[team one] incandescere
I have no idea what happened. Yara is a reptile/humanoid thing and Ryota is ???
-
Down here, away from the chaos of too-bright light and too-loud sound littering the surface, Yara finally feels as though he can breathe. The silent weight of the tons of rock hanging above him serves only to reassure him as he inhales and exhales, eyes closing as he lets his senses re-attune to the underground world.
It's warmer here, and he feels his energy returning; the bronze, reptilian scales across his back and shoulders absorb heat slower than those on his feet and shins but he feels the heat soaking into him all the same, and as his energy levels rise he can almost hear, he can feel the low buzz of the subterranean life moving around him, hundreds of metres away through the bedrock.
Then a thump, like someone hitting the ground after landing from a jump from a high place. Yara jolts out of his momentary distraction, tensing suddenly as the minute vibrations in the rock beneath his feet convey something important: there is someone far behind him in the tunnel. They are running.
They're fleet-footed, Yara can ascertain that immediately. Fast, and light too - an adult rather than a child, but, like him, also probably not human. No, not quite like him, Yara mentally amends: his kind run even softer than most, and the thud of their landing suggests that they hadn't realised the exact length of their fall into these underground tunnels. Even so, 'not human' opens a range of possibilities as quickly as it closes a whole range of others: half-human, half-creature? Elf-type? Too light to be troll, too big and heavy to be kobold. Something he can eat, something by which he might be eaten, or…
Regardless, he has to move. This part of the tunnel down toward the larger caves is narrow and if whatever-it-is continues to travel this quickly he'll be caught with no place to hide. There is no light here, but for Yara this presents no problem; the warm air from the metropolis below is as clear a beacon as any. Bursting into movement once more, Yara takes off at a run.
*
The fall jolts Ryota more than he wants to admit. It's further down than he expected, and for a moment the air refuses to enter his lungs properly and his head spins. But then it's okay, and he can get to his feet and look around.
It's dark down here, of course, that's what he'd expected. The darkness poses no problem to Ryota, though, and so with his breath recovered and with his legs and ankles fine from the jump (with a flew cautious steps to be certain), he breaks into a run. Ryota knows he's down here somewhere; he watched him jump, heard him run down into the tunnels here before Ryota even had the chance to land and follow. This place is entirely unfamiliar, totally unlike anywhere any of his kind would have dared venture before, yet… Ryota shakes his head, focussing instead on his own breathing, on the pacing of his footsteps, on the way the shadows bounce off the rough stone walls and dance away as he runs down through the tunnels after Yara.
*
Yara reaches the metropolis moments before he doubts himself. If the thing running behind him is a scout, if it's malicious, and if it's following him from the surface… He should have taken a side passage, should have taken a detour, shouldn't have bolted straight home without stopping even for a heartbeat just to think.
"Idiot," Yara hisses under his breath, tongue darting out to nervously wet his lips as he turns back to look down the tunnel, trying to gauge from the thrumming of the ground how far off the still-falling footsteps are now. It's harder to tell, with the noise of the city around him, but they're still just about there, on the edges of his perception. Would there be time to run back and change course at a fork in the tunnels, or…?
The walls of the tunnel flicker. For less than a blink, the walls flash in sections of dark grey, light from far off bouncing off rough-hewn rock down the passageway. Yara frowns.
Light?
It's growing brighter by the second, the tunnel seeming almost to move as jolting bursts of light send shadows scattering crazily off the stone. Yara wants to turn and run, muscles in his body screaming as they tense for flight but he can't move, he can't do anything, and not even incoherent sound makes its way past his lips as he freezes in place.
Fire?
It's warm, yes, there's warmth flowing through the tunnel too, but the light is too white to be flames, too steady to be the hellish rampage of any demonic creature. Yara's throat is dry, and a strangled noise leaves his throat as he finally stumbles backwards, feet slipping as he splashes into the mineral-laden water pooling at the base of the stalagmites that mark the entrance to the city.
"Bright," he mumbles, eyes growing wide as his hands find the stalagmites and use them to help himself stand and move up, and up, and up. Reptilian skin on the soles of his feet grips the slick stone and Yara only realises he's halfway up the pillar of rock when light bursts from the tunnel entrance, bright and white, white, and Yara yells in pain as the sudden illumination sears his eyes, and he falls.
*
When he sees Yara fall, Ryota's heart leaps into his mouth at the same time that Ryota himself leaps forward, propelling himself through the humid air just a fraction too late. Yara hits the ground hard, groans, and slumps. The light dances over the bronze skin on Yara's shoulders, back and feet as Ryota hurries closer, one hand brushing the tangle of dark hair away from Yara's face as the other hastily feels for a pulse.
"Tomoyuki," Ryota breathes, suddenly too aware of how silent this subterranean world is, of how much noise he is making, of how much light there is. "Tomoyuki, please, wake up. Please be okay."
*
He opens his eyes, and wishes he hadn't.
"Too bright," he says, grimacing as he rolls over in pain and tries to sit up. "Too bright. Where the hell am I."
"I brought you back into the tunnels," says the light. "The city was scary. I didn't know when you'd wake up."
