So I'll have that extra something

i could be the reason you can't sleep at night

"—it’s actually insane that this is just from space," Flora’s saying as her boots test each step with a care that looks more like impatience than caution, the damp heat clinging to her skin in a way that makes her want to peel it off and leave it somewhere behind her, preferably far, far away from whatever this place thinks it is.

The air sits heavy in her lungs, thick as syrup and twice as unwelcome, and she exhales sharply through her nose as if that might fix it, as if she can bully the atmosphere into behaving like something breathable instead of whatever this wet, suffocating nonsense is meant to be, her fingers flicking absently toward one of her rings before she thinks better of it and lets her hand fall again, gold catching briefly in the violet haze as she shifts her weight forward.

There’s a pause only long enough for her to angle herself around the edge of something she absolutely does not trust not to give way beneath her, her balance adjusting with a subtle sway that sends her curls brushing against her cheek, already sticking slightly from the humidity, and she makes a small face about it before tossing them back with a quick, irritated movement. Then she glances over her shoulder, aqua eyes narrowing just a fraction as they find Mateo.

"So how exactly does one find out if any of these plants have...er..the sorts of qualities you're looking for?"

champagne, cocaine, gasoline; and most things in between

"Would you ever go into space if you could, do you think?" Mateo echoes helpfully as he clambers after Flora, equal parts fascinated and vaguely grossed out by what they're walking on and where it leads. He's dressed like every main character in Jumanji all at once, clad in a pair of khaki shorts, a tight red tank top, a bucket hat and a pair of very sturdy walking boots. Whether this attire will help him during this venture into Starfall is still unclear, but he seems enthused by it.

Pausing as Flora looks as though she might be venturing out onto unsteady ground, Mateo waits until she either falls or doesn't before he presses on. "Oh, there are a lot of tests we can do," he says. "But I do not think any of them would be suitable for here and now. It is why I brought this, so I can collect samples." He shrugs the bag of holding he's slung over his shoulder with a bright smile. "Looks like there is some good stuff I could collect a little further down. Unless you are chicken."

i could be the reason you can't sleep at night

Flora’s mouth pulls to one side as she considers, her footing slowing just enough that the thought can catch up with her. "Maybe?" she allows after a moment, her gaze drifting briefly into the strange violet haze before snapping back with a faint squint. "Do I get, like, to bring the Sugartide, or am I just floating around out there on my own?"

Her attention shifts as Mateo lifts the bag, and her brows climb immediately, something bright and approving flickering across her expression as she gives him a slow, exaggerated once-over that lands squarely on it, her fingers lifting to waggle lightly in his direction like she’s awarding him something intangible but very real all the same. "Wow, look at you being prepared," she says, the approval threaded through with an easy, teasing lilt. Then she follows the line of his indication downward, and whatever that flicker of approval had been folds neatly into something sharper, her nose wrinkling against before she shifts her weight back a fraction instead of forward.

"Of course I’m not chicken," she corrects, the words clipped with just enough offence to make it (maybe) convincing. "But you’ve got two perfectly good hands, what exactly do you need me down there for?"

champagne, cocaine, gasoline; and most things in between

"I would say you could bring the Sugartide and you could have Spice with you, but that is it. Space exploration is character building, or something like that. And you could always channel Safrin for company if you needed to - space is kind of her thing." Mateo's response is immediate and reasonable in his opinion, and he polishes it off with a pleased smile at her compliment. Preparedness is not often something associated with the botanist, but for excursions like this, one has to be ready for anything.

Like clambering down into deep, void filled spaces for science, as an example, and though he scrunches his nose dramatically at Flora's refusal rebuttal, he supposes she makes a good point. "Alright, but you have to promise to haul me back up if I cannot do it myself," he says as he starts to slink down off the ledge and into the violet haze and its eerie flora below. "Did the dads say not to explore further in here specifically? Because even if they did, I am tempted, you know."

You are interrupted by a sharp, high-pitched screech, accompanied by a dazzling fork of lightning that leaves its image burning behind your eyes for a long time afterwards.

You swear the afterburn looks almost like a face, the mouth stretched wide in an agonised scream. If you blink too quickly in the wake of it, the face starts to look like someone you might know.

---

You have encountered one of the Scream Rain SE serendipities! You may use this to complete requirement 1. of the seasonal event. Please note: this serendipity CANNOT be used for levelling purposes.

i could be the reason you can't sleep at night

Flora’s already nodding as Mateo explains, the agreement coming easy at the thought of her skyship cutting through something as impossible as space, Spice curled somewhere bright and cold against the heat of it all, the image settling comfortably in her mind right up until— "Character building?" She stops dead, the shift so abrupt it almost pulls her balance with it, her head snapping toward him as her expression sharpens into something theatrically affronted, aqua eyes narrowing with exaggerated disbelief as if he’s just insulted her on a deeply personal level rather than suggested she float alone in the void. "What, you think I don’t have enough character?"

Flora rolls her eyes, the offence dissolving as she exhales through her nose and gives a small, dismissive flick of her hand."Fiiiiiiiine," she concedes, though it comes with the air of someone granting a favour rather than potentially playing rescuer, her gaze sliding after him as he starts to descend, her shoulders angling slightly as though she’s already bracing for the inevitable inconvenience of it. "If you fall and I have to drag you back up, I’m complaining the entire time, just so you know."

Just about to answer about what their dads may or might not have said, Flora's thoughts are cut off by more goddamn scream rain. Her reaction is immediate and instinctive, with her hands flying up to clamp over her eyes as the light burns through them anyway. "Mateo—" His name breaks out of her in a tight, breathless edge, her shoulders hunching as if she can make herself smaller against it, against the afterimage that won’t quite leave.

champagne, cocaine, gasoline; and most things in between

Mateo's laughter is a vibrant cackle that may as well have come straight from Vai's throat, the sound echoing around the cavern and away into the oppressive haze. "On the contrary, I was considering that a lonely jaunt through space might build your character down a little. Give some to the rest of us," he declares, beaming up at Flora from his position crouched at the edge of the eerie looking geyser and trying to look for a good place to get his footing to climb down further. 

"I would expect nothing less from you," he says of her complaining, "and so you know, I will also be-- cazzo!" His curse is all but swallowed by the terrible shrieking that suddenly bursts around the cavern as if carried up from some awful bubble in the Arclight. Mateo has not experienced scream rain in quite such a close vicinity yet, and to his credit, he doesn't fall into the enormous cavern of water.

He does slip, though, and as he scrabbles to get back onto steady ground he instead finds himself sliding - at speed - down the slick pathway and into the purple dark. "FLORA!" His voice ends up a distant echo, though he's sure that his sister will find him wherever he ends up.

Probably.

~FIN