Description

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F U L L XN A M E
rahmi liyana farooq

N I C K N A M E (S)
none

M A J O R (S)
fine art, art history

A G E
twenty-two

B L E S S E D B Y
nut, god of air and space

G E N D E R & S E X U A L I T Y
femme non binary queer

E T H N I C I T Y
pakistani and egyptian

H O M E T O W N
tracy, california

H E X
#012969

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H E I G H T & W E I G H T
5’2”, 125lbs

A P P E A R A N C E

Her skin was a warm brown, with freckles dusted across her cheeks and nose. In the summer as her melanin deepend freckles would appear across her shoulders as well. Her features are oversized in a way that you only really saw depicted in drawing. Large hazel eyes framed by thick lashes sat below her bold brows. Her lips were plump, often when she spoke she would make sure not to reveal her still-crooked teeth.

Two hoops on one nostril and one around her septum decorate the width of her nose. Sometimes she would swap them out for something more ornamental, though always gold or silver. Often wearing large hoops to match, she always coordinates her jewelry. Piercings decorate along the outside of her ear, often adorning glittering jewels and a lotus tattooed beside the tragus of one of her ears.

Most of Rahmi’s tattoos are either sentimental, a joke or just a flash sale she happened across. Writhing across the top of her hand is a tattoo of a snake, this was a flash sale from a local artist. Above the snake on her bicep she has the letters “kiki”, which she got when the song was trending as a joke (talk your shit okay but she got hella followers out of that). On her opposing arm she has a cowboy boot tattooed to represent Jessie from toy story, who she was obsessed with as a girl. Lower on that same arm she has dice, which was a sentimental tattoo with (npc? Your character?).

Though Rahmi preferred to be low maintenance, her hair made it impossible. It fell past her waist, the multi-textured curls ranging from waves to coils. Sometimes she would go to a salon to get her hair braided, like when she was expecting to be busy soon and wanted something lower maintenance. Mostly she just lets it down and out like a glorious mane.

As a girl, her mother always liked putting Rahmi in dresses. However Rahmi always preferred her twin’s clothes - she’d always steal his shirts growing up. When she began to develop she hated the attention it brought her so she always made sure to get clothes two sizes too big. Her mother would complain, then on the rare occasion Rahmi felt like dressing more feminine her mother always made a big show of it only deterring her further. Though now on her own she feels less obligation to dress for others and sometimes will enjoy dressing feminine.

L I K E S
video games, lemonade, google phone, oat milk, documentaries, vines, early mornings, fresh cut grass, indian food, vegan food, dressing like a boy, her favorite characters on her clothes, buying local, networking with other artists, collaboration, pasta

D I S L I K E S
cardigans, gossip, poor cable maintenance, libertarians, fake woke culture, hula hooping, escalators, too many buttons, clutter, apple products, wearing jeans, sweet cocktails, early mornings,

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P E R S O N A L I T Y

Growing up as the oldest of five, Rahmi defaulted into a caretaker role early on. It’s just what the oldest girl was supposed to do. She learned to make her needs as small as possible so that she had more space for others. Others called it low-maintenance, but her therapist she keeps cancelling on says otherwise.

Though she has a maternal nature, she has a laid back demeanor and a delight for absurdity that still led to moments of chaos. She is one to take a fleeting thought and run with it until what she’s left with is some sort of fever dream. When she finds someone who appreciates that or better yet, collaborates with the vibes - she’s found a friend for life.

Creativity was always an outlet for Rahmi, be it for a distraction or expression. She was naturally talented with a keyboard, teaching herself to play by ear at a young age. Often in class she’d draw instead of listening in class. She enjoyed things others called weird like anime and obscure indie video games. Some people teased her time to time but for the most part she flew under the radar. She never liked much attention anyways.

When she went off to college and began her twitch stream is when her personality began to flourish. Independent from the responsibilities of caring for her younger siblings and helping tend the home, and out from her twins shadow, Rahmi was finally free to be herself.

Liberated, Rahmi learned to take pleasure in the mundane moments. She could have just as much fun painting her nails in the quad by herself as at a party with friends. Still, it was strange not having her little sisters hanging around. Rahmi learned she loved the presence of others, though not necessarily always engaging with them directly - which is why she loved streaming on twitch so much.

She struggles with allowing others to help her out, not one to put her problems on others. Often putting things off until the last minute, she struggles to complete projects unless there’s a threat of a looming deadline. She would much rather stress herself out rather than prolong the process. Despite this, she does perform well under pressure and somehow always manages to pull through.

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H I S T O R Y
Somewhere between the late 1960s and early 70s, her father and his siblings immigrated to California, followed shortly by her grandparents, both firmly in the middle class until they hit the states. While her grandfather ran a lucrative accounting firm (of which most of the sons helped run), they all needed to start from scratch. This meant taking on multiple jobs, living in an all-too small apartment, and doing everything they could to build a better life. By contrast, Rahmi’s mother had a smoother ride given that she'd gone to an American university before deciding to live there permanently.

After two years of dating (and naturalization) they married and started their humble, but content family. Rahmi was the first (her twin was just ten minutes younger) of five children. Though technically the oldest, the role of golden child was granted to her brother instead. While her parents wanted the best for all their children, they obviously put more emphasis on Yousof’s future. Instead of being pushed to join extracurriculars and take AP classes, Rahmi was expected to help out at home.

Her grades were never perfect, but they didn’t have to be. Yousof was the one who had to be perfect. Sometimes it felt like her parents preferred to pit them against each other. As they grew older they began to drift. She didn’t blame him for being the favorite, just sometimes it was easier to keep a distance. Sometimes even their friends wouldn’t know they had a twin, though it’s not like they looked much alike. The one thing they did do together was play video games, it was the one thing they could always do and not have to think or talk about the bullshit their parents brewed between them and just actually enjoy one another.

Though her brother was the same age as her, Rahmi ended up being the one who was expected to look out for their younger siblings. Being that they were all afab, Rahmi decided to teach them all the things she wished her mom told her. It did backfire when someone’s dad came to career day to talk about being a police officer, and their youngest sister asked him if he was a bastard.

Because she spent a lot of time helping out at home, Rahmi began to draw in her free time as it was something she could take anywhere that cost nothing. When she’d get bored with that her parents had an old keyboard in the basement she’d sometimes fiddle with. She was always creatively inclined, she learned by doing. First it started with drawing anime characters from the shows she liked or some bizarre rendition of one of her younger sister’s drawings from school, or just trying to figure out the notes to play a song by closing her eyes and listening and she played the keys. She didn’t really consider herself to be talented, she just enjoyed it.

Eighth grade her art teacher noticed she had an aptitude for color theory, showcasing her work at a couple of open houses the school hosted. It was the first time anyone ever really told her she was special at something. She started a tiktok and an instagram to share her art and promote her online store where she began selling pieces she made. Her art evolved over the years but they always included wild complementary colors, feminine figures and bizarre mindscapes.

Lindenwood reached out to her regarding a scholarship in their visual arts department. It wasn’t UC Davis but it was still pretty damn good. Much to her family's surprise she was thriving in university. She even made enough from selling her art to buy a laptop, drawing tablet, even a keyboard. The keyboard was more for fun when she reached a creative rut, but she enjoyed it.

When she and other people in the dorm began playing games together, Rahmi began a twitch stream. People enjoyed her chill demeanor, her inability to control her facial expressions and not to mention laughing when she lost her shit. One of the few people in their building who only had one other roommate, Rahmi has more space than others to work with so her corner of the room has become a hang space to chill and game.

Things were going really well for her and for once it seemed like her parents were proud of her, but it came with a cost. Yousof failed out of UC Davis, backsliding into the disappointment role and pushing Rahmi to be the golden child. The guilt she felt was debilitating and yet satisfying at the same time? Then the satisfaction only compounded the guilt. She never wanted Yousof to feel the way she did.

Lindenwood offered a scholarship that Yousof could apply to, it only made sense that he would come here. Rahmi had decided to double major so she was still enrolled. Their parent’s encouraged it. At first Rahmi didn’t know what she was supposed to do, if playing tour guide would be belittling or if just letting him figure it out would make him feel overwhelmed. The last couple years they spent mostly apart, whoever they were whenever they used to spend their time together they’d both changed since then.

Somehow, things changed for the better. Turns out without their parents around, they got along really well. Her twitch followers had no idea she had a twin and enjoyed discovering that fun fact, often asking for him to join her on her streams.

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T H EX B L E S S I N G
Aerokinesis The user can create, shape and manipulate air, the common name given to the layer of atmospheric gases and various compounds (mostly oxygen and nitrogen) surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity, and possibly wind, movement of air relative to the surface of the planet. It is an important factor in determining and controlling climate and weather, and the generating force of most ocean and freshwater waves. Wind occurs because of horizontal and vertical differences in atmospheric pressure, and include breezes, squalls, gusts, whirlwinds, zephyrs, gales, tempests, and hurricanes. Since air cannot be seen by conventional methods, neither can the attacks and derivatives formed by/from it, making it an invisible and versatile weapon that is very difficult to block and dodge.

Cosmic Energy ManipulationUser can create, shape, manipulate and absorb cosmic energies of planets, stars, quasars, voids, nebulas, galaxies or anything related to cosmos. They can also effect the whole energy system of the universe at a higher level.

