The Thieves' Museum (Open) - :) Easy to join for new members

(Yea I understand lol I'm still trying to balance working and school and it's not working too well.
And I switched to wildlife management.)

A slight frown also flashed across the count's face as he picked up on her shift in emotion, though it was replaced in an instant by his usual placid smile. One foot shifted back slightly and he dipped his head to her. "My apologies if I frightened you, it was not my intention in the slightest," he said. "I just found the occurrence to be peculiar. Now, if you have any other questions I am afraid I will not be of much help to you, for I am also new to this... realm. Oh, but I am forgetting my manners." He gave a deep bow. "My name is Saint-Germain. I am honored by the title of count in France," he said, a well-practiced smile playing across his face. "However you need not address me so formally - just Saint-Germain is fine - especially considering our current circumstances."

Spinel stepped back slightly, her frown faltering farther at the apology. Yep, definitely not used to this kind of stuff- it wasn't as though people were apologizing to her frequently these days. More like she was the one always messing everything up and saying sorry repeatedly. "Alright..." She muttered.
The gem raised a slight eyebrow at the introduction, having no meaning of the word count nor of France. "Is that on Earth...?" She asked, making an attempt, before shaking her slight bewilderment off. "Alright," She repeated. "I'm Spinel- no title or anythin'."

Kuragehime

(It's really tricky. <3 I hope you work it out!
Oh fun! Is it going well?)

zeph!

Saint-Germain's eyes followed where she pointed, though it was hard to tell with them being mostly closed, and he gave a very slight nod. "I see, interesting," he murmured. He wished to ask further but knew that it could come across as quite rude - plus he quickly pushed it away once Spinel asked about the antique. His face lit up and a genuine smile appeared on his face. "Well, I would love to show it to you. The vase is just at the end of the hallway. I believe it to be a piece of Japanese porcelain, which I suppose to you would be a different world, though I cannot quite pinpoint the vintage - " he cut himself off and glanced at her with a sheepish chuckle. "Ah, forgive me, I have a bad habit of rambling on and on when it comes to this topic."

(Sorry for poofing everyone! I had a friend over for the weekend. ^^ )

</div>As Newt jumped in, it became immediately clear that nothing had grabbed Mei - rather, the both of them were being swept rapidly downward by an incredibly strong current, the water itself holding them tightly captive as they were pulled further and further underwater.  

Mei was terrified.  Her eyes were screwed shut, and she clamored blindly around in the dark, desperately reaching for any grip on the walls she could use to pull herself back up.  She could feel herself running out of air - she'd had the presence of mind to hold her breath, but her lungs were burning, screaming for air, and every instinct was telling her to draw breath.  No, that would make her drown faster.  Drown...she was going to drown.  She was going to drown down here, and...

She caught hold of something that was Newt's pant leg, though she didn't know it.  Desperate, she clung onto whatever it was, nails digging in as she clutched desperately at the only solid thing she could see as she began to try and climb up it.  But she couldn't...the current was too strong, and she couldn't get a good enough grip to climb.  She was starting to feel lightheaded...she couldn't hold her breath much longer.  Surely she couldn't.

And then, just when she'd thought she couldn't hold her breath even a second longer, the tunnel ended, dumping Mei, Newt, and several hundred gallons of water onto a hard wooden floor.  Mei hit the floor hard and rolled over, coughing, choking and gasping as she desperately tried to bring in air and expel the water caught in her lungs.  Her limbs were shaking, and she felt too exhausted to even get up, so for a long moment, she just lay there, trembling and sputtering and trying to think past the pounding in her skull and the burning in her nose.

