Allan shot Carter a dirty look at the remark, tempted to "demonstrate" his pistol to the creature by using it on Carter. Instead of retorting to being called an ass – which, frankly, was one of the nicer things he'd been called – he focused on the fact that the tunnel might not have it's opening anymore. "You knew about this, the whole damn time, didn't you?! So, Professor, how the hell do we get back?" he asked, the tempting thought from before growing even more so. "How do we even know if this pet of yours didn't stay down here because it was trapped itself?!"

Whatever argument was starting was interrupted as Kurios made his way through, bumping into legs as he headed off, ears pricked forward as if following something it heard. Due to size and weight, the walk was an amble, heavy gated and not at all rushed. But it was a very determined walk, certain and familiar. "Oh look," Allan sneered at Carter, "Your discovery's leaving without you." The tone indicated that he wasn't letting Carter off the hook for what might have happened. He was very close to just leaving and trying to make it back down the tunnel before it was closed.

Carter glanced at Allan, or what he could see of Allan through the haze of near dark. The look on his face was one he had seen many times, but of course, nothing had come of it any time in the past, and as he figured, nothing came of it that time. “I expected,” he said, moving a bit away from Allan and moving the terribly-faint beam of the flashlight around, “that you would know what would happen. Nothing goes on in the city without someone hearing about it. You don’t have to come with me, like I’ve told you a thousand times; you can go back and resume your life just as you always did, wear the goggles all over the place, deal with the light in almost every nook of every cavern. Didn’t I tell you before, I’m the one who wanted to come to the surface, not you.” He glanced at Kurios, looking with interest between them. “He isn’t trapped. He didn’t want to go back since he has an untroubled life with a food and water source. But humans aren’t supposed to be like their four-legged counterparts. They should have a sense of mystery.”

Carter paused, rubbing his head. His voice was still bothering his ears, but they had somehow grown so much more sensitive with sleep. Everything was magnified enormously, unnaturally. When Allan spoke again, this time referring to his ‘discovery’, Carter jumped and glanced around. Kurios had gotten up, wandering with heavy steps that shuddered the grass, moving with intent in a certain direction. He seemed to know what he was doing. “He knows the way out.” Carter muttered. For a moment, he didn’t move, then he looked at Allan. “I don’t care what you do.” He said. “Go back down there or come with us, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m going up.” With finality, Carter turned and started off, following his discovery as it meandered slowly away. Most of him felt it would be a great relief to have Allan gone, so he could go about the business he had originally intended to go about alone. But that one dark part of him seemed to want to share the surface world with someone else. Even so, he didn’t look back to see if Allan would follow. He tried not to listen, either.

"And I expected you to be more interested in sharing your findings afterwards," Allan snapped back at Carter's almost noncommittal response, narrowing his eyes at the reminder that Carter almost didn't want him along. His "cure" was being stubborn as hell; so focused on a stupid animal rather than what would happen to him. Then again, he could consider Carter one too, with his philosophical views and clear dislike of having human company. Allan still needed human companionship, and as much as he hated the thought, he needed this guy. For now, anyway.

He resisted the smirk at Carter's jump at realizing his discovery was wandering off without so much as a farewell, Carter surmising exactly what Allan had thought when it moved. His eyes were unusually unfocused as Carter gave him his ultimatum, considering the concept of just leaving. But after coming this far, it seemed almost a waste. Not just of his time; he had used a "favor" to get the supplies that led to this little excursion, one he wasn't likely to get back. He let Carter walk off, not watching him leave as he considered his options, then he did the most unlikely thing in the tense situation.

He laughed. It wasn't slowly built up, soft or dangerous. It was sudden and light, Allan closing his eyes and letting his head hang, filled with inexplicable but real amusement. One of the creature's ears flicked towards the sound, but it was ignored; it wasn't a threatening sound, just strange. Allan started to follow again, the laugh fading but the amusement was still as potent as it was before. What wasn't audible was his train of thought; Carter was getting bolder, Allan getting closer to the edge of snapping. Curious thing was, just before it would happen, as it had for months, there was always the amusement, being entertained by things that would usually annoy him. The element, he knew distantly now, realizing it was there, had to have been affecting more than just his sight...

