Off to the Northern Crater~

[girlfrommideel]

Who: Victoria, Rosalind, Sephiroth, Kadaj, Yazoo
When: Not long after this post.
Location: The Northern Crater.
Rating: Not sure overall. PG for now.
Summary: Victoria and Rosalind have been sent to the Northern Crater to investigate some strange occurrences going on there.

Comments

[fragmented_sinx]

He waited patiently, slowly stepping away from the darkness and closer to the group, each step, seemed soundless, as if he was not walking at all. His eyes fixed on them all, staring, looking to see if anything were to happen. Of course, none of them seemed to have noticed his presence, at least the two females. The white haired male didn't seem to pay much heed to his intrusion, or didn't care. Either way, it didn't matter. HE wasn't here to help these females, anyhow.

He was merely following that voice that led him here, as if calling. It was the wind, and he thought it as a simple trick of the wind, but he didn't believe it so much anymore. Perhaps the voice came from this crystallized man? The laughter increased greatly and he could hear it, assuming the others could as well. It was a chilling laugh that would make the hairs on his back stand up, but not quite. Despite the laughter, he was silent, and watching with his eyes.

He nodded his head to the words as he took more steps closer to the rear of the females. Well, if the stranger encased within that crystal like structure was indeed someone that knew something, he'd clearly want to set them free, right? It wasn't a ludicrous idea at all. The long haired remnant only let a small ghost of a smirk appear on his expressionless face as he heard the words. 'I don't think he's happy,' said the male. If the encased man knew something, he'd assist in freeing him of course.

"So we free him, right?" he mused towards the other and advancing in step. He didn't know why the females were here, but he was sure to not let them get their way if they had means to stop him. Yes, maybe if they freed the man in the crystal, the answers will be clear to his ears. He might just know where Mother was. At the most part, he could somewhat feel the frustration from the other, almost. It was like a prickling feeling on his back. Freeing the man seemed to be a good idea at the moment.

[sephiroth_san]

The crystal was cold to the touch. So cold that if Kadaj had bare hands it would have been likely that his skin would have frozen to it. With hands pressed against the crystal there was a series of small tremors felt, a constant and strong heartbeat which must have originated from the man inside there.

As hands traced down the naturally occurring ridges in the crystal the Remnant's palms seemed to make the surface warmer, and within a couple of seconds the crystal directly underneath Kadaj's hands became more like liquid. Ooze-y with a thick texture, Mako in it's final stages before being condensed down into Materia (oc: if anyone would be in the know). However there was no give to it, it was not possible to push his hands any further into the crystalline form than a couple of inches. Like any cocoon protecting it's host. The question being the line between protection and imprisonment.

Sephiroth's inner thoughts were disturbed suddenly by this connection with a being from outside of the solid-form holding him. He knew from a simple mind-check that this was Kadaj, the one who would be expected to be the first to attempt to set Sephiroth free. Unknown however was the reaction with the crystal that the Remnants touch caused. Almost expecting freedom, Sephiroth's focus snapped back to the situation at hand and recalling four close presences, only two of which he recognised and the other two intruders still close by.

"Danger..."

"Who Are They...?" The voice drifted on the cold breeze, ringing slightly like reverberation from someone creating music with a wet finger on a glass rim.

[girlfrommideel]

Victoria rolled her eyes at the speech about 'why do I have to tell you who I am now', and then glanced briefly at Rosalind. Yeah, way to go, Miss Business. He didn't give us an answer. Not that she suspected whatever answer he would have given would make much sense anyway, after that. The suggestions that followed concerned her more.

"Free him? Why would we want to do that?" Didn't they know who that was in there?

Or maybe they did, and that was why they were saying it. In which case, this might be more trouble than she thought. She tightened a hand on her gun, suddenly having a bad feeling about this whole situation, which was only confirmed as words echoed in her head.

Danger... Who are they? That probably deserved some kind of response, but she was going to have to be careful what she said. She didn't know what the right thing to say was, either.

"We're not dangerous. We came to take a look around, and that's it," she offered. That was mostly the truth, anyway. She wasn't sure she was too happy about the whole concept of freeing the man from the crystal, and she could be plenty dangerous if she had to be. That said, she really wasn't looking for a fight at the moment.