T A L E N T S
arabic, video games, making quick meals, puzzle solving, painting, digital drawing, sculpting, piano, amateur video editing, mukbang, pictionary

S T R E N G T H S
Patience is a necessary strength of the oldest of five. Rahmi had to teach her younger sisters a lot, often helping them with their homework or teaching them how to do tasks around the house ~~or video games against their mother’s wishes~~. She is an incredible teacher for that reason. Communication is another strongsuit of Rahmi. She often acted as a mediator between her parents and the other siblings, which made her excellent at conflict resolution. Then of course there is her art. Though she’s by no means created anything revolutionary, she’s thrown away the pressure to be the first at something and instead just follows what she loves.

W E A K N E S S E S
Her sisters are by far her biggest weakness. They missed her terribly when she left for school and while they’ve grown accustomed to the distance, Rahmi still feels a sense of guilt. In general her friendships tend to fill that void of not having her sister’s around, and thus she develops the same kind of attachments that make it easy for people to use them against her.

So begins...

Rahmi Farooq's Story

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Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-05-25 07:13:45, as written by Wolf's Bane109

Eden Montgomery

Host of Serqet | Attire | hex: #9D948D

Tarren Havenfield

Host of Anubis | Attire | hex:#575772

Trevor Price

The History Professor | Attire | hex: #6C021B

Kayden Hallows

Professor's Assistant | Attire | hex:#96909c

Two days. It had been two days since the group of students from LindenWood, had found themselves leaving the comforts of what was considered to be their new home back in New York. All while being led by their Professor. Who, by all means knew what he was doing, well, for the most part. There were times where his assistant, Kayden, would have to step in and lead the otherwise clueless bunch. Was indeed a sight to see as a small Irish woman led a brigade of International students, and their clueless and often time scatter brained British Professor. To say getting around the airports wasn't easy, well, you can only imagine. But now the group found themselves in what would be considered their new home for the next month, the Dusit Thani LakeView Hotel, in Cairo, Egypt.

Currently, the hot sun of Egypt had been beating down overhead, onto the small group of travelers, nearly exhausted from the full day of exploring. The first day was spent exploring the city itself, the food, the culture, the people, and a few landmarks such as the Abdeen Palace and the Khan el-Khalili bizaar that were in the capitol.

Arguably though, today’s activities were perhaps the most exciting and nearly everyone was looking forward to it. The day began with a short bus ride to the outskirts of Cairo in Giza, where the students were allowed to explore one of the seven wonders of the world. The Pyramids of Giza. The impressive structures were a breathtaking sight and it wouldn’t have been complete without a lengthy lecture from Professor Price. They had already spent about four hours at the site before the sun had just begun to set in the Western horizon. Most of the group would have thought the day would’ve been called quits there. Seeing as the sun was beginning to set, and it was best advised to settle indoors after that. Since the group first arrived, they had been told countless times by locals to be wary after the sun goes down. Local tales had been spread about the group in the oncoming two days, even if Tarren and even Eden had thought that they were nothing more than old lore and stories told, especially to scare off tourists. The less trouble they caused, the better.

But, as their luck would have it, Professor Price had a different idea.

Tarren knew that the moment Professor Price just simply mentioned the field trip to Egypt, that things weren't going to end well. Tarren had never been out of the country before aside from a few trips back home to Brisbane for their mother. Other than that, Ren had never been to a place with endless seas of sand, and blazing suns, it was a stark contrast in culture to what they knew for the better half of twenty-plus years. But they figured that they might as well go, especially due to some pushing from Price, and some of their friends in the days that followed. While the prospect of earning a few more credits and offers after going on the trip was originally the only thing that ultimately made them go, knowing that some of their friends truly wanted them along was enough of a push. And so they made their decision.

The first few days were rather, uneventful if Ren was being honest. Not much of anything happened except for small travel, and touring some of the surrounding cities. Not that it wasn't interesting or boring, it just wasn't exactly what they had been expecting. It was now the second day and the sun had already started to slowly go down, as well as the majority of the tourists were beginning to head back to the buses and leave for the night. Tarren had stayed back amongst the group and waited for news on what they would be doing.

The buses began to fill, leading the tourists back to the capital, Price instead had the group stay behind as he wanted to see one last thing before they headed back. His request was met with unsurprisingly, unanimous protest - after all they had been trekking nearly all day, not to mention whatever the man had in mind was definitely not on the itinerary. It wasn’t until about a half hour after they had been wandering aimlessly around the desert that it was obvious they were more than a little lost.

It was only when Price told them all to follow him and that they weren't exactly done just yet, much to the vocal dismay of the others. While everyone was getting either burned or complaining of the heat, Tarren had welcomed the sun. They oddly dressed with a jacket and shorts, with plenty of sun screen applied, of course. With sunglasses in hand, they had no reasons for complaining, at least not now. They figured in the morning they would feel the aftermath of the Egyptian sun that shone down on them mercilessly for hours. But for now, feeling that familiar sun here, like it was back in Brisbane.

Tarren looked to some of their friends for a moment, giving them a don't ask me look, before they walked up alongside Price and Hallows. "Excuse me, Professor?" Tarren started, but only received a poor excuse of an answer in the form of a shoulder shrug and mumbling. Seeing as the two co-leads were busy looking over the map. Tarren turned back to look at the others, shrugging their own shoulders before continuing to walk up alongside the Professor and his assistant. "Don't mean to....intrude, but, the others and I were wondering where we're actually going? The sun is setting, so shouldn't we be headed back already?" Tarren questioned casually.

The other two mumbled about themselves a bit more, before Kayden turned around partially to face Tarren, giving them a bright smile, "We'll be going back in just a bit. The Professor just wants to trekk on a bit more, and then we'll be heading back. Promise." Kayden looked back, as Trevor exclaimed to himself and headed off in the direction he was facing. Kayden and Tarren exchanged glances between each other, and then the group, before gesturing for the others to follow their wayward Professor.

The group had been led further past the Pyramid of Menkaure to the Queen’s Pyramids, a set of three Pyramids that were smaller in comparison to the others each built for a famous Egyptian Queen. Long gone were the signs placed conveniently for the tourists, it was beginning to look like mountains upon mountains of sand dunes awaiting them when the ground suddenly dipped down into a small ravine. Trevor skidded to an abrupt stop at the sudden dip in the ground and his eyes lit up. ”Fascinating...” he mumbled under his breath lowering his map as he looked at the ruins.

Nowhere did it list the presence of a tomb or a current excavation taking place. To anyone else, this place might not have existed. So, how in the hell, did they manage to find it? Nevermind go in the right direction to possibly stumble upon something? This immediately didn't sit right with Tarren, nor Kayden. But Trevor, he seemed all too excited. A little bit too much, if they were being honest. The two women shared another look at each other, before walking up alongside the Professor. "Trevor?" Kayden began, folding her hands before she continued, "Don't you think it'd be best if we started to head back? Come back in the morning, and when we're not all exhausted? And...you know...Sunlight?" she questioned, gently tapping Trevor on the shoulder.

A small chuckle escaped his mouth as he looked up finally at the two, ”It would, but we don't have time for that! We want to be able to say we explored it first, don't we? Besides-" the Professor turned fully around to look at the full group of students, ”We go in and explore, just a bit. And I'll give you all passing grades for this class, and even more so, we can take the rest of this trip easy afterwards. We just have to take a little peak inside the tombs first." he grinned.

Trevor gestured for the group to join him by the edge of the slope, and looked down once more into the ravine. At the bottom of the crevice, set a massive entrance to some sort of temple that was half buried in the sand. The place looked like it was just a breeze away from toppling over. Threatening statues of Pharaohs were in the front staring menacingly down at them, almost as if they were guarding whatever was hidden away inside the tombs. The sight made Tarren’s stomach turn with that all too familiar sense of adrenaline. But the rational part of their brain flickered for a moment. There was no way that something like this had sat here for this long without being discovered. With all the tourists, explorers, and locals poking around the desert? There was no way this place had been undiscovered. Right?

Tarren looked at the others, then back at Trevor, "I have to agree with Kayden, Sir. We can come back tomorrow. We'll have more time, and natural lighting to explore the tombs. Besides, who says this hasn't been explored yet-" Trevor lifted his hand, ”Want a promised passing grade, or not, Havenfield?" he questioned, eyebrows raised before a grin formed on his face. ”Whoever wants to come along, make haste. But for those who wish to remain outside, feel free. We'll just take a peak, and be done with it, ya?" He didn’t really wait for much of an answer from the others, as he had already began to carefully move down the edge of the ravine. Taking just a moment to beckon for everyone to follow him. Before disapearing further down.

Kayden gave a wary glance to the students, “We have to go after him don’t we?” Kayden paused, then looked back to the direction of which Trevor left. “We have to go after him.” She said more to herself than the others, and slowly she began after him, sliding down the slope. A few rocks scattering down from the impact of her feet. The audible crack of rocks clattering below.

Professor Price reached the base of the ravine just in front of Kayden, and whoever else was behind her. Placing his hands on his hips as he gazed at the towering Pharaoh statues to the dark cave of an entrance. “Professor none of us really think this is a good idea we-” Tarren's face paled slightly as they watched him slip off his backpack and crouch down. Quickly beginning to dig through it furiously until he retrieved a torch.

