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Post by Layne Riley on Jun 19, 2012 23:03:16 GMT -5
’Pause, intake of breath, find a foothold.
Pause, slowly release breath, move to foothold.
Pause, intake of breath, find a handhold.
Pause, slowly release breath, move to handhold.’
Swallowing slightly, Layne inched her way toward where she thought the treasure might be. Every time she found a foothold or a handhold was a little cause for celebration. Treasure did some interesting things to people, fever for riches. Wasn’t that what people were always talking about? Well she had never thought that reasonable until now. Pausing, holding onto the rock cliff, Layne glanced over her shoulder and quickly looked back, gripping her fingers to the rock until it was biting into her flesh, panting heavily, pressing her body against the cool rock face. What had caused her to come up here again? Oh yeah…treasure, that thing she had been hunting for the past six years. Swallowing once again, Layne closed her eyes and decided she was only mildly crazy to scale a rock outcropping so far into the air with nothing but hand holds and footholds that she could find. Staying put right where she was, she sighed heavily and didn’t move. Finally though, she was forced to open her eyes and glance around her. When she did move her head back to see, she almost instantly spied a ledge up about five feet and to her right. Slowly, pausing to be sure she had holds that would do just that, hold her, she continued on her way, repeating in her head her routine to be able to focus.
Pause, deep breath, move, release breath, repeat process.
Thus was the way it was until her hands were settled onto the ledge. Bending her knees and propelling her weight up and down to test the ledge, she finally pushed herself off the ledge, pushing on her hands and rolling over until she was on the ledge. Panting heavily, Layne rolled to sitting up and scooted back until she was pressed with her back against the rock behind her. Closing her eyes, she sat there, catching her breath while she got herself mentally stable again. This really was insane. Shaking her head at herself, she drew her legs up and clasped her hands around them, staying right where she was for a moment, blissfully shaded from the sun that was beating down on her. It took her a moment, but finally her breathing was back to normal and she was once again ready to go. Thankfully she had gotten over halfway, closer to three quarters. Pushing herself up and to her feet, Layne wiped her hands against her jeans and adjusted the long rope she had strung around her shoulder and chest. Oh yeah, once she actually managed to get up there, getting down would be a piece of cake. Still, she wasn’t all that excited about the rest of the climb. Better to get it over with though.
Blowing out a breath, she scanned the wall and found what seemed to be a good route up the rest of the cliff. Lucky for her, it was jagged, making holds easy to find, and the thin gloves she had made it easier to avoid getting cuts on her hands. Once again she repeated her routine, before she finally could roll over the edge and kneel with shaky legs. Pressing palms to the ground, the blonde glanced over the ledge and down…down…down, instantly getting a little bit light headed. Drawing back, she put it out of her mind and got to her feet once more, brushing herself off. Alright, it was time to hike and find the treasure, but first…
Unwinding the long rope from around her shoulders, Layne found a secure place to tie it, put her weight against the anchor she had chosen and jerked against it with all her weight to try and see if it would break. It held. With a satisfied nod, she gathered the rest of the long rope and tossed it over the edge of the cliff. Going down would be much easier then coming up had been. Feeling like she was on cloud nine, she found herself humming as she trekked along the ancient pathway, still having a stone pathway. Kneeling down then, she ran a hand across the smooth stone, a bit in awe over the architecture. But she hadn’t come all this way just to gawk at some road. The spring was in her step as she made her way through the underbrush and continued on to try and find this treasure she was after. The jewels of the Margrace family from ancient times, stolen many, many centuries past. The research she had gathered had led to this spot in the Rozarrian land, a place secluded and off in the wilderness. Legend had it that the thief that had stolen the jewels had retreated to this country, hidden away by the natives of the area. Well, that was just great, all ripe for the taking.
After about an hour of searching, she finally found the cavern. Shaking her head, Layne flashed her light deep within and sighed slightly. From what it looked like, the drop would be down and into water. She tied her second rope to another secure place, and started her decent into the cavern. Time to go get her jewels.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words:; 1027 Muse:; Great! Location:; Rozarria wilderness? Outfit:;Click!Tagged:; Cole and Chloe! Notes:; Let the epic begin Listening To;: Enemies - Shinedown
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Post by chloe on Jun 20, 2012 20:53:08 GMT -5
A great treasure hunter, that was what Chloe – and a lot of other people – considered herself to be. Now she was on a new task, flying solo these days wasn’t easy, but it made some things a little better. For instance, all you had to look out for was yourself, instead of worrying about those not made for adventures like the ones she wanted to go on. Today’s task…the ancient gems of the Margrace family, now wouldn’t that be quite the prize? Chloe was already on her way towards the underground hiding spot of these so called precious gems, she couldn’t help but wonder if the Margrace family had sent people looking for these before, but if they had, they sure hadn’t found anything. She knew what went on around Ivalice, treasure wise, and when something this good came up, it wasn’t kept on the down low. She still had a shot at obtaining a good amount of treasure that was worth quite a bit of gil, all she had to do was travel through whatever traps and tunnels awaited her, and survive them.
Following a small rocky trail towards what looked like a tiny opening in the ground and on a rock wall, Chloe bent her knees to look at the small hole a little closer. Peeking inside and waving a flashlight around, she saw that it was more of a room than anything, this must’ve connected to the underground tunnels that she would have to trail in later. Rising up to her full height and shielding her eyes with her hand, she looked up at the rock wall ahead of her and frowned. Why waste your time climbing it? Especially when you were rather small to begin with. Crawling down to her hands and knees, she slid her feet into the hole first, gently lowering herself and moving her feet around to find something solid to stand on. As one foot touched something, she stamped her toe against it to make sure it wasn’t fragile, and when a loud thud came back to her, sounding like it was stable, she eased herself down and into the hole even more, retrieving her flashlight from her belt as she was almost all the way in the complete darkness of this…this…tomb, or whatever it was. With a deep exhaled sigh, she brushed her dark black bangs away from her eyes and nodded in satisfaction. “So far so good.”
Waving her flashlight around and looking at the bare rocky walls, Chloe looked up and down two different paths, she could go straight, to take a sharp right and lead to another room. Her gut feeling told her to go right, but if she was wrong, she could get lost. Searching, she found a torch against the wall near where she was standing, though not lit. Grabbing a matchbox from her back pocket, she struck it and lit the torch, in case she did get lost, she could just follow the light all the way back, and with that, she followed her gut feeling and took a sharp right down the next dusty hallway, searching for these gems, even though she had no idea what they looked like. Moving around and trying to not touch anything, Chloe started to get an odd feeling, like she wasn’t alone, but who would come all this way to the Rozarrian wilderness to search for a few gems that may or may not be worth something? Or rather, they may or may not even exist. With a shake of her head, she stopped for a moment, placing one of her tanned hands against her forehead, trying to relieve herself from such thoughts. Chloe didn’t believe in the supernatural all that much, but if there was something creepy down here and she spotted it…well, she was getting the hell out then, that was one good thing about her, she knew when to quit when it just wasn’t worth the trouble.
“Damn it. Where are these things?” The Rozarrian mumbled low to herself as she continued trailing through room after room, believing to be going in a complete circle. It wasn’t looking all that different, each room looked like the last, whoever hid these things was either stupid or a genius. These gems hadn’t been found for centuries, why should one treasure hunter be able to find them, and easily at that? This was going to be a challenge, and challenges were nice…but challenges in the dark? Those were not nice. Sighing, she came across a few more torches along the way, lighting them up too as she continued her journey – which seemed like it was taking forever. Coming to a slight drop in the floor, Chloe hadn’t seen the slope and felt herself skid down the ramp-like tunnel before hitting the ground and almost falling over, but luckily she caught herself before anything bad happened. It was getting too hot in here, no gems, no nothing…this was just…ugh. “Ten minutes, if nothing, then I’m done here.” She spoke to herself, wiping the sweat from her forehead with her arm and continuing onwards, feeling as if something were coming, whether it be the treasure, some sort of creepy object, or…just something totally unexpected. Reaching for her pistol which was holstered at her side, she gripped it in one hand, her flashlight in the other, ready to shoot at anything threatening – whether it be to her, or the precious treasure that may or may not even exist. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words:[/color] 1029 Muse:[/color] Great! Tagged:[/color] Cole, Layne Wearing:[/color] >> Click<< Listening To:[/color] Stuff! Notes:[/color] 8DDDD The epic!
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Coulson Pike
Wanderer
Hot For Fingernails[/font]
"Yeah, assholes, we did your jobs for you."
Posts: 85
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Post by Coulson Pike on Jun 21, 2012 17:10:33 GMT -5
"And you're sure this is the fastest way up?"
