[AnimeTheia]

Maji remembered hearing how the Hunters had originally come from these caverns, that they had lived in these crystal tunnels, it made sense she supposed, they were supposed to be made of crystal themselves (though how something that was made of crystal could possibly be alive she didn't understand), the hunters came in many colours - black, blue, green, purple - and each of these colours and many more besides was represented somewhere in the throng of crystals before them, they came towards the end of the tunnel the floor instead of rock was a shimmering smooth crystal that had a kind of oily quality to its colour, stepping out on this Maji took care not to slip. Her breath came out in little clouds, it was freezing all the way down here. Somehow the cavern they had entered seemed brighter and it couldn't possibly be from the tiny lantern light, it was as if the crystals themselves were glowing. Here and there Maji could see what looked like caves in the crystal walls, were these the old homes of the Hunters?

"Maybe we should take a look around?" her voice came out a little croaky from the cold and having not spoken for a little while, she seemed to have completely forgotten that Zeira was supposed to be the leader of the exploration. "Maybe there is an Akail hiding in one of those caves?".
Without waiting for an answer the little fenling padded off towards the nearest cave entrance to poke her head inside, every now and then one of the feet slipped beneath her but she didn't quite lose her balance.

[Carlie]

((I'm gonna take Gloria out. The roleplay is fun but I've kinda lost inspiration for her character. ))

[Knightdaniru]

((Ok... Sorry it takes so long to reply. Really busy lately with school and such))
Zeira watched as the fenling turned off into the side cave before the werecain even got a chance to reply to her question. Nearly silently , Zeira turned to follow. "Yeah. Thats probably a good idea." Zeira replied after a pause. She spoke in a whisper. Something about the dark cave and coldness made that feel right. And it was cold and lonely down in here. Perhaps she made a bad choice by coming in here to explore. It defiantly was loosing its charm. But meeting an Akail would doubtlessly make her day. If only if would come soon...

[AnimeTheia]

((That's cool Carlie. I get the feeling we have lost Citredelekon as well, so it's up to you whether you want to keep this RP going with just the 2 of us Knight, I personally am happy to keep going for a bit.))

Reaching the cave Maji peered inside, it was darker again in here, it was also quite large and mostly unadorned barring the natural crystal shelves in the walls. Moving further in she scoured every bit of the cave for any evidence of recent habitation, but found nothing. Well no reason to give up yet, there were plenty of other caves around to check.

Turning around and coming back out of the cave she noticed that Zeira and herself seemed to be the only ones left of their original exploration party, the others must have headed back up to the exit, odd she hadn't forseen that happening in her dreams, with a slight sneer she thought to herself 'scaredy kuhnas'. Zeira herself looked a little spooked too, but at least she hadn't run off with her tails between her legs like Maji pictured the others doing, 'yes this Cain would probably make a good Alpha in the future, when she's older' she thought to herself, but decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to share this thought with Zeira.

[Knightdaniru]

((Yeah. Lets keep this open. I need the KS and want the akail. XD))

So her and the fenling were the only ones left. Fair enough. They would continue their search. But it was getting kinda cold down here, and though the crystals were interesting, this seemed to be a dead end. But the one that lead them to the crystals wasn't the only branch off up closer to the enterence of the cave.
And, she was suposed to be the leader, wasn't she?
"Hey, Maji? This doesn't seem to be leading anywhere. Mind if we go back where we came, get warm, then find another branch?" And maybe allow what was left of their poor lantern regain life.

[AnimeTheia]

Maji looked up at Zeira, Oh yes, I did name her as the leader didn't I?, she nodded and followed her back up to the tunnel, she was right after all, it was very cold, Zeira was even a Glacial and she was getting cold!. As they walked Maji curled her tails around her small body again, as soon as she did so she felt reasonably warmer, she missed not having that slynx with them, who was she going to pick on now?

Reaching the tunnel again Maji gave a last look at the beauty of the crystal cavern if it weren't so darned cold she would have considered coming down here again to see it, but as it was she simply broke off a few of the small crystals growing out of the tunnel wall, this way she could show Yume when they finally met up again.

The tunnel did get slightly warmer as they climbed higher again, she hoped it wouldn't take them too long to retrace their steps back up to the entrance, she really wasn't made for these kinds of temperatures.

[Knightdaniru]

Zeira twitched her ears back as Maji broke off the crystals, but her eyes were set on trasing their path back up to the enterence. The sound of the minerals being removed echoed through the cave.
It was cold. The werecaine's thick fur and glacial adaptations were only short-lived comfort. The cold, when low enough, could eat through even that protection. But as they climbed, she felt it getting warmer, and was able to relax and feel the numbness seeping  out of her paws. She felt a bit of wind blow past them, meaning another branch would be close, and she turned to see one that they had missed on the way down. It seemed to be going upward, aswell, but if it got deeper into the cave that didn't neccisarily mean warmth. But curiosity got the best of the canine, and the warmth they had received from the short travel up had cheered her up quite a bit and gave her energy.
"Hey. Let's quickly glance through this one. I don't think we noticed it coming down."

