paixaorpg | Investigation: Paixao [active]

Entry tags:

Investigation: Paixao [active]

Character(s): Mao and Riku
Content: Mao and Riku go to look for the cause of the mysterious wormholes
Setting: Starting out in front of the St. Destino Hospital and then going all over
Time: Afternoon, Week 31
Warnings: Mao

He really hadn't been expecting Riku to agree to help him find the cause of the wormholes. Really, Mao hadn't expected anyone to want to help him in the first place. He guessed he didn't mind all that much when he thought about it. More help meant he would get this done quicker, and the sooner focus could get onto his wonderful honor student act.

Although... the more he thought about it, the more something about that began to bother him. His graffiti had been around for a long time, hadn't it? Not that Mao minded the chance for more people to witness his work, but something was a little off about it. He guessed some of it could be chalked up to the wormholes around making the cleanup harder for some people, but it didn't explain everything. It should all still be gone. In fact, this entire city should be cleaner than it had ever been before. Beryl would never let a place go vandalized like this if she could help it. It didn't matter if it was across a whole city or if there were wormholes everywhere, or if he had booby trapped every cleaning supply in the city--he hadn't this time, the plan coming together on short notice, but still. So why was it all still here?

Mao stood at the entrance to the run-down hospital that held his lab, waiting for Riku. His arms were crossed, his foot was tapping, and he really wished the other teen would just hurry up and get here already so he could get his mind off of Beryl.

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Riku didn't take his time getting there, but he by no means did he rush, either. There was no point in letting an egotistical demon think Riku was at his beck and call. The teen still made sure he had whatever supplies his oversized pockets could carry before he left. Experience proved to him doing otherwise wasn't smart. Plus he never knew with Mao.

At a gait fast enough it indicated he had somewhere to be, Riku finally arrived at the hospital. He waved at Mao, or rather, as much as he ever waved. He looked about as much like he waved as he was stretching his wrist. Riku looked up at the dilapidated hospital. Somehow he wasn't surprised.

"Whatcha got in mind?"

Mao caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and though he glanced up to look at Riku, he didn't wave back. Or... he thought Riku waved, anyway. It was kind of hard to tell. The demon uncrossed his arms and put his hands on his hips.

"We look around," he said. "It takes better technology than this place has got to make these wormholes appear. That means either someone's using magic to make them or there's going to be some really out of place machines around here." He bet it was the latter, considering how he wasn't able to find any good material in any of the other worlds. That Spira place was the only one that came close, and even then the robots in there looked about ready to fall apart on their own. He was lucky to get what little he could out of them.

With a nod, Riku added, "And either the someone is about as native as we are or is a Nobody. And unless this is gearing up for something big, I can't see an Organization member wasting their time on pranks." Of course, there was always the chance something on another floor was interacting with them, but that wasn't something that had ever happened before. Though that didn't mean it couldn't, it was at best unlikely.

"We should probably go where we've seen them most. Or more like where you've seen them most. I've had the pleasure of having only one dump trash on me."

Mao nodded back. At least Riku seemed to understand what he was talking about. He thought for a moment, trying to pick out where exactly he'd seen the wormholes appear. "It seems random," Mao thought aloud. "Or there doesn't seem to be a pattern to it, anyway. A lot of them seem to show up whenever people are going through some kind of doorway. They start to leave, get sucked through a wormhole, and are gone. But it doesn't always stay. I've seen someone else walk through the same doorway a few minutes later and be just fine."

He'd been unlucky enough to end up going through one when he was going to look for more information the day before. He had just gone to leave the hospital when the portal appeared in the door, dropping him off clear on the other side of the city. The only good thing to come out of it was being able to witness the phenomenon happen to other people on the way back.

Riku crossed his arms. "Doors... Last time I was in Castle Oblivion, every door was a portal, and what was on the other side was activated by a special card. It's like the castle's trying to do that again, but it's gone haywire." He shrugged. It was just a theory, after all. It was at least an educated guess.

"Where do you guess we should look, then? And do you have any tools for this sort of thing, or do we do it the old fashioned way?"