Cole knit his eyebrows at the dark-haired Rozarrian villager as the other man turned around and looked at him with a combination of confusion and Are you really asking me that again, you moron?. Damn having a Rozarrian guide who spoke nothing but his native language...and in a broken dialect, no less, so that Cole could barely understand anything he was saying. It seemed Cole's more proper understanding of the Rozarrian language was confusing to the guide, as well. Communication on this little hike-and-climb had been just grand so far. "Er... ¿Estás seguro de que este es el camino más rápido para arriba? Parece largo. Usted dijo que no pasaría mucho tiempo."* The man gave him the funny look again, and Cole had to resist the need to bring his palm to his face and sigh. The man turned back to the rock he was pushing himself up onto before spouting out something about this being the best way but not necessarily the shortest way for now and...something about water that Cole didn't understand beyond a few words. Cole just looked off to the side and nodded his head sarcastically. "Great, yeah, that's reassuring."
They didn't exchange any more completely useless pieces of conversation as they continued on up the rocky slope that, Cole had to admit, didn't look as bad as the climbing he'd expected to be doing here. That's what investing a little gil with the local villagers got you. He didn't know if this particular group of villagers had simply been bullshitting him when he'd carried them information on the specific Rozarrian treasure he was looking for, but their eyes did seem to brighten a little when he'd showed them the information about said treasure that had been lost for who-the-heck-knew-how-long. Cole wouldn't even have known a thing about this specific treasure if not for a friend of his contacting him and explaining how someone had been asking him quite a few questions about it. That had led to Cole and said friend digging up some information on it...which wasn't easy. As it turned out, Rozarrians didn't much like people knowing about their propensity to have their national, royal treasures stolen right from under their noses. Who could blame them? But a poke here and a prod there and Cole had acquired just enough information from various Rozarrian sources to know where he needed to go and what he needed to do to find this treasure. First on the list had been finding a guide. He could check that part off the list, plus a handful of gil. But, heck, the villagers looked like they could use the money anyway. Chalk it up to Cole's yearly charity donation or something. He wasn't gonna miss those few gil if he could get his hands on this treasure, anyway. Thieved Margrace jewels buried underground for centuries? That Al-Cid guy was gonna be paying out of his ass for them if Cole managed to find them. He was kind of flying blind on this whole hunt, but sometimes a man just had to dive in and hope he got lucky. Too bad Cole rarely got lucky...
The rocks became more and more inclined as Cole and his guide, who was still acting like he knew everything there was to know about everything, had to start actually fitting in some climbing with their stepping up onto rocks and similar activities. Still wasn't too bad of a climb, though. In fact, they found something that looked like it had once been a makeshift staircase carved into the rock that got them close to where they needed to be, if the guide's ranting and pointing was any indication. Cole glanced to where he was pointing, rubbing a hand through his own, now-sweaty hair. Damn, it was hot out here. People wondered why all Rozarrians looked like they'd been fried in the oven. "Usted no está apuntando a nada. Esto es todo llano. pen-"** Cole's words were cut short when he heard the Rozarrian man grunting lightly somewhere behind him. He whirled around to see the guide slowly descending out of sight, his head only visible over the lip of the rock. "Hey, whoa, the deal was you'd take me to the trea-" The man interrupted Cole with a long dissertation on why he wasn't going any further and this was far enough and something about village tradition or..yeah, something rambling again. And then he kept descending. Cole just stood there in disbelief before flicking his arm to dismiss the guide in frustration. "Fine. Didn't need you anyway."
Cole turned back to the array of jagged rocks that lay before him. Okay, so apparently he was close enough to his entrance to this supposed cavern now that the guide didn't think he needed help with it. Or the guide was just a jerk. Either way, Cole crept his way forward, ensuring he didn't step into any of the holes in the rock. Plenty of those holes, too...that meant there would be water down below him from rainwater that had eroded the top of the rocks and made these holes in the first place. So...he was gonna get wet today. "It is pretty hot...", he said under his breath to himself, as he pushed over top of an especially large piece of the rock. He just had to find a hole big enough that his entire body could fit through it and smooth enough that he could maybe slide down...or heck, maybe just a place to climb down. One of the villagers had said something about a pathway...
A rock gave way under Cole's feet.
"No, no..", he started to say, before he abandoned real words for a garble of curses and half-yells that only lasted until he was on his back against smooth rock and starting to slide down, along with all the gravel his broken rock had created. He managed to sit up and control his slide somewhat, but no way in heck he was going to find a way to keep from at least falling off the slick rock. He slowed himself considerably, though, his palms burning with the effort. "Come on come on come on...", he mumbled under his breath to himself as he turned onto his stomach just before he realized he was going to be too big to fit through the small hole that opened into the cavern. He used both feet to stop himself against the rock, feeling it instantly crack slightly under the light pressure of his weight. Okay...one crisis averted. Cole couldn't see much of the cavern below him, but due to the occasional sloshing he knew he was right about the water beneath him. He also couldn't tell how deep it was. Sure, just falling through would have been all good and easy, but he might have been talking just a few inches of water and a whole lot of rock. This was Rozarria, after all.
Taking his bag off his shoulder, he tossed it down towards the water below him to see if he could tell how deep the water was by how loud it splooshed. But the effort to remove the bag was apparently a little too much for the rock he was propped on to handle. The slight movement he made broke the rock that was blocking his feet. "Oh crap.." Cole turned over on his stomach to try and stop himself from falling down, but there was simply nothing to grip on the slick rocks. With a yell from Cole, man and bag slid off the rocky ramp and cascaded down, breaking the water below.
* [Are you sure this is the fastest way up? It seems long. You said it wouldn't be long.] ** [You're not pointing at anything. This is all flatland. I thou- (thought)] Words - 1422 Muse - >> ^ Outfit - BoopNotes - This thread. The justice.[/size]
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Post by Layne Riley on Jun 21, 2012 22:43:54 GMT -5
Hesitating, Layne glanced over her shoulder at the water and sighed heavily. The last thing she wanted to do was get wet. It wasn’t that the thought of bacteria grossed her out, or the thought of ruining her clothes. Bacteria was good for you, ruining the clothes…well they had been found at the back of the store on the sales rack, so she really didn’t care about that either. The problem was, that she was going to be walking around in the damp cavern for hours, if not longer, to find –if she even did find- the jewels she had been going after. The thought of wet jeans and socks sloshing around in her boots definitely did not appeal to her. So there lay the problem, and it was a serious problem in her mind. Gripping the rope in tight hands, she rested her feet against the smooth rock wall and descended swiftly. Toward the bottom she glanced back down at the clear water and rubbed the sweat from her forehead with her arm. Hesitating, suspended right above it, blue eyes finally went from the clear water over to her left. There was a ledge there that came out by the water. Could she make it over there without getting wet?
Rubbing her palm against her thigh, Layne moved her feet, skittering to the right before putting her weight toward the left, running across the smooth wall, hands still gripping the rope she held onto. Back and forth she went, gaining momentum, before pushing off the smooth wall with all her might, letting go of the rope and flying through the air. Hitting the small ledge hard, breath whooshed out of her. There she hung, elbows propped up, half over the edge and onto safety. Grunting, she tried to push off with her feet, only for the boots to slip off, almost causing her to flop over and into the water she was trying to avoid. Trying to get some sort of a foothold wasn’t working for her, so instead she simply grunted and pulled herself up with her arms. Finally getting her body high enough, she twisted and sat down heavily onto the smooth rock and pulled her legs up to hook onto the edge, panting slightly. ’You’re getting too old for this stuff,’ she teased herself, before glancing around at the water again. She was going to have to go into the water to reach the rope, but she could always wait a moment and dry off in the heat before trekking back down. No big deal.
The light filtered down from the top, but the smooth pathway that led further down was pitch black. So getting out her light, she shined it down the tunnel. Time to go. Walking swiftly, she quietly walked down the pathway, a hand sweeping the smooth side for extra guidance. At the first fork in the pathway, the young blonde dug a piece of heavy material paper from her back pocket and opened it up. Resting it against the wall, she studied the roughly drawn map she had obtained. Having come across a man who had tried to take his own stab at finding the treasure, Layne had sweet talked him into making her a map of the underground tavern system, architecture that had been carved out hundreds of years previous. Since there was obviously nothing down here, or so the man had said, he had drawn her a map of what he remembered. Of course, it could be faulty, but it was better then wandering around blindly. The areas she wanted to check for sure had been circled by a red marker. The closest ‘room’ to her was ahead and then to her left. “Alright, let’s hope it’s easy this time,” she spoke to herself, trying to ease the whole ‘creepy dark tunnel’ feeling she kept getting.
Wiping the dust from her face, she replaced the map in her back pocket and lifted the light to once again show her the way. Striding purposefully forward, she yawned and slid her gloves off her hands. If she could help it, she liked her hands free from other materials. Glancing behind her back at the darkness behind her, Layne forged ahead, keeping her light shining to see where she was stepping. It took a few minutes to get to the next fork, but she decidedly took a left, not needing to consult the map once more. Quiet ‘thud’s from her boots rang out to fill the otherwise silent tunnels. Even her own breathing seemed loud. Walking some way, Layne could finally see light filtering from ahead of her. Snapping off her light, she clipped it back to her belt and squinted to look ahead. Drawing closer, the lithe blonde froze when she heard sounds coming from ahead. Without thinking she had slipped her gun out from her holster and was holding it in both hands, pointed down, back pressed against the side of the tunnel. On silent feet she edged toward where the light was coming from the opening from the tunnel to a larger room.
