Multiple Settings Gods Among Us (CLOSED GROUP)

[Saracen_Rue]

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[Saracen_Rue]

Tarren Havenfield - Outfit- #575772 - & Shiloh Crowley - Outfit - #296152
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Two days. It had been two days since the group of students from LindenWood, had found themselves leaving the comforts of what was considered to be their new home back in New York. All while being led by their Professor. Who, by all means knew what he was doing, well, for the most part. There were times where his assistant, Kayden, would have to step in and lead the otherwise clueless bunch. Was indeed a sight to see as a small Irish woman led a brigade of International students, and their clueless and often time scatter brained British Professor. To say getting around the airports wasn't easy, well, you can only imagine. But now the group found themselves in what would be considered their new home for the next month, the Dusit Thani LakeView Hotel, in Cairo, Egypt.

Currently, the hot sun of Egypt had been beating down overhead, onto the small group of travelers, nearly exhausted from the full day of exploring. The first day was spent exploring the city itself, the food, the culture, the people, and a few landmarks such as the Abdeen Palace and the Khan el-Khalili Bizaar that were in the capitol.

Arguably though, today’s activities were perhaps the most exciting and nearly everyone was looking forward to it. The day began with a short bus ride to the outskirts of Cairo in Giza, where the students were allowed to explore one of the seven wonders of the world. The Pyramids of Giza. The impressive structures were a breathtaking sight and it wouldn’t have been complete without a lengthy lecture from Professor Price. They had already spent about four hours at the site before the sun had just begun to set in the Western horizon. Most of the group would have thought the day would’ve been called quits there. Seeing as the sun was beginning to set, and it was best advised to settle indoors after that. Since the group first arrived, they had been told countless times by locals to be wary after the sun goes down. Local tales had been spread about the group in the oncoming two days, even if Tarren and even Eden had thought that they were nothing more than old lore and stories told, especially to scare off tourists. The less trouble they caused, the better.

But, as their luck would have it, Professor Price had a different idea.

Tarren knew that the moment Professor Price just simply mentioned the field trip to Egypt, that things weren't going to end well. Tarren had never been out of the country before aside from a few trips back home to Brisbane for their mother. Other than that, Ren had never been to a place with endless seas of sand, and blazing suns, it was a stark contrast in culture to what they knew for the better half of twenty-plus years. But they figured that they might as well go, especially due to some pushing from Price, and some of their friends in the days that followed. While the prospect of earning a few more credits and offers after going on the trip was originally the only thing that ultimately made them go, knowing that some of their friends truly wanted them along was enough of a push. And so they made their decision.

The first few days were rather, uneventful if Ren was being honest. Not much of anything happened except for small travel, and touring some of the surrounding cities. Not that it wasn't interesting or boring, it just wasn't exactly what they had been expecting. It was now the second day and the sun had already started to slowly go down, as well as the majority of the tourists were beginning to head back to the buses and leave for the night. Tarren had stayed back among the group and waited for news on what they would be doing.

The buses began to fill, leading the tourists back to the capital, Price instead had the group stay behind as he wanted to see one last thing before they headed back. His request was met with unsurprisingly, unanimous protest - after all they had been trekking nearly all day, not to mention whatever the man had in mind was definitely not on the itinerary. It wasn’t until about a half hour after they had been wandering aimlessly around the desert that it was obvious they were more than a little lost.

It was only when Price told them all to follow him and that they weren't exactly done just yet, much to the vocal dismay of the others. While everyone was getting either burned or complaining of the heat, Tarren had welcomed the sun. They oddly dressed with an over-shirt with a plain t-shirt underneath, and black jeans (which in retrospect was a poor choice), with plenty of sun screen applied, of course. With sunglasses in hand, they had no reasons for complaining, at least not now. They figured in the morning they would feel the aftermath of the Egyptian sun that shone down on them mercilessly for hours. But for now, feeling that familiar sun here, like it was back in Brisbane.