Carter sighed. It seemed the only thing to do at Allan’s little comment. “I’m always intent on sharing what I find with the others who appreciate it.” He growled. “But if they don’t care to know anything, I don’t care to share it with them.” He flexed his fingers into fists, then relaxed them, repeating the motion several times. Humans were so talkative. He had always wondered why he preferred the presence of cats or dogs or the insects he caught to humans, but the answer was so simple he had never considered it: He liked the four-legged animals better than their two-legged cousins. They never tried to question your motives, never scoffed at what you said or hated you for no reason. Such a simple answer, Carter thought to himself. So simple he had disregarded it completely.

But as he walked away, with his new discovery, he put his hand on Kurios’ back. It was bristly with stiff fur, hard with the armor-like scales. When he heard Allan laughing, he almost tripped on a bit of uneven ground. It was quiet, he knew, but the sound rang in his ears, rang loud and familiar, harsh and strong. He had been laughed at before. Certainly Allan was not laughing at him, but he couldn’t consider that. For an instant, all his rational thought left him, and all that remained was the laughter of kids. Teenagers, who thought they knew everything, who thought the world would bend to their liking, who thought adults were nothing but wastes of space. Laughing at him, Carter, who had never done anything to deserve disrespect, who only tried to help them learn of the world, both above and below-ground. But still they laughed; taunted.

He trembled slightly, raising a clenched hand to his mouth, biting hard to keep himself quiet. Perhaps Carter did amuse him, but the reason for Allan’s uncharacteristic laughter was a mystery. Carter bit hard on his hand to stop himself from speaking, from turning and drawing his knife, so hard it brought blood. But his rational mind returned to him as Kurios glanced up, possibly intrigued by the sudden change in body language. Letting out the pent-up breath, Carter shook his head and kept moving, reassuringly patting Kurios with his bitten hand. Fury was rare to him, as was powerful anger. Carter didn’t want to lose his mind, not what was left of it. He thought if both he and Allan were acting odd, the element was certainly affecting them in new ways. It was more than just possible, but he couldn’t bring himself to speak.

Carter got his wish; as the strange creature Kurios continued to "lead" them through the long tunnel, Allan stayed strangely quiet, especially after the odd laugh. Up hills, down hills, sharp climbs and steep downhills, twisting, turning, the tunnel seemed endless, but Kurios kept a steady pace, his heavy claws able to sink into the earth to support him as he moved. The only things that seemed to phase Kurios as he walked, sometimes ahead, sometimes alongside, was Allan's sudden laugh, and the first smell of blood on Carter's hand. They traveled for hours, but watching the lumbering yet fluid Kurios made it hard to simply stop and rest. It was only when the creature paused that it became sensible to pause for water, Allan taking a long drink from his canteen as he watched the creature sniff at the wall, pawing at it, as if confused. Finally, it started to wander off again, still close to the side of the tunnel, as if needing it to lead him. Odd, as he had been quite content before. Allan simply started to follow again, not even thinking about how odd it was to follow an alien creature around in the dark, but paused when he saw something else moving, blinking in surprise when he finally identified it.

Another Kurios, or whatever species that was; it walked on the other side of the tunnel, claws digging into the earth as well, but slowly, Allan was able to pick up the growing rumble of the new creature. It vibrated through the earth, so it was as much felt as heard, head low, stalking past. Kurios rumbled a little in return, but kept himself up, contrasting the stalking of the other. When the other finally went around a corner, vanishing from view, the rumbles faded quickly, and Carter's discovery settled down, and once more steadily walked on.

