1x1 with quillinx

[inactive20000009]

Asperity

Perrine restrained a sigh at the other viscet's vague answer. Yes, I think? Well, that's helpful. It was almost as if this was a dream, and this viscet too was a figment of her imagination, and her brain was determined to confuse her as much as possible without actually telling a lie. Or I suppose my whole life could be a dream and the waking world could be filled with pink dandelions and blue rhinoceros. That way lies madness. Better to assume that wherever you are is real and can hurt you -- theorizing on the actual nature of this place will do no good right now.

"My name is Asperity," she introduced herself, realizing that in the initial chaos of their first meeting she'd forgotten to extend the formality. "I live in the second thalassic province. I research and study life under the sea." Certainly it was too much to hope that this viscet might have heard of her work and thus lend her a little more legitimacy -- she wasn't yet known in the best scientific circles, and could barely get published as it was -- but a quick description of her lifestyle seemed in order all the same. "And you might be...? What's your name?"

[Lillybear]

Riddle

"Asperity," Riddle repeated, liking how it rolled off his tongue.

It seemed as if a weight had been lifted off his chest after hearing this.
At least he wasn't alone.

"They call me a lot of things, Asperity," he said, lifting himself up.
He extended a paw down to her, offering to help her up. "You said you lived in the sea?"

[inactive20000009]

Asperity

Perrine rolled her eyes -- obvious diversion there, kiddo -- but allowed the other to help her to her feet nonetheless. Once standing, she could see that she stood just a little bit shorter than he did. The size disparity made her a little nervous -- in terms of raw physical ability, she was truly unsure of her standing against him, as she had sensed the power in his limbs from their brief encounter on the grass. And while her wits were normally a greater asset than her strength in a fight, she realized that she couldn't yet make any firm conclusions on this viscet's intelligence or mental capability, only having known him for a short while. And in that short while, he hasn't shown any obvious signs of glaring stupidity, so for now I'll have to keep my guard up... A part of her rebelled against showing such caution against who she hoped could become her new ally in this mysterious place, but her commonsense half knew that she couldn't yet rely on this stranger's cooperation.

"You could say that," she replied, thinking back on her lifestyle of constantly dipping in and out of the ocean to take notes on her findings -- sadly, there hadn't yet been invented a way to take notes underwater. "Like others of our species, of course, my home is on land, but I do spend a good deal of time under the water -- more than most, certainly." She had no problem with sharing some friendly information about her life, especially if it helped establish her nonviolent feelings towards the other, but now she felt that if she had volunteered knowledge about her own life, it deserved a fair trade from him in turn. "So what am I to call you, then, Mr. A Lot Of Things?" she inquired. Hidden in the seemingly innocuous question was another; so, are we to be calling each other anything at all in the near future, or will we part ways now?

[Lillybear]

Riddle

Riddle listened to what Asperity had to say with great interest.
He'd never met a Viscet quite like her before. "Don't you have a pack?" he asked.

He assumed most Viscets did, but he had heard about those trained by humans
- perhaps she'd picked up their intelligence? He'd certainly be no match for her
if she had. She'd be able to outwit him into anything. But she could be useful for
his journey ahead.. Yet again, he ignored her question, waiting more more answers.

[inactive20000009]

Asperity

"A pack?" Perrine paused to consider it. She did have a group of viscets with whom she collaborated with, shared her findings with -- a research team, if you will -- but a pack, no. "I work better alone," she asserted, flicking her tail. "Do you have a pack?" His question brought new meaning to his plight -- perhaps he had a pack, a family, and they were right now missing him and wondering where he'd got off to. She, on the other hand, had nobody who would note her absence for several days, if at all -- her only close relation, her sister, was also a traveler and explorer of many parts, and it might be months before Amelia chanced to visit in upon Perrine's territory and see that she was gone. The thought sent an unexpected pang through her. Who knew if she would ever see any of them again? Her beloved sister Amelia... Noelle, Jasper, the viscets she'd grown fond of after making her permanent home in the second thalassic... even that infuriating Zephyr she might miss, if she could never see his annoyingly brash face again.

Distracted by this sudden wave of sentimentality, Perrine forgot to question the other viscet more thoroughly upon his name, although later she would be sure to remember it and ask again. She looked back at the other viscet with renewed determination. She would find out where this place was, and escape it alive-- no matter what dangers awaited her within, she would have to survive, in order to get back to her unfinished work and those she cared for. And if she could gain an ally on her quest, surely that would be a step in the right direction...

"For now, I propose that we travel together," she said, turning once more to the other viscet. "Obviously, this place is an unknown variable-- it would be best to present a united front. I'm sure both of us share the same goal-- to find our way back home-- so I think it would be best if we worked together, at least for now. What do you think?" Whatever complications the other viscet might present, if they were to form a team... the unappealing prospect of journeying into that threatening mist without anyone at her side outweighed them.

