Discord
As gently as possible, you climb further onto the vent and scoot across to them.
You decide against splashing water in their face, not wanting to get any in their mouth.
Careful not to move too much, you lightly smack your palm against their face a few times.
No response.
You take a breath to steady yourself.
Your arm wraps around their shoulder, and you begin to pull them down into--
The vent shifts.
It scrapes across the stalagmites and rolls forward with a sudden, forceful motion.
Your world upends as you're flipped forward.
You hear the pitiful, wet squeak of your body sliding off the vent before you're tossed in the river.
Disoriented,
it takes you a bit to get your bearings, the rushing water not helping in the slightest.
You resurface, and find you're somehow still holding the amerveille, though your grip has slipped down to their arm.
You quickly pull them to you and wrap your elbow around their neck.
Blearily, you locate the shore.
It feels painfully far.
The dark hole looms at the end of the cavern.
Aiming yourself diagonally at the shore, you start to swim frantically, putting as much power into your haphazard strokes as you can muster.
You feel tired almost immediately.
But you keep at it.
There's a moment where it hits you.
Even as you near the shore.
That you aren't going to make it.
Fueled by adrenaline, you change your trajectory to fight the current more, desperately trying to make it in time.
You're so close.
The shore passes by in your vision.
You push for the wall of rock past it instead; there's nowhere else to go.
You reach out and grab for it.
Your hand slides across the rocks, but you try and clamp down as hard as you can.
Eventually your grip holds.
Your fingers hurt.
Your mind races as you try to figure out what to do.
You try to pull yourself forward a little.
You hear a yelp.
The amerveille squirms in your arm, apparently having woken up.
You try to tighten your hold on them, but they wriggle free.
Your grip on the rock slips.
You drop into the current.
You swirl around, reaching out for something, anything to hold on to as you try and right yourself.
Tension catches on the back of your neck.
You aren't moving further downriver.
You instinctively swim up to the surface, then turn your head back to find a stretched metal claw grasping the nape of your neck.
Cerulean's other claw is dug deep into the rock wall.
The hand holding onto you retracts, bringing you up close to them.
You latch on around their waist, allowing them the use of both their arms.
They grunt from the strain of your weight, but soon begin to climb sideways across the rock wall, staying mostly in the water.
It isn't long before they reach the shore.
You slide off Cerulean as they roll over and collapse onto their back, one hand on their chest.
You crawl up the shore a few feet, hands and knees trembling as you do your best to stay upright.
The two of you pant heavily, nearly in unison.
You're alive.
You decide against splashing water in their face, not wanting to get any in their mouth.
Careful not to move too much, you lightly smack your palm against their face a few times.
No response.
You take a breath to steady yourself.
Your arm wraps around their shoulder, and you begin to pull them down into--
The vent shifts.
It scrapes across the stalagmites and rolls forward with a sudden, forceful motion.
Your world upends as you're flipped forward.
You hear the pitiful, wet squeak of your body sliding off the vent before you're tossed in the river.
Disoriented,
it takes you a bit to get your bearings, the rushing water not helping in the slightest.
You resurface, and find you're somehow still holding the amerveille, though your grip has slipped down to their arm.
You quickly pull them to you and wrap your elbow around their neck.
Blearily, you locate the shore.
It feels painfully far.
The dark hole looms at the end of the cavern.
Aiming yourself diagonally at the shore, you start to swim frantically, putting as much power into your haphazard strokes as you can muster.
You feel tired almost immediately.
But you keep at it.
There's a moment where it hits you.
Even as you near the shore.
That you aren't going to make it.
Fueled by adrenaline, you change your trajectory to fight the current more, desperately trying to make it in time.
You're so close.
The shore passes by in your vision.
You push for the wall of rock past it instead; there's nowhere else to go.
You reach out and grab for it.
Your hand slides across the rocks, but you try and clamp down as hard as you can.
Eventually your grip holds.
Your fingers hurt.
Your mind races as you try to figure out what to do.
You try to pull yourself forward a little.
You hear a yelp.
The amerveille squirms in your arm, apparently having woken up.
You try to tighten your hold on them, but they wriggle free.
Your grip on the rock slips.
You drop into the current.
You swirl around, reaching out for something, anything to hold on to as you try and right yourself.
Tension catches on the back of your neck.
You aren't moving further downriver.
You instinctively swim up to the surface, then turn your head back to find a stretched metal claw grasping the nape of your neck.
Cerulean's other claw is dug deep into the rock wall.
The hand holding onto you retracts, bringing you up close to them.
You latch on around their waist, allowing them the use of both their arms.
They grunt from the strain of your weight, but soon begin to climb sideways across the rock wall, staying mostly in the water.
It isn't long before they reach the shore.
You slide off Cerulean as they roll over and collapse onto their back, one hand on their chest.
You crawl up the shore a few feet, hands and knees trembling as you do your best to stay upright.
The two of you pant heavily, nearly in unison.
You're alive.
STATUS:
![[Image: jz39PEG.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/jz39PEG.gif)
![[Image: DLt3CJT.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/DLt3CJT.gif)
![[Image: 6lKygw3.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/6lKygw3.gif)
