MidwayLives
"What's your favorite scary movie...?"
She didn’t move for a little while, didn’t even react to the hand holding or the question. At least not initially. Cinder was just thinking that extensively about what she’d been told, but eventually she did respond. She slowly looked at him and just as slowly shrugged. “I...I don’t know.” She admitted but then tried to turn the topic away from her. “Are...you?”
Tyrian didn't let go of Cinder's hand.
"...Yeah, I guess that makes two of us."
He looked over at wherever Mercury was.
He was....glad(?) they didn't break out into another fight. It wouldn't have solved anything. If anything it'd have only made things worse and left nobody happy. On top of that it was like he'd told Morgiana. He didn't hate Mercury or anything like that. The other teenager had made a point, an important one. Things just...got out of hand.
Still didn't mean he'd forgiven and forgotten that fast.
"....But I'm as okay as I'll need to be to see this through."
"Afterwards?"
He shrugged.
From the perspective of anyone listening, the thief's voice was buried under a layer of muted distortion the moment they stepped through the shimmering green pool of light; as if their heads slipped below water before she finished speaking. Yet the visible sensation was far more disconcerting. Unlike the previous, disparate times they'd all taken the portals, when the physical effect on their end had been instantaneous, the chain of life still linking the more conventional plane of Remnant with those taking point—which, in a twist of mild hilarity, was most likely Char and Blanche given how the groupings shook out—meant they found themselves stepping through and simply... continuing to walk.
From there the process, at least from their point of view, was once more entirely instantaneous. The dazzling array of colors was still burned into their retinas when they felt themselves slowing down, becoming corporeal again, a pleasant sense of weightlessness their only fleeting memory of the journey itself to be had once their adrenaline spikes faded.
That, as it transpired, would be another couple of minutes from now. Their next feeling of weightlessness was far less pleasant as rather than a simple collapsed tunnel like Emerald had indicated their destination ended up giving an ironic twist to her final sentence: it was most definitely, completely underwater. They managed to ascertain that they were in a vertical mineshaft of some sort, recognized mangled bits of debris floating here and there, and that was all they got before the portal's emerald light sputtered out, leaving them to react however they did to suddenly finding themselves miles underground in a submerged tunnel with no light and no air.
Needless to say, the next few seconds were chaotic. Mercury was among the quickest to react in a purposeful way, his bouts of fight-or-flight perhaps those with the shortest fuse, and while his legs did enter a brief period of frantic scrabbling for some sort of bottom as their weight pulled him down hardly a second went by before he got his bearings, tightened his grip on both hands in his, and started kicking up; smooth, powerful thrusts that less pushed and more propelled him through the water.
'Whoa.' Is all Char would have found himself saying.
If he wasn't too busy trying to keep his partner from flailing all over the place once it became clear to the two of em that they were underwater.
"blaNCHE-" Char sputtered as his head bobbed up through the water. "You gotta calm down!"
Blanche DIDN'T want to calm down.
Getting water in his shoes was one thing.
Being coated in it was another altogether. Who knew if this water was clean? Or what had been through it? It could have been absolutely filthy!
"BLANCHE!"
Blanche finally ceased his thrashing around and held onto Char's arm.
"Sorry."
"It's alright, just chill-out man. We're supposed to be professionals. You think it makes us look good to these kids if one of us is splashing around like a kid having a tempter tantrum at the trashy water park their folks reserved a day just for their tenth birthday?"
"....That's oddly specific but yeah, yeah you're right."
Char nodded.
"Right on, man."
If he wasn't too busy trying to keep his partner from flailing all over the place once it became clear to the two of em that they were underwater.
"blaNCHE-" Char sputtered as his head bobbed up through the water. "You gotta calm down!"
Blanche DIDN'T want to calm down.
Getting water in his shoes was one thing.
Being coated in it was another altogether. Who knew if this water was clean? Or what had been through it? It could have been absolutely filthy!
"BLANCHE!"
Blanche finally ceased his thrashing around and held onto Char's arm.
"Sorry."
"It's alright, just chill-out man. We're supposed to be professionals. You think it makes us look good to these kids if one of us is splashing around like a kid having a tempter tantrum at the trashy water park their folks reserved a day just for their tenth birthday?"
"....That's oddly specific but yeah, yeah you're right."
Char nodded.
"Right on, man."
Mercury's head was first to breach the water's surface, followed shortly by Neo provided she didn't wriggle loose of his grip, hacking and sputtering as the torch in his hand whirled to illuminate the air pocket they were in. Their heads were skirting the mineshaft's ceiling, less than a few feet between it and the water for them to bob and draw precious breath in. He was already turning, scanning the heads beginning to pop up from the depths one by one and gauging them against Emerald's swim speed and where he last had a sense of her, the conclusion he drew having him sucking down air a few times before he held it in and—
It wasn't something that Tyrian got to do too often: the opportunity never really presented itself too much.
But he absolutely LOVED swimming.
On the days when he and Trifa got to do their training outdoors, he'd always cool off by swimming in the river.
As his tail swayed from side to side, he kept his hold on Cinder's hand and seemed well-off enough.
"Neo??? Cinder??? Watts?? Mercury?? Everyone ok???"
But he absolutely LOVED swimming.
On the days when he and Trifa got to do their training outdoors, he'd always cool off by swimming in the river.
As his tail swayed from side to side, he kept his hold on Cinder's hand and seemed well-off enough.
"Neo??? Cinder??? Watts?? Mercury?? Everyone ok???"
It was a few seconds before she spoke again, but the upside was that when she did it was only with a slight strain as she finally rotated herself around to face everyone, her own torch clicking on.
"...Is everyone here? Can anyone not—*cough*—swim?"
"We're fine." Blanche and Char responded.
Tyrian let his swimming speak for itself.
"Wait a minute, wasn't that spider girl with us?" Blanche questioned aloud. "Yeah, she grabbed my other hand. She's right-"
There was a clear lack of Trifa next to Char.
"Uh oh."
"blurg..."
Bubbles rose to the surface and popped.
"Oh shit-" "She can't swim??" "Trifa!"
Trifa held her hands over her eyes as Tyrian continued to hold Cinder's hand and gently dragged the spider faunus along/kept her above water by wrapping his tail around her waist.
"All those lessons at the river, Trifa...."
"I *cough* never *cough cough* WENT TO THOSE, TYRIAN!"
Tyrian let his swimming speak for itself.
"Wait a minute, wasn't that spider girl with us?" Blanche questioned aloud. "Yeah, she grabbed my other hand. She's right-"
There was a clear lack of Trifa next to Char.
"Uh oh."
"blurg..."
Bubbles rose to the surface and popped.
"Oh shit-" "She can't swim??" "Trifa!"
Trifa held her hands over her eyes as Tyrian continued to hold Cinder's hand and gently dragged the spider faunus along/kept her above water by wrapping his tail around her waist.
"All those lessons at the river, Trifa...."
"I *cough* never *cough cough* WENT TO THOSE, TYRIAN!"