[Moyra]

Veritas smiled at the question, knowing he didn't have much to offer. "I'm afraid I can't help much. Really all I know is a game called I Spy. Though I think in our current location that would get really redundant very quickly. 'I spy with my little eye, something that is black' and the answer every time would "Oh, oh! Cavern walls!'. I fear I'm short on stories as well. This is the most excitement I've seen in a very long time." He took a few steps toward one of the tunnels leading away from where they had rested, wondering which of the many they should take. "I think we should figure out which of these to go down first. How about, eeny meeny, miny moe?" He laughed as he said it, not sure if Rotew would go for such a haphazard way of plotting their course. Oddly enough, that phrase was a major one in Veritas' life. It had lead him on many treks across the lands, and had only failed him a time or two. He couldn't really remember the bad as he chose to only remember the enjoyable times.

[Moyra]

Veritas wiggled his butt in his excitement. He hadn't had a go at eeny meeny since he was little. It really was a kids thing, but when you had decisions like this it really did come in handy. Staring at the options, he held up a paw and started saying quietly, his paw shifting to another tunnel with each word, "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Catch a tiger by the toe, if he hollers let him go. Eeny, meeny, miny moe." He let his paw stop on the last word. "That's the one we're going with."

Smiling up at his friend, he hoped he wouldn't look at him like he was crazy, though he wouldn't surprised if he did. It really was a foolish way to do things, but then what better option did they have. There was no telling which tunnel would be the one they needed. This guess was as good as any really. "Well, shall we?" He took a step forward to start into the tunnel, and stopped, waiting to see if Rotew would actually follow his hair brained decision.

[Moyra]

Smiling as he walked, Veritas let himself fall behind Rotew. He may have picked the tunnel, but it was still best for him to follow again, he wasn't vigilant enough to be in the lead with something like this. He let his music drop in volume and spoke slowly, remembering a time when he was small, "I don't remember a lot of it. I know I was raised by kind beings, laid back just like I am. It's likely where I got the personality from. It's been so long that I don't remember their faces, just the love they showed. They might have been my parents, but somehow I know they weren't. At one point in life I set off on my own and just never saw them again and even with all my travels they are yet a mystery to me." He paused for a second, almost sad that he couldn't remember his adoptive parents, but he moved on quickly. "These games I speak of I thought were ones that were fairly common, but I suppose not. Eeeny meeny is just a way of making decisions without much thought needed. I thought it fitting in our current 'Get lost in the caverns' situation. And I spy is a game where someone says 'I spy with my little eye something that is...' and they say a colour. The other people are supposed to guess what they are seeing. Like I said, it would be very boring for us I think. Everything here seems to be black." Looking at the back of his friend, he couldn't help but ask the obvious question, "How have you not heard of these things? I assume there wasn't much play in your childhood."

[Moyra]

Veritas nodded and said a quiet, "Of course" at Rotew's request to drop the subject. He didn't want to of course, but out of respect he did. His curiosity would have to go without easing for now. He couldn't imagine what it may have been like to have no one while growing up, no joy, no laughter...

He walked on in silence, unsure of what to do or say to break the tension that hung thick in the air now. Veritas wanted to ease the mind of his new friend, but he didn't want to intrude on something he wasn't meant to. All he could really think to do was walk a bit faster so that he was beside Rotew. He didn't want him to feel as if he was alone, so he accidentally on purpose bumped into his side as he got close. "Sorry, just kind of clumsy you know." He stifled a grin and kept walking, side by side with Rotew.

[Moyra]

If it kept Rotew company and kept him from being bored, Veritas was glad he had come along. He had wondered about being a hindrance when he'd broken the crystal. "So keeping me from breaking my neck has helped?" he laughed as he finished, the smile widening. "Glad I could be of some assistance, even if purely on an entertainment level." He kept walking ahead as well, his eyes on the way ahead of them rather than on the ground. You'd think he would have noticed the cracks under his feet and the sloping of the floor.

Not too far into the cave, he heard a great crack and felt the ground shift beneath him. There was only a split second for him to think before a large chunk of the ground fell out from under him, falling into some unknown cavern below. He hung with his paws grasping the edge of the hole for a moment before he lost his grip, falling however many feet it was to the bottom. With a loud thump, he hit the ground, his side landing flat. Luckily he didn't land on his legs and that the fall wasn't very far. Shaking his head slightly, he looked around the darker cavern he'd just... found. "Rotew... I think we should try down here... for a while."

[Moyra]

Groaning slightly as he moved to stand, Veritas noticed a few sore spots on his body where he had landed. They would likely be tender for a while, but at least it seemed as if he hadn't broken anything. Looking after his friend, he stood fully and stretched out before continuing to walk. "Ok, so apparently I'm just full of all sorts of bad luck. Maybe I shouldn't be the one to make the path choices?" Watching where Rotew was stepping, he followed his path, not daring to move over and possibly find another weak spot in the floor. It was becoming clearer to him that this place was more dangerous than he'd thought and he was starting to hope that he would make it out ok. He was exceptionally lucky in that fall, it would have been easy to break a leg or some other bone, even if it was a short fall.

