Rystelle Member

Four hours later Lydia awoke feeling refreshed. She didn't need as much sleep as humans did, being part elf. Though if she were to admit it sometimes she liked to sleep in just as much as the next person. But still, now was not a time for sleeping when there were demons hot on both her and Ragna's trail. Thinking of him, she looked around the great hall to see if he was present. He was not, however, and she had begun to wonder where he might have run off to when Blathir appeared. "Ah, you're awake," he said, a little surprised. "Your... friend? Well, Ragnarok is asleep out in the courtyard. Have you had enough rest, Lydianna? Do you need to sleep more?" Lydia shook her head even as she undid her braid and re-did it, it having gone wild in her sleep. "No," she replied, smiling a little at the dwarf's concern. "I will be fine, Blathir. Besides, Ragna and I need to be on the move. I have no desire--and I know Ragna does not either--to sit and wait pretty as a package for a horde of howling demons to come and scoop us up. I also do not wish to involve the dwarves here in any fight we might find ourselves in." Blathir nodded, his face grave but also concerned. "Very well," he conceded. "It's a good thing I went ahead and prepared a pack for you." So saying he handed her a bundle and she opened it to reveal food a plenty with water skins in it as well. "I also took the liberty of filling your quiver with arrows and waxing the string of your bow." A smile crossed Lydia's face as she closed the pack and put it on saying, "Thank you, Blathir, my friend. It is very kind of you to give us so much. I hate to leave without having even properly visited, but I promise to come back when I'm not being chased by all of Hell." Blathir smiled in return and took Lydia's hand in his, giving her hand a firm but gentle squeeze. "Stay safe, Lydianna." She nodded, reassuring him she would, before making her way to the courtyard in search of Ragna so that they might be on their way. She had her weapons strapped to her once more, the handle of the pack slung over her shoulder.

"A movie sounds good," Sophia said, relaxing again. "Do you want to watch one now? I can go get some coffee and some snacks from the bakery. If you don't have anything else to do today, I mean. If you need to get back to your work I can just head home for the day." She honestly hoped that he might want to watch a movie. Sophia was beginning to get over her earlier shock of the incident at the park, but she still wasn't quite ready to be alone. In fact, if he wanted her to leave she'd probably go to the cafe or the mall just so she could be surrounded by people in order to not feel so alone. To Sophia's relief Tim agreed to watch a movie and Sophia let out a relieved sigh she didn't know she had been holding. She perked up a bit, managing to smile. "I'll be back in a bit then!" She told him, hopping up from the couch. "Pick out whatever type of movie you want to watch while I'm gone." With that Sophia rush out the apartment and to the bakery downstairs where she picked up cupcakes, cookies, and some eclairs, and then dipped into the Rose Cafe for some coffee. When her mom and dad asked how her day with Tim was going so far she put on a grin and told them it was going great. The walk in Nottingham park had been nice, but now they were going to relax and watch a movie. They told her to enjoy herself and she said she would. Sophia knocked on the door to Tim's apartment, announcing, "I'm back! Could you get the door, Tim? My hands are kind of full." He opened the door for her and she greeted him with a smile. "Thanks," she said, stepping into the apartment with Tim shutting the door behind her. She went and set the stuff down on the kitchen table. "For sweets I got several different types of cupcakes and cookies, and some eclairs. Got your usual coffee again. What movie did you pick out?"

Sophia felt her cheeks burning red at Tim's words. She wasn't quite sure why but she felt extremely embarrassed for some reason. She thought it might mostly be due to the fact that she now realized that she was wearing his favorite hoodie and that they were alone in his apartment. It seemed like something a couple would do: a guy sharing his favorite hoodie. But friends did that too. "Friends!" Sophia suddenly found herself spilling out. "That's what friends do. They talk and do things together and share stuff. We are friends, Tim, right?" She was already beginning to consider Tim her friend, but she didn't know if he felt the same way. It was just that he was so introverted and always alone that Sophia worried he might not even want to consider her a friend yet. "Yes," she added quickly. "We can do something here together next time if it'll make you feel better. I can always bring a game system over or something. I'm sure I have some games you might like."

A small smile crossed Sophia's lips at Tim's words. "Yeah," she agreed. "Maybe you're right." Finally she was starting to relax a little and felt that she could assess the situation better. "The cave with the runes was pretty cool at least," she finally admitted. "Do you think maybe there's a way to translate them? Perhaps it can explain what happened." Even if the runes gave them no clues, or if they could even translate them, it would be something for them to do, something that would help make them forget why they had been afraid in the first place. Then Sophia suddenly decided to add, "But next time we decide to do something together, let's try to make it somewhere inside."

Sophia was shivering because she was scared, not cold. She didn't say that, however, because she knew Tim was trying to be nice. "Thanks," she said as she pulled the hoodie over herself. It was a bit snug but was comfortable and, admittedly, it smelled nice. It actually did make her feel a bit better, and eventually Sophia stopped her shivering though she kept her arms wrapped around herself. "Whenever you're free this week," Sophia ventured after a while, "we can go shopping. I'll buy you a new jacket since it's my fault you lost your old one." Tim started to protest, but the look Sophia gave him told him that she would do it regardless of what he said. So he consigned himself and gave her a muttered thanks. Sophia decided to move up onto the couch and made herself comfortable, though she made sure to give Tim plenty of space. "So does this mean, like... magic exists or something? Cause if it does I'm not quite sure I like it. I think I might rather stick to books and video games."