Allan watched the place where the other had vanished for a few moments more, letting out a soft, short laugh in response, his hands having remained unusually calm, not once going for a weapon. So Kurios hadn't "discovered" the little hideaway at all; this almost felt like a changing of the guard, where only one was allowed to spend time in that underground tunnel, until they got their fill. Kurios hadn't just used smell; he'd probably discovered the tunnel by following one who had just left. Then he resumed walking, following Kurios farther and farther down the tunnel, realizing that the tunnel was suddenly getting crowded; it wasn't rocks and debris that littered the ground as it had before, but the remains of buildings and machines, pieces scattered and grown over with moss and other things. There was glows of varying levels from the moss, mostly faint, barely visible, even with Allan's sensitive eyes, making some look almost untouched by whatever made them glow. His eyes, so accustomed to the darkness now, regretfully began to fight the light once more, but after so long a rest there wasn't the tiredness or the discomfort from it. Farther and farther down the tunnel, the moss began to be intermixed with plants of a less familiar variety, broad leaves sprawling out over the ground, so thick in some places it was impossible to keep moving forward without trampling them, as Kurios did with no heed to them. The tunnel walls, Allan noted, were also getting smoother, as if they had seen more life, more wear and tear.

Kurios again paused, sniffing the air, before choosing how to proceed, lumbering past, over, under, and in some places through the debris of civilization long gone, Allan able to follow, but as the leaves began to glow brighter, it became easy to see by, the odd sources of light casting forlorn, forbidding shadows across the ground. The air felt thick, steamy and wet, but warm, so unlike being near the river beneath the ground, far behind and below them. "Is that surface air?" Allan finally asked, pausing, looking about with eyes narrowed to the glow that was starting to take over the tunnel. It was a mix of surprise, curiosity, and just a touch of disdain for the oddity of the air.

Carter was shaking. Walking in step with Kurios but a little behind, he wouldn’t look back for Allan. The anger was so unexpected, and certainly unlike him. Even so, he could hear Allan’s breathing, his steps, the rustle of his bags and clothing. Nearly blind, Carter had to keep a hand on Kurios’ back, but after some moments of slipping, tripping, and stumbling into the wall nearby, Carter felt a spark of embarrassment as he knew Allan would be able to see him struggle. Keeping it in check by snapping his fingers, he discovered something interesting: The echoes throughout the tunnel came back to him. Some were loud, others barely-audible, but it acted as a secondary sight. Loud echoes signified close objects, large and very nearby, and quiet, delayed ones proved to be faraway objects like the distant wall on the other side of the tunnel or the curved ceiling. When they stopped, he leaned against the wall, watching his surroundings as they gave a very faint bluish spark of light whenever the sharp snap of his fingers hit the air and hit the world. It lit Kurios for an instant, showing his odd movements near the wall, and something else nearby.

A second Kurios, perhaps the same size, growling in their own language, a noise that filled Carter’s head, rattled his bones. They were speaking to one another, it was obvious in their glances at one another, the growl of response Kurios gave.

Carter ignored Allan’s laugh, sensing it was directed toward the animals. The creatures had, together, found the tunnel leading to the little underground oasis, and had called it their own. It was easy to simply go down to hunt the small animals and return to the surface once they were content, leaving a guard or two to keep watch and scare away any other animal that would threaten to take over their subterranean second home. Kurios and his family were evolved beyond the norm, beyond what Carter had read about or thought about, or was ever told about. They had developed an intelligence beyond that of a standard animal, so much so that they had the mental capacity to observe something and discern whether or not that something was worth attacking or inspecting at a deeper level. Carter was brought out of his mind by Kurios moving again, and he was quick to follow, snapping his fingers, ‘seeing’ the world around him as it grew cramped. Moss seemed to cover much of the stony surface, creating a slightly bouncy walkway, glowing ever so slightly, so much so that Carter couldn’t see it when looking directly at it. Carter’s feet were sometimes caught up by the ever-multiplying vines. Their leaves were everywhere, huge, some rather leathery. He had tried to avoid stepping on them, but their numbers had grown to such a number it was impossible, and it was more than certain there would be an infinite number above.

