Of Earth and Sea IC 1

[Business Scrub]

Of Earth and Sea

Two men stand in a room filled with candle light, tinted red from the strange ruby coloration of the many candles. One man is quite a bit older than the other, and both stare down at a surface covered in silk, with a great many glass spheres resting in the center.
The older man picks up two of the smaller spheres from the center and seems to continue their conversation.
"And just like any strong gravity, some powers will inevitably have orbits. For instance, these two. So different, and yet so alike."
@Tereza: The move had happened quickly. In the weeks since the accident and your father's hospitalization, you mother decided the best thing for the two of you was to get away from the area. For a time, at least. And so you and her packed up your things and moved to a small town on the Virginia coast. Life has been weird for the past few days. Even though you've unpacked, it still doesn't really feel like home yet. Your mother has been working more than forty hours a week recently to make ends meet, and since you're not scheduled to start school on Monday, you have a considerable amount of free time.
And that's how you find yourself wandering the Maryland shoreline alone on a Friday afternoon. For reasons that were hard to remember, the ocean was calming. As if there was something you were supposed to do here. This wouldn't be the first time visiting the shore since moving, but it might be the most interesting.
It's almost noon when you hear it. A booming voice in your head seems to calm a headache, despite whatever concern it might give you. And though the language it speaks is not english, you have no trouble understanding it.
"So you have returned. It is good to feel your presence again Tereza."
You look around for the source, but find nothing but the sandy shore. Down the beach a ways, you see a curious group of three, about your age. You're too far away to make out much detail, but one of them seems to have stopped and scans the shore confused.

@Timothy: The anklet on your leg was annoying, but it was the only way AppGen would agree to let you roam around without an escort. Where you are, you have no idea. But the smell of salt, water, sand, and the variety of low-tide smells are such a wonderful relief from the antiseptic and metal from the halls of AppGen. It was more than enough to tell you you were at the ocean.
The amount of freedom AppGen had been giving you in the past few days was almost mind-blowing. So long as you kept the anklet on, you were free to roam as you pleased!
Coming to the beach had been Tamara's idea. While wide open spaces weren't ideal for you, the younger girl had been so emphatic, it had been hard to say no. And besides, the loose sand beneath your feet felt nice, and the lack of people meant you didn't have to hide your nose.
As you walk along, Theresa walks by your side describing the ocean.
"The ocean stretches for ever and ever. It's like... a glittering field of blue. The sun makes the edges of the waves shine white--"
"Wait, do you guys hear that?" She's interrupted by Tamara, who has stopped, looking around.
You may not hear anything, but when you stop you can smell something just a bit out of place. About a hundred yards along the shore there's someone else: the only other person on the beach for quite a distance.

[EclecticGuru]

Tereza Cassander

Tereza didn't like swimming, but she enjoyed visiting the beach nonetheless. The sand, the wind, the sun on her face. She was even a passably good surfer, and enjoyed catching waves well enough. She had brought a surfboard with her which she had left, a couple of hundred yards back down the beach, stuck down into the sand like a monolith behind her. Right now, she just wanted to walk off the headache that was lingering all day.

The voices, the whispers, the thoughts, the sea -- it was as if it was always trying to speak to her. And yet, she was always able to will it to silence, reducing the sea to a voicelessly numb, cool, comforting presence.

But it wasn't just the unspoken voice of the sea itself. Her hearing -- she could hear things, even far away things, that other people couldn't hear. Echoes, clicks, bouncing, rebounding, everywhere, always. Every since the accident. Every since she lost those weeks.

For instance, she could hear a pod of dolphins warning each other about a shark headed up along the coast, northward. The dolphins were several hundred yards out to sea, past the rolling waves and beyond sight. But their high pitched voices were clear to her, and somehow she could tell what they were saying.

She shook her head and tried not to think about it. It was probably just her imagination, wasn't it?

But then this voice ... this was more. The voice was clear, it was familiar in a way she couldn't understand. She looked for a source, but could not find any.

The only other people on the beach with her were those three teens, up ahead. Wait .. did they hear the voice too? Maybe it was real?

Tereza took a moment to look around one more time, to see if she could find the source of the voice. Or to see if she could notice anything else that might be amiss.

