savetheearth | Below the mineshaft roads, it will all unfold;

Who: See tags
When: 08-30; 5PM and onward
Where: The mysterious (not)abandoned mines outside of town
What: Kanti has finally called everyone together to
Warning: Content warnings will be tagged as the threads progress. Prepare for possible violence at the least.

After much planning, the trip to the mine is finally coming to fruition. Granted, this fruit could be ripe and juicy mangoes or disappointing red grapes with the seeds still in, but the point is that it is coming to a head. The supplies have been purchased and packed. The lunches have been made and also packed.

Early Friday morning, a post goes up on the network that is filtered to the known volunteers with directions and the words:

Today. 5PM.

What does this all boil down to?

Aww yeah motherfuckin' mines!

((OOC: The details of what to expect in the mines have been posted in the Gdoc so check that out before you post. The info is a bit too long to be posted here. People not involved in exploring the mines can feel free to tag in the Pre-Trip Preparations thread if it's suitable.

Sorry for posting it this early, but I work late tomorrow and I don't want anyone to have to wait up for me.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Lyall has a couple flashlights, that rope he brought for his first delving trip in here, a first aid kit, and some bottled water and juice (no giggles down here, thank you very much) bundled up in a backpack, and of course he has his powerful sense of smell. He's gravitated to the students in particular, the After School Numbers Club, as it were, like he had before-- if they'll stick with him, anyway.

He tries to keep to the front of the group, so that any vermedi sightings will have advance warning: he can smell them coming, after all. His recommendation upon any hint of the scent, of course, will be to get the hell out of there.

Hajime knows Lyall isn't going to be much use if he runs into any sort of actual physical danger, but that's why he even showed up at the mine at the first place. What might be a problem for a science teacher wouldn't be much of a problem for him. Plus, Lyall's used to his insect form. It's easier to hang around someone who won't stare in horror.

"You smell anything?" Hajime's own senses were good, but mostly focused on combat. If something were suddenly hurtling for his head, that was one thing, but if something were lying in wait for him, that would be another thing entirely. And forget smell. He hadn't noticed much, if any, difference as a bug in that department.

The subject of smell is exactly why Anthony is trying not to stay too close - in a limbo only a few steps behind, and far enough to the side to be within his left arm's reach of the wall, right hand clutching his seax at the ready under no particular sense of threat. He does feel his way over it a stretch here and there - tries using it to alter his pace as he can if need be. Pull himself along if he and his sword fall a step too far back to be there as immediately as possible without being disruptive, pretend he needs the support if he catches himself edging into imagined disruptive range.

In fact, he can't even be sure whether this distance is sufficient to avoid risk of distracting.

He turns his attention from the rocks in the wall to Mr. Lyall - fixes it, in the corner of his eye first and then faces properly. Keeps his voice restrained. "Can you smell anything, sir... -- ?"

In intent his is less of a "do you smell anything" than Hajime's and more of a "can you smell properly".

"Lots of rocks and dust," Lyall answered with a helpless shrug. "And all of you, but I've gotten better at filtering that sort of thing out." Including Anthony's rather specific scent, but really, given the state of his sense of smell these days, everyone had their own specific, varied, and rather powerful scent.

"Nothing dangerous just yet, thankfully, but nothing terribly interesting, either," he added, playing his flashlight over the dim floor ahead of them, looking for holes or loose rubble they might trip on.

"That's good, I guess..." Hajime peered into the darkness, but it wasn't like he could see much of anything other than the same boring tunnel. "Nothing interesting happening here is probably safer."

He still wasn't too happy about having come back to the mines in the first place, but if it were a quiet visit, that would be better. Then again, he was in much better shape for pounding anything they might come across.

"Probably -- " Anthony hastily mumbled as a kind of deferential move, shifting his look from sideways toward Hajime to straight down the tunnel ahead as well, scanning the edges of the dark at the walls with anxiousness - mostly self-directed, still. Mr. Lyall said that he could smell well enough - he'd smell if there was anything external to get to dreading, and Anthony would take that best as he could that there was no need for him to move further back, at least...

Lyall was even less happy about being here, but Anthony had wanted him here... and his nose could be useful, even if the rest of him wasn't. So he kept at it, walking slowly and carefully down one of the unexplored tunnels. "I think this is lower than we've been before... and I think--"

He paused, sniffed the air more obviously, then changed what he was going to say: "--I think I smell something." It was faint, at the moment, but it was definitely those monsters' smell. He would never forget that. "I don't know if it's here or if it was here," he grumbled, worried and taking a step backwards.

Hajime took a step forward. "You want me to go on ahead? I could flush anything out, if anything's there. Probably stop it, too." He sort of absently ran a hand along one of his wrist blades. He remembered well what those things could do to another monster, but that was just a memory. Was he ready for a real-world application on a very different sort of monster? At least nerves were easy to hide as an expressionless bug-monster.

"I'll go, too," Anthony followed - too pulled-back and muddled by an uncertain quaver to quite be called blurting.

The uncertainty clung. He'd been looking at Hajime as he said it - took a lightly fretful sideways glance at Mr. Lyall, then back at Hajime - then a sharp look more fully at Mr. Lyall with a little of something like preemptive apology, then back at Hajime. Passive request for approval by them both while he kept a verbalized "If I may" well-reined-in.

That wasn't going to fly, with his teacher. (Former teacher. But whatever.) Lyall reached out to touch Anthony's shoulder. "No, no, stay back. I don't want you getting hurt." He wasn't too keen on Hajime getting hurt, either, but the giant armored bug was a lot more imposing-seeming than a teenaged boy, no matter how decomposed he might smell, and he could claim a little authority over the latter, at least.

The smell, though, was still there, and it did seem fresh. Touching Anthony, though, he couldn't get a close fix... and couldn't tell that it was getting stronger, not yet.

The vermedi was coming towards them down the tunnel, bristled and disturbed by something at least.

Hajime didn't waste any time once he saw the Vermedi. He lowered himself into a combat crouch he remembered himself favoring while in this form, brandished his blades, and snarled at the Vermedi like he was hoping for some sort of reaction. He hoped it would back off, perhaps lead them somewhere interesting; he wasn't interested in fighting the thing in such close quarters, and not with other people so close by.

Below the mineshaft roads, it will all unfold;

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merged both threads into this one!

Re: merged both threads into this one!

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