Sophia was concerned about Tim. She was freaked out, but he seemed to be taking it worse than her. Not wanting to crowd him she gave him some space and went to sit back on the floor next to the couch. Eventually Tim wandered back over to the couch and plopped down on it. Looking up at his pale face she risked asking, "Feeling a bit better?" Tim's response was to let out a barking laugh. "Are you fucking kidding me?" He asked a little sharply. Sophia sighed. "Yeah, I know. Dumb question," she mumbled as she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "That shit was really freaky. I mean, the cave was kind of cool, but the... other place? Yeah, let's say it was another place. That's just weird. Beyond weird. That's completely messed up. Everything was the same, except it wasn't. It was dull and cloudy, but there was no water from the rain. My car wasn't where it should have been. There was no one at the ranger station. The cave and that tunnel just fucking _disappeared._ I... I don't think I want to go back there again." Sophia shivered and started to rub her arms, which were covered in goosebumps.

"Yeah, we can go there," Sophia agreed readily. Anywhere. She would go anywhere so long as it wasn't back to that damn park. Soon they arrived at her family's cafe and Sophia parked her car in an open spot. Before she even switched the car off Tim was out the door and quickly heading to his apartment. Sophia wasn't far behind him and soon they were both charging up the stairs leading to his flat. He fumbled with the keys for a moment and then had the door open. Feeling like they had demons chasing them the two all but dove into the apartment, slamming the door behind them. Instantly they both felt a bit better, if only barely. Tim collapsed onto his couch and Sophia slid down onto the floor beside him. "That was some serious Narnia bullshit right there," Sophia finally said after an initial few minutes of silence. "Not even Narnia! That was more like... like... I don't know! It was fucking weird is what it is." She shivered and started to rub her arms with her hands. "You were right, Tim. Going to the park was crazy. After today I don't think I'll _ever_ go back there again."

"Tim," Sophia said, trying to appear calm. "Let go of the handle." Once he had she unlocked the car. Tim hopped in and Sophia threw her backpack into the back seat before sliding into the driver's side. She turned the car on and backed out of the parking space. For a moment she stopped, thinking about their jackets left in the cave. Then she shook her head. She could get a new jacket later--she'd get Tim one too--but she wasn't going back to that cave. Putting the car in drive, Sophia pulled it onto the park's main road. She took is slow, going the speed limit because she didn't want to upset the park rangers. But as soon as she was on the main highway she hit the gas. She just felt utterly creeped out and wanted to get away from the park as soon as possible. Once they were a few minutes away from the park Sophia said, "Alright, we need to go somewhere and talk about this crazy shit. Your place or mine?"

And to think that the day had started out with the potential to be something good, only to turn into a shit-storm of weirdness. Heaving a sigh she abandoned all sense of reason. "Fuck it!" She exclaimed. "I'm going in. Maybe it'll lead us back home." So Sophia sat down at the edge of the hole and felt around with her feet. From what she could tell the tunnel gently curved downward. She slid into the hole and started to skooch down into the tunnel until she was all the way in. Looking back up toward the light and at Tim she asked, "You coming?" Heaving a sigh of his own Tim followed after her. Together they descended the tunnel. Eventually the tunnel started to ascend slightly and Sophia started to crawl upward. Fortunately it was a gentle slope and not hard to traverse. Finally Sophia saw light. She crawled toward it, hoping that it would lead them home and not somewhere weirder. When she popped out of the hole she felt wet grass beneath her. Sophia looked around and found that instead of appearing in the ranger's station, they had come out behind it. She quickly crawled out the hole and hoped that no one would come around and find them. At least she could hear them on the other side. That in itself was a relief. She then helped Tim out of the hole. It disappeared as soon as he was free of it. Sophia shook her head vigorously. She was really beginning to wonder if she was seeing things. Sophia motioned for Tim to stay silent and the two carefully crept away from the ranger's station back to the parking lot where they found her car exactly where they had left it.

When Sophia and Tim made it to the ranger's station they found no one there. No vehicles, no people, no lights on in the building. Sophia would have said that maybe they were out to lunch, but she didn't even bother. There was no reason for everyone to go out to lunch at once, and if they had left for some reason there would have been a note of some sort. Trying not to be further frustrated and failing miserably, Sophia decided to just try the door. It swung open with a slow creak. It was dim inside the building, and yet it was lighter than it should have been. Sophia looked around for a light switch and found one. She flicked it on and the lights came to life. "Hello?" She called out as she stepped into the building. No answer came. Looking around she noticed furniture strewn with papers and other things to show that this was a used building, but there was a light coating of dust on everything too. "Looks like someone's been neglecting to clean," Sophia muttered more to herself than Tim as she started to wander around. It was then that she walked into the main room of the ranger's station and almost tumbled forward into nothingness. She stopped and looked at the perfectly round hole in the floor before her. It wasn't that large as it appeared only one person could go through at a time, but it seemed completely out of place. Squatting down Sophia put one finger cautiously into the hole to feel the surface of the surrounding wall. It was smooth rock embedded with glittering gems, just like the tunnel in the cave. "Tim, you gotta take a look at this," Sophia said, motioning for him.