"
Mia, stop running off," Cora called, sounding exasperated with the antics of the younger female. Coming all the way out here to the middle of the jungle had seemed like a good idea for an outing for a couple of adventurous young women- and a not so adventurous one- but now she was beginning to regret that decision. She kept losing sight of Miami in the thick foliage. Sure, she would see the girl again, and Miami would be hanging from a tree or trying to do back flips off rocks or some other stunt. Honestly, Cora understood the desire to do something dangerous, but this child was getting out of hand. "
MIA!"
"
Maybe you shouldn't yell," Shane suggested in a soft voice behind her blond companion. She was staring about at the trees as if something was about to jump out and eat her at any moment. New places always did that to her, and since she spent most of her time at home, most places were new. She just hated going out but had agreed to come just because both of her adopted sisters were going. If she disliked something more than going places, it was being left alone. "
You know she doesn't respond when you yell like that."
"
Yeah, well she doesn't respond when I don't yell either. I just want to make she she can actually hear me."
---
Mia was entertaining herself quite well, actually. She hopped from rock to log with a grin and ignored the calls coming from behind her entirely. She didn't come back because she didn't want to. She was having far too much fun by herself to bother with whatever Cora wanted. Besides, her sisters would always catch up; she wasn't too far ahead of them anyway.
Though, apparently, she was far enough to get into trouble though. Her foot slipped off a moss covered root, and she fell face first into, well, a hole. A really big hole. Like, crater big. Her cry of alarm rang off the sides of the incline and out into the forest surrounding it.
---
Shane jumped at the scream. "
M-Mia!" she said, whimpering slightly. She scrunched her eyes closed, shaking her head emphatically. "
Oh, something bad's happened, I know it, Cora. Cora?" She peeked out just in time to see her friend bolt away. With another whimper, she chased after the other.
Both arrived at the lip of the crater at about the same time, but only Cora slid down the bank after Mia. Shane stood frozen at the top, staring at the metal thing in the center of the hole. It wasn't shiny or anything and was quite the strange shape. Not like what she would have expected to find in such a location. Still she cringed from it, such a strange thing.
Cora hauled her youngest companion to her feet. "
Are you alright?" she asked, glancing over Mia for any signs of damage. Though she was genuinely concerned, she was still angry with her junior for being so reckless.
"
Yeah, I'm fine..." Mia's tone was meek, though she looked entirely alright. "There's this thing, though. Do you have any idea what it might be?"
Cora turned her attention away from her friend and to the strange device that seemed to have, well, crashed here. There was no other way to explain the crater. "
I don't really know," she admitted, pacing around the thing, stopping at the purple glow. "
You know, this might do something." She knelt beside the panel, pressing a hand against it in the hopes that it might give her some clue as to what the thing might actually be.
((Hope it's not too jumbled for you. o3o; It made sense when I typed it, but I don't know how much sense it will make to you or even to me in a few hours.))