2025-05-30 - Opening the Door: Scene 2

Artemisia is dressed in her best official mission gear - which looks like she might have done painting in it in the past - a pair of denim, paint splattered jumpsuit that zips up the front with a belt swinging behind her and a pair of black Doc Marten's boots. Her blonde hair has been pulled back into bun with a decorative pin through it and she rocks back and forth on her heels. Normally, Artemisia wouldn't sign up for something labeled dangerous - lord knows she's going to hear about it if something goes wrong - but the whole concept got her curious.

"So." Artemisia lifts a hand. Her nails are painted with daisies on them. "Are the portals like doors? Do we know how to open them?"

Aaron is here dressed one for comfort and two like he is going out on some kind of mission, he is wearing black cargo pants with lots of pockets you can never have to many pockets and a shirt with a tight zip up hoodie over it he even has his book bag on with stuff in it one never knows what may happen. Listening to Jackson speak hearing his name and nods his head but doesn't say anything as a bought of shyness washes over him, "I brought my camera with me I can grab some pictures."

Ravin is wearing purple jeans, a silky, teal, button-down shirt, and black leather ankle boots. He's also got a messenger bag worn cross-body. He gives Aaron a little, reassuring shoulder bump, then gives Arte a warm smile and nod.

This is not exactly Jules' area of expertise, but she's both curious and bored, and that leads her to volunteering for this adventure when she might not be the most well equipped individual. She has at least opted to wear flats instead of her usual heels, having dug a pair of sneakers out of somewhere.

When they are advised to stick with their security person, her hands shoot upwards, "Who is our security person that we need to stay close to and follow the instructions of?"

Byron's dressed for adventure. He's not always wearing as if he's about to haul someone in for questioning or that he's working on Wallstreet, but it's usually more the former rather than the latter. It's in his posture and his swagger too. Instead of his usual getup, he's wearing a more 'rugged' denim jacket over a plaid buttoned down to go with his sturdy cargo pants and hiking boots. He probably has a lot of things in those pockets. He also has a pack slung over one shoulder and he's carrying a video camera with him to document the whole thing for the Magical Studies Department.

"I'm recording this as well." He announces before turning to their little group with a curious eye. Hell, knowing Byron, he'd volunteer to be that security person, but they have other people to do that now.

Mina has heard about the Brass House and whispers of something magickal being prepared. When she heard that there was a possibility to actually help out, she immediately volunteers. Now, standing with the rest of them, dressed in a pair of jeans, hiking boots, and a red halter top with a small backpack purse strapped across her shoulders, the blonde faerie princess pirate listens to Cavendish explain the plan. A quick glance and a smile over at Artemisia before she resumes paying attention.

Artemisia offers a gentle smile to those who look at her, but she hesitates when it comes to stepping through the portal and hangs back by Ravin. "Will you hold my hand?" She asks, looking up at them. Among those wearing a little backpack is the blonde, it's a vivid checkerboard pattern with a few key chains hanging off the back of it.

Aaron looks over to Ravin when he gets a shoulder bump from them, a soft smile comes to his lips. "Thank you." he breaths deeply stepping back waiting for the hate to open. His eyes widen a bit as it finally locks into place, its actually working, they are going to go someplace not of their own world. Thats a lot to take in, but then as they wait for the security to give the ok to follow, he looks to Artemisia then Ravin and smiles. "It's going to be ok." he says softly.

Ravin grins at Arte. "Sure, honey. I'll hold your hand." He nudges Aaron. "You want my other hand, cutie? Or are you going to be too busy taking pictures" He does give his attention to the security people and their instructions. The other members of their group get little nods and smiles.

Mina's mouth drops open the security person just walks through the portal as if it really were a door to somewhere. "Mien gott." Then the look of surprise morphs into one more akin to excitement as she eagerly awaits the all clear. To be honest, she hasn't been this charged since she discovered that working on the island came with the ability to do magick. And as impressive as controlling air and reading minds is, traveling to another world wins hands down.

The question of who their security escort is answered, Jules lifts up a hand, giving a quick thumbs up. She then shuffles along with the group, keeping her eye on those that are part of the collective, but basically waits until they are given the go ahead to actually start moving towards their assigned portal.