When Kurios contemplated where to go next, Carter took the time to look around. Broken stones, little moss, vines here and there. Kurios disregarded them all and muscled along. Carter had to use his hands to keep balance, but with a nearby dripping of water, its very faint echo still came to him, allowing him glimpses of his surroundings, and those around him. He nearly slipped on the smooth tunnel floor, but catching onto a protruding stone from the wall he was near, he caught himself in time to smell the air around him. It was moving, in the tunnel, but was very humid, heavy. Allan’s words surprised him; for a moment he had forgotten anyone but Kurios was near. “Yes.” He said. “That’s surface air. I can smell earth, wind…” His spirits were lifted, so much so he felt his heart jump and heard it thud in his chest. He forgot about the city, the river, and the horrible enclosed feeling of the underground society he had lived in all his life.

Carter's constant snapping only managed to keep a bemused smile on Allan's lips, invisible in the darkness. Uncharacteristically, he hadn't complained once about the constant sound, how it was annoying and even grating on the nerves at times, echoing the way it did. No scoffs, no attempts to hide an irritated sigh or mutter. Nothing. But fully in character was his response to Carter's enthusiasm at realizing how close to the surface they had to be. He glanced over, a shift of clothing and leather indicated a shrug, and he pressed on. Following Kurios' path, he slid through the metal framework of some sort of vehicle, around what looked like the remains of a trailer or wagon sitting in the grass, noting ahead that it was probably a good idea to slip on the sunglasses yet again, the glow was becoming so intense to his eyes. Not dark enough for the goggles that Carter had offered him, but just a little darkness.

Kurios continued on, as if they had never run into the other, but he paused again at one area, sniffing it cautiously, looking about, but seemed satisfied; was it familiar? Or just old? Allan was able to see the side of the vehicle, especially with the glow around it, the moss overtaking some of the old, rusted edges of the holes. But he was a little more fascinated by the fact that they were clearly claw marks through the metal, ripping it apart like it was soft earth - with each hole easily wider than Allan's head. The large container-like vehicle had been pitched onto its side and was covered in such odd marks, but they were much younger than the rust that covered the whole thing. There was a long time difference between the vehicle being abandoned, the unknown creature "exploring," and the present, but Allan couldn't help the smile that crossed his lips, eyes flickering over the holes with excitement of entirely the wrong sort.

"Now we're getting interesting," he said under his breath, pulling away with a casual pace to follow Kurios, almost moving away with the same fluidity from walk to pause to walk again. But his hand moved down to his holsters, unlocking them as he stepped into the better illuminated tunnel ahead, which, oddly enough, seemed to be getting narrower. The ceiling, once nearly invisible far above, was now part of the near horizon, the sides of the tunnel narrowing to meet it.

Carter could see him, if only for one or two-second intervals. A bluish wave of noise gave a light to that around him, but dim because of the low pitch his snapping could manage. Clicking his tongue, every now and then, just to see where his feet landed or what he reached out to touch, worked much better, giving life to his vision for another second or two, and allowing him to see Allan’s almost permanent smile. When he heard the odd rustle of clothing, he could see it too, showing Allan’s shrug, as though he hardly cared what Carter said. But he had gotten used to that already. Allan was just like the teenagers he taught, just in an adult’s body. He had let his mind wander so much that, even with the assistance of a bat-like echolocation device at his disposal, he nearly ran in to the old metal that strung along the tunnel, that which Kurios navigated around and through very easily. The glow was not quite enough for Carter to see, but a drip and run of flowing water was getting intense in the back of his mind, so much so he felt he was right beside it. Or, right under it.

With the waves of sound bouncing back with an actual light, an actual vision now, Carter saw just what Kurios saw, what Allan saw, just in bursts. The vehicle was larger than Kurios, much more so, but its color Carter could not identify. Everything was white and varying shades of blue, what he could note. The clawed holes in the side of the metal that had been crumpled like a sheet of paper were obvious, as though something massive had picked up the vehicle with little effort and flung it. He wished he could examine it with light, but the concern for Allan’s sensitive sight was there. Carter didn’t want to admit he felt concern for Allan’s sight, his ability to comfortably see without a flashlight blinding him, but he did. It was very small, but still enough to acknowledge. With a wrinkle of his nose, he heard Allan speak, and widened his eyes. Clicking his way into the surroundings once more, he paused for a moment.