Tarren looked to some of their friends for a moment, giving them a don't ask me look, before they walked up alongside Price and Hallows. "Excuse me, Professor?" Tarren started, but only received a poor excuse of an answer in the form of a shoulder shrug and mumbling. Seeing as the two co-leads were busy looking over the map. Tarren turned back to look at the others, shrugging their own shoulders before continuing to walk up alongside the Professor and his assistant. "Don't mean to....intrude, but, the others and I were wondering where we're actually going? The sun is setting, so shouldn't we be headed back already?" Tarren questioned casually.

The other two mumbled about themselves a bit more, before Kayden turned around partially to face Tarren, giving them a bright smile, "We'll be going back in just a bit. The Professor just wants to trekk on a bit more, and then we'll be heading back. Promise." Kayden looked back, as Trevor exclaimed to himself and headed off in the direction he was facing. Kayden and Tarren exchanged glances between each other, and then the group, before gesturing for the others to follow their wayward Professor.

The group had been led further past the Pyramid of Menkaure to the Queen’s Pyramids, a set of three Pyramids that were smaller in comparison to the others each built for a famous Egyptian Queen. Long gone were the signs placed conveniently for the tourists, it was beginning to look like mountains upon mountains of sand dunes awaiting them when the ground suddenly dipped down into a small ravine. Trevor skidded to an abrupt stop at the sudden dip in the ground and his eyes lit up. ”Fascinating...” he mumbled under his breath lowering his map as he looked at the ruins.

Nowhere did it list the presence of a tomb or a current excavation taking place. To anyone else, this place might not have existed. So, how in the hell, did they manage to find it? Nevermind go in the right direction to possibly stumble upon something? This immediately didn't sit right with Tarren, nor Kayden. But Trevor, he seemed all too excited. A little bit too much, if they were being honest. The two of them shared another look at each other, before walking up alongside the Professor. "Trevor?" Kayden began, folding her hands before she continued, "Don't you think it'd be best if we started to head back? Come back in the morning, and when we're not all exhausted? And...you know...There's sunlight?" she questioned, gently tapping Trevor on the shoulder.

A small chuckle escaped his mouth as he looked up finally at the two, ”It would, but we don't have time for that! We want to be able to say we explored it first, don't we? Besides-" the Professor turned fully around to look at the full group of students, ”We go in and explore, just a bit. And I'll give you all passing grades for this class, and even more so, we can take the rest of this trip easy afterwards. We just have to take a little peak inside the tombs first." he grinned.

Trevor gestured for the group to join him by the edge of the slope, and looked down once more into the ravine. At the bottom of the crevice, set a massive entrance to some sort of temple that was half buried in the sand. The place looked like it was just a breeze away from toppling over. Threatening statues of Pharaohs were in the front staring menacingly down at them, almost as if they were guarding whatever was hidden away inside the tombs. The sight made Tarren’s stomach turn with that all too familiar sense of adrenaline. But the rational part of their brain flickered for a moment. There was no way that something like this had sat here for this long without being discovered. With all the tourists, explorers, and locals poking around the desert? There was no way this place had been undiscovered. Right?

Tarren looked at the others, then back at Trevor, "I have to agree with Kayden, Sir. We can come back tomorrow. We'll have more time, and natural lighting to explore the tombs. Besides, who says this hasn't been explored yet-"

Trevor lifted his hand, ”Want a promised passing grade, or not, Havenfield?" he questioned, eyebrows raised before a grin formed on his face. ”Whoever wants to come along, make haste. But for those who wish to remain outside, feel free. We'll just take a peak, and be done with it, yeah?" He didn’t really wait for much of an answer from the others, as he had already began to carefully move down the edge of the ravine. Taking just a moment to beckon for everyone to follow him. Before disapearing further down.

Kayden gave a wary glance to the students, “We have to go after him don’t we?” Kayden paused, then looked back to the direction of which Trevor left. “We have to go after him.” She said more to herself than the others, and slowly she began following after him, sliding down the slope. A few rocks scattering down from the impact of her feet. The audible crack of rocks clattering below.

