[Pyris]

Hexle, despite his attempts at staying upright, did lose his balance and begin to roll down, much like a ball would.  Faintly, he heard a voice say his name; it sounded rather like Qaan, but more... through the nose.  Like a blink of an eye, he felt the path end, and onto the ground he dropped like a weight.  There was movement nearby, possibly the hydrokuhna's.  It was so bright down here that it was hard for him to tell.  Being a Draculi, his eyes were good in the dark, but horrible in such bright light; almost as bad as a human's eyesight, but not quite... Maybe as bad as a dog's.  Who knew?

Steadying himself as his head spun a bit from rolling, he waited for it all to subside.  It wasn't until he heard a very un-kuhna like noise that he froze in his spot.  He dared not make a sound, lest he gather the unknown animal's attention.  What could it possibly be?  He couldn't see very well in the light, but his sense of smell was left unhindered, so he whiffed the air, trying to figure out what it was.  It smelled acrid and old, like something that had been sitting in the washer for days after it had been washed.

His ears told him it was pacing around, searching for something.  A heavy sniff said it smelled something; hopefully not him.  Then, a faint scent penetrated his nose; blood.  It wasn't so much that the creature was dying, but it was certainly injured somehow.  Maybe that was what it was looking for.  This new knowledge in hand, he began to worry about his hydrokuhna companion.  "Qaan?" he whispered quietly, hoping against hopes that the animal's sense of hearing was far worse than it's sense of smell.

((O.o  *doesn't know whether for smile or frown.*  And thanks for informing me exactly how you were using the word bating.  For a minute there I was like.. 'She's bating?  That doesn't make sense.. bating what?'))

[Feint]

Qaan dared to reach out a paw and wave Hexle over before huddling even more tightly against the boulder shielding her from the monster on the other side. She wasn't entirely sure he'd seen her, she wasn't quite brave enough to look. Urchin was gone; he'd been crushed somewhere on Qaan's trip down. He'd likely be back before long, but not soon enough to cause any concern for Qaan's judgment. Her common sense did tend to take a dive when the nog was around, like when she plowed through the lake water, and dove into the tunnel, and raced down the rock slide....

Qaan edged forward and let one golden eye peer out from behind the rock. She could see the snuffling thing clearly, even in the bright light, but she had no idea what it was and wasn't about to test its hearing or sight. She swallowed nervously and ducked back. Where was Hexle? Why wasn't he coming?

[Pyris]

There was a hiss or a screech that came from the general direction of the creature, and some vague movement behind a rather large rock.  Well, it was more of a somewhat large rock, but what did it matter when you were a small animal looking a much larger animal in the face? Quickly and awkwardly, Hexle made his way over, following his nose more than his eyes.

Qaan's form came into view, giving him some relief as he, too, ducked behind the boulder.  When he was so close, she stank of blood, but she didn't seem to be bleeding too badly.  They really needed to find a way to clean her up, especially if those beasts were sniffing out her blood.  "You're bleeding," he said rather intelligently as his ears picked up the sound of clawed feet running along the stone.

The situation was looking just that much worse, it seemed.  The animal seemed to be a natural cave dweller; it's sight bad and it's scent fairly good.

[Feint]

((ooc--sorry I died. a lot has been going on lately, none of it good. things are getting better now, so I don't think I should vanish again.))

Qaan's eyes widened for a second, struck dumb. Her ears laid flat and she resisted the urge to smack Hexle upside the head. "Yes, I'm bleeding, thanks for telling me," she hissed in his ear. "What do we do now? I hardly think my bloody nose will scare it off. If I knew it was sentient, we might bargain for our lives, but I don't even know if it's walking backwards or not. Xai're help me! What is that?" she half-wailed softly, pounding the ground lightly with a forepaw. She sniffled back tears, obviously about to panic.

[Pyris]

((I've been rather...eh... lazy lately, anyway and haven't had much motivation to even log on.  *shrug*  I keep an eye on my messages, though, so if you post, I'll know and reply.  ^.^))

Frowning, Hexle was hesitant to admit he couldn't really see the beast.  "Um..  All I know is that it's large, looking for you, and it smells absolutely putrid," he said with a blanch.  He'd never smelled something so rank before.  As he was murmuring about what he could gather about the creature, said animal seemed to have drifted a bit further off, as though it'd found something of interest.  Judging from the loud scraping claws scratching against the stone walls, he'd say it had something to do with the brilliant ruins glowing along the walls.  Were they alive or something?  Maybe mechanical?  

Silently cursing his vision in the light, he looked around the rock and squinted to see what he could.  Maybe he could find a way out of the big critter's interest entirely while it was distracted with the walls.  "..Can you see anything that might help us?" he asked calmly, all his panic seeming to switch his mode into a more strategical one.  