"A card..." Mao thought he had read something about them on the message board once. Was that what that Shantotto woman had used with that machine? Maybe he'd look for one of those cards or a similar machine, too.

Mao frowned at Riku's question. "I don't have the tools for much of anything right now." He was lucky to have finished something to charge his Slaystation Portable, and even that was big, clunky, and kind of steampunk. "We're just going to have to look around," he said, not particularly liking the idea at all.

Considering previous statements, Riku came to two conclusions. One, Mao had basically no more idea where to look than he did. Two, Mao likely had too much pride to outright say, "I don't know."

And so, in reply, Riku at first just shrugged. Frankly, no tools worked well enough for him. He'd done well in the past with making do, and this way he was more likely to understand any interactions between them and any portals.

"So should we just pick a building? What about this one?" He thumbed to the hospital, oblivious to the fact it housed Mao's lab.

Mao turned around to where Riku was pointing. At first the thought occurred to him that maybe Riku meant something behind the dilapidated old hospital, but the hospital looked a little too big for that to be the case. "...This is where I'm staying, and there hasn't been anything in here for at least a few hours," Mao said, turning back toward Riku again.

Riku raised an eyebrow, then looked back to the building. Out of all the places to live, he lives here? The teen shrugged, then replied, "It's random you said. Let's check out another building nearby."

If Mao saw the look, he didn't acknowledge it. He was used to getting those kinds of strange looks out of people anyway, and as far as Mao was concerned if they didn't understand the brilliance of this location, it was their problem. He nodded at Riku's suggestion and started walking in a direction picked totally by Mao's hypothesis of where the greatest concentration of wormholes would be and absolutely not at random. "You see anything on the way here?"

The certainty of Mao's gait was at least enough to make Riku believe he might've had a true educated guess regarding where to search. Though, given Mao and Riku's healthy sense of skepticism, he still took it with a grain of salt.

"Buildings. Fake trees. Simple-minded people." Riku shrugged again. "Only wormhole I've ever seen was the one that almost dumped trash on me a couple days ago. Guess I've been lucky."

If anyone were to give another advice on dealing with Mao, they might tell Riku this: Mao looking certain was by no means an assurance that any plan of his might work--and sometimes it was all the more cause to worry.

The demon "tch"ed softly at Riku's reply and decided not to give a reply on his own. While Mao wouldn't have called having garbage dropped on him lucky, any incident at all happening only once was more than lucky enough for him. "I wonder... When we get closer to the source of the wormholes, will the frequency increase?" Mao asked, mostly to himself.

Had Riku actually noted that Mao seemed to have missed his sarcasm, he might've stared.

The teen shrugged. "Might. Or for what we know, what they connect to could be more distant. More power and distance by proximity." He sighed as they stepped into the building. "Sure be nice if we could get one to lead out of this place," he mused idly.

Riku looked around the lobby area. Did a wormhole look like anything from the back?

Mao "hmm"ed softly in response. It was pretty hard to tell which one it would be in a place like this. Just when it looked like he had figured things out for the most part, this place threw a curveball out of nowhere and made him have to think about things all over again.

Mao scanned the inside of the building, looking for anything that might look the slightest bit out of place. Even if they didn't find a wormhole around here, maybe they'd find something it deposited. A trail was better than nothing. "I wish. There's probably some kind of mechanism making sure we stay in here." Things were never that easy.

"Probably. Darkness has plenty of ways of creating barriers." He'd made his own to keep Donald and Goofy away from Sora, something he never cared to remember. Even still, he could to this day use it to make a shield.

As Riku walked past a dim corridor, he did a double-take. Colored light shone from a doorway, the hue shifting slightly like someone was watching a television.

"Hey." Riku motioned to the demon as he began to walk down the hall. Just a little past the doorway he saw a swirling mass of purple and blue light. At its center was a mass of darkness, never a good sign.

"You never mentioned darkness was a part of these."

Mao turned his head as Riku spoke up and followed behind, wondering just where they were going at first. But then he noticed a small, somewhat familiar glimpse of light. Mao adjusted his glasses, shoving them further up his nose to make sure he got a good look at it as they got closer. Despite his best efforts, Mao had missed his chance when he had been sucked through the first couple of times. This was the first time he could actually examine it.

