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Sounsyy · **08-11-2015, 03:30 PM**

Sounsyy breathed a slow sigh of relief out her nostrils. She still held her firm grip on the curtain fabric almost as if it was holding her steady. She heard Ryanti's voice to one side but she wasn't really making out what he said. She felt muddled, weak. Cwaenlona put her hand on Sounsyy's shoulder and the Captain came back to her senses. She looked at Ryanti who had left a scattered mess of papers on his cot.

"Please see me when you can," he said as he left. He had been blushing or crying. Sounsyy wondered for a moment if it was due to her lack of dress, but the thought was gone before Ryanti had left the room. Marjanie was approaching her to give her report and Sounsyy had to focus her thoughts. She slid Eighty-five's curtain closed and the two women retreated back to the Captain's cot. Sounsyy took up a seat on the edge of the cot, bringing her feet up under her to sit cross-legged. Marjanie, for once, seemed too fatigued for formalities and went into the report without her customary salute.

"The Roehmerl sustained minimal hull damage. For that, we are fortunate. But our crew has all but been exhausted Sounsyy. Syhrelak and Eighty-five remain in critical condition. Five more of our crew are injured to be unfit for duty, Fhruhsunn included, though he's putting on a strong face," Marjanie said quickly in a hushed voice. She didn't want Fhruhsunn to overhear that she thought he was unfit. They were close and the Elezen worried greatly for him. Sounsyy just nodded, spinning over the message within the report.

"Yer worried that the Garleans were not alone," the Captain stated matter-of-factly. Marjanie shifted uncomfortably, saying, "We are ill equipped for a second encounter. I cannot recommend we linger here over long. Even with the fishbacks protection."

A look of confusion spread across the Captain's face before Marjanie clarified, "The Clutch that attacked us protect the Sharlayan's prize. Some Allagan relic, which explains the Garlean involvement."
"We stay fer as long as Seventy-seven needs to complete his mission," Sounsyy said after a moment, "Otherwise, this'll all have been fer nothing. I share yer concerns, but this is the way it must be."

Marjanie nodded respectfully, though her face clearly expressed her disagreement with their orders. Sounsyy regarded her for a moment before asking if there was anything else. Marjanie shook her head, "Nothing of great import. Food and medical supplies were culled from the 'Ganesha' as well as the usual salvage for our engineers in the Ironworks. We're destroying the vessel and its Far Eastern escorts to disguise any evidence of the ships' passing. P'welro is at the helm so I can keep Fhruhsunn in his bed. Stubborn bastard. Will that be all, Captain?"

"Relieved," Sounsyy replied. She had grown distracted again. How close the battle had come. The Sharlayans were all injured, her own crew did not fare much better. And Marjanie's concerns were well founded. Garlean vessels rarely traveled so far south alone. How long could they afford to linger here before more came looking for their lost ship? A day? A week? There was their rendezvous with the Sharlayan vessel to consider as well. This mission was far from over yet.

Sounsyy watched Marjanie return to Fhruhsunn's side. The Elezen walked with a slight limp and Sounsyy found her right ankle and shin was tightly bandaged under her boot. The woman must have bathed and changed into more comfortable clothes when Fhruhsunn hadn't needed her constant tending to. Marjanie was a diligent worker, perhaps the Roehmerl's most, and Sounsyy couldn't help a smile seeing the woman take a breath, even if the Roehmerl needed her full dedication now more than ever.

Sounsyy slipped her legs back over the side of the cot and tested their strength gingerly before standing. She was still feeling rather dizzy after the amount of blood she had donated. Finding herself to be steady, she knelt down to pick up the bundle of clothes laid at the foot of her bed and carried them with her out of the infirmary. She climbed up the stairwell back to her cabin barefoot, keeping an eye on the activity below. So many of those cots filled...

The sea breeze greeted the Captain like an old friend when she crested the deck. She closed her eyes and felt the cool breeze swish the small hairs on her arms and neck. It was her moment alone on the sea - the sounds of her crew at work soon returning her to their situation. Repairs and cleaning were well underway by those few of Sounsyy's crew who had escaped the bloodbath unscathed. She wondered for a moment if P'welro had given them the order or if they had acted on their own, knowing that it was what needed to be done. Either way, a sense of pride filled her lungs, mixing with the salty air. She spotted Ryanti towards the bow, gazing off across the sea. Sounsyy considered going to him then, but he had not yet noticed her, so she retreated into her cabin to change into more suitable clothing.

The first sight she encountered upon entering was the shattered wine bottle littering her floor. She cursed under her breath at the senseless violence of Garlean scrags before gingerly tiptoeing through the debris. The deep red wine was already soaking into the cabin's wooden floorboards, giving one the impression that a murder had occurred here and the Captain had simply moved her wine rack over the site in some poor attempt to obscure the violence.

Fortunately, the wine had not traveled so far as to reach the area rug beneath Sounsyy's desk, and after taking a few tottering steps through the glassy debris, she hopped to the edge of the rug like it was a safe spot. She rubbed her bare feet against the rug a few times each to make sure she had not picked up any glass shards with her feet and hopped over the desk to examine the discrepancy she noticed in her armchair. A hole had appeared in the back cushion. Sounsyy dug her fingers into the hole and with some effort dislodged the slug buried within. Cynthia's.

What had become of the woman's body hadn't even crossed Sounsyy's mind. She scowled at the bullet and set it down on her desk next to the old kobold's helm. Another trophy? Or something to be discarded along with the shattered glass once that had been swept outside?

Once she was satisfied nothing else had been damaged or disturbed from the assault, she moved to her armoire and changed. Tights, thighboots, the same long tanktop she had been wearing. The effort to find a suitable top had been lost on her. Her hair still loosely held Eighty-five's braid from that morning. Sounsyy didn't have the heart to undo it, yet. So without further fuss, she exited the cabin, her boot crunching through the broken glass.

"Yeh wanted to see meh?" She said quietly as she approached. She wasn't sure how deep in his reverie the boy was and didn't wish to startle him. He didn't reply for several seconds, so Sounsyy moved to stand beside him, casting her gaze out in the same direction as he did. The sunset was beautiful. Sounsyy crossed her arms over her chest. She could feel her skin prickling from the cool air.

All by myself.
"...Sometimes Llymlaen takes us unexpected ways, down narrow paths..."
You can feel it. Feel it like I feel it. Feel what they dreamed andâ€¦ what this mission means.
"...I don't know. I dream because I saw, that's what you said? I don't know that I believe in them - the Allagans..."
I want you to come with me.

Sounsyy turned to look at him in bewilderment. She knew that he was deadly serious, but the thought of her plunging into the deep dark brine petrified her. Color began to drain from her face as she stumbled over her words, her mind racing... for what? She didn't know. An excuse?

"Yeh what?!"
"â€œI want you to come. Youâ€™re the only one besides my unit that has shared these dreams with me. I know theyâ€™re calling you along with me. I donâ€™t know why it has to be us, and I never thought this would happen, butâ€¦ if there is anyone on this planet that I would like to be there with me down there, itâ€™s you. I know how strong you are, and how strong you make me when Iâ€™m around you. Not only that, butâ€¦ I feel like you would be the only one that would understand right now.â€

Sounsyy shook her head vigorously, but could say nothing. She did think she understood. The dreams had featured two... people... Allagans? A man and woman. She began to wonder if Ryanti thought these two were representative of them. A man and woman on a starship to save the world. True, the similarities were uncanny, but that's what dreams were. Dreams, odd fantasies of reality twisted into your worst fears or greatest desires. Sounsyy wanted to tell him - no, she didn't understand - or that he was crazy, but the look on Seventy-seven's face kept Sounsyy quiet.

Will you come with me? He pleaded, his hand outstretched. Sounsyy looked at it, then back up at him. She uncrossed her arms but did not take his hand.

"Yer out yer Twelve-damned mind," she said flatly, her green eyes burrowing into his, "But someone's got to keep yeh on schedule down there. I guess dying at the bottom of the Deep still counts as a death at sea. What do you need me to do?"

Sounsyy sighed and ran her finger-short hand through her hair, messing everything up. Her hair was swept up in the next breeze with Ryanti's and she gave him another hard look before laying her injured hand in his. She opened her fingers and withdrew her hand shortly after, leaving a few bobbypins and hair ties in his outstretched palm. Sounsyy gave him a quizzical look.

"What? Yeh ever tried keepin' a braid underwater?"

Ryanti · **08-11-2015, 10:38 PM**

Will you come with me?

It had taken more strength to ask that question that it did for him to murder those Garlean soldiers. It had more taken more guts to ask that question than to face the Clutchfather himself and to witness him lift Ryanti up like he was nothing and place the young manâ€™s life in those hands of his. It was a silly thing to confront that reality and accept it as truth. There were some things about life in this world that Ryanti scoffed at or gazed upon with amusion in his brow. This was one of those moments. Why had it been so hard to askâ€¦

When she had called him being out of his Twelve-damned mind, there was a look in his eye that he gave back to her when she burrowed her gaze into his own. What she saw beyond Ryantiâ€™s warm, aquamarine eyes that would remind any seagoers of Costa Del Solâ€™s ocean waves in the gleaming summer mornings, was an element of acceptance. He knew this was all just crazyâ€¦ it was not even remotely sane. Both of them had already gotten much more out of what they bargained for.

He had gotten used to that hard look. For some reason, that gaze had never pierced into his chest and stung or hurt the young man. What he saw in her eyes was the color of the Dravanian pines that he was fortunate enough to bare witness to in his last mission up North, where the rivers were crystal clear and the sun was always bright. Those trees were evergreen. They did not waiver in weakness to the coming fall, and retained their color throughout the long, lonely winter. Her answer gave him the same kind of feeling that he experienced back then: a feeling of peace. Of relief.

He witnessed her running her hand through her hair â€“ undoing what was left of Leuraâ€™s handiwork back during a time where she was well, which already seemed like such a long time ago when it barely was. When he felt something warm and moving upon the palm of his hand, Ryanti was reminded that he still had it out, and looked down to see a hair tie and a bobby pin or two. He glanced down upon the tools as the seaâ€™s wind picked up once more.

The cold breeze was welcoming to him. It seeped below the surface of his undershirt and made him feel a little bit more alive. The items in his palm began to vibrate, as if at any moment they were to be kidnapped, and swept away by the wind. Ryanti couldnâ€™t help but smile when she asked him if he had ever kept a braid underwater. It was the first time he had smiled all day.

â€œCanâ€™t say I haveâ€¦ It must be a real pain.â€ He told her with a soft and calm voice. Right when the objects were about to be stolen from him by the wind, the young man closed his fist before it could happen and lifted his gaze from his hand to Sounsyy with a single blink. He had never seen her with her hair down. The brunette strands danced all along the wind with much more grace than Ryantiâ€™s shorter hair ever could. Her image before him caused time to slow down just a little bit, and for but a moment Ryanti found time frozen.

After that moment had passed, he maneuvered his closed fist over one of the loose pockets in his trousers, and allowed the objects to fall inside of it. Just in case. â€œThe first thingâ€¦â€ Ryanti murmured, trying to jumpstart his memory back again after so much information caused it to overload. Oh how he wanted to just continue to get lost in this sunset though. â€œThe first thing I need you to do is to rest.â€

It was apparently obvious that Ryanti had not gotten enough sleep when he passed out in Eighty-fiveâ€™s cot. He didnâ€™t seem like he was fully energetic and ready for anything like he usually was. He tried to get the codwebs out of his mind by running a hand through his whitewashed locks. â€œWelro and I can handle things up here right now.â€ It was curious to see that Ryanti had mentioned himself and not Jonathan.

â€œDrink some of that juice we confiscated from the Garleans. Take a nap. Rest.â€ He rested his shoulder against the Mast, biting his lip a little bit before continuing. â€œRest in that place where you can lay down fully. Not in your chair. Andâ€¦ try not to do it with wine. Thatâ€™s the last thing your body needs right now afterâ€¦ all of that blood you gave.â€

He solemnly turned his back to her, placing his hands on his hips and sighing, looking left and right but no longer able to see the sun. Despite the evening still retaining its light, the sun had already fell below the horizon. â€œRest until everyone else is, when it is darkest. Then come out againâ€¦ Iâ€™ll be here. Iâ€™ll light up a part of the deckâ€¦ then I can get you ready. Just be prepared to learn.â€

He gave a few cricks to his neck, then glanced back at her with a warm smile. â€œIâ€™m glad youâ€™re coming.â€

Just when he was about to walk away, after the first step he stopped in his tracks. â€œOh, andâ€¦ â€œhe said to her, trailing for a moment as he gathered his breath. â€œI know a good amount of people contributed to saving Eighty-fiveâ€™sâ€¦ Leuraâ€™sâ€¦ life. But so did you.â€ And with that, the determined Sharlayan agent walked away again. Even though he really, really didnâ€™t want to.

---

As the dusk slowly began to turn to night, it had become very difficult for what remained of the healthy crew to keep up with their tasks. They were beginning to complete most of their initial duties in order to keep the ship afloat and livable in. But it would become apparent they would have to spend a while on repairing the ship enough to be able to sail again reliably. Their postures were drenched with fatigue and they were drudging on. The looks on their faces told the entire story.

But no one had it as hard as Ryanti. Since he had put the Captain to rest, his face wore a look as if he had just been rescued from a war zone. It was contorted and stressed enough to make him look like he been right along besides Sounsyy in Carteneau. He wasnâ€™t beside her then, but he had been beside her and all the others in this naval battle, and it was horrid enough to live through. Jonathan and Forty-three were busy discussing with themselves the best way Ryanti should approach this task now that he was alone in his duties. It was a constant see-saw of cleaning, stopping to read more and talk more, cleaning, stopping, cleaning, stoppingâ€¦ until Forty-three had backed off with a sad, pity look in his eye. But Jonathan knew so such thing as slowing down.

Ryanti placed the mop down upon the wine spill in the Captainâ€™s quarters. He must have looked like a machine from the outside. But inside, swiping all of the wine off of the floor and squeezing it out into a pale was the only kind of outlet that kept him sane right now. He gripped the mop pedals as if they were the throat of his worst enemy. Pâ€™welro had taken the young man with her to clean the Captainâ€™s place out. Being by the person he could confide into the most was something he needed right now and she knew it.

Ryanti had seen Cynthiaâ€™s slug that the Captain had pulled out of the chair. It was sitting on her next right next to the Koboldâ€™s helm. Was it to be a future memento for her? Something else to remind her of what she had survived? What she had survivedâ€¦ that had to have been the same very slug that had grazed Ryantiâ€™s shoulder when he had tackled her to the floor on the eve of the battle. That was the first time he acknowledged the red bruise that was healing on his left shoulder. He graced two fingertips slowly across the wound to Pâ€™welroâ€™s witness. â€œI took a bullet for her. Am I lost cause?â€ He had asked her then. She had laughed a little bit. It was funny. He laughed a little bit too. He needed that.

But as he wringed out the mop again and saw the crimson liquid that could be mistaken for blood drip into the pot, a thought raced his mind.

I donâ€™t want her to feel like she deserves a bullet.

He glanced over at the woman four years his senior, then got back to cleaning. All the while, he knew he was going to eventually have to tell the acting Captain what was going to happen. He knew that it probably wasnâ€™t for the best if the news was just broken out in front of an entire crowd. It had to be broken out first to the highest acting role on the ship right now.

â€œSheâ€™s going with me, Welro. Sounsyy is going to dive down with me.â€ He mentioned out of the blue, but the tone in his voice told the first mate that he had always been meaning to tell her all day. â€œI have to take her. She has to go. Iâ€™ll keep her safe.â€ He glanced at the young woman once more, and his resolve was written all over his face. It was a strength beyond strength â€“ a faith that he had to grasp onto in order to survive the storm.

Just then, a crippled Jonathan had called for his name. Ryanti shifted his attention to the open door with a bit of a startled look on his face. His breathing was still as the air he was exhaling froze in his lungs. Jonathan nudged his head to beckon to talk to him, with papers still in his hand. He did not look happy.

Perhaps from Sounsyyâ€™s cot, she might have heard the argument. Shouting and yelling near the entrance to her cot between the leader of the Sharlayan unit and its keeper. â€œShe had no business in this, Seventy-seven! You are not going to defy the will of our superiors by exposing non-sanctioned Eorzeans to this kind of exposure!â€ Jonathan had boomed with the voice of his old drill instructor roots.

â€œWe have no choice! Thereâ€™s no one left! I canâ€™t do this on my own or else Iâ€™ll just be sent down there to die! You â€“know- this and yet you â€“STILL- lecture me about doing what is paramount to suicide!â€ Ryanti had yelled back, the frustration of this entire evening catching up with him. â€œIâ€™m lecturing about doing what is â€“PROPER- of you as a Keeper!â€ Jonathan had shouted back, hopping about on his one foot as his voice continued to boom. Forty-three was rubbing his eyes underneath his spectacles, shaking his head at what this had gotten to.

â€œWhat is â€“PROPER- of â€“US- is to â€“HELP- people! To give them a better â€“LIFE-! Something has to give! Something has to give eventually, Jonathan! Iâ€™m tired of this bureaucracy all of the time! Weâ€™re out here in the middle of Twelves-damn nowhere and no one has â€“ZERO- idea of what I am getting into and I need her!â€

â€œThat gods-damned artifact has twisted your mind!â€ Jonathan shouted at Ryanti and the young man had enough after that. With a fire in his heart as well as in his eyes, he stood up to his commanding officer, catching the attention of everyone around him that had wondered what the commotion was all about.

â€œYou think so? You donâ€™t have any faith in me, Sixteen?â€ He questioned him with a tight, angry voice. â€œYou donâ€™t have any faith in what we do? How we are supposed to bring about change? To end suffering? You donâ€™t have any faith in what we carry with us on this ship? We â€“NEED- faith! We â€“NEED- faith, Sixteen! Without faithâ€¦ without faith we might as well be dragging our corpses under the bow of this ship because â€“WE HAVE ALREADY LOST-!â€

He grabbed the commanding officerâ€™s crutch firmly in his hands, which caused Jonathan to grab at it with anger in his expression but helpless at ripping it away from the young manâ€™s grasp. Ryanti had the ability to embarrass him, to knock him over right where he stood. â€œI believe the red tape and the immortality associated with this line of work has twisted your mind, Jonathan. Because of this, I deem you currently unfit to continue your service as commanding officer of this unit.â€

A knife went through the gaze of Jonathanâ€™s. â€œYou wouldnâ€™t d-â€œ

â€œ-I- -just- -did-.â€

He let go of the crutch and Jonathan hopped backwards once or twice before resting his shoulder upon the side of the railing, his normally impenetrable expression showing a slight hint of surprise and bewilderment. â€œI donâ€™t need to make a formal statement about taking over.â€ Ryanti murmured, glancing over at Forty-three, who was just looking on with a grizzled look about him. â€œI already have.â€

He swallowed his dry mouth and took calm, slow steps away from the man and looked two and fro at everyone around him with dizzy eyes, not even sure what he had just done. â€œI need to see my equipment.â€ He had told Pâ€™welro eventually. â€œI need to get myself ready for tomorrow. Justâ€¦ tell the crew one at a time what is going on with the Captain. So that once morning comes, well... it wouldnâ€™t be so hard.â€

---

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Ryanti had gotten some sleep. A little bit. Maybe an hour or two. Hell, the entire crew almost was. Sent back down to rest, all of them were. Everyone was just too exhausted.

