Cyra made her way over to the hedge maze and jumped up on to the top of one of the walls. She surveyed the maze for a few seconds before hopping down and entering it. She hadn't gotten much sleep since she had gotten to america. Part of the reason she was feeling off balance. She figured Kaz would explain or ask more questions as they moved towards the challange. She shrugged at Teresa's words. "Why not the obvisous enterance." She made this a statement and not a question. Cyra sighed inwardly, 'What did I get myself into?'

> "Why not the obvious entrance."

Nobody else seems to have an opinion, so Sonya/Teresa shrugs and nods "Works for me."

The doors are heavy, but still well-hinged... they open smoothly, with only a little tugging, to reveal a long ornate entrance hall out of some boring period movie, probably something French with subtitles. Without pausing, she tosses a half-dozen pebbles one at a time down the hallway, in slightly different directions, wondering if they'll hit anything invisible.

Hades caught on to what Sonya was thinking. “Good idea.” He said as he moved forward, smoothly, fluidly catlike. He occasionally flung handfuls of pebbles in a seemingly random way. If one observed closely however, you would notice that the pebbles covered the maximum area to detect anything invisible.

Crystal Copy Two watched from within the holocams as the Southern team entered the castle and began scattering pebbles around the corridor. Smart group; they were expecting the booby traps.

Well then, perhaps it was time to give them something else to concentrate on for a bit.

A soft, "Ow!" came from where one of Hades' pebbles had just landed. A short figure suddenly popped into existance. The little blonde haired girl rubbed her arm, then looked up, startled. She stared at them in surprised for a brief moment, before turning and fleeing into the darkness. The sounds of running footsteps echoed in the corridor behind her.

(OOC: And no, I'm not godmodding Katrina. )

Cyra's eyes widened in disbelief, it couldn't be that easy. "I say we follow that girl." Cyra was moving after her before those words left her mouth. *Crystal let me know if i need to change this.* The footsteps sounded a little off to Cyra but it was possible that it was this place. Who knows? The best way to find out was to follow that little girl. *OOC: Not godmodding Kaz* She knew that Kaz wasn't too far behind, for all she knew, he was ahead of them now. Cyra soon disappeared as the girl got further and further ahead of them.

Sonya/Teresa grins at Hades briefly when he picks up her pebble-tossing strategy, and is about to make some introductory small-talk when she's distracted by the sudden appearance of a previously invisible little girl. No way. That actually worked?!? Sure, it had been her own idea, but she hadn't really expected it to accomplish anything!

She's sufficiently flabbergasted by it that the girl has fled and Cyra has taken off after her before she can even react. Which is probably just as well -- any traps the little girl might be leading them into, better that Cyra trips first. Not a terribly "teamworky" attitude, now is it? She shrugs at herself as she jogs more slowly behind Cyra, careful to keep a significant distance between them and to pay attention to the floor and the walls and the ceiling as she does. OK, so I'm keeping an eye out so I can keep my teammate from falling into a trap... how's that?

(( OOC: So, hm. It's looking like the "post when you feel like it" strategy isn't actually working so well. Would folks prefer a stricter order of rotation, so we know whose turn it is?

Sonya-Cyra-Kaz-Hades is the order we posted in initially, though Kaz mentioned he'd be not-posting for a bit.

So, Cyra, then Hades? If we can get the inter-post delay down to a day or two at most, that would be great.))

* edit - oops! Cyra also down for the count. So, Hades... I guess it's you and me, pal! (grins)

*OOC: Sonya, if you've read the thread Damn: I have to leave MRO you would understand. I hope to be back up and posting regularly in a few weeks. I don't have my computer and I've been dealing with a lot of issues in irl. So my apologies all.*

((OOC: I'm not entirely back, but I got a post in my head when I read this so....Keep going as you already are.))

Having considered telling the group about the resistance, he ultimately decided against it. At least for the moment. The ultimate goal, in his mind, might distract the girls from the task at hand, so he had kept quiet. He turned inward as those around him chatted a bit, forcing his body to obey him, to limit his capabilities.

As the group began to move on along the ground, Kaz took up position above and slightly behind them as he walked nimbly across the hedges. Looking around for anything out of the ordinary or out of place, with his ears as 'open' as they could be with the earplugs in them, he moved from hedge to hedge, flanking the group left, then right, then back again, repeating the pattern every so often. He quickly noted that even though his eyes were the only sense of his that had not been dampened by something, he couldn't see clearly beyond a certain range, how far that range was he wasn't sure, <I don't know if it's this cave it's self or if it's a trick but..> He sighed softly, <It's annoying.>

When they reached the door and the 'obvious entrance', Kaz again let the group lead. Though he would have preferred to lead the way in, mostly because he knew and trusted in his self and his capabilities, he also knew this was a group exercise and he needed to have trust in the others.

The doors open, pebbles flew and out popped...<Kat?!> Kaz was clearly perplexed by the turn of events...at least until he began to chuckle. <Oh come now, we're not that stupid and neither are you Kat.> As Cyra and the group began to move after 'Kat', Kaz grabbed a few pebbles. Making a soft 'tsk' sound as he tried to hear if 'Kat' had a heartbeat, and failing miserably due to the earplugs (must be some REALLY good earplugs). <If it really is you Kat...forgive me....> Though he was being limited, it doesn't effect his good aim. Kaz chucked three pebbles, one at 'Kat's' leg, back and head. If it was her, she'd have three nice welts, if not well, they'd find out soon enough.

As soon as the pebbles were out of his hand, he grabbed Cyra by the arm, "Hold up. Don't go rushing blindly into what could be a trap. Caution is a friend at the moment."