"I didn't see it at first," Mao replied simply, a little distracted as he began to wonder why darkness was in the wormhole in the first place. Had something messed with whatever caused it?

Mao took out his journal, looking briefly at the map before putting it away and pulling out a small notepad and pencil. He made a note of their position before putting that back away as well. It was probably a good idea to make notes of the different places the wormholes were appearing. While Mao thought it was random, there might just be a pattern he was missing. "If only I had something to scan it with...!"

"Hm. If darkness is a part of this, it certainly narrows down who's causing these. Dark Corridors are probably coming into play."

"What thing would you use in your world?" Riku asked idly as he picked up a pebble. He cautiously moved a little closer. After throwing it upwards a few inches and catching it in his palm, Riku tossed it into the wormhole and took a step back. On edge, he watched it closely.

"I have a few custom devices I made myself," Mao replied, watching as Riku tossed the pebble in. Mao probably would have tossed something bigger into the wormhole himself, but a pebble would work too. If only they had more items of different materials. Then he could see what kind of effect--if any at all--they had on it. Maybe... "What kind of things do you have on you right now?"

Riku turned, eyebrows raised. He reached into his oversized pockets a moment. "Potions. Some wrapped jerky. More potions. Might have an elixir. Pocket knife. Some munny and maybe a silk leaf or two." The look on his face, however, said, you're not chucking my stuff into the wormhole.

Then, after a moment, his eyes widened slightly. With a smirk, he pulled off a shoe and promptly began de-lacing it.

Mao frowned when it looked like Riku wasn't about to cough up his stuff. Damn. He really didn't want to throw anything of his in. It was his stuff, why should he have to sacrifice it? Then Riku started de-lacing his shoe and a little bit of hope reappeared on Mao's face. Was he going to throw the shoe in there?

With one lace in hand he put his now-loose shoe and repeated the process with the other. He tied the two shoelaces together to create a cord well over a yard in length. He then began looking around. Something delicate, just to see how it comes out... The old Victorian wallpaper was peeling back. Pulling out his small pocket knife, he cut off a small piece and tied the end of his shoe laces around it. "Let's see what's on the other side."

Like he had when he went fishing on a budget as a kid, Riku had wrapped the end of the shoe string around his hand. Using the other, he tossed the chunk of wallpaper. To his surprise, the vortex had a pull. The wallpaper piece hovered right in front of the wormhole, tethered only by the shoe string. Riku gave it a little more line, but the very moment the end entered the wormhole, he found the line instead pulled him. Riku stumbled forward before catching himself and pulling back hard. In that brief moment he had his ground, Riku felt his sneakers slide against the floor and his hair flying forwards. The shoe laces were painfully cutting the circulation from his hand.

The pull from the wormhole increased, pulling Riku forward again. As he stumbled, he let go, but too late. He found himself far too close, and he spun to grab the door frame as an arm was pulled in. Riku grunted in pain as his shoulders strained. His hair and vest were being pulled back, tugging against his shoulders and head.

Mao couldn't help but pout at the shoelace-line. That was it? Really? Sure it was safe but that way was so boring! They could have at least thrown a few things into it BESIDES the pebble! Hell, Mao would have been perfectly HAPPY to grab some of the useless citizens from the city. It wasn't like anyone would miss them.

Still, even if this particular experiment was boring, it still carried the possibility of some good data. Mao pulled the notebook and pen out again, jotting down every single thing he could.

Then the squeak of sneakers sliding against the floor brought Mao out of his notes. The demon's head whipped up and he nearly dropped his notes. That must have been the same force that had pulled him in before! In an instant, a thousand thoughts and theories went through his mind, at least a few of them debating the merits of standing by and taking notes on what was happening. But, luckily for Riku, Mao's better side won out and with no lack of reluctance, Mao stuffed his notes away and bounded over to the doorway, one hand firmly grasping Riku's wrist while the other latched onto the door frame.

