Michael followed him and managed to keep up with him, even with Ariel sitting on him. She had decided to just to see how fun it would be for a little bit before getting off and getting out the water to hover around the trees Seth were sitting near. Michael pulled himself out and sat next to Seth. "Amazing." He said, putting everything about the site in one word. Ariel rose and eyebrow and looked at him. 'Is that all you can say? This is awesome! I won't mind lending a helpful in building a fort out here~' She giggled.

Seth nodded and looked back at the intertwined mess of trees once more. He could see that there were some parts of the trees that created bridges just above the water, some much higher up into the air. Others sunk completely underneath- it was a jungle gym in Seth's mind. He resisted the urges to run across the trees and mess around, though. Seth sternly reminded himself that he wasn't a water-tree-fairy. Instead, he merely rested his hand on the side of the crystal tree and watched the never-ending reflection of the water bounce around the dim area. Somehow, they'd grown together enough high above to cast a shadow on the water. It glowed from inside due to the rest of the river's light. Seth sighed a breath of happiness. The water's cool temperature muffled his senses other than sight so he could be at peace for a bit. "Should we explore it now?"

Just as he about to answer, he looked back towards shore where Marcia was. "Hey! It's not safe over there!" She called the three of them like a worried mother. Michael looked around, what could be dangerous about this? Ariel hovered around, going from tree to tree like a monkey.

Seth also looked back to where they'd come from originally. He swung his feet a bit and frowned. He knew that if he fell off of a tree wrong that he could get stuck upside-down somehow in the water and drown. It was a little 'dangerous' by appearance, but Seth compared it to irrationally preventing someone to use stairs under the defense that they could die if they slipped and tripped. 'Is she trying to baby us?' he wondered as he slipped into the water again. He softened a little to the idea that it might actually have been dangerous for other reasons, so he sighed. "We'd better at least listen," he muttered more to himself than to anyone else.

Michael let himself sink back into the water shortly after Seth and drifted back to shore with the light current. Ariel hovered above the water and followed them, kind of sulking. Krystal lifted her head when Marcia shouted and simply just nudged her into the lake. "Ah!" She fell into the water with a splash and resurfaced soon after, glaring at the satisfied crystal dragon with her long bags covering most of her face. "I just dried off!" She snapped. Krystal snorted with content.

Michael tried not to laugh. 'Don't ever wake a sleeping dragon.' He thought as a smirk formed on his lips.

Seth followed after Michael's lead back to Marcia. He practically dragged himself out of the water, acting like it was more of a task to ask of than it really was. He truly was upset at his entire fort-idea being stuffed in the dirt. "What's wrong with those trees?" he asked, eager to find an answer and fix it. Seth would probably go back even if Marcia told him that there were more dragons beyond where he could see. 'Hah,' he thought. 'Wouldn't that be fun.' Seth was slowly beginning to lose the concept of 'danger' in his mind. There were so many near-death-experiences he had within the past two days that it became a part of his life- to live on the edge.

Marcia moved the hair from eyes and sighed. "Rumor has it is every kid to get themselves tangled in the excitement of exploring those tree over there, have never came back out." Michael pulled himself out of the water and sat along the bank. "Sounds like a story made up to scare someone." He murmurs under his breath. Marcia gave me a look and he raised his hands defensively. "They're crystal trees, there are people who want them for themselves..." He states.

"I've seen kids go in there and never come back out." Marcia says quietly as she floats on her back on the surface of the water.

Seth's temper balanced on the edge between playful frustration and serious rage. Marcia had practically encouraged going to get Krystal, so why was she suddenly so out of the fun in spirited adventures? Seth shook his head a little to himself and continued to tread the cold water beneath his hands. "Why don't you come along, then?" he invited. "We can take Krystal, too-" Seth quickly lowered his voice to a murmur, "-It's usually around these life or death situations that we learn something extraordinary anyway.."

Krystal looked at Seth curiously when she heard her name. Marcia glanced at the boys and thought a moment before replying. "Alright, you win. We'll go explore the crystal jungle-gym- and bring Krystal." She finished after the dragon snorted at her. Michael smirks playfully and slips back into the water.

A neutral tone calmed Seth's mind once again and he was able to make room for happiness. He quickly stood up and dove into the water, headed behind Michael. He could hear the sounds of the river a lot clearer if he was underwater, so he made sure only to come up for breaths of air when he needed them most. 'I wonder..' he thought. 'What caused those rumors to spread..' He was curious to find out, as Seth knew that every myth came from some sort of truth. These truths were usually ones that were unclear to society and in place of seeking evidence a myth was created to explain the event. Seth wanted to know the truth.

