks, Frankie"
<Reverb>: "No problem."

<Alina>: They continue on through the spooky forest until they finally reach the school.
<Alina>: "Just... drop me off at the nurse's. You need to get to class"
<Reverb>: "Eh, it's cool."

Alina hobbles along to the nurse's with Reverb, balancing herself on her as well as the staff.\
<Reverb>: "All things considered... that could have gone worse."
<Alina>: "We didn't die, that's good"
<Alina>: "I hope you got some of the inspiration you were looking for down there"
<Reverb>: "Heh, guess I did."

Alina grabs onto the doorknob of the office, leaning on it and letting go of Reverb
<Alina>: "You ever want to go on another hike, I think I might be able to find something"
<Reverb>: "Sounds good to me."
Alina gives her a smile as she opens the door
<Alina>: "See you around later, I guess"

<Reverb>: "Yeah, see you around."
Alina heads into the nurse's office to get that wound some attention
Reverb walks away from the office. There's still an hour till her lesson. Maybe she'll do something other than listen to music all day this time. Maybe.