[roll0]
Note: In addition to normal senses, she also has Ultrahearing (high and low frequency sounds) which is radius, acute, accurate, and extended 1 (x10 range)

[Zelphas]

Timothy tries to ignore the cold metal and buzzy electric feel of the anklet, simply enjoying the smells and feel of the beach. The amount of moving life all around him is astonishing; he can feel some sort of hard-shelled creature scrabbling about to his left (hermit crabs, he thinks), next to a pool of water, a few chubby, downy things wheeling about in the air (seagulls), and even some tiny, slippery animals gliding smoothly in the water nearby (fish?). The smells only compound the sense of frenetic activity everywhere, but from the way Theresa and Tamara are acting, he guesses they found the seashore calm and still. He smiles to himself a little.

Theresa's description of the sea shows how well she knows Timothy; basic colors and shapes, the most he can see on his own. Timothy doesn't mind being essentially blind most of the time; his nose more than makes up for what his eyes lack. Sometimes, he finds himself struggling with how to explain how every morning smells like morning, even if he hasn't seen a clock yet to know what time it was, or the textural difference that could tell him what was pure steel and what was a steel alloy; English was very focused on how things looked and sounded, rather than how they smelled or felt. He doesn't know about other languages; AppGen hasn't been interested in language studies since they determined that he can't talk to moles. Still, hearing about the sea's visual beauty is nice, especially since Theresa's the one telling me. Timothy stops walking and turns bright red. Where had that thought come from?

He's spared trying to rationalize his sudden thought by Tamara's question. "I didn't hear anything," he responds, his voice already fairly deep despite his young age. Then he notices the girl standing on the beach. The long, waving tendrils that make up his nose freeze, quivering, before shooting underneath his coat. The last two pull up a clumsily-stitched scarf over the lower half of his face, obscuring it. Theresa gave me this scarf--Focus! "Umm, did thad girl ober there say something, maybe?" he mumbles, his voice sounding thick and congested from under the scarf.

[Business Scrub]

@Theresa: You hear nothing but the occasional caw of a seagull and the lapping of ocean waves. However, two things seem to catch your eye: The dolphins you hear seem to be travelling all the same way. That would not be odd save for the fact that they travel alongside a school of fish. And several solitary fish. All heading south, as if with purpose. Why? And more importantly, why could you hear it? Ever since those lost weeks your life has only gotten stranger. Were you starting to hear voices too?
The three to the south have stopped as well, talking about something.

@Timothy: At the thought of a normal person seeing you, you quickly wrap your nose tendrils in your trusty scarf. Both the girls seem surprised that there's another person on the shore. But then again, you had always been able to pick out what the others had not, and they trusted you on these things. Tamara peers towards where you point, but her eyes were murky and poorly focused. Not as bad as your sight, but unlikely she would pick up anything more than thirty yards out anyway.

"I don't think so... It knew my name. Are you sure it wasn't either of you?"
There's a brief pause, then an exasperated laugh from Theresa. "I shook my head, just so you know. I could take a look around, but I don't think that girl should see me fly. What it say?"
"Just that... it was good to see me. I don't know why, but I think it came from the ocean." Tamara had always been like that, putting a lot of faith in her hunches. It would be silly if they weren't unsettlingly accurate.

[EclecticGuru]

Tereza Cassander

Tereza looked at the three distant figures, curiously. Then she turned her gaze to the ocean again. Her head tilted to the side. She caught herself before she clicked and squeaked. Was she seriously going to ask the Dolphins what was up? She was going crazy, clearly.

Besides, they wouldn't be able to hear her very well unless she stuck her head in the water first.

How did she know that? She shook her head and focused her will on banishing such insane thoughts. Whatever happened to her following the accident ... she needed to put that behind her.

She returned her attention to the three distant figures and approached them slowly. Her plan was to play it cool, see if they ask her about the mysterious ocean voice -- she wasn't going to bring it up herself. She forced a casual smile onto her lips, but it may have looked more like an irritated squint.

She needed to practice her fake looks in the mirror. She wasn't used to hiding things from people.

[Zelphas]

"Thanks," Timothy responds to Theresa with a slight smile. He thought he had felt her head move, but the scarf made it harder to notice fine details.