Professor Price reached the base of the ravine just in front of Kayden, and whoever else was behind her. Placing his hands on his hips as he gazed at the towering Pharaoh statues to the dark cave of an entrance. “Professor none of us really think this is a good idea we-” Tarren's face paled slightly as they watched him slip off his backpack and crouch down. Quickly beginning to dig through it furiously until he retrieved a flashlight.

He tapped it on his knee a few times before the faint light flickered on. “You, you can’t be serious.” Kayden mumbled out as a look of disapointment appeared on her face. Even for her, with all of the years she knew Trevor, even this was a bit much for him. Trevor just returned her gaze with a small glint in his eyes. He quickly stood up, brushing sand off of his pants. Brandishing the flashlight in his hands. ”I know this might seem a bit mad to some of you but…Wouldn’t some of you like to have a piece of your name written into history? You all signed the waivers didn’t you…?” The briefest smile flashed across his face, before turning to look at the old entrance of the ruins. “I’m not forcing any of you to follow me, in fact, by all means stay out here. I’ll just have a brief look inside…” He trailed off, as he gazed back at the entrance. “But, for anyone who would like to join, I won’t stop you either.” and with that, Trevor made his way into the entrance of the tombs, and whatever it was that awaited inside...

Thoughts wracked around Tarren's mind as they thought to themself for a moment. If something was truly down there, and if they were a part of a possible large discovery, it could possibly end up with some way of helping their situation back home. If this came with some sort of financial pay, well, Ren could feel a slight nagging feeling in the back of their head. Something telling them not to. But at the same time, they had no real choice.

Going against their better judgement, Tarren shifted through their own backpack that they had with them, quickly retrieving their own flashlight and turning it on, exposing some of the smaller details of the entrance as they took a few steps forwards in the direction the professor went off in. "Well, I for one say that we need to get him back, but...As long as we don't come across any more scorpions or centipedes, I know I'll be fine." Tarren said with a large grin, "But I doubt that'll be the case..." they shuddered, thinking about the scorpions they already came across. While, in reality, Ren was both terrified and excited for what could possibly be ahead, even if what was about to come could be a mistake. What was the harm in snooping around for a little while, right? And obviously, retrieving Professor Price...

---

Tarren and Shiloh shared a mutual glance at each other before they both began to make their way into the chamber's entrance. Ren almost jumped out of their skin as they felt a hand suddenly grab them by the shoulder, looking back to see Alex, their cousin, who had also gone on this trip seeing as he had also started to attend Lindenwood roughly the same time they had. Shilohlooked at the two and gave a small nod before she continued on ahead, "Yeah, bud?" Tarren asked, an eyebrow quirked upward at their cousin.

Alex paused for a moment before he began to speak, "I'm gonna hang back out here with some of the others, you go on ahead yeah?" Alex gave a small smile.

Tarren simply shrugged in response, "Okay. If we all die of some ancient curse in there, my ghost is gonna come back and haunt your ass." Tarren joked, before turning back and entering the chamber of the tomb. They shone their flashlight against the walls and pillars, the inside being far larger than they would have anticipated, or expected. It seemed to be more of an outdoor courtyard? Than a normal entryway of a tomb. But, they didn't know much about Egyptian culture to be completely sure.

By the time that Tarren had caught up with the others, they were more towards the middle of the group, silently walking beside Angel and a few of the others. "Wonder how long it'll take for us to get lost in here, before the professor realizes?" Ren whispered.

Shiloh leaned towards them as a smirk spread across her face, "I give about fifteen minutes before we're all possessed by some ancient dieties or something. Or get eaten alive by giant, mutated spiders." she joked.

Tarren tolled their eyes at her response, "The day we get possessed, I'll hope that they'll use my body to beat your ass for jynxing it." Ren joked in return, gently pushing her.