Standing with her back pressed against the tunnel, the blonde peeked around the corner and scanned the room, dismayed to see that this one too was full of water. Well that was just great…more water. It was then that she heard the cursing and some movement, sounded like something sliding across rock. Glancing up, she kept a good grip on her handgun, lips pursed. Leave it to someone to come at the exact time she had and try to steal her treasure away from her. Hearing the crack, out of pure instinct Layne moved back, the next moment part of the top collapsed. Covering her face with her arm, she half turned away and stood there rigidly before unwinding her arm from her face and peeking back around the corner. What she saw was part of the top now sinking in the water and a man flailing to the top. For a moment she stood, a slight scowl on her face, handgun still in her hand, before she could get a clear image of the mans face. Blowing out an annoyed breath, Layne holstered her gun and crossed her arms over her chest, walking to the edge of the smooth ledge with stairs leading down into the water. “God…Coulson Pike, of course you’d be here.” Though slightly annoyed, she was relieved that it wasn’t anyone she would really have to worry about. Sure, he would be here to steal her treasure, but at least she wouldn’t have to worry about a bullet to the gut or a knife to the back. Whatever else he was, he was a gentleman…of sorts anyway. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words:; 1265 Muse:; Great! Location:; Rozarrian wilderness Outfit:; That one I linked! Tagged:; Cole&Chloe Notes:; This is going to be so fun XD Listening To;: Anthem of the Angels - Breaking Benjamin
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Post by chloe on Jun 22, 2012 7:30:10 GMT -5
This was getting boring, really fast. She’d been wandering around for quite some time and stull nothing had come up on the radar. She hadn’t seen any treasure, hadn’t come upon anything worth examining, Chloe was starting to think that this was stupid, someone else had gotten the gems and she was searching for dirt and dust. With a heavy sigh escaping her lips, she decided that ten more minutes wouldn’t be all that harmful, she could follow her trail back and get out if she needed to, but that’s when she found the slope leading to another room which had a door at the end of it, if there was anything beyond this room…it had to be something worthwhile. These gems may not be the only thing in here hiding, but if Chloe just so happened to find them, the riches those would bring would be phenomenal, especially if she waved them in front of the Margrace family. They would be paying a fortune, plus some, to get back these ancient gems to their family line, oh how she imagined the looks on their faces, it was going to truly be a rewarding experience.
Chloe watched her steps carefully, making sure not to slip on any debris, or stumble over a ledge that she didn’t see…anything to keep herself safe. Still, she had an eerie feeling in the pit of her stomach, something was coming, as if she could hear it. She gripped her hand gun tightly in her hand and turned her flashlight off as she came to the door of another room and tunnel. Pushing herself against the wall so she’d remain unseen, she carefully watched the figure trot on by, a blond girl…a woman she knew from the past. It made Chloe smirk quietly to herself. She knew there was something coming! And she’d been right too, moving quietly and slowly, shadowing the steps of one Layne Riley, Chloe remained a good distance back, keeping her light flickered off and herself silent, she trailed behind the other treasure hunter for a few good minutes before something happened. Stopping and remaining in the dark shadows, Chloe crouched down and tucked herself against the wall again, keeping herself hidden as she watched and heard whatever was about to happen.
A few noises, a few curses, and then boom, and splash. Chloe peered around a large rock that was jetting out of the wall to see Layne nearing a ledge where water was next to it, talking to someone, the person who had obviously crashed into the water. Coulson Pike. Rolling her eyes, Chloe should’ve known this was bound to happen one day. A nice reunion eh? Keeping quiet she rose to her feet, wondering how to do this, she wanted the treasure of course but seeing as this was a dead end aside from the water, there was no sneaking around these two and making off like a sneaky little thief. Smirking as she then propelled herself forward, holstering her gun tightly at her belt, she let her footsteps be heard as she was in a dead run, squeezing between Layne and the wall and leaping off the ledge and over Cole into the water, she shouted on her way by. “What, someone afraid of a little water?” and then splash. She’d successfully gotten ahead of both of them, if only by a foot or two.
Rising to the surface of the water with a gasp as she ran a hand back to move her wet bangs from her face, she gave off a charming smile, facing the two before looking over her shoulder at the water and where it was leading. Away from here, and most likely towards the treasure. “You two have a nice chat, I’ve got some treasure to find.” Chloe said with a brief wave as she continued to tread water before grabbing her flash light, luckily it was waterproof, so flashing it on she held her breath and started to swim away from the two other treasure hunters, taking the lead and hopefully getting closer and closer to the treasure. Occasionally she’d come up for air and then dive back down below the surface to cover more ground quicker- er…water quicker. When she got to a point to where her feet could touch the bottom, she stood and tried to ring the water out of her hair, re-tying it back and out of her way as she looked around some more, all there was…was tunnels, water, and darkness. She knew this would be like a marathon or obstacle course, that’s usually how things worked with treasure hunters, climbing over one another to get the goods, and luckily she was ahead of things, doing her best to keep things that way and remain the leader in this little newly declared race.
Friendly competition was nice, it just pushed Chloe harder when she came across the small tasks she didn’t find comfortable, like…leaping past people and into some random water that may or may not even be filled with critters that could end up being danger- okay, she needed to not think about that and just focus on getting the treasure, she kept moving along as fast as one could in water as she waited for her rivals to start catching up and following her trail. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words:[/color] 985 Muse:[/color] Excellent Tagged:[/color] Cole, Layne Wearing:[/color] Already linked Listening To:[/color] Nothing! Notes:[/color] GOLD RUSH!
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Coulson Pike
Wanderer
Hot For Fingernails[/font]
"Yeah, assholes, we did your jobs for you."
Posts: 85
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Post by Coulson Pike on Jun 23, 2012 6:07:06 GMT -5
Wet gunpowder. Wet light. Wet everything. Cole was complaining before he even managed to break back through the surface of the water, and once he did, an angered groan escaped his lips and he slapped at the water slightly. Not because of his minor losses - the gunpowder was the only real problem, though he didn't expect to have anything to shoot at down here - but because the fall was just another example of how at least one thing had to go wrong every time he was out doing his "job." Just one time he would have loved for it to all go perfectly. But nooo... With a sigh, Cole let himself float on his back in the water, deciding if nothing else, it fell a whole hell of a lot better in here than it did outside. He let out a bleh sound, sloshing in place and staring up at the ceiling until he could find the motivation to drag himself out of the water. With the light sloshing and the fact that his ears had water lapping up against them, Cole naturally and totally missed the sound of boots against the nearby rock, signaling the arrival of two women from his past whose presences were both pleasing (visually, especially) and also the last thing he wanted to have to deal with today.
The voice startled him slightly, and he quickly shifted in the water to end his lounging and get busy having a heart attack. Once he'd fully popped up, he narrowed his eyes at the form that had approached the water, before his expression turned into a sarcastic smile. The sarcasm in his voice served as a match. "Great to see you too, Layne." He slicked back his completely wet hair, looking away from her and holding his arms out at the water all around him before he turned his gaze back to the old...friend...that stood there before him. She had that I'm in charge pose going on... "Care to join? Water's great..." It occurred to him that she might have seen the whole debacle that had led to his falling through the cavern roof and left him here in the water. Well that wasn't embarrassing at all, even for someone who might have come to expect it from him. Again looking away to avoid her gaze, Cole swam a little ways forward to put himself on the incline near where Layne was standing, dragging his soggy bag of extra rope behind him. He tossed the bag up beside her feet once he reached the rocks, getting ready to climb up and say something about what a great place this was for sightseeing to deflect the knowledge that he was pretty sure they were both here for the same thing...when another form from the past went shooting past, leaving Cole to call out a quick "Hey!" and duck under her feet as she jumped over him, even if they weren't a threat to hit him anyway.
He spun around in place in the water. Dark hair. Dark skin. Easy to look at. Yep, no doubt he knew this one too... He glanced between Chloe, the new arrival, and Layne on the other side of him. "Where's the party?", he rhetorically asked in a mumble, before returning a sarcastic version of Chloe's charming smile. Okay, so as if he had been expecting anything different...yeah, Chloe was after the same Rozarrian jewels he was after. And all bets were in his favor that Layne was going for the same thing. Yeah. Excitement wasn't going to come close to describing what would be going on for the rest of the day...more like...near-torture. He watched with an impassively raised eyebrow as Chloe disappeared underneath the water's surface, not too worried about whatever head start she apparently believed herself to be gaining, and turned to Layne. After a quick sigh, he motioned his hand at the water again and managed his third sarcastic smile in as many tries. "Yeah, come on down. There's plenty of room," he said, somewhat genuinely, before he started to turn around. Cole cut his eyes at her one last time before he did. "Hope you like twenty pound jeans." Naturally, there was more conversation to be had than that between two intelligent adults and plenty of things that could have been said about...pasts and presents, but obviously no one was here for that chat and things would just get awkward if Cole brought them up. So...he just decided to save them for later...maybe. If the women seemed to be in good moods and weren't stomping each other or him in the face before it was all over.
