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Post by Princess Katie on Aug 30, 2008 1:31:54 GMT -5
The flight was about as smooth as one could expect from an open-cockpit, WWII-era plane. During the flight, Victor attempted to amuse Camilla with a few tale of his Nazi-bashing, tomb-raiding exploits. He pulled the plane down into an exhilarating dive, sending the exposed bit of his sandy-red hair blowing theatrically from beneath his aviator helmet. The sudden stop was jarring, but it was to be expected from a plane of that age.
He, dramatically of course, hopped from the plane, and held his arms up to Camilla, “Go ahead and jump, I’ll catch you.”
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Post by Jules on Aug 30, 2008 1:52:07 GMT -5
It had been entertaining to listen to his stories, and the dive had been kind of amazing, even if it had screwed up her hair. But standing up on the seat, looking down at him with his arms open, she was reminded of Jasper suddenly.
That was what she would do the moment she fixed Mary. She would go see Jasper. If only to check up on him. Make sure he was doing okay, that she hadn't ruined his life like she seemed to be doing with so many of her wards these days.
Shaking herself off Camilla nodded. "You're an amazing pilot. Ready?" And she jumped---there was no reason to distrust him and if she did fall, it wasn't that great a distance.
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Post by Princess Katie on Aug 30, 2008 2:20:33 GMT -5
He caught her with ease, helping her gain footing on the rocky ground. “Thank you. I’ve been flying for a good while,” Victor replied with faux-modesty.
Okay, now that he was up here, he kind of remembered how spooky the mountains were. So, as long as there weren’t any horrible surprises, he’d be just fine. He spread the map flat on the side of the plane, situating himself, and pointing to the left. “This way. Now, I trust you know what you’re looking for. If you could describe it to me, I could try and help.”
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Post by Jules on Aug 30, 2008 2:30:58 GMT -5
She pulled off her goggles and helmet, leaving them on the wing of the plane and nodded. "It's a very smooth stone, grey-green, looks almost like it's been underwater. They're usually sticking out of the walls of a cave."
She followed behind him since she didn't really know how to follow a map. Her sense of direction with all the instant transportation, wasn't the best.
"Are you sure I can't pay you?"
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Post by Princess Katie on Aug 31, 2008 19:38:52 GMT -5
“I am positive. Unless it would keep you from sleeping at night, I simply couldn’t accept payment,” Victor declined gallantly, following the map to the region that Camilla circled. With no small amount of trepidation (maybe he could just send Camilla in? She knew what she was looking for, she could run in, get it, run out, he could fly her home, get some more good points tacked on to his reputation…), he entered the mouth of the cave, using a flashlight from his waistcoat to illuminate the area.
Several seemingly-sea-worn stones protruded from the walls of the cave. There were also a number of concavities in the cave’s surface where stones were apparently previously removed. Victor ran his palm across the surface across the wall of the cave, examining the rock by flashlight. “Is this it, then?”
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Post by Jules on Aug 31, 2008 19:49:47 GMT -5
Camilla followed him into the cave, smoothing a hand over the lovely stones and nodded. "I just need one about the size of my palm." She said, looking carefully. It had to be large enough that she could carve an entire horn using only one, but she also had to be able to get a good hold on it, impossible if it was too big. A few feet away from the mouth she found what seemed to be a perfect specimen and yanked.
Usually they came out of the wall easily, and this one was hardly an exception. There was a little tug of resistance and it slid right into her hand. She turned, smiling at Victor. "All done." For once, something had gone smoothly.
Which of course was why, at that moment, the cave walls started to shake and the ceiling fell forward as if wanting to lie down for a rest. She reached forward, grabbed Victor's arm and yanked him deeper into the cave, away from the suddenly falling rocks.
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Post by Princess Katie on Sept 1, 2008 0:30:00 GMT -5
It was a good thing that Camilla pulled Victor further into the cave, as he was preparing to sit right there, paralyzed with fear, staring at the ceiling of the cave.
Why couldn’t anything go smoothly anymore? WHY? WHY? If he weren’t running from the collapsing ceiling, he probably would have banged his head against the wall. Everything had been going so well!
“God. Damn. It!” He yelled as he tried to outrun the falling rocks. Camilla was decidedly running too slowly, but Victor had the decency to pick her up and keep running, instead of just leaving her. “WHY THAT ROCK, CAMILLA? WHY THAT ONE?”
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Post by Jules on Sept 1, 2008 0:35:17 GMT -5
Camilla was still just staring over his shoulder in surprise, rock held tightly in her hand. She watched the rocks fall after them as if leaving a trail for them to follow back home, or mark their progress deeper into the cave. She put an arm around his neck to keep from falling and when he started shouting she looked at him in surprise.
