"Well, if all this fog was a set up for [i]that[/i], I'd appreciate it if it was removed now."

The voice of the boy replying Vera through the fog offered her some comfort. It was a reminder that she wasn't alone in that part of the forest that seemed like it was becoming more intimidating by the minute. Right at that moment, as if to back up her sentiments, shrill, creepy laughter echoed from another direction, giving her another mini-fright. She immediately reached out as she dashed back to where she had heard his voice come from, before managing to catch hold of his arm.

"Ah, there you are love," she said, before letting out a half-chuckle, half-sigh. She then tugged lightly on his wrist while moving forward towards the crossroads before letting go of him. "Hopefully the next path we choose will get us to the right place."

Vera's flashlight was directed back at the ground to ensure that they stayed on the path. This time however, part of her attention was also on the surroundings, should anything else like that water surprise attempt to catch them off guard again. There was also another part of it focused on staying close to her new companion. In such a situation, having a friendly face around was always a perk. Well, not literally, since she couldn't actually see his face in all the mist, but still...

"I doubt we're the only ones. Like, did you see how many paths that main one split into? There are probably a whole bunch of fake ones," she answered him. "And well, I don't really know if things in other parts of this place are as exciting as what happened back there, but if I wasn't loud enough to wake them, I've no idea how loud anyone would have to be."

Vera wondered how far back they'd have to go before they had a chance of successfully cutting across to another path. Then again, attempting to do that at any point would put them at a high risk of getting totally lost, especially in this mist. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if she was with someone else, but the both of them wanted to at least finish the course, didn't they? The important thing was to stick together, and they wouldn't lose each other if they kept talking.

"So... I'm Vera, by the way, and who might you be?"

[@CriticalHit]