He tapped it on his knee a few times before the faint light flickered on. “You, you can’t be serious.” Kayden mumbled out as a look of disapointment appeared on her face. Even for her, with all of the years she knew Trevor, even this was a bit much for him. Trevor just returned her gaze with a small glint in his eyes. He quickly stood up, brushing sand off of his pants. Brandishing the flashlight in his hands. ”I know this might seem a bit insane to some of you but…Wouldn’t some of you like to have a piece of your name written into history? You all signed the waivers didn’t you…?” The briefest smile flashed across his face, before turning to look at the old entrance of the ruins. “I’m not forcing any of you to follow me, in fact, by all means stay out here. I’ll just have a brief look inside…” He trailed off, as he gazed back at the entrance. “But, for anyone who would like to join, I won’t stop you either.” and with that, Trevor made his way into the entrance of the tombs, and whatever it was that awaited inside...

Thoughts wracked around Tarren's mind as they thought to themself for a moment. If something was truly down there, and if they were a part of a possible large discovery, it could possibly end up with some way of helping their situation back home. If this came with some sort of financial pay, well, Ren could feel a slight nagging feeling in the back of their head. Something telling them not to. But at the same time, they had no real choice.

Going against their better judgement, Tarren shifted through their own backpack that they had with them, quickly retrieving their own flashlight and turning it on, exposing some of the smaller details of the entrance as they took a few steps forwards in the direction the professor went off in. "Well, I for one say that we need to get him back, but...As long as we don't come across any more scorpions or centipedes, I know I'll be fine." Tarren said with a large grin, "But I doubt that'll be the case..." they shuddered, thinking about the scorpions they already came across. While, in reality, Ren was both terrified and excited for what could possibly be ahead, even if what was about to come could be a mistake. What was the harm in snooping around for a little while, right? And obviously, retrieving Professor Price...

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-05-28 05:27:13, as written by leisurelyatwar

outfit x || song x || hex #de9e47

It was easy at first, playing it cool. Soledad was used to other’s watching her, judging her. It’s not like she made it any easier for herself. People had been making their assumptions about her long before she ever stopped trying. Impulse control wasn’t something she wasn’t ever taught well anyways.

In an ideal world she’d been able to continue the facade, though she barely lasted through check in before she was sitting in Adam’s lap. Charlie could pretend she was in her own world but Soledad knew she was just as uncomfortably aware about the other at all times. Her friends all gave her the similar look of dismay. At this point it was just expected but it wasn’t anything short of disastrous.

Then room assignments were given. Sol had immediately tensed, looking at Adam for his reaction. Sometimes she didn’t know if he just played dumb, it was difficult to believe someone as smart as he was could have the emotional intelligence of a thumbtack. If she hadn’t been flushed with a murderous rage, she might have taken delight in the look of horror on Charlie’s expression at the same moment.

And just like that karma reared her ugly head, pairing Soledad and Nancy together. She could have sworn the room went quiet for a moment, looking to Soledad for her reaction. It would seem this trip would be taking every opportunity to test her limits. Well - it’s like her mother always taught her. If you’re going to make a scene, wait until after you can steal all the mini toiletries.

Soledad had made sure to linger in Adam and Charlie’s room as long as possible, leaving evidence of herself everywhere from strands of her hair in the bathroom to her sock she tucked between Charlie’s bed and nightstand. By the time she made it to her room Nancy was already asleep with the lights off. Obviously she turned back on the lights so that she could get ready for bed. Just like Nancy to just expect Sol to tiptoe around her.

It felt like this trip was filled with just about every sort of confrontation she’d been avoiding all year. Even with Adam rooming with Charlie and the ugly step sister in the next room, the main thing stressing Soledad was having to explain to Romeo why and how she was so close with the rando on their trip. It was accidental at first but after seeing how Romeo and Ten developed animosity, it was really for Sasha’s protection to keep the two apart. Luckily Sasha was friends with enough people on the trip who already hated Sol so it hadn’t been as difficult as she thought - at least so far.

The next few day Charlie did all the work keeping her distance, which of course Sol took her own amusement in how Charlie seemed to look everywhere but at her and Adam. She usually suckered Romeo into taking some pictures of her, though he was much more interested in the academic side of things than she was. Somehow managing to bounce around her mangled web, by the end of the third day of visiting the pyramids she was ready to return to the hotel. She exchanged a look with Ten as Professor Price went into a spiel about breaking into the tomb and making their mark on history, as if to say ‘That’s some white people shit.’

Her parents had already said this shit would happen. That’s exactly what happened in the Mummy and they never let her forget it from the moment she told them about the trip. Unsurprisingly, Tarren Eden Nova and Charlie all followed. Sol smiled. It was a shame to be losing Nova but if that was the price to pay to be rid of the other’s then she was willing to pay that cost.

“All right, fine…, but you better turn that passing mark into an A.” Romeo said from beside her. Sol looked over to him with eyes wide, already shaking her head when he turned to her to whisper “Bitch, if I die, you better mummify me in silk…. But leave the face, people need to see the face.”

“What - no!” Soledad called out after him. “Goddamnit.”

Now she had to go after him, she couldn’t let him be the only minority going into a perilous scenario. That was literally the recipe for death in every horror movie between 1992 and 2003. She huffed as she followed after Romeo, stopping short and peering over the ravine.

“Adam,” Soledad looked back to him with a pleading expression. “Go first in case I fall.”

outfit x || hex #012969

A lot of the flight had been a blur, Sasha and Rahmi splitting an edible before their flight. When they arrived, she had almost forgot she spoke Arabic and watched as their professors fumbled through interactions bleary eyed. They griped when they were matched with Cassidy but at that point Rahmi was ready to just pass out. By the time they woke up Cassidy would already be gone, it was basically like having the room to herself - so far at least.

Admittedly even with her Arabic, she still sometimes struggled with small dialect differences. She was enjoying being immersed in her people’s culture. It was a bit amusing to watch Yousof fumble with his basic Arabic. To be fair most of Rahmi’s basic knowledge came from their parents lecturing her, which Yousof had the fortune of mostly dodging.

She’d promised her following that she’d take some tiktoks on the trip, luckily Sasha and Ten were game. Rahmi even managed to loop Nancy into a couple, though she wasn’t as shameless in front of the camera as the rest of them. Against everyone’s wishes and her parent’s explicit orders, Rahmi had smuggled some carts she would pass between whoever raised a brow her way.

By the time the sun was setting, Rahmi was so enraptured by the grandeur of their surroundings she was barely even listening when Professor Price began some frantic monologue.

“I know this might seem a bit insane to some of you but…Wouldn’t some of you like to have a piece of your name written into history? You all signed the waivers didn’t you…?” The bizarre statement caught her attention, Rahmi looking over to Sasha with a bewildered expression.

“Why would he even mention the waiver’s right now?” Rahmi let out a small laugh, looking back to Nancy for some sort or affirmation. She lowered her tone to a whisper. “Like - I get informing us of the risk but just weird way to say it. Right?”

She looked over to Yousof, noticing he was recording and seemed a bit too giddy about the situation. If their parents knew what they were doing right now, they would smack them over the head. Though, usually if her parents were against it that meant it would be fun. She walked over behind Ethan as he shone the light down, peering into the ravine.

“Oh that’s not so bad.” Rahmi said off hand before calling out, glancing at Sol out of the corner of her eye. “Charlie - you make it down alright?”

Smiling to herself, she looked back to Sasha and Nancy giving them a shrug. She’d have to talk to Yousof about getting their story straight to make sure their parents never found out, but it was too tempting an opportunity to pass up. Pushing pass Soledad, she began to lower herself giving Nancy and Sasha another reassuring glance before disappearing into the ravine.

“Oh shit,” She said once she reached the base of the ravine reaching the others, looking around in bewilderment as she hit her cart coming to stand beside Charlie.

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-05-28 06:48:08, as written by ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

Yousof Farooq (#CD7F32)
Theme//Outfit

He wasn't sure how long the class had been touring Egypt. Though Professor Price advertised the trip as adventure and exploration, they spent the last two days shuffled from one tourist destination to another. Abdeen Palace, Khan el-Khalili, and whichever restaurants spoke English. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but Yousof felt more invested in his games than the Egyptologist's lecture. That seemed to be the story of his journey. He played Genshin Impact in the United States, Animal Crossing (New Leaf because he simply couldn't abandon his old town) on the plane, and he started playing Pokemon Go the moment they landed. He had to send gifts to his friends, natch. He was lucky that they had time for him to snag a SIM card at the airport.

When he told his family about Egypt he had been met with a mixture of annoyance and elation. His parents were unhappy that he and Rahmi were delaying their graduation. In their words "we left thirty years ago and now you want to go back?" One of their younger sisters joked that they were returning to the motherland and had him promise to bring back a rock for her. She loved collecting ~~rocks~~ minerals of every kind, but foreign ones were especially exotic. He recalled her asking for a specific kind but the name escaped him. Probably because he was busy shoving clothes into his bag.

Eh, I'll grab one on the way back, he shrugged, nearly walking into Tarren as they asked Hawthorne where they were headed. He'd been looking back and forth between the buildings and his phone because the best way to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime trip was to draft every second of it.

Tour guide who starts banging walls to recreate Indiana Jones.
thrifter bf, depop reseller gf
Egyptian TV store named Serqet City.

He didn’t like any of those.