Byron has his recorder focused on the portal now, recording as the guard walks through it and keeping it framed there so that they can get the first footage of when they first step out. He looks between the portal and his view finder when he says with a bit of a smile on his lips, "If this were dangerous, do you think the big boss would let us just do it?" When he asks this, he looks to the others, before he quickly adds, "Don't answer that. I'm pretty sure when I first got here there was just a test things out, but be careful policy. So here goes nothing." Yes, he sound incredibly reassuring. At least, he doesn't sound nervous about it and more excited about the adventure to be had.

Mina nods in response to Estalla's reminder that this is a quick trip and shuffles to the portal. Balling her hands into fists, she holds her breath (for no real reason) and takes a step through the opening glad she's wearing boots given the warning about the wetness.

Ravin takes Arte's hand on one side and Aaron's on the other and leads off towards the door. IF the guards will let them go through as a chain, they do. If they have to step through on their own, then he drops their hands to step through first and claims their hands back on the other side.

Artemisia gives Ravin's hand a squeeze as they take them, flashing them and Aaron a quirked smile. She follows through the portal. Also, likely glad she wore boots. Hopefully the footing is pretty regular - she isn't known for her athletics and grace. "Thanks," she whispers to Ravin and Aaron once they arrive on the other side.

There's a quick salute given to the security escort when she offers her instructions, then Jules propels herself forward towards their portal. She doesn't move to cut in line, and instead simply waits for her turn. When it comes time for her to walk through the portal she moves quickly, a little quicker than her normal pace, and then a few steps to the left once she's through the portal and on the other side.

Aaron hods Ravins hand with a bit of a grip, walking through with Ravin and Arte his eyes close when he takes the step over that thresh hold into the other world and opening his eyes on the other side. He can breathe, he is still alive, he looks to Ravin to make sure they are ok and then to Arte with a smile. "Welcome." he steps in closer to Ravin.

Since Byron is documenting all of this, despite his own eagerness, he waits for the others to go on ahead, so that he can capture the moment once their security guinea pig returns to their own world safe and sound. "I'll assume you took this trip prior to our own or you wouldn't be so confident to just step on in." He decides to say in passing to their guide. He says this, at first, with a straight face, but this is soon followed up with a smile.

A glance is then given back over to Estella before he steps on through himself, "Hey, Waverly, you ever going to go through one of these with us? I'm sure someone can mind the controls for you." With those words said, he gives her an acknowledging upnod and a smile before he joins the others wherever they may be.

The prickle of magick across her skin isn't anything totally new to Mina. In fact, it's a fair bit more pleasurable experience than the one that awaits her when she emerges on the other side. The boots were a bit of brilliant planning. The halter top, not so much. A few seconds of gaping wonder at the magnificent cavern is quickly replaced by the soft chattering of teeth. Bringing her hands up, she rubs the bare skin of her arms repeatedly in an effort to stave off the chill that has suddenly invaded her body.

When their guide motions for them to head toward the light, and hopefully a source of warmth, Chattering Mina nods and begins picking her way carefully toward what she hopes is the exit.

Several balls of a soft, warm light appear hanging in the air between where they are and the apparent exit, lighting up the path and hopefully helping people keep an eye on their footing. Maybe even illuminating the walls. Ravin looks around, then starts picking his way along carefully, still holding hands with Arte and Aaron. "Well, we know they have limestone, which implies a certain amount in common, at least."

Artemisia looks down the tunnel and swallows, slightly wishing she hadn't let go of Ravin's hand. Glancing from left to right, she minds the walls and is careful not to touch them with skin. It's bad for the bacteria. She went on a caving tour with her dad when she was a kid. Something, something, something, bacteria. Bats. The bats were cool. She, unthinkingly, tries to extend out a thread of empathy to see if she can feel something. She can! Artemisia can feel those around her and the wary guard. She doesn't think to mention that magic works, though. She's more worried about the cave.