The group collectively continued onwards, further into the entryway. Originally they were able to walk shoulder to shoulder, but the longer they walked, eventually the halls became thin enough to have to walk in single file. Professor Price and Kayden were somewhere up ahead, before another large room opened up ahead of them. There was ancient texts and images covering the stone carved walls, whatever was chistled into the old stone was barely telligble, even if someone knew how to read it. They were long since faded, and just barely able to be seen with the use of flashlighs and other means.

Tarren and a few others broke off from the main group, and so did some of the others, but staid in the same chamber they were in. As they walked along, looking at the carvings in the wall, Tarren suddenly shot out their right hand, pushing back whoever was next to them. They anchored their feet into place as they looked down at their feet, just barely a few inches to their right, the earth had long since opened up, creating what could only be described as a sinkhole in the ground. "Best to watch where your feet go, mate." Ren rattled off, their eyes glancing back to the wall. "Hey Professor?" they called out, looking up at a large mural along the large wall in the chamber they were in.

Trevor turned to look away from the current wall he was looking at, clearly trying to translate whatever text was carved in, "Yes, Havenfield?" he asked as he slowly made his way over, being careful of where he walked.

"What do you think this is?" Tarren shone their torch against the wall. The mural along the wall was faded, but enough could be made out after a few minutes of study.

Trevor's eyebrows furrowed as he looked over the entirety of the wall, using the flashlights of a few students to help illuminate the full image. "Well, I'm no ancient philosopher but...My best guess? Would be some old battle that took place thousands of years ago. See-" he began, pointing at one end of the wall, "That right there, is Set. Egyptain God of Chaos and Storms. What it appears to be, is a long told story of him and the others Gods of old engaging in some ancient battle." his hands tracing the images to the other end of the stone. "And that, is Horus. God of the Sky. And of course, the others-" he gestured to all of the other drawings of Anubis, Osiris, Sobek, and many of the others and their armies led under their control.

"But I don't remember reading of some battle like this. As it looks like the Gods are fighting among themselves even, not just against Set?" Shiloh chimed in, shining her own flashlight against the ancient mural, as she made her way over to it.

Price smiled and nodded at Shiloh, "Very good, Miss Crowley. Very good observation indeed." Trevor said a bit enthusiastically. "I'll need to take some notes of this down for later...Interesting indeed. But, they were always known for their stories, and if this indeed an undiscovered tomb? Who knows what stories and battles are told within these very walls!" Trevor giggled excitedly, jotting more notes down into his notebook. Tarren and Shiloh exchanged a look once again, as they shrugged their shoulders. He's officially lost his plot.

Kayden finally wiggled her way through the group that had formed around the others, looking up at the mural, "This is all well and good, Trevor. Really. But, We've gone further than we initially said. And even I feel like now would be a good time to turn back and head to the hotel. Get some sleep and come back tomorrow?" she asked, both brows raised in a fashion that he would know a bit too well by now.

Trevor turned his head to look over at her, "Yes, but-", he started once more. "But I just...I got a feeling. We just go a little longer, and I just know there's something worth pressing on for." he said with a twinkle in his eyes. A look that only made Kayden's stomach drop a bit.

Kayden and some of the students are rolled their eyes and groaned in sync at the answer they were all give. "You're impossible..." Kayden huffed under her breath as she looked at him. Trevor simply shrugged, before begining to walk again, headed into another chamber as he scrawled more notes into his notepad.

Tarren exchanged a look with Kayden, and some of the others, shrugging their shoulders once "Someone's gotta get him...Mother fucker..." Tarren groaned, throwing their head back for a moment, before walking after Trevor, and into another chamber up ahead. It wasn't much longer after Tarren had walked in after Price, that there was a blood curdeling scream that rang out from their direction.

Shiloh didn't waste anytime and ran into the next chamber to see what had happened. "What? What happened, Ren?" she questioned as she found them frozen a few steps ahead.

They took a few deep breaths before turning to look at their friend, "It was the largest bastard of them all, that I have ever seen in my life-" they started, before shuddering.

