Under the Hill - Second Circle: Lust

[Notus]

"But Ellaria, how much do you trust me?"

The young girl stood silently fora while, her old instincts fighting with her new feelings.

Before she couldn't trust anyone, because she would always be afraid of betrayal... After all, she herself had gone down this road before. But then she remembered the way Rose treated her since she entered the Hill, the challenges they'd gone through... And Minos's words about fixing their path.

She decided.

"I'll trust whatever you say." she answered timidly. If she couldn't make herself trust Rose, she couldn't do it with anyone else.

[Rosesong]

"Alright then," Rose smiled. Annie had gone ahead, so now it was her turn to go with Ellaria. "I need you to be very brave, and let us know when you land. I'll be right behind you." Positioning the girl right before where she would jump to begin the swing, Rose caught the rope and stepped back.

"Ellaria, try to think like a cat-- try to land on your feet," she offered as a final piece of advice before looping the rope around her hand securely. Running for a start, she snatched Ellaria by the waist and leapt into the air. At the apex of her swing, she let go of the girl, allowing her to continue on to the other side.

Coming back to land on the side with everyone who hadn't swing, Rose immediately took off running again, determined to not leave Ellaria on the other side alone after what had to be the biggest shock to her senses she'd ever had.

[Notus]

"Wait wha.."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Ellaria screamed throughthe whole swing, since the whole thing had caught her unawares. She had lost her ground, and could only feel the change of balance and the whole world spinning around as gravity made her accelerate towards... what? The worse part was this, she didn't know if she would land in the garden's grass, a stone floor or even face first in a wall. All she could do was curl herself in a ball and hope Rose had a good aim.

And fortunately she had. After a moment that seemed to last an eternity, she landed rolling in the fluffy grass of the other side. The impact was tough, but her light weight and the way she landed made it less troublesome than the Ellaria expected.

She stood laying in the grass for some moments, and than got up shaking.

"I was... flying..." she muttered to herself, feeling surprisingly good after all.

"I'm OK!" she shouted at nowhere in particular - she lost sense of the direction were she came from - and waited for an answer to get her bearings back.

[Rosesong]

"Incoming!" Rose hollered, letting go of the rope and crashing rather ungracefully next to Ellaria. Seeing the girl next to her, she quickly got up and checked her over. "I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed. "If you had known you might have struggled, and it wouldn't have worked." Giving the girl a quick hug, she murmured, "I'm glad you're ok. Have fun?"

[Notus]

"It was scary but...yeah, surprisingly nice" Ellaria answered Rose with a nervous laugh. "Thank you Rose."

[Flux]

"Hey, random dude. What's your name?"

Phantom turned towards the voice behind him, the red eyes of his mask facing Annie. He said nothing, simply turned forward again and walked up to the gate. He pushed it open with a hand, before walking into the building.

[Notus]

The scenery changed again as soon as Phantom walked into the greenhouse, and the gate disappeared behind him in a burst of green leaves and vines. Opposed to the rest of the garden, this place was a true jungle, with huge trees and strange looking plants going up until the roof. There was but a straight path forward to go through, and Phantom could hear the sound of falling water from somewhere far ahead.

((the gate is still open for the rest of you, but to a path different than Phantom's))

Edited July 9, 2014 by Notus

[Ragnar]

Ixidor saw people struggling to get across the gap between the garden and the green house on the other side, He glance at the new comers and saw familiar faces, It was Kenny and Ethic. The one hand artist was frozen in fear as emotion runs through his though. the cowardly artist felt guilty after the incident in the library. Kayle slids forward the troubled artist, "No, not yet" he commanded Kalye with a timid voice. they remain hiding behind the tree.

[Sutoratosu]

Ethic stepped up to the rope next as it swung back across to the top of the stairs, catching it smoothly in his hand as he looked over to the other side. there was really no other choice... seeing as how the entire damn bridge had vanished after the masked guy had crossed... he brought up his other hand, gripping the rope tightly as he took a few steps back, then sprinted for the ledge, pushing off hard with his legs once he reached the ledge and swinging over to the other side, letting go of the rope as it lost more and more of it's forward momentum and landing softly on his feet in front of the greenhouse. he turned and watched as the rope lazily swung back over to the stair-side, expecting to see Lucian about to swing across...

only to notice that he wasn't there. "Well... " said a familiar voice behind him "looks like I still have some abilities..." Ethic whirled around, spotting the Magus standing there, hands in his pockets... for some reason, this whole tye-dyed shirt and jeans look seemed to suit him better than the whole Magician's get-up... at least, that's what Ethic thought as he saw him. "Well then," he began as he started walking off towards the Green house, the gates of which sat wide open "I guess it'll be hard for us to get separated if you can just magically appear." He stopped just outside the gates, glancing around. he couldn't help but recall how he'd walked through the gate to the hill, how he'd stopped and looked around first then as well... it seemed a bit like Deja vu. He took a few steps back and glanced off towards Kenny... who was still unconscious on the ground on the other side of the gap. he had no idea what had happened to byron, but he figured the guy would be fine on his own in this place. but he might as well just wait for Kenny to come to and swing across... smarter to just stick with the people who he could trust his back to down here.