"The ocean?" Timothy echoes, wincing as he finds himself unable to keep a trace of skepticism out of his voice. "Umm, Maybe id's a side effecd," he continues quickly, trying to sound encouraging. "Like my earth powers. AbbGen never led us go do the ocean before, so maybe..."

He breaks off as he feels the other girl come closer. "Uh...shudd we say hi?" he whispers to Theresa and Tamara. He almost raises a tendril to wave, but catches himself at the last moment and uses one of his massive hands, the motion awkward and ungainly.

[Business Scrub]

@Tereza: You put on a fake smile and walk over to the other three. Man, making friends was so much easier when they were on your team, not just out in the open like this. What were you even supposed to say? "Hi, I've been hearing voices. Have you been hearing voices too?"

The three before you are a curious looking lot. It may be October, but they were all quite heavily bundled up. Maybe they're from down South? The boy has a hand-knit scarf around the bottom half of his face, and his hands are oddly large for his size, which you notice when he waves to you. Judging from the look of his eyes, he's probably blind. Of the two girls, the older one seems more normal. She wears a fleece coat despite the weather, and there's something unnerving about her eyes. Her arms and legs are a bit gangly, but other than that she seems normal.
The younger girl wears a dark red hoodie, which wouldn't be so strange except that it's about three sizes too large. The arms entirely cover her hands, and she wears the hood up, as if shielding herself from the sun.

The older girl is about to speak when the booming voice returns.
"I need to speak with you Tereza. But not here. You have questions; I have answers. Follow the ocean: find me." The voice is calming and seems very confident. And strange as it is to be in your head, it has no control over you: you could simply walk away if you wished.
The older girl looks at her friend in concern, since the younger is holding the floppy arms of the hoodie up to the sides of her head.
"Tamara, are you okay?"

[EclecticGuru]

Tereza Cassander

It's like the dreams, but Tereza was awake. She let the fake smile drop, and looked in the direction of the ocean again. Then she looked at the three of them. It was obvious that two of them weren't hearing anything. But maybe the third one of them was hearing it too?

Maybe two of the five people here were crazy.

But the same kind of crazy?

What were the odds?

"Hey, what's up." She tried not to stare at them. But they were really weird. Freakishly weird? Was that mean of her? She didn't want to get all mean girl on them. But weird. Yes. Weird.

That was the pot calling the kettle black, though, wasn't it?

Tereza frowned inwardly.

[Zelphas]

"Tamara, are you okay? Did you hear something again?" Timothy mumbles to her, trying to ask her without letting the other girl know he was speaking. "Uhh, hi," he says in a normal speaking voice, facing vaguely in Tereza's direction. "Well, the sky is...oh, you didn'd mean lidderally up...uh..." Timothy flounders, his social skills decidedly underdeveloped except with his lab-mates.

[EclecticGuru]

Tereza Cassander

Tereza smiled weakly at Timothy's muttering response. He seemed even more uncomfortable than she did, and that gave her some confidence. When you've got an advantage, you need to press it. If there's one thing Tereza knew, it was how to win.

"Tamara was it? I'm Tereza. Nice to meet you all. I just moved here. I'm kinda new. What's this about hearing things?"

She shifted her weight lightly from foot to foot. Even at her most relaxed, Tereza was like a coiled spring. And she was not particularly relaxed at the moment.

[Business Scrub]

Tamara slinks back a bit, not necessarily uncomfortable, but content to eye you curiously while someone else talked.

Will save please

"Tereza huh? I guess it's a small world: me too." The older girl, Theresa, smiles more cordially and extends her hand.

"We just... moved here as well. I'm not sure how long we're staying though. Do you live here, then?" She winces, realizing the question sounded stupider out loud.
"Live around here, I mean." She hurriedly backpedals. "Haha, you don't live here here... do you?"
She noticeably avoids the second part of your question.

[EclecticGuru]

Will Save: [roll0]

"Oh, wow. Yeah. We're like twinsies." She smiled a bit. Her hand clenched and unclenched. There was definitely something off about these kids. She wondered if they were from the circus or something ... how mean was that? She half-winced at her own thoughts.

"No, we have an apartment. Not far from here." A brief pause, and then, "How about you?"