A large grin formed on Shiloh's face, before a loud bellowing laugh escaped her lips, as the realization hit her, that it was merely a scorpion that had spooked her friend. "You know, the bigger they are, less threatening, right?" she chuckled.

"I'm serious, you asshole! It ran across my foot and everything. I fucking hate them, and you know that. I don't get how you can tolerate them so easily." they said with another shudder.

"Well, like most things in life, Ren? You warm up to them over time." she said with a shrug.

Tarren shot her a glare, "Only way I'd warm up to them, is if a flame thrower was involved." they bit back.

Shiloh chuckled, and wrapped her arm around Tarren's shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll stay right next to ya, so no more scary creepy crawlies scare ya." Shiloh teased as they continued onward, looking for their wayward professor. Who, now seemed to be nowhere in sight. They both could have sworn he was standing right there, alongside Kayden. But the moment they had looked at each other, and then back ahead of them, further in the chamber, they were gone. This wasn't good.

 

[partially-stars]

charlie addams. #d83f66. outfit. ​

Charlie had taken her history class on a complete whim. She'd needed to take another class to fill her credits, and this was the only one that had looked any way interesting, even if it wasn't that relevant to her major. But she enjoyed it, she had to admit that much. Professor Price was... eccentric, to say the least, but he made the class entertaining. And when talk of a trip to Egypt had come up... well, Charlie had been prepared to do whatever it took to go. Her meagre savings would have just covered it; but then the organisation who funded her scholarship said they were also willing to pay for her to go on the trip. And so, Charlie had instead invested some of her savings in a whole new travel wardrobe and the litres of sunblock she knew she was going to need for the trip.

The first few days had been spent exploring the city. She’d spent the whole time with at least one camera in hand, recording footage for vlogs, taking photos of all the beautiful sights, and making sure to grab as many photos of her friends as she could. She would have been lying if she’d said that she didn’t need the distraction. Old feelings had been creeping back in lately. If anyone asked, she would say things were great, things were fine! She was in a relationship with somebody she thought was really cool, she had so many friends, she was seeing the world, how could she not be happy? But here, out of her comfort zone, things were scary and overwhelming. Things worked differently. Every day so far, she’d broken off from the group to go find a McDonalds or somewhere more familiar to eat, or she’d hidden behind the others and followed their lead when doing stuff. Her accent drew looks from everyone around her, too unusual and different from her housemates. And she couldn’t talk to anyone about this, because she couldn’t remind them that she was different or weird or they might decide they were bored of her now and wanted to move on. She especially couldn’t talk to Azzy about it for that reason. She’d also been roomed with Greyson of all people, not Azzy like she’d been hoping for, and she was trying to avoid him as much as possible.

She was relieved when the trip to the Great Pyramids arrived. It was a tourist-y enough thing that she knew there’d be some familiarity there. And she was right. Truth be told, that day was the most relaxed she’d been, especially with Professor Price guiding them and talking them through things. But the day was wearing on, and it was beginning to get cold. She had presumed they'd be back to the hotel before the sun was properly down, and so hadn't bothered to bring any layers. By that point in the night, a warm hotel with a bar seemed a whole lot more appealing than an old cave right then, but apparently everyone else was enough of a history nerd that the latter won out. Even if they were in the most touristy part of Cairo, Charlie felt like cuddling up to Azzy for warmth probably wasn’t the best idea. Her pride also stopped her from asking her girlfriend if she’d at least thought to bring an extra layer. She’d deal with hypothermia if it came to it.

When the challenge to make it down a steep ravine came up, Charlie’s bad mood disappeared. “Babe, watch this!” She said to Azzy, taking a run and sliding down the cliff. It could have gone horribly wrong, Charlie realised as she was sliding down. But she reached the bottom intact and even somewhat elegantly, keeping her balance as she took a few steps to steady herself. She took a bow and turned to spot Price apparently deciding that what they really needed to do on this trip was explore a tomb that looked like it was about to house a few more bodies.