"Kenny!!" he called, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify the sound "Wake up and get over, man!!"

[Rosesong]

Rose watched as Ethic and his companion Lucian made their way across-- or at least Ethic did. Lucian seemed to teleport over. Kenny was still dead, so she called to those that could come across. "Mr. Taylor, Enya! Hurry across!" Fear gripped her as she realized Enya may not be able to make it across on her own.

[Supernovae]

Mr. Taylor couldn't help but smile as he stared down at the whip he'd made when he was 'Michael.' It brought him back to a far more exciting time of his life, a time when he wasn't afraid of anything. There were a lot of mistakes he'd made when he was a younger man, though the time in his life when people knew him as MIchael, his 30's, 40's and 50's, he was fearless and, well pretty awesome. Perhaps he had to act a bit more like Michael to get through this hell hole.

He picked the whip up and attached it to his belt, then turned to the little girl and gently picked her up. "Don't worry my dear, I've done this a million times." He said as he carried the girl over to the gap. And it was true, Mr. Taylor had traversed several terrains in his path, while carrying young dames away to safety, swinging across vines was just a part of the routine, something he knew he'd be able to handle even in his advanced age.

He grabbed the vine and let his feet go. Careful to grip the rope tightly with one hand, Enya and her bear tightly with the other. And the trip seemed almost effortless, Mr. Taylor jumped off the vine as soon as his feet made ground on the other side. He turned to Enya and gave her a gentle smile. "See nothing to it at all my dear."

[Rosesong]

Rose ran to Mr. Taylor and gave him a hug. "Oh thank you for bringing her, Mr. Taylor!" she exclaimed. "I'm so careless, I should have brought Enya as well, but I wanted to make sure that Ellaria was ok."

[Supernovae]

Mr. Taylor smiled at Rose, but couldn't make eye contact. To be honest, he was still embarrassed about his attempted kidnap of her, but he knew it'd be best just to speak and try and avoid it. "It was no problem at all my dear." He looked over again at Enya, "She's a beautiful child, wouldn't you say, innocent according to Minos as well." Mr. Taylor paused and looked again at Rose, "But, we'll have to do our best to keep an eye on that bear, wouldn't you say?"

[Rosesong]

Looking at Mr. Taylor, Rose noted he wouldn't make eye contact with her. "Mr. Taylor, are you ok? You've been acting a little strange since you've woken up... But the bear doesn't seem to be harmful-- As far as I can tell it talks to the girl and tells her things that she wouldn't normally know otherwise. She kind of does what it says..." she trailed off, unwilling to say more about the mystery that was Ace.

[Sutoratosu]

Ethic stopped yelling after a few minutes. it was obvious that Kenny was gonna be out for a long while. Sighing, he turned to Lucian "Guess it's just us then..." he said, walking off through the gates of the green house. Lucian began to follow, then paused, shooting a glance over at Kenny, now the sole person still on the other side.

"Aren't we gonna go get him?" he asked "Or at the very least wait for him to come to?"

Ethic stopped shortly inside the gates, glancing at Lucian over his shoulders "Kenny is more than capable of taking care of himself, he'll be just fine." with that, he continued walking into the green house, Lucian shaking his head, as if in disappointment, then picking up his pace to catch up.

Edited July 10, 2014 by Stratos

[Supernovae]

Mr. Taylor looked up at Rose, this time establishing full eye contact. He figured he couldn't hide it anymore. "It's quite scary you know. Getting your body hijacked by a younger version of yourself." His looked turned to a very apologetic one, "I'm sorry for trying to kidnap you... I wasn't quite myself, and you well, you remind me of someone I once knew." He turned away trying to crush his memories as a single tear strolled down his face.

It was too soon to tell Rose about her, he decided and so he turned back to Rose, deciding full-heartedly to change the subject. "Forgive me, but I don't think I can talk about that just yet..." he started realizing that, that particular statement probably wasn't perfect for changing the subject. "Though the bear," he began, "Isn't it strange that it received the worst sentence possible? Though I must admit it's quite obvious that Minos isn't fantastic at his job, I suppose I got off rather easy for my crimes," he quickly cringed again, realizing he was doing an awful job of changing the subject, "But, still the bear must have it's own conscious. Minos certainly wasn't dull, he saw through the bear's charade." He looked at Rose with stern, yet caring eyes, "But still, my dear be careful I'm not saying the bear is evil, it may be the most kind hearted thing that has ever lived. I'm just saying keep an eye out." With that Mr. Taylor began walking over towards Ethic, Lucian and the greenhouse, fairly certain that the rest of the group would be close behind.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

The girl squealed in delight as Mister Taylor and she zipped over the gap, typically clinging onto the bear, as if she cared more what happened to the bear. "Wheeeeeeee!" What a fun swing! It ended a little too soon for the amused child, but seeing that Ace was safely on the other side with them, she did a curtsy to the nice gentleman. "Thank you, Mister Taylor!"