He grit his teeth and braced himself against the pull, somewhat surprised as to just how strong it really was. It had gone by so quickly the times he had been pulled in before, but now that they had some distance...! It was so fascinating but now was no longer the time or place for these kinds of observations! He couldn't allow himself to get distracted! It was already hard enough to keep ahold of the damn door, and even now Mao could feel his own feet starting to slide, soon leaving the floor. The young Overlord tried to ignore his chain that kept his coat clasped around his shoulders choking him from the pull of the wormhole, but the black encroaching on the edge of his vision was making that difficult.

Riku could feel chips of wood dig in under his short nails. Just as his fingers slid from the door frame, he felt Mao grab his wrist. No longer with the option to hold on, his mind raced through his options. Even if his arm was free to cast a spell, he was never that good with them. Gravity was only so useful. Try as he might, he couldn't fully free his arm from the wormhole. Even if he could have still used Dark Corridors, they had no pull of their own.

Now, however, even Mao's feet were sliding, and Riku could feel his torso finally being pulled. As Mao's coat flapped in his face, he tried fruitlessly to turn his hand so he could grab Mao's wrist in return. Slowly, he felt his feet leave the floor.

The moment his feet entered the wormhole, it was over. The last view Riku could remember was a sudden glimpse of dusty ground rushing up at him.

. . .

Riku woke to a throbbing head and the realization he was on his back. And that it was more uncomfortable than it should be. That and he itched a little, and it was hot. His hair was wrapped around his neck or something. Frankly, he didn't want to move much, but he'd pushed through worse. He rolled over with a groan, feeling woozy. His hands felt funny. They felt wrong. What was wrong with his hands? He squinted and tried to look around.

"Uuuuugh... ...Mao? Mao?"

Mao groaned but made no move to get up. His head hurt, it still felt like the world was spinning, and, worst of all, he couldn't feel his glasses. Great. They were probably lost somewhere in that wormhole. Or wherever they had landed. What had happened, anyway? He'd had a good grip on the frame one moment and the next he and Riku were flying into the wormhole. He must have blacked out at some point. He squeezed his eyes tighter out of annoyance, both at himself and the entire situation. This was just great. Not only did they end up pulled through, but Mao hadn't even gotten a good look at the inside. Still, he had gotten some data, he guessed, and he needed to get it down somewhere before he forgot.

Where were his notes, anyway? He assumed they were in his coat where he left them, but it didn't feel like his coat was around his shoulders. Had he lost it too? Damn... This was just getting better and better.

"I'm right here," the demon grumbled, and rolled over--or tried to. Mao frowned and attempted again, but the more he moved around, the more he realized that there was something wrong about it. Not just being unable to roll over--because he knew he could if he could move right--but... well, he wasn't able to move right!

Mao opened his eyes, having to blink a few times in order to get used to the bright sun beating down on them. The first thing he noticed was just how good his vision was. It was like he was still wearing his glasses, which didn't make any sense. Had something been done to them? Had they been experimented on? Was there any video? Then he noticed the white paw outstretched in front of him. Mao reached up to move it out of the way, hoping to shoo away whatever animal had come by to investigate, but was surprised to find that as he moved his hand, the paw moved as well.

No. No, it couldn't be. It was just a coincidence, right? Mao reached out again. The paw did the same. Mao's jaw hung open slightly as he gaped in silence, denial fading away as the realization of what had happened dawned on him. "No, no, no, no, NO!" he shouted, thrashing about in an attempt to right himself. "This can't be right! WHAT THE HELL?!"

Riku shut his eyes tight a moment and gave his head a good shake. It felt like his hair was everywhere. Finally, hearing Mao's voice, he looked over towards a long-limbed spotted cat... With white hair.

Wait a sec...

But just as the cat began to shout, Riku finaly got a good look at his hands, or as he found, gray-furred paws. He turned his dominant paw over, scrutinizing claws and paw pads as it slowly became clear what was going on. He looked back over his body to see, yes, he was no longer human. His tail made that painfully obvious. Riku rubbed his head with a paw.

"Mao, relax, I think this is normal." He groaned and shook his head again. Hold on... That's mane? Riku looked down at himself, eyes a little wide as he continued to speak. "This is probably the Pridelands. Sora was here once and got turned into a lion cub."