[36]

[Feint]

((ooc-- remember how I said I wouldn't vanish again? ...I got hit by a car. 8D ))

Qaan couldn't resist anymore. She reached out a paw and swatted Hexle on the back of the head sharply. Not enough to damage, just to shake him up a little. "Quit stating the obvious! Tell me something useful, like how we can get out of here! What was that?" She craned up her neck to peer over the rock, just enough so that barely any of her watery feline face showed. She could see the beast's silhouette, but she couldn't make it out, such was the brilliance of the glowing walls. Qaan dared stretch and eensy bit further, disturbing a pebble. Whatever it was she was trying to look at snapped its head in her direction, and Qaan flattened herself to the ground. "It heard me!" she whispered frantically.

[Feint]

The shape on the other side of the rock shifted and froze again, as if peering over the rock in an attempt to see what lay behind it. "Hexle!" Qaan hissed frantically, pressing down hard against the rock in terror. Qaan sent a glance up at where she gauged the creature was, grinding her body against the stone, wanting so badly to dig a little hole in it to escape the terror she was feeling. If only that nog would sap her of fear! But no, it seemed to want her to suffer. Qaan cursed it under her breath through chattering teeth.

((anyone?))

[Pyris]

Suddenly, it hit him, if they couldn't see very well in the light, and the creature was a cave animal, chances were, it couldn't see very well in the light.  It would explain the strange pacing around and the seeming confusion of the animal.  Hexle crouched, thinking it over briefly before muttering, "It didn't see me..and it's relying on hearing and smell..."  It hadn't found them yet, and they'd swam through a pretty dirty lake and were constantly whispering.  

Turning sharply, he stared Qaan down.  "You're not going to like what I'm about to say," he started, focusing on her, since she was basically all he could see.  "There is a way out of here, and that thing's looking for it.  The air in here is drafting out, so this breeze is going towards the exit."  His plan was to follow the gentle wind passed the creature and to the exit... Of course, going with the air was like being upwind from a hunter, but he was hoping that since it hadn't smelled them yet, it wouldn't catch their scent until they were passed it.  "I think we smell like the cave now, since we swam through that lake, so it can't tell us apart from the cave," he muttered to himself more than to her.  "It's a long shot, but it's either find the exit first, or get stuck in here longer than I can tolerate."  The light was bearing down on his eyes, and they were beginning to water.  "You have to lead; I can't see."

((I'm so sorry.  X.x  Work and some personal crap have kept me from replying properly.  V.v -fail-))

[Feint]

Hexle was right. Qaan did not like that plan, but she could see in his sketched eyes that it was the only thing they could do. "I can't see very well either," she started, then swallowed that thought and agreed to take the lead. Still shaking, she edged around Hexle and pressed up to the edge of the rock barrier they were crouched behind. She could see its silhouette--long, thin, and had things sticking up out of its back that didn't quite look like spikes. It was indeed wandering around blindly, and every now and then gave a hiss in pain and fear. How it got trapped down there Qaan had no clue, but she had a feeling that the ground wasn't glowing so brightly when it first ventured down into the fissure. With a soft hiss of, "Now!" Qaan surged forward past the confused monster and rushed the entrance of the breezy tunnel sloping softly upwards. She paused to be sure Hexle was indeed behind her and noticed something very strange. The tunnel did not, in fact, reach the surface at all, it merely sloped upwards for 100 or so feet and leveled out deep beneath the ground. The soft breeze, one sounding much like whispers, was therefore quite puzzling. Qaan's brow furrowed at the ceiling as little Urchin came into being, largely unnoticed, at her feet.

[Pyris]

Lurching forward at the sound of a near-silent warning, Hexle trailed behind her, less than thrilled when the creature whiffed the air and turned their way.  It didn't seem to move, however, so he just squinted his eyes and kept his focus on one of the hydrokuhna's tails.  She stopped, though it took a moment for him to notice, and he nearly toppled over her, managing to move around her instead.  He was surprised to look back and not see something chasing him, since he stunk of blood from the scrapes and bruises he'd acquired on the way down.

After briefly wondering why they weren't moving, the Draculi actually looked around, eyes squinting as they tried to adjust to the new level of light offered to them.  "How bizarre," he muttered once he could see clearly again.  Taking a few steps forward, he tilted his head curiously at the darkened area.

Hexle looked around, the world changing and shifting as he took each step, realizing that his surroundings were taking form of something he knew...  His home.....   Alas, so it was a dream....

Hexle left the Caverns.

((Sorry, but I need him out to revamp, and this seems to have gone rather dead.))