As everyone else flicked on their torches, Charlie's stomach sank as she remembered she hadn't even thought to bring one. She thought by now she'd be back in her room, either settling down to edit or... going out on the town or... something. Not exploring a dark ass cave that probably would just have a whole bunch of old boxes that weren't even that interesting. Charlie had only taken the class because she wanted to learn about Egyptian myths because she thought they were cool like the Greek ones. Not to look at some dumb old broken boxes. For the first time, she hesitated, holding back to look at the people around her. Ren and Shiloh had both already followed Price inside. So Charlie found herself looking at Mia and Azzy to see what they wanted to do.

“I kinda feel like we should follow them,” she said, peering inside. The first room didn’t look too bad. “What’s the worst that could happen, eh?” she called, stepping inside to look around. Honestly, the inside was underwhelming. “It’s fine, you’re not gonna die!” She called back to the others. As somebody who was on the trip to film the cities and the sights and not the inside of tombs, she mostly found herself watching the people in the tomb instead. She cackled from across the room as a spider ran over Ren’s foot, causing them to scream. “Hey, Mia, dad needs you to come save them from a mean ol’ spider!” She called out to Mia with a grin.

angel shaw. #1b581d. outfit.​

Lindenwood required their students to take a certain amount of humanities credits. Which is how Angel had ended up in Price’s history class. Which is how he’d ended up on the trip. God, this whole trip had seemed like a really good idea at the time. A distraction, he’d said. Something fun and new and a new experience for him. He’d been “randomly” selected for extra searches by airport security, something which had been borderline panic attack inducing, and then he’d been stuck in a metal can for hours and hours.

This wasn’t to say he wasn’t enjoying the trip. Once they’d actually gotten to Egypt and were free to explore, he found himself beginning to enjoy the sights. The city was fascinating, and as long as he stuck with the people he trusted, he could relax. Well, relax as much as he ever did. The trip was also something of a celebration, although a celebration only him and a few others knew about. He was two months sober on the day they landed in Egypt. And even with the overwhelming anxiety of traveling, he’d managed to keep that streak going.

The thought of sharing a room with somebody he didn’t know that well had been especially stressful. But even though he knew that the thought of sharing with Harvey of all people probably should have been complicated, it just made him feel relieved. A touch of awkwardness was manageable when it wasn’t a stranger or somebody who would mock him and his idiosyncrasies. Even if he wasn’t willing to admit it to himself, Harvey helped him stay calm. He was something familiar and solid, something Angel could focus on when things felt too distant and foreign.

Like, for example, when their batshit History professor thought it was a good idea to go exploring crumbling old caves. Angel was sure that he was going to die just trying to make his way down the ravine. He slid the last few feet, much less graceful than others, and had to catch himself at the bottom. Both hands were a little cut up, but rather than draw attention to it, he just shoved his hands in his pockets and acted like he was fine.

He didn’t want to go into the cave. The ravine had been bad enough, the cave was definitely going to kill him. But then pretty much all of his friends also decided to explore the cave. And, well, the thought of just waiting outside while everyone he cared about went into a deadly cave was somehow worse than going into the cave himself. So he followed them in, found a part of the room near the exit that didn’t look like it was going to imminently collapse, and parked himself there, sipping at a bottle of water in the hopes of keeping himself calm. He had no intention of moving anywhere; but Ren’s scream got him to follow them into the next chamber. When he realised it was nothing more threatening than a spider, he swore.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Harrenfield, I was sure that you were dead, and now we’re all in this fucking death trap of a room thanks to you,” he grumbled. “Professor, can we please go now?” He called, before scanning the room in search of their so-called guide. “Professor?” The man was gone. Oh god. They were all going to die. They were one hundred percent about to die.