[Moyra]

Veritas smiled at the last words said, an amendment forming in his head and slipping out of his mouth, "All things lead to somewhere...even if it is a dead end, or our doom." He laughed slightly as he finished, preferring to not think about the doom he mentioned and thought instead of what might lay ahead. His eyes constantly rose to the sharpness of the rocks above and below his head. Saying a tiny prayer to whatever gods might be listening, he hoped his luck would do him better against these more dangerous formations. So far he'd fallen into a hole, and nearly been crushed by a large crystal... he didn't need to be impaled either.

Veritas was starting to wish he'd brought some kind of light source as they rounded that bend. He was an outdoorsy type and the dank darkness was going to start getting to him soon. Vaguely he wondered how much battery life the music had and also gave a quick prayer that that wouldn't cut out. He would have to get outside and quickly if that where the case. "How come you're looking for the Akail creature anyways?" He needed something to get his mind off the few worries that had begun to creep into his mind.

[Moyra]

Veritas snorted slightly at the word afraid. It wasn't afraid so much as it was concern. He didn't want to become a burden to his friend if something happened to him. An injury would likely hinder Rotew's chances of finding the elusive Akail. "Well, as long you have confidence in your abilities, I guess I can relax." He smiled as he finished, not really needed to relax as he had said.

Listening to the reasons for the trek, he wasn't quite sure he wanted to meet this creature. Sounded more and more like a wild beast that should just be left alone. His mind wandered and he thought of why someone would want such things in life. How twisted a person would need to be in order to invite such chaos and destruction into their home. "Your Daemon seems...like an odd fellow."

[Moyra]

Listening to his tales of this Daemon person, Veritas' eyes grew steadily wider. He know there were such evil beings in the world, but this was the closest he had ever come. He shied away from such things, preferring to stick to his life of calm and peace. "I cannot imagine such a place, or such a being. I would hate to be captured or enslaved by such as him. He would likely take my music from me." Being as he was, Veritas really couldn't think of a much worse thing for him, though certainly there was plenty. It was just the way he was built, simple. Music ruled his life, and he never thought past that.

"You say you're different in that he finds you original, but would you truly let him enslave you like the others if he didn't? Would you have no recourse from it?" Somewhere he realized that often others were forced to do as they wouldn't, or shouldn't. He was lucky to have lived away from that cruel reality that others face.

For a moment his mind shifted to the surroundings, and he wondered where they were being lead to. The scent that Rotew was picking up was making it's way into Veritas' nostrils as well, though he quickly shook it off. Countless things have likely made their way down here and died. It was likely just the smell of decaying travellers.

[Moyra]

Listening to Rotew in silence as they walked, Veritas wondered what would happen to the lands if the Volcano suddenly disappeared. The thought honestly made him smile, the monstrous volcano being destroyed so thoroughly that it simply vanished? As long as any creatures were cleared out, he didn't seem to have much of a problem with the thought.

As they wandered closer to the smell, Veritas was having a hell of a time trying to keep the foul aroma from entering his sensitive nostrils. As the rounded the corner, he was about to lift a paw to cover his nose, but the sight of the fungi littering the place stopped him. He'd never seen such large mushrooms, and his jaw dropped slightly. "Strange to say the least. I'm afraid I don't know much. Only seen a few mushrooms here and there, and definitely wouldn't know if these are edible or not. I'm also not about to risk it to test them. I'm not that hungry." He laughed as he said it. He was fine with the fish and odd reptiles he'd pulled out of the water. "I assume you don't know either?" They were blue mushrooms. That couldn't be a good thing, could it?

[Moyra]

About to turn around and get away from the odd looking fungi, Veritas jumped slightly as the friend he'd acquired fell flat on his face. Quickly taking the two steps toward him, he bent over his face to make sure the breath was still flowing. As it was, he assumed Rotew wasn't dead or dying. Now what had caused this. He glanced up at the mushrooms and wondered if they had anything to do with it. They weren't effecting him at all, but Rotew was en entirely different species.

Glancing back the way they had come, he spied a little spot that was tucked away from the mushrooms and seemed free of anything. Best to get him out of whatever could be contaminating him. Hoping he had enough weight behind him, Veritas latched his teeth around the collar around Rotew's neck and tried a slow pull toward the spot. It took a few slow and hard yanks on the fabric, but slowly the body of his friend was dragged to some kind of safety of a sort. Not knowing what he should do, having never been in this kind of situation, he brushed off the particles of mushroom that had attached to Rotew's face and sat back, waiting for him to move, awaken, or anything.

[Moyra]

Veritas jumped slightly as the hollowheart woke so suddenly after so long of no movement. He stood and listened carefully to his words, instantly concerned, "You were just out cold for 4 hours, don't you think you should at least wake fully? Are you alright to walk around and everything?"

Veritas stopped and thought on Rotew's words a moment longer, as they hadn't fully sunk in. "What do you mean, evils far greater than the Akail? I thought this creature was supposedly pretty wicked?" There wasn't a large amount of concern in his voice, in fact it was kind of flat. Almost as if he was merely asking about the weather.