After he had the argument with Jonathan, he had quickly ended up in the same little storage room that they had been in prior to the battle, that they had slept in together. Eighty-fiveâ€™s blanket was still partially open when she had slid out of bed that morning when she thought she was going to dive with the rest of the crew. Just to think, they could have already been on the mission right nowâ€¦ all four of them. Now that wasnâ€™t meant to be. But was it always never meant to be?

He wondered that to himself as he laid out the Sharlayan equipment across the center of the shipâ€™s deck, in which he had decided would be the best place to do this. They still had the intact mast, which was an easy place to hang torches. As he lit the fires and the warm yellow light simmered off of his skin, he thought of a man and a woman on a starship to save the world. He gave the flames a soft blow of his breath, catching the shadow of the Captain within the aura of the torchâ€™s light. He had turned his head to her and said â€œReady to get started?â€

Under the gaze of Menphinaâ€™s moon, I began to teach Sounsyy all about the equipment that would be taking down there. It was a very surreal thing to teach the basics about equipment that was claimed to be more valuable than our lives to her.

The first thing I did was lay out all of our gadgets. I taught her how the grappling hook that she saw that we had in our naval battle worked. I showed her the cable. It was a kind of imitation Garlean fiber that the Ironworks had made. I showed her to pick it off of the belt we had and how to shoot it. She shot it up around the mastâ€™s arms and climbed a bit of it while I watched.

I showed her how our explosives worked, which was something else we used in the fight. I didnâ€™t pull any pins, but I explained to her what would happen. You pulled it, threw it and it would explode in a flash of powder and shrapnel. We both knew that it was easier to explain everything if you justâ€¦ left the science out. So thatâ€™s what I did. Itâ€™s not like I knew any better about how it was designed either.

I let her see the wound on my suit. I let her see how it had patched itself up over time so that the only way you can tell it had ever been pierced was its discoloration compared to the rest of the outfit. I explained to her when itâ€™s teared open, it will release a medical gel thatâ€™ll seep over your wound and sterilize it while working on healing it. Then the threading would re-sauterize itself. Some kind of magical charm, I told her. Honestly, I didnâ€™t know how it worked.

I explained to her how our canteens could scoop up dirty water and filter it. I told her about the little square patch on the side of it and how it would change from red to green once you shook it enough and the filter did its work. By this point, I couldnâ€™t hide my liking to these kinds of things. It was amazing technology andâ€¦ there was a part of me that was having fun showing her all of this in the dead of night at an ungodly hour with barely any sleep and the warmth of the torchâ€™s fire over us. I joked about how you could probably drink your own piss in one of these. Am I sailor now? Probably not. But dirtier, yeah... probably.

Then I let her see how the rations worked. I showed her what amounted to a bag. That same kind of bag one would get from packaged treats in Garlemald. I didnâ€™t want to waste any of them, but I explained to her how you could pour water into one of the pockets, and the alchemical powder inside would react to the water and boil up, â€˜cookingâ€™ the nutritional meals inside so that maybe we wouldnâ€™t have to vomit our meals out whileâ€¦ while diving down there.

Then we tried putting on the suit. I told her how to buckle the straps in. I explained to her how not to worry about clipping the water-tight seals together, that it would come later. I taught her how to latch on the boots, what gauges to check on her suit to make sure she was doing alright, and I even explained to her a little bit of the science behind how aether was embedded into the weaving, and how air was vented through micro-tubing in-between the threading to give us breathable air for a while with the help of a mouthpiece that would hang from her collarbone when attached. It looked like it was made for herâ€¦ her form was as black as the night sky in front of me. This was actually happening, I thought.

The most fun I had was showing her how the goggles worked. It had three different modes, I had explained to her. Night vision, thermals vision, and aetherial vision. She just looked at me, confused. Heh, well, I guess there was no other choice but to just put them on her and let her see for herself. I remember the first time I hit the switch. Suddenly, the pitch darkness of the ocean blue and the reality around her became a slight shade of green, but she could see. See any better than a torch would provide her. Seeing her reaction to that was priceless. Even better when I switched it to thermal and stepped in front of her, moving an arm up and down like a fool. We had to turn it off after that, though. It only had a limited time of running. I guess thatâ€™s why we had flashlights.

The weapons were the worst though. She held that pistol as if she was allergic to it. It was the first moment that I realized how strange it was that I was the teacher andâ€¦ her the student. I had tossed a pierce of a broke barrel out to sea, and turned on one of my torch-less flashlights so that she could see it floating in the water. I spent a long time showing her how to grip it right. How to spread her legs out right. How to look down the sights. We couldnâ€™t really use live rounds with the pistol. There was just too little of them left. So we decided to move onto the rifle because, well with two other of my unit injuredâ€¦ we had a ton of ammunition to spare now.

â€œCome on, Sounsyy. I know you can do it.â€ A gun shot fired out. A single round from the Sharlayan rifle. A fountain of water plopped up next to the piece of the broken barrel. â€œLoosen your shoulders up. Donâ€™t let the recoil take you back. Imagine like itâ€™s someone ramming your shield and stand your ground against it. Try again.â€

A few slower, hesitant shots rang out. A few more fountains of water. They were slightly closer, but they were not hitting the target. The shots slowly began to ring out more rapidly, but they kept on missing. When the Captain had lowered the rifle a bit in seething frustration, she suddenly felt a hand grip onto the stock of the rifle. Ryanti was there, with his head a bit down and glancing over her shoulders, his height looming over her back, as if to shield her embarrassment from the ship she owned.

â€œHold onâ€¦ take a few deep breaths. No oneâ€™s watching you but me.â€ He advised her. Normally he would be a little timid and hesitant to be this hands-on with her training, but had found itâ€¦ necessarily, and probably the best way to teach her. He adjusted the stock of the rifle to rest in the perfect spot on her shoulder. â€œJust like that.â€ He voice came from behind her ears, and he softly gripped the forearm of her trigger arm, adjusting it to properly circumvent along the stock and keep a fine place to rest the rifle on.

His palms were very warm, and ever so slightly having a shake to them when he rose her arm. There was a deep, deep fear behind every single he made. A fear that was only apparent to Sounsyy now, when he was this close to her, this hands-on with her position to make sure everything was right. He was scared. Just as scared as what was going to happen as Sounsyy was. How could someone even possibly have a rational mind about themselves on the eve ofâ€¦ diving into the unknown? But Ryantiâ€™s voice was calm, collected, and soothing. He was trying as hard as he can to not scare her any further by his own fear. â€œDonâ€™t use your fingers.â€ He murmured to her, his fingertips finding themselves on the Captainâ€™s hand that held the end of the rifle aloft. â€œRest your palm upon the barrelâ€¦â€ He murmured, shifting her hand to where the weight rested upon her palm.

He glanced over to look at her legs, which were a little too close to one another. â€œSpread your legs out a little more.â€ He told her, after a moment nodding his head. â€œThatâ€™s good enough.â€

A moment passed, and Sounsyyâ€™s tunnel vision of the barrel, and the rifle she held in her hands, was interrupted by Ryantiâ€™s arms. They slowly extended outwards, shadowing where her limbs were. He parted his legs a little bit, and stood behind her, shadowing her posture and looking slightly over her head at the target. â€œYou need to grip it hard.â€ He had said, once again allowing his hand to envelop Sounsyyâ€™s own that held the barrel, squeezing it a bit to emulate the kind of firmness for her. â€œLike this. Now look down the sights and adjust for distanceâ€¦â€ Her trigger finger felt Ryantiâ€™s finger slide in below it. â€œReadyâ€¦ ?â€ He had whispered to her, and pulled the trigger back, a shot ringing out.

It might have been amusing if anyone was out to watch this. But of course, the Roehmerl was anchored, and there was no need for someone to steer the course during those ungodly hours. But maybe one or two of the crew had peaked from the stairs? The Allagan relic, which had been resting in the compartment box where the equipment was stored upon the deck they were on began to glow again, in a warm, encompassing blue light.

The barrel floated in the water, with a gaping hole in the middle of it. â€œAgain. Readyâ€¦ ?â€ He squeezed the trigger again, letting her deal with the ricochet, knocking Ryanti back a tiny bit before he took another step forward, just to do it all over again. The piece of wood flipped about the oceanâ€™s waves as their shots began to pick it apart. With every hit, Ryantiâ€™s smile got a little wider. â€œAlrightâ€¦â€ He murmured to her, finally letting go of her barrel hand and sliding his finger off of the trigger. He backed up a few spaces, yet for some reasonâ€¦ he felt the same feeling he felt earlier that dusk when he had walked away from before.

â€œThis time do it without me.â€ He said to her, his arms still a little outstretched, but now he was a few ilms away. â€œAnd remember: have faith. That is how we operate. Nowâ€¦ go.â€

Sounsyy · **08-15-2015, 12:29 AM**

Sounsyy gave Ryanti a cross look when he dictated the manner in which she should sleep. While it was true it was the Sharlayan's mission now more than hers, they were still aboard the Roehmerl and above the waters Sounsyy had the final say in things. But the boy looked stressed enough so Sounsyy toned her dissent down for his sake.

"Alright, mother cockatrice, yer not Captain yet, but I'll go back to the infirmary. Let meh crew handle things up here, yeh should be getting sleep as well if yer gonna be up late. We're divin' at first light, no matter how much sleep yeh get."

Sounsyy shook her head slightly at him, knowing full well that he wasn't going to sleep. He had determination in his eyes, or was that horror? Sounsyy knew the best way to put something from the mind was to keep finding an activity for the mind to focus on. Busy work.

She was about to leave when Ryanti stopped her. Leura. She shook her head at him, saying, "If that's a thank you, yer welcome, but ain't needed. I look after me n' mine... regardless what the rumors say."

Sounsyy watched him as he walked off and she turned to return back below decks. But not before returning to her cabin. The glass and wine still marred the floor, and the culprit stood resolutely on her desk. She gave it a brief pause before reaching out and pulling a bottle of wine from the rack and tucking it under her arm as she made her way back downstairs.

She had as much intention of sleeping while her crew was hard at work as Ryanti did and resolved to make her rounds about the ship before the headstrong Miqo'te could catch her out of bed and reprimand her. She laughed aloud at the thought and pulled the cork on her bottle and took a quick swig. She was going to need this.

She passed through the gundeck towards the armory at the ship's bow. A few of the bunks had fallen from their hangings and crewmembers' belongings had been strewn haphazardly about as a result of the jarring force of the Roehmerl ramming the Far Eastern vessel. Juselmont and T'laom were busying themselves righting the mess. Sounsyy took a minute to talk with both of them and make sure they were faring well. She let the elderly Elezen have a few sips from her bottle to help him calm the tremors in his hands before moving on.

She paused outside the private quarters. Marjanie's door was open but the Elezen was not within. A cursory glance showed her room had been straightened already, likely when the young girl had changed into civilian clothes. The interior was darkened but Sounsyy could see it was ornately decorated with tapestries of wonderfully colorful silks, maps and charts of far off places, and in the back corner, a bookshelf full of tomes. A few books had been taken down from the shelves or had fallen leaving odd missing patches in the series. One such book sat on the reading desk, many of its pages folded inwards to mark her place over time or to remember this page. The spine read in brilliant gold lettering: Ichthyological Folklore, Vol. 7 - The Indigo Deep.

Sounsyy smirked and her gaze fell upon Marjanie's long rifle which rested horizontally above her bed on pegs. The blood had been cleaned off of the rifle already, Sounsyy noted. Below the rifle was another tapestry, this one bearing a crest that the Captain could only assume was a family heirloom. She heard a voice coming from the adjacent room and Sounsyy moved nimbly towards the next door - Fhruhsunn's quarters. Sounsyy's ears flicked as she made out Marjanie's voice from within. It sounded as if she was chastising the mute Roegadyn for not resting. The Roegadyn only grumbled in reply. From outside, the sound of his heavy footsteps and eventual flump of him dropping onto his mattress were the only noises that could be heard. Though as Sounsyy smiled and moved away from the door and moved into the armory, she could almost swear she heard him start to hum his old sailor shanties.

The inside of the armory was as dimly lit as Marjanie's room. A single lantern had been strung up from the hook on the underside of the bowsprit that split the room diagonally in two. Beneath it, the Quartermaster sat cross-legged, a column of blades laid out before her. Jada would pick up the nearest in line and begin cleaning and sharpening the tool before setting it down to one side and picking up the next in sequence.

Sounsyy approached quietly, but Jada's keen ears missed nothing in her domain. Her bright blue eyes met Sounsyy's as the Captain moved to sit opposite her stash of weapons. Sounsyy said nothing to her and Jada returned her gaze to the work at hand, finishing up polishing a large battleaxe before setting it in the clean pile.

"Used to be my job, y'know," Sounsyy said calmly. Jada stopped mid-stroke of her whetstone, looking up at her Captain. Sounsyy took a swig.

"When you joined the 'Cuda? Or before?" Jada spoke with a forced evenness. Her voice still held a hoarse quality about it. Sounsyy passed the bottle across the gleaming row of weapons to the Quartermaster, who took it and drank deep.

"When I joined the 'Cuda, aye. Sterransa used to make me polish that cutlass o' hers thrice before she were satisfied. Juss outta spite. Old bitch." Jada snickered into the bottle, her teeth shining in the lamplight. "So'z that why yeh won't let me clean your blade, Sounsyy? It's gotta be cleaned three times and yeh know I'd tell yeh to shove yer sword up yer arse?"
"Somethin' like that. Old habits die hard is the saying."
"Thank you, Captain," Jada said after a long laugh. Her voice trailing off as she brought the bottle back up to her lips and took another large portion down her throat, "...fer the wine." Sounsyy nodded, though she knew it wasn't for the wine, "Been told I'm not supposed to have it anyroad."

Sounsyy stood, and before Jada could return the bottle, made her way down the stairs into the Mess. At first Sounsyy thought the stalwart Qiqirn had been released early from the infirmary, judging by the commotion below, but it was only Pamido Wolmido shifting crates back into their regular positions. Given the size difference between some of the crates and his own stature, the Plainsfolk king seemed to be having some difficulty on his own.

"Iffin'... yeh don't... mind!" He grumbled as he spotted Sounsyy dropping down from the last step into the Mess. Sounsyy looked at the bare-chested pirate and gave a short shrug before hopping over the counter in search of something in one of the cabinets. Pamido Wolmido made a cry of dismay, "Oy! Wee smallfolk 'ave to stick together! Movin' mountains n' all that! Cap? Cap'n!? Yeh ain't payin' meh back fer that whole hair thin' are yeh?"

Sounsyy straightened behind the counter, shrugging her shoulders at him. She was trying hard to hide the smirk that threatened to spread across her lips. She pulled up a plate of left over dinner from the underside of the counter - salted cod puffs - and set it on the counter. She began munching on one of the bits of cod while she watched Pamido Wolmido sweat.

"Thas just mean spirited, lass."
"Wha? I didn't get dinner," Sounsyy huffed, shoving another cod puff into her mouth. Pamido Wolmido sagged against his crate, looking quite defeated. Sounsyy chuckled mirthfully and hopped back over the counter, tossing a cod puff in the Lalafell's direction. When he was distracted nibbling, Sounsyy put her hands on either side of the crate and began dragging it down the belly towards the cargo bay. The pirate finished off his snack and raced to push to the crate along.

It took the combined effort of the two to move the crate back into place. Sounsyy gave a relieved sigh and moved back to her plate of cod puffs on the counter. All the stools had already been righted and the cabinets were in order thanks to Pamido Wolmido's efforts. The two met eyes after Sounsyy popped another puff and there was a moment of suspended silence, which was finally broken by Pamido Wolmido, "Makin' the rounds, eh?"

"You know how it is," Sounsyy replied absently, not looking Pamido Wolmido in the eye, finishing off the last cod puff.
"I do. And I know yeh care, unlike most."

Sounsyy retreated to the infirmary not long after. She moved to her assigned cot and drew the curtain for privacy, though she did not or could not sleep. Something about lying down surrounded on all sides by curtains bothered her. So she propped the pillow against the cot's headboard and leaned against it. For a while she listened to the ambient noises of the infirmary - Cwaenlona's incessant washing of her hands, the occasional moan from one of her patients, Susuroon's tiny snores, the pitter-patter of Simin's boots - and eventually fell into a light slumber.

The Captain was roused by the sounds of raised voices a couple hours later. She rubbed out the crick in her neck and listened to the exchange between the two shouts, which she recognized as Jonathan's and Ryanti's. Apparently Jonathan had not taken to the knowledge of her helping Ryanti well. Under normal circumstances, Sounsyy would've agreed with him, but these were not normal circumstances and Marjanie's warning of additional inbound Garlean vessels weighed heavily upon her decision. Whatever mission the Sharlayans had sought to complete below, it could only be expedited by additional aid. The sooner they could leave this place and reach the Sharlayan rendezvous, the better. But Ryanti's sudden shift in personality - this wave of control he felt the need to exercise to further his goals - troubled Sounsyy. Jonathan was wounded, but he was still the senior voice of that team and a man that Sounsyy found herself respecting. The Captain sat listening to the two fight, propped up in her bed. Then she heard Ryanti's footsteps retreating from the room. There was an awkward silence that settled in the room.

Sounsyy got up from her bed and drew back the curtain that separated her cot from the rest of the room. She cast a look towards Jonathan and Forty-three, who still seemed to be fuming. Cwaenlona, Simin, and P'welro were standing in the room in struck silence. They all turned to look as the Captain drew herself up after she exited the divider.

"I'll... talk to him tonight," she said calmly to the room before focusing on Jonathan, "But I do mean to dive with him, Sixteen. He would gladly do the work of four men on his own, but we cannot afford to linger here. The quicker yer mission is done, the sooner we can see yeh safely to Sharlayan. Yeh showed me the artifact, yeh brought me in on this. I will finish what yeh started, as much as I'd rather I weren't going - believe me."

The rest of the evening passed uneventfully until most aboard the Roehmerl were asleep. Sounsyy had given the order that only a handful of the crew were to stay up to service the ship's most vital functions for the night. There were simply not enough active crew members for much else, and after the day's exertion, they all could use the rest. News of the new mission plan had been spread throughout the evening hours as Ryanti was locked away in his room. No one liked the plan, but their options were limited. No one wanted to die far out where no one would find their bodies either, and so the decision had been made. The dive would take place that morning at dawn and the Roehmerl would wait for a limited time should communication be severed. If the two divers were lost, the mission would be abandoned and the Sharlayan rendezvous met. Should the Sharlayans object, Sounsyy confided with P'welro that she had permission to break Jonathan's other leg.

It had eased past midnight when Sounsyy finally met Ryanti on the deck. Most of the crew were asleep by now in preparation for the long day ahead. As Sounsyy made her way across the deck, she looked from side to side off to the port and starboard of her ship. How dark everything looked. As if they were floating on nothing, as if they were alone in the Void or the stars above... like her dream aboard the Allagan starship. How terrifying.

Their greeting was short, for there was much work to be done. First, Ryanti had laid out the equipment. Propelled grappling hooks with carbontwine cables, improvised grenades, air and water filtration devices. Sounsyy fingered through all the equipment while Ryanti tried to explain it in the simplest of terms. Some things that the excited young Miqo'te explained were incredibly obvious to her, while others went completely over her head, with little rhyme or reasoning behind which went where. But every time Ryanti tried to explain something simplistic to her, she gave him a look.

Sounsyy bent down to examine the suit when he got around to explaining it. She stared at it a long while, guessing that this had been Eighty-five's gear. Sounsyy caught herself wishing it was the Miqo'te girl going down into the abyss instead of her, but it was too late now. She had to pull off her boots and strip down to her smallclothes to fit into the skin-tight body suit. Sounsyy kept her eyes focused on the task, but she could've sworn she felt Ryanti's eyes sneak a glance or two in her direction. She didn't mind particularly much, but the scars and blanched white skin along her left arm, shoulder, and between her shoulder blades made her self conscious.