 

[apprenticesmith95]

Alannah Martinez
Outfit #be8025​

Alannah closed her eyes, basking in the warmth of some real sun while Professor Price planned their next move. Egypt had been gorgeous so far. Loud and chaotic, but utterly gorgeous. Lana had been in her element in the bazaar, weaving among the crowds and dragging Harvey along behind her. Credit where it was due, Harvey barely complained, even after she went back to the same stall three times, talking herself in and out of buying something. It was all in the pursuit of finding something perfect for Shiloh. And helping Harvey find something for his parents. That wasn’t a task Lana had to worry about.

Her eyes snapped open when Harvey tapped her on the shoulder. She looked up at him and pulled a headphone out. “I think we’re making a move,” he explained. She linked her arm through his as they followed the rest of the group on another one of the Professor’s side journeys. As much as she would like to be holding Shiloh’s hand, this was safer for everyone.

Harvey slid down the ravine first, knocking a few stones loose on his way down before he turned back to help Lana, who was attempting some awkward crab-like walk down the ravine. He offered his hand out and she took it, practically skipping the last few steps. While Lana wiped her hands on his shirt, Harvey looked around at the temple entrance. He could almost hear the foreboding music as the sky began to darken overhead. “You ever seen The Mummy?”

“I’m gay, of course I have.”

Harvey smirked and tilted his head towards the crumbling temple. “Maybe we’re about to find Imhotep.”

Lana shook her head. “You’re such a dick,” she said while searching in her bag for her flashlight.

Harvey shone his own light into her bag to help her out. “Yeah, but that’s all part of my unique charm.”

Lana’s hand closed around her flashlight and she pulled it out triumphantly. She tapped it against her hip to get it to turn on properly. “Is that what Angel tells you?”

Harvey moved the beam up to hit her square in the face. Angel had absolutely nothing to do with this conversation. It’s not like Harvey had noticed that he looked like a cuter version of Milo Thatch, coz Angel didn’t. He was just a guy, dressing appropriately for the weather. Nothing else to notice about it. “No, my mother did.”

They followed the break-off group inside. Lana snapped pictures of the murals and carvings as they went along, Harvey acting as her impromptu lighting man when she needed him. It would take her a while to edit them all down, but it was better to have too many pictures than too few. Lana nearly lost her phone in the sand when she heard Ren screaming. She ran into the next chamber to hear the commotion about a scorpion.

Lana cast her beam down at their feet to see the offending creature scuttling about in the sand. She had dealt with plenty of scorpions when she was growing up. Aurelio had shown her how to pick them up so they wouldn’t sting. She crouched down and picked the scorpion up by its tail, holding it arm's length so it couldn’t nip. “Hola pequeñito. Vamos por aquí,” she said softly while she carried the scorpion to the far corner where it couldn’t terrorise Ren. She watched it scuttle away for a moment before heading back over to Shiloh.

While this was happening, Harvey was over by Angel. The outburst had been, well not unusual, Angel was highly strung when he was stressed, but it was a lot. He placed a hand on Angel’s arm. “You ok, man?”

The realisation that the Professor and Kayden were nowhere to be found sent a cold chill down his spine. There’s no way they could just be gone. They had to be in the temple somewhere. Harvey cast his light around the room, looking for an exit or gap they might have disappeared through. “Maybe we missed a turn they took? Or a gap in a wall that they’ve slid through?” he asked the group, more for his own reassurance than anything else. He was completely ignoring the way his hand had slid down to hold Angel’s. This was fine.

Harvey Leary
Outfit#b5a10a​

 

[therealmcdreamy]

Grayson Williams. 565656. Outift. - Dustin Eriksson. D57980. Outfit.​

Two days. Two days in the desert. Two days of a blind man in a desert. Seriously, when was the punchline going to happen? Grayson already hardly understood why he was here. Well, he did actually want to learn the history. He had already crammed on Egyptian history and mythology in advance, had audio tapes of as many guided tours as he could get his hands on, and may have written a light paper or two about his research findings and submitted them to the professor and his assistants... But he still chose to act bitter when he could. He honestly just couldn’t help himself with the jokes about taking him ‘sightseeing’. They just make it too easy. He could’ve had more fun with it and maybe even some fun on this trip… If it wasn’t for the golden retriever that barely left him alone since leaving for this trip. Wasn’t Angel his roommate? When did he get stuck with the giant idiot for the buddy system?