It was funny how she just resumed staring at them whilst smiling, though adorably and innocently like a child does, emptily, as they spoke of the strange child and her beloved bear.

"Oh, oh, we need everyone to get across. Might as well get lost all at once," she said cheerfully, facing the gap. Static rippled, and lo and behold, there was an arched bridge leading safely across the gaping mouth of the abyss.

[Rosesong]

Rose looked at Mr. Taylor as he walked off, not having processed anything that he had said about Enya's bear. He... he tried to kidnap me, the young woman thought numbly to herself. Finding her voice again, she knelt to Enya and Ellaria. "Girls, could you please go with the others? I'll join with you again shortly, I... I need some time alone." Not bothering to check if either girl had listened to her, she walked off in the opposite direction, circumnavigating the greenhouse and keeping a wary eye out. She didn't want to come in contact with anyone while she tried to sort herself out.

Carefully climbing into a tree, Rose thought about everything and realized how much sense it made. The last thing she could remember before falling unconscious was hiding in an alcove and trying to stop her shoulder from bleeding out. When she woke up, she was a ways away from her jacket, and Mr. Taylor's body was on the ground next to her. "He must have taken me from the girls when I was unconscious!" she exclaimed angrily. That would explain why Ellaria was so worried about her when she woke up. As for how Mr. Taylor became unconscious... "Annie," the woman muttered. Annie had said that she broke the elderly man's hand in order to knock him out, but she hadn't said why. The only mystery left was why her left arm had ached so badly when she first woke up again.

Tears fell from her eyes. "Why," she whispered. In the deepest part of her mind, Rose knew that Mr. Taylor wasn't really at fault; it was his younger self. "Why only me? What semblance do I bear to his past? If he was willing to kidnap me for it as his younger self, why can't he explain it to me now?" she sobbed brokenly, unable to comprehend her luck. For the first time since she had left her family, the young woman had felt accepted and almost loved by her companions. To her, this act shattered all the trust she had built in the others. "Couldn't someone have told me?" she murmured, wishing that she had known long before this, so that she wouldn't have been so blind-sided by this news and looked like a fool.

Climbing down slowly from her perch, Rose realized that Annie had never given her the spear she had borrowed back. "Of course," she muttered agitatedly. "What else did I expect?" Snagging a branch, Rose quickly took out her sarong and made a new spear appear, cutting her arms in the process. The woman had come to realize that cuts were her payment for fashioning weapons, so she bit back a pained groan. Despite her promise to Ellaria and Enya, she didn't want to rejoin them any time soon; the girl realized that she needed to cool off lest she say something she might regret.

Wiping her tears away, Rose then began to make some changes so that she couldn't be recognized as easily should she run into the others. Taking out a glasses case, she shoved hers in and quickly put in some blue colored contacts to hide her green eyes. Then, taking a black and blue bandana off of her bandana chain, she hid half of her hair in it and left the other half out. Finally, she stowed her jacket and took the bandages off her shoulder, confident that no one would be able to recognize her... Except maybe Enya and Ace, that is. "Ok, I'm ready," she spoke aloud. Feeling slightly insane for talking aloud, yet not caring at the same time, she began to prowl the edge of the greenhouse, trying to figure out why she would be the object of a kidnapping and what part her double played in Mr. Taylor's life. As she left, she began to hum.

[Ragnar]

Ixidor was the dumbfounded as he saw people crossing the gap with their own ways and vanishes into the green house. "What the? there's another bridge?" he rubs his eyes in disbelief as another bridge appeared once more. He steps out of the oak as the artist reveal himself, Kayle soon follows. Ixidor and the Valkyrie begins to walks through it and stops at the middle of the arch bridge, he hesitated to make another step after he saw the group of people from the library. "Heeyyyy!!" he shouted in a friendly tone and waves his one arm to the group of people, Ixidor quickly hides his amputated hand inside his shirt.

[Rosesong]

As Rose walked around the greenhouse, she began trying to make her voice lower and in more of a monotone than what she normally spoke in. This was she could lurk in the foliage and speak without giving her identity away. Meanwhile, her eyes were fixed on the greenhouse, looking for a way in that the others weren't going in. The young woman wasn't sure she could face some of her former companions without saying things that she knew she'd regret later on. The rest of her senses were dedicated to the surroundings. She didn't want to be snuck up on by anyone, but at the same time she was making sure that she was light-footed so she could sneak up on others.

