Merry turned her flashlight on. Then she clicked the button again, and peered at the little object in puzzlement. On. Off. On. Off. The fact that she couldn't tell the difference between the two seemed less than auspicious and Merry jammed it back into the kangaroo pouch of her overlarge hoody in disgust. Also nestling there were a pair of gloves with holes in the thumbs, a mood ring that never changed off dull grey (not, Merry was sure, a very accurate reflection of each and every one of her moods) and a broken beaded lizard keychain.

Only then did she remember that a ponytail holder might have been somewhat useful. Great. Why was life never like a book? Why couldn't her nana have outfitted her with a trim little spelunking kit and sent her off with a packed lunch and a smile? Heavens, her snoring had filled the cluttered apartment when Merry had opened the door. The girl had been and gone with her grandmother none the wiser.

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((I'll sort of carry over the start of a conversation from the bus, Artemis
EDIT: Several minutes after I posted this, I realized I hadn't put in any dialog at all, so...maybe we could say that Elle and Ciaran <i>had</i> a conversation on the bus. lol))

Ciaran stood near Elle, listening to Mrs. Harris's brief talk. The idea of exploring a tunnel <i>had</i> sounded exciting, but the woman was quickly making it seem about as interesting as another chemistry class.

Still, when she finished her talk and students started into the tunnel, Ciaran gave Elle a "here goes nothing!" type smile, and started in after the rest.

He had pulled a black beanie over his reddish hair, and had traded in the school uniform for a more comfortable pair of jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. He had grabbed a small backpack and crammed in a flashlight, sweatshirt jacket, multi-blade pocket knife, and some granola and candy bars. <i>I'm ready for anything.</i> he told himself jokingly.

Lily looked around at the small group. If they were scared they didn't show it. Lily was not that frightened herself- which was surprising. She thought that venturing into an unknown tunnell would scare her like no other. Especially after her late night of watching The Decent with her best friend. That was before her 'social decline.' Lily grabbed some hearty gloves and slipped them on.
The tunnell was humid and it started to Lily to get thirsty. She took out a water bottle and drank some.
"What are we supposed to be looking for?" Lily asked impatiently as she wiped some dirt off her face.

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<center>

[font=Times New Roman]
Hello, I'm Amoniel
[/font]</center>

(Ok lol)

Elle peered into the dark tunnel with a mix of nervousness and excitement as Mrs. Harris spoke. Butterflies flitted around in her stomach. Let's just say that Elle had never been the most courageous person when it came to things like this, but she didn't want to make that too obvious for everyone to see.

When Ciaran looked over at her and smiled, she was reminded of her one accomplishment of that day. If I can gather up enough courage to start a conversation with someone I don't know, then I can do this she told herself. And indeed just this morning if someone had asked her if she would rather leave the comfort of her books and start a conversation with someone or adventure down into a tunnel, she probably would have chosen the last.

She returned Ciaran's smile, and then began to look through her backpack for her flash light. When she found it, she started down the tunnel with the others. At least she was much more comfortable now. She had traded in her uniform for a pair of frayed blue jean shorts and an old red t-shirt. Her shoulder length light brown hair was pulled back into a messy pony tail.

---

Blaine was barely paying any attention to Mrs. Harris as she spoke. He was in his own little world, looking down into the deep tunnel, trying to imagine what they might find down there.

He once again looked into his back pack making sure he had everything he needed. Good, he hadn't forgotten anything. He was prepared with food and water and.... more food. Well, what if they got stuck down there? He didn't want everyone to start going cannibalistic. He also had a small flashlight, but he didn't think it would do much good so he didn't even tak it out. The light from everyone else's lights would be enough to see by.

He was comfortable now too. No more tie, no more collared shirt! He was in some worn and comfortable blue jean shorts and a shirt that looked like it had seen more than a few rolls in the mud. He wore an old baseball cap over his mop of shaggy black hair.

As soon as the words: "Off we go!" were out of Mrs. Harris's mouth, Blaine was running down the tunnel. He let out a whoop despite her warning not to yell too much.

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I'm back!

At the very, very end of the line of disarrayed young braininesses was Conrad. He grimaced visibly as he peered into the dark unknown. No flashlight was in his hand, apparently he hadn't considered the possibility of the tunnel being absolute darkness.