Aaron reach's over to Arte, "Hey, its ok." he tells her and when the lights appear he smiles at Ravin moving to give them a kiss on their cheek. "Come on." he holds Ravins hand and moves to give Arte Ravins other one. "I wonder if we are in some kind of snow region or if it is winter here." he looks at the ice and that shiver from the cold hits him and he sighs.

Byron is a scientist, so whether these things look similar to what they have in their own plane or note, he is here to take samples. Setting his video recorder down, on comes his gloves, and he takes some liquid samples in a vial, labeling and documenting exactly where it was found. He, honestly, doesn't mind that the others go on ahead of him. He has his work of scraping moss and anything of interesting from various thing, placing them into little containers and labeling them. It's not a difficult or time-consuming process, but he's meticulous about his work and his data even as he hums a little tune as he goes along.

"It's really cold..." Jules points out, her hands moving to quickly rub against her arms in an attempt to warm herself up at the sudden damp cold. But then she starts to really look around her, getting a feel for the space they've found themselves in before she summons up her own balls of light, noting that Ravin's sent some out to be a guide she disperses hers among the group so that there are four small orbs of light scattered amongst everyone.

Very carefully she moves through the tunnel, half an eye on the ground in front of her, making sure that she's not going to personally experience what it'd feel like to slip and fall inside the tunnel, offering a response to Aaron's question, "I guess we'll find out when we're outside, maybe."

Ravin beams at the kiss from Aaron and digs out a sweater and some knit gloves and a hat from his bag. They put those on and then take Aaron's hand again. They bring one of their balls of light down towards the surface of the water to study the fish and glowing moss. "I have a couple extra scarves and pairs of gloves in here if anyone needs some."

"Oh - my - gosh." Artemisia staaaaares at that pirate ship with wide eyes. She glances to Ravin, Aaron, and then everyone else. "Think it's Captain Hook's?" They can say his name here. Disney can't hear them. She wiggles to get her mini pack off her shoulder, digging through for her phone which has three times the decoration of the backpack. Agent Dana Scully of the X-Files she is not. "I wanna get as close as I can to that and take pictures. AJ's gonna die."

Aaron moves to take his bag off his back and grab the camera out of his bag and then slip the backpack back on and slips it around his neck and take Ravins hand again. "Whoa." is all the comes out looking around at the sight before them, "Its beautiful." he grins at Arte, "If we hear ticking some place we will know."

Mina makes her way as quickly as is safely possible toward the opening ahead. However, when she steps into the gigantic cavern, she forgets about how cold she is and just marvels at the sight before her. The gallon, of course, is the first thing that takes her attention. Not surprising, given how she spends most of her days since coming to work at the park. But the rest of the magnificence is equally appreciated.

She nods in response to the guard's warning and then glances at Ravin when the offer of warmer clothing is made. "Bitte. I would not say no to a loaner scarf. I didn't think that it might not be almost summer on the other side of the door."

"It's too cold for a croc." Jules points out at the mention of the ticking, shaking her head just a bit before she starts to move along the edge of the water, checking just how far away it looks like the ship might be, moving one of the balls of light away from the group to send it out across the water, "I wonder how deep the water is...anyone have any way to check?"

She then chews on the corner of her bottom lip before wondering, "You think we could get a little rowboat through the portal and tunnel?"

Following alongside the others now at an easy pace, Byron returns to video recording the whole event and that's when he, and his camera, come into view of what looks to be a pirate ship of sorts. That gets an arch of a brow from him. "Huh." He continues to record the entirety of the cavern space. Given their time limit, he decides to kill two birds with one stone. Make his way over towards the Galleon to get a better look, while he continues his sample collection, this time to get some of that bioluminescent algae, a shard of glowing blue crystal, and he even pulls out a jar to capture some of those little silver fish in.

The man is obviously a professional who had come prepared to collect samples to study in his lab, more than likely.

As he's packing away everything that he'd acquired, he finds that he's close enough to the ship to try a little something. But was he close enough? Taking in a deep breath, he murmurs, "Show me what you've got."

Ravin digs in his bag again and pulls out a scarf and another knit cap, both in a dark green with silver sparkles running through and hands them off to Mina. They blink when they hear the splash and look over to see the larger tail disappearing. "Looks like there's something larger out in the center of the lake, though possibly not a crocodile.