Yara frowns again, raising a hand to the rapidly-forming bruise on his forehead. "What happened. What are you?" He senses no threat, feels no danger, is not restrained and has no injuries save a sore head. Whatever this is, it's… It's light, and bright, and warm. Not human, not demon, nothing Yara has learned to fear.
Ryota shakes his head. "Who I am is Ryota. And I saw you. Up there," he says, and points back down the tunnel. "You were so bright, all shining, so I had to find you."
Yara raises his eyebrows. "I was bright?"
"Yes!" Ryota sits on the floor, arms wrapping around his knees. He beams at Yara. "You were so bright and shining! You just, I dunno, moved, and the way you were when you were in the sunlight, it's like the sun was made for you, and, well, I'm…" He gestures to himself, and light moves on the tunnel wall with the motion, "I'm me, so I knew, I, I, I knew that I had to find you again. So I looked for you, and now we're… We're here, and you hit your head when you fell, um, are you okay?"
"Fine," Yara says, bewildered. He narrows his eyes against the glare from the man sitting across from him, and consciously forces his eyes to readjust to surface-level vision once more. "So you're from… the surface?"
Ryota shakes his head yet again. "More up! Though, I've never been this far into the underground layer. My family, we don't usually come down here."
"No kidding." Yara struggles to take everything in and maintain his composure.
"But! I had to come find you! And, well," Ryota shuffles closer, just a little. "I wanted to be able to give you warmth and sunlight," he says. "I thought, this far down, the sun never reaches you so you must be cold and lonely. But…" Ryota looks around, expression turning sad and tone colouring with dejection. "It's, kinda, warmer down here than I thought."
Yara smiles, despite himself. "You're crazy, you know that?"
Ryota pouts. "I'm not crazy!" The corners of his mouth tug down. "I just wanted to do something nice. That's all."
"No, no," Yara says, reaching out automatically to touch the other man's arm. "It's just-- Wait." He pulls his hand back instantly, looking at the skin on the palm of his hand. "You're…?" He looks up. "Are you always this, well, warm?"
Slowly, Ryota nods. "Y-yes? Isn't that okay?"
"No, it's fine," Yara says. "You just surprised me, that's all. I'm just not used to…" He gestures toward Ryota. "All of this."
"I want to be your friend," Ryota says, and Yara swears that for a moment the warmth radiating from the other man intensifies. "I think you're… Well, I mean, can we be friends?"
"Um," Yara says, looking down at his hands rather than into the steadily brightening light shining out into the tunnel. "Sure? Yeah, sure. Okay."
Ryota's smile grows even brighter.
-
faded_lace, it's your turn! \8D/
-
Down here, away from the chaos of too-bright light and too-loud sound littering the surface, Yara finally feels as though he can breathe. The silent weight of the tons of rock hanging above him serves only to reassure him as he inhales and exhales, eyes closing as he lets his senses re-attune to the underground world.
It's warmer here, and he feels his energy returning; the bronze, reptilian scales across his back and shoulders absorb heat slower than those on his feet and shins but he feels the heat soaking into him all the same, and as his energy levels rise he can almost hear, he can feel the low buzz of the subterranean life moving around him, hundreds of metres away through the bedrock.
Then a thump, like someone hitting the ground after landing from a jump from a high place. Yara jolts out of his momentary distraction, tensing suddenly as the minute vibrations in the rock beneath his feet convey something important: there is someone far behind him in the tunnel. They are running.
They're fleet-footed, Yara can ascertain that immediately. Fast, and light too - an adult rather than a child, but, like him, also probably not human. No, not quite like him, Yara mentally amends: his kind run even softer than most, and the thud of their landing suggests that they hadn't realised the exact length of their fall into these underground tunnels. Even so, 'not human' opens a range of possibilities as quickly as it closes a whole range of others: half-human, half-creature? Elf-type? Too light to be troll, too big and heavy to be kobold. Something he can eat, something by which he might be eaten, or…
Regardless, he has to move. This part of the tunnel down toward the larger caves is narrow and if whatever-it-is continues to travel this quickly he'll be caught with no place to hide. There is no light here, but for Yara this presents no problem; the warm air from the metropolis below is as clear a beacon as any. Bursting into movement once more, Yara takes off at a run.
*
The fall jolts Ryota more than he wants to admit. It's further down than he expected, and for a moment the air refuses to enter his lungs properly and his head spins. But then it's okay, and he can get to his feet and look around.
It's dark down here, of course, that's what he'd expected. The darkness poses no problem to Ryota, though, and so with his breath recovered and with his legs and ankles fine from the jump (with a flew cautious steps to be certain), he breaks into a run. Ryota knows he's down here somewhere; he watched him jump, heard him run down into the tunnels here before Ryota even had the chance to land and follow. This place is entirely unfamiliar, totally unlike anywhere any of his kind would have dared venture before, yet… Ryota shakes his head, focussing instead on his own breathing, on the pacing of his footsteps, on the way the shadows bounce off the rough stone walls and dance away as he runs down through the tunnels after Yara.