As much as he tried not to, Carter let his hand go to his pocket, withdraw his knife, and extend its blade to its longest state. The mechanical clicking as the blades aligned to be seamlessly fit together seemed much like the inner workings of a clock tower, which he had been in once or twice, the noise being rather powerful to the ears. Whatever Allan felt, it was affecting Carter to such a point that he feared something would jump out at them at any moment, the same something that had lifted and destroyed the vehicle they had not long ago left behind. The fear was irrational, he tried to reason, but as they worked their way into the narrow, better-lit tunnel, the sound of pattering water met his ears. It was a sound like little else, a million drops slapping onto the saturated ground again and again. The sound of rain, which he had only ever been told about. “We’re almost out.” He muttered. “Almost to the surface.”

(Got a new pic of Allan finally... =3 )


Carter's mind might have been restless, making noise to "see" by, fascinated by everything around him, but while Allan didn't share the same eagerness, the train of thought he currently had was nothing like what Carter's teenaged students would have running through their minds. The only way to be certain of that, however, would be if telepathy was involved, as it clearly didn't show on that still bemused face of his. It was like he was a teenager again, excited, anticipating something to attack, the rush of adrenaline as the fight would begin, before one became used to it, had been in it enough times to dread the feeling. Carter had, clearly, from how he expertly and effortlessly switched out his knife to ward off any potential threats, and from what had been seen before Allan knew as well, but that wasn't the attitude he was giving now.

As the path grew brighter and brighter, Allan felt the normal rush of excitement as a dark spot began to be visible at the far end, the opposite of the "light" at the end of their tunnel. But he was starting to grin from ear to ear, eyes open and unafraid, almost curious, certainly excited, anticipating. His pace was beginning to match Kurios's, slow, steady, fluid, but starting to speed up, sensing that the tunnel would soon be gone. The pace increased from the amble to a fast walk, then trotting, building speed until it was at a full lope, his breath heavy and coming in grunts as his bulk moved up and down in the tunnel, excited by the prospect of leaving the earth behind for the open air. Despite the humidity, the difference in species and the lack in communication, Allan matched his pace, his long-legged stride aiding him as he rushed behind the creature before it made one final bolt, and in the blink of an eye suddenly vanished.

Allan slowed once he reached the tunnel's edge, the ground opening up above as the tunnel led up through the earth, apparently into another cave. Was it the surface, then? Allan slid out one pistol, stepping forward and through the opening, looking about, listening to the sound of water dripping in the distance. It was a cave, far smaller than the one they left but it was oddly lit by more of the glowing moss, the blue-green so bright in some areas that it turned white to look at. After a moment's fiddling and quick switch, Allan slipped the goggles over his eyes, surprised to find so much glowing that it was as well lit as it was back in Carter's office. It made what they had seen before seem small and hardly worth the look; the moss was intermixed with vivid blue leaves, long, spindly things that were intermingled with the white-green flowers that had made such a commotion so far below their feet. Certainly, seeds must have been left by one of Kurios's kind for it to get down so far, but that could only mean that the creatures themselves had been there.

"Hey, beastie beastie," Allan started to coo, the amusement in his voice as plain as the smile that still lit his lips, "Where'd you go now? Show us the way out, why don't you?" He stepped around a few corners of the oddly formed cave, noting the mix of man-made marks and those made by nature and time. An odd cave, to be certain.

(I absolutely love it. I wish I could draw...!)

With the weight of his knife in his hand, the reassuring feel of its metal and wooden handle, kept Carter's mind from exploding with cause and effect situations. Certainly he had dialed his energy down to be calm, and certainly his anger was becoming more prominent, but the combination could easily prove to keep his immediate yet well-thought actions and reactions to a lesser-violent outcome, should something come of it. He kept his knife at his side, held tightly enough to react quickly to an unforeseen situation but not tightly enough to hurt his hand. By what he could catch of Allan's expression and body language, he seemed to have the smile plastered on his face without really realizing it, mixing with the movements of excitement, anticipation, probably the shadow of fear or worry. Carter knew everyone had fear, even Allan, so it would most likely be there even if he disregarded it as such.