Mina takes the scarf and the cap, wrapping one around her neck and pulling the other over her head. "Thanks." Then she glances over at the discussion about bringing a boat with them and shrugs. "You could bring an inflatable. That would be much easier to navigate through the cavern with."

The splash and the sighting of the tail, though, makes her shake her head. "On second thought, maybe actually going out on the water is a bad idea."

Still, she begins to walk along the shoreline toward the gallon, keeping one eye on the water's surface just in case anything beneath the waves happens to decide it wants a little German snack.

Aaron head turns into the direction of the splash and a frown comes to his lips, he was about to start taking pictures, but he hesitates now. His body becomes tense, and he stands a bit closer to Ravin and Arte now as if he will protect them should something come up at them for some reason. "Careful." he growls.

Byron's gaze flicker in various directions. He's not looking at anything in the present day, however. What he sees are images, events, that had happened in the past. He even takes a few steps in one direction or other to get a better look at what is going on. At least, the shoreline looks similar in the past as it does now and he doesn't go wandering off into the water. There are moments when he'll turn his head quickly as if something exciting or concerning just happened in a certain direction before his eyes trail behind something or other and he even begins to follow suit, slowly.

Then he blinks and he seems to be back in the present. "Hmm." Pulling out a recorder, he starts to speak as he walks, seemingly following something, "The galleon retreated into this cavern, having taken on incredible damage. So much that its hull as burning and there was smoke everywhere. Unfortunately, I couldn't determine what language they were speaking. The battle was ongoing. There was the clash of swords and musket fire, I believe. They were moving their cargo from off of their ship. That's what I'm investigating next."

"Kayak..." Jules nods in agreement, then glances towards Mina when she makes the suggestion of an inflatable, looking like she might just have a few more questions before she is abruptly cut off by the sound of the splashing.

"Uh...right." She then starts to carefully back away from the water, "No offense, but if there is some kind of giant ice croc or dragon or whatever is big enough to make that noise. I vote that maybe we come back with a few more people that can maybe uh...make things go away that are big? Right? Yeah..."

Artemisia blinks as she stares at the ship, leaning forward like she's trying to see what Byron is describing. She doesn't. She squints. "Does anyone else see that?" She asks, pointing at the ship and not what's in the water.

Ravin frowns at the water and moves the light ball he'd been using to light the fish out over where the larger animal is, possibly testing to see how it reacts. "So, you know how you were saying it was too cold for crocodiles? There's... something that at least looks like a reptile in there. About... twelve feet total, I'd say, though half of that is tail. We might all want to keep an eye out in case there are more."

Mina stops walking along the shoreline and seems to just stare a the gallon. When she hears Arte ask if anyone saw something, she glances back to see the other girl pointing at the ship. Mina's head nods up and down. "Yes! I did." She walks over to where Arte is standing. "Someone's there, aren't they? On board? That's what you saw, right?"

"Come back, do not spit up." Aaron says suddenly aware there are other things in this cave, "Group back up do not split up." he is becoming really tense letting go of Ravins hand the young man looks around spotting others in the walls near to Byron and the water.

"Umm...there's more!" Jules announces after a quick look around, barely keeping her urge to run under control for the time being, the small orbs of light under her control starting to move, one towards the tunnel in preparation for when the urge to run becomes too much. But another one shifting towards the edge of the water in Byron's direction when something over there seems to catch her eye, "I'm voting we go now. I don't think meeting a cold-weather croc is a good idea...."

Eyes wide as the huge lizard-creature-thing with spikes pokes its tongue out, Artemisia almost stumbles as she steps backward. "Uhm. Yes." Like a true child of the digital age, she does still lift her phone and snap a picture. "Going. Good." She looks for Aaron and Ravin, making sure they're moving as she does.

Byron slows in his pace when something seems to catch his and several other people's attention from in the water. It doesn't stop him from documenting everything though. "Scrap that. Looks like we have visitors. Possible guardians for pirate treasure? If the treasure actually exists." The man is also speaking in his professional recording voice. He's done a ton of those in his career.