"You're thousands of miles away and all you can do is stare at your phone?!" He was sure his high school history teacher would be malding at the thought.

It didn’t matter much given that he was losing signal quickly.

They were far from their bus and even farther from civilization. Sand seeped into his boots with each step, only stopping when the group hit a ravine. Even before looking, he pulled out his phone to photograph the partially buried temple. There was no way that anyone could have found this place before, much less a tour group. The professor must have known something. And if he didn't, then perhaps there was another reason they found their way to this place. Either way, curiosity bubbled in Yousof's mind. He fixated on their menacing gaze; there was challenge in their eyes, beckoning him to enter.

Price must have agreed because the older male turned towards the class to announce his fascination with the ruins before hiking down the ravine.

”I know this might seem a bit insane to some of you but…Wouldn’t some of you like to have a piece of your name written into history? You all signed the waivers didn’t you…?"

Now that Yousof thought about it, signing waivers was a rather strange ask for an educational trip. He tapped the record button, videoing the entrance before them (along with close ups of Rahmi, Tarren, Kayden, Hawthorne, Lenny, and finally Sol).

"I’m not forcing any of you to follow me, in fact, by all means stay out here. I’ll just have a brief look inside…But, for anyone who would like to join, I won’t stop you either.”

He turned his phone over to Fletcher with a smirk.

”C'moooon Fletch it's my last year here!” he announced, "you can't tell me you aren't at least a little bit curious about what's down there. It'll be like Indiana Jones or The Mummy, just watch!"

Yousof, did of course, neglect to mention any possibilities of traps, raiders, or ancient monsters, but he figured that they would be in no danger of that.

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-05-28 14:11:28, as written by faceclaim

SASHA JULIAN FLOYD
xxxxxxxxxxoutfit / "it's too fuckin' hot for much else"
xxxxxxxxxxhex code - #B1CCCE
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x"Mam, sut ydw i'n mynd i fwynhau'r daith os ydych chi'n dal i fy ffonio?"“Mum, how am I going to enjoy the trip if you keep calling me?” The exasperated string of Welsh came from Sasha right before their bus ride to the outskirts of Cairo, flagging yet another call from their worried mother.

Siobhan had started calling Sasha more after their accident last year, but it was going on incessantly and Sasha had ideas of feigning bad phone reception to keep her at bay. She was the main reason he was going on the trip anyway, wanting Sasha to explore the world just as she had when she was in college. Going to New York was enough of a culture shock, and landing in Egypt was no different. Sasha wasn’t a fan of the overwhelming heat, but the hotel was fancy and they had a few friends joining them on the trip. Sasha had even persuaded Sol into one more thrift day before they left New York, so they had plenty of light, airy clothing to wear while swimming in the sandy oasis known as Cairo. And though Sasha was usually uncomfortable with flights, Rahmi had split an edible with them and they were on cloud nine before they even hit the cloud.

Even Sasha had to admit that The Pyramids of Giza were a sight that everyone should see at least once in their life. It was a wonder of the world, and that was even more true in person. Though Sasha would have preferred not to spend so long at the site, even if it’s a wonder of the world. They had probably sweated through their layers of deodorant and sunscreen, but didn’t want to bring a backpack so the only things available to them were anything that fit in their small satchel between the vegan bars Sasha brought for snacks and their cell phone. And a clear lip gloss to keep their lips smooth, that was non-negotiable. Thankfully he had remembered a canteen as well, because there wasn’t much water anywhere else that wasn’t up-charged for tourists.

The view of the buses coming to rescue them was a welcoming sight. There was only so much to do at the pyramids, and Sasha wanted to try out the bars in Cairo at some point with the fake ID they bought before the trip; the drinking laws in Egypt were just as dumb as they were in America. They were dreaming of their cold hotel room when Price told them they were going to stay longer. Sasha pushed their aviators up into their hair to brush back their bangs, and give a glare worthy of being taunted with going back to the hotel only to have to spend more time in the unforgiving heat.

”Is there a reason we’re not trusting the locals and getting the fuck out of here?” Sasha protested once the professor told them to hang around. Professor Price was definitely not at the top of their list for professors they wanted to teach them, but they needed a history credit and this was the only class their advisor could squeeze Sasha into. He wasn’t exactly a man Sasha trusted, considering how scatterbrained he was and had the assistant leading most of their activities. And while his tone was full of sarcasm and bravado, Sasha was wise enough to believe the locals, there was always some truth to the tall tales and they didn’t want to find out what truths were hiding in the Pyramids.

The sun dipped lower and lower and Sasha’s hopes of getting back on an air-conditioned bus in the near future dropped just as quickly. He noticed the tourist signs becoming less frequent, and Sasha had sand in places he didn’t know sand could get to. They were sure of one thing: Price had no idea where he was leading them. The ruins in front of them surprised the entire group, and it caused the little faith Sasha had in their professor to extinguish entirely. But, the prospect of a passing grade in a class they needed to graduate just by standing here for a bit longer was not something Sasha would pass up.

”I’m going to need that offer in writing,” Sasha scoffed mainly to themselves, and found themselves wandering over to the edge of the ravine. The statues of the pharaohs immediately caught their eye, and genuine curiosity started to form. It didn’t take much persuasion from Price or his assistant for Sasha to follow behind her, eyes glued to the statues. It seemed that most of their trip-mates felt the same, as almost half the group had wandered down into the ravine before Sasha started making their way down mainly after Sol and Rahmi had gotten there.

Sol and Adam were back on good terms, Sasha assumed, so they’d spent most of their time on the trip with one of the others. But as they walked up to the statue to the left, they peaked over their shoulder at Sol and teased, ”You think he’ll come to life and fall in love with me? I think I could be his sexy mistress.”

He was examining it further when Price got out his flashlight and expressed his deep need to go inside. Sasha had never seen him look this passionate in class, it was almost unsettling how willing he was to wander into his death. Sasha’s eyes drew up to the ceiling of the little breezeway, wondering if it would even hold for the group to get in and out. Sasha wasn’t personally moved by ‘being a part of history’, but they weren’t going to chicken out and stay behind, that was for sure.

”There were waivers?” Sasha asks, only somewhat serious; it didn’t look like the professor heard them anyway. They were still trying to get their mother off the phone and didn’t read any of it, but they were pretty sure they slapped on a signature before passing it back. ”Fuck it, my mum and dad can just adopt again if I die,” Sasha quips before ducking behind the professor and the others already delving into the tombs.

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-06-03 06:43:44, as written by Grimm_MD

ADAM BARRETT
Host of Khonsux|xOutfitx|x#2F356E

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Before arriving in Egypt a series of choices Adam made had complicated a number of his relationships. It wouldn't have been as big of an issue if it didn't concern a few participants in their trip to Egypt. If it didn't he would've been able to delay addressing the issue until he returned. Unfortunately for him that wasn't the case.

The issue began as most issues do between couples, a fight. What was said between Adam and Sol for the two to break up? He didn't remember and maybe that was the bigger problem. The two have had issues before and had worked through them in the past. Rather than working things out again between them this time Adam had found comfort with another, Charlie.

Charlie was like a carefree pixie that fluttered into Adam's life. Things were less complicated with her, she was like a breath of fresh air. Whenever he was having issues he could escape by spending time with her. He felt wanted and grew to enjoy the feelings he had when he was with her. It started innocently enough but eventually grew into something more, something intimate.

If he had chosen to end his relationship with Sol and pursued one with Charlie maybe things would be simpler. They had just broken things off, the timing was right, but that's not what he did. While he enjoyed spending time with Charlie, Adam and Sol shared good times too. They may bicker and fight regularly but there was history between them, they knew each other better. Charlie could help him escape life while Sol helped him struggle through it.

Adam didn't want either of them out of his life, they were both important to him. It was selfish of him, he knew better but he didn't know what to do. Ignoring the situation didn't make things better, in fact it made it worst, but he didn't want to hurt either of them. Maybe he could figure out the perfect solution to their problem but he wasn't having any luck with that. He didn't want to admit it but this was probably a problem he couldn't solve.

Now he was in Egypt with both of them. His relationship with Sol was on the mend but he could still sense hostility directed from her to Charlie. Adam tried to intervene whenever he could but whenever he did it seemed to make matters worst between him and Sol. Incidents like that continued to occur between them.

One recent incident was due to Adam and Charlie sharing a room at the Lakeview Hotel. Sol was noticeably annoyed, especially after Adam didn't seem to be concerned over it. Adam thought it would be a good chance to talk to Charlie, to try and make the situation between them more bearable. He waited in the hotel room to talk to Charlie but she didn't arrive until the last minute before curfew. It was probably because Sol had chosen to spend some time with Adam in his room earlier. They shared a small greeting before she went to bed. Apparently she didn't want to talk about their situation either.

Aside from interpersonal issues their trip to Egypt had been mostly uneventful. They visited most tourist sites in the area and had become acquainted with the locals and the food. Charlie had been avoiding contact which Adam appreciated. When they talk he would rather it be in private between just the two of them, he didn't want things to escalate due to outside interference.

As the sun was setting, time to return to the hotel, Professor Price insisted on journeying further. Adam didn't particularly mind staying out later but the group had heard rumors about strange events occurring after dark. Maybe it wasn't the brightest thing to do but Adam thought there would still be enough time to back out of any strange shenanigans before they occur.