Of course he would be at the end of the line. No, "Watch your step Conrad," or, "Walk beside me Conrad," for him. Oh no. They probably were hoping he got lost down here, and then that nutty geology teacher would have great fun digging up his bones in a couple of years. Each step led him closer to his grim fate, and each- oh curses. He'd forgotten a drink of any sort.

"Don't you know?" he asked in mock credulousness to Lily's question. "Why, we're going to look for the center of the earth where the dinosaurs live!"

Apparently, he had payed some attention to his literature teacher.

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<center>
"The piano is able to communicate the subtlest universal truths by means of wood, metal and vibrating air."

Arielle considered throwing something at him, but was too caught up worrying about the utility belt. It was ugly. She adjusted it again, hoping to make it look atleast a little better, but failed. She angrily pressed the button on her flashlight, then relaxed a bit now that her face was visible. Tunnels. Huh. Waste of time... she thought.

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- married fingon fingolfinion 6/4/13 -
~art credit~

((IT. IS. OFFICIAL! I AM A BALROG! FEAR ME AND MY 3000 POST CLAWS OF DEATHLY DOOM!! MWAHAHAHHA! *coughcough* Anyway, back to reality, I'm going to go ahead and skip ahead once again....))

Amelia drug her feet along the dirt piled at the bottom of the tunnel. They'd been here for hours, and had found nothing. Absolutly nothing. As bordom slowly but ever surely took its told on Amelia's mind, she thought she was going to go mad with a slight case of claustraphobia. And the fact that her chocolate chip granola bar was now only an empty foil wrapper.

And, as if things couldn't get any worse, her flashlight had died, and she had grabbed some old, dead batteries on accident. Sighing, she jogged ahead a bit, but found that once they rounded the next corner, it was the same. But soon, she found life not so boring as she heard two screams - from Mr. and Mrs. Morris.

Swiveling around to see them, she soon learned that they had begun running back towards the opening of the tunnel.

"Mr. Morris! Mrs. Morris! What are you doing?!" Amelia's question fell on ears unhearing as their retreating forms disappeared along with the two rings of light streaming from the lanterns they had been carrying. Just as she was about to go and get them, the walls shook.

The ground shook. Then, the celing shook and pebbles and loose dirt streamed down onto the explorers.

Then, a huge blast came, and a large, three headed red dragon thudded onto the floor of the tunnel. Amelia's eyes widened, but before she, or any of the others could even properly react to sugh a strange, mythical monster, the middle head of the thorny beast opened its mouth, and while Amelia thought it was hungry for human flesh, it was actually preforming some sort of magic.

A small blue, glittering ball grew between the jaws of one of the creautures large heads, while the other toothed protrusions looked on with facination. Amelia watched, entranced, as the ball grew and grew, until it's glow was touching the pointed tips of the dragon's ivory teeth...

BANG! The walls of the tunnel fractured, blue light streaming through, then all turned white. Then Amelia found herself in and odd posision - she was lying face down into grass.. Very long, cool grass. She could feel the sun on her head, and feel the wind ruffle her shirt... Then she heard a voice, somewhat farmiliar...

"Miss? Miss, are you alright?" Surprised by the voice, clearly of a female, she turned upright. Then she found herself face to face with an old friend.

One of last year's seniors.

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen

((Woot! Congrats, SG!))

After about half an hour in the tunnels, Ciaran had become acutely aware of one thing he had forgotten to pack- water. As his throat had gotten dryer, he had enviously watched other students taking drinks. The sound of water dripping in the tunnels just made his thirst worse.

After a few hours in the tunnels, he had just about decided to go insane from thirst and boredom. Either that, or fake going into a coma.

His thoughts were cut short as Mr. and Mrs. Morris suddenly ran back the way they had come, screaming. He whirled around, watching their retreating backs, then whirled back around as the tunnel started to shake.

When the dragon thrust it's head into the tunnel, all Ciaran could do was stare and gape at the blue glow in it's jaws. Large cracks spread along the walls, and blinding light burst through.

Ciaran opened his eyes and found himself staring at a clear blue sky. He slowly sat up, dizzy. He felt a hand on his shoulder and jerked away from it.

"Hey, easy!" a voice said. Ciaran turned to look. His mouth dropped open again.

"Greg?" Ciaran quickly looked around in bewielderment. There were several people other than the students sitting or crouching on the grass- seniors from last year.