Now the question was...what the heck was Chloe onto? He was pretty darn sure there were easier ways to get deeper into the caverns than drowning oneself, but he couldn't guarantee they were faster. Apparently, she didn't think so. Grabbing his bag and pulling just one of the ropes out of it in case he needed it, Cole took in a gulp of air and plunged under the cool water as well, able to see Chloe easily at a distance with it being so clean (at least, it looked clean) due to all the rocks and the drainage. He could see basically what Chloe was aiming for, to - some tunnels that had formed below before the water had gotten in through the cavern roof. As Cole made a rather lazy effort to follow (since he had his brain to help him catch up later), having to stop for a few less breaths than Chloe, he wondered how he was going to need to play this. Being the male here kind of gave him some advantages...and some disadvantages. Maybe he could kind of sort of play the women's rivalry off fo each other or something...then again, they could go all girl power on him. This was why women were too complicated for his poor little mind...especially women from his past whom he actually happened to like quite a bit despite the little dynamic they had...and liked them aside from their looks. The looks helped, though.
He'd made a little progress to catching up with Chloe by the time he'd reached the area where he could actually get to his feet and shop having to duck down for constant breaths. Good grief was he ever wet. Cole slicked back his hair again and tried to pry his wet shirt away from sticking to his body, tempted to get ride of it. Hmmm...maybe that was a weapon he could use for later. Shirtlessness.. So saving that for later, he trudged along in the water, height giving him a bit of an easier time of it than the others would have, and got within easy calling range of Chloe. "So, uh....sure you wanna be that far ahead of the two of us? I mean, I heard some bad things about the creatures down here from a bunch of villagers..." Completely a fib, but an innocent one...right? Right. He wasn't all that optimistic that it would work, but he could give it a shot, couldn't he? Sure. What was it hurting and what did it rish hurting but Chloe's speed? Darn these lithe, small women...
Cole almost stumbled in spite of the water when he almost felt his ankle turn, but he caught himself enough just to let out a chorus of Ow before realizing he hadn't actually hurt himself. And lo and behold, what did he find where his foot had been? A water-filled hole, big enough to fit a person and a half at a time (so long as they weren't fat) just below him. Peering ahead at Chloe to make sure she was still doing her thing up ahead, Cole ducked back under the water and angled himself down into the hole, checking to see how long it was. Not long, there was another water-filled room below. Without any hesitation at all, Cole propelled himself down into the short passageway, figuring he'd found a quick shortcut....but knowing these women, they'd find something too...or just use his way. Copycats. Hmm...cats. Catfight? Maybe he could arrange one of those...
Words - 1464 Muse - << ^ Notes - Odd ending, but still. [/size]
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Post by Layne Riley on Jun 27, 2012 13:14:55 GMT -5
It was amusing how long it took for him to see her. With a faint smile on her lips, the blonde waited a moment for him to see her. That moment wasn’t happening though. Despite his head having popped out of the water, she obviously startled him when she finally spoke, more out of amazement then anything else. Here she had thought she was wandering around these tunnels by herself. Where had he come from? Alright, so he was one of the two other people that should be expected to check this out, but at the exact same time? Why couldn’t he have come a day later, when she had already gotten the treasure and had already returned to the Margrace family to let them offer her a lot of money to get the precious jewels back? That would have been great. Still, she couldn’t deny that he was a lot better option of person to have coming after the jewels, rather then some weirdo she didn’t know. ’Now It’s a weirdo that I do know,’ she thought in amusement.
The smile – despite being sarcastic – was as charming as ever. It wasn’t healthy for one man to have such devilishly good looks. Wasn’t healthy at all, but she found that a smile of her own lifted onto her lips. “As always, I think for seeing you to be great, it can’t involve you trying to steal something that’s mine,” she mentioned, an amused light in her eyes. There was no doubt in her mind that he was here for the same reason she was. Treasure. Cole would always be where the treasure was. Actually…was Chloe going to pop up out of the middle of nowhere? Looking over her shoulder, she was brought back to attention when Cole asked if she cared to join. “I think I’ll pass and just let you swim around. It’s a lot more fun just to watch you,” she added, shifting when he started to come up the incline. It would be like him to suddenly pull her in, so putting a little distance between them was smart.
The next minute a familiar voice spoke out, before a figure went flying past her. Shifting yet again in surprise, she heard Cole exclaim a quick ‘hey’, and watched the same figure land in the water, the drops reaching her. Laughing in amazement, Layne placed hands on her hips and watched them both in the water. No, she wasn’t scared of a little water. You couldn’t be hunting for treasure if you didn’t want to get wet sometimes, but she would have rathered not. The party? Shrugging, Layne smiled genuinely. Maybe a little healthy competition wasn’t going to hurt. After all, in the end, she didn’t doubt that she could still walk out of here with the jewels. “I guess the party came when I showed up,” she commented. Of course she was going to have to have to clamber into that water. Leaning down, she caught the words, spoken – at least in her opinion – somewhat genuinely. “I don’t know if there’s room with you both down there,” she mentioned, starting to roll up the skin tight jeans she had on. Of course he would comment on that. Lifting her eyes, she shook her head, “I can just feel the concern oozing out of you,” she sarcastically spoke, ready to toss his bag at him good naturedly before he got it himself.
So she was going to have to swim. Taking a step back, Layne ran forward and jumped in, bracing herself for the cold shock of the water. Going under, she came back up soaking wet, pushing her wet hair away from her face and started out after Chloe and Cole. There was probably a way back and around that was completely dry, but she wasn’t about to let these two out of her sights. They were tricky devils, and so she was going to make sure they didn’t know something she didn’t. Doubtful, since she had researched about this for months now, but you never knew, especially with these two. One could say they were – arguably of course – the three best treasure hunters in all of Ivalice. Taking a breath and going under, she popped back up on the other side, strong arms reaching out to stroke the water, kicking her feet as well.
Catching up somewhat to Cole, with Chloe ahead of them, Layne could finally stand up in the water, it still coming to about her waist, wringing out her shirt as best she could, she let it fall and it just got soaked again. Well that hadn’t helped. Redoing the bobby pins where her hair had started to fall out in pieces, she eyed Cole as she did so. Lucky man, not having to worry about hair getting in the way or anything like that. When he tried to go all scary man on them, she just rolled her eyes, a smile on her face. “Oh come on Cole, you’re still trying that same old scare us with bedtime stories routine? We’ve dealt with scary creatures before, so keep your fibs to yourself, would you?” Same old Cole. He hadn’t changed since they were all children. Then again, she supposed none of them really had. Best to stay like things had been.
He disappeared a moment later though. Peering into the hole he had found, Layne shrugged and continued wading on. Leave it to him to find the darkest hole possible. Well good luck to him. Continuing on, she angled to the right, seeing a system of tunnels that looked somewhat promising. Stumbling through the water, Layne reached up and pulled herself up, grunting somewhat before she was once again on dry land. Flipping on her light again though, she continued on down the small passageway that led her deeper into the cavern, dodging rocks by squeezing past, thanking her smaller build and thinner body. She couldn’t imagine Cole having a great time squeezing through here. Crawling over and under, she ignored the squishy feet with the water and picked her way through. Finally she came to a hole that went down. Ugh…of course. Sitting on the side, she placed her back against the smooth wall and slowly lowered herself down, propping herself up against the sides to make it easier. Still, when she was almost down her foot slipped on the slippery surface. With a gasp, Layne fell the last few feet onto her butt, grunting when she hit the ground, thankful it was sand she had landed on. Brushing off her hands and standing up, she rubbed her backside, adjusting her belt and gun quickly. Curse holes. They always led to trouble.
The noise alerted her. Lifting up her head and the light she held in her hands, Layne flashed it onto a-…”Crap,” she hissed out. What on earth. Cole had been fibbing and trying to scare them! She was sure of it. Gulping, she saw that she had disturbed the biggest spider she had ever seen, roughly the same size as her. “Nope…Nuh uh, you should just…sleep. Go back to-“ the next second she was running. With her light shining onto her path, Layne skidded around rocks and jumped over a few holes, feeling it breathing down her neck. Could her gun shoot? It had gotten wet…she didn’t want to try it and probably get eaten. She needed to find a…find a-there! Running for the wall, Layne jumped and rolled over rocks, skittering up and finally jumping out into the open. Catching the side of the rock face, she kicked and scrambled to get settled. Without looking over her shoulder she could tell it was right there. “Noooo,” she panted, before finally pulling herself up and rolling out of the way. Just in time. Laying there panting as it hissed and scratched at the rock face, Layne finally got to her knees and looked at the thing. Damn, it was huge. Pulling out her pistol then, she checked it over and saw that it was still usable. Wiping her forehead, she quickly aimed and fired off two rapid shots, seeing the spider jerk and go into a seizure before it stretched out and lay still. Hell, had Cole not been kidding?
