[h1][center][color=crimson] Diana Schwarzwald [/color][/center][/h1] [center] Academy Grounds; Underground [i][b][s]Fixing this post at 2:30 am and half asleep[/s][/b][/i][/center] [@Zelosse][@Kalleth] [hr] After having made her way down the stairs, the intial geyser going off had forced her to jump behind a stalagmite just like with the others. And considering that she had come down here and seen the Ice Princess and other water users she recognized as such, it was perhaps safe to say that Fire and Ice and Water were allocated to this place from the looks of things. Heat, water, and if she had any guess there might be ice involved in this. Lovely, just lovely. The red-haired German elementalist closed her eyes for a moment, stretching out her power to feel for the gathering heat of geyser eruptions below the ground. Since there were openings into this place, it would perhaps be safer and easier to do that, than try to run at it blindly. She took about thirty seconds to gague the movement of the greater sources of heat below, from where the geysers were erupting. And to be truthful, she felt a sort of pattern about it, like the geyser wasn't just erupting at random times. So with that in mind... Keeping her powers aimed at sensing the movement of heat pockets, that would be the geysers shooting up when it happened, Diana began to swiftly sprint from stalagmite to stalagmite, waiting for each geyser to erupt before she took her time to move by. It was a little slower than the Ice Princess' method, albeit Diana didn't really know this since they were not doing this all at the same time, but still it was getting herself past the obstacles and onwards to whatever would come next in what the teen deemed to be a "safely cautious" manner of moving past this. Her natural stamina and endurance was a needed thing in doing this, as well as her powers being used to get the timing right to make the most progess as quickly as she could with the other stuff in mind. Though whilst the heat didn't bother her at all, the impact form the geyser was what she feared most. One of those could sling her around like she was a rag doll, and the thought of cracking her skull open on the rock and sharp stalagmites/stalactites was a scary thought indeed. Several times she had close-calls with the geysers that left her shit and pants (provided to her by the fire teacher before the second part started thankfully) very much drenched in water from the backblow of the hot water on the walls. However, she didn't stop to dry herself off, not with the humid air and constant water popping up. It would be a waste, and she had to use her power to keep tracks of the geysers as best as she could, and as she progressed past them she began to get better and better about the timing of them in the process, learning about the landscape as she could at any rate to get past this part. Eventually Diana found her way past the section of geysers, not having been thrown around at least in the process, but having used her power to try to hasten her progress as much as she could through the area. A struggle indeed, but one she had managed to somehow overcome to this point. She was only slightly shaky from the intense physical activity and focus, having actually been sweating at this point from that alone, but overall was not worse for the wear as a whole. [hr] [h1][center][color=gold] Leanne Hillcrest [/color][/center][/h1] [@Zelosse][@Kalleth] [b][center][i]Academy Grounds; Underground[/i][/center][/b] [hr] [quote][color=blue][u][i][b][h2]It is a curse to wield this element.[/h2][/b][/i][/u][/color][/quote] As she had recovered herself, gotten down back in her hole, and taken the last bit of time from the first part to get ready for the next part of the test. Yet even as she did this, Leanne felt those harsh and condemning words echo aloud in her head. And they...enraged her to not end. She had summed the strength to use her element, to try to feel like the others around her who would do as they please to "show off" and use their element. For once she had taken to heart some more of her grandmother's sage advice, forgotten the fear she had felt in the past about her element and actually made the effort to use it. And yet...some voice that seemed to mock her grandmother's own voice had deigned to talk to her cut into her very soul...the most private parts of her mind. It had shaken her to the core, and Headmaster Kano had followed that up, perhaps unknowing of what she had heard, and blasted her as if to remind her that her element was "no good", that "it was a curse only". Perhaps he was...just trying to help her. Keep her from some unknown terrible fate that lied in the shadows, the sort of things seen in an RPG of some kind that was made in Japan and wasn't revealed until it was "too late". He had been so kind as to bring her, and other Darkness users, here to the Academy. To teach them about controlling their element, when no others would likely be able to do so without fear of death. It could all easily be seen as a chance, a great act of mercy that had even brought her here to be able to learn something at all in the first place. And yet.... WHYWHYWHY?! Why was it called a