Boned

[Kagami]

Kagami could feel the heat coming from outside and into the elevator. Yikes! Not good! She isn't a fan of this setup at all since they needed to get to Waterfall as soon as possible. The good news though? Atleast she's not wearing her hoodie on her and instead wearing it around her waist.

"Broke? What do you mean broke? Unless! There's something interfering our route towards Waterfall by putting us here deep in Hotland on purpose! Though, wait, has the elevators and that acted weirdly before around these parts?"

[ * Kagami is actually trying to hold back from making any brash conclusions this time even though she's not a fan of the heat. ]

 

[Sans]

* not that i know of…

[ * sans wonders how much has truly changed about this place since he got here.]

* well, luckily, we can still get to waterfall from here. hell, the journey will probably be shorter now.

Sans stuffed his hands back into his pockets and stepped out of the elevator and into the blazing, desert-like environment outside.

* ya comin?

 

[Kagami]

"Yeah. Let's just hurry up and get through here." Kagami nodded before she stepped out of the elevator and looked around as she joined with the skeleton in the blazing heat. "Lead the way Sans. I'm right behind ya."

[ * She's eager to get out of Hotland as soon as possible. She doesn't like the heat because it's worst than a regular Summer day! ]

"Another thing, is the CORE en route to where we're going? You did mention about it recently and I was wondering."

 

[Sans]

* well, it was gonna be, but the elevator said no, so…

He winked at her once again. * guess we’re about to get the CORE of the underground experience early, huh?

Sans looked around, scanning the horizon for a brief moment.

[ * sans is trying to get his bearings. ]

* it should be… yeah, this way.

He turned to the left, moving down a sandy road.

 

[Kagami]

"Yeah, as if that isn't clearly suspicious, no, not at all!" Kagami sighed with a hint of subtle sarcasm as she would be following after Sans. As she would, she briefly stretched her arms before lowering them down to her sides. "Though, to be honest, as long as we get to see a glance of it in some way, then yeah, I'm a happy camper regardless."

[ * Kagami is still skeptical as she was following Sans. ]

"You know, this place would be ideal for any dragons and other creatures that can stand the heat that can hang out and have a good time. I mean, I could name a few with some Koopas but then again, I've seen them in the more foresty areas."

 

[Sans]

[ * sans is trying not to think too hard about it for the moment. ]

He continued forward, leading the Beanish with him. In the distance, metal engines stayed connected to various geysers, slowly turning from the steam that billowed up but, ultimately, served to power nothing at all. Pistons sat motionless in the lava rivers.

* yep. we had planes that lived here, you know. they loved this place.

 

[Kagami]

"Okay, planes. I don't know why but I already find it amusing." Kagami chuckled a bit though she can't help but to wonder why planes lived down here, let alone around this bubbly lava-filled place that would be a hazard to others not used to it. "I still can't believe planes of all things lived down here though but then again, you told me before about monsters being nonhuman and all that so yeah."

[ * Kagami was trying to make sense of things even as she was following Sans and looking at the lava-filled surroundings on their way to Waterfall. ]

 

[Sans]

* yep. if you ever seen a plane, say hi for me. they might not say it, but they appreciate the attention.

Sans couldn’t help but start chuckling at that.

[ * sans remembers the tsundereplanes of hotland. ]

* anyways, how are you liking hotland so far? living up to expectations?

 

[Kagami]

"It's hot but atleast talking to you is steering me away from thinking too much of the heat, so that's good." Kagami sighed as she continued, "Yeah, if I do see one, I'll probably drop a hello or something sometime. However, I'm kinda getting tired from walking so probably a break in Waterfall would be good something because we had been traveling for I dunno how long. Feels like another hour or two?"

[ * Kagami isn't sure what time it is. ]

"I'd kinda wished I got a watch or something but I was just one of those people that prefer the traditional means of tracking time and stuff via paying attention to the positioning of the celestial bodies and that." she shrugged casually. "Sure, it's easy for someone to follow some fancy GPS ordeal because it's more easy for them but where's the fun in exploring without a little trial and error? I just like to challenge myself and learn as I go because there's a certain satisfaction to it because it's more earned."

 

[Sans]

* personally, i’d just take the gps. much less work.

Sans chuckled.

* and don’t worry, waterfall shouldn’t be too much further ahead. when we start seeing caves, you’ll know it’s waterfall.

 

[Kagami]

"Gotcha and besides, to each their own as I always say." she shrugged before she would see something in the distance of the two. To Kagami, it was something that looked like a mass of machinery from a good long distance from their location, standing sturdy as ever, unmoving from within the lava.

With eyes widened, she would perk up in surprise. "Whoa, okay, that's huge. It's also a good thing we can see it from here as well. Say, is this what you were talking about earlier? You know, with the CORE and that?"

[ * Judging by Kagami's situation, she's extremely curious as she was looking at the mass. ]

 

[Sans]

* yep. that's the CORE over there. back when monsters used to live here, it supplied power to every building, every home in the underground.

He gazed out towards the massive, metal machine off in the distance, standing and tall and as proud as any short, stout skeleton can.

* pretty cool, ain't it?

[ * sans is trying to figure out how they could be so far from it already. ]

 

[Kagami]

"If you have plans to be down here then it's good to have something of a power source to make sure everything is running smoothly or else, there's gonna be issues because it's clearly obvious. Though, it's a good thing that I caught sight of it before we left Hotland completely or else we would had missed it."

A nod. "However, yeah, it's really cool, though, I'm sure that took awhile to build though with how huge it is!"