*
Yara reaches the metropolis moments before he doubts himself. If the thing running behind him is a scout, if it's malicious, and if it's following him from the surface… He should have taken a side passage, should have taken a detour, shouldn't have bolted straight home without stopping even for a heartbeat just to think.
"Idiot," Yara hisses under his breath, tongue darting out to nervously wet his lips as he turns back to look down the tunnel, trying to gauge from the thrumming of the ground how far off the still-falling footsteps are now. It's harder to tell, with the noise of the city around him, but they're still just about there, on the edges of his perception. Would there be time to run back and change course at a fork in the tunnels, or…?
The walls of the tunnel flicker. For less than a blink, the walls flash in sections of dark grey, light from far off bouncing off rough-hewn rock down the passageway. Yara frowns.
Light?
It's growing brighter by the second, the tunnel seeming almost to move as jolting bursts of light send shadows scattering crazily off the stone. Yara wants to turn and run, muscles in his body screaming as they tense for flight but he can't move, he can't do anything, and not even incoherent sound makes its way past his lips as he freezes in place.
Fire?
It's warm, yes, there's warmth flowing through the tunnel too, but the light is too white to be flames, too steady to be the hellish rampage of any demonic creature. Yara's throat is dry, and a strangled noise leaves his throat as he finally stumbles backwards, feet slipping as he splashes into the mineral-laden water pooling at the base of the stalagmites that mark the entrance to the city.
"Bright," he mumbles, eyes growing wide as his hands find the stalagmites and use them to help himself stand and move up, and up, and up. Reptilian skin on the soles of his feet grips the slick stone and Yara only realises he's halfway up the pillar of rock when light bursts from the tunnel entrance, bright and white, white, and Yara yells in pain as the sudden illumination sears his eyes, and he falls.
*
When he sees Yara fall, Ryota's heart leaps into his mouth at the same time that Ryota himself leaps forward, propelling himself through the humid air just a fraction too late. Yara hits the ground hard, groans, and slumps. The light dances over the bronze skin on Yara's shoulders, back and feet as Ryota hurries closer, one hand brushing the tangle of dark hair away from Yara's face as the other hastily feels for a pulse.
"Tomoyuki," Ryota breathes, suddenly too aware of how silent this subterranean world is, of how much noise he is making, of how much light there is. "Tomoyuki, please, wake up. Please be okay."
*
He opens his eyes, and wishes he hadn't.
"Too bright," he says, grimacing as he rolls over in pain and tries to sit up. "Too bright. Where the hell am I."
"I brought you back into the tunnels," says the light. "The city was scary. I didn't know when you'd wake up."
Yara frowns again, raising a hand to the rapidly-forming bruise on his forehead. "What happened. What are you?" He senses no threat, feels no danger, is not restrained and has no injuries save a sore head. Whatever this is, it's… It's light, and bright, and warm. Not human, not demon, nothing Yara has learned to fear.
Ryota shakes his head. "Who I am is Ryota. And I saw you. Up there," he says, and points back down the tunnel. "You were so bright, all shining, so I had to find you."
Yara raises his eyebrows. "I was bright?"
"Yes!" Ryota sits on the floor, arms wrapping around his knees. He beams at Yara. "You were so bright and shining! You just, I dunno, moved, and the way you were when you were in the sunlight, it's like the sun was made for you, and, well, I'm…" He gestures to himself, and light moves on the tunnel wall with the motion, "I'm me, so I knew, I, I, I knew that I had to find you again. So I looked for you, and now we're… We're here, and you hit your head when you fell, um, are you okay?"
"Fine," Yara says, bewildered. He narrows his eyes against the glare from the man sitting across from him, and consciously forces his eyes to readjust to surface-level vision once more. "So you're from… the surface?"
Ryota shakes his head yet again. "More up! Though, I've never been this far into the underground layer. My family, we don't usually come down here."
"No kidding." Yara struggles to take everything in and maintain his composure.
"But! I had to come find you! And, well," Ryota shuffles closer, just a little. "I wanted to be able to give you warmth and sunlight," he says. "I thought, this far down, the sun never reaches you so you must be cold and lonely. But…" Ryota looks around, expression turning sad and tone colouring with dejection. "It's, kinda, warmer down here than I thought."
Yara smiles, despite himself. "You're crazy, you know that?"
Ryota pouts. "I'm not crazy!" The corners of his mouth tug down. "I just wanted to do something nice. That's all."
"No, no," Yara says, reaching out automatically to touch the other man's arm. "It's just-- Wait." He pulls his hand back instantly, looking at the skin on the palm of his hand. "You're…?" He looks up. "Are you always this, well, warm?"
Slowly, Ryota nods. "Y-yes? Isn't that okay?"
"No, it's fine," Yara says. "You just surprised me, that's all. I'm just not used to…" He gestures toward Ryota. "All of this."
"I want to be your friend," Ryota says, and Yara swears that for a moment the warmth radiating from the other man intensifies. "I think you're… Well, I mean, can we be friends?"
"Um," Yara says, looking down at his hands rather than into the steadily brightening light shining out into the tunnel. "Sure? Yeah, sure. Okay."
Ryota's smile grows even brighter.
-
faded_lace, it's your turn! \8D/