Krystal eased herself into the water and followed the group, casually lifting Marcia up onto her head and kept her head on the surface- so she looked like a big-headed snake. Ariel hover above the crystal dragon's back. 'What do you think caused the rumors?' She asked the dragon curiously. Krystal shakes her head lightly as to keep Marcia in place. Marcia didn't know why the dragon made a spot for her, but she laid on her stomach and ran her fingers through the water. Michael just let himself drift with the current, pulling himself out of the water and onto the root when they reached the forest of crystal trees.

Seth glanced back just in time to see a giant figure of a dragon go partially under water. He spun around on his back and floated to the surface, slowly being shaded by the trees he was swimming into. "Aye, the Loch Ness Monster returns~" he teased, remembering an old fantasy he'd read about sea monsters. Seth smiled and turned around moments before crashing into the tree head-on. He hoisted himself out of the water next to Michael and stood up on the root of the tree. He reached up and jumped to the bough just above him, swinging his feet a few times until he could right himself up on that one. He had a clearer view of the river and the part of the swampy forest that wasn't completely meshed in trees. Seth carelessly swung himself upside-down, straddling the tree branch and crossing his arms like a genie in front of Michael. "Need a lift?" he asked sarcastically, despite the fact that there were numerous other branches that were probably an easier ticket upwards.

Michael did what Seth did and sat himself beside his friend and grinned innocently. Ariel went to phase through one of the trees- since she could do stuff like that- but failed and ran right smack-dab into it like a person would a metal pole. She staggered backwards and rubbed her head. 'Ow~' Michael glanced over and rose an eyebrow. "You alright?" She nodded. 'Y-yeah...' She answered quietly and placed a hand on the tree she ran into.

Krystal raised her head so Marcia was on the same level as them.

An impressed expression showed up on Seth's face- to Michael at least, to others it would've looked upside down and possibly messed up- and he pointed one of his arms out at his friend. "Don't hurt yourself on anything," he pleaded, motioning to Michael's lack-of-clothing on his torso. His train of thought was interrupted when he heard Ariel crash, though.

Seth was typically a good person. He was helpful and encouraging and rarely did anything of malice. However, seeing Ariel smack straight into a tree brought an uncontrollable laughter into his world. In the minimal moments of hysteria that followed, Seth lost his grip on the tree and had to make himself tuck in mid-air in order to avoid breaking his neck on the root that protruded from the water just below. Upon hitting it at full falling speed, the force of landing pushed him off and into the water again. The sudden laughter was replaced by self-hating anger and confusion as he swam underneath the root to get a little further upstream. He surfaced for air a few yards away from his previous location and pulled himself on a second set of branches closer to Ariel that acted more like chairs. "Ariel-" he coughed a little water out of his lungs. "Why did you do that?"

Michael chuckled and sat on the branch backwards so he could see Seth and Ariel better. 'Do what? I can phase through just about any solid-particle object since mine are all gas-like-particles...' She lightly touched the red mark on her face then glared at the tree and kicked it as hard as she could. 'This thing shouldn't be any different.' Ariel kicked it again. "You're gonna hurt yourself if you're not careful." Michael called and Ariel stopped.

Seth sighed a little- he was still downright confused with Ariel. He looked at his surroundings and then noticed that some of the trees were enormous. He guessed that since they were made of Crystal that they never really had a sense of decay. He looked at his outstretched hands at two varying places around the trees. He let his feet dangle just above the surface of the river, which moved ever so softly against the smooth crystal surfaces. "Hm.." he said plainly. He glanced around for Krystal and Marcia, wondering if one of them had turned back against the call for adventuring the trees.

Ariel sat on one of the tree branches and kicked her legs back and forth lightly.

Marcia came swinging through the tree branches like a monkey til she reached the boys and turned herself upside down next to Michael as silently. "Find anything yet?" She asked. He shakes his head. "Hm..." Marcia thought before swinging herself right-side-up and headed towards the center of the forest of crystal trees, going from limb to limb.

Seth was captivated in watching Marcia swing around on the tree branches for a moment. He stood and smiled, looking back at Ariel and Michael. It was almost as if he called to them without saying anything. Then, he started after Marcia, also climbing around and leaping from branch to branch. Seth knew that a normal being would be tired after one jump- if they even made it that far- so he thanked his nature quickly before resuming his acrobatic motion. The thought came back to him slowly, like a boomerang returning to where it was thrown from. Seth realized that he was truly surrounded in a forest of Crystal. "Alexander's ideas have stirred up the destructive nature of the dormant being. -- Why do you not regain the limitless powers and abilities you've had countless times before with your own origin?" The voice echoed in Seth's mind- he was sure of it- but it felt like it was external. 'Is this Crystal dormant, too?' he wondered to himself, suddenly mesmerized by the colorful glow that still bounced from tree to tree through the Crystal itself as he moved effortlessly about it's negative space.