[OOC: I'm not sure what to do with her to get her out of the scene or anything, so for convenience's sake, if I'm not around and we're stuck on like "So did Vic dodge that or what?" kind of thing, I give permission for it to get written into Rosalind's posts. She should have a good enough concept of how Victoria will act.]

OHSNAPSHIZZLE-FINALLY POSTED.

[butseriouslyno]

This was proving to be a lot more difficult then she thought it would've been. These two guys, now another have appearing, were causing lots of trouble for the two women. Her fingers itched towards her gun, wanting to just whip it out. But that may cause some chaos, and it seemed like Victoria wanted to take a less violent approach.

This guy...if he was even a guy, she didn't know what he really was, he was trying to free Sephiroth. Victoria echoed her thoughts, did he know who he was? Did he know what he was going to do if he freed the evil that laid inside of that crystal. She had a suspicious feeling that this thing knew what it was doing, and that meant trouble for both of the Turks.

She heard the echo of a voice, and she clenched her eyes closed. "What is that?" She whispered softly to Victoria. It was making her uncomfortable, for she wasn't believer of people talking inside of your head, and what was happening was not something that she came across often.

"We're not dangerous. We came to take a look around, and that's it,"

Rosalind's mouth was in a thin line, she didn't think Victoria's method was really going to work. These guys were just ignoring them, and it was getting them nowhere. He was just going to free Sephiroth, and then they would really be screwed. She looked at Victoria shaking her head, "That's not going to work, Victoria."

Taking out her gun, Rosalind pointed it at the man who was trying to free Sephiroth from the crystal, and she shouted in a direct tone loud enough for him to hear, "Step away from the crystal." She wasn't going to be nice to these guys, and she wasn't going to kid around either. They needed to distract them from the crystal, and get the hell out of here in the process.

Re: OHSNAPSHIZZLE-FINALLY POSTED.

[girlfrommideel]

"That's not going to work, Victoria." Rosalind commented, and Victoria would admit the statement was reasonable. She didn't really think it would, but... well, for example, if you're hunting a pack of wild cuahls, you don't want them to be charging at you, and she had the feeling that doing anything to say yes, look, I am a threat here probably would get that kind of reaction. So she had gone with the more pacifistic approach. It was worth a try, anyway. Probably.

Then Rosalind whipped out her gun, and that thought was dead in the water. Okay, new plan. Victoria followed suit, taking her gun out as well.

"Well, we were here just to look around." She nodded toward the crystal. "But freeing that guy there doesn't seem like such a good idea. We don't want to hurt you, so just back away." If he was smart, he would listen. Odd circumstances or not, Victoria was a good shot, and so was Rosalind. And, well, a little action wasn't a bad thing, provided it didn't get out of hand. They were definitely safer as long as the man in the crystal remained in the crystal, anyway. She thought they could probably handle the others.

[gotnomemo]

"I don't know. Maybe he doesn't want to be? I don't..." His words trailed off at Yazoo's question, chemical green eyes widened in a sort of innocent awe at the crystal. It moved? He tried pushing them in further to step inside with the man, but found that he couldn't. Kadaj narrowed his eyes in mild agitation, continuing to play with the mako.

"Where's the danger?" And who were they? The remnant was void of any ideas, looking back at the two girls. He could only say that they didn't look like him.

He got bored quickly enough with the crystal, his curiousity now piqued at the other two. "Where did you come from? This is the only place. Do you come from somewhere else?" If they weren't dangerous, whatever that was, then maybe the man meant something else. Maybe the crystal was hurting him...

What were they doing now? Kadaj frowned at the two. He had no idea what they were holding, but he didn't like the way they stood or were talking to him. "No. This isn't yours, and you're not my Mother! I'm not listening to either of you." If they got any closer, he would just have to protect himself.

[girlfrommideel]

Victoria peered back at the silver-haired man, deciding that he made no sense at all. This was the only place? And of course she wasn't his mother. She definitely was not even old enough to be his mother. As for the crystal, if that's even what he meant, not being hers, she kind of doubted that it was his, either. And they way he looked at Rosalind and her-- she couldn't quite explain it, but it was like he didn't even quite register the guns as being weapons, odd as that seemed. Maybe he was just crazy?