When the group stumbled on a presumably undiscovered tomb Professor Price insisted on searching it despite the protest of others in their group. Adam thought it was also a stupid idea but didn't voice his opinion, there was already enough people doing that. When Price suggested giving all of them passing grades Adam chuckled under his breath, he didn't need a handout but maybe some of the other students did. Adam didn't know and he didn't care.

Against the opinions of others Price ventured down into the tomb and disappeared from the groups sight. Adam sighed and was preparing to go back with any students that would join him until he heard the others talk. Most of them had already ventured down into the ravine but he could still see Sol by the entrance. She turned to him and asked, "Adam, go in first in case I fall."

Adam sighed, unwilling at first because he didn't want to get dragged into Price's 'exploration'. That was until he heard Ethan say to Sol, "Come on, Don't be pathetic Sol, we both know he's gonna let you be the one that gets hurt if shit goes south." There was some animosity between the two but Adam begrudgingly also saw Ethan as somewhat of an equal.

He ignored Ethan's blatant barb and looked down the ravine. Turning towards Sol he said, "Keep close, don't want to lose you in there." Before she answered Adam jumped down and slid to one of the wider and flatter areas below. Adam began to test the ground beneath him, stomping on it several times before he was happy with its stability. He looked up and spread his arms motioning for Sol to jump down and said, "It's moderately safe."

As he stood there, arms wide open, he heard people talking further in the tomb. Sol had followed soon after and the two ventured forward, seeing numerous statues in front of the tomb. Sasha, one of Sol's friends, had mentioned them, saying, "You think he’ll come to life and fall in love with me? I think I could be his sexy mistress." Adam didn't doubt that but he didn't think complimenting him would do him any favors with Sol, or with Sasha for that matter.

When they had caught up to Price and the other students who had already entered the tomb, he heard Price talk about cementing their names in history because of this discovery. This intrigued Adam slightly but in order for them to be remembered at least one of them would have to survive. Adam would rather not enter but it didn't look like he really had a choice, if he wanted to stay in the good graces of Sol. If he had to go in he would at least try to ensure the safety of those in his immediate vicinity but he wouldn't stick his neck out for everyone in their group.

Adam looked around the group and saw several people he would rather not die and others who he didn't have too much of a concern for. As some of the people followed Price, Adam turned towards Sol and said, "Last chance. I'm not fond of dying and I rather not go in there but . . . your call." Adam waited for her response as he casually played with his lighter.

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-06-05 05:16:21, as written by Bartholomew Finch

It wasn't that Lenny wasn't interested in Egypt. The culture interested her, there was no reason why it shouldn't. Even the locations they saw at first were beautiful and strange, but soon became boring to Lenny, whose main draw from this trip was the prospect of seeing the local species of lizards in their native habitat. Which she was currently more focused on than the seemingly endless trek. The pyramids were just of passing interest. Instead she spent most of her time either scoping the rocky terrain at her feet or with binoculars held up to her face in search of rock-dwelling lizards basking in the sun. There were many scorpions, a few thousand beetles, but so far she hadn't managed to catch anything larger. Perhaps that was for the best, she wasn't sure if her travelling companions would appreciate her waving these creatures around in their faces.

If one were to examine Lenny closely they would see that she was in fact growing rapidly bored with this adventure - sure, it was fun at first. The initial misadventure through the airport had been a chaotic mess sure, but the hotel was nice and comfortable. She had spent the first hour of her time sorting through her luggage, mostly an assortment of absurdly strange clothing choices that seemed more fit for a night out than for sightseeing. But if Lenny was going to be walking through any sort of populated area she was going to damn well dress to impress.

Though her current choice seemed to be less than ideal. Drawing in a thousand mosquitos to her bare arms. She had settled on a black sleeveless mock turtleneck. Paired with a very unbelievably breathable pair of acid wash shorts. She had forgone her usual tendency to wear platformed shoes, because of all the mistakes in the world that one probably would have made her the most miserable with how much walking they were doing. No, she'd simply thrown on a dusty pair of old sneakers instead and called it a day.

By the time they'd gone through the whole tourist spiel she'd become incredibly sick of both the heat and the dust. Plus the day was drawing to a close and quite frankly she just wanted to be curled up in her bed back at the hotel. It seemed though that the professor had another idea. Lenny didn't speak up to argue though, that wasn't her job, she was simply there to see the sights. Besides, she had only come because a few of her friends were also on the trip, and quite frankly she had needed a mental break from the heavy workload she'd taken upon herself. This was supposed to be a vacation for her, albeit an educational one.

Lenny hadn't been paying much attention to where they were going or why it wasn't back towards the busses where the other tourists had begun to filter onto and away. At this point following blindly seemed to be the best course of action, despite the stupidity of it. But she was nothing if not ready for things to go wrong at any moment - this was just another in a series of life's misfortunate events. She paused with the others, listening in as they each raised their concerns. Lenny laughed under her breath, she couldn't help it. The good ol' Cordova confidence had begun to kick in, sweeping away the bone deep exhaustion from the long walk.

"Well, we'll pass in one way or another at least." She quipped, cracking the knuckles of each hand. Before following those that had already made their decision. She had no time to wait. While the professors promise of a passing grade for potentially grave danger didn't sit well with her, she couldn't deny that she felt thrilled at the idea of exploring somewhere that had never been explored before. This truly was her chance to mark her name in the annals of history and she was certainly not gonna let it pass her by.

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-06-05 14:41:24, as written by rubytuesday

host of thoth
hex code: ffe5b4
attire: x
theme: stars are blind

For Nancy, the flight to Egypt had been nightmarish. She'd spent the majority of it crying in the airplane restroom, running the tap to muffle the sound of her panic-induced sobs. Hyperawareness of her environment's inescapability gripped her from lift off until touch down, and even her dreams were riddled with plane-related anxieties. Following visions of crashes and hijackings and a slow sinking into a middle-of-nowhere ocean; she would wake up gasping, and then the gasping would fail to cease. Following almost every awakening, she'd have to sneak off once again to the airplane restroom. By the time they landed in Cairo, the routine had become clockwork, only for them to disembark, and return Nancy to a state of unsureness.

But at least she was on solid ground, now, and she could reassure herself that the worst part of the trip was behind her. Until the trip home, anyway. Nancy tried not to think about it, but it loomed in the distance, like a storm cloud on the horizon, or a dark figure lingering at the edge of her periphery. Her inability to live in the moment was disappointing, but she had adapted to her wanton worrying somewhat; enough to push the presence further into the edge of her gaze. It was still there, that dread, but it looked slightly thinner now. Scrawnier. The days leading up to the flight home would feed it, but today, Nancy vowed to starve it best she could.

Not to mention, she had bigger, more immediate things to worry about. The silence in the room following the announcement of Nancy's roommate had spoken for itself, as did the stone that formed immediately in the pit of her stomach. It felt like a cruel joke, and though she wasn't used to such wickedly fateful experiences, considering her recent plane-related trauma, it felt like overkill.

Thankfully, the first night, Nancy had barely seen Sol. Going to sleep, she had wondered if perhaps Sol had opted to hide away in a friend's room rather than spend any time in close quarters. Still, she'd left a lamp lit by the door, so that Sol would be able to find her way around if she did find her way back to the room. A lamp Sol promptly had ignored, turning the overhead light on and forcing Nancy awake once more. As she listened to Sol make herself comfortable, Nancy stifled her yawn and her frustration, and instead waited in silence for her roommate to go to sleep herself. All the while, Nancy stewed in the dread of what would undoubtedly be similarly uncomfortable nights ahead.

Upon reuniting with her friends, however, her spirits had returned to her somewhat. she was not athletic in the slightest, but the ache in her legs after hours of walking was oddly pleasant for Nancy. Usually 'different' frightened her, but the distance from her parents had provided a strange sort of ease, and, geography aside, she'd never felt further from them than she did right now. The familiarity of her friends had kept her steady- and, for the time they had thus far been in Egypt, Nancy had come to the realisation that their presence wielded far more inherent comfort than the familiarity of home. As such, in their company, and for all her physical tiredness, there was a lightness to her steps, and the curious glimmer hadn't left her eyes since the class had first began their exploration.

That is, until now, when she gazed down at the cavernous expanse before them, and her intrigue turned into incredulity.

"We go in and explore, just a bit. And I'll give you all passing grades for this class, and even more so, we can take the rest of this trip easy afterwards. We just have to take a little peak inside the tombs first."

Nancy did not blame her professor for his excitement- such a thing was to be expected, even if she did not share his passion for uncovering the resting places of dead royalty. However, a frown formed on her face as Trevor continued on with his enticing offer of good grades. A bolder student might have called the man out on his manipulations, and pointed out the abuse of power- but Nancy was never one to be described as bold, and so instead, she forced her resentment flat, and turned her focus onto the reactions of her friends.

She immediately met Rahmi's gaze, and the pair exchanged looks of trepidation.

“Why would he even mention the waiver’s right now? Like - I get informing us of the risk but just weird way to say it. Right?"

Nancy shrugged, "I mean, he is a weird dude. It's not exactly out of left field." She grinned in faux-enthusiasm, "And if I die here, I don't have to fly home, so..."