It was times like this she questioned why she was a treasure hunter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words:; 1574 Muse:; Great! Location:; Ledge - Rock face deep in the tunnels Outfit:; Click!Tagged:; Cole and Chloe Notes:; Listening To;: --
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Post by chloe on Jul 2, 2012 23:02:20 GMT -5
This was going to be extremely fun and extremely more entertaining. Of course she was going to get the prize out of all of this too. Chloe was far too determined to get these gems to quit now just because two other treasure hunters had decided to come here at the exact same time as she did. Friendly competition was always nice, and she encouraged it, it pushed her to work harder and faster to get to her goal before the other people. She knew well how talented both Cole and Layne were, and that definitely made for a good challenge. So, revealing herself to the other two by leaping past Layne and over Cole into the water, Chloe couldn’t help but laugh as she came to the surface, pushing her bangs back and retying her hair into a much tighter ponytail. She snorted a laugh at Cole, shaking her hand and catching that sarcastic grin of his, typical men. “What do you mean where’s the party? I am the party!” she commented as she treaded the water there and let her eyes flicker from Layne to Cole, sizing them up and thinking her next moves and words through, it was time to get going though.
Starting off by taking a more underwater route, Chloe had her waterproof flashlight leading the way as she held her breath for long amounts of time, nearly making her light headed each time she came up for air, but the head start was nice, she wasn’t stupid enough to think that the other two couldn’t catch up or take their own path, this was simply her greatest guess as to how to get to these gems the fastest. Here she had been ready to give up, but the sight of Layne first had gotten her more determined than ever to go after these jewels, then seeing Cole…ha, this was amazing. Even if there wasn’t any treasure at the end of the line, she would enjoy the sport of the obstacle course ahead. Chloe wasn’t sure if anyone would be following her, there were surely other ways to get to the end of this treasure hunt, but hey, if someone wanted to follow her then so be it, she was still ahead of everyone and had given off the impression that she knew exactly where she was going, but in reality she had no clue. This just seemed right, who would’ve thought about taking underwater tunnels and risk drowning themselves for a few priceless gems? Chloe was obviously that determined.
Being able to touch the floor of the tunnels, Chloe stopped for a moment, placing a hand around her neck and collarbone area, she heaved in breaths and wiped her bangs back again, squishing the water out of her ponytail before flashing her light around, looking for something and trying to determine if there was still a way to continue down this tunnel. So far it looked promising, but she wasn’t exactly sure. There was only one way to find out. Of course, as she started to advance ahead, she heard Coulson from behind, a small smirk appearing on her lips as she whirled around – as fast as one could move in water that was nearly to your neck – she tilted her head slightly and flashed her flashlight at the taller man, her other hand on her hip even though that part of her body was still underwater. “Well ain’t that cute, you tryin’ to scare me, Pike? You forget, I’m Rozarrian, any old creature myths I’ve heard about, they’re all just scary stories, especially in places like this.” She said in one of those matter-of-fact tones before she turned around and started slowly through the water again, heading towards a ledge that would lead her up to dry land and another series of tunnels and passageways. But still, something had been brought to her attention.
Chloe stopped and furrowed her brows together, lifting a hand out of the water to tap at her chin and lower lip, she made a long ‘hmm’ sound quietly as she listened for the sounds of another person, and there came off Layne’s voice. Chloe chuckled a little bit, so both of them had followed her? How nice, how convenient, how…interesting. Turning back around to face both of them now, she still had her flashlight in one hand as she eyed them both, wondering what it was they were thinking. Shrugging and turning back around to lead her own way, she heard a few movements of the water and paid no mind to it, continuing on before she felt like she was alone. There were no sounds but her own breathing, her own wading through the water. It wasn’t necessarily creepy, but it was eerie, all the silence, it almost made her wonder if the other two were okay. They probably had just found different ways around instead of letting Chloe lead them to god only knows where. Oh well, that was totally their loss!
Reaching the ledge of rock and land, Chloe put her flashlight up on the ledge and pulled herself off, wringing the water out of her orange shirt and hair before she shook around, almost like a dog would to get water off of her clothes, but it was inevitable. The first few steps she took she could hear the squishing of her boots and sighed, this was going to be great. The draft within the tunnels brought a chill down her spine and made her feel a little more…edgy since having departed from the other two in the water filled tunnels, whatever, she was going to find those gems no matter what. The ground beneath Chloe though, it wasn’t very thick, you could hear the water rushing under it before a small crack was heard, her foot only being sent through the thin rock and into the water, digging in through her pants and scraping up her leg nicely as her flashlight rolled away and shined on a small hole, small enough for her to fit through, but Cole? Nope, probably not. Pulling at her leg to get free, she bit her lower lip and scowled, tugging at the pants and trying to move her ankle at different directions to try and get it out. “Hijo de puta.” She muttered a curse in the Rozzarian language before she heard something, the sound of something moving, and it wasn’t anything with feet or much weight to them, but something was definitely coming.
From where her flashlight was pointing, she saw a small bug like creature crawl across the ground. Those nerves that had worked up in the pit of her stomach faded as she rolled her eyes and slumped a bit, still stuck in the rock as she eyed the bug, slamming her fist down and squishing it before wiping the remains on her pants. “Cute, if those were the big bad creatures Cole was talkin’ ‘bout-“ her words were cut off at the sight of more of them…what seemed to be dozens, and they were not happy about their friend just getting killed by the mighty fist of Chloe Frayzer. “Crap.” She muttered, worriedly pulling at her leg and scraping it up and down against her pants, she finally broke it free, ran and grabbed her flashlight and took a sharp right to escape the dozens of spider bugs that were trailing after her. Pulling her RPG-7 off her back, she shook it around to get the excess water off, looking to make sure it was still usable, she grinned before turning back as she rain, aiming the rocket launcher quickly before shouting, “Come an’ get it!” and she fired, breaking off the ground and sending it and the bugs into the water, a few trying to swim after her but ultimately, Chloe had the upper hand. Placing the RPG back on her back strap, she slowed her pace and found herself trailing into a more lit room, it had carvings on the walls, a few stone seats and some above ground tombs or graves. It made her cringe, but the sight she was about to see…well…it made her believe that she, once again, had been right in choosing the way to go.
She ran and made her way towards a small chest which she hoped to be filled with the Margrace family jewels. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words:[/color] 1513 Muse:[/color] ^ self explanatory Tagged:[/color] Cole, Layne Wearing:[/color] Already linked Listening To:[/color] Stuffs! Notes:[/color] Love it!
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Coulson Pike
Wanderer
Hot For Fingernails[/font]
"Yeah, assholes, we did your jobs for you."
Posts: 85
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Post by Coulson Pike on Jul 15, 2012 6:48:15 GMT -5
Cole could only cut his eyes at Layne at her declaration that he was after something that belonged to her. "Oh yeeeaaaah, I could tell by your jet-black hair and penchant for dressing in drag that you're definitely a member of the Margrace family," Cole said, as deadpan as a man could be. It was a good thing Layne was used to this from him...most other women would take the nearest weighted object and beat him upside the head with it for a crack like that one. ...Though he couldn't guarantee that Layne wouldn't do such a thing, but if she did, he doubted it would be for a malicious purpose. Now if a rock started flying at him while he was still swimming around...but apparently she was content to just watch him make like a fish. "I bet you are," he said, with a bit of a sly smile, as he started the slow work of getting himself out of the water.
Well, that's what he planned to start, before a flying Rozarrian made her way onto the scene. Ah, yeah, he should have expected her to be here, too. Rozarrian jewels, Rozarrian treasure hunter. He should have expected her to be the one to almost land on his head to try and get a head start...and actually, he probably would have expected it if he'd had more than a half-second to process her appearance before she'd lunged over his head. Rubbing at the back of his wet neck, his eyes shifted from the brunette to the blond, and he did his darn best to look like he was as hurt as he could possibly be at her last comment. "I don't appreciate the comments on my girth! I've been laying off the doughnuts! Look at all this room around my wide, uh...perimeter." He splashed at the water at his sides for effect, before looking very pleased with himself and going for his bag as it seemed like Layne was about to take to the water, cutting his eyes to watch her perform oddities on her pants legs. "Hey, I'm concerned..." He lowered his voice notably, looking down at his bag as he pulled it with him. "...that you didn't think to bring a bikini along..."