Even then, it was clear Riku wasn't an adult lion, either. Though much of his mane had grown in, it hadn't quite reached his chest, yet, and had be seen his reflection, he would've noted his snout was still slightly on the cub-ish side. Riku would have found the whites of his eyes had turned yellow, and his nose was jet back. His mane and tail tip color was the same as his hair had been before. The teen's fur was a warm gray and a near-white.

Not bad. Riku tried to get to his feet, unsteadily.

Mao stopped flailing as he finally managed to get himself right-side-up. Despite Riku's assurances, the demon-turned-serval was still very much not happy, long ears practically glued to the back of his head. A loud hiss escaped Mao's mouth, briefly surprising him before he managed to pull himself together again. "How is this normal?! Why do I have to look like this?! What was wrong with how I normally look?!"

He glared down at his paws. White fur... great, he was an albino. Riku could at least sort of blend in he guessed, but albinos tended not to last too long in the wild. Mao hoped he still could use his magic or had some small amount of his strength in this form. He was not going to die by getting eaten!

Red eyes with grey markings reminiscent of Mao's glasses glared ahead of himself.

The young lion shrugged. "There aren't any humans or demons here. Either the floor or the world probably changes us so we're more compatible." He looked down at a paw, flexing the digits, claws extending a bit as he did so.

"No idea how I'm going to use the Keyblade without thumbs." Riku extended his foreleg in much the same way he might when he was human and summoned his weapon. In his mind he pictured a modified weapon that extended any time he swung his paw. Riku envisioned having Keyblade, claws and teeth all at his disposal.

Instead, he almost fell over as Gloaming Saber appeared in his mouth. Riku staggered as he adjusted his balance. His teeth sank into the strange-tasting material of the grip. He looked less-than-thrilled.

"Wahll. Dith ith greath."

"I don't care if it doesn't have them. It should get some," Mao replied simply, both unaware and uncaring that this suggestion didn't make much sense. He put a shaky paw on the ground and tried to push himself to his feet, not entirely sure how this was going to work. While he couldn't say that every movement felt unnatural, the majority of them did.

He caught the flash of light out of the corner of his eye and immediately stopped what he was doing to stare at Riku. That weapon... in Riku's mouth? After a moment, Mao burst into laughter. "How are you even supposed to fight like that?!"

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Well, we tried to provide. The world said no. Time for us to deal."

"Ah don'k know, withe guy. Thut upf." The teenager tilted his head to the side, testing the weight of the weapon in comparison to his head and neck. It was strange, but to his jaws and neck were much stronger than they were when he was human. The Keyblade wasn't as hard to move as he'd guessed, and he steps back and practices a few swipes. Riku then tried tossing it up into the air, then grabbed the keychain mid-air and swung the weapon around, albeit somewhat aimlessly. Letting the Keyblade come to a rest and spitting out the Keychain, Riku finally replied, "I'll probably manage."

His weapon laid there, the lion slobber soaking into the ground.

Mao was somewhat impressed by Riku's improvisation with the keyblade, but by no means want to show it, much less acknowledge it. There was no way Mao would be able to do that with his sword. He was too small like this in comparison to it, and he didn't have a keychain attached like Riku did. Dammit. That wasn't fair!

Mao glared at the weapon on the ground for a moment before taking a few unsteady steps off to the side and concentrating, muttering under his breath. A large block of ice suddenly burst up from the ground, leaving Mao felling much more triumphant. "Good. I can still use magic." He couldn't equip a staff or any monster weapons, but it was something.

The magic earned a smile from Riku. "Probably good. My magic's never been great unless I use darkness. Not unless I'm combining it with..." The lion's eyes widened as he trailed off, realizing. Instinctively he looked to his flanks as if he'd find the now-missing pockets. There were no items scattered around them.

"Great," he muttered. "I've got no potions. Whatever changed us probably transformed our clothes to fur. ...Do you know any Cure spells?"

Mao stared at Riku like he was crazy. "No. Why learn healing magic when I can just get others to do it for me?" Which would be a bit of a problem here due to the current lack of healers, but that didn't change the rules on the whole as far as Mao was concerned. "We'll just have to defeat whatever attacks up quick enough so we don't have to worry about healing."