And since he was being particularly uncooperative, she didn't feel the need to answer any of his questions.

"I never said I was your mother," she replied firmly. "I said back away. You gonna listen?"

[sephiroth_san]

Something changed. Some change of pressure or something inside the crystal caused by the temporary intrusion of something from the outside. Sephiroth could feel an odd sort-of pressure build up inside the crystal, at his lower arm which was the point at which Kadaj would have made contact should his arm have been allowed to extend further into the crystal. Intriguing.

Feeling, he realised, feeling was starting to return or at least in that one particular place. He wondered if all other feeling would start to return, would other senses start to work too? What about if he suddenly needed to draw breath whilst still encased in it, where there was no air?? He was not about to just accept that there was no escape and wait to die. Sephiroth drew his attention to the one point of pressure on his lower arm and concentrated. Visualizing breaking through this crystal with brute strength and willpower alone. Forgetting for the moment the conflict that seemed inevitable between the Remnants and the strangers.

A couple of seconds after Kadaj became bored and turned his attention to the two females in the cavern, there was a high-pitched singular ping noise which echoed almost magically around the cavern. A deep crack formed within the crystal. Fractured pale blue-green glass showed a line from Sephiroth's lower arm, spidering towards the surface of the crystal in a series of smaller cracks. Not, however large enough to breach the last inch before the crystal's surface.

[fragmented_sinx]

The conversation started to spew between the three people. He remained motionless as he stood a good distance away, remaining expressionless as always. Do they know who was in the crystal? He was sure he didn't, but it seemed like the voice was calling him here, and it was right that it belonged to the man in the crystal. He had heard the other's voice several times during his movements here and while they were here. He wanted to be free, and perhaps, this man could provide information that he sought, and the confusion he was still trying to figure out.

When the voice echoed danger, he wondered what sort of danger the other was trying to tell them. Could it be... these women? They didn't look the type to fight, but appearances were quite deceiving, soon enough, he could see them draw out guns, weapons that they were prepared to stop the other male from trying to free the encased man. If they were merely there, they wouldn't be carrying weapons, so what was so important about the ma nin the crystal that made these two suddenly get antsy? His lips parted and he spoke yet again.

"Why would you not want him freed?" his voice hinted a small amount of curiosity and he was only waiting for these women to give something useful. There must be a reason. They were really persistent in trying to stop the two from getting any closer to the crystal. He walked a bit more, closer to them this time. He heard it clearly, the cracking that started to happen to the crystal as his eys moved away from the women and onto the crystal. The crystalized man uttered danger at some point, and aloud, he mused in question.

"Where?" he almost whispered towards the male in the crystal. Since it was obvious the other was definitely able to communicate at this point.

[girlfrommideel]

"Why would you not want him freed?" Victoria took her focus off the man by the crystal for a moment to focus on the one who had asked the question. She didn't quite know how to answer that herself. She still didn't know most of the details of what all had gone on with him, but she did know that it was all pretty bad, and letting him loose on the world again was probably not a good idea.

"Don't you know who he is?" she asked, her head spinning just a little bit. Really, these guys made no sense at all. The one by the crystal had already shown that he was mostly off his rocker, and she couldn't quite get a read on the other one. With all the physical similarities and the fact that he had managed to end up in this place as well, she could help but think he was related to the whole situation somehow, but she really had no way of knowing how. From the way either of the men outside the crystal were acting, she wasn't convinced that they knew why they were there themselves. The only thing she did know was that this whole thing was going to be better if the man in the crystal stayed where he was. Victoria had a sense of adventure, and she liked a certain level of danger, but she knew her territory. That metaphor about cuahls? You don't want to be the one standing right by when an angry one gets let out of a cage, either.

Right about then, she heard a sound from the crystal and looked up to see a crack had formed. She frowned and shot Rosalind a dismayed look and the two unidentified silver-haired men an irritated one.

"That's not good," she muttered to herself, and tried to brace herself for anything that was about to happen, which was probably one of about a thousand things. And if that crystal got any more broken any time soon, then most of those things looked pretty grim from what she could tell. If there was one thing she did know about Sephiroth, it was that he was known for being a fantastic fighter. She might be able to deal with the two men outside the crystal, but all three of them at once? The best she could hope for was that things didn't get too crazy, and she and Rosalind would be able to get out and get backup to help deal with whatever was going on out here. And for now, all she could really do was keep pointing the gun at the man that she really wished would step away from the damned crystal. Now.