Right, he was taking that opportunity to escape and run off after Chloe, whom also unfortunately seemed overdressed for the occasion. Oh well, beggars couldn't be choosers, right? Anyway, yeah, this wasn't a social gathering. Cole now had to figure out a way to...do something that would put him ahead of the game. Too bad he couldn't be a jerk about it, like he could be with most other treasure hunters. Damn his penchant for liking two people who were likeable. Oh well, the fact that they liked him was always a plus for...treasure hunting reasons. He just had to think up a way to...weave his way into their hearts. Yeah, like he was ever going to take precedence over a buttload of gold that those wild, weird Margrace princes would pay out of their ears, mouths, noses, whatever other orifice for to get back after all these years.
And his attempts at a good, old-fashioned ghost story hadn't worked out to slow them down. Dang...he thought that one time when they were kids when his ghost story had actually been accurate would be enough of a reminder that he could occasionally be right that the women would be convinced. He curled his mouth in disappointment. "Just sayin'! Don't rag on me for being the cautious one here... I mean, there's lots of water. Lots of ugly things like to live where there's a bunch of water, you both know that." His shoulders raised in a long, dramatic shrug. "Just saying. Juuuust saying." And fabricating and being the boy who cried wolf, but he didn't think he was altogether wrong. Why the heck wouldn't his guide come down here with him, anyway? That was enough to make anyone double-check over their shoulder...but when Cole did, all he saw was a very wet Layne. Far better than any monster he could ever encounter, that was for sure.
But Cole couldn't go sticking around forever just because there was an impromptu wet t-shirt competition going on. Propelling himself down the small hole he'd found, Cole found himself emerging a few seconds later into a back-washed room on a lower level of the cavern, where there was some room to breathe without being head-deep in water. Ah, exactly what he'd been looking for - a faster way down. But dang if the pathway that would take him forward, probably under where Chloe was headed, didn't have one heck of a current going on. Yay for having to work himself to death with swimming. Sighing to himself, Cole just started forward, pushing through the light current and actually wishing he'd stayed up-top. At least there were nice sights up th-
Cole paused and looked beside him at the foot that had suddenly emerged from above, blinking and raising his eyebrow. Okay, so Chloe wasn't having much fun up top. Patting the emerged foot, he turned away from it and swam on without much fanfare as he continued, only hearing a couple of gunshots. Oh, and the floor behind him exploded. Yeah. Someone was getting excited up there, no doubt about it. Cole simply stopped, pursed his eyes closed at the sound of the floor collapsing and the debris hitting the water behind him, and continued on, finally spotting a way that curved upwards. Bingo, he was swimming through the emergency exit of these chambers. That would mean these caverns deeper within had been carved out once specifically to be used as an escape route for...whoever saw fit to use them. Alright, so now Cole was talking. He swam up through the upswing where the current was originating, and eventually became gradually more dry before a wave of cool air from an open room hit him. Yep, this place was probably some kind of living area for the thieves or something, and they would-
Oh, Chloe was already here. And there was a chest nearby and everything. Probably not the big one, but it probably had something nice in it. Yay, they'd managed to move the party over a room... Cole scratched at his forehead and started pulling himself up onto the lip of the floor. "My guess is, we can expect Layne in about five seconds," he commented to Chloe, again wringing out his shirt before he started to stand up. "And what the heck were you blowing up back there?"
Words - 1198 Muse - >> ^ << Notes - I love this thread too much. It's unhealthy.[/size]
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Post by Layne Riley on Aug 1, 2012 17:28:18 GMT -5
Layne was already putting bantering with these two out of her head and focusing once more on the treasure. Now she really had to pay attention. These two were some of the best in the game at this business. She knew her own abilities were neck to neck, but still, even if they could all be friendly and civil to each other normally, – as well as have plenty of memories together in their younger years – when it came to treasure, they always went for it themselves. No way in hell was Layne sharing this treasure with any of them. No…way. Finders keepers! Unless, of course, one of them found it first. And then it was just going to erupt into an all-out war over this treasure. Yup, too much planning and researching had gone into this for her to just give it up. The point was, Layne wasn’t thinking of Cole or Chloe’s bantering anymore, until suddenly Cole was there talking about how he had laid off the doughnuts. Quirking a brow, Layne couldn’t help but shake her head, attempting to hide the smile on her lips. “Well you should lay off the chips too, you still need to work on the weight,” she commented ‘gravely’, before starting to work on her pants.
The next bit he stated caused her head to pop up, rolling her eyes in frustration. “Coulson Pike!”, she muttered out at him, splashing water at him in a childish fashion before she entered the water and went after them. “Besides,” she yelled up at him, unable to contain herself. “What makes you think I didn’t bring one under my clothes?” After that she simply followed them, swimming until it became more and more shallow, able to stand up and walk, soaking wet. Whenever she got the opportunity to give Cole back some bantering, or just make him wonder, she would do so. Always had. Layne liked having the last word…maybe it was just a girls thing.
How did one go from that, to laying up on some ledge, panting after just having a run in with some giant spider? Layne didn’t know, but she laid stretched out on the rock facing, breathing deeply, before she finally rolled over and peered over the ledge. Eyes peeked down, seeing the body of the spider that had just tried eating her, and shaking her head. Cole had freaking just been kidding about those ‘scary monsters’, hadn’t he? She had been sure he had, and here they were, getting eaten by giant spiders. Or maybe it was just her. Probably, cuss her luck anyway. She would have a bet that Chloe and Cole were just fine and dandy, running around without a second worry. ’Should have taken that hole with Cole…’ Tch! Right! Like she’d have gone with Coulson Pike! Mhm-no. Then she’d just get more cracks about her tailing him –when it was just the exact opposite- and then have to deal with him bugging her about whether or not she actually had a bikini on or not underneath her clothes. Rolling her eyes, Layne holstered her gun behind her back and swung around, hanging for a moment before dropping down to the ground. Landing with a quiet ‘thud’, Layne glanced around here. Alright, where to go nex-
Layne had barely any time to react before the floor above her exploded. With a startled gasp, Layne ran for the side of the room she was in. Rolling away, she huddled with her arms thrown over her head, before peeking behind her. The wall had fallen out in a way that there was somewhat of a staircase of rubble that led to the side. What the heck…Chloe. Had to be. Shaking her head, Layne coughed and waved her hand to get the dust away from her eyes. Wiping them to keep them from watering, Layne crawled toward the hole that had been made in the wall. Crawling through the rocks and rubble, Layne jumped the last few feet and rolled up and into the room beside her. Shaking her head to rid herself of the dust on her head, Layne got to her feet, hearing the voices of two people she knew well. Stumbling into the room, Layne kicked a rock out of the way and straightened her appearance. “You can always expect Layne in five seconds." Shaking her head, Layne ran a hand through her hair, before tying it back again, brushing off her clothes. Chloe had always been a bit zealous with that RPG of hers, at least from what Layne could remember. "And what were you trying to do Chloe? Bring the whole place down on us?”
That second Layne saw the chest that was sitting there. Well, it was some sort of chest, which meant that it had some sort of something of some sort in it. Walking forward, she threw a look at Cole, walking out of the water. Wet, as always. For heaven sake, really, he shouldn't get wet, it was just distracting. "And you two should both just know that this is my treasure, right? And just walk away all nicely and let me have it, right?" Of course that wasn't going to happen, but one could always dream, couldn't they? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words:; 1035 Muse:; Great! Location:; Underground Outfit:;Click!Tagged:; Cole and Chloe! Notes:; The delay u.u Listening To;: Ready To Run - Dixie Chicks
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Post by chloe on Aug 7, 2012 17:39:43 GMT -5
It was time to get moving, enough chat, it was time for treasure! That was the ultimate goal out of all of this wasn’t it? It was each treasure hunter’s goal for the day, to find the ancient jewels of the Margrace family and…do with them whatever they wanted. Chloe was sure that if she gave a few charming smiles and the image of these jewels to one Al-Cid Margrace, a hefty amount of gil would be thrown her way. But first she had to beat the competition, but that wasn’t too much of a worry really, they were good at what they did, but no one was like Chloe Frayzer, reckless and jumping into anything without a second thought. Speaking of jumping into things… “See you guys later! Or not.” She called before taking off and just letting her instincts lead to to wherever it was she needed to be. Leaving Cole and Layne behind didn’t bother her, she knew them well enough to know they’d find their own creative way towards the treasure zone, wherever it was…but hopefully this small Rozzarian was just a little bit faster at getting there.
Moving, she’d placed herself out of the water and onto a stable piece of land…well somewhat stable. That’s when she’d started to encounter the small spider-like pests and fell one foot through the floor. Flailing her leg around as she saw the bugs moving towards her, she stopped moving completely at the feel of a pat against her boot. Someone was below her, it had to be Cole, he’d gone down a tunnel anyways, so that was her assumption, which made her swing her foot around again before freeing herself and being just as reckless as ever. For someone so traumatized by anything that involved explosions, Chloe was fascinated with her RPG-7 that she started shooting at the bugs and taking down the floor in the process. She’d have to thank Cole for giving her that phobia, a phobia of explosions, grenades, firecrackers…but certainly not a rocket launcher, especially when it was in her own hands, that was fun, throwing firecrackers at Chloe’s feet was not fun, and hopefully people knew that by now by the long lasting NOOOO shouts she’d make while hitting the dirt whenever there was something around them worth being afraid of.