<Raintalon>

Mei might have had the foresight to remember to hold her breath - or the instinct to - but Newt did not. For several seconds, in almost free-fall and then a torrent of pressing water, he tried to breath. But all that came into his lungs was water. Choking water, deadly water. There was no way to expel it without loosing his only source of air. 
He lost sight of which way was up or down, though after a second he was aware of Mei's hand on the cuff of his pant leg. Not like he was aware that it was Mei - he was too panicked to make that connection - so he almost kicked out at her, thoughts of snakes and water creatures momentarily in his mind. Then his own head caught up with him and that very thought that had scared him calmed him down. If it was some water creature, than struggling was the last thing he should do.
Then he hit the ground, vision whiting out for a second, noise and pain pulsating through him before he coughed and spluttered and spit out what felt like a gallon of water. He lay face down on the cold, wet floor and focused on breathing, unable to think of anything else.

(Oops sorry this is late!)

Kuragehime
Snake eyed the paper, then glanced at then pet snake. It was silent for a bit, then he shrugged. "I have no objection, says Oscar," the hybrid said.
His eyes moved to Robin once again before he turned around and started walking back the way he had come. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea to let her tag along, especially since she didn't have a choice yet but she seemed nice.
He glanced back at her, beckoning her to follow. "We haven't found any clues or anything in quite some time, and we lost the other group we were with. With our luck, they probably already found the artifact they needed, says Oscar."

I'll have replies soon! I've been sick and then super busy >_<]]

Get well soon hime!!

mintedstar/fur )

Mei relaxed, letting out a relieved little huff of breath as Newt began to talk. He was coughing, but that was good, right? They wanted the water out of his lungs, not in.

"Do you want to know....?" she asked slowly, fixing him with an odd look as he asked about her eyepatch. Then, she glanced away from him, visible eye moving to survey the rest of the room. "I dislike being questioned," she said shortly, in a voice that wasn't an expression of annoyance so much as it was a statement of fact. Then, she stood up, satisfied that he would live(well, sort of), and brushed herself off, hands slipping on her soaked clothes. She shivered.

"We should leave," she said, sliding her foot around in one of the many puddles that covered the floor. "Maybe your suitcase is around here, somewhere."

Rudy eyed Conan briefly with a questionable look, the other boy was doubting this. Maybe he should be too? "Well, we made it to the X." He tried to sound optimistic. "But I have no clue as to whether it's a good thing or not." He looked over at the moving water, at least it looked like a body of water. The other boy, did bring up an important fact, Water was normally blue. Oh thank goodness, same color for both of us. I didn't want to be the oddone He would have set a sigh of relief, but the other boy brought up an important question.

"Run.." he softly repeated, looking at the body of distorted black and white body of water approaching. It was at the bottom of the hill, but it seemed to be coming. he took an unconscious step back. "As much as I want to stick around, and explore it.." Rudy softly trailed out. "Maybe, it be best we um... go anywhere that isn't here?" He took another step back.

In the background, the large distorted mass of black and white, was rising elevation, as water to a cup. It was approaching , and that was the reality.

<Raintalon>

"Ah, I see," Newt said. He didn't seem to be offended, though he did shift where his eyes were looking, looking away toward Mei's shoulder and maybe a bit further past her rather than anything close to her face.
"Seems like a good idea," he muttered, glancing around here and there with a small breath catching in his throat every time he thought too much about what they had been through. 
Newt did tag along, but still shuffled forward enough that he was shuffling along next to Mei rather than beside her. The hallway seemed different from upstairs. It was open. No or little stuff dotted the way. This wasn't making picking a direction any easier however.
So when Newt's foot hit a ring, which skittered across the floor, it was of slight interest.
"Is that yours?" he questioned Mei, looking after it.

Sorry this took so long!]]
zeph!

The Count let out a sort of half-chuckle at Spinel's response, and started leading the way down the hall. Despite his excitement about the piece his pace was measured and leisurely, he took his time on their way over. "Well I am glad to hear it doesn't bother you," he said. "And we seem to have plenty of time in here, so any way to fill it is welcome." COming up with ways to spend his endless amount of spare time was something Saint-Germain was something of an expert at. He sudden;y came to a halt before a pedestal that stood about waist height to the two of them. Sitting atop was the vase that the Count had been speaking of and he gestured to it. It was a clean white with blue patterns drawn all around the surface. "I am amazed at how flawless a specimen this is, considering the state of our surroundings," he murmured.