[butseriouslyno]

If the evil from the crystal escaped, Rosalind had a feeling that all hell would break out. She saw the look on Victoria's face and she knew that her partner felt the same way. Things were not going to turn out well if they didn't get these guys out of this cave and away from that crystal. She didn't know what to do though. They were not listening to the two Turks, and just kept going about their business. These guys either knew what they were doing and wanted to free the evil that lay in the crystal or they were just really confused.

And who the hell was mother? She had her gun pointed at the guy who had just caused the crack in the crystal, avoiding the long haired one for he was giving her goosebumps, and she couldn't stand looking at him.

"We said step away from the crystal. You don't know what lies within, and it's not good to set it free. Step away now!" She was fed up with these guys, and she probably knew her shouting wasn't helping, and her hostile mood. But she was seriously frustrated and she knew the other Turks were going to grow worried of the girls if they didn't report in soon. And the last thing Rosalind needed was her first mission back on the Turks and she had to have backup. This thought was not pleasant to her at all, she and Victoria could do this themselves, they were tough enough.

[fragmented_sinx]

The male kept a straight face as the women seemed to be hostile still with the two of them. He neither had a clue, or thought at the moment if the person touching the crystal was an ally or not, but it seemed their main goal was the same. Perhaps, the other was called to here just as he had, but he didn't ask, so he didn't know. The male had a rather bored look on his face. Why did people make such a big problem out of this? Something evil within the crystal, it made no difference to him, only the fact that he was drawn to the crystal and the voice of the male that was encased in the crystal.

To be honest, no he didn't know who it was, but it didn't seem to matter to him. He had his priorities set straight, so it seemed he was willing to free this person, regardless of who or what he was. Even if he was some evil, the remnant knew somehow, he might get answers from this stranger, if he was set free. His arms gracefully crossed about his chest as he took a few steps closer to them, and towards the crystal. He kept his usual facial expression with nothing but a thin line of amusement slowly creeping its way on his lips.

He was dangerously close to them, and if he wanted, he could have struck the nearest one, but he remained calm and expecting to see what would happen next if he did leave everything alone, "It wouldn't matter," he replied to the female that asked him if he knew who was in there, "but it seems he dislikes you," he added in a plain tone.

[sephiroth_san]

The threats were still there, Sephiroth knew and they had to leave now. The Remnants it seemed didn't know enough to really help him right now, and whomever the other two intruders where seemed to ignore his polite request for them to stay back...maybe they just didn't get the hint that they should leave..

Get...Out... The voice seemed to ring in everyone's head now. But the pitch of the reverberation seemed to carry on once the actual speech had stopped. The man in the crystal was getting aggravated.

Suddenly a pointed icicle from the celing seemed to vibrate itself, there was an audiable crack and it came falling from the celing, it narrowly missed the Turks and shattered in the gap between the Turks and the Remnants...

[ooc: since everyone is now back from hiatus, thought it'd be good to try to finish this finally so that there isn't a gap in what happened]

[girlfrommideel]

Victoria jumped back unintentionally at the mental shout of "get out," cursing herself for letting it affect her like that. As it turned out, she was grateful for it a moment later as an icicle fell from the ceiling, missing her by mere inches. She peered at the man in the crystal with a frown. It seemed ridiculous -- though nothing seemed too ridiculous at this point, what with people in crystals and voices in heads -- but she was pretty sure he had dropped that icicle intentionally, and probably had meant to hit her with it. So much for him being more or less harmless while trapped inside the crystal. He seemed to be capable of doing a remarkable number of things for someone who wasn't able to move.

"That wasn't very nice," she snapped at him, then turned to Rosalind and commented far more quietly. "We're in over our heads. We need to get out of here." She didn't much like the idea of backing out and letting these guys do whatever they pleased, but she also was pretty sure she and Rosalind weren't going to be able to fight all three of them at once, and it looked like it would be quickly going in that direction if they didn't retreat.

Raising her gun back to its prior aim, she began scanning the area for easy exits. They had a few choices of ways to run, and she wished she knew this area better. Which was the safest?