[Zelphas]

"We're...I don'd think we're--I mean, we're nod from around here either," Timothy responds quickly. "We're on...vacation?"

Will Save: [roll0]

[Business Scrub]

Theresa is quick to jump on Timothy's suggestion.
"Yes! That! We're on vacation! Visiting the beach."

Tamara finally speaks up curiously.
"Timothy, what's a circus?"

[EclecticGuru]

Tereza Cassander

"Didn't you say you just moved here too?" Tereza was confused, just slightly. This was odd, surreal. She blinked and wondered if she was asleep and this was a dream. Then there was the whole circus issue. Was she right about them? Were they putting one over on her?

[Zelphas]

"Umm..." Timothy says, scrambling to figure out what to say to Tereza, before he simply gives up. None of them were good at lying, so they were bound to be found out eventually.

Instead, he turns to Tamara. "A circus? Uh, I think Dr. Piersen mentioned...yeah, he mentioned something about a circus. I think id's a...kind of a pardy...bud id's also a show...and there's something aboud the people who work there being...sdrange? I don'd know thad much, really."

[Business Scrub]

Tamara nods, seeming to understand.
"I see. Wait... hey!"
She puts her floppy hoodie arms on her hips and looks at Tereza, shooting her an offended gaze. She seems to let it go, however, and answers your earlier question.
"I heard someone talk to me, even though I can't see him. Which is odd, even for me."

[EclecticGuru]

Tereza Cassander

"You heard someone talk to you?" All the circus talk, and dodging her question about them living here, and also just visiting on vacation ... it was forgotten, this was what she wanted to know.

"Like a magic voice or something? What did it say?" Tereza drew her lower lip between her teeth and nibbled on it, hinting at her anxiousness.

[Business Scrub]

"Well... yes. I'm not sure it was magic though. Isn't that just for silly kids stories? He told me he needed my help." She puffs herself up importantly, then gives you another curious look. "Why are you so interested though? I thought you thought we were circus freaks."

Theresa looks between the two other girls, clearly confused. "Um, what? Did I miss something?"

[EclecticGuru]

"Circus freaks, what? No. Why would I think that?" Am I losing it, Tereza thought to herself, this whole situation is super weird -- was she saying what she was thinking out loud -- or was she just THAT obvious. Maybe I should make a run for it.

Her eyes turned slightly to the sea.

Or swim. I could just swim out there and never come .... no, belay that thought, girl. She felt a chill run up her spine.

She looked back to the circus ... no, not freaks. The odd but friendly kids. That's better. Odd but friendly. Her jaw clenched just slightly.

[Zelphas]

"He?" Timothy answers Tamara, choosing to ignore the 'circus freaks' discussion for now. He looks vaguely towards Theresa and smiles. "I think I'm as losd as you are. Id sounds lige... Damara, did you jusd read her mind?" Timothy asks, following the conversation to one possible conclusion. He doesn't seem shocked or scared; mostly, he sounds intrigued. "How long have you been able do do thad?"

[Business Scrub]

Tamara looks back and forth like a child with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Umm... No..? It was only a little!" Clearly this girl has been sitting on something big. She deflects the rest of the accusation.
"Anyway! You didn't just come over here to chat, did you Tereza? And since that voice is like, the only interesting thing that has happened in a while, I'm guessing you heard it too?"

Theresa looks like she wants to say something, but holds her tongue, waiting for the back and forth between the other two girls to play out first.

[EclecticGuru]

Mind reading was a charlatan trick, a circus trick ... it only fed into what Tereza suspected. And yet the voice. Some sort of mass hysteria? She knew it was real, knew it deep down, but her mind struggled against the truth -- a struggle intensified by the strange, yes freakish, nature of Tim, Tamara, and Theresa.

Tereza wasn't a freak. SHE MOST CERTAINLY WAS NOT.

"Listen. Whatever your game is, I'm not playing. Is this some kind of con? I don't have any money or anything. You're wasting your time." The way her fists were clenched at her side, and her arms shook, it was clear that this whole situation had her on the edge, and then some. Tereza was starting to feel so turned upside down that she might cry. But she was too tough to show it.

[Business Scrub]

Tamara casts an offended look.