Cyra stopped dead in her tracks as Kaz grabbed her by her arm. She blinked and turned to look at Kaz, "Thanks for the warning." She grumbled a bit inwardly though. She was aware that there could be traps. And if she ran into one, well, so be it. But, caution was a good thing. She shrugged slightly, 'If those pebbles hit, it'll hurt.' "So we wait for now."

Crystal chuckled to herself as she watched. Everyone seemed amazed that they could have possibly found Katrina so quickly, even Kaz for a brief moment. Though he seemed more skeptical. Knowing of his abilities, even handicapped, she had added all of the sound-effects, just in case; running footsteps, heartbeats, heavy breathing. Naturally, a skilled ear could tell the difference. But all Crystal was going for was distraction at this point.

Cyra and Sonya seemed content to follow the girl, but she saw Kaz wasn't. When he picked up the pebbles, she put a back up plan into action, and another invisible figure moved into the corridor. The pebbles he threw passed through the hologram with ease. But one of them connected and bounced backward. A loud "Oww!!" accompanied the hit, and as the first hologram disappeared, another figure appeared.

Well, sort of appeared. The air shimmered, like a picture fading in and out. Another little blonde girl looked at them, clutching her arm, and eyes welling up with tears. She bit her lip, holding back a pained sob, then faded away again. A nearby door opened with a creak, then a resounding CRASH!!!

Inside the new room (first 2 posts on page 2) lay a jumble of what used to be a number of suits of armor, that had apparently been put into domino motion by the opening of the door. Now the pile of metal blocked the other doors, effectively turning the room into a dead end, with the only way out, the way they came in.

A tiny sniffle came from off to one side, then silence overtook the room.

(OOC: There is a body to go with the hologram this time, though it still isn't Kat. )

> "Hold up. Don't go rushing blindly into what could be a trap.
> Caution is a friend at the moment."

Sonya/Teresa blinks in surprise as Kaz adopts the pebble-tossing strategy, then intercepts Cyra’s headlong rush into who-knows-what, all without insulting anyone. Heh… OK, maybe I misjudged him before. First impressions can be wrong, after all…

She’s also impressed by his speed; even with the cuffs weighing him down he moves like a blur. She can’t quite decide whether he’s unusually strong or not… at first he seemed to be, but the more she watches him move, the more convinced she becomes that that was an illusion.

I wonder what wearing that body would feel like…, she muses idly. Certainly, if Kaz is Hunter’s lieutenant, getting close to him would be a way to find out more about Hunter. Who knows, maybe Kaz will turn out to be more ambitious than loyal – not that she has much to offer his ambition at the moment.

Of course, all of that is for the future. In the present, Kaz’s version of the pebble-trick works even better than Hades had, revealing an injured girl who Sonya assumes is Katrina. A moment later the girl runs into an adjacent room and knocks over an implausibly arranged collection of suits of armor.

That’s weird, she thinks to herself, I would think whoever was running this little exercise would know the layout of the place, not get suckered by something like that. Which means we’re probably being suckered, ourselves. Unless it’s also supposed to be a test for her? Sonya isn’t entirely clear about how this exercise is put together… but Kaz had said he’d helped organize it.

"Wait up a sec… I smell a rat. Kaz, you helped set this thing up: would Katrina just run into a dead end like this, if it wasn’t some sort of trap?"

(( ooc: New, Improved Sonya! Now with bonus formatting for actual speech! ))

Kaz looked back at Teresa and chuckled. "A rat huh, you have a better nose than I do at the moment." Kaz reached into a pocket, pulling out a small cylinder. Snapping it under his nose he scrunched his face up a bit as the contents 'blocked' his nasal receptors a bit, enough to bring them down to a human's level. "IF," Kaz strained the word as he didn't believe Kat to actually run into the room. "it was Kat, then no. I doubt it'd be an actual dead end, at least not for her. If it's trapped, then she probably knows what to do or how to get around it. Though," Kaz raised a curious eyebrow, while a slight smirk played on his face. "What makes you think that was/is Kat? I can't tell if it is or isn't her, not with my senses all screwy. If I wasn't using these," He held up the broken cylinder, "I'd probably be able to tell by her scent." He shrugged and left it at that.

"No matter what, whether we choose to go in or go another direction, we should be careful."

“Ill second that.” Said Hades, joining them from his position as rear guard. He took more pebbles and flung them into the darkness listening for the echo, he flung them in such a way that it was almost like a wall of pebbles. If anyone had watched closely they would have seen the force with which Hades flung the pebbles, it was not enough to would but if it hit a pressure point then it was enough to make anyone stumble. Hades then patiently waited.

> "IF it was Kat, then no. I doubt it'd be an actual dead end,
> at least not for her. If it's trapped, then she probably knows
> what to do or how to get around it. Though what makes you
> think that was/is Kat? I can't tell if it is or isn't her, not with
> my senses all screwy.”

Sonya isn’t quite sure how to respond to that. He’s the one who knows the girl in the first place, shouldn’t he be able to recognize her? Unless his senses have been so handicapped that she can actually see better than he can? That seems unlikely.

He probably means the little girl might be some sort of decoy. Sonya isn’t sure whether he has some actual reason to suspect that, or if he’s just professionally paranoid, but either way she decides to follow his lead on the matter… for one thing, he knows more about the setup here than she does; for another she’s more interested in learning about Kaz than she is in ‘winning’ the competition.

So she nods "Good point."

> "whether we choose to go in or go another direction, we should be careful."
> “I’ll second that.”

"Well, it’s hard to argue with careful. And whoever that little invisible girl was, letting her choose the path we take probably isn’t a great idea." As Hades continues the pebble strategy, Sonya steps back out into the hall, looking around for some other plausible-seeming direction to travel in.