Carter himself felt little energy. He actually felt weary. Weary from being in the dark, from being so blind, from being so in-tune to everything near and far, so loud, so painfully loud. His breathing was rasping in his inner ear, the clicking noise he made, though very helpful in letting him see, getting just as bothersome. He slouched his shoulders, shaking his head sometimes for the dim anger that lodged in the pit of his stomach and refused to come loose. Everything had started to get on his nerves, from the slope of the path to the humidity that had settled so thickly around it was nearly impossible to breathe, to Allan himself. Allan and his odd laughter, his strange smile, the fact that he had started running to keep up with Kurios. With an exasperated huff, he rearranged his bags and followed.

When he caught up with Allan, who had come to a halt at the edge of the tunnel between the smaller cavern and what they had left behind, Carter made a stabbing motion behind Allan's back with his knife. Leaning against the wall, glaring around him, he sighed. Allan had moved into the cave, but Carter decided to stay away from him and made a sharp arc away and to the left. Oddly, he could see easier in the cavern, easily enough to make out the silhouettes of Allan and the plantlife. Vines, moss, heavy leaves, glowing white flowers, all bloomed there, all so out of reach from the world far below. One flower in particular was interesting to him, and alleviated the aggravation and discomfort of his new-found senses. A darkly-colored flower, very unlike the pale white ones that gave off a very obvious glow. These flowers were actually deeply-toned purple with an odd blue glow that Carter could hardly make out. The stigma and stamens were especially large, reaching from the heavy flower petals like spider legs, dripping a dark red liquid he had to assume was nectar. Leaning close, he took a small smell, but regretted it; the scent was overpowering, so sickly-sweet his head began spinning, and he stumbled back. The smell itself seemed to have physical presence, and weighed down on him until he backed away.

When Allan spoke it almost broke the spell, but the flower's scent still held him in a sleepy, dizzy grip. Allan was taunting Kurios, almost, as though he felt the animal could understand him and comply with his wishes. "Don't antagonize him, damn it." He said, stumbling over and mustering his voice from a confused, intoxicated place. "He probably got out the other way... Er, cave, or whatever." Looking around with his swimming vision, Carter squinted to see a bit better. The grasp on his knife was loose, but not enough to drop it. He kept it pointed to the floor of the cave. Markings of people long-gone on the walls left shadows, of animals that had scratched their memory on the stone, of dripping water eating patterns like tiny rivers coming from the ceiling to the floor of the cave. But he could feel a draft from in front of him, near the right side of the cave.

(Heehee... "stabbing motion" X3 )


Allan had remained too busy "taunting" the creature to pay attention to Carter, missing the incident with the flower. It would have earned the same reaction, however, as was made clear by Carter's irritable request. He laughed again, this time rather like a teenager, a sort of wild cackle rather than dark and dangerous. It echoed ever so slightly in the cave, but the greenery absorbed much of it. The look in his eye was still odd, uncharacteristically excited, no sign of wariness or agitation.

"Why'd you leave, beastie?" Allan continued, his laugh being his entire reply to Carter. "Just want to see the way out... on to the next beastie... and the next..." He was savoring the idea running through his mind, a near giggle mixing with his last few words as he circled the edges of what he could identify, trying to find that area he couldn't see an end to, that surely had to lead out. There couldn't have been another way out; he was too close to Kurios to have missed a tunnel completely.

"How about a little use of echolocation?" Allan asked, a little suddenly; it was almost hopeful, as if asking for permission to do it. He cocked his pistol ready, aiming it up at the ceiling, clearly intending to use a gunshot as a way of following sound out of the cave. It wasn't clear if it would be revenge against Carter for always flicking on a flashlight, or if he forgot. Or if he really just didn't care.


(Eh, short... not sure what else to say)

(A memorial to what I do with annoying people. Imitate stabbing, strangling....)

Carter shook his head again. The flower had scrambled his mind, but Allan's laugh snapped him back, back to reality, where he could think almost as well as before. Allan was either not listening to Carter, or didn't care about finding a way out as much as Carter did. He rolled his eyes, retracting his knife as he figured nothing would immediately destroy them and slipping it back into his pocket. His laugh resounded loudly in the cave and to Carter, and he shook it away from him with a possibly-unseen glare in Allan's direction.