"Excuse me? What makes you think we're cons? And for the record, you came over to us. So the only waste of time I see here is--"

"Guys!" Theresa yells out, exasperated. "Can we not fight? We practically just met. Why don't we just... Timothy, help?"

[Zelphas]

Timothy shakes his head at Theresa, bewildered. Help? She was the good one at social situations. He was part mole, for goodness' sake! They weren't social!

Then again...Theresa is asking for his help. There's no way he's going to let her down. So he sighs, and does the only thing he can think of to do.

Timothy steps forward towards Tereza, holding out one massive hand. "Hi. We god off on the wrong fud. I'm Dimothy, and these are my friends Theresa and Damara. We're not from around here, and I guess we're a liddle sdrange, bud we're people doo and we jusd wand do ged along with other people. How are you?"

[EclecticGuru]

Tereza looked at the massive hand. He was like some sort of flipper-boy or monster-handed freak from the circus, she was sure now. She swallowed and then slowly put her hand into Timothy's hand. Oh god, is that fur or is he just a little hairy for a teenager? She couldn't tell. Her imagination went wild, and she swallowed heavily again.

"Tereza. Nice to meet you." She withdrew her hand a little too quickly. And tried not to make it obvious when she rubbed it off on her hip following the shake.

"Uh. So yeah." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them again. "Yeah. I heard the voice too." After a pause, she said. "You guys better not be pulling some sort of trick on me. Because if you are .... " She left the possibilities unspoken. But she was a pretty tough looking young lady.

[Business Scrub]

Theresa lets out a sigh of relief. "I promise you we're not. We... just don't get out much. What's all this about hearing voices though?"

Tamara finally drops her gaze and looks back at the ocean. "I don't really know. He said to come find him but when I asked, he just said that you would know the way." She says the last bit to Tereza.

For reference, Theresa is somewhere between 16/17, and Tamara is considerably younger, about 14.

[EclecticGuru]

"Follow the ocean. South." Tereza frowned inwardly. "You better not be tricking me." Her brow furrowed deeply. "I'm going to head that way, and see what's going on. I'll let you know if I find anything."

She told them her plans, since she thought that there was no way they'd be able to keep up with her, what with their misshaped limbs and general creepy demeanors. I mean, they're certainly worthy of a bit of underestimation, don't you think?

She ran along the edge of the water, on the part of the sand that is still wet, so its a bit harder and easier to run on. She ran south, and she ran pretty fast. Nothing superhuman or anything though. Just state competition cross-country type speeds.

[Zelphas]

"We're nod," Timothy replies, noticing her reaction to his hand and sighing once more. "Waid--" he says, before she just takes off down the sand.

Timothy shakes his head. "South, then," he says uncertainly. He looks in the general direction of the ocean, and then up towards the sky, and then wiggles the stiff fingers on his hands. "Should we, uh...catch up?"

[Business Scrub]

@Timothy: You hear Tereza run off down the beach, her scent fading away rapidly. There's a brief moment were you and Theresa stand uncertainly, but Tamara's voice breaks the silence.

"Well I'm not going to just stand here. Keep up!" Despite what she says, she's not the fastest runner, and makes her way pretty haphazardly, her feet slipping across the sand. You here Theresa run off after her a second later. "Tamara, wait!"

@Tereza: Even if your run yielded nothing, it was a good excuse to put some distance between yourself and those three. Looking back, you see Tamara running after you, but she's not as fast: not by half.

Soon you hear the clamor and click of all kinds of ocean life not far from the shore. It seems they had been gathering just a few dozen yards out for... something. It doesn't take a scientist to figure out that the animals are behaving strangely. Dolphins, all manner of fish, even a whale further out. They all stew around as if looking for something.
Then you see it: perhaps a hundred yards down the shore there lies a great hole in the sand, as if a sinkhole had suddenly caved in. The hole in the beach is big enough to drop a car down, and even from this distance you can see it's pitch black down there. The hole must be recent, since water cascades quickly down the side into it with a noisy splash.