The suit was tight around her shoulders, hips, and thighs as it was obviously tailored to fit Eighty-five who possessed a more lithe frame than the current wearer. When she had finished buckling the suit, she began examining the various guages as Ryanti explained them. "So this is what the Ironworks does wit' the shite we bring them," she muttered to herself as she fiddled with the suit's mouthpiece. She looked up awkwardly when the boy approached with an odd pair of goggles. Sounsyy turned them over in her hands a few times before pulling them over her head and tightening the strap which held them in place. Though they looked like normal lenses at first glance, Ryanti explained that they also could swap to Night Vision, Thermal, or Aetherial. She gave him a puzzled look behind her goggles.

"Night vision seems pretty self explanatory, but- ohh!" Sounsyy gasped as the Miqo'te turned the goggles to night vision and suddenly the Roehmerl turned a bright green before her eyes. She had to turn away from the lighted portion of the ship and gaze out where there was only darkness, which to her surprise, was not so dark as to be featureless. Then thermal, and the world turned from green to varying shades of red. Ryanti waved his arm about in front of her, and she could see the heat radiating from it. She gave a short hm, seemingly pleased with the technology.

After a few moments of exploring the world in this new light, the Miqo'te told her that the equipment had a limited duration and the fun was over. Sounsyy turned off the goggles and pulled them off and handed them to the Miqo'te. She took one last look at her suit to make sure she remembered how exactly it was supposed to look when worn before unstrapping it and stripping back down. She found releasing the latches to be a considerably awkward process as her left hand was missing a finger, but the suit still had a full set of digits. The extra fabric for the missing appendage kept getting in the way of her unbuttoning. Despite her cursing under her breath, she managed to free herself from the Sharlayan contraption without Ryanti's aid.

She handed the warmed suit back to Ryanti to fold and stow away while she changed back into her own clothing from before. When she looked up from buckling her boots, Ryanti was hovering over her with rifle in hand. He mentioned something about needing to teach her how to shoot after her earlier display, which earned him another vexed glare. She stood and snatched the rifle out of his hands and made her way over to one side of the ship.

"I know how to shoot well enough," Sounsyy simmered, "Couldn't have become a 'Cuda otherwise, y'know."

In truth, Sounsyy was a terrible shot and she knew it. She had only barely passed the marksmanship portion of her trials to become a Knight of the Barracuda. But her pride would not allow her to admit this fact to anyone. But she knew she was in trouble the moment she took the gun from his hands. It was a wholly foreign firearm to her - larger, heavier, and more powerful than anything Sounsyy had fired in her lifetime. The basics were still the same, but as predicted, the Captain performed abysmally, which frustrated her greatly.

Ryanti could probably make out the low growl Sounsyy made as the boy stepped in behind her and shadowed her body positioning with his own. His hands were shaking, she noticed, and his body was tense. He was such a timid creature. Sounsyy wondered if he had slept any after his shouting match with his commander. She doubted it. But the thought reminded her of what she needed to confront him about. She was about to open her mouth and tell him, but the words came out wrong and she ended up growling, "I'm going to shoot yeh in yer leg," when his hand squeezed hers tightly against the rifle's barrel. She felt his finger around the trigger and she pulled just as he did, sending a bullet whizzing through the broken barrel target with a loud plop.

Ryanti broke out into a huge smile and they repeated the process a few more times before he pulled away to let her fire on her own. Her back felt cold suddenly without him standing there behind her. Sounsyy could feel goosebumps forming along her body. Ryanti almost seemed excited as he counted down for her to shoot the target on her own, but when he finished, Sounsyy just turned around to face him, rifle cradled against her body with the barrel pointed off to one side.

"Listen," she said slowly, "I don't care to know why yeh removed Sixteen from command, but what's done is done. Juss like that skirmish today is done. But I can look in yer eyes and see yer still carrying all that weight. Yeh look stressed. Yeh don't look like yeh got any sleep. And yeh want me to dive malms under the sea into a fishback cesspool with yeh. I am petrified at the thought of going down there, so I need to be able to trust yeh to have meh back, understand?"

Sounsyy took a breath, shifting the weight of the rifle in her hands. Her eyes were fixed on Ryanti's, as if she was trying to read his thoughts from behind his eyes.

Ryanti · **08-15-2015, 03:15 PM**

Ryantiâ€™s ears lifted a tad when Sounsyy ended up turning around to face him instead of take a few shots on her own. It was obvious from the moment that she began to speak that Ryanti realized that she had something on her mind and had for a while now. As she spoke to him and explained her thoughts to him, Ryanti took a small breath and listened.

He hadnâ€™t paid much attention to how he appeared from the outside. He had chosen to focus more on the tasks at hand, and training Sounsyy, andâ€¦ busy work. He had neglected to realize the emotions from the inside were leaking out into his expression. He understood that he was new to acting under such an unorthodox and abnormal situation. His experience in open warfare was also new to him, and learning how to emotionally cope with it was more of a challenge than he had anticipated. Despite all of that, Sounsyy was right.

What was done was done. He repeated that phrase in his head when she fixed her eyes upon his. There was some fatigue in those eyes of Ryantiâ€™s. A little bit of the white in his eyes had become a damp red in sleepiness. Perhaps the Captain could have seen the struggle to uphold some sort of standard on her ship; a kind of resolve to handle whatever her and her crew could on their turf, playing their game. Maybe she could have seen in his eyes the memories still of being face to face with Juhh, his feet dangling off of the ground as he was fed the words of the failures of others that came before them.

But, if she were to see one thing above all else in his eyes, it was the desire to do whatever was right. It was the hope that he was making the right decisions to the best his ability. It was that same care that Sounsyy had shown to her crew, and when Ryanti closed his eyes and slid down his index and middle finger along the inner sides of them, and reopened them, she could see a different kind of care that Ryanti had for her.

Sounsyyâ€™s words reminded Ryanti of something. The young man knew he had a choice every day he woke up. The truth was, and he knew, that every day was a new day. A new sunrise. A new beginning. Within that early morningâ€™s light, he had that choice to make. He could either decide to be the same man he was the day before, or he could make the decision to be a better man than he was the day before. He wasnâ€™t sure how many mistakes he made today, and what he did right. He had to make a lot of decisions about everything, and he wasnâ€™t sure which decisions were the right onesâ€¦ and which were wrong. Now he was going to dive with her as a result of the decisions he made, and he knew he had the power to make the decision to make sure both Sounsyy and himself came back from this alive. The first step to making that decision had to start now.

Ryantiâ€™s steps were not heavy, but the pervasive silence made them so. His eyes shifted towards the rifle that Sounsyy cradled in her arms as he approached within a few ilms of her. He trailed his eyes upward until they met her own again, his face illuminated by the shade of the evening moonlight, the thoughts behind his eyes becoming occupied with the notion of getting lost in hers. She could feel the rifle in her grip shift as his hands became upon it, and with a slow motion Ryanti lifted the heavier weapon out of the Captainâ€™s hands.

His movement was as swift as the eastern winds, yet as solid as any well-trained operative. Within a moment, he had flipped and brought the rifleâ€™s stock up to his shoulder, resting the metal component of the rifle right ahead of the trigger upon Sounsyyâ€™s left shoulder while bringing his right hand up against the barrel just ahead of her. He was left handed. Ryanti squeezed his left hand upon the trigger, and lowered his head to the side to aim, the rifleâ€™s stock the only thing that separated Ryanti's cheek from Sounsyyâ€™s. Three swift shots rang out. The rounds fell in an arch right before Sounsyyâ€™s eyes. Three rounds hit what was left of that floating target at both ends and the middle. She could only feel the rifle shift a tiny bit as he made those three shots, wasting as little energy as possible while finding a happy medium by ensuring maximum accuracy.

This all happened within a single moment. It was a method of communication from Ryanti to Sounsyy. A kind of symbolism. Tonight, there had been a broken barrel behind Sounsyyâ€™s back that Ryanti had dispatched. Tomorrow, it could be anything, but no matter what it could be, Ryanti would dispatch them all the same.

With those three rounds, Ryanti had put today behind him. One round for the skirmish. A second round for the fight with his Commander. A final round for his self-doubt, which he melted off of his voice the next time he spoke. His voice was a whisper right next to Sounsyyâ€™s ear, quiet and personal. â€œUnderstood, Captainâ€¦â€ He murmured to her, eyeing the back of her for a brief moment, witnessing once again the blemishes that beheld her skin. He didnâ€™t mind how it looked. He saw the goosebumps too. He didnâ€™t mind that either butâ€¦ he wondered if that was his fault.

Ryanti slowly brought the rifle back down, placing it back into her grip with a little bit of ease as he glanced his eyes upon hers once more. A cold gust of wind blew upon his back, and his shoulders tightened up to bear it. He maneuvered further in front of her in a slight adjustment, to keep the cold wind from hitting her. â€œI will have your back, Sounsyy, and your front. You have my word, and my promise.â€ Her eyes that he had glanced at before, deadened by past memories and experiences. He wondered if Sounsyy was only talking to him when she mentioned that what was done was done. Ryanti had made his decision of who he wanted to be tomorrow.

There was no fear in Ryantiâ€™s eyes anymore. His fingers have become cold in the late evening wind, but her eyes kept him warm on a layer below his skin. He was careful not to touch her skin with those cold fingers when he brushed a bit of the Captainâ€™s hair that had blown into her eyes with the cold, cold wind that came. There were goosebumps on Ryantiâ€™s neck. Probably from the wind.

â€œI need to knowâ€¦ will you have mine?â€

Sounsyy · **08-16-2015, 02:46 PM**

Sounsyy reached up and knocked his hand away with her left while her right held the rifle to her side. She gave him another vexed look and her injured hand reached out to his chest and pushed him back some with her four fingers.

"Don't get cozy," she said referring to his hand, "I got yer back, but yeh snap down there or that artifact takes hold of yer mind like Sixteen says, I'm leavin' yer arse wit' the fishbacks. I've outlived a helluva lot of suicide missions where I believed in what I were doin', so I ain't keen to die on one I don't."

Sounsyy took her eyes off of Ryanti for the first time since she turned to face him. She looked down the deck of her ship. Marjanie's lithe figure was leaning against the helm, her forearms between the spokes. She looked tired, but Sounsyy was glad to see her. She wondered if the Elezen had been silently judging her marksmanship the entire time. The rest of the deck seemed quiet, almost ghostly. A thin fog was just starting to roll in with the cool air of early morning.

She brought her attention back to the rifle at her side and hefted it one last time. She turned away from Ryanti and aimed out over the gunwale, bringing the rifle butt against her shoulder and cocking her head to eyeball down the long barrel out over the Indigo Deep. She checked her positioning quickly, and satisfied, lowered the rifle without firing. She nodded a bit to herself before propping the rifle against the gunwale and turning back to face Ryanti. Her arms folded across her chest in an almost motherly sort of way.

"Yeh should put up and get sleep. We'll be diving in a few hours. When first light comes be out on deck. Marjanie will brief us as we suit up. Then we'll dive. After that, we're in Llymlaen's hands."

She handed the rifle back to Ryanti and helped him pack up the gear he had pulled out for practice. It only took a few minutes to successfully pack everything away and after one last brief exchange she sent the boy below. She sighed as she came back out onto deck, just her and dark sky above. She craned her neck and stared straight upwards into the night sky, stars beginning to disappear behind low fog. She thought of that blackness that she would soon be descending into. Darker, darker, and deeper away until nothing. She felt a little dizzy and could feel Marjanie's anxious gaze on the back of her neck.

She blew out Ryanti's lantern and the ship fell into darkness. Her bootsteps were the only sounds that rose above the gentle lapping of the waves against the ship's hull as the Captain carefully made her way back across the deck to where Marjanie awaited her at the helm. The Elezen woman said nothing as Sounsyy crested the top step. The two stood together for a time, the Captain's eyes slowly adjusting to the dark.

"So yeh got a good look at the suits," Sounsyy asked, seemingly to the abyss. The Elezen's voice soothed back to her, "I did. Ironworks. So she finally got them to work..."

Sounsyy said nothing for several minutes, staring out at the subtle movement of the waves glistening in the moonlight. She had nodded, but realized Marjanie could probably not see her reaction, or was simply too preoccupied to take notice. "For my sake, I hope so," Sounsyy finally said flatly.

"The dive will still be dangerous."
"I'm agonizingly aware."
"So you trust him?"
"No."

...I trust you.

~Day #9~

When Sounsyy finally made her way to her cabin, it was early in the morning. Still hours before dawn's light, but not many. The Captain slumped back against her cabin door to close it, the heavy latch falling into place with a soft clack. Her foot came forward and did not land upon crunched glass. She knelt down to feel the floor, but found it cleaned. The planks where the wine had had a chance to soak into still bore a distinctly darker shade, but were otherwise clean. She wondered if P'welro had done this.

Her chair called softly to her, singing its siren's song. Only, Sounsyy's ears did pick up a faint call. The image of the ancient sea serpent with the woman's torso swam across her vision in the darkness. She had to steady herself, her hand reaching out and touching the wooden walls to remind herself she was still in her cabin. She was awake.

Her breaths came quickly, but she did not hear the call again. There was only her pounding heart, beating in time with the pulsating Allagan relic hidden in the bowels of the ship, though she did not know this. She sank into her armchair with a groan and held her arms tightly against her body while the night slowly gave way to morning.

Ryanti · **08-18-2015, 12:33 AM**

Ryanti felt himself take a few steps back, but not out of will. In fact, it had almost surprised him enough to nearly make him stumble. The cold outline of her four fingers lingered upon the young manâ€™s chest. They were like tiny little icicles. It thawed like the icicles upon the roof of an Ishgardian home in the highlands of Coerthas during the coming spring.

It was a feeling Ryanti knew very well. From the time that he was a little Halfling child born of mixed blood in a circle of society that valued purity above all else, to when he stepped on this boat, it felt the same. It was a feeling of being pushed, pushed away. Left in front of the door when it closed. It was a feeling of mistrust, and of suspicion.

It mattered not for what reason why people had felt that way about him in the past. There were too many reasons to count: His blood, his demeanor, his place in society, all of those. While they were packing, he was thinking about how ironic it probably was that he had come to bond with this crew. He wondered in his mind just how fast they would turn on him and shoot him dead if ordered. Just how fast Sounsyy would prop his jaw open like she did Cynthiaâ€™s. He tried not to think about it, but those thoughts were always in a dark corner of his mind.

Iâ€™ve outlived a helluva lot of suicide missions where I believed in what I were doinâ€™, so I ainâ€™t keen to die on one I donâ€™t.

Of course. When was it ever different?

He had crossed his arms and stood silent as he watched Sounsyy look about at the Elezen that had been watching this whole conversation and pick up the rifle to feel it out more. There was really nothing he felt like he could say right now. He let her have the moment. A part of his mind wondered whether Sounsyy actually believed that she had it in her to handle weapons like that and gear like this, and whether or not she was truly ready. He couldnâ€™t read any thoughts behind those dead eyes. He was gambling on an instinct, on a feeling, an intuition. He knew it. It was how he always was, even before he took up this occupation.

â€œUnderstood, Captain.â€ Ryanti repeated himself when she explained to him that he should really get to sleep and everything. He understood that he had to, and unlike the last time he said those words, this time they carried an aura of just pure business. When it was time to go below deck, right before Sounsyy went back upwards, she heard his words follow her up. â€œBut we both know we arenâ€™t immediately going straight to our beds.â€

Ryanti solemnly looked over his shoulder as the Captain proceeded upstairs. He had closed his eyes, despite the darkness surrounding him giving him no need to. There was a certain heaviness in his heart, a familiar feeling that he was all alone in this endeavor. He of course surely wasnâ€™t alone in this physically butâ€¦ alone in his belief. The only one to believe him was the only one out of the unit that didnâ€™t have any dreams like he did. Now she was barely alive. He felt the straps of the gear crate eat into his hands as he carried it on one side of him. The weight was causing his fair skin to turn red with irritation, but he didnâ€™t really notice. It wasnâ€™t the lightest weight he felt on his body right now.

She had told him not to put all of the weight on himself, and then told him that the mission was something she â€“ no one â€“ believed in. How was he supposed to carry all this weight?

â€œShe doesnâ€™t trust you.â€

Ryanti knew that voice. He always had a unique voice. He figured he could feel someone else in that dark empty hallway watching him. The ends of his lips twitched a little bit in response, and the young man moved ever so slightly, the crate in his hand bobbing a bit with the weight. â€œI know.â€ Ryanti said back to the darkness, opening his eyes within it even though it saw just as much of nothing.

Suddenly, a strike of a match happened, and then there was light. A brief little fire upon the match stick burned into the little cup of the pipe that the man had extended. His pure black locks confirmed who the man was â€“ Jonathan. He took a wiff and a little billow of smoke came out from his chapped lips before he shook the match out, the embers only illuminated part of his face as smoke came from it. â€œAnd you trust her?â€

Ryanti turned to face him, quietly bending his knees and gently placing the crate upon the floorboards with barely a peep, resting the strap upon the top of the crate. â€œI do.â€ He simply said, feeling an urge swell up in his gut that he was going to get ridiculed and chastised for what he said. His shoulders tightened up, and the Halfling looked away. For once, the darkness in the hallway seemed a better companion.

â€œWhy?â€ Jonathan pressed him, puffing on his pipe right after. Why, why whyâ€¦ the dreaded why. Ryanti knew it was coming, yet he could never make that blow easier. For what purpose did he ask that; to judge him? To tell him how wrong he was?

â€œI donâ€™t have a reason.â€ He found himself saying after probing his mind and finding nothing except for the honest answer. â€œNot any reason that you would be pleased with. You canâ€™t always have concrete reasons to do something, or feel a certain way. That is what faith is.â€

Jonathan digested Ryantiâ€™s answer while billowing a puff or two from the corner of his lips, nursing the pipe with a finger and his thumb plugged over the top. â€œYou will not make any friends or otherwise in this line of work. Thereâ€™s no such thing. People look after only themselves, and crave naught else but the table scraps of power that somehow find their way slipping through the fingers of the ones that have always had the power. Trust, faith, love, these things are a luxury not afforded to people like us. If you die following an impossible dream, you will not be the first Keeper to.â€

Ryantiâ€™s expression molded into a rather perplexing tone, and he allowed himself to sigh. He had heard this before too from Jahh. You would not be the first. You would not be the first. Even though he had always felt like he wasnâ€™t wantedâ€¦ that he was pushed away by othersâ€¦

â€œI do not believe that about people. Not all people. So I cannot follow your logic. I have already experienced much in the tastes of death, betrayal, and horrific war. I have killed many. But as I have seen men and women change their outlook on people after their experiences, I find that I donâ€™t have the same ability to change how I see people. I canâ€™t get myself to, no matter what I have seen or done. I still have faith that this cycle of madness can stop. So I cannot agree with you, Jonathan.â€

Jonathan blew out a sigh that had a thick amount of smoke in it. His back casually shuffled as he laid against the wall to support himself on his good leg. â€œBecause reasons donâ€™t matter to you?â€

The crate slowly lifted off the floor again by Ryantiâ€™s other hand. â€œBecause I donâ€™t have faith in your reasons. I canâ€™t look at it the way you do, Jonathan. Iâ€™m sorry.â€

â€œIs that is the real reason why you removed me from command?â€ Jonathan questioned, his emotionless gaze boring into the young manâ€™s aquamarine eyes. Once again, Ryanti had dropped the bag, and he found himself once again face to face with his superior officerâ€¦ on paper at least. â€œI removed you from command because your job in this unit was to be on the ground to guide us to our objective once we dived in. Now that it is I and the Captain diving, the job falls to me now. That is all there is to it. You may be able to advise me from the Roehmerl, but once I dive, letâ€™s be frank: I and the Captain will be the ones making the decisions down there. Without your help down there, the Keeper takes command. You know that was the very reason why you were summoned to help. Because you had to protect me. Now you can only do that from a distance.â€

Jonathan let out a deeply ingrained sigh from the bottom of his throat. He was happy that being crippled allowed him to smoke again, to feel that feeling again and to ease his mind. Still, his next words were slow and rather hoarse in an ominous tone. â€œI hope you know what in the seven hells you are doing, Seventy-seven.â€

Ryanti hoped so too. He lifted the crate once more. â€œWell, the good news is that we wonâ€™t have to wait too long before finding out if I am.â€ That was true. Tomorrow was it. Tomorrow would be the beginning of the culmination of everything that had come to this â€“ the biggest moment of his life.