[Ragnar]

Ixidor stands at the middle of the bridge and watches people enters the greenhouse "Wait! there's someone or something is in there!" he warns the group but no one seems to notice him. He looks at Kayle "I saw it my dream, i heard a voice, it was different from Mia's.its like a mature woman's voice" Ixidor said with concern."He have to find Mia before anything happens". Kayle nodded. They sprinted and enter the entrance of the greenhouse.

Edited July 10, 2014 by typhlosionrulez

[Notus]

Ethic suddenly found himself in path much like the one Phantom was in, alone but for Lucian. Huge flowers sprouted from the sides of the path, although they looked more menacing then beautifull . A moment later, the duo heard the faint sound of a girl laughing somewhere ahead, but it died as suddenly as it began.

====================================================

It was just like Ixidor and Kayle had been thrown in a darker version of his dream. The greenhouse was the same, he could tell, but the plants were much bigger, the light much fainter and the overall feeling was way more menacing.

He was still looking around the place when Mia suddenly appeared from behind a tree. Seeing Ixidor, the girl let out a happy laugh and started towards him. "Ix! You came!You really did!" she said happily. Then she noticed Kayle behind him and froze. It was lmost as she was looking at a mirror, except for the wings on the other girls back. "What... Ix, what is going on? Who is she?" Mia asked in shock.

====================================================

"Rose..." Ellaria started to speak, but the girl didn't seem to listen her. She surely seemed worried with something, and though the blind girl wanted to ask why and try to help, she knew better than anyone that sometimes people need to be alone for a while.

She turned to Enya and Ace. "Hey Enya... what do you think? Should we wait Rose here or ask someone to go inside with us like she said?"

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

The little girl didn't seem to have anything profound to say to that, just staring at Miss Ellaria blankly, tilting her head, but astonishingly, voicing out one of her only original thoughts so far: "I... Don't know."

[Rosesong]

Rose huffed in agitation. It didn't seem like there was a second entrance to this place. Turning around, she made her way through the undergrowth back to the entrance she had first seen with the others. Though she had initially thought she wanted to be alone, an aching tug on her heart kept reminding her of Enya and Ellaria. /I wonder what they're doing,/ she thought to herself sadly, wishing she had stayed with the two girls.

((Ps, when I'm on my phone, I'm going to start using // for italics))

[Sutoratosu]

"Lucian, wait." Ethic said, stopping in his tracks the moment he heard the laughter in the distance, it sounded like it belonged to a young girl... and call it either prudence or paranoia, but he wasn't very eager to go meeting any potentially hell-spawned children while he was down here. Lucian glanced up at the path ahead of them, unable to spot whom the voice belonged to.

"That wasn't very far ahead." he stated simply as Ethic reached down to his belt and drew the length of jet black steel that hung there, balancing the weapon in his hand and holding the hilt out to him. Lucian took it silently, feeling the deceptively light weight of the sword that used to belong to Scott. "Ethic," he began as he let the blade fall to his side, where it sat in his grip lazily "Maybe we should see who it is before we go drawing weapons..." The young man cast an ominous glance back at Lucian as he drew his knife from it's sheath, the permanent crimson glint of the weapon casting a blood red reflection of color on the floor in the light.

"Usually, I would agree with you on that one, Lucian," he began, looking up wearily at the path way before them "But down here, there's always the very good chance that we won't be encountering particularly friendly entities... that's something I came to realize not long ago" with that, the young man set off again down the path without another word. Lucian knew that the conversation was over, Point-blank, Period. he started off behind Ethic again, not helping but thinking about how different his friend was seeming to become lately... the largest example of which being how he just left Kenny outside unconscious without a second thought... If Lucian had been using past occurrences to try to predict what Ethic would've done in that moment, he would've thought that the guy would swing back across and carry Kenny over if he had to, just to ensure nothing happened to him. Ethic seemed so... Focused now. Almost like he was becoming a colder person who cared mostly about the objective and little else... and he seemed to be the way he had been up until after they'd killed Rodric... Maybe...

No, just stop Lucian thought to himself, pushing the entire train of thought away He's just trying to be careful down here... He's just starting to act a bit Cynical now because he knows that he has to approach everyone we find down here with skepticism as to their motives. just then however, a message from Ethic broke into the thought chain.

"Are you coming?" he asked mentally, a little annoyed, Lucian looked up, seeing the young man's shape beginning to grow fainter and fainter in the dim light as he walked farther and farther in. Lucian realized that he had stopped walking and had been standing here the entire time while Ethic had been moving. he gave no answer to the message, instead simply opting to break into a slow jog to catch back up, his footfalls echoing loudly on the floor of the Greenhouse as the two of them proceeded along the path, searching for who it was who had let out that bout of laughter earlier.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Stratos