[Zelphas]

"Thad's nod whad I--ugh!" Timothy pulls down his scarf, letting his nose fan out freely. "Tamara, don't run; swim towards her, you're faster in the water. Just stop before you get to her and come back to shore. Theresa, fly to her, and do the same thing." He quickly uses his nose to strip off his gloves, flexing his furry, claw-tipped fingers. "I'll meet you both there."

Digging into the soft, moveable sand is almost effortless for the young mole boy; he shoots through the ground at almost unbelievable speed, his nose tendrils fanning out and directing his movement through the sandy earth. Timothy passes Tereza a few seconds after she began running; the most she would feel was a slight tremor in the ground.

He senses the hole in the sand and slows, stopping fully about ten meters away from the hole with his tendrils twitching wildly. Then he backtracks, making sure he is well behind the running girl before burrowing out of the ground in a small shower of sand. He brushes himself off as well he could and replaces his gloves and scarf before walking towards Tereza, announcing his presence with a muffled "Hey. Whad is thad, do you think?"

Timothy has Burrowing 12; he can move 1/2 a mile per round.

Perception (feeling and smell) on the hole in the sand: [roll0]

[EclecticGuru]

Tereza saw the sinkhole and she came to a careful stop at a safe distance. She didn't want to risk falling in.

She was distracted by all the clicking and squeaking and didn't notice Timothy's subterranean trickery, nor the chosen motive methods of his circus-style girlfriends.

"That doesn't seem right." She said, mostly to herself, about the big sink hole. What was down there?

She started to approach it, slowly and carefully, in the hopes of not disturbing the earth around it, because she didn't want to cause a cave in or anything. But she also wanted to get a look. It was reckless, for sure, but since the accident, Tereza had a bit of a survivor deathwish thing going.

[Business Scrub]

@Timothy: The inside of the hole smells... old. Not necessarily bad, like water and life that has been standing there for quite some time. The scent of salt from the ocean is of course undeniable as well: you imagine it might be like what the bottom of the ocean smells like.
Your nose tendrils judge the texture below... It's quite cold down there and rocky. However the bottom of the hole extends beyond your smell and tactile senses.

@Tereza: Staying a prudent distance from the edge, you peer down inside it. The light coming in is enough to illuminate a small area at the bottom. Many feet down, too many to judge accurately, you see dark water lapping up against the rocky sides. It seems to be some kind of underground reservoir, probably water leaking in from the ocean.

[EclecticGuru]

"Looks like a long drop." Tereza noted from her perch, as she craned her neck to get a better look. "This is really dangerous. But ... there's more to it than that."

Tereza looked out to the ocean, where all the marine life was stirring about, upset about something. It was all connected obviously. Maybe literally. Underground. Water. Underground water.

"Is this what you wanted me to see?" Tereza obviously decided the whole thing was crazy enough that she might as well embrace the crazy, and talk back to the disembodied voice that had spoken to her. "This sinkhole? Are you down there or something? And why is the ocean all upset by this? It doesn't seem like a good thing to me."

[Business Scrub]

@Tereza: Deciding to embrace the crazy, you shout into the hole for answers. Much to your surprise, you get a response. This time it's not in your mind, but rather out loud.

@Timothy: You hear the booming voice as well, And can't help but be unsettled by it. It shakes the ground at your feet and you can feel it just as well as you can hear it.

"The ocean is upset because I should not be here, Tereza. It is not the way of things."

The voice, saying that phrase, rings such an alarming bell for Tereza: This is not the way of things. She had heard that before. But where?

"But nothing is the way of things right now. I am but a small, necessary wrinkle in an entirely unnecessary crease. You two are the iron."

[Zelphas]

"Uh..." Timothy responds, dumbfounded. Believing that other people could hear voices in their head is one thing. Hearing what seems to be the same voice coming out of a hole in the ground is something else entirely.

"Uh..." he repeats, shaking his head to clear it. Could you be more specific, maybe? Who are you? Whad are you saying thad we're supposed do do?"

[EclecticGuru]

"It is not the way of things ..." Tereza muttered quietly to herself. What did that mean, and why was it so familiar to her.

"A crease. And we're the iron." That didn't sound good. Not for the crease anyway. Of course, if something needed to be set right, it needed to be set right. It was the way of ...

... things.

She squinted, and pursed her lips, directing her stern expression inward.