[ last post~ nini yume-chan <3 ]

Marcia kept going until they reached the center, then pulled herself up over one the branches and sat on it. She grinned a little. "Pretty impressive eh?" She chuckles lightly. Michael wasn't too far behind them and Ariel had to stop at some point as if being repelled. Michael stood not far from Marcia, he had managed to scratch himself a few times on the limbs as he followed, but none of them were bleeding or anything so he didn't pay much mind to them.

[[ nini nova-chan.. ^^ ]]

Seth noticed that Ariel had fallen behind and halted for a moment before continuing to follow Marcia. When he'd gotten to the center, his jaw hung in awe. The trees had their own glow and there was a dim light that reflected in addition to the remaining sunlight that had survived it's journey through the crystal. There was an eerie feel in the air, but Seth got the vibe that it wasn't a 'bad eerie,' for lack of a better way to explain it to himself. He clung to the side of a tree and found himself a branch to set himself high up on so he could look down at the water. The river must have been so deep and there must have been so much swampland- 'Why is this not on the maps?' he remembered that past a certain point of dense trees the forest had been labeled mostly intense greenery that was so woven together that none had gotten past it, unless.. 'People really do go missing in here..'

Seth shuddered a little at that thought and continued to cling to the trunk of a smaller tree he'd clung to. The river flowed gently below, only disturbed on the rare occasion of running into a tree without immediate re-coordination. Somehow, though, Seth felt like he was at home. The horrific headache he had was gone- for whatever reason- and he had completely forgotten that he was partially taken by Onyx- the pain was absolutely nonexistent. "What is this place..?"

"Crystal Forest- or at least that's what I call it. The villagers have different nick-names for this place." Marcia answers quietly. 'What could cause those people to just vanish into thin air?' She thought to herself then pauses. "You boys have you spirit stones on you?" She asked not so random as it seemed. Michael checked his pockets and held it out. "Check. Why, something up?" Marcia shakes her head a little. "Just thinking aloud." She says then goes back to connecting the dots in her head. Michael watches her curiously.

Seth thought of the entire place as strange and off-feeling, but he kept his ideas and predictions to himself. He was held as a victim of pure joy while he watched the water flow and the crystal trees almost pulse with slight variances in light. Soon after that phenomena, Seth pinched himself hard to make sure he wasn't dreaming. He had the urge to just let go of the branch and fall into the water- it was as if something at the bottom of the lake called him.

He shifted a little to regain his senses of reality and looked over at Marcia. Seth was hesitant enough to speak up- he honestly didn't want to tell Marcia that he didn't have a spirit stone. He just knew she would ask him about it and then there would be an awkward chill in the air for the next forever. After a few moments passed, Seth deemed it safe to not say anything having missed the train of group effort in a conversation. He swung his feet a little over the edge of the branch as the glittering light reflected off of his plain eyes.

Marcia glanced at Seth, figuring his silence meant he didn't have one. She sighed and looked down int the water. "I think I know what caused the rumors, it's long shot but it's the only one that makes sense." Michael rose and eyebrow and put his stone back into his pocket. "How far are we shooting?" Marcia lifted her head a little. "An Onyx infected spirit got a hold of them before they saw it coming." She says plainly. "Living all the way out here? Come on Marc-" He was cut off by a dark glance from her. "Doesn't this place feel just a little bit off?" She asks, her expression not changing much.

Seth's eyes lightened when he heard Marcia's proposition to the subject. He liked hearing what others had to say about a situation, since he knew that nobody alone was perfect and liked to combine minds of others into a new concept. "Alexander's ideas have stirred up the destructive nature of the dormant being." He bit his lip painfully and looked away from the rest of his crew, trying to hide the look on his face from his memory. Light-blonde strands of hair covered his expression just enough to be unseen. He was hopelessly puzzled with what information he was given. Seth didn't know who this spirit could be, why it was infected with Onyx, or why it was in the middle of a Crystal forest. If Marcia had seen people go missing, then it meant that someone had showed up before Alex. A cold shiver ran down Seth's spine. 'If he only just found Onyx, yet it was on the move when he first started to argue with me about the Crystal in general..' He lightly shook his head, but knew he wouldn't be able to deny much of anything.

Everything was quiet for at least five minutes, then Michael rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand and kept himself balanced with the other. "Man~ Maybe if we come back after dark we can find out who this spirit is?" He asked, glancing curiously at Marcia and Seth. Marcia shakes her head. "Leave me out of it." She says quickly.

[last post~ nini Yume-chan <3]