Wiping the beads of sweat from her forehead, Chloe had attached her RPG back to her back strap and felt oh so confident and ready to get moving once again now that there weren’t any sort of flesh eating bugs on her trail. With a small sigh of relief, she’d started again, trailing down her path and into a room nearby, hearing nothing of note…no creatures, no people, no Cole or Layne, it was as if she were completely alone in these tunnels. That could either be good or bad. With a slight pause, the Rozarrian started into the next room, spotting a small chest. Not the big treasure they were looking for, but something definitely worth checking out, a little extra gil alongside some ancient gems would be well worth it. Maybe after all of this Chloe would take a vacation, get away from the treasure hunting life for a week or so, then get back into the groove of things once she was all relaxed…should she be successful on this journey. A nice vacation…that’s where her mind drifted as she took slow steps towards the small chest. Hmm, vacations.
Until Cole startled her with suddenly speaking, causing her to turn around and frown. Chloe should’ve been paying more attention, but alas, she was too wrapped into the idea of getting away for a few days, she hadn’t even collected any sort of treasure yet! Daydreaming now would be her failure later. “She always shows up at good times.” Chloe said before hearing Layne comment about her five second arrival. Of course, she should’ve expected this, instead of losing them in the tunnels, she met up with them again! “I was shootin’ creatures! Big…scary…man eating creatures!” That was a bit of an exaggeration, but they didn’t need to know that. For all they knew, the spiders could’ve been as big as herself or even Cole! It just made her story a little better. “As for takin' the whole place down, no, I wasn’t, but if that’s what it takes to get the treasure…” she said with a mischievous smile on her face as she pulled her RPG from her back and into her hands, not that she’d ever think of even shooting it around her friends, that would be…just unacceptable…still, the moment of thinking that Chloe would shoot off an RPG just because…it wasn’t something people wouldn’t expect of her.
Putting her RPG back on her back where it belonged, she let her dark eyes move to Layne. “What do you mean your treasure? I do believe I was here first so…tough.” She said before starting towards the chest, placing her dark hands on the sides and picking it up, holding it closer to her stomach and chest. “I do believe this is mine, thank you for your cooperation.” She said before taking a few half skip steps away, chest still in her hands, as she started further into the room to keep looking for these gems of the Margrace family. Ohhhhh yes, whatever was inside this chest was worth some gil at least, some was better than none, wasn’t it? Of course it was. So far, Chloe was in the lead, and she hoped that wasn’t about to change. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words:[/color] 1058 Muse:[/color] Great! Tagged:[/color] Cole, Layne Wearing:[/color] Already linked Listening To:[/color] Nothing! Notes:[/color] Nada!
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Coulson Pike
Wanderer
Hot For Fingernails[/font]
"Yeah, assholes, we did your jobs for you."
Posts: 85
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Post by Coulson Pike on Aug 17, 2012 12:57:41 GMT -5
"Not possible. Chips are too delicious," Cole told Layne as if he were in some sort of negotiations, shaking his head vehemently. Ah, did he ever love the ability to eat exactly what he wanted at all times, doughnuts or chips, and have his active life keep him completely in shape. Getting Layne or even Chloe to admit to that fact, though, was not something that was going to be happening, so Cole kept his comments where they were for the time being. Well, comments about food.
Ooooh yeah, he got the full name out of Layne with his comments. Cole raised his arms in mock victory before she started splashing him, only lazily sending a couple of sprays of water in retaliation. He couldn't spend too much time here, or Chloe was going to be so far ahead of them both that they-
Cole wheeled around, eying Layne. Dang it all, now all he could think about was a nice bikini on her. Having forgotten Chloe was escaping for a few seconds, he curved his mouth in a display of thoughtfulness before finally speaking up again. "...I'll need to know the color," he told her, still staring until she'd come up nearly on his heels. Yep, that was going to be a good distraction and investigation for the rest of this little tomb raiding. He was going to find out, too, if it was the last thing he did. Considering how much Layne liked shooting that gun of hers, there was a chance it might be. Bunch of cowboys, these women, and he thought that even before Chloe had blown a hole in the world with that stupid rocket launcher of hers. There was a reason why rockets were mostly only equipped on ships. So crazy people like her wouldn't get their hands on a way to shoot them. Oh well. He had bikini thoughts. So long as he didn't think about the possibility that Chloe was going to kill him as he continued swimming along, he could probably catch up with her. Now what was she wearing...
But, yeah, he made it to the proper room intact, with only the Rozarrian brunette before him and some kind of decent-looking chest beside him. No, not that kind of chest. Treasure chest. An actual, literal- yeah, a metal chest- well. The real thing. With items it in. There. Having settled that debate with himself in his mind, he idly watched as he called it just right on Layne's appearance. He held up a hand at her, like he was thinking again. "Rrrrrr- red. It's definitely got to be red. Right?" So Cole was left yet again with two women in his midst. Two wet women. This would have been an absolutely fantastic scenario, but considering money was at stake and they were two of the most money-attracted people on earth, he couldn't quite appreciate it as well. What he could appreciate, though, was the fact that he'd been right about there being dangerous things down here. And all after they'd told him he was full of bullshit, too. Ah, it felt good to be smart and cautious and all that good stuff...not that he'd thought he wasn't before.
Pointing an open palm at Chloe as his way of saying I told you so, Cole raised his voice to a feminine tone. "Oh, Cole! You silly! Don't go telling us those scary stories about monsters in these caves! There can't possibly be any big, scary, man-eating creatures down here! You're all talk!" With his rant done, he cut his eyes at the two of them, waving his hand. "But yep, just go on without listening to a word I say. I'm clearly lying about everything!" Okay, so there was more to the rant, but he ultimately decided he was done. Mostly. He'd remind them about it later, if they ran across something even worse.
But, alas, they did have to get down to the business part of this, didn't they? Cole let the two ladies bounce back and forth with their declarations of mine mine mine mine while watching them in silence. He knew for a fact if he made too fast of a move on the chest, they were going to suddenly switch into "girl power" mode and he'd be completely and totally screwed. So he had to bide his time and be smart about it. He knew these two ladies well enough. He knew the way they thought, mostly. As always, Cole was confident he could figure something out, even with Chloe's grabby hands latching onto the chest beside him. He looked at her, thoughtfully. "You know, Chloe walks out of here with this treasure and suddenly, she's the most famous female treasure hunter in all Rozarria thanks to the Margrace family." With that said, Cole leaned around her to look at Layne. "I thought you'd be upset about that kind of thing, Layne."
Was he trying to play them off each other? Heeeeeck yes. Was it going to work? Who the heeeeeck knew. Hopefully it kind of would. He didn't want them blowing holes in one another and pretty much knew that wouldn't be happening, but a catfight was perfectly acceptable, while he grabbed the chest and left. Or watched if it was a really good fight. One of those two. "I'm too much of a gentleman to start yanking something out of a woman's hands, but hey, whichever one of you gets it is gonna be pretty rich. Jobs'll be easy to find..."
Yep, he had this one in the palm of his hand...maybe.
Words - 1025 Muse - Excellent! Notes - Bahahaha, you knew it was coming. [/size]
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Post by Layne Riley on Sept 5, 2012 23:07:57 GMT -5
It was amazing, how fast you could get the attention of a male when you mentioned the word bikini. After cheerfully having spoken out that he could never tell if she actually had one on underneath, she had his full attention instantly. That was something to remember for the future if she ever wanted his full attention. Just mention having a bikini on and there he’d be. Honestly, it wasn’t her fault that she had been prepared to get wet. Except now that Cole and Chloe were here, she wasn’t so keen on parading around a cave in a bikini. She was sure Cole wouldn’t mind, but she would never hear the end of it from Chloe if she did. But a girl had to do, what a girl had to do. Right? Right! At least, that was what she figured. But Cole thought he needed to know the color, did he? With a shake of her head, Layne denied him. “Honestly Cole, you don’t need anything but a swift kick in the butt.” Layne was just a bit too cheerful when she mentioned that, before she went her own way and put Cole and a bikini out of her mind.
Giant spiders, holes blown into walls, debris, and one treasure chest in the hands of Chloe later, Layne was once pestered about her bikini. Her eyes shifted to Cole as she tried to straighten out her appearance, her brow cocked at him. He hadn’t forgotten. Well that was unfortunate, wasn’t it. Shaking her head, Layne tied her shoulder length hair back again and smiled at him. “Wrong. You get three strikes and you’re out.” As soon as it left her mouth she regretted it. Unintentionally she had just encouraged him to continue his odd try to figure out what her underclothes were game. Well wasn’t that nice. Sighing slightly, she sent him a ‘you should really grow up’ look. The same look she had sent his way hundreds of times while growing up with him in the neighborhood. It hadn’t worked thus far, she wasn’t sure why she thought it would work now.