[Lillybear]

Riddle

"I do. I have family and friends who care for me greatly, and my sister."

He couldn't possibly imagine a life without others to care for each other,
and he was surprised that she didn't even seem to care. But he was still so
intrigued by her strange, unfamiliar underwater life.

"Of course," he said after hearing her proposal.
She's quite smart, I like that, he thought to himself.

This is going to be an interesting journey.

[inactive20000009]

Asperity

So he does have a pack... friends and family... a sister, just like me. Perrine didn't know what to say -- sympathetic words seemed out of place somehow, so she kept her muzzle shut. Her assumption that this stranger, too, had a strong motivation to escape from this place was bolstered by this knowledge, and she took comfort from it. He has just as much motive as I do to cooperate. ...Unless, of course, he's lying. One must, of course, always take that into consideration. Nevertheless, he didn't seem to be lying-- he wasn't showing any tells, and his eyes were quite sincere as he spoke briefly about the life he left behind, so she made a cautious decision that his word could be trusted for now. Either way, even if -- for whatever reason -- he was lying, she couldn't do much about that now.

"All right, I'm glad we're agreed," she said, looking around once again at her surroundings, almost as if expecting the mist to have cleared or something else to have appeared, now that her circumstances had changed so dramatically from being alone to having acquired a traveling companion. However, the fog was still as dense as ever, drifting around them and obscuring all detail, giving Perrine the uneasy feeling that the two of them were stuck in limbo. Suddenly, she felt the overwhelming urge to move on from this place, that if they stayed in this unsure place for too long they'd... what? disappear? be lost forever? become part of the indistinct trees? She wasn't quite sure, and she didn't want to linger and find out.

"Which direction do you think we should go?" She posed the question to her companion, as their surroundings were pretty much ambiguous whichever way she turned.

[Lillybear]

Riddle

"Which direction do you think we should go?"

Riddle turned his head away from Asperity for a moment.
He tilted his head in each direction, considering his options.
Nothing seemed to change with each glance.

"This is really a riddle," he mumbled under his breath.

[inactive20000009]

Asperity

Perrine watched no-namer boy as he turned this way and that, muttering under his breath as he tried to decide how to answer her question. For her part, she'd been expecting him to just pick a random direction and go with it-- it's what she would have done, she'd only asked out of the spirit of newfound cooperation, really -- but apparently he was the indecisive type. She heard him mutter under his breath, "This is really a riddle," and discreetly rolled her eyes, also turning round to look again at the amorphous fog. Not one for straight answers, eh? Wouldn't even tell me his name...

She had to admit, though, that when it came down to actually trying to find justification for any given direction, it really was a dilemma, what with the thick fog and nothing but vague tree-ish outlines in every direction she looked. She couldn't see what they could do, besides keep staring into the nothingness like a fool, and was just about to suggest that maybe they just walk in a random direction when--

"Look!" The word burst out of her before she could stop herself, and she turned to her companion, pointing at the strange shape that had appeared in the fog. Even as it became clearer, she saw that it wasn't so much the shape that was coming closer, but the fog that was clearing away, allowing them to finally see it-- it was, she realized, a sort of dark tunnel.

Wheeling around, she gasped, as she saw that to her right and left two more pathways had revealed themselves out of the mist-- one of them a dark forest, a narrow road winding into the trees, and on the other side a towering wall of stone with a thin crack running like a valley into the distance; it was just large enough for two medium-sized viscets to squeeze through.


Below, across, or between,
You must choose: which path to take?
One holds danger which cannot be seen,
yet all three hold much at stake.
Two of these are not as they seem,
and should you make just one mistake,

...your quest may be over before it begins.


It... really is a riddle, Perrine realized in horror, turning around to look back at the gaping cave; it was true, there was no other way to escape from the spot they were in now than to take one of these pathways. What could have triggered this...?! The forest's trees extended in a tight circle around them on one side; on the other, the high walls of the cliff stretched supernaturally high; on the third, the stony entrance to the cave seemed to expand until that entire stretch of earth seemed to obliterate the mist-gray sky altogether.

"H-hey... what should we do...?"

[Lillybear]

Riddle

"Look!"

Riddle's full attention averted to Asperity, and then to the tip of her claw and beyond.
To his utter shock, as the fog began to fade away, three - were those caves? - appeared.

"H-hey... what should we do...?"

He glanced over to her, a look of concern in his eyes.
He could tell she was worried, not knowing what to do.

Suddenly, something behind her caught his eye, and without explanation he walked over.
As he got closer, he could tell it was a sign - but what it said made him gasp and tumble back.


Below, across, or between,
You must choose: which path to take?
One holds danger which cannot be seen,
yet all three hold much at stake.
Two of these are not as they seem,
and should you make just one mistake,

...your quest may be over before it begins.


"Look," he manged to say, and gave a wide-eyed look back at Asperity.
Without a doubt his mind told him that whoever had brought them here had wrote this.