[ * Kagami wonders what else the CORE was used for but at the same time, she would have to keep going. Waterfall should be closeby now! ]

 

[Sans]

* eh. i dont plan on sticking around long. i'm just your tour guide for the moment.

They continued walking, braving the blistering heat of the scorched sands beneath them and the geothermic volcanoes and geysers that occasionally spurted and sputtered up smog from the deep canyons besides them. The earth rumbled around them, but never to too great an extent that Sans felt the need to worry.

Eventually, they finally upon a large, dark cave, its stone blue and strangely luminescent. Cyan crystals glowed softly in the throat of the cave like fireflies at night.

* welp. here we are. waterfall.

 

[Kagami]

The temperature had started to go down as they would enter into Waterfall from Hotland as a whole and Kagami sighed in relief. It was almost if she finally could breath after feeling like she would be out of breath due to how hot it was. Well, it isn't called Hotland for no reason after all, but still, she hated the heat regardless of circumstance but the thing is that atleast that's behind her.

Her attention was to the cavern surroundings of Waterfall but it was beautiful and more so, cool, especially with the sound of the running water going on in the background. The ambience of this place helped out feel more at ease as she would feel comfortable to stretch her arms and legs for a brief moment before she straightened out afterwards.

"Yeah, this is a good spot to rest. Nice, cool and.." She felt tired. "..ahh, I'm gonna need a rest. Like a quick nap or something.. but one thing Sans, how are you feeling? Are you still kicking or kinda tired?"

[ * She was trying to keep her eyes open but the thing is that she was struggling to keep awake as she was becoming more sluggish. The fact was that she was almost about to fall over but at the same time, trying to keep her head up as she didn't want to fall asleep while walking. ]

 

[Sans]

* im doing good.

[ * sans is very tired. ]

* shush you.

Sans stared at Kagami as he found a small rock to sit on nearby, his eyeholes slowly drooping as if he, too, was human and slowly giving way to the temptations of sleep. Aside from his slouched demeanor and his blinking eyes, however-- and the voyeuristic textbox looming above him, of course-- he gave zero indication of his tiredness away.

 

[Kagami]

"Sure ya are."

Kagami kept on until she found a bench and sat down on it, only to close her eyes for a bit. She didn't want to sit on the ground so she choose to fall asleep there as she saw Sans rest on the ground. Atleast they would be closeby to each other as Kagami would take her hoodie off her waist and use it as a blanket.

"A quick nap.. should help out."

[ * Kagami closed her eyes and fell asleep. ]

 

[Sans]

* sure. i'll keep watch.

Sans sat on the rock, continuing to stare at Kagami for a few seconds longer before shutting his eyes as well. Soon, he too fell asleep.

And as the duo sat close by, dreaming sweet dreams, a tall, shadowy figure loomed over them, observing them silently within the darkness of the cave.

 

[Kagami]

As Waterfall was silent and peaceful for the duo for awhile despite of what was going on, however, Kagami had physically shifted from being on her back to something akin towards sleeping toward facing the back of the bench.

The light of the crystals were nice but the fact was that she couldn't stand it over time, covering herself with her hoodie as she found more solace in the dark, given to how distracting the bright luminescent light was within Waterfall's caverns were.

However, while Sans was nervous about the whole mindreading ordeal, she kept out from messing with him on such powers because she wanted to form something that wasn't 'forced' as Booker would bring up. She would instead wait it out and reap the benefits by keeping it at a distance, however, subtle voices started to plague her mind.

'Don't you find it suspicious that he's hiding things from you?'

'He didn't believe you with the entire mysterious force claim. He thinks you're just some crazy bean girl like all the rest! You should ditch him and teach him a lesson!'

'He's just going to abandon you once he's finished and you will be all alone all over again. You can't get a break at all, can you?'

'You'll always be alone.'

At the last intrusive thought, Kagami's magenta eyes shot open as they would have a subtle glow before her eyes would fade back to normal. She didn't move for awhile but as she was awakened, she would eventually remove her hoodie off of her while it limped over the bench.

Eventually, after a couple of seconds, she turned to lay on her back with an annoyed sigh while resting her arms on the side, momentarily crossing them across her waist.

[ * Kagami was looking up to the crystal ceiling above in silence, unaware of what was out there regardless. Though, before long, she looked down at Sans from nearby as he was still asleep. ]

 

[Sans]

The crystals on the ceiling glowed brighter every once in a while, looking like stars at night. It probably was night, after all, somewhere above the surface of these caverns. The bench bent down with the Beanish’s weight, the wood creaking and the metal of its supports rusted.

When Kagami turned herself around, she saw Sans still sitting on his rock, head bowed, having long since nodded off some time ago. It seemed as if he was not as good of a sentry as he had promised he would be. The textbox above him was filled with large, bold Z’s. For once, it revealed nothing about him, not even the dreams inside of his mind.

At a certain point, though, Kagami felt… something. She wasn’t sure what it was, but it felt like somebody was watching her from the shadows, from the places where the light of the crystals couldn’t touch, where ghosts laid undetected in the place between places. She lifted her head up, scanning around and finding nothing except…

Her eyes glowed magenta once more as she saw what appeared to be a single, small quiche sitting in a perfectly clean, round tin sitting along the very precipice of the darkest darkness. Its crust looked green with vegetables and small amounts of sweet, runny custard poked out at the very top of the tart. Steam flowed up from the quiche, carrying an aroma of cheesy deliciousness with it.