radio414

you're not wrong; they're the good kind of same

music video has strobing and i couldn't find a video that wasn't this one so this is a warning for that

Reactions to Chris’ suggestion to keep moving were mixed. It seemed like the common thread between everyone -- at least Estellise and Sergei -- was that they needed to stop and take a breath first. Not him, though. Not Christopher Ellwood. His head was half-full of adrenaline and half-full of pride, and that’s what kept him going forward as Estellise began tending to the wounds of the rest of the party. “I’m going on ahead,” Chris said as he passed them. “I’ll give you all a shout if I see something. Or I’ll run back if I see something really bad. Or- okay. Be right back.” The cavern continued on without much incident, despite Chris having his sword drawn and a steel focus bent on sussing out any irregularity he could find. It was only when he reached the next fork that he even needed to pause to weigh his options again. The path on the right was wider, but it seemed to lean back around to the direction they all came from, which was, you know, not ideal for dungeoneering if it actually did. Meanwhile, the path on the left, while narrower, also followed the left-hand rule Lana had been so insistent on at their first crossroads, so it was clearly the obvious choice forward. He didn’t even bother consulting with the group first, either, he just went ahead and went for it. His mistake quickly became obvious, though. The further he went, the harder it became to see, and though he braved onward, the second he came across something out of the ordinary -- a square patch of ground significantly darker than the rest of the floor -- he turned around, went back to the crossroads, and, once everybody had caught up, he said, “There’s something this way. And bring some light.”

This looks like a similar problem to something talked about here -- it may be a browser problem. Though I'll also ping @Yemachu in this thread so they see it.

Estellise’s light was something Chris very much appreciated. Seeing yet another rat at the end of the tunnel, though, was very much the opposite. But not only had Estellise provided the light, she’d also sent arrows of light the rat’s way, scoring a hit on one of them. The rat was moving slower than Chris was now, and Chris didn’t intend on slowing down. As soon as the rat was in striking distance he lunged forward, sword outstretched based on his vague recollection of fencing instructions from his youth, aiming for the rat’s center of mass. He struck true, the rat squealed as the blade sunk into its side, and the shock running up Chris’ arm caused him to stumble to a halt. But the rat was still moving, and Chris’ ankles were well within reach of its gaping maw. He had to hop back to avoid it, and in his surprise, he left his sword behind, still sticking out of the creature. Chris took out a dagger. The light had all but faded, but he could still just make out the snarling beast in front of him. He had to be fast, but, thankfully, that was what he was good at. In one, two quick steps he was up close to it again, and he thrust the dagger over and over into the rat until it stopped moving. It took a moment to register, but once he had, Chris gasped for air. That was two, now. Maybe it was going to have to get easier, he thought to himself. They were barely a hallway in and he was already breathless. He’d also already gone and split the party, which, as far as he understood, was something you weren’t supposed to do. Cleaning up was a bit of a process -- his sword had been more firmly stuck in there than he had expected, but he managed, and soon he was making his way back to the rest of the group, who had dispatched the rest of them in the meantime. He tried to be nonchalant about it, but he was also acutely aware of how he was failing in that regard. So instead he just pointed forward and said, “I guess we keep going, huh?”

It was good to see everyone on the same page. Or rather, it was good to see both she and Lach were on the same page. Tricky, well, she wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing but between the actually-maybe-injured Lachlan and the only-thing-hurt-was-maybe-his-pride frog, Elsie spent quite a bit more time considering the input of the former. Also, the frog wasn’t in exactly a verbal mood outside of the occasional croak, it seemed. That was a factor too. Elsie couldn’t speak frog. Lachlan was as talkative as ever, though, and he said he was fine. Again, what a miracle! Elsie almost repeated “Wow” in a “did I hear you right?” sort of way. She did say, “Alright, well, I walk slower than I fly, so maybe you’ll be able to keep up this time,” and “If you do need anything, I think my room is on the way and I have some apothecary stuff? That could help too,” instead, though, containing her amazement into one final polite offer to help. If he didn't need it, though, she was ready to get moving. Corbin, meanwhile, caught on to a different part of Elsie's offer. He said, “I can think of a lot of things I’d trust before I trusted your your po-” and almost got the critical word out before Elsie shushed him. “It’ll be fine,” Elsie said. “Besides, it’s just in case, you know? Anyway, I actually got lost trying to find this place, but I’m pretty sure Jekyll’s office is this way. Shall we?” They didn’t walk in silence. In fact, much of it was peppered with questions from Elsie, but mostly the boring kind-of-time-wasting icebreaker questions. “Where are you from?” “If you had to pick one, would you rather not have to eat or not have to sleep?” And sure, Elsie responded to these questions as well, or as well as she could (pointing out a specific area of a forest was hard but she could still say “The forest near…” and expect that to be good enough. And the correct answer was not having to sleep) but it still didn’t make the best sort of conversation. The closest thing to an actual question Elsie asked was “How did you end up here anyway?” But even then, she didn’t even let Lachlan answer right away. “Actually,” she said, “I’ve been asking a lot of the questions. Is there anything you wanted to ask me?”

context

submitting the 2010 one though the broadway cast recording with patrick page as hades is also good