[AnimeTheia]

Maji ran to catch up with Zeira after safely tucking her crystals into a little pouch she kept on her. She almost missed the tunnel entrance it really was hard to spot, but she saw the lantern (which had become a little brighter now) swaying off of Zeira's tail at the last moment.

Slowing to a stop Maji crept towards the new tunnel, sniffing and peering into the shadows, she couldn't tell how deep this tunnel was, suffice to say that even with her nightvision she couldn't see the end of it.

"I can't smell anything, can you?", of course for all she knew smells may not linger long in such cold temperatures.

[Knightdaniru]

Hearing Maji's question, Zeira sniffed the air. She didn't really smell anything. It was chilly, and smells seemed to normally be stronger in warmer climates, and there was the faint musty smell of the inside of a cave that could hide most things right off. "Not really," The werecaine replied, "But let's just go a little way in and see if there's any signs of activity." Ok. Now she was sounding mature, smart, and caring. So not her style, but it didn't really matter right now, 'cause this was a little exciting. Like some old story she used to be told when she was a younger pup, "If we find something close to us, we'll follow it, if not we can head back up and take another passage from the enterence."

[AnimeTheia]

Maji nodded in agreement to the Werecains plan, but realising that she wouldn't be able to see this motion said "Okay, that sounds like a good idea to me!", she was really getting that adventurous feeling now despite not wanting to have an Akail as another pet in her zoo, she did feel that meeting a big evil beast would be lots of fun... well for her at least.

Noticing that she had been staring into space lost in her own thoughts at the entrance to the tunnel she rushed to catch up with Zeira whose much longer strides carried her far ahead of the little fenling with ease.

[Knightdaniru]

((Sorry it took so long. Not having much computer time lately.))

Entering the branch, Zeira was quite at a loss as far as what to do. They were looking for signs of life. Knowing the species they were after, it would probably be something like slight erosion in the rock from traffic or something. How was she supposed to tell foot erroded rock from the other rock, which she had heard somewhere was erroded out into a cave by water anyways.
She heard the brisk quite pawsteps of the fenling as the smaller animal caught up to her. Maji seemed pretty smart for the most part. Maybe not Emerald or Jinn smart, but pretty smart none the less. "Uh... Do you know exactly what sort of signs of life to look for and where? I don't think we're gonna find a recently extinguished fire or some worn tools around here..."

[AnimeTheia]

((That's okay))

Maji considered Zeira's question, she hadn't ever seen an Akail herself, but from the descriptions that the 'deserters' had given earlier she had formed a couple of ideas.

"Hmm, well they have big thick tails don't they? It's possible that they don't always hold these up in the air, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they dragged them along the ground behind themselves, so they may leave trails on the passagefloors where the pebbles and other debris have been pushed out of the way to the sides by their tails. Even if they don't drag their tails, they most likely swing them around lots and flick the debris about with them... Also they have sharp claws I believe, so they may leave small scratches and such in the rock as they walk?". In all honesty Maji was completely making this up from the top of her head, but nonetheless they weren't bad ideas, they just had no proof whether any of these things were the case or not, so they may as well look to see if they could see any of the signs she had suggested or something similar, she supposed.

Feeling pretty smug with herself she started to scrutinise the tunnel floor for any of the possible signs she had mentioned.

[Knightdaniru]

Zeira nodded at the suggestion. It had some educated thought behind it if nothing else. "That might work."
The werecain watched as the fenling proceeded to search for these signs, and then turned to do the same.
There wasn't much she could see with only the light of the lantern. The odd shadows that were cast did their share of lying to the canine's eyes.
After a while of sniffing and looking for small details, she raised her head. "You find anything Maji, or should we move along back up to the front?"

[AnimeTheia]

Maji shook her head, "This tunnel doesn't look like it's been used by anything in a very long time. Maybe we did come too deep?". She turned back towards the entrance, "Yeah, lets go back up a bit more, we passed more tunnels on the way down, maybe we will have more luck with them." She headed back out the tunnel and trotted in the direction of where they had originally come down, she didn't bother to wait for Zeira, the 'cains longer stride would enable her to catch up with ease.

[Knightdaniru]

It was true. They had passed more caves on the way. Of course they'd want to check what of those they could without living in this cavern for years.
The werecain walked briskly to catch up to the smaller mammel, and kept close eye on the walls for any more brances. She couldn't help but wonder how big these caverns really were. Would it even be possible to find some so used to living in such a maze within one life time?
((Kinda lame short post... XD))