As Nancy watched Rahmi descend into the ravine, her concern collided with the lingering of Trevor's words: Wouldn’t some of you like to have a piece of your name written into history? Fame wasn't something Nancy had ever aspired towards, and yet, the question gripped her. Her family appeared, uninvited, in her mind. Disappointment and resentment were ingrained into their faces, and they each held their doctorate.

Nancy watched as more students began to trickle in after her eager professor, following the man into the darkness. The temple loomed, steadfast and foreboding, and Nancy stared at it, thinking of doctorates.

"You can't tell me you aren't at least a little bit curious about what's down there. It'll be like Indiana Jones or The Mummy, just watch!"

She sighed resolutely, before following Rahmi down the hillside. As she passed Yousef, she shot him a teasing smile, "I hope you know that you're the Jonathan in that scenario."

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-06-06 00:24:27, as written by EsmeBheart

Of Osiris | Outfit | #73200B

There was only one reason that Ten was here, lost in the deserts of Egypt as the sun was starting to set. She needed to be as far away from New York, from Ryan as she could be. They weren't going to spend the next month trying to dodge their ex on campus, nor was she going to stay home with her mother. Besides, an out of country excursion couldn’t be that bad right? While from the start of the trip everything seemed to be going wrong for them, from getting food poisoning on the plane, having one of their suitcases get lost, being stuck with Romeo as her roommate, and worst of all that Cassidy, the man Ryan cheated on her with, was here. All Ten wanted was to lay down in bed, but they couldn’t even do that as her Professor had gotten them all lost. Ten wanted to be able to bitch about everything to Sol but Romeo had attached himself to her hip sense they landed. Ten was not about to put themselves through the draining task of talking to him anymore than she had to. So she hung towards the back of the group walking with Charlie, who they didn’t want to burden with everything.

“Ugh why does he have to be here too.” Ten said more to themselves while holding their friends hand. She shook their head “Sorry it just… a lot” they said with a sigh “but I'm okay” Ten said squeezing Charlie hand, both well aware of the lie. She let go of Charlie’s hand. “Hey I’m going to check in with Professor Price to see what the hell is going on.” Ten gave Charlie a smile before making their way to the front of the group.

Before Ten was able to question Price about what they were doing out here, they got stopped by a very tall and annoying man. “Hey Ten I-” He wasn’t able to finish before Ten cut him off

“What, What the fuck do you want Cassidy?” Ten snapped back at him.

“I just wanted to talk. I can’t imagine being here has been all too easy.”

“Oh really, Oh my god this has just been just peaches and cream for me!” Ten rolled their eyes “No fucking shit sherlock, im lost in the desert still not feeling well, and stuck here with the personification of a wacky waving inflatable tube man that MY boyfriend cheated on me with. So no, I'm not doing so great, and I don't really want to get into that with you.” Ten stormed past him making sure to kick some sand on him as she did. “Fuck you” they said under their breath.

Ten had made it to Price when she saw it, below them a massive tomb partly submerged in the sand dunes “Woah.” Ten studied it from afar, as she tuned out whatever the Professor was saying, something they were quite good at by this point. They were quickly brought back into reality when he said, ”I know this might seem a bit insane to some of you but…Wouldn’t some of you like to have a piece of your name written into history? You all signed the waivers didn’t you…?” Ten stood in awe as they watched the group one by one follow Price into the mouth of the tomb.

“What the hell?” Ten said, shaking her head as they stood above the drop down alone. Ten debated about whether to follow suit or not. They didn’t really want to get lost in a tomb with little to no light, but they also didn't want to be alone on the surface with the sun setting behind the rolling hills of sand. Ten took the plunge and slid down the hill, coming to the decision that being with the group was safer.

Of Ma'at | Outfit | #73200B
Cassidy was listening to one of the many audio books he downloaded, he was doing anything he could to keep his mind off the fact that his overly ambitious Professor had gotten them lost. Cassidy looked ahead to the man leading them and could help but feel like they were heading somewhere they shouldn’t.

Cassidy tried to keep his mind on the positive, he loved learning about the history and culture of Egypt, he just hoped it would be in safer practices. That wasn't going to stop him having fun from shopping, eating, he shot a look over to Sol and other ways of fun. He wasn’t here for fun, he was here to learn, to get away, and hopefully not get killed in the process by his assigned roommate. He didn’t fully know why Rahmi wasn’t a fan of him but they definitely weren’t hiding their dislike of him. Cassidy was trying his best to make this trip go smoothly, but as he couldn’t switch roommates it already felt like he was failing.

Cassidy looked back at Ten, someone he wasn’t on the best of terms with as they were both unaware that they had been dating the same guy for some time. Ten seemed to harbor more animosity towards him then he did her. All though it was getting harder not to be so envious of all the support she got after all was revealed. While Cassidy was left to pick up the pieces on his own. He knew Ten wasn’t having a great time so he wanted to clear the air between them, so when Ten walked past him he took out his headphones, and tried to strike up a civil conversation with her. “Hey Ten I-” He wasn’t able to finish before Ten cut him off

“What, What the fuck do you want Cassidy?” Ten snapped back at him.

“I just wanted to talk. I can’t imagine being here has been all too easy.” Cassidy said, trying his best to defuse the conversation.

“Oh really, Oh my god this has just been just peaches and cream for me!” Ten rolled their eyes “No fucking shit sherlock, im lost in the desert still not feeling well, and stuck here with the personification of a wacky waving inflatable tube man that MY boyfriend cheated on me with. So no, I'm not doing so great, and I don't really want to get into that with you.” Ten stormed past him kicking up some sand onto his legs.

“He was my boyfriend too-” Cassidy thought to himself. That's what he felt like everyone failed to grasp that Cassidy was hurting too, but he was expected to be fine with it. Cassidy wasn’t able to wallow in his upsetting thoughts for too long as it seemed the Professor found something worthwhile. Cassidy made his way to the edge of the ravine the group had gathered around, and looked down and the temple below them. When he brought up the idea of exploring the temple for the promise of boosting their grades, He shot a "is this man serious" look over to Nancy. He didn't know why but he felt like he needed to, he needed to see what was inside. So shoving down his nerves Cassidy clobbered his way down the steep drop, turned on his phone's flashlight and followed Professor Price inside. “This better not kill me.” Cassidy thought to himself

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-06-06 00:51:48, as written by Wolf's Bane109

Eden Montgomery

Host of Serqet | Attire | hex: #9D948D

Tarren Havenfield

Host of Anubis | Attire | hex:#575772

Tarren and Eden shared one more mutual glance at each other before they both began to make their way into the chamber's entrance. Ren almost jumped out of their skin as they felt a hand suddenly grab them by the shoulder, looking back to see Alex. Eden looked at the two and gave a small nod as he continued on ahead, "Yeah, bud?" they asked, an eyebrow quirked upward at their cousin. Alex paused for a moment, "I'm gonna hang back out here with some of the others, you go on ahead yeah?" Alex gave a small smile. Tarren simply shrugged in response, "Okay. If we all die of some ancient curse in there, my ghost is gonna come back and haunt your ass." Tarren joked, before turning back and entering the chamber of the tomb. They shone their flashlight against the walls and pillars, the inside being far larger than they would have anticipated, or expected. It seemed to be more of an outdoor courtyard, than a normal entryway of a tomb. But, they didn't know much about Egyptian culture to be completely sure.

By the time that Tarren had caught up with the others, they were more towards the middle of the group, silently walking beside Nova and a few of the others. "Wonder how long it'll take for us to get lost in here, before the professor realizes?" Ren whispered to Nova. Eden leaned towards them as a smirk spread across his face, "I give about fifteen minutes before we're all possessed by some ancient dieties or something. Or get eaten alive by giant, mutated spiders." he joked. Tarren tolled their eyes at his response, The day we get possessed, I'll hope that they'll use my body to beat your ass for jynxing it." Ren joked in return, gently pushing him.

The group collectively continued onwards, further into the entryway. Originally they were able to walk shoulder to shoulder, but the longer they walked, eventually the halls became thin enough to have to walk in single file. Professor Price and Kayden were somewhere up ahead, before another large room opened up ahead of them. There was ancient texts and images covering the stone carved walls, whatever was chisled into the old stone was barely telligble, even if someone knew how to read it. They were long since faded, and just barely able to be seen with the use of flashlighs and other means.

Tarren and a few others broke off from the main group, and so did some of the others, but staid in the same chamber they were in. As they walked along, looking at the carvings in the wall, Tarren suddenly shot out their right hand, pushing back whoever was next to them. They anchored their feet into place as they looked down at their feet, just barely a few inches to their right, the earth had long since opened up, creating what could only be described as a sinkhole in the ground. "Best to watch where your feet go, mate." Ren rattled off, their eyes glancing back to the wall. "Hey Professor?" they called out, looking up at a large mural along the large wall in the chamber they were in. Trevor turned to look away from the current wall he was looking at, clearly trying to translate whatever text was carved in, Yes, Havenfield?" he asked as he slowly made his way over, being careful of where he walked.