He shrugged--as much as a serval could be said to shrug. His strategy made perfect sense to him. It wasn't like he couldn't use Vasa Aergun if the situation called for it.

Riku actually rolled his eyes at Mao's first statement. This didn't surprise Riku too much, but that didn't mean it didn't also irritate him. ...Fine, with that attitude, he doesn't need to know I can yet. That being said, Riku's skill in most magic wasn't particularly special. Sora had always been better at it, interestingly enough. In the meantime, Mao was right about trying to avoid the need for healing. "Or maybe see if we can go into things with a plan if we get the chance."

Sure, Riku had backups. But he wasn't about to get cocky. That'd gotten him into trouble before. Never again.

"Of course there'd be a plan," Mao stated, acting as though the idea were his own. He took a few extra, cautious steps and was proud to see that even though he was still a little shaky he was getting better at getting around. He always knew he learned quickly.

"Let's just find the exit to this place. I want out of here as soon as possible."

Riku hummed a note. "Glad to know you're not the type to just run into battle waving a sword around." Not that it would even be that easy to do in these forms, but still.

"I say the same thing every morning." There was a hint of amusement in his voice. His Keyblade vanished from the ground for the moment. Looking around, he noted the lay of the land.

"We should probably head this way," he motioned with his head to a thick patch of brambles. As imposing as it looked, with a wasteland behind him and the hints of grass and greener lands potentially beyond the thorns, it looked like a better idea for the moment.

Mao looked between the wasteland and the brambles, weighing the pros and cons of each. The wasteland looked more promising (and involved less effort) than going through the brambles, but if this place was anywhere near as big as the last floor, it would probably be better if they were near someplace where they could get food.

...However that was going to work.

"How far back do you think they go?"

The Keyblade reappeared in Riku's mouth and he looked back to Mao. "You sthink I cahre?"

With that, the young lion began to practice his skills, hacking away at the thorns with Gloaming Saber. He wasn't coming out of it totally unscathed, though, as he winced at superficial cuts from the thorns flying around him. A couple thorns stuck in his shoulders and legs, but they wouldn't be slowing him down too much anytime soon. Still, he was certainly making progress.

"Of course you don't care," Mao grumbled. "You can cut through with that Keyblade thing." He stood behind Riku as he continued to make his way through the brambles, glancing at the plants himself from time to time and wondering if there was any way to make this go faster. Of all the times to not have Beryl around... He didn't want to ask her how she did fire magic, but he was starting to wonder whether or not he should start looking into learning elements other than ice.

If Riku had been better with magic, he might've offered to show Mao a few tricks, but even then, Sora was still superior at magic. Riku knew Dark Firaga, but he wasn't sure it would work the same way. Spells fueled by darkness sometimes had different rules to go with them. That being said, there was always the slight concern over giving Mao any more power, given his ego...

Besides, they were at the edge of a desert. Even if the thought of using a fire spell had occurred to him, Riku probably would have thought twice about attempting to set just a portion of dry brambles on fire, for fear it might spread.

Riku finally finished cutting a path to a series of ledges they could climb. He sat back on his haunches, eyeing the thorns stuck in him like they'd done it on purpose. They'd started to really hurt. When trying to remove them with his leonine toes failed miserably, he began to pick them out with his teeth. He winced in pain as he pulled them out.

Mao stared at the the thorns stuck in Riku and found himself glad that he hadn't had to take an active role in getting through the brambles. That looked like it hurt, and Mao wasn't about to start counting all of the thorns that were stuck. He had enough stuck in him to deal with from just following behind to worry about that kind of thing anyway.

He hesitated, staring at the thorns a moment. It wasn't really the pain he was worried about. He'd gotten hurt a lot worse before. But pulling it out with his teeth? Mao scowled and went to work, licking at the wounds almost instinctively once each thorn was pulled out. He had to stop himself multiple times, disgusted at his actions. How embarrassing...

"Oi," the demon said suddenly, pausing in his thorn-pulling. "how big do you think this floor is?" And what were they supposed to do about food?