It wasn't really how you expect someone who had done all he'd told about during the plane ride to react to this kind of situation. She was calmer then he was. "I'm sorry? I didn't know it would cause this, obviously. But don't worry, every cave has another way out. You did bring supplies, right?"
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Post by Princess Katie on Sept 1, 2008 1:22:19 GMT -5
The rocks falling were little more than gravel now, and Victor deemed it safe to slow down a bit, and finally drew to a stop, putting Camilla down and leading against the wall of the cave, panting. He hadn’t run that fast in ages.
Victor ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. Get back into character, Vic. Come on. “I’m…sorry. I didn’t mean to shout, it’s just…” He trailed off and shook his head before poking his head around the corner. The entrance was sealed off completely with rocks of varying sizes, some as big as car tires.
“Unnghhhhh. We’ll have to find another way out,” he whined, taking off his jacket and perusing his waistcoat for items that could possibly help in this situation. “So, I guess we follow this passage until it lets us out elsewhere in the dangerous, magic-saturated Eye of the World Mountains, or drops us off in the pits of Hell itself. Either way…” Victor shrugged. She could finish the scenario in her own head.
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Post by Jules on Sept 1, 2008 1:31:15 GMT -5
She brushed herself off as he set her down, the aftermath of all that falling rock was that she'd become incredibly dusty. When she peeked around the corner herself, she groaned. Whatever exit they found would also have to be her entrance if she ever broke her wand again. And by the looks of the place, it didn't seem like it was going to be a walk in the park.
"I didn't realize these caves were that unstable." She commented to no one in particular, running her hands over the smoothed walls. She followed the passage as far as she could before it took a dark plunge into the unknown and sighed. Nothing ever went as planned.
"Alright, well, we'd better start moving. feel for a draft." She advised, who'd surprisingly been int his kind of situation more then once. "And we're still only on the skirts of the range. It shouldn't be too bad if we don't go too far west."
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Post by Princess Katie on Sept 1, 2008 1:57:02 GMT -5
“We don’t really have any control of how far west we go, if that’s where the exit is,” he muttered, kicking the gravel that settled by his right boot. “I have a grenade. We could try and blow up the entrance, but that might result in a further cave-in.”
Vic rubbed his temples, and looked pleadingly at Camilla. She had an air of authority about her, he was suddenly looking to her for advice. “Do you think we should try it?”
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Post by Jules on Sept 1, 2008 2:00:02 GMT -5
"No, I guess we don't, but we can only hope." She said and began walking even before he mentioned the grenade. Wasn't this guy supposed to be an adventurer? "Haven't you ever been in a cave-in before?" With someone like him, you'd think it'd be an almost daily experience. "Blowing things up in a cave is a bad idea."
She couldn't believe she had to tell him this, but shrugged it off. Maybe he'd just been incredibly lucky. "Come on Victor. I don't have the flashlight."
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Post by Princess Katie on Sept 1, 2008 2:19:30 GMT -5
“Oh, okay…” He conceded, trotting to catch up with Camilla, walking as close to her as he possibly could without making physical contact. “Sure I’ve had a cave in before. But usually I caved the cave in on the Bad Guys. You think I’d be prepared for this. I should have brought a map of the cave systems. I have one. Or a radio. We could radio for help. God, I’m such a fuckin’ idiot.”
He withdrew a .45, checked to see if it was loaded, and handed it to Camilla before withdrawing a gun of his own. “Just in case…” he mumbled.
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Post by Jules on Sept 1, 2008 2:26:47 GMT -5
Feeling a little bad about doubting him, she patted him on the shoulder and shook her head. "No you're not, I said it was going to be a quick in and out. It's my fault." She pocketed the stone as he handed her the gun and sighed. Was everything going to remind her of her wayward ward? She tucked a finger lightly against the trigger and just hoped she wasn't going to have to use it. The jarring after-force was an unpleasant feeling.
They walked down the stone corridor for some time, unfortunately being forced to head farther west. There was no real telling of how deep into the mountains they were now when they cam to a fork in the road. One tunnel leading southwest, the other northwest.
"Flip a coin?" She asked doubtfully.
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Post by Princess Katie on Sept 1, 2008 2:55:40 GMT -5
Victor dug through the pockets of his khakis, withdrawing a coin after a moment’s search. “If it lands on Her Majesty, we’ll go left, if it lands on tails, we’ll go right.” Vic flipped the coin and held it out so Camilla could see it. When he moved his hand, the engraved face of Atropia Belladonna smirked up at them.
“Southwest it is. At least the town is sort-of southward…” He said, with a touch of optimism thus far unforeseen. However, he quickly overrode it by adding, in a nearly non-audible voice, “that is, if we make it that far alive.”
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