For some reason, Dusty felt the compulsive need to be Grayson’s guide this entire trip. He had also taken it upon himself to describe each place they visited in as much detail as his vocabulary allowed. He knew he meant well by it. It’s the only reason Grayson ever just went along with whatever Dusty chose to tag along with him on. He’s just too nice. It’s so annoying.

He had hoped their day was coming to an end. He could feel the sun setting and it finally started to cool down around him. Grayson felt like he was caked in sweat despite being appropriately dressed. Of course, Professor Price had the ingenious idea to coerce them all to going into a tomb. Well, he wasn’t forcing them. But it’s not like Grayson was going to pass on the opportunity to be a part of a discovery. Superstitions be damned. ’Blind Man Makes Great Discovery in Egypt’. Get famous and laugh about it at the same time. Sounds perfect.

It wasn’t necessarily easy using a walking stick in a desert, so Grayson opted for grudgingly holding onto Dusty most of this trip. The part of the group trekking inwards, gave Grayson the opportunity to break away and grab onto whoever was closest first to start making his way away and a chance to breathe. But also in hopes of being able to find someone, anyone, to give him a chance to breathe. Explaining these things to Dusty was too much work. That leads into wondering how he even got into this school even though Grayson is fully aware that this man is somehow a musical prodigy blessed by the gods. And they have such a strange sense of irony.

Things had gone single filed as they delved further in. Grayson kept himself outwardly calm except for gripping a little too tightly onto the shirt of whoever was in front of him. He could follow the voices but he still couldn’t help but feel uneasy. He didn’t like small spaces and not being able to at least find the person privileged to know that fact was not helping.

The group that stopped was looking at a mural. Grayson listened in as he attempted to continue to feel through and follow the voices while he picked out and followed them. He chuckled as they described the scene of the mural. ”The gods fighting among each other. Sounds like chaos.” Somehow, he ended up with Dusty again. Absolutely no idea how he managed to just appear next to him without Grayson noticing. ”How do I always get stuck with you?”

”We have to do the buddy system. Did you see that sink hole?” Dusty’s face flushed over at realizing what he just said. ”I mean-” It wasn’t really words after that. Just southern mumbling before Grayson finally saved him and cut him off. ”Just stop talking and be my walking stick. I give up.” Grayson had no energy for this. He was tired, stuck in a small space, and the best he had was this idiot as a guide. But then, Teddy surprised him.

Dusty already knew Grayson was uneasy the second they went through the entryway. Grayson never really talked about himself as much as he acted. Dusty never asked. He’d tell him if he wanted to. Instead he just noticed. He saw the ways he’d change if they were in small spaces. The times he’d tried to act calm even though he was feeling disoriented and anxious. Dusty wouldn’t ask why but he could at least try to comfort and help where he’d let him. So he put his hands on Grayson’s shoulder’s to steady and face towards him and then gave him a brief hug. He really wanted to hug him for long but he also knows Grayson isn’t the biggest fan of affection so he had to take what he could get.

”I’ve got you, bro.” Grayson actually managed to smile at him. Dusty was beaming. Then a scream broke Dusty’s ‘moment’ and he needed to run towards the direction of the sound with Grayson being dragged along as a result. He couldn’t just say he’s got him and then ditch. That’s against Bro Code. It ended up being a creepy crawly. Dusty would’ve screamed too. So would Grayson.

Thats when Dusty finally looked around and noticed who was gone. Probably not good. Grayson deduced this much given everyone else’s reaction to them being gone. Grayson simply smirked to himself and spoke up to the group, ”We already made the mistake of following the crazy professor into an Egyptian tomb. At this point, it’s death or curse and we certainly asked for it-” Grayson shrugged. ”Right now I’m just hoping dear ol’ dad remembers to add ‘devilishly handsome’ on my grave stone.”