Riku thoughtfully paused a moment. "I... Never thought about that one." Taking a break from removing thorns, the silver-maned lion climbed the ledges, leaping effortlessly between them. There really was something outright thrilling about this form. The way he'd simply look at a point and be able to leap suddenly towards it... That was just cool.

At the top he found himself in a gorge, but back over his shoulder. "I just hope this place isn't as big as Spira. ...Either way, we either need to see if we can find a warp point back to Paixao or the door to the next floor. ...And I don't know about you, but the second one I'm always up for." Riku gazed up. The tops of the cliffs looked green, but there were a couple leafy trees in the gorge. And where there are plants, there's water. He pulled out the last of the thorns before smacking his lips, the taste of dirt strong.

Mao followed Riku up the ledges and ignored the shudder that went up his spine at the mention of Spira. Even now the feeling of that place bothered him. The thought of what kind of things that could be going on or had gone on in that human world to make the air so thick with death and despair was absolutely sickening.

But going up another floor... Yeah, that sounded good. Any step closer to being able to go home sounded good. Now the question was whether the door they would have to find was kept hidden away somewhere or if it was somewhere obvious and important. His gaming instincts pointed to the latter, but if these Organization members were smart, they'd probably go for the former. Maybe if they could just get to a place with some tall enough trees he could try and climb one and get a better look. Mao seemed to be able to jump better than Riku could (a fact that Mao was going take and proudly run with), so he could probably climb faster.

"I guess something good has to come out of this," he mostly muttered. At least Mao was starting to sound a little happier. As far as happiness went with him.

Looking back, Riku noticed how much more nimble Mao was. That'll be useful. For as powerful as Riku felt, he realized that muscle and thicker bone weighed him down more than Mao's lighter frame. And Riku knew he wasn't even an adult lion! ..Though he wasn't sure Mao was a grown serval, either. It made him wonder just how fast these new bodies were.

"I intend to make sure something does."

Riku began to scale the gorge cliffs where there were plenty of ledges. On rare occasion he'd slide a little, instinctively extending his claws to catch hold of the slightest crack. How he could hang on with what was almost his fingernails and not hurt himself was an odd feeling. It took a decent amount more time than the last set of ledges, but Riku pulled himself up onto the comparatively soft grass. He sat, resting his now well-worked shoulders, and he looked around.

Mao wasn't long behind Riku, having had an easier time of climbing the cliff than Riku due to his greater mobility. At least this area didn't look as barren as the other one. There was some promise here. Maybe the two of them would get lucky and find someone they could force to lead them where they needed to go. Riku had more muscle to him than Mao did in this form. He could probably do the intimidation needed for that.

He wasn't sure if they would need it--or if there was anyone around this floor, really--but considering how their luck had been today, Mao wouldn't be too surprised.

"Good. You'd better deliver on that." Not that Mao wasn't going to try to make something good happen too, but if he didn't have to work for it, all the better. He peered about, surveying the area for any landmarks that would be good to check out. What kind of place would animals frequent, anyway? "Oi. Maybe we should look for water." They'd have to take a drink sometime, wouldn't they?

Riku didn't even reply to Mao's first comment. He was determined enough to get out of this death trap he'd stay on this floor until physical needs became too great to do otherwise.

"That’s what I’m hoping for," he began, stretching his forelegs in such a way his head briefly sank into the fluff of his still-growing-in mane. "Besides, we’ve got no supplies and there’s a desert out there we might have to check out. Getting water beforehand would be more than just smart."

A light breeze made waves roll along the grass. Riku sniffed the air. Though a heightened sense of smell wasn't that strange to him, not having every breath laced with the foul scent of darkness was a nice change of pace from the old days. He looked around a moment, and then began moving off. Hopefully he smelled correctly.

"...Wonder if there’s any way to carry it with us. Not like we can make much with these paws, but if we can find some succulents like the aloe back home, that’d work... "

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Investigation: Paixao [active]

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Landing at outskirts of the Pridelands?

Sounds good. :|b

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Also, Servals run at least 10-15 mph faster than a lion! Serval-50mph, lion-35

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