As he began to turn away and walk towards his resting place, he stopped one final time. â€œHave you been keeping tabs?â€ He asked the older man. â€œEver since the first shite comment about us was said.â€

â€œGood.â€ Said the snowy haired young man. â€œI am no naÃ¯ve marmot. I fully understand that sometimes Iâ€¦ may be wrong about â€“some- people.â€ And with that, he retired.

A slight sound was heard when Ryanti rose himself up from his slumber against his corner of the room. The sheet that covered him slid down his shoulders and his body, revealing his threadless form to the unwatchful world. It was an uneventful sleep, hopelessly interrupted. Probably anxiety.

Forty-three was already out and Jonathan had yet to follow Ryanti back to their resting place. It was an uneventful sleep, hopelessly interrupted. His light clothing was tossed aside near the mattress he had been sleeping on for the past week or so now. He couldnâ€™t remember the last time he had tried to sleep fully nude, but he figuredâ€¦ he could fall asleep easier that way. The salty winds from the window outside leaked through and felt very different with a lack of threading. After the sheets fell, he had pulled them up his legs enough to cover what was sensitive so that the same cold seething wind he had experienced out on deck would not find their way in his most sensitive of areas. He felt his chest with his fingertips, near the same spot Sounsyy had pushed him away. He thought maybeâ€¦ he could warm that spot with his own fingertips, but they were equally cold, and all it did was re-ensure the memory.

He shifted his glance rapidly when he witnessed a feint light, the bluest of light, coming from underneath his pillow. In the bowels of the ship the artifact had rested, but it had seen many places of the Roehmerl since Ryanti uprooted it from its ultra-secure location. With a movement of the pillow, Ryanti gazed upon the piece of work that was the Allagan contraption; the link between the men of present dayâ€¦ and the long lost wishesâ€¦ the dreams of those who had perished in the deep over five millennia ago.

He noticed the blue light was fading in and out faster than usual, with a erythematic pace. With a solemn movement, he picked up the artifact with a single hand. The cerment still felt so well made and so unbelievably strong in form. It was cold to the touch, but yet it was making Ryantiâ€™s palm warm and humid. There was a â€˜tensenessâ€™ about the lightâ€¦ and the aura about the device. It was as if the device was looking for something, assured that something was there where it was looking but finding nothing. Ryanti held his breath and touched the tips of his fingers upon the outline of the circular component that held the bulb which was the strongest source of light on the objects. He slid his fingers along the outline of the circle in a command that told the key to give him a diagnostic.

He maneuvered his hand swiftly back, and the light upon the object began to dim, giving way to a blue background of a monitor of some sort. A bunch of garbled writing began to spill itself out upon the orb that had turned into a screen of sorts. It was the same garbled writing he had remembered the night before he came upon the ship. That was the last time he had checked. He was trying to make sure everything was okay tomorrow. It looked like it was.

Still, as he locked the device with a reverse movement of his fingers, he could see that the artifact was still pulsating ratherâ€¦ fast and tensely. There was life about this object upon it right now. He didnâ€™t know whether or not there were actual souls trying to communicate, orâ€¦ residual feelings, emotion or energy. It was still so poorly understood in his time. It was almost like a heartbeat. Almost as if he was cradling a heart itself. Ryanti took great care when he enveloped his second hand upon holding the object. With a quiet gesture, he lowered his head to the object and breathed a very calm and warm breath from the back of his throat a few times upon the device. He did it until his breath made the device warm again. He wanted to make it warm to soothe it.

â€œItâ€™s going to be alright.â€ Ryanti murmured to the device in the slightest of whispers. â€œItâ€™s okay. Your nightmares will not win tonight.â€ He continued, and finally the pulsating of the object began to calm down a little bit, and slow down. Ryantiâ€™s eyes closed a quarter way and his lips formed into a weak smile. â€œYou must be worried. Iâ€™m worried too. I donâ€™t want to fail like the others.â€

Ryanti manuveared his eyes to glance up above at the window, his eyes pointing towards the shining silver moon in the sky. His breaths were slow but deep, and he spoke as if trying to communicate beyond the sky, his eyes closed in a kind of prayer. â€œMother Crystalâ€¦ I know we havenâ€™t talked much, but... I would be most grateful if you could watch over us. If you could bless us.â€

He shifted his eyes back to the Artifact. It felt so surreal knowing that at one time so so long ago when millennia became eonsâ€¦ Allagan hands had touched where Ryantiâ€™s hands had touched. It was easy to believe it was nothing but a dream, as nothing but thoughts and wishes and fairy tales. But this object was real. Those dreams were dreamed by real people in a world that was so far beyond the imagination of most. But it wasâ€¦ real. All of it was real. He rested his forehead upon the orb of light, closing his eyes and whispering out another prayerâ€¦ this time towards the Allagans. â€œI would be most grateful if you could watch over us too. Those from an era so profound. Iâ€¦ hope I can be worthy in your eyes to be blessed.â€

---

Ryanti jolted his eyes open. He must have fallen asleep. Right?

But it was dark still, and there was no one in the room with him. How was that? He swept the sheets off of him and stood himself up, glancing around the room and nearly getting dizzy doing it. It felt there was a storm going on, and Ryantiâ€™s body shifted as the Roehmerl crashed back and forth against the waves. Normally in such rough weather, he expected that the crew would be shouting aboard deck and handling the equipment upstairs. He heard nothing. This troubled him and troubled him greatly.

â€œGuys?!?â€ Ryanti had shouted upon each wooden doorway of the ship that he had opened. Everything was there as if the crew had just left it the way it was, but everyoneâ€¦ everyone was gone. It was like the Roehmerl itself was abandoned and the crew had vanished in an instant. The lack of the crew nor Ryantiâ€™s partners caused the ship to feel eerily empty and void. It was lifeless, and Ryanti could feel the panic racing up against his throat as he swung doors open faster and faster. â€œFruhsuun!?! Pamido?!? Jonathan?!? Leura?!? W-welro?!? A-ANYBODY?!? H-hey! Itâ€™s a storm! A storm!â€

As soon as he found stairs that led up to the deck, one of the masts found him. Without the crew, the ship was falling apart in the storm. The wooden pillar crashed upon the stairs and Ryanti helplessly yelled and stumbled onto the steps, having to crawl on all fours to get past the obstacle and continue to the deck. A bolt of lightning crashed against the deck of the ship, and Ryanti had to hold onto the remnants of the mast just to stay on the ship as a roaring wave crashed upon the floorboards.

What had caused this?!? What was going on? The clouds around him were a sulfuric, dead yellow, spewing dark lighting from within its bowels and striking the ocean water, sending waves flying towards the ship as Ryanti desperately tried to hold on. His hair whipped around as his frightened eyes looked up at the sky. There were no stars out. It was a black void filled with rotten clouds that seemed to trap him in this reality. He could make out, at an impossible point behind the black void, the shape of the Allagan artifact.

Everywhere in the sky he looked was that shape. It was as if it was painted upon the sky at impossible angles that could only be real if taking place in a dream. Immediately after, a huge sound filled Ryantiâ€™s ears that boomed from the distant sky. It sounded like an ultra-modern humming noise that blared from the sky at an immensely loud volume level. It was like aâ€¦ like a starship activating its full power. He couldnâ€™t make out the form behind the clouds, but blue lights stemmed from itâ€¦ a shape, he could make out a shapeâ€¦ a MASSIVE shapeâ€¦

A second blaring horn sounded that felt like the ground quaking underneath him. Ryanti had found himself looking over the water as a consequence. The waterâ€¦ the rustling waves of the Indigo Deep. Ryanti whipped his head behind him to witness a massive tentacle of a Kraken, sea monster of legend in the little picture books Ryanti read as a kid, slam against the Captainâ€™s cabin of the Roehmerl, reducing it to shreds in an instant and bending the ship in a contorted, twisted shape as it mauled the guts out of the vessel. Ryanti found the ship tilting to the side at an impossible angle, inevitable that it would sink. The next thing he knew, he was hanging from the guardrail, his feet dangling from the side of the capsized vessel as it began to capsize.

Ryanti looked down, and realized that he was wearing his Sharlayan suit. Realizing that he had no other choice, he climbed the side of the ship and stood upon its underbelly that had reared itself above the sea. He fiddled the mouthpiece that rested next to his collarbone, and realized that the suit had been modified for diving. As a precaution, he put the mouthpiece into his lips and took a test breath, breathing from the oxidized air that had been filtered into the tiny tubes in his suit. At that moment, an ultra-loud blaring horn from the blue lights in the sky shook his head and caused him to writh in pain and agony, toppling over the vessel and dropping into the dark water below.

He had closed his eyes, and was writhing back and forth in the cold water, feeling himself sinking and the cold beginning to overtake him. It would feel nice to just give into the relaxation of it allâ€¦ and the numbness of the cold to settle his fright and his pain. But it didnâ€™t feel right, and Ryanti shot open his eyes. Sounds and echoes permeated through the water despite it being an impossibility in reality. Sonic waves buzzed his ears. He was treated to visions in the water of violent creatures heading straight towards him. Ryanti pulled out his Sharlayan knife from his thigh and held it steady in his hand, spinning two and fro and recoiling in fright from these visions and even swiping at them with his knife only to hit nothing and for the image to fade within an instant of coming at him.

He continued to sink into the water, but the visions were replaced with echoes of voices he didnâ€™t know speaking a language he didnâ€™t understand. Within the chaos, Ryanti looked for the first time below him to see an astounding sight.

There was a figure in shadow, squirming about, looking like it was drowning. A hyur torso with a serpent tail was pursuing her in the darkness, arms outstretched to claim her. It wasâ€¦ it was Sounsyy. It all made sense nowâ€¦ the storm, the ship, the absence of the crew and the Allagan presence. He felt like he was in someone elseâ€™s dreamâ€¦ Sounsyyâ€™s.

He had invaded a cycle in his dreams because of his desire to break them, though Ryanti did not know he had done this.

His blood boiled. He felt his adrenaline surge. The young man swam towards her as hard as he could, eyeing the sea serpent that swiped her arms about Sounsyy to try to claim her. He could feel every muscle he had burn with pain as he swam, getting closer, getting ever closerâ€¦ with every moment that he swam he knew he might lose her. His teeth put marks into his mouthpiece with his effort and he brought his knife blade up and out. He wasnâ€™t going to lose her. He was not going to be a helpless bystander in the crowd anymore.

With his free arm, he reached out as his body javelined towards its target. For a brief moment, he felt his free arm warp around the neck of the creature as he slammed into it from behind. For a tiny second, he felt his other arm thrust as hard as it could with that knife towards the monsterâ€™s neck.

---

Ryanti woke up. He was lying on the bed stomach first with the covers up to the small of his back, gripping his pillow with both hands near his chin level. The sounds of the morning bell were undoubtedly familiar in Ryantiâ€™s mind, as everyone that was able were to wake up and help prep. The young man looked about, and noticed that there no one in the room with him. His features lit up a bit at the realization that he had gripped the pillow so hard that it had formed tiny breaks in the threading, and that the artifact was in the pocket of his trousers when it had been underneath his pillow. His heart was beating so hardâ€¦ he felt like he had done something. He gripped his chest slightly, and squeezed at it. There was a connection there. It made a feeling of heat wash through his skin, clearing his mind.

He pulled up his covers a little bit and glanced out the window. The sun was bright, and the sky was a crystal clear blue. He realized now that the Roehmerl in his dream was not the real thing. It gave him some relief. But the issue that he was facing today was so great; he couldnâ€™t afford to dwell upon it longer. It was the big day. The biggest day of his life. The door to his room creaked open from a Lalafell that he was familiar with, his spectacles nice and polished up as if there was never any blood on them. â€œIt looks like today is your big day, young man.â€

â€œAnd heâ€™s not talking about graduating or some shite like that.â€ Jonathan commented, walking into the room with the same kind of walk that spoke authority when he entered the room, even though he still held a single crutch in his armpit and hobbled like a cripple. â€œDamn it, you peopleâ€¦ Iâ€™m naked.â€ Ryanti admitted, earning a stern lookaway by the other two men of his crew as he slinked his undergarments his Sharlayan lower fatigues upon him, swiftly tying up his combat boots. Jonathan leaned upon his crutch and extended his hand out. Thinking about everything revolving the mission, Ryanti caught his hand with his own and was helped onto his feet by the older man despite his injury, squeezing into his netted undershirt right after. â€œLetâ€™s get you ready.â€ Jonathan murmured firmly to Seventy-seven, patting him on the back once or twice.

Forty-three adjusted his spectacles to the morning sun. â€œIndeed. The Captain just woke up herself, and the crew are tending to her needs right now as if they were butlers! Strange. I donâ€™t believe we will be able to swallow our pride to do such a thing.â€

The Captain had just woke up? The same time he did? â€œDonâ€™t worry about it.â€ Ryanti told him as Jonathan took big steps with his good leg to be able to get to the door frame and wait outside of it for him. â€œLetâ€™s go, Seventy-seven. Theyâ€™re cooking a big breakfast today. Stuff from that Garlean shite. Something filling for the both of ya. They even got juice.â€

It seemed to be complete chaos in the mess hall. Susuroon was in fantastic spirits for the first time since Eighty-five had gotten hit. There was something about cooking a giant meal in the morning that cheered him up. He had said something along the lines of the feeling tickling his tummy. Ryanti had sat down with Jonathan and Forty-three, and they were talking amongst themselves. Anyone that could have overheard their conversation would note that they were mentioning how to best handle the rations and water they would be taking down there. A fair amount of the conversation also had to do with advising Ryanti what courses of actions to take if he were to run into any situation deemed unsafe. More than likely, this was their way of making up for not being able to go down with him. However, they got up to convene outside of the Mess Hall before the Captain arrived.

The mess hall was the first time Ryanti had seen the Captain since that last night. But they didnâ€™t get much of a chance to talk after what happened last night. Ryanti still had those thoughts linger in the back of his mind, but he was all business this first half of the morning, cramming food in his mouth. Asparagus, popoto, lean meats, steamed vegetables, fruit juice, even plain old stalks of lettuce that Ryanti grimaced at when he wolfed it down. He was eating purely to fuel his body this morning, not to please the tongue. He did send a sign to Sounsyy across the table though. A subtle little thumbs up, and a quick smirk. He was ready. He hoped she was.

â€œMarjanie is ready to begin the briefing!â€ Jonathan shouted out from the entrance to the mess hall, among the commotion, holding out his full hand to indicate attention. â€œOnce you two suit up, we need to get to the deck! Weâ€™re expecting light rainfall by the time the sun is a few more clicks across the sky and weâ€™d like to get you two in the water before then! Make sure you have â€“everything-!â€

Just then, Jonathan tilted his back a bit, as if he was hearing a little bit of commotion from behind him. Whether or not it was Forty-three or Cwaenlona, no one could really see, but it seemed as if Jonathan was relaying messages because he had a more booming voice than anyone. â€œEighty-five has woken up!â€ Was his next phrase, which got nearly â€“everyoneâ€™s- attention in the mess hall, including Ryanti, who wiped his face clean with a cloth and immediately got himself up out of the stool to follow the group of people that left the place.

Her skin was still a bit pale, and it looked like she hadnâ€™t moved all that much since the last time Ryanti and Sounsyy had seen her. She had a sponge bath once or twice though, and her hair was tied in a loose bun to make things a little easier for her. Messy as all hell, not something she would prefer but it worked. Her bandages on the side of her neck were very thick, and the medical gel applied to the wound was a combination of what the Sharlayan crew had and what Cwaenlona had. There would be a scar, no doubt about it. It would haunt her neck for cycles to come, probably.

Her words were quiet and weak as her watery eyes took notice of everyone around her. Jada was the closest to her, but Sounsyy and Ryanti were allowed to be close as well since they were leaving. Leura had already spoken with Susuroon and Jada, the two that were notified before Jonathan let the word out, which explained why Susuroon was so happy. She had been told that Ryanti and Sounsyy were leaving, and even though she was kind of messed up at the moment because of the painkilling drugs pumping through her veins, she managed to get a few words out.

â€œYouâ€™re wearingâ€¦ my shite.â€ She managed to croak out to Sounsyy. â€œIâ€™d..k- ..kick someâ€¦ ass in that suit. nâ€™.. look after.. snowcone over there, like he would for meâ€¦ soâ€¦ you betterâ€¦ youâ€¦ better notâ€¦ you better not do anything l-â€¦ less, girl.â€ She seemed out of breath even saying that, closing her eyes and taking heavy breaths. If one were to look near the top of her bandage, they would see the discoloration. â€œSorry, just.. I g-got.. a Garlean nâ€™â€¦ vein in my.. neck right now nâ€™.. feelsâ€¦ weirdâ€¦ lightheaded..â€ She eyed Jada with dazed and unfocused eyes, and it was not too long after before the ones that came were being shooâ€™d out of the cot. But before Sounsyy left, as Jada held Leuraâ€™s head when she closed her eyes and breathed deeply out of fatigue, sweating dripping down the side of her scalp, she spoke one final time.

â€œI never.. dreamed of nothinâ€™, Captain. It really never was myâ€¦ suit.â€

Sounsyy · **08-18-2015, 10:24 PM**

Sounsyy shifted into wakefulness in her armchair after only a few hours of sleep. There were dark circles under her eyes and her body felt stiff from the exertion of the day before. Something had woken her, some noise from without. She waited for it to repeat and in after a time another gentle knock rapped on her door. She pulled herself up using the back of her chair and moved across the floor to open the door for her usual morning visitors, P'welro and Marjanie.

They both offered their morning reports while Sounsyy dressed in the same clothes she wore the night before. Marjanie gave a brief account of expected weather as well as a tally of the number of Sahagin she had marked circling the ship that morning. "They are anxious, waiting for our move. I suspect if we chose to leave now it may provoke them."
"Good thing we aren't leaving."

P'welro offered her status of the crew, who all were cleared to return to duty and who were still confined to the infirmary. Fortunately, the list of those still bound to the infirmary was shorter than the day before and better news - Eighty-five was beginning to rouse.
"I'm sure she'd like to see you," P'welro offered afterwards. Sounsyy nodded and moved over to her vanity and began sorting through the drawers.