"What do you think is?" Tarren shone their torch against the wall. The mural along the wall was faded, but enough could be made out after a few minutes of study. Trevor's eyebrows furrowed as he looked over the entirety of the wall, using the flashlights of a few students to help illuminate the full image. "Well, I'm no ancient philosopher but...My best guess? Would be some old battle that took place thousands of years ago. See-" he began, pointing at one end of the wall, "That right there, is Set. Egyptain God of Chaos and Storms. What it appears to be, is a long told story of him and the others Gods of old engaging in some ancient battle." his hands tracing the images to the other end of the stone. "And that, is Horus. God of the Sky. And of course, the others-" he gestured to all of the other drawings of Anubis, Osiris, Sobek, and many of the others and their armies led under their control. "But I don't remember reading of some battle like this. As it looks like the Gods are fighting among themselves even, not just against Set?" Eden chimed in.

Price smiled and nodded at Eden, "Very good, Mr. Montgomery. Very good observation indeed." Trevor said a bit enthusiastically. "I'll need to take some notes of this down for later...Interesting indeed. But, they were always known for their stories, and if this indeed an undiscovered tomb? Who knows what stories and battles are told within these very walls!" Trevor giggled excitedly, jotting more notes down into his notebook. Tarren and Eden exchanged a look as they shrugged their shoulders. He's officially lost his plot, the look said.

Kayden finally wiggled through the group that had formed around the others, looking up at the mural, "This is all well and good, Trevor. Really. But, We've gone further than we initially said. And even I feel like now would be a good time to turn back and head to the hotel. Get some sleep and come back tomorrow?" Trevor turned his head to look over at her, "Yes, but-", he started once more. "But I just...I got a feeling. We just go a little longer, and I just know there's something worth pressing on for." he said with a twinkle in his eyes. Kayden and some of the students are rolled their eyes and groaned in sync at the answer they were all give. "You're impossible..." Kayden huffed under her breath as she looked at him. Trevor simply shrugged, before begining to walk again, headed into another chamber as he scrawled more notes into his notepad.

Tarren exchanged a look with Kayden, and some of the others, shrugging their shoulders once "Someone's gotta get him...Mother fucker..." Tarren groaned, throwing their head back for a moment, before walking after Trevor, and into another chamber up ahead. It wasn't much longer after Tarren had walked in after Price, that there was a blood curdeling scream that rang out from their direction. Eden didn't waste anytime and ran into the next chamber to see what had happened. "What? What happened, Ren??" he questioned as he found them frozen a few steps ahead. They took a few deep breaths before turning to look at their friend, "It was the biggest fucking, mother fucking fucker fuck that I have ever seen in my life-" they started, before shuddering. A large grin formed on Eden's face, before a loud bellowing laugh escaped his lips. "You know, the bigger they are, less threatening, right?" he chuckled. "I'm serious, you asshole! It ran across my foot and everything. I fucking hate them, and you know that. I don't get how you like them so much." they said with another shudder.

"Well, like most things in life, Ren? You warm up to them over time." he said with a shrug. Tarren shot him a glare, "Only way I'd warm up to them, is if a flame thrower was involved." they bit back. Eden chuckled, and wrapped his arm around Tarren's shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll stay right next to ya, so no more scary creepy crawlies scare ya."Eden teased as they continued onward, looking for their wayward professor. Who, now seemed to be nowhere in sight. They both could have sworn he was standing right there, alongside Kayden. But the moment they had looked at each other, and then back ahead of them, further in the chamber, they were gone. This wasn't good.

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-06-06 13:52:43, as written by partially-stars

nova morrison.

hex: #35674a. outfit: here.

xxxto keep alive a moment at a time
xxxbut still inside a whisper to a riot
xxxto sacrifice but knowin' to survive
xxxthe first to climb another state of mind

Nova snickered at Romeo’s comment. “Maybe the gods of old will detect our presence and awaken to declare me the rightful queen of D&D,” she quipped, turning on her own phone’s flashlight. “So prepare to bow down, dear Romeo.” As she heard Ethan calling out to Sol about Adam, she laughed again to herself. While she didn’t really have anything against Adam as such, she also wasn’t totally sure that he would catch Sol. But he’d have hell to pay if he didn’t, that much she did know.

She ended up catching up with Tarren and Eden, peering down the dusty hallways to see what lay ahead. At the mention of the professor getting lost again, Nova just grinned and rolled her eyes. “Bold of you to assume we’re not already horrifically lost,” she whispered back. It was a joke, but as they delved further into the tomb, Nova began to wonder if she was right. Eventually, they emerged into a larger room, the inscriptions on the wall immediately catching Nova’s attention.

Truth be told, she’d always been more interested in the culture and customs as opposed to the mythology, so she lost a little interest when they began talking about the gods and their wars, instead focusing her attention on the structure of the room and seeing if there was anything else of interest. When Kayden suggested they leave, Nova couldn’t help but agree. Just seeing this much was cool and more than enough to explore. But no, of course, the professor insisted they went further.

Nova was only a few steps behind Eden, and broke into a run as well when the scream rang out through the chamber. Once she’d established that Ren was fine, Nova turned to see where the professor and Kayden were. There was no sign of them, despite Tarren having been right behind them, and they surely would have heard the scream as well. Had they gone on further and just not turned around? “Where did the prof and Kayden go?” She asked, vocalising what they all had to be thinking.

charlie addams.

hex: #d83f66. outfit: here.

xxxno, i ain't got nothing to smile about
xxxi got no one to smile for, i’ve waited a while for
xxxa moment to say
xxx"i don't owe you a goddamn thing."

“Charlie - you make it down alright?”
“Yeah!” Charlie confirmed, brushing herself down. A few seconds later, Rahmi appeared beside her and swore, making Charlie grin. Following the lead of some of the others, she dug in her bag and pulled out a torch, switching it on and stepping into the tomb. Almost immediately, something in her began screaming to get the hell out of there, but she ignored it, instead choosing to follow the rest of them in.

As the passageway got narrower, the feeling just grew that something was off about the whole situation. She and Ten had gotten separated when Ten went to yell at Cassidy, and she hadn’t managed to find them yet. Eden was closer to the front of the group, so Charlie just stuck as close to Rahmi as she could. The exit seemed to get further and further away, and the realisation that if things went wrong, they wouldn’t be able to escape, was beginning to freak Charlie out big time. When they stepped into a larger chamber, part of Charlie managed to relax somewhat, but she still had a really bad feeling about everything. When a part of the floor crumbled away on the other side of the room, she instinctively backed up to the small entrance they’d come through.

She could have cried with relief when Kayden suggested they went back. The professor had always seemed a little eccentric, but he’d apparently gone full mad historian at this point, with no regard to their safety. Maybe that was the point, she thought. He wanted to draw them in far enough that they wouldn’t be able to run. When he went into the next chamber, Charlie didn’t move, instead turning to look back the way they’d come to see if she’d make it out alone. When she heard a scream, she almost bolted, but her feet were fixed to the floor. Something- curiosity, perhaps, or the fact she thought she could hear Eden and Tarren’s voices- finally urged her forward into the chamber. But the professor and Kayden were gone. Charlie’s stomach twisted. Perhaps she should have ran after all.

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-06-07 06:29:25, as written by leisurelyatwar

outfit x || hex #de9e47

Sol could recognize the initial reluctance in Adam’s expression when he asked her to help her down. Admittedly it was enough to cause her hesitation, glancing back down the ravine and reconsidering following Romeo. Ethan had begun to rummage in his bag, if he was going down she supposed Romeo’s chances at least statistically improved.

"Come on," Ethan said, turning on his flashlight. "Don't be pathetic, Sol, we both know he's gonna let you be the one that gets hurt if shit goes south."

Sol’s eyes narrowed, considering reaching out and pushing Ethan into the ravine while he was crouching over - though only for a moment. She huffed with annoyance, though she wasn’t sure if it was directed towards Ethan or the reminder that she couldn’t attempt to murder him.

“Mm, well we both know I don’t need him to protect me - so how about you keep your little comments to yourself before I lose my impulse control.” Sol tilted her head, giving Ethan an empty smile. Rahmi had stepped forward in between them, calling to Charlie down below before heading down. There were few moments that Rahmi missed to make Sol feel uncomfortable. Sol rolled her eyes, glancing back to Adam who’s initial hesitations seemed to have subsided.

"Keep close, don't want to lose you in there." Adam said to her before jumping down, a slow smile spreading across her face. It was little things - no literally just the bare minimum was enough to make her melt. She looked over to the other’s with a smug grin, realizing who all was left. She sneered at Nancy’s proximity, eyes drifting to the towering figure beside her.

Though Cass had always been the most discrete of her flings, she was less concerned about Adam learning about them than she was Ten. She locked eyes with him briefly, that familiar heat fluttering in her chest. Suddenly aware of Ten standing nearby, Sol looked over to her, noticing she was distressed. It didn’t take much to deduce the why - though Ten didn’t seem like she wanted to talk about it and Adam was already gesturing for Sol to jump down.

She moved to jump, her body tensing. It wasn’t that she didn’t know Adam would catch her, she just forgot that it took trust to take the leap. Suddenly aware of all the people gathering behind her, she slid herself down as much as possible before jumping down. He caught her easily, she expected nothing less. She let out a heavy breath of relief, smiling a bit. Others could criticize her and Adam’s relationship as much as they wanted but at least she knew what to expect from him.

Sasha had followed behind them, Sol could feel their hair tickle her shoulder as they leaned forward and joked about being a mistress to one of the pharaoh statues. Sol giggled, looking over her shoulder back at him. “Babe, bar too low. You’re a queen.”