((congrats SG... and I got a little behind... anyone want to inform me on what has just occured?))

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08

((They just appeared in a unknown land... With all of last year's seniors))

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen

Merry was rather disappointed the dragon had gone, if that was what it had been. She was inclined to be quite delighted upon its appearance. Dragons were certainly in books, and Merry wouldn't have minded at all to be suddenly dropped into a book.

Last year's seniors were okay too, though. Certainly not normal, and Merry was never in favor of normalcy anyway.

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Conrad was falling behind.

Big surprise. Gaping mouths and whatnot.

Haha.

He was just about to holler for the people ahead of him to wait up (with a few under-breath profanities) and wondered why the heck the teachers were literally fleeing for their lives when he tripped.

Things happened. Lots of things. He wasn't quite sure what all it was, because he was looking at the bloody ground with his jaw full of dirt... but he was sure something big was going on. He had just decided to kill the accursed principal when there was a noise that sounded a lot like "OOF!"

And lo and behold, there he was, in a sunny land as bright as day, sprawled uncomfortably atop of Elle. If this ain't a dream, then someone slap me and dub the the king of Ireland.

"Hi kid."

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<center>
"The piano is able to communicate the subtlest universal truths by means of wood, metal and vibrating air."

Arielle shielded her eyes, not wanting to see what was happening. People dying, most likely. When she finally dared to open them again, she did a double take. I think I'm dead, she thought. One minute they had been in a tunnel, the next... in a grassy area with... last year's seniors?

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- married fingon fingolfinion 6/4/13 -
~art credit~

Blaine stared at the huge dragon, speechless for once in his life. He couldn't believe it. He just couldn't believe it! Dragons weren't supposed to be real. This was just like the stories he'd read! It was amazing! Then everything happened at once. He felt as if he'd been hit with a powerful force. Then he was on his back staring up at the clear blue sky. What the...?

Then he let out a loud exclamation as he sat up and saw others who had not been in the cave with them. Last years seniors.

----

Elle had trembled with fear and a bit of awe as she looked up at the humongous creature. If she had been able to make her limbs work, she would have brought her hand up to her face and dealt a sharp slap to make sure she wasn't dreaming. But all she could do was simply stand there, as if paralyzed. Then suddenly she felt herself being knocked off her feet. She didn't know what was going on. Everything was a blur. Then, she was suddenly lying on the grass with an uncomfortable wait atop her. She realized that the said wait was Conrad. "Hi, kid," he said.

"What in the world is going on?!" she exclaimed as she struggled to get out from under him. Then half way through the process, she realized something. Wait where was the cave?

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I'm back!

"I'm dreamin'... or you're dreamin'." He shrugged, slowly rising to his feet. "One of us is dreamin'."

Last years seniors. Huh. This sure was a crazy dream alright. Like that time he had gotten in fight with his foster parents and they had refused to give him anything to drink for the whole weekend- and he had only fallen asleep after yelling his lungs sore.

Carefully he pulled from his wrangler pocket a squashed, dirty, and yet altogether comforting package of cigarettes. One of the only things he had remembered to get. He lit it carefully, and stood surveying the landscape; mostly sunny and pleasant. Well. Next thing he knew he would be the king of Ireland.

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<center>
"The piano is able to communicate the subtlest universal truths by means of wood, metal and vibrating air."

Louy, like everyone else, had been shocked by the whole experience with the dragon and the shaking cave, and the teachers fleeing. Next thing she knew, she was leaning against a tree in a grassy field, with one of her old friends infront of her... one of last year's seniors. And look, another friend from last year, and another! And there were the fellow students from the caves!

Just then she smelt smoke... and held her breath, she hated that smell, and was slightly allergict to it. Turning around, she saw Conrad smoking a cigarett. With a slight grrr, she stomped over to him, yanked the cigarett, and the package of cigaretts out of his hand. She threw the lit one on the ground, and stomped it out, then chucked the package in any direction. And it went far. She didn't play fetch with her dog for nothing.

Now she observed her surroundings.
"Pinch me, I'm dreaming. Though half of you wouldn't be in my dream if I was dreaming," she shot a glare at Conrad...

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(}--{)Imagination Inspires Ideas -Zandain(}--{)
Married Cloud Strife 9/17/08