"You should eat Captain," Marjanie said calmly, but Sounsyy just nodded and affirmed that she would in short order. After the two women were relieved, they returned to their duties about the ship, having already eaten and dressed for the day. Marjanie returned to her position at the helm and P'welro to the main mast to begin prepping the sails for the coming rain. Sounsyy sat motionless at her vanity for a while after the two had left, staring at her reflection. The gold flecks of paint around her eyes from yesterdays battle were all but chipped off, leaving only the dark circles under her eyes accentuated. Her hair was a loose mess.

She felt a sudden cool chill filter into her room, unnaturally so even for a morning on the Indigo Deep. Outside she could hear the sounds of a different morning, five years before.

Can you breathe? Is it tight? A woman's voice echoed in her ears. A sad smile curled about the edges of Sounsyy's lips. "I wish yeh were here," she whispered aloud to the memory, "I'm sorry I didn't write."

Sounsyy looked at herself in the mirror, her fatigued face merely staring back. For but the briefest of moments, Sounsyy thought she saw the shadow of her old friend move behind her. Her soft voice admonishing her for the state she let herself be in. It reminded her of Eighty-five's own attempt. So Sounsyy began.

Breakfast was already past being in full swing when Sounsyy carefully descended the steps into the Mess. Her stomach growled unbidden when the pleasant aromas of Susuroon's cooking met her nose. She was glad he had recovered so soon and seemed to be in good spirits when he came into her line of sight. Ryanti and the Sharlayan crew were already below and had eaten. A few of the crew looked up as the captain plodded past in her small glade boots and loose-fitting undershirt. But while her clothing looked as haggard as the captain normally did, she had taken the time to style her hair in a classic Ishgardian braid. Her hair was tight, neat, with only a hair or two out of place across her entire head.

She sat in her usual seat at the closest end of the counter and waited to be presented with breakfast. She took a quick glance down the counter to where Ryanti was making a hand signal at her, but only gave him a quick nod in return. Her focus returned to her food shortly after. Sounsyy leaned across the counter towards the Qiqirn and the two exchanged a few whispered words before she sat back in her stool.

She had nearly wolfed down the bowl of food when the announcement was shouted across the hall that Eighty-five was awake. Sounsyy cleaned her face with a cloth and left behind the group that moved its way to the Infirmary. It was a rather large crowd that tried to fit into a small room and Cwaenlona ended up shooing most away to keep the peace. The Captain and Ryanti moved to the front with Jada. Sounsyy gave a small smile at the young Miqo'te.

"You look like a ship's captain now," Sounsyy said gently to her. Eighty-five still looked weak. She manged a small, "You're wearing... my shite," which made Sounsyy laugh a little. "I tried puttin' on Forty-three's instead, but it didn't fit."

Then Cwaenlona came and dispatched the rest of the group to give Eighty-five rest. She was alive and they would get more time with her. But the captain seemed to have doubts that she'd make it back on this ship. She lingered for a moment, watching the young girl and Jada. Then Eighty-five breathed out her confession. Sounsyy stiffened, but Eighty-five was beginning to doze softly again. Sounsyy turned her gaze to Jada and regarded the woman for a moment.

"It's time to gear up," she whispered. Jada nodded and stood, moving her way past the captain and moving quickly to the armory, Sounsyy hot on her heels. As much as she wanted to, she did not look back over her shoulder at the wounded girl. The two Miqo'te took hold of one end of the large Sharlayan crate each and hoisted it out onto the deck. The Sharlayans were waiting for them out on deck and the small crew were gathered in assembly. P'welro had taken the helm while Marjanie sat on the gunwale opposite them. Forty-three and Sixteen were laying out their gear on the deck and Sounsyy and Ryanti stripped down to smallclothes and stepped into their suits.

Marjanie eased herself off the gunwale, keenly watching the two dress like a hawk. Ryanti dressed quickly. Sounsyy took her time. When the captain had pulled the suit up over her shoulders and began buckling herself into the suit, Marjanie began her briefing.

"According to our charts, the drop site provided to us by the Sharlayans lies one-hundred, twenty six malms to the north and west of Vylbrand's coast. Below us lies the edge of a deep sea shelf. Beyond this point, the sands drop off into the Deep to depths unknown. The shelf itself lies an estimated thirteen-hundred fathoms below."

There was a general murmur amongst those of the Roehmerl's crew. This was clearly a concerning number. Sounsyy bit her lip and continued fastening her suit in place so it fit about her snugly.

"That's six-hundred, fifty yalms down for those unfamiliar with the measurement," she gave Ryanti a look. Sounsyy wondered if that was somewhere in his mess of notes he left lying on the infimary cot. Marjanie continued, "That's where the suits come into play. The Ironworks designed the carbon fibers of the suit to withstand the crushing pressure of the deep sea, while using the very same pressure of the waters trying to rush into the suit to filter air aspect from the sea into the filtration device. You're not the only smart one aboard this ship, Seventy-seven."

Sounsyy smirked and knelt down to begin packing supplies into a small, single strap backpack made of similar materials as the suit. She looked up at Ryanti's surprised face saying, "Bet yer wishin' yeh had a suit fer her now?"

"My mother was an accomplished marine biologist before she became an Ironworks engineer. Some of her smarts passed on, even if I followed a very different path," Marjanie explained, "She postulated that before the Age of Endless Frost or even the following Great Flood, that Eorzea was a much different shaped continent. She believed that there may be dozens of lost cities beneath the Five Seas, though we lacked the technologies to find them. The suits you're wearing appear to be based on her original design, Atmospheric Dive Suits, she called them. Let's hope they work. The pressure at those depths can easily pop a cork into a bottle of champagne."

Sounsyy visibly winced. She had packed her bag full of necessary supplies. Rations, the canteen of clean water, first aid supplies, torchlight, ammunition, the Sharlayan goggles, and whatever else could fit beside the disassembled Sharlayan rifle. Ryanti would have to pack whatever else her pack would not allow. Sounsyy stood and examined herself. Every buckle, belt, and gauge seemed to be in place, but she had Sixteen double check for her.

"On the topic, pressure will increase every ten yalms, reducing the amount of air your lungs can hold at any given time. The suit works to reduce the amount of pressure your body actually feels, but you'll still need to pace your descent as slowly as you can. If you feel lightheaded, swim upwards several yalms and recover. Your body must needs adjust to the pressure even with the suit. And lastly, you've each been given a linkpearl that will relay messages between each other and to Sixteen or myself aboard the Roehmerl. Should..."

Marjanie trailed off some, as if hesitating to continue. Sounsyy met her gaze with a hard stare and the Elezen nodded solemnly.

"...Should communication be severed between the divers and the Roehmerl, you will have no more than three suns to return to the surface. Captain Mirke has ordered we meet the Sharlayan rendezvous, regardless of your fates. If the Roehmerl comes under attack and communication with the divers is not restored, we've been ordered to flee to safe waters and deliver the injured Sharlayans to their vessel awaiting us in the southern Bloodbrine."

Sounsyy could feel all eyes on her. She was ready, though the collective gaze of all those present on deck made her feel heavy. The wetsuit hugged her form tightly, accentuating every shift in her muscles. The breathing mask hung loosely near her collarbone and her diving goggles pressed into her forehead. She was hardly recognizable as the captain in the foreign gear. Though she had strapped her shortsword in a sheath, resting horizontally above her tail. Everything else of import was stuffed into her small backpack, which she tucked her braided head under and slung it over her torso, making sure it was strapped tightly to her.

She stepped forwards to Marjanie, relieving her to return to the helm with a nod. Sounsyy turned to face those on deck and gave each one a good look as if it might be the last. She looked up and gazed upon the Lominsan red sails that stood out against the dark grey sky. The soft drizzle made the sails look like blood. P'welro moved through the small crowd until she was standing besides Ryanti.

"Last preparations were made this mornin' cap'n. Quartermasser helped meh unhook the anchor so'z yeh could 'ave the cable."
"Good," Sounsyy said, "And yer captain while I'm below. Yeh know what to do."
"Aye, cap'n. Fair winds."

Sounsyy gave her a Storm salute and echoed with her crew, "...and following seas."

She turned and made her way to the starboard side of the bow where Jada was waiting for her. Over the gunwale at the bow, the anchor cable had been lowered into the Deep. Sounsyy could only make out the cable going so far down before it disappeared into darkness. The captain breathed in deep, her sides flexing beneath the suit. It still felt really tight.

"It only goes straight down eighty fathoms. Can hold onto it while you're getting used to the dive. After that, it's up to the fishbacks to guide you down I guess."

The thought did not instill the least bit of comfort. Sounsyy looked over her shoulder as Ryanti joined her on the forecastle. She nodded to him that she was ready and they both made their way over to the edge of the ship. Jada stepped forward and placed a comforting peck on Sounsyy's cheek as she made to move.

"Come back. Both of you."

Sounsyy didn't want to look at the water below her. For the first time in her life, the sea did not look comforting to her. Perhaps because she had never willingly gone beneath it. Or perhaps because it was full of fishbacks and faery tales and Garlean body parts? She tried to shake these thoughts as she dug the yellow linkpearl into her ear and pulled the suit's breathing mask and diving goggles over her face.

Eighty-five's pale face whispering, I never dreamed of nothinâ€™, Captain. It really never was my suit, was the last thing Sounsyy thought as she plunged into the icy blackness below.

Ryanti · **08-20-2015, 12:54 AM**

Should communication be severed between the divers and the Roehmerl, you will have no more than three suns to return to the surface. Captain Mirke has ordered we meet the Sharlayan rendezvous, regardless of your fates. If the Roehmerl comes under attack and communication with the divers is not restored, we've been ordered to flee to safe waters and deliver the injured Sharlayans to their vessel awaiting us in the southern Bloodbrine.

Ryanti had been different since that morning, and there was no more obvious of a time where that was proven true than now. He stood firm, his shoulders stiff and his knees tight as he listened to the Elezen brief them. His look was almost a reflection of Sounsyyâ€™s: a hard yet determined glance in their direction. The Captain and the Keeper were earning glances from the entire crew. No one said a word about it, but most of them knew that despite how unusual the outcome of events had been, both of them understood what was expected of them. Perhaps Ryanti more than Sounsyy. It had yet to be determined, but there was no question that it will be decided upon the coming days.

It was true that Sounsyy was hardly recognizable. Ryanti might have mused about how nicely the wetsuit accentuated the shape of a fully trained and capable soldier, but this was far too serious of a time. Immature musings and sourly jokes were out the window long before the sun rose. Though he couldnâ€™t help but smile a little. Her hair looked really nice. Having it down would have distracted her anyhow.

He observed Sounsyy see off Pâ€™welro with another Limsan manner of farewells that Ryanti was unfamiliar with, but he knew that he didnâ€™t have to understand some things. Likewise, when the woman he had shared an echo with stood alongside him after the Captain had made her way to talk to Jada, Ryanti slightly turned his gaze to her and spoke with a quiet, sincere voice. â€œI am not going to tell you what to do about me or Sounsyy in the case that we donâ€™t make it back, because we are going to make it back. Iâ€™m not just saying that, either.â€ As for emphasis, he placed a soft palm upon her shoulder, and whispered to her. â€œI have something for you. Itâ€™s in the Captainâ€™s drawer. If you ever need something to keep your hopes up while on deck waiting for us to come back, look in there. This is not a goodbye.â€

The Hyqoâ€™te took a few steps back, eyeing everyone that stood around the deck of the Roehmerl. â€œI would like to sincerely thank each and every one of you for choosing to write a memento into my Book of Days.â€ He solemnly spoke, though his voice was rather loud, enough for Sounsyy to overhear. Ryanti placed a fingertip of two upon his single-strapped backpack that contained everything he would hopefully need to survive. â€œI have placed it in here, to go with us down to depths unknown. There is no doubt that it will keep me going, despite whatever happens. Youâ€™re truly great people, and I am honored to have known you all. Donâ€™t mistake this for a eulogy, I am just letting you all know.â€

With that, the young man strapped his backpack upon him, and picked up his diving mask and placed it upon his head, checking his gauges one more time before stepping up to the Forecastle with the Captain as Jada wished them well.

â€œWe will.â€ He replied to her.

This was when the nerves got to him the most. This was it. This entire mission had culminated up to this point. Ever since he was a child, he had been fascinated by the history of this world and its people, and was determined to unlock the secrets of knowledge that had the potential to better the future. He was lucky, and extraordinarily blessed for having the opportunity to do thisâ€¦ terrifying and mentally agonizing task of being the kind of man to see this through. To save the world. Sounsyy was, in a way, the first person outside of his agency to do this kind of work. To see the world for what it was truly was at one time. To witness the truth.

So before they dived, Ryanti took Sounsyyâ€™s injured hand and eyed the loose piece of fabric that would have been for Sounsyyâ€™s ring finger. He placed his fingertip upon the end of the fabric and pressed inward, folding the finger shape inside out, and then rolling the outsides of the fabric with his hands the same way someone would roll up their trousers to turn them into shorts. â€œI need to say one more thing before we go down.â€ He murmured to her as he folded the fabric until it fit around the edge of her severed finger.

â€œI cannot promise you what awaits us. But there are some things I can say. Itâ€™s very important to understand that you may see some things that may be hard for you to come to terms with. There are truths about this world that have remained hidden for a very, very long time. Our missions are classified for a reason, soâ€¦â€ He trailed off there. It was a hard thing for him to explain. He couldnâ€™t really describe how he felt when he observed his first Allagan relic. Sounsyy and he would be seeing their first Allagan structure.

â€œBut there is something that I understand you know, though I will mention it anyway. We will need each other for every moment inside of where we are going. I need to depend on you as much as you depend on me. With my life.â€

With that, Ryanti put the linkpearl inside of his ear and turned the device on. After his ear twitched once or twice due to the static, he pressed his finger up against his ear and tested it. â€œCan you hear me, Jonathan?â€ Jonathan gave him a hand signal from across the room with a swift nod, hearing Ryantiâ€™s voice through his own ears. He was already pacing the deck, and Forty-three had his spectacles on and tested his own linkpearl. Sounsyy could hear all three men. â€œYouâ€™re good to go, friends.â€

Ryanti smiled a little before placing the mouthpiece into his lips. Sounsyy actually dived first. She had stepped over the shipâ€™s Forecastle feet first, and hit the water with a splash. Ryanti took one last look at the shining Eorzean sun, and closed his eyes, trying to remember how it felt, for he never knew whether or not he had to call upon it later.

â€See you on the other side, everyone.â€

---

Ryanti jumped off the Roehmerl and tilted his body backwards, landing into the water headfirst. Sounsyy could see the bubbles surround the young manâ€™s form as he entered the water begin to clear away in the immediate moment after. Dark figures could be seen approaching the Roehmerlâ€™s side that faced him, the crew glancing at their two forms in the water. Ryantiâ€™s head was at equal height to Sounsyyâ€™s, his form upside down to her. He took a breath through his filter. The air tasted a little bit like Garlean rubber, but it was just fine to breathe. If one could look close, one could see tiny little fibers in their suit glowing a very feint blue as they filtered the water around them into air, dispelling the de-oxygenized water out of the back of their neck.

â€œConfirming that you can hear us.â€ Jonathanâ€™s voice was heard over the linkpearl, with a little beeping noise to indicate an over signal. Ryanti gave Jonathan a waving of his arm from where he was at. â€œExcellent. Alright weâ€™ll observe you for as long as we can but right now what you can do for me is make sure the Captain gets used to the process. Now Sounsyy, donâ€™t be afraid to spend some time on that line, Iâ€™d rather have you alive and well then quick.â€

Ryanti bent his torso forward and tucked his knees, turning his orientation back to normal. It was pretty obvious that he had received some training prior to this mission about underwater diving. With movements of his legs and ankles, Ryanti maneuvered his body around Sounsyyâ€™s form as she placed a hand upon the anchor line. More of Jonathanâ€™s voice graced her ear. â€œNow Ryantiâ€™s going to show you how to breathe right. Look at his diaphragm and match his. Heâ€™ll be following you down the line and just go at your own pace. Ryantiâ€™ll tell you when to inhale and exhale, just watch him. Now turn your head towards the sea floor and start going down, ilm by ilm. A slow to medium pace.â€

With that, Ryanti re-oriented his head towards the bottom of the ocean and waited for the Captain to do the same. When she had done so, Ryanti made gestures with his hands to emphasize when he was taking a breath, and when he was exhaling that breath. It was a slow and calm process, almost similar to the kinds of breathing people would use when meditating. He kept doing it until the Captain caught onto it. Ryanti began nodding to clue her in that she was getting it right. â€œIs she ready, Seventy-seven?â€ Jonathan said from up top. Ryanti gave the okay signal.

â€œAlright, get your bearing and start heading down.â€

Ryanti didnâ€™t need the line, so he stayed perfectly across from the Captain as their bodies slowly began to descend. At first, they didnâ€™t feel too much pressure. It was like swimming in a pool. But Ryanti was very keen on making sure the Captain was breathing properly. This was a crash course, and she had to learn fast. Ryantiâ€™s legs methodically paddled back and forth as he followed her down. After a while, there was a feeling of tightness that seemed to creep up on them. Almost as if on cue, a voice again ringed out in their linkpearls. â€œShould be feeling it by now. Thatâ€™s what youâ€™re gonna feel. Itâ€™s going to get more powerful before your suit functions kick in. So make sure youâ€™re taking slow, thin breaths but just keep breathing, donâ€™t stop.â€ It sounded like he was relaying from Forty-three, as it took a little bit of hesitation on his end. He didnâ€™t have the verbal skills Forty-three had.

â€œBreatheâ€¦ breatheâ€¦ breatheâ€¦ breatheâ€¦â€ Jonathan kept saying over the linkpearl. The feeling of tightness was getting rather rough. For a moment, it became uncomfortable and very distracting. But that was when they both heard a little sound of pressure release from their suits. The veins with the very feint blue color began to glow stronger, as if reacting to something. What they were doing was creating a kind of aura around them of concentrated shell aether that kept the water from pressing too much upon their bodies, which relieved the pressure all the way up to them barely feeling it. However, it didnâ€™t mean that their diaphragms would be spared. â€œYou will need to keep this pace of breathing up, so it will be a little workout once the sea goes dark.â€

---

Show Content

But it wasnâ€™t dark yet. The sunâ€™s rays decorated the underwater landscape with the healthiest of blues. It was amazing how after a single day, the ocean could wipe away so much blood, and so many more bodies. Distant limp shapes in the underwater horizon still betrayed the ugly reality of what they had done days prior. But there was also a side of the ocean that was beautiful â€“ side that had always been there. Schools of fish sometimes approached the two foreign figures in the ocean.

Ryanti waited patiently for Sounsyy to take the first step to let go of the line. His head slowly turned in the water, his snow-white locks floating about. There were Sahagin that had swam up to them, and in fact all around them. But unlike perhaps previous encounters they have had with Lominsians, these Sahagin were not carrying spears, but rather riding elbsts with coral-made straps and latches to the back of them. Ryanti had not seen those on the elbsts from before. Perhaps they were intended to give them a ride to the Allagan anomaly?

He reached out with his hand to grab onto the straps that rested upon the elbsts, and the creature in question swam a little forward, but stopped due to the Sahagin rider, who glanced at the Captain and waited as another elbst pulled alongside her. It seemed that their fate to arrive where the Allagan wreckage was going to be via elbst.