Trying to shut out Cole’s immaturity in regards to her swimwear beneath her clothes, Layne’s eyes turned to Chloe when she started talking about what it might take to get the treasure. She almost placed a palm against her forehead when that was mentioned. “Please don’t trap us in here Chloe, or crush us or something. That wouldn’t be very beneficial.” Of course Chloe must know that, but Layne never knew if she would actually remember when she got trigger happy with that RPG of hers. In the past she hadn’t always had the best ability to control herself when she was shooting at something. Layne knew the feeling, of liking the feel of power you got from shooting a gun too, but she hoped Chloe wouldn’t get caught up in the moment and blow them all to kingdom come. That would be very nice.
She only then became aware of Cole’s trying to mock them by saying how he had tried to warn them about the monsters back in here. Cutting her eyes toward him, Layne tried to hide the smile at how worked up he was getting on the subject. “Oh don’t get your underwear in a bundle Cole. I’d bet the next big stake I get that you honestly didn’t know about the spiders either, so calm yourself.” On an afterthought, she pointed a finger at him accusingly, “And don’t just go lying just so you can get my next big stake either.” You had to cover all your bases when people like Cole and Chloe were around.
And then it was back to business. Which just so happened to be her treasure in the hands of one Chloe Frayzer. Setting her hands on her hips when Chloe started to walk off, Layne frowned and then heard what Cole said. She knew what he was trying to do, she did! And yet…he was right. As she watched Chloe start to move away with her treasure, his words kept repeating in her mind. The best female treasure hunter title in Chloe’s hands?! Oh no. No no no. That title would only go to Layne Riley, and no one else! Her frown intensified and then she got a little smile as she stepped in front of Chloe to stop her advance, laying her hands on the chest as well and giving it a little bit of a tug. “Cole’s right. I can’t have you stealing my title Chloe.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words:; 937 Muse:; Great! Location:; Rozarria wilderness? Outfit:; That one I linked :3 Tagged:; Cole and Chloe! Notes:; This thread XD It kills me Listening To;: Four Non Blondes - What's going on <-- ironic
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Post by chloe on Sept 7, 2012 0:17:41 GMT -5
“I wouldn’t bring this place down…” Chloe shrugged towards Layne, feeling a bit underestimated…or just judged. She’d felt that way her entire life though so this was nothing new. If anything, she had to blame Coulson for her…problems with things that explode. Like grenades. Seriously, she needed therapy or something to get over the fact that she was scared shitless by them, nearly blowing a leg off by some firecrackers did that to someone. She should just send the medical bill for her therapy to one Coulson Pike. That would teach him to throw fireworks at her again. Sticking a tongue out at Layne, Chloe had put her RPG back where it belonged…not aiming at anyone or anything. “We all know who to blame when it comes to the big explosions…and why they happen.” She said, dark eyes cutting to Cole, but hey, whatever, all she had to keep thinking about was that huge medical bill he’d be receiving sometime in the future!
This really was turning into being one of the weirdest treasure hunts Chloe had ever been on. She stood there with the other two, the two she’d grown to know and call her good friends, but as she folded her arms across her chest, she raised an eyebrow and looked at Cole with a somewhat less than amused look on her face, especially when he knocked his voice up a couple of octaves. Listening to his little mock of them, Chloe shifted her eyes to Layne once, still unamused before returning to Cole, ready to slap him upside the head or something. “Don’t do that again, Coulson. You’re way too good at that ‘feminine voice’ thing, don’t give people the wrong idea.” She said while moving her eyes to the small chest just a few steps away, passing by Cole and Layne and going to stake her claim. Of course that’s why she was here! She wasn’t walking out empty handed, she’d be damn sure to get some nice gil out of all this effort she was putting forth, especially dealing with these two…it might just call for a bonus!
Waltzing over without a care in the world and taking the small treasure chest for herself, Chloe honestly felt like she was going to have the rest of this treasure hunt in the bag…but who was she kidding? I mean, after all, she was competing with two other great hunters, it was only a matter of time before they stepped in her way. Not that they hadn’t distracted her enough already, but call it her being lenient since it was somewhat of a reunion. With a skip to her step – just because she was happy and it was somewhat like bragging – Chloe had a smile plastered to her face before she stopped a few steps ahead of both her rivals and companions. She let her dark eyes search the room, looking for the next path to take. She could hear some mumbling behind her, of course it was Cole talking, but she paid no attention to it, until it actually registered in her mind what he had said. Oh, so that’s how he wanted to play it? Frowning slightly as she kept her back turned to the other two, she increased her grip on the treasure chest and started taking off a few more steps away from them, knowing how this was going to turn out in a matter of seconds.
And there it came. Layne was in her face more or less and tugging on the chest from one end. With a smirky yet very unamused look on her face, the Rozarrian native tugged back on the chest, only a little bit harder than how Layne had pulled. She shot a glance over her shoulder, a bitter smile on her face as she looked to Cole. “You’re an ass.” She declared before putting her attention back on the blonde that had her grabby hands on the other end of the treasure chest. “Finders keepers, Layne. Let go…please.” She continued, bitter smile still on her face as she waited, waited to play a nice game of tug of war with Layne…at least she’d asked her to let go nicely, would manners even play a part in this anymore? No. probably not. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words:[/color] 824 Muse:[/color] Great! Tagged:[/color] Cole, Layne Wearing:[/color] Already linked Listening To:[/color] She Wolf: Shakira Notes:[/color] I love this thread!
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Coulson Pike
Wanderer
Hot For Fingernails[/font]
"Yeah, assholes, we did your jobs for you."
Posts: 85
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Post by Coulson Pike on Sept 19, 2012 14:30:35 GMT -5
Damn it. So much for that glorious image in his mind of a red bikini. Cole shrugged a little at his failure to guess properly, surprised she even left it open for him to keep on making his guesses. Heck, maybe she wanted him to guess. That'd be new, her encouraging his stupidity. He doubted that was the case, though, and so he'd be sure to use his three guesses while he had them. "Oh I'm gonna figure it out one way or another," he assured her, looking proud of himself in spite of the fact that he hadn't actually succeeded at much of anything yet - getting a good bikini image or actually getting the jewels, either. But Cole never went home empty-handed...never ever. Except that one time he burned said hands pretty badly...but that was a series of unfortunate events that was completely out of his hands....no pun intended.
And then they had to solve the issue about Chloe's tendency to see something moving slightly - like a tiny mouse - and proceed to blow it fifty-two feet into the air with the biggest gun she could find. It was not one of her better qualities...and Cole just had to wonder exactly how she had that weird thing with grenades that wasn't his fault yet enjoyed making anything else blow into a thousand tiny pieces. That woman had something really wrong going on in her head. And naturally because she had something so wrong with her, she turned her jabbering from Layne to him of all people. Little ol' innocent Cole, just propped up there in the room and not causing anyone any problem at all. He tried his best to look hurt. "Now I hadn't said a word aside from asking what you blew up. I'm just sitting here listening with interest...maybe I'm all for you blowing something up and trapping us in here! You never know." He wasn't, but the other two didn't really need to know that..and if they thought he actually was they needed some sort of mental help anyway, because they'd gone off the deep end.
And good grief, could they not give him any credit for having been right about things down here being dangerous? Not even a tiny bit? He pointed back at Layne while she was pointing at him. "It sounds like you're just as interested in my underwear as I am in yours," he said to her, before turning the finger on Chloe. "And you...are being dumb." Then he digressed somewhat, motioning his hand in the direction Chloe had apparently come. "You two are supposed to be the cautious ones, not me, yet here I am giving you both perfectly fair warning. When did it get to the point where I am the only one that prepares for everything? I never prepare for anything, so that's like saying...you both prepare so little you make things more difficult instead of easier for yourselves." It was true. When Cole was more ready for a potential problem than anyone, it meant bad things for whoever anyone incorporated. He didn't not get ready for problems, but his idea of getting ready for them was to do whatever he could just to make sure nothing bugged him and held him up.
One particular thing he hadn't prepared for, since he hadn't guessed both women would be here on the same day and at the same hours as him, was the prospect of having to ween them off the prospect of actually taking his treasure away from him. But now that they were both here...ah, the ideas would definitely flow, especially with Chloe strutting off like he and Layne were just going to let her leave with a good portion of the stash. But Cole didn't actually have to do anything in particular to get it back and risk the two ladies uniting against him. Nope...he just had to use their particular to his advantage...and by the looks of it, as Layne walked over to cut off Chloe, he'd nailed his attempt to play them off each other. Though he was extremely proud of himself, he kept a complete look of neutrality on his face as Chloe called him an ass and he stood up, a bit closer to the two with his hands in his pockets to watch the fireworks start. For once, he didn't even have to say anything. Just watch as they talked themselves into a conflict. Ah, he remembered why he'd loved hanging out with these two back in the day...and it wasn't just because they were good looking.
Words - 844 Muse - Excellent! Notes - He's patting himself on the back in the muse closet as we speak.[/size]
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