But whatever Allan meant by his words, whatever he was saying, Carter could not figure out. Whether from delusion, the effect of the compound running through both of them, or something brought to the surface from the past, Carter didn't know, nor did he really care. Allan was beginning to be a burden, hindering his progress to the place he had only been able to read and dream about all his life. If Allan and his sensitive eyes were not with him, Carter would be able to use his flashlight, to have possibly gotten to the surface hours ago. The agitation only added to the simmering anger inside him.

When Allan made that odd request, Carter turned to him in time to see him point his gun to the ceiling. His heart leapt, and his hand jammed back into his pocket, retracting and extending the knife. "No, you bastard!" He huffed, pointing the knife at Allan. He could only imagine the blast of the gun, the explosion, the confusion and the ringing in his ears that would probably deafen him, or leave him stumbling about for hours in a fog. But with the short silence between his words and his reaction, he heard something whistling through the cavern. Wind, coming from the darkest area of the cave neither of them had been in yet.

Curling his lips into a snarl, he backed away without a word and turned. "I'm leaving, damn it," he added, and stomped toward the source of the wind.

(I pretend I have a dragon who can maim/eat/eliminate said people =3 )

Oddly enough, Allan was rather enjoying himself now, no longer aware of the strangeness of the sensation, considering the situation. He turned to look at Carter at the snap, and the bemused smile split into a wide grin. The wild look only intensified at he turned towards him, and suddenly an ulterior motive showed itself for why he would ask such a question. Carter probably hadn't seen it, it was dim enough that he wouldn't be able to see well, and it was a flicker, quick, solidifying itself just as he started to back away.

It was fully intentional.

So when Carter stormed off rather than advancing, Allan watched him leave with a quiet look, the smile fading into a look of annoyance. His eyes had lit up at seeing the knife directed at him, the harshness of his tone, but just as the look of excitement had faded, so too did the disappointed reaction, lasting only a few moments before he straightened up, a sense of calm finally settling over him. It was an odd shift back, especially since he simply holstered the weapon, almost dazed, following after Carter, as if none of what he had just done had even happened. The quiet, but strangely lighter side had come back, taking in the sights the same way he had before, with disinterested curiosity.

(... short again, but at least it's a reply... x_x )

(Ah. I prefer hands-on approaches more. And it's fine! A post is still a post.)

Carter had lost it. His mind, his capacity for dealing with stress, his love of finding the surface. All in one moment, one ill-spoken sentence from the man who had become nothing more than a lead weight on his back. He knew he had reacted, perhaps, as Allan wanted him to. Watching Kurios in the tunnel, nudging ahead of them, he kept the anger to a minimum, choking it down and hiding it away, just as he always did. If he ever made it to the surface, he promised, he would take that rage out on a stone or tree. Tapping the tip of his knife on the wall beside him for the slight echo and sound waves that it offered, its noise had dulled to a soft thump sound, like that of a blade in packed dirt. He paused.

Kurios had snuffled along most of the way, but stopped not twenty feet away from Carter and glanced back. The floor of the tunnel, he realized, had gotten softer, and echoes were not bouncing back as easily as they had been in the stony ones they had left behind. The smell of earth was so powerful when he focused on it, and the noise of falling water louder than ever. In an instant, he forgot his anger toward Allan, his headache beginning in the back of his head, the pain in his inner ear. Retracting the blade and pocketing it, he stepped forward. “Allan, I think we made it.”

He rearranged his bags and moved forward faster, jogging up the steep tunnel and toward what he could see was a dark hole that abruptly ended the tunnel itself. Something was glowing there, something soft and quiet in tone. Halfway to the end, to Kurios, he nearly faltered as he considered how his skin would react to the water falling. But it was of little matter to him. What mattered was the end.

(Hands-on is messy though... easier to have minions maim then clean up =3)

(I'll edit this later, once I have time to reply; is way past midnight now so yeah ><;; )