â€œYouâ€™re getting deeper. We canâ€™t see you anymore. According to the rate youâ€™re going, youâ€™ll be crossing the end of the sea bed within two minutes and be at the objective within ten minutes. Prepare yourselves.â€

It seemed like a long time. Ryantiâ€™s face was fixed on what was in front of him. Gradually, it seemed the further they traveled under, the more aspects of the sea that they had known about began to fade away. First it was the school of fish, replaced with the bits of fungal and oceanic bottom feeders that clung to the slope of the seabed. It was during this time, when the water began to get colder and darker that Ryantiâ€™s mind was running exceptionally fast. They had no idea what they were going to find. â€œGo ahead and check and see if your navigation light is working, Seventy-seven. Captain I assure you do the same.â€

With a single gesture, Ryanti clicked a button on the upper right part of his chest. A small, but very effective and bright forward-mounting light activated, which gave him a good few fulms of light in front of him that glanced off of the elbst and into the depths below, though he still couldnâ€™t see anything. He glanced briefly when the Captain did the same, and nodded to himself in approval. So far, so good.

The water got colder. They were getting deep, really deep. Only their suits were keeping them alive now, and it was doing a very good job at that. It was becoming harder to keep air in their lungs, but following the protocol enabled them to last. Their equipment was checking out, and the elbst escort was going off without a hitch. They were the most prepared as they could possibly be.

But nothingâ€¦ nothing could prepare them for what they saw when the blurry, dark, and ominous sign of the Allagan starship, buried for at least five millennia, came into view.

Within the dark waters, where visible light was hard to come by, one could still make out the even darker outline of the vessel. It was MASSIVE, easily dwarfing any kind of naval vessel Eorzea possessed. Garlean naval flagships could not hold a candle to the behemoth of a shape that they were witnessing now. Even Garlean airships did not hold a candle to the size of this vessel. It took up the entire horizontal view of where they were facing, as if it was a second horizon.

The Sagahin looked back with faces mixed with admiration and fear when the artifact in Ryantiâ€™s bag suddenly lit up, causing the black bag to slightly give off the light from inside. That was when something happened that was reminiscent in their dream. A shining, piercing, illuminous blue light emitted from the Allagan starhip. At its size, it could easily have been mistaken for an entire underwater reef. Then â€“ a sound â€“ a light buzzing sound that permeated the water and sent vibrations through their bodies. They could feel the pull. This was where they were supposed to be. The artifact, the souls were calling out to its resting place, and the graveyard, for the first time since the third era wasâ€¦ alive. Calling.

Ryantiâ€™s eyes were as wide as they could be. It became a challenge to keep his calm breathing. This vessel was enormous in the biggest sense of the word, and he could feel that call. It was admirable, amazing, and unbelievable in scale, covered in fossil life and coral formation for the duration it had been down there.

Twelveâ€™s gracesâ€¦ what in the godâ€™s seven hells am I looking atâ€¦?

â€œCall us when you get i-..nâ€ Jonathanâ€™s voice echoed across the linkpearl. It was slightly garbled, but still understandable. Sahagin were surrounding them now, observing them just as well as guarding them from any aquatic life that had made their homes among the civilization that rose to godhood that still dreamed in the deep blue sea. As they got closer, despite the darkness, they were able to see its true shape. It was very rugged and square in a kind of shape foreign to even Garlemaldâ€™s highest standard, built with specifications beyond what anyone that knew nothing but sailing could remotely comprehend. This was not a ship that sailed the water. This was a ship that sailed the skyâ€¦ and beyond.

The elbsts began to change their course, deviating to the bottom right of the huge vessel. Briefly, their lights were able to shine upon the side of the ship. Beyond the sea life that had attached itself to the ship, they could see their first of Allagan metal. Only the Twelve knew what kind of metal. It was extremely well designed to such an extent that five thousand, six thousand something years under the pressure of all of this waterâ€¦ even that could not reduce this contraption to dust.

They could almost feel it. The emotion. The weight. The era of their Empireâ€¦

Ryanti pointed his finger to the lower half of the bottom right side of the ship. There was shaped out to what might be a kind ofâ€¦ door. The Sagahinâ€™s elbsts stopped almost as soon as he did. The ship was so massive in size that where they were floating in the water near the bottom of the ship, they could have looked as up as they could by craning their necks and not even see the top of it.

This was not a fairy tale. This was real.

Ryanti removed the artifact from its resting place inside of his bag, and immediately the aetherial aura that surrounded him and kept his body from succumbing to the pressure of the depths became visible under the potent artifact. It was now apparent what its job was. It was a literal key. A key card for the maintenance entrance of the rear of the ship. If it had been in Allagâ€™s era, it would have been the access way to the supply hanger. That was their first stop.

Ryanti had forgotten to blink for a while now. His eyes felt dry when he did so. Slowly, methodically, the young man with the key in hand approached the entrance to the Allagan starship. His frame huddled in front of the door and was no larger than someone of his stature. It was meant for individual personnel that flew in maintenance shuttles, workers who would have repaired the little ships inside. They would have carried this key. A key that was found eons later.

He brushed a bit of seaweed off of the key, and glanced at Sounsyy for a brief moment. He was expressionless, but his gut felt like he was melting. He knew what he was about to do butâ€¦ taken aback by the fact that it was him doing it. With a slow breathe, the young man brushed the sea life away from the key slot on the side of the door, and messed with the end of the key in the hole before finding the right spot, and sliding the key inside.

Rectangular LED lights lit up in red around the lock. Lights that had not been activated in eons, but STILL operational after all this time. They immediately felt an impulse of energy, a kind of pinnacle in transverance. The light in the key left it as the metal contraption slid itself into the key slot and turned on its own. Brief red lights could be seen skitter and scamper along the vessel, reaching all corners of the ship. A louder buzz emitted from the vessel. A domineering, screeching noise, as if it was responding. While they didnâ€™t know it at the time, it was the spirits of the residual energy returning to the ship. The key lost all light after that, and became dormant. Were the spirits gone? The key slid back out, and Ryanti took it.

The outlines of the door glew in a much brighter blue light all of a sudden. Intricate lights activated on the doorway and the latch slowly began to open from the sides. Water coasted inside the two doors and almost instantaneously filled up the inside of the hallway. Flood lights lit up the inner parts of the rectangular room that Ryanti was now heading towards, beckoning the Captain to follow him. The inside of the room had elaborate LED lights all over it, and thickly braced computer monitors etched into each side of the wall, doing calculations automatically. Everything was running completely fine in this room. It looked like as it was meant to be a pressurization room. An airlock.

It was the first time Ryanti had seen something like this. He couldnâ€™t imagine that it was like for the Captain. As they floated inside of the room, the Sagahin began to pull away. The inside of the room had an architecture that made even the Garleans themselves look like children with toys. It was strangely beautiful how the different colors lights blinked in unison or separately at such precise times, or the computer monitors processing code. Perhaps the blinking red and green lights upon the floor tooâ€¦

The artifact must have used its energy reserves to give this place power.

Ryanti floated on one side of the room, watching Sounsyy. The door to the outside world closed with a slow but sure connection, vibrating the room a bit. But it was not dark inside of the room with their Sharlayan navigation lights and of course, the Allagan LEDs decorating the room with a lovely mix of color and operational tone. At their current load, the water was very pressurized, and so the room began to de-pressurize it. Gradually, the aetherial aura around them began to fade as it was no longer needed. Eventually, it shut off, and the water that they were in became less cold and more habitable, all the way until it felt like they were swimming in a pool again.

Amazing. Simply amazing.

Ryanti let himself sink down to the surface for a moment, sliding a fingertip or two along the walls. There was a certain part of himâ€¦ his childhood self or maybeâ€¦ the part of him that still held idealisms and romanticisms. That part of him couldnâ€™t believe what was actually happening. He was touching something built by them. Actual Allagans had been in this hallway.

It was the most surreal moment of his life that would easily be overtaken by more surreal moments later in their coming days.

Two compartments opened at the bottom of the hallway and began sucking out the water. Ryanti leapt up to the top of the hallway and latched onto something he could grab onto, taking his first fresh breaths as the water was draining. The water was being pumped out into the ocean while the entranceway was water tight in its seal. It had to be. It was meant for space after all. But the Allagans had prepared for events like being trapped underwater.

Ryanti allowed himself back to keeping his head and shoulders above the surface as he felt his feet softly hit the ground. He softly turned about to examine the intricate details around him. â€œThis is..â€

But before he could say anything else, one of the lights closest to the entranceway shattered, and a sound of a groaning machine was heard as the lights dimmed. A sound of snapping electricity was heard and the second door that they were meant to walk out of began to open, but only slightly before one of the panels on the side-by-side door broke, jamming the door open. A huge jolt was heard above the ceiling as a mechanism broke due to age. It was not soon after that the vessel went dark again.

And it was dark. Darker than dark.

Having his shoulder slam into the side wall during the jolt caused Ryanti to cough up a lung. The Captain could feel the water to her knees spilling out onto the other side of the airlock and Ryantiâ€™s coughs to remind her that he was still there. â€œAhâ€¦ eh... okay. Are you alright?â€ His heavy breathe were heard as he turned on his Sharlayan light again, providing a much needed torch to his surroundings. He muddled his way to the entrance that they had come from, knocking a bit on the sealed door. â€œWe couldnâ€™t open this again. The pressure would send water our way so violently that weâ€™ll split in half. Weâ€™ll have to find another way out once we get our data.â€

He said it non-chalantly. But he knew what it meant. They were trapped. Already.

His waddling slowly turned to walking as the water fizzled out to the ground beyond the second door. Ryanti shined his light into that door, but he couldnâ€™t make out anything beyond it. â€œAt least itâ€™s open enough for us to get through.â€ He commented, shifting himself to the side and sliding his body through. â€œNo use to stay here... letâ€™s see where we are.â€ With some movement, and a little bit more momentium, Ryanti made it through. He immediately hugged the wall of the new room he was in with his back. â€œEverythingâ€™s pitch black! Iâ€™d keep your light on!â€ He called out from the other room. A few more breaths later, he spoke again. â€œGo ahead and get in here with me â€“ we absolutely need to stay together. Period.â€

Ryanti turned his body towards the wall facing away from the door, and the Sharlayan light illuminated the walls. Again, this kind of perfect metal. Not a hint of rust orâ€¦ anything. He laid his bag against the wall in front of his feet but decided not to remove the mouthpiece. They may need it later if anything in here was flooded. The air felt unnaturally cold â€“ probably because they were still soaking wet. Ryanti eyed something curious with his light as Sounsyy made her way through second broken door. His eyes squinted at what appeared to be some sort of plague in the wall. He blew upon it and dust clouded his vision, which he wiped away with a hand.

His aquamarine eyes darted over the words with a hard gaze, his voice audible butâ€¦ quiet. â€œIt is with honor and pride that the Consul commission this Research and Development Sub-Ragnarok Class Frigate the Anakalypsi to sail the stars in search of answers to our most incompressible understandings.â€ He read outloud, his face freezing in pure shock at the next statement.

â€œIn the three thousandth, four hundredth and fifty second year of our great Empireâ€¦â€.

Twice the amount of years on the Astral Era calendarâ€¦ and it was just how long their Empire was around when this was made.

This mission is classified for a reasonâ€¦

The bewildered Halfling slowly turned around to the room they were inâ€¦ adjusting his light to focus less on width and more on depth. The scale of the room they were in, the supply hanger, was baffling. Many Roehmerls could easily fit into this single room. The space was long and wide, with a near endless corridors of metal and a ceiling impossibly high. Despite missing rust, many of the small features such as the LED lighting and the remnants of what used to be cargo lying about were twisted and mangled in their design to the immense decay of thousands of years. It felt eerily lonely, and long forgotten. A civilization that came from dust, and became dust. Or perhapsâ€¦ not quite.

â€œGodâ€™s forfendâ€¦ â€œ

Ryanti remembered his order then. He placed a finger upon the linkpearl and took a very swift breath in order to re-compose himself. â€œWe have made it inside. Jonathan this place is huge. Itâ€™s insane.â€

He waited for a moment as static enveloped both of their ears. Sounds of the crew were in the background cheering. â€œGo- -ob Seventy-seven. It look like like y-.. made it in the hanger. Weâ€™re tracking yo-â€¦â€ Then it became all but static for a moment or two. Ryantiâ€™s breathing became tense. â€œJonathan?...â€

A voice came back, but it was the voice of Forty-three. â€œIt seems you have l-â€¦ -t getting a good signal. Need to make your way further i-â€¦ better signal. Just move to-â€¦. Front. Fro-..nt if you can hear m-.â€

â€œCopy. Copy. Copy.â€ Ryanti kept saying, hoping it would come in. â€œWe can h- .. â€“stâ€¦ -ther in. Ove-.â€ With that, the communications were cut. â€œHello!â€ Ryanti shouted out in response, his voice echoing off of the massive walls of the room they were in. The same room that the Allagans in their dream had boarded from. Though they did not know it at the time. Ryanti gave Sounsyy a look, and pursed his lips as he adjusted his light again to focus on what was in front of him more than ahead of him.

â€œLetâ€™s assemble our weapons. We do not move an ilm until we are fully armed.â€

Sounsyy · **08-22-2015, 08:23 PM**

Sounsyy kept her eyes clamped shut as the watery world surrounded her. The sudden rush of cold water raised the hairs on her neck beneath her suit and she gave an involuntary shiver. When she opened her eyes again, Ryanti had dived into the water and his form was surrounded with millions of tiny bubbles racing back to the surface. He moved with more skillful strokes than Sounsyy would've thought, but she knew he had to have been able to swim for this mission.

She scanned the surroundings, but found nothing but endless indigo beneath the waterline. Below her, the anchor cable descended into blackness. She turned in the water and moved towards the rope with a practiced sealion stroke, finally reaching out with her uninjured hand to grab hold of the rope. Her breathing was hesitant at first, not fully placing her trust in the suit and its ability to keep her alive. But as the oxygen mixture filled her nostrils, she began to relax more. Then she heard the crackle of the linkpearl in her ear and saw Ryanti swim over to her making signals that she should mimic him.

I know how to swim yeh damned landlubber, Sounsyy wanted to growl into her linkpearl about the sixth time Jonathan told her to breath. But in truth she was unused to the suit and had never attempted a deep sea dive such as this. Breathing through the mask was awkward, but manageable and after a few breaths Sounsyy had the practice down. Sounsyy looked at Ryanti trying to catch his eye. She motioned towards her linkpearl then made a sharp slitting motion across her throat, then pointed up at Jonathan.

I get back up there I'm gonna push him over, was Sounsyy's intended message. She shook her head and flipped over her shoulder so she was oriented downwards and began to swim straight down along the rope. She kept her injured hand out near the rope to guide her descent even so. Orientation was going to become more difficult the further she went down and as the pressure began to build up and she was forced to take time to allow her suit to adjust, she clung to the rope to conserve her energy.

The rope was near its end when Sounsyy took another rest. She looked around her in the deepening blue. Just on the edges of vision she could spot the tiny motion of the surrounding Sahagin. They were watching them. Through the bodies and flotsam of destroyed Eastern warships, the Sahagin were watching them. Sounsyy felt very uncomfortable down here. Perhaps it was the shortage of air, or the claustrophobic feeling the suit gave her.

The two divers continued their descent for a time after that. The cable had long since given out and Sounsyy swam downwards with Ryanti deeper into the Sahagin awaiting them below. They were over one-hundred fathoms deep when the Sahagin began to move closer to them. They were in their preferred environment. Sounsyy wondered what would stop them from just killing them down here and taking the key for their own?

But that was not to be their fate. A pair of elbst were led to the divers by their handlers. Sounsyy hesitated, but a young Sahagin warrior swam close to her and nodded his head gently. His mouth opened and in the rush of water Sounsyy could hear the old language of the sea flow through his gils.

The Rhotano Bloodcant sang beautifully in the Deep. Sounsyy had never heard it spoken underwater, she knew it only in its harsh, out of water dialect. The sounds that formed with difficulty to emulate the gentle rush of water. Sounsyy stared at the warrior transfixed, though she knew not what it sang to her. She forced her eyes away and swam over to the elbst that had been brought for her. When she was properly mounted the elbst streamlined forwards and began its descent.

The sudden increase in pressure from the dive constricted the Captain's chest and she closed her eyes and bent over the back of the elbst in pain. Her entire chest felt like it was crushing until the suit could adapt. When the pressure had abated she looked up to find herself in waters much deeper, colder, and darker than before. She saw Ryanti click on his torchlight and she did the same, but it did little to pierce the darkness. She worried suddenly that the light might blind the elbst, so she clicked the light back off and only turned it on for brief intervals to see if she could see anything.

Not that she needed to see, she reminded herself. The elbst seemed to know where it was going and there were Sahagin all around them, swimming eagerly or anxiously by their sides. How many years had it been since they had had visitors - if ever? Then out of the deep blue came a darker shape. Sounsyy almost didn't recognize what she was looking at for several moments, mistaking it for a deep sea mountain or rock formation. But she click on her torchlight and gasped in a mouthful of recycled air.

What under Llymlaen's deep seas?

The captain's eyes widened until they seemed to fill up all of her goggles. She was staring at some vessel, some great sunken vessel buried beneath the sea. The cermet frame hummed and creaked below the sea. Sounsyy's linkpearl crackled but Sixteen's voice was distant and distorted. Or... Sounsyy was not listening. The world seemed to drown out around her as she gazed upon the massive frame. She suddenly felt so small, so insignificant. She felt weightless in the deep blue, she was reminded of Carteneau, just before she fell into darkness. She lay there on the rock, staring paralyzed skywards as Dalamud ripped itself apart and the world was covered with fire. Now the world was swallowed in water. So deep, so dark.

Sounsyy felt short of breath and her chest tightening. Had her suit failed and the pressure finally crushed through or was she having a panic attack? Her breaths came quick and sharp. Her brain was convinced she was dreaming or was oxygen deprived and needed more air. Her elbst seemed to disappear out from under her and she was suddenly alone in the blackness. Her eyes were watering beneath her goggles, obscuring everything in a dark blur. Then suddenly a light. Pale and blue and gentle - like the glyphs she had seen in the skies over Cartneau just before the end.

She looked for their source and saw the key. The glow seemed distorted by the sea or by her tears. But it was clear Ryanti was holding it and moving towards the ship. There was a door. Sounsyy tried to regain command over her breathing. She tried to time her breaths with Nophica's Hymn, a pleasant song from her time in Gridania. Deep woods, rich earthy air. A time before she was afraid.

Sun's sweet smile and wind's cool breath,â™ª
Both of these I send thee,â™ª
To ripe thy fruit and spread thy seed,â™ª
And nourish those that tend...

Sounsyy gasped and her breathing stopped all together when Ryanti inserted the key. The entire vessel lit up in a red glow, illuminating just how monolithic the Allagan starship was. What had they disturbed after so long? Sounsyy looked over her shoulder, her breath steadily quickening again. The Sahagin had dispersed. Fear?

Then the door opened and the frame shimmered in blue light. Water rushed in with a thousand fathoms of pressure behind it, filling the small room almost instantly. Sounsyy felt the flow of the sea change around her as she was sucked near the ship. Ryanti swam inside. Sounsyy wanted to swim away, but followed him in against her better judgement. Inside the hallway were glowing lights and a window looking in on the next room. Sounsyy caught Ryanti staring at her from across the hallway as the outer porthole began to reseal itself behind them. She shook her head at him completely at a loss.

The room started to depressurize and the water began to warm. The feeling of relief was immense. She looked back at Ryanti, who was touching the walls of the vessel. He seemed to be enjoying himself. Sounsyy was still in the process of stabilizing herself after her miniature panic attack. The water began to drain and the door at the end of the hall groaned open after five-thousand years of neglect. Sounsyy covered her ears at the sudden, horrid screeching that shattered the last silent hour of their descent.