With his camera still out, he focuses it on what's in the water that's heading towards him. "They look to be a pair of aquatic creatures, perhaps. Six feet in length." He continues, before his attention is caught to whatever Artemisia is trying to point out. Whatever it is actually makes itself known. "Woah. Take a look at that." Byron's not even sure where to focus his video camera now. The red lizard or whatever it is that's in the water. He'll catch a glimpse of the red lizard AT LEAST to get it on video, but he really wants to see what's under the water.

And then little miss spoil sport tells them to back it out. "Aww, do we have to?" He faux whines, before he turns his attention back towards the two large sea creatures. "So Gallagher, is this going to be your area or expertise? Or are these not weird enough for you?" It's mostly a joke when he asks, but he looks about ready to pack it up. If anything, he's staying behind everyone else, ensuring that they get out before he does.

Ravin is definitely moving slowly and heading towards the way back to the portal. They've got their head on a swivel, keeping an eye out for any more of the things. "Yep. Going home seems like a great idea, now."

Honestly? You don't have to ask Jules twice.

As soon as it's clear that she's not the only one voting for gtfo, she does exactly that. Any carefulness she displayed on the way through the tunnel the first time is thrown to the wind as she turns and runs for the tunnel, "Pirate treasure later! Survive now!"

Mina's head darts left, then right, then left again as more and more rather unfriendly looking creatures come into view. The suggestion that it is time to go resounds loud and clear to her. What is less understood is the suggestion that their retreat needs to be slow. Orderly pace and Creatures from the Other World Lagoon do not coexist in her mind.

Pivoting on one foot with the grace of a trained dancer, Mina takes off back toward the cave. And the portal waiting there. The terrain doesn't seem to give her much of a problem as she scampers over the ground, leaps over low obstacles, and makes it back to the tunnel.

Aaron makes sure Arte and Ravin are back in the tunnel, he snaps a few pics quick and then starts to shift. Soon there is a black bear where Aaron was standing, he only starts to back up when everyone is in the tunnel and he stays behind the security officer backing her up if she should need it.

Artfully and speedily? Artemisia has been blessed tonight, making it over the rocks to the tunnel. She peers out of it worriedly. "Come on!" She calls back to the others.

Jules scrambles down the tunnel towards the portal, not even waiting to see if anyone else is keeping up or falling behind. She doesn't go out of her way to run anyone down that happened to have been lucky to get into the tunnel first, but she's moving with a quick purpose. A purpose that doesn't stop just short of the portal, instead she is very much in it for herself as she flees through the portal, "Hurry!"

Ravin continues to back up, picking up the pace a little, but still not running. Running seems to get their attention. They're still keeping an eye on the lizards, prepared to stun flash them if they start rushing. While he's waiting, though, he starts moving his light balls around and having them flash a little, seeing is that movement will draw the attention of the lizards. Off away from the retreat, trying to provide a distraction.

Bear-Aaron watches once Byron is close, he backs up a little more, but he won't leave the security officer if she is attacked, the bear gives a growl a warning to the lizard's that are coming after them maybe the sound of another animal might make them change their mind.

Byron's been part of security when he first upgraded from tourist to employee of the park, some time last year. He also seems to have some sort of training before that, and despite having moved to the Magical Studies Department, he still has a license to pack heat, so away goes the camera and his hand rests at the grip of his sidearm. He doesn't draw his weapon, of course. Not yet. Not until the lizard or any of the other beasts in this world despite to actually lash out at them.

Seeing that everyone who needs to be heading through the portal has either already gone through or are close enough, he calls out, "The place is clear. No stragglers." That's for their guide's benefit.

Mina waits at the entrance for the others to arrive, glancing repeatedly over her shoulder to make sure the portal is still there. Byron's arrival and announcement that everyone else is safe leads her to jerk her thumb over at the way home.

"Then maybe we should get out of here before we end up something's snack?" Not that she's waiting to see if her suggestion is taken. Since she's already walking toward the shimmering doorway. The blonde doesn't even look back as she steps through back to her proper realm.