[Business Scrub]

At Timothy's comment, a great booming laugh comes from the hole in the beach: enough to shake the sand you two stand on to an unsettling degree.

"Oh ho, if ever I was worried I had found the wrong person, you have assuaged those fears Earthkin. As you wish: let us do away with the metaphor for a time. I have much and more to tell you, but not until all four of you return. That is the first task I grant to you: find your counterparts. They are looking for you as well, even if they do not know it yet. For you this task is harder Earthkin: you will keep tripping over your shackles until you break them.

"What I have to say must wait for all of you, but it cannot wait long."

@Timothy: In the distance, you can smell Theresa and Tamara getting closer, but they're still ways away and moving at a regular walking pace.

[Zelphas]

"Hmm..." Timothy replies, choosing to continue ignoring the fact that he is talking to a hole in the ground in favor of seeing where this goes. Even with his exceedingly limited interaction with the outside world, he knows that this is weird; nonetheless, at least it's interesting. "Shackgles? Whad--oh, for--" the scarf hiding his nose and mouth wobbles strangely, before falling still once more. "I'll, um, go ged Dheresa and Damara; maybe they're some of these, uh, counderpards;" he says, before promptly diving underground in a shower of sand. Things are weird enough already; this Tereza girl was bound to discover his little secret sooner or later. At least he makes sure none of the sand hits her as he digs.

A few moments later, Timothy resurfaces in front of Theresa and Tamara, his scarf down and his nose tendrils waving freely. "I think I found the source of your voice, Tamara," he says as soon as he shakes himself off. "It's, um... hard to explain, really. Well, not really, but it would sound really silly if I said it out loud... oh, I'll just show you. It's right up here, just a little farther."

[EclecticGuru]

Tereza furrowed her brow as she witnessed Timothy do his thing. These circus people weren't just freaks, they were super-powered mutants? Something about that disturbed her on some deep level. She didn't know any super-powered people, she thought they were all terrible mistakes of nature or ... accidents.

Accidents.

She put two fingers against her temple and messaged it in a slow comforting circular motion.

She wasn't going crazy, this was all really happening. Everything. All of it. As much as she wished it hadn't happened. It did. And was.

"I'm thinking maybe you should go back to where ever it was you came from." She said to the mysterious voice coming from the scary sinkhole. "If you don't belong here, then go."

[Business Scrub]

@Timothy: You burrow your way at rapid speeds towards the others.

Theresa keeps pace with the youngest. "It can't be sillier than anything we've seen before, right? Tamara, come on..."

Tamara seems to be taking her sweet time. "Uuum, yeah. Let's go..." She sounds quite hesitant all of the sudden.

Insight check

@Tereza: Though he doesn't actually sigh, you can here restrained disappointment in the voice of the creature below.
"What is it that drives you to spurn me Tereza? Is it anger? Apprehension? Fear? No, if you were fearful you would never have climbed atop that tower, would you?"

[Business Scrub]

@Timothy: You've known Tamara long enough to read her like a book. Not to mention she's not exactly the hardest book to read.
She's purposely stalling, for some reason. She seems perfectly content to take forever making her way across the beach.

[EclecticGuru]

"What? Afraid? Oh no, you're right. I'm not afraid of you." Tereza clenched her fists slightly and took a slightly sideways stance, it was a defiant stance if ever there was one. "In fact, I'm trying to decide if I want to jump down in that evil sinkhole and punch you in the face a couple of times. You're a mysterious psychic force cloaked in darkness at the bottom of a dark pit. You admit you don't belong here, that you're a wrinkle, and I'm the iron. Even the ocean itself is upset about you being here."

She was poised on the very edge of the sinkhole now.

"I don't know what you know about the accident I was in, but you better start talking before I make up my mind about whether or not I'm going to come down there and knock you back to wherever it was you came from."

[Zelphas]

Timothy stops and gives Tamara a closer look. "Um, are you doing okay, Tam? What's wrong?"

[Business Scrub]

@Timothy: You can tell Tamara is shifting back and forth uncomfortably.

"This was just a stupid idea. What if it's dangerous? We should just go back to AppGen, they're going to call us back soon anyway."

She glances down at her anklet, as if expecting the light on it to turn red soon.