Then with a great shudder, the ship's power failed it and the lights died sending them all into darkness. Sounsyy fell on her bottom in the water with a yelp and staggered back to her feet, pressing her back against a wall. It sounded as if something had broken. If it was the ship and it had sprung a leak - or worse - depressurized, they'd all be dead in minutes. But nothing happened and Ryanti righted himself enough to press forward deeper into the ancient Allagan monstrosity.

"I-I'm all right," came her muffled voice beneath her mask. Then her senses left her at long last and she ripped off her mask and hissed at Ryanti, "Where the swiven hells are we?! What in the Seven Hells is this?! This- this!" She looked about her frantically, but Ryanti was already tucking himself through the half-opened door and into the darkness beyond. Sounsyy stood there cursing. She heard Ryanti's voice on the other side and went to the doorway. She gauged the clearance and decided to remove her backpack while she slid through.

Ryanti was in awe gazing about the next room, but Sounsyy had even taken notice. When she reached back through the doorway to pull her backpack through, she immediately knelt down in the fulm-deep pool and set about unzipping her bag and withdrawing the dismantled Sharlayan rifle. With a few clicks she had assembled it. She felt Ryanti's light on her back and she stood up and turned to face it.

â€œLetâ€™s assemble our weapons. We do not move an ilm until we are fully armed.â€

Sounsyy slung her backpack over her shoulder and hefted her completed rifle, nodding to the Miqo'te, "Way ahead of yeh."

Sounsyy took in the room for the first time while Ryanti made to assemble his. It was massive. Her breath, ragged as it was, seemed to echo softly about the space. She began wandering about in the darkness, her torchlight set to cast as wide a light as it could produce. She came upon the plaque covered in eras of dust. There was strange writing that Sounsyy could not understand. She could barely read Eorzean as it was - this was far beyond her. She looked to where Ryanti was prepping, "Yeh can read this?"

She had an evenly mixed look between incredulous and impressed. Her voice sounded nervous though. As if she was trying to ignore the fact that their linkpearls were receiving so much interference, either from the ship's cermet hull or from being so many yalms below water. She went to stand by Ryanti as he finished assembling his rifle. She let out a long exhale as she psyched herself to go deeper into the dark.

"Yeh take point. I've got rearguard," she said. Ryanti's torchlight was set to maximize the distance he could see forwards. While Sounsyy's was set widely to see if anything moved in the peripheral darkness. As if to say she was ready, she raised her rifle and rested the butt against her shoulder, at the ready to fire.

Ryanti · **08-23-2015, 08:24 PM**

Ryanti took a few breaths to ease his own tension upon giving out his first order of business. The first order was always to get themselves armed. It was a golden rule in his unit. Ideally, if it werenâ€™t for the water, he would have had his rifle in hand before he had even inserted the key into its resting place.

It appeared that Sounsyy was already ready. Good. It did well in reassuring Ryanti that he picked the right person for the job. Or was it the Allagansâ€¦? After all, she did receive those dreams, unlike Leura. He began wondering why she was chosen as he gently sat himself down next to the plague, bringing his backpack forward in front of him after taking it off, unzipping it to find the disassembled pieces of his weapon. He had witnessed others checking and examining the artifact in prior missions without so much as just feeling slightly drowsy or having a headache later in the day, but otherwise no symptoms. No dreams. Not like Sounsyy. But why? A man and a woman from the seventh era investigating the traces of the thirdâ€¦ he had remembered the prophecy of the seventh era that was the rage during the Calamity, that the era was to be a culminationâ€¦ were they destined to be the ones to culminate the events on this ship full circle?

Or were they just here to die?

His gaze followed her as she examined the plague for herself. He placed the first piece of his weapon â€“ the stock- down upon the ground in a standing position as she asked him whether or not he could read it. Immediately it triggered back memories.

Iâ€™ve been staring at this thing all day. This rectangular shape of darkness. That and this sheet of paper. The letters have become scribbles in my mind. All of these symbols that Iâ€™m studying in this dark, cold room. They keep on staring at me. The men in the window, with only their lips visible to me. Lips that keep asking me about my progress. I pick up the tomestone. I hover it over the words on the piece of paper. They begin to change. Morph. My mind feels like it is on fire! My eyes burn! These symbols feel like they are branding themselves onto my brain! The blue light shines! I grab my head! Make it stop!

â€œYes. I can.â€ Ryanti answered, with a kind of gaze in his eyes that reminded Sounsyy of her own; the kind of eyes that told her he was in remembrance of a memory he did not enjoy. â€œIt was required of me during theâ€¦ selection process. It is similar to a non-classified unit. The Keeper of the Artifact is a title, and like any title in any military, there is a skillset you must learn to earn it. The difference is that I cannot disclose what occurs. But I do have a paper in my backpack de-coding the wordings, if we need them later.â€

But Ryanti wanted to disclose it. He really did. His commitment to secrecy had already been breached by this point. The Captain was never intended to know even what the hell they found in the Deep, or even what the Sharlayans were carrying. But realisticallyâ€¦ he could no longer afford to keep things secret when he now trusted Sounsyy with his life. Ryanti preferred it this way anyhow. It was very hard to carry the burden all by yourself.

He had picked up on her nervousness in her question. He had also heard her stammering words back in the first room. It was surreal to Ryanti to hear such a capable woman spew out words and curses in such a panic like that. Her shaking her head at him while they were still in the water burned into his short term memory. He had tried to tell her earlier in the mission, hoping that it would ease the transition. But this was Ryantiâ€™s first term in an Allagan structure as well, and even he was having trouble coping, despite his knowledge beforehand and his training.

It was why his hands were very subtly twitching when he was assembling his rifle. Occasionally, Ryanti would shake a hand once or twice to try to rid himself of those mild jitters. His mind was still trying to contemplate the kind of rational decisions he needed to make about the communication. The interference was very bad, and they had no clue whether or not it would get better. He clung to the hope that Forty-three was right, that it was the location that was the problem. So he formulated the next step of their objective in his mind.

The last piece of his rifle clicked together, and Ryanti cocked back the lever. A slight whining sound emitted from the rifle as it sprung into a loaded state. It was a satisfying sound, letting Ryanti know that there were barriers between him and death down here. He almost immediately reached into his backpack again and pulled out the same powerful revolver that nearly took Cynthiaâ€™s head clean off. He spun the chamber and shot it back into place, clicking off the safety and holstering it by his waist. As armed as they were, they had enough firepower to kill nearly one hundred and fifty Garleans if they were to burn all their ammunition. It was the kind of armed-to-the-teeth preparedness that they needed to face their nightmares.

Ryanti nodded at Sounsyyâ€™s suggestion. He was to lead, and she was to make sure he didnâ€™t miss anything. Perfect. His fingertips clamped onto his torchlight and he turned the dial, shifting his light to point at a thin angle, giving him as much sight as it could afford distance-wise. Ryanti started to tilt the rifle in front of him when he stopped parallel to Sounsyy. He did not forget the nervousness in her voice. â€œRemember, we have the absolute best weapons and equipment my people could afford us. And each other. Letâ€™s just take it one step at a time. Our main objective is to locate and acquire any kind of valuable information or data in this place that can benefit the greater good, and prevent the Garleans from getting their hands on anything else. But for now, letâ€™s just press deeper into the ship, and see if we can get a better signal with my teammates. Letâ€™s move out.â€

He had to say those words himself as much as he knew Sounsyy had to hear them. â€œWatch my back, Sounsyy. I need you at one hundred and ten percent at all times.â€ Perhaps more than she ever had been. She had never seen Ryanti this deadly serious before. He walked with a purpose and conviction beyond his years as he stepped in front of her, yet the deep breathe he took and the hesitation he experienced proved that he was just as tense. There was no possible way any of them could have gone in here by themselves. They would have gone mad. After that one last breathe, Ryanti began to move forward.

The first thing he did was point his torchlight at both ends of the room, but the beam seemed to go on forever in both directions. He was trying to determine where the closest wall was so that he could huddle closer to it to reduce the amount of space he had to cover with his torchlight. He finally determined it to be the right wall. So as he proceeded, he took a hefty amount of steps forward, and then traversed diagonally to the right a little bit, then pressed forward once more.

It was deathly silent. Ryantiâ€™s light shined upon what appeared to be five thousand plus year old cargo crates that seemed to span the entire horizontal distance of this section of the room. Once again, these are made out of cerment. They were all different shapes and sizes. Some were square in shape and large in size. Some possessed a cylinder shape, and were sealed shut by complicated locking mechanisms and where the LEDâ€™s upon the boxes used to shine was nothing but blackness, as the lights faded in power long ago just as well as the materials in them were long expired. They were exotic and foreign even to Ryanti; the first relics of an ancient time when the world was different.

The air was stale, not ever affording a gust of wind over the eras of time. It smelled of metal. It was different from the Garlean steel which smelt dirty. This kind of metal smelled clean and refined, not containing any kind of imperfections that would leak in the air as an odor. There was so faint smell of oil or fuel or smudge. If Sounsyy noticed, Ryanti was only looking directly at where their lights were pointing, for if you didnâ€™t, it would quickly feel like the space around you was choking you down in claustrophobia. No words could describe the ominous silence. Ryanti had a feeling that they were trespassing, almost committing some sort of sin for being here and re-discovering this. Perhaps it was simply the dread of the silence.

â€œIâ€™ll answer your questions that you had earlier about where we are. I did not forget.â€ No, he did not. He was just trained to do something when someone required information, but was in a wrecked state of mind. He was taught to deny them the answer and allow them to wait out their frustration before answering, so that they could better absorb the reality around them. It was meant to be a coping mechanism. He had to learn a lot about them to be able to grasp all this. So he spoke, hoping his enlightening dialogue would ease the dread of the long consistent silence.

â€œAs we know, there have been seven Astral Eras so far. For thousands of years, we believed that civilization as we know it began after the Age of Endless frost in the Fifth Umbral Era. Before the ice age, historians speculated that man was primitive in nature, and lived out their lives in either stoic or nomadic tribes and lived off the land with countless individual, secular cultures. All sources of either our present day nations or their ancient mothers trace back to the end of this ice age. So naturally, it was thought for a long time that the beginning of recorded history around the early Fifth Astral Era was the beginning of civilization and factual history. Anything prior to that was neck deep in myth and legend.â€

Ryanti tilted his torchlight up to glance at the ceiling. There were several cords hanging from the roof at the place they were. Some of them were broken, others were still interconnecting into the ceiling. They looked similar to fuel lines that Garlemald would use on their vehicles, but the network within the exposed ceiling seemed much more complicated. Upon lowering his flashlight again among the endless sea of long neglected cargo boxes and scattered portions of cords and wires, he resumed his dialogue.

â€œSome of the beast tribes and Miqoâ€™te tribe lineages extend all the way back to the First Era. It was known for a long time that these tribes possess very interesting legends and fables of a world before the Endless Frost. They speak of everything from ancient sea monsters to extraordinary chariots that rode across the sky and befriended Menphinaâ€™s moon. They spoke of Menphinaâ€™s loyal hound, and of demi-Gods that sailed the great Star Ocean under Her watch. For centuries and millennia scholars kept these legends transcribed but believed them to be that: imaginative legends and fairytales. They deduced that these legends and fairytales all had common themes. Beings that rode the sky, beings that constructed immense monuments that came crumbling down when they met their end.â€

Ryanti shined his torchlight to his right, finally reaching the right wall. The ceiling had to be at least eighty fulms in height. There were broken and twisted remnants of a kind of catwalk complex upon the right wall that would have been quite marvelous looking five millennia ago. But now it was all twisted and broken, having partially collapsed at some point. The metal was ripped in half and distorted, and the catwalk was half suspended still on the upper floor and half sprawled upon the ground.

â€œWell, they were wrong. A man by the name of Saint Coinach was a historical figure during the Sixth Astral Era. You might have heard of him. He was the first person to discover that the legends and fairytales of the old tribes contained more reality than fiction. His discovery was to change everything we know about this planet. The Sharlayans knew the real nature of his discoveries, and they have probably known for a very long time. But they chose to keep the true realities of Saint Coinachâ€™s discoveries hidden from the greater public, and for good reason. It turns out that during the Third Astral Era, two further Eras back than the beginning of our recorded history, there existed a time on this planet where civilization reached its absolute apex. On the very top of its apex stood the mighty Allagan Empire. In the very distant past, the landmass of Eorzea was said to be larger, and the Allagan borders must have stretched at least across half of the planet. Their civilization reached a pinnacle of technology to near omni-potent levels, and a complete mastery of the forces of magic. We still do not know how many years thick the Third Astral Era was, but the amount of years Sharlayans theorize vastly extends the length of the Eras we know. However, very little is still known about that time. There is aâ€¦ point where this Empire and other nations that thrived during that time, such as Meracydiaâ€¦ completely vanish from the record. It was not over years or even monthsâ€¦ they were there and then suddenly they werenâ€™t. They were justâ€¦ gone. Nobody knows why. This happened approximately five thousand years ago.â€ Ryanti slowed down his steps, until he was completely stopped in his tracks, glancing around in the darkness as if he could see, but obvious could not. â€œAs far as this place goesâ€¦ according to the plague, this must have been some sort of research vessel. Itâ€™s good for us because research vessels contain much more useful data to us than military ones. But itâ€™s not the kind of ship that sailed the ocean, noâ€¦ this vessel was meant to sail the star ocean, Sounsyyâ€¦â€

The sight of Hydealyn from space in her dreamâ€¦

Ryanti briefly looked back to her, his facial features shining within the confines of her torchlight. â€œThe reason why this information is buried is clear. Itâ€™sâ€¦ much easier for society to accept a clear beginning to the history of civilization and be able to draw a straight line from there to where we are now. Itâ€™s easier to accept that the way of life and civilization that we know has always been relatively familiar to us. It would be difficult for people to accept theâ€¦ truth. Society is not ready to be able to cope with it. That is why Jonathan advised you not to tell your Superior Officer about this. Even if you did, your Superior probably would not believe you.â€

He solemnly turned around to face his front again. â€œHow can you just simplyâ€¦ tell someone these things and expect them to believe you unless you see it for yourselfâ€¦â€ There was a kind of burden in his voice. It was hard to live with this and not be able to tell everyone.

Now do you believeâ€¦? Ryanti thought.

Just then, there was a noise. A sound of a bump or two in a ventilation shaft somewhere further beyond, a bit to the right where the wall met the ceiling. Ryantiâ€™s heart skipped a beat and he immediately pointed his gun up at the source, clicking on the torchlight that came with the rifle. It was weaker than his body one, but certainly not a weak light in of itself. It shined upon the spot where he heard the noise, but there was nothing. Had there always been nothing. â€œAssume all foreign noises independent of us are hostile.â€ Ryanti murmured to Sounsyy. â€œWe have no literal idea what could possibly be down here with us if we arenâ€™t alone. Probably something not ever meant to see the light of day.â€

Within an additional twenty or so steps, they cleared the cargo farm, and found themselves amongst the largest part of the room. It had a trapezoid-like shape to it, and an intricate network of perfectly molded steel and ancient hydraulic pistons held shut the enormous twin hanger doors that hugged the left wall. It would never be opened again. Perpendicular to the hanger doors was another second story catwalk, and this one was intact. In the distance, Ryantiâ€™s light shined upon the door up there, which half of it was broken down, providing an open to go through. â€œThatâ€™s our way out.â€

When Ryanti lowered his light down to the center of the room, he gasped at the marvel of what he saw. In the center of the room, there was a derelictâ€¦ craft of some sort resting in that place in which had become its grave. About the size of the Roehmerl, it was nowhere near in perfect condition. The rear rotors were long disintegrated, and the wiry mesh of the light metals used in design of the small shuttle was broken and mulled in many locations. The front landing gear had collapsed long ago. The rear ones, alleviated of the weight due to the nose of the aircraft resting on the ground now, were still standing. The middle of the craft looked like it had caught fire centuries ago, a fire that eventually burned out. The front windshield of the cockpit was broken and shattered in some places, yet still intact upon the ship.

â€œThis must be a place where they landed thoseâ€¦ smaller ones. Wowâ€¦ unreal.â€ Ryanti mentioned, examining the entirety of the craft, noticing a partial serial number on the side of the craft. Some of it had been burned away by the fire. Then his light gathered with interest at the front of the craft, where the shattered window was. It would not be that much of an effort to climb aboard the smaller vessel and peak into the combat. Ryanti felt like he had to do it, even though it make him extra nervous to do so. He had to check to see if anything wasâ€¦ harboring inside of it. The insides of the ship beyond that point were scourged by fire and melted metal, so there were no worries about that. â€œI need to examine it and make sure itâ€™s clear. Watch my back.â€

And with that, Ryanti made his way ever so cautiously to the front of the craft. As he laid the torchlight upon the broken windshield, he felt a tingling in his mind. He remembered in one of their first dreams there was a split secondâ€¦ yesâ€¦ he could almost hear the hydraulic doors closing, the sky being their destination. It had to be a ship like thisâ€¦ a ship like this. That must have been how they arrived. On a ship like thisâ€¦

With a single gesture, he leapt up into the air, his feet landing with a thud upon the nose of the smaller vessel. The scale of it was still immense. Ryantiâ€™s form was miniscule compared even to this â€˜smallerâ€™ ship. â€œOkay Ryantiâ€¦â€ He murmured to himself, examining the lower parts of the nose by sweeping his torchlight slowly, back and forth, finally reaching the windshield, and shining the light inside.

All of the levers... all of these controls were buried in dust. It reminded him of Garlean schematics he used to recover from his earlier missions in the Immortal Flames concerning stealing Garlean blueprints. But these were much more sophisticated. All he saw were just buttons and levers galore, and a seat or two before the fiery molten metal brought an end to the shipâ€™s space. He quietly etched the light over the controlsâ€¦ then examined the seats.

The seatsâ€¦ they had bite marks on them. How old were those bite marks? Thousands of years old? Centuries? Decades? â€¦ Days?

â€œSounsyy!â€ Ryanti shouted, his voice booming with an echo across the room to get her attention. â€œWe might not be alone in here!â€

Just then, four more noises. Like four heavy bumps in a constant pattern above him. The ceiling. Immediately he shined a light up above to investigate. There were so many roof panels that had some off, so many exposed wires and compartments where anything could be hidingâ€¦ waiting. The artifact could not help them now. It had been dead since they arrived.

Sounsyy · **08-25-2015, 10:27 PM**

They had walked in darkness for too long.

Sounsyy's torchlight cast a wide beam of light on the floor behind where they walked, but it's distance was severely lacking and all it seemed to do was blind them to what lay beyond the shroud of swirling dust that their shuffling feet disturbed as they crossed the ancient Allagan tomb. But turning off the beacon would have been as equally futile. There was no light for her eyes to adjust to, however dim. So she kept stepping back carefully in line behind Ryanti, her rifle at the ready and scanning side to side in the darkness.

Periodically she would whisper something into her linkpearl, hoping for a response, but Marjanie's replies were scattered and often unintelligible. So she resigned herself to listening to Ryanti's explanation, though most of it went above her head. A people who sailed the stars? How low they must think of the denizens of the Seventh Astral Era. If the Allagan truly was some sort of distress signal on repeat throughout the ages, did it even know how hopelessly deprived these futuristic survivors were? What did they hope to accomplish here? Only Ryanti seemed to know... and Sounsyy suspected Jonathan knew far more than Ryanti.

Sounsyy heard a thumping noise above their heads and she whipped around with her rifle. Ryanti had heard it too, but there was silence now. The captain's heart was pounding in her ears, almost making her dizzy from the volume.