curse? What was the history of it that no one was telling her, that had made things so bad...so terribly bad that just because of it she was always feeling like a stranger and unwanted nuisance in her own home?! Her parents said they loved her, but couldn't stand the sight of her so much she had to go to her grandmother's place most of the time! Would the Headmaster even be willing to tell her what was going on....even if he seemed to be wanting to help her and the other darkness users here, what was the real purpose of having them there at the Academy? Why were they included among the others, even when around the world other Elementalists would loathe her existence or perhaps try to kill her for this thing she was born with?! Even at the Academy, some of the faceless crowd had already begun to look down on her, curse her name under their breath, just for her element alone after the earlier incident!!! Leanne huffed as the path to the next part of the test opened up, doing so under her breath as she tried to use a calming breathing trick she had been taught a time ago....by her grandmother once again. It was hard to really understand if she hadn't a clue about things. Maybe if she knew the reason why Darkness was so badly rejected and despised beyond all else, she'd at least have something to better understand Headmaster Kano to some degree if naught else. It would be better than [u][i][b][color=gold]nothing at all[/color][/b][/i][/u], she supposed. So gathering herself up, picking up the current pieces and at least attempting to push her frustrations and incited emotions to the side, she walked down the straits into the dark depths of the earth. Though as she passed the wisteria vines, she found herself sightly in awe at the sight before her. A few shafts of light from the ceiling, accompanied with glowing plants lit up the cavern area in a somewhat surreal manner, whilst the flowers and plants' lovely odor filling the air with a sweet aroma that for a second removed her from her prior train of thought (but didn't remove those other thoughts at all). Not because she was easily distracted, but because it was a better feeling than the ones she was trying to get a grip over at the moment. Returning to the visible game path before her, Leanne moved down it carefully, watching out for anything that might seem suspicious about this place. She did her best to not breath in too much of the plants' odor, just in case they had some funky kind of pollen or spores going on around in this place that could inhibit her. She even pulled her shirt over her nose and mouth, using it as a rudimentary "gas mask" to try to help things just to be on the safe side. As the game trail began to thin out, however, and a wall of thorny vines covering roots before her, ominously swaying vines coming down above her as well, with low=hanging branches even trying to grasp at her head and hair as she pushed forward (though her hoodie's hood helped protect her hair from that for the most part). She stopped a safe distance from the thornwood wall before her as she creaking of branches and rustling of wood, along with the activity she was noticing from the plants in the crevice now, set off all the mental alarms she had at once. Something was awry. These couldn't be "just thorns and vines and such" sitting here without a care. That cave with flowers and plants couldn't just be what it seemed. Something was off. Leanne extended herself, drawing upon her element once more. She did her best not to waver, to push back the voice from before and Headmaster Kano's harshness. And with a little application of the breathing trick as well, she was able to get a sense of focus on what she wanted to do with her element. Swirling, whirling, cutting, slicing. These things came into her mind as she did her best to shape the darkness in front of her to her will. Moving, faster, faster and faster. As Leanne projected her will into the darkness of this area, a cylindrical construct of darkness formed in front of her as she kept her shirt over her nose and mouth to protect them. The cylinder sat horizontally in the air, with larger blades beginning to form around its shaft. then it began to spin, more and more, faster and faster, until in front of her Leanne had carefully constructed what looked like a whirling, horizontal darkness buzsaw of sorts. As a bit of joy came into her, Leanne willed the spinning construct to move, move around her and cut down any branches or such that reached down at her as she cautiously approached the thorn wall. In essence, it was like a constructed elemental bushcutting machine that would make the path clearer overall, as well as potentially drawing out any...potential obstacles that she might need to use it against. Holes in leaves, scraps of clothes on the thorns, it was like a horror movie where some plant was the monster and would attack. She needed to get a small bit of space, at least, before directly approaching the thorn wall. Or perhaps she was overthinking things. Though to be fair, this being a "test" and such she didn't want to push her luck too much. A good approach, and intelligent one, would fare her better than sheer speed in her mind.