"Last chance. I'm not fond of dying and I rather not go in there but . . . your call." Adam waited for her response as he casually played with his lighter. Sol rolled her eyes, reaching up to push his hair back, her fingers lingering as they trailed down his neck.

“Don’t worry, papi - we’re too sexy to die.” Sol gave his face a gentle pat, though her palm still made a soft smacking noise against his cheek.

She looked around for Romeo, who seemed to still be in the front of the group. Ten had ambled towards the group, Sol recognizing the look of dismay on her expression. She reached out, wrapping an arm around Ten’s narrow shoulders walking together in step for a moment. It was apparent Ten didn’t want to talk about the elephant in the room and Sol wasn’t about to try to open that wound.

“Picture this, we miss our flight home but that’s okay because we’ve met foreign business tycoons who want to fly us to Paris. We think they're gross but we go anyways because we know they’re all talk.” Sol started, hoping to distract Ten by encouraging her to continue the hypothetical.

The further they walked into the tomb, the more obstructed the path became making it difficult for light to travel through the passage. Naturally those who had been better prepared with lights had been the first to go in, though someone in the back seemed to have turned on the flashlight on her phone. Sol wanted to save her battery for photos so she quickened her pace in an attempt to catch up with the others.

As the passage widened into a chamber, the others filled in behind her. Up ahead Ren called a warning about the floor, flashing a torch on what appeared to be a sinkhole. She could distantly make out Eden and Professor Price voices, but she was hardly interested. I mean here they where in a presumably untouched tomb and they wanted to act like they were explorers of the unknown all of a sudden.

Rolling her eyes, Sol pulled out her phone, turning on the video with flash panning the room. She was in it now, might as well play into the trope of the dumb asses foolish enough to let themselves into a sealed tomb. Turning the camera back onto herself, she adjusted her hair before leaning back into Sasha and Ten making sure to get the mural in the background.

“Just look cute, TenTen can cut it all in post and we’ll make cute tiktok and probably go to Egyptian prison.” Sol posed into the camera as she spoke, handing her phone off to Sasha since he had longer arms to reach out and make sure they were all in the shot. As they moved the angles around, Cassidy’s face appeared behind them in the corner of the shot.

“Oop!” Sol said, immediately grabbing the phone from Sasha before Ten used the moment to lash out on Cassidy on film. Laughing, she grabbed ahold of Ten’s arm as if to tell her. ‘Girl, I know.’

Still filming, Sol stepped forward beside Adam turning the camera onto them. To her dismay, he had never been the sort to indulge her much in public displays of affection - though that didn’t stop her from trying. She grabbed ahold of his chin with her free hand, manicured nails scratching at his beard as one would a pet as she kissed a trail from the corner of his lips to his ear. Others had began to move out of the chamber ahead of them, Sol turning the camera back forward as she followed.

“The fuck was that?” Sol’s head snapped forward as she jumped. A muffled scream Sol recognized as Tarren’s from up ahead startled her. She turned the camera back on herself and others briefly to catch their reactions.

While every bit of her had the instinct to leave at that moment, she debated only for a few moments before curiosity drove her forward. Her gaze on the screen of her phone as they walked forward, she didn’t notice when it opened into the next chamber immediately running into a figure blocking the entrance. Small hands grabbed her arms, catching Sol before she could fall over. All she needed to see was that flash of red hair, immediately pushing Charlie off of her and stepping backwards into yet another figure.

“Jesus fucking christ-” Sol turned to see Fletcher standing behind her, staring at her like a doe in headlights.

“Can you two back the fuck up?” She looked between Charlie and Fletcher, her eyes narrowed into slits.

“I know you have the social skills of a ferret,” Sol looked Fletcher up and down, pointing with mild disgust. “but you should not be in this close proximity of someone who does not give a fuck about you.

“As for you -” Sol turned back to Charlie, suddenly remembering that she was recording. “I would rather be curb stomped than to ever be touched by you again. Oh - and please wipe your fucking hands they’re somehow cold and clammy despite us being in the middle of a literal desert and it’s disgusting.”

outfit x || hex #012969

As much as Rahmi felt uneasy about their scenario, she couldn’t help but to find it exhilarating. The mural had retained it’s integrity over centuries, it was hard not to marvel at their work. She reached out to touch the drawings, hesitating before making contact. It would be criminal if this masterpiece were to be damaged not after all these years because of her curiosity.

Afraid that flash would further damage the paint, she opted out of taking any photos instead doing her best to commit the colors and shapes to memory. She listened vaguely to Eden and Professor Price’s conversation, intrigued by the story. Admittedly Rahmi didn’t know much about Egyptian gods beyond names and domains. The stories were so convoluted it was hard to keep up sometimes.

She glanced back to see if Ten had caught up, catching a glimpse of her beside Sol. Rahmi shook her head. She never really understood how or why Ten remained friends with Soledad - though she didn’t hold it against Ten. She did however hold it against Adam a little bit. Rahmi rolled her eyes as she witnessed Sol unleash an assault of kisses onto Adam while pointing the camera at them.

“Ugh, so cringe.” Rahmi said to Charlie, laughing a little under her breath. Drifting as the other’s pushed in, she didn’t realize she lost Charlie until she heard a distant scream. Looking around, she could spot Nancy and Ten were still behind her. A flash of red movement caught her eye, Rahmi following behind Sol and the others as they headed in the same direction.

“Can you two back the fuck up?” Rahmi could recognize Sol’s acidic tone, pushing forward but it was already too late. Fletcher and Charlie both were already shrinking in their own shadow. She opened her mouth to speak, Soledad already turning on Fletcher before back to Charlie.

While she wanted to intervene, more than anything Rahmi wanted Charlie to put Sol in her place. She knew that probably wasn’t going to happen though so instead she elbowed Adam hard, gesturing for him to ’Control his bitch’

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-06-07 23:43:06, as written by TushoKa

Romeo Viljoen

Host of Bastet | Attire | hex: #6565D1

The first chamber was surprisingly big. Looking at the walls closely he could see inscriptions everywhere. If this indeed wasn’t discovered, this was going to be a world of new information. It was pitch dark inside. Romeo figured the Sun must have set by now. Their torches weren’t exactly industrial strength, but it was helping that they all seemed to have some form of light. He could only coordinate with his own light and the lights he saw coming from the others.
He kept looking at the walls as though he was going to recognise anything. In the soft light he found he ran into Cassidy. ”Hey Cass, isn’t it weird that this place is so big? I mean, in the pyramids I could not walk fully upright, let alone you. But here…” He paused, pointing his phone upwards. ”Here we don’t even come quite close to the ceiling.”

Romeo put his hand on the wall. The writing was so weak, he could barely feel the grooves of the hieroglyphs.
He had overheard Cassidy trying to talk to Annette. ”You know, you shouldn’t bother trying to talk to Annette. God knows she won’t see any other reason than her own.” Regardless of the situation, communication with the grudge should be limited for everyone. He continued. ” I mean, it’s not like you were the one cheating, so the only thing people can blame you for is being stupid enough to not recognise you’re being two-timed.”
There were people to spend your time on, and then there were others. For Romeo, Annette lead the second group.

He saw a bunch of lights pointing at a wall on the other side of the chamber. Not one to miss out, he made his way over to hear the last part of the explanation. He heard the giggling of his professor and shook his head. ”He can’t be the most qualified to lead us down here…can he?” he asked in a soft whisper to no one in particular. Before he could question the professor if the discovery itself was not enough for now, the man had already moved on to the next chamber. ”This is not the amazing race, you know?” he shouted after him.

He turned around to look for Sol. He saw her quickly enough, naturally looking more at selfie opportunities than around the none-discovered ancient building they just walked into. As he walked over to her, she grabbed Adam’s chin and started planting kisses on his face. Romeo sidled up to them. ”Oh please dear, we’ve been here for like 10 minutes. The time to eat each other for sustenance will come later.”

Romeo made some pictures of the ‘battle image’ when he heard one of the girls shouting in the next room. Not terribly eager to put himself in harms way, he made a slow walk to the next chamber. He walked behind a curly head of hair, which even in the dark he recognised as Rahmi. Sol was not far in front of them, and by the sound of it, she wasn’t particularly trying to make new friends.
While Sasha was out rescuing Sol from her ordeal, Romeo turned to Fletcher. He looked at him with compassionate eyes, trying to give him some well meant advise. ”Come on, we’re in a dark scary tomb. There really is no need to push, give the lady some space, will you?”

Without waiting he walked on to the front group, passing people left and right when they didn’t appear to be moving much. ”Look Professor, it’s been nice and all, but should we not head back? People are getting agitated back there.” He finally caught up with Eden, Ren and Nova.
When Nova mentioned it, he noticed the professor and Kayden were not even in sight. ”Weren’t they ahead of us?” Romeo walked closer to the wall and leaned against it. ”So…what now, we wait for them here?”

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-06-09 05:57:52, as written by phosphene

ETHAN WILLIAMS
zzhost of Ra - #FF9200 - outfit
zzzzzzzzz.zz

xxI wanna stand up, I wanna let go
xxYou know, you know, no you don't, you don't
xxI wanna shine on, in the hearts of men
xxI want a meaning from the back of my broken hand

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Ethan wasn’t particularly worried about Sol “losing her impulse control,” or whatever. She was smart enough not to make a decision like that and get herself in trouble, and she was also