"Just... more old, breaking ship... right?" Sounsyy words hissed out between her teeth. Ryanti kept moving forwards and Sounsyy slipped back into her flanking position, even more on alert now. They kept moving along the far wall for what seemed like several minutes more before the captain was taken by another unwelcome surprise. Ryanti had stopped to scan an adjacent wall and Sounsyy had unknowingly backed into him causing her to give a short yelp which fortunately caught in her throat out of fear. She whipped around and saw he was training his torchlight on a distant catwalk.

"Yeh wanna climb up that?!" She said in an incredulous whisper. But Ryanti's attention was already snatched away by the discovery of the small airship. Small being a relative term, of course. Sounsyy gawked at the sight even as Ryanti started making his way over, leaving her by the wall.

"This is... an airship hanger?" She looked baffled, looking about the expansive darkness around her as if she was trying to imagine what this place looked like with lights. She lowered her rifle a bit, raising her hand out in protest of Ryanti climbing the Twelve-damned thing.

"I- I don't think that's a good-"
"Sounsyy! We might not be alone in here!"

Sounsyy pulled her rifle up into position instantly and ran full tilt towards the airship's nose even as the thumping drummed overhead.

"<Hissss.> Keep yer voice down Twelve-damnit!"

No matter where Sounsyy flashed her torchlight, she could see nothing in the darkness, but she could hear. And that thumping, it sounded like something - right? Then to her right, she caught what looked like an inky black wisp of dust slip out of her light and into the shadows. She tried to focus her light, but it was gone. Her lips parted in silent exasperation.

Did she just imagine it?

The thumping had receded and fallen silent. Sounsyy kept perfectly still in her crouched position at the nose of the airship. Her good hand was trembling slightly and she had bitten her lower lip when she noticed her own ragged breathing disturbing the musky air. There was no sound for several minutes, save for the quiet drags of air Sounsyy and Ryanti drew. Then a far distant clamor deeper into the bowels of the ship caused the captain to jump slightly. It sounded as if the ship were groaning under the pressure of a thousand fathoms of icy water. Had it all been just that? Were they truly alone?

Sounsyy stood and sighed, "This ship. It's tryin' to drive us mad."

She looked at Ryanti, but seemed to be looking past him and into the backpack he wore, where the Allagan key lay dormant. This was all its fault. Maybe Jonathan was right - it did warp minds.

"False alarm," Sounsyy whispered into the linkpearl, though she was unsure if anyone up above could hear her. She felt incredibly alone. And no longer was she sure if that was comforting or terrifying. She looked at Ryanti, "Yeh good? Let's get the Hells outta this room."

Ryanti · **08-26-2015, 04:04 AM**

Perhaps they have been walking in darkness for too long, but for the long road ahead, there was nothing but.

Ryanti was trying to keep as much of an eye on Sounsyy as he was on his own light. There was nothing in the old, decrypted hangar that he saw with his own light besides her. He did not move much on the ship, preferring to stay where he was. He had the high ground. As much as he tried to prepare himself for the possibility that they might be truly not alone on this vessel, he found that there was no way that he could rid himself of the debilitating feeling in his stomach that felt like a hot iron twisting away on his soul.

This ship had a darkness, crippling aura to it. It was not like the inventive and ethereal craft of the Allagans that Ryanti would see on the classified objects that he handled in the past. This place wasâ€¦ long abandoned, dark, and cold. There was nothing in this ship that felt welcoming so far in the least. The thought that no one knew where they were besides the small crew on the vessel troubled him. The concept that at this very moment an innocent bystander would be buying a cold beer at the Drowning Wench or a glass of wine at the Bismark while lamenting their lunch hour, would easily trouble anyoneâ€™s mind down here.

He was not prepared for this. Jonathan was supposed to be the man to guide everyone through the ship. He was a hardened veteran at this sort of thing. He knew how to let things get to him, and to do his job. Ryanti was just there to be guided into obtaining the material he needed, then escorted out. While he was thoroughly trained, he was not prepared for the psychological aspect of this. He couldnâ€™t imagine what kind of thoughts Sounsyy would be going through. He had to be strong for her.

Then a noise. A far distant clamming from deep inside the ship. Ryanti turned to face where the door on the second floor was, as that was where it came from. It sounded like a panel falling into the floor or tumbling down some stairs. It was subtle, quiet, far, but it didnâ€™t matter. Ryanti knew they would have to climb into the bowels of the ship. Deeper and deeper.

"This ship. It's tryin' to drive us mad."

â€œTell me about it.â€ Ryanti responded to Sounsyy.

While Sounsyy stared at his backpack, it made no quiet light as it did when it was time to be used at the beginning. Nor did she feel any kind of pull or memorization that she used to during the time on the Roehmerl. It was dead for the moment. As dead as this ship.

Ryanti did not look back for the moment. He was too busy glancing his eyes around and shifting his lighting slow, sweeping directions over the second floor. Tiny dust particles blew away with the wind of his calming breathe. All was silent. It could have been nothingâ€¦

Ryanti saw her whisper into her linkpearl. A sign of concern and a small, minor look of pity crossed his face. He had wanted badly to call this in too. He was unsure of himself that those words would make it to the outside, but he was sure than she was.

They probably canâ€™t hear you, Sounsyy.

But no sooner than she finished, Ryanti tried anyhow, pressing his finger into his ear. â€œWe are alright. Seems like nothing. Going to brush it off for now. Heading further inside to try to get better reception.â€

He bent down to his knees while getting off of the nose of the ancient shuttle. He briefly slid on his butt before dropping down onto his feet beside Sounsyy. He sighed a bit to relieve some tension, eyeing the braded woman with a gaze. â€œYeah. Iâ€™m good.â€

He paused for a moment, his mind briefly flashing back to her running into him by accident on the way over to where they were now. He could see the same kind of muddled breathing present now. The subtle shaking. The loneliness the fear. Perhaps she could see some of that in him too. â€œJust the same old breaking ship, and we canâ€™t let it break us.â€

He lifted up his rifle once more, and gave her a nod to reassure his words to her. He had the same look now that he had when he first raised his sword up to challenge her that one day that now seemed so long ago. He was not challenging her to combat now, no. He was challenging her to press on.

Then he raised the light up to where the door was on the second floor. The catwalk that hugged closed to the door looked relatively safe. Ish. The components that used to be accented guardrails looked like they were a bit deformed and melted a tad. It must have been directly related to the fire that consumed the center of the shuttle Ryanti had just gotten off of. Or perhaps a completely different fire that started or died out centuries or millennia removed from the fire that claimed the shuttleâ€™s innards.

â€œThis room does look like an airship hanger. I guess you could call it an airship. They remind me of Garlemaldâ€™s justâ€¦ a lot more uhh... well made. The Allagans did not need propellers or sails. They had other means. Theyâ€™reâ€¦ more than airships.â€ He murmured to Sounsyy while looking up at the guard railings, letting the subject fade. He lowered his rifle and clicked a switch upon it, turning off the rifleâ€™s torch. It did invite more darkness to surround their presence within the now dead silent ship, but it also gave him an opportunity to sling his rifle to his back.

Ryanti was preparing for something. He knelt onto his knees, looking back up at the place briefly before unzipping a zipper that rested on the actual side of the backpack, hidden from view normally. It was a compartment of the backpack that was in its own place, as it had to be for the size of the object that he contained in it. Light whistling sound of a tight fiber-like rope being pulled was heard as Ryanti whipped out fulm by fulm of climbing rope, a really skinny rope that bent easily and was very tightly woven.

â€œWellâ€¦ letâ€™s see if this works.â€ Ryanti muttered to her, forming one end of the rope into a little lasso loop. Afterwords, he stood himself up and launched the lassoâ€™s rope three times until it finally hooked onto one of the vertical railings that had lost its horizontal railing long ago. Ryanti gave it a few harsh tugs, tightening the loop around the notch with two hands before turning to the Captain with a few moments of silence. â€œIâ€™ll go first.â€

The young man pursed his lips and leapt onto the rope, immediately wrapping his legs around the material, his face looking up and his eyes constantly focusing on the top of the railing to see if it moved any. Did it become weaker because of the ancient fire or stronger? He pulled his arms downwards and slinked his legs upwards as he began to climb. So far, so good.

â€œOkay Ryantiâ€¦â€ Sounsyy might have heard him say quietly to himself as he solemnly kept climbing with a sure medium pace. It was not too long before he was quite a few fulms above her. It was a lot of cardio work to do this, so Ryanti did not rush himself, knowing that he had to at least partially save energy as he knew he was going to be working on rations. However, the Hyqoâ€™te wasnâ€™t sucking wind. His training served him well. Upon reaching the top, he hooked his arm underneath another one of the melted notches and hoisted one side of his body upon the upper neck, untangling himself from the rope and letting it seep down, Sounsyy hearing Ryantiâ€™s words in her ear via local linkpearl. -Hzzzt- Hold on. Need to clear this.â€ Followed by a heavy breathe.

Ryanti got himself up rather quickly, checking the rope briefly before taking a few steps towards the door. From the bottom, his torchlight on his chest quickly faded away, then silence. Moment after moment passed as Sounsyy was left alone for ten secondsâ€¦ twentyâ€¦ thirtyâ€¦ fortyâ€¦

At about one minute, a very distant sound was again heard from within the ship. Two singled-out groans, then many clicks of smaller groans from somewhere deep within.

A few seconds later, a light of salvation shined down from the upper deck as Ryanti clicked back on his rifle torch to add to his chest torch when he peered over the railing, his voice crackling in her ear again. â€œ-Hzzzzt- Iâ€™m here. I just I thought I heard something and I had to listen. The upper floor is clear though, youâ€™re good to climb.â€

He let the rifle down, but let the light on, shifting onto his stomach and letting his arms dangling down below, so that just in case the rail broke during her climb, he would be able to catch either the rope or the Captain herself. â€œI got you.â€ He called down to her, beckoning her to join him above.

Sounsyy · **08-30-2015, 12:08 PM**

Sounsyy kept her torchlight on and continued scanning what little she could make out of the hanger as Ryanti prepped the rope, tossed it several times, and began the climb. She half expected to hear another groan, another crash, the twisting metal railguards failing and dropping her partner to certain injury or death. But his climb was uneventful and before long he reached the catwalk. Sounsyy slung her rifle over her shoulder and grabbed the rope, but Ryanti's voice over the linkpearl gave her pause.

<Hold on. Need to clear this.>
"Sevent- No! Don't leave meh-"

But he disappeared into a doorway and Sounsyy was left alone. She could feel the darkness creeping up her back. It was breathing. Sssssss thsssss Sssssss thsssssssssss dusssssssst. Sounsyy kept her good hand on the rope as she whipped around, but there was nothing there. She could hear nothing and as soon as she realized this place was completely devoid of noise her ears began ringing loudly in her head. One more sweep of her light and her breath caught in her throat. Something had disturbed the dust. Tiny particles floated lazily upwards from where something long and slender had left soft brush strokes in the floor. Did they make that?

Then another loud groan from deep within the ship's core. The sudden noise made Sounsyy jump. Still there was no sign of Ryanti. She turned back, but the dust had settled. The captain cursed violently under her breath and pulled on the rope to test its stability. She bent her knees and sprang up onto the rope, propelling herself up a few fulms above where she would've normally been able to reach. The voice in her head was screaming at her to move, so she pulled herself up the rope in double time, reaching one hand over the next and relying heavily upon her upper body strength to keep her pace.

She had made nearly half the distance before the grip in her injured hand failed her and she slipped, dropping a fulm before her good hand caught her. She let out a frightened yelp as she dropped. Her left hand was on fire. She pulled herself into the rope, holding herself steady with her feet and with her injured hand hugging the rope to her breast. Sounsyy rested her cheek against the rope and panted. Then above her Ryanti's light returned into view.

<Iâ€™m here. I just I thought I heard something and I had to listen. The upper floor is clear though, youâ€™re good to climb.>

When he got down on his stomach, the Miqo'te light illuminated her huddled form swiveling slowly about on the rope. She gave him a cross look and resumed her climb with renewed purpose. Her hand was throbbing but her anger was far more palpable. She powered up the rope hand over hand like before, her biceps bulging under her lithe-framed wetsuit. She grabbed Ryanti's arm when she reached the top and let him pull her up and onto the catwalk.

She laid on her side panting for a moment until she saw Ryanti move to stand, which made her leap up suddenly and shove him back down to the catwalk.

"What the hells were yeh thinkin'?!" Sounsyy hissed, "Yeh brought me down 'ere fer a reason! Did yeh or didn't yeh? What if that room weren't clear?! Ye'd be up the damn Rogue without a paddle. We. Clear. Together."

She sighed heavily and shook her head. Her anger seemed to have abated for the most part. She looked down at her injured hand and flexed each of her fingers in turn. Satisfied, she pulled her rifle from around her shoulder and raised it back up to the at-the-ready position.

"All right. Let's go. And... this room better be clear."

Ryanti · **08-30-2015, 05:51 PM**

When Ryanti hovered the flashlight over Sounsyy, he could immediately identify the struggle in her face and in her muscles, but he could not neccissary figure out the source of her anger. Initially, he had attributed it to the pain she was feeling in her bad hand. The young man immediately urged in his gut for her to try to make it to him as soon as possible, so he could relieve her of the pain.

Ryanti extended one of his arms, and as soon as he was able he snatched her good arm with it. His grip upon her was very tight, immensely tight. He was utilizing all of his strength to prepare to pull her up. With a clenching of the teeth and a grunt, he snatched the latter part of her good arm with his second arm, and his entire upper body clenched as he yanked her smaller body up onto the deck with him.

Ryanti found himself rather heated and absent of breath for a moment, their bodies next to each other and gathering a brief reprieve. It was so much harder to life someone using just their upper body, he mused. With one last breath, the halfling began to stand with the intention of collecting his rifle and proceeding, but before he knew it, he found himself aggressively shoved onto the ground again before his brain could even process it.

"What the hells were yeh thinkin'?! Yeh brought me down 'ere fer a reason! Did yeh or didn't yeh? What if that room weren't clear?! Ye'd be up the damn Rogue without a paddle. We. Clear. Together."

Ryanti closed his eyes for a brief moment, sitting himself up and looking at her with the kind of glazed look in his eye that spoke volumes in the sense of being flabbergasted that she even did such a thing. He stood silent for a moment, watching her gather her rifle to a ready point and beckon them to go. As much as he was privy to let things like that slide off of his back, Ryanti, like anyone, had a line. Sounsyy had been creeping up further and further to that line. That action and remark finally stepped over the line.

The young man snapped himself up, swinging his rifle around with a great deal of speed, pacing up to her aggressively before stopping in front of her, his voice stern in warning. "FYI Sounsyy, there are exceptions to that rule. If there -was- anything up here and we were both on the ropes, we would not have cleared together, we would have died together. So the next time you're thinking of shoving me down or doing some other similar childish shite because you didn't like a decision I made, how about instead you do the adult thing and respect those decisions even if you disagree with them."

He could have sworn that none of this would happen if she just bloody trusted him. But no one trusted him, not a damn person. Except for maybe Leura. Or P'welro, if Ryanti felt bold enough to believe it. But none of them were down here. Only Sounsyy. He was beginning to wonder if he would ever be able to gain it, no matter what he did. It stung, because she was the person he wanted to trust him the most.

He turned and shined his torchlight at the door. What he could see through the small opening crevasse was a long encompassing hallway shrouded in absolute darkness. A few fixtures that used to hung above the hallway eons ago had fallen into disrepair and were now broken into pieces of glass among the floor, having fallen from the ceiling eras ago. There was a tiny hint that the hallway had doorways on the walls on occasion, but in order to investigate further, they would have to cross that door. Ryanti had shined his light across the entire hallway when Sounsyy was climbing and saw nothing, but he did not investigate the rooms yet. "I brought you down here for many reasons, and some of them include the fact that I know you can survive and take care of yourself better than anyone else on that ship. You can handle it. I know you can."

He had a silly idea to explain her anger from before. Maybe it was a funny thought in order for him to be able to finally abandon his stern emotions about the matter. Ryanti brushed himself up against the door panels, once again shifting to his side, and sliding through the panels, his backpack bending due to the panels grinding up on it, but Ryanti shoved himself through, now completely inside the hallway and shining the light throughout all of its corners, immediately noticing that there were indeed rooms to the side. They were paired in two's. Every twenty fulms of the one-hundred and twenty fulm hallway contained two rooms on each side. Some of the doors, which during Allag's heyday had been keycard accessed and automatic, were shut tight for good. Others were broken open, and some were slightly open and long broken such as the door they came in through. Ryanti waited for Sounsyy to join him.

"It's like... you're afraid of the dark or something." Ryanti murmured to her as he waited. He said it in jest, almost like it was impossible for him to believe that Captain Mirke would ever be afraid of such a thing, but that she made it look like she was. That had to be the only possibility for a woman like her in Ryanti's mind... right?

Sounsyy · **08-30-2015, 09:31 PM**

If Sounsyy's anger had cooled any after raising her rifle, Ryanti's retort brought it bubbling right back up to the surface. She met his aggressive stance unflinching, her own frame now seething, her teeth gritted as she growled at him. Her rifle lowered instinctively, but the urge to blow out one of the Miqo'te's kneecaps was powerful.

"Yeh made it to the top of the rope safe and then yeh left meh!! Yeh heard some gods-damned noise and yeh just had to go check it out on yer own! And in the time it took yeh somethin' could've gotten me in the dark cause I had no one to watch meh back while I climbed! The only childish thin' I see 'ere is yer damn need to be a hero. And yeh got a damn sight o' nerve talkin' to meh about respect. Or was that swivin' stunt yeh pulled with Sixteen what yeh call keepin' yer head down and respectin' idiotic decisions?"

Her eyes narrowed as she called him out on his tantrum. In Sounsyy's limited experience of the man, he really was just a child. Though, she did view many people in this manner - undoubtedly a product of her being thrust into an early adulthood. But she had made many hundreds of mistakes as a youth trying to be an adult and it was a danger she attributed to Ryanti.

The two stood there in opposition for another moment before Sounsyy gave up their staring contest and turned her back on Ryanti. She scanned the catwalk behind them with her torchlight, while she composed herself and suffocated the anger still welling up in her throat.

"Lead," she said flatly, still facing away from him, "We've lingered here too long."

She could feel Ryanti's eyes boring holes into her neckline for a moment before she heard the unmistakable grunts and grating of him squeezing through the half-closed doorway.

"I brought you down here for many reasons, and some of them include the fact that I know you can survive and take care of yourself better than anyone else on that ship. You can handle it. I know you can," she heard him say as he pulled his way to the other side. If yeh don't get me killed, she thought in response but said nothing aloud. She slid her backpack through the opening first and followed after Ryanti, coming out on the other side into a long hallway. She scooped up her backpack and replaced it over her shoulder.

"It's like... you're afraid of the dark or something."

Sounsyy gave him a withering glare as she moved past the Miqo'te and went over to the first pair of doors on the right. The first was sealed tightly, and Sounsyy's torchlight shimmered through the dust, seemingly giving the door a strange texture. Or perhaps that was just the door.

"What were yer first clue," she affirmed rhetorically. She kept her eyes averted from Ryanti and sidestepped over to the second door of the pair - this one had been broken open. She could not be sure whether by time or by something unnatural. She shone her light in on the small room, but the jagged shreds of the door cast odd shadows against the back wall. It made her spine tingle. She turned her back on the doorway and her torchlight shown on Ryanti.

"Scared of a lot of shite, Seventy-seven. Sure yeh are too. Right now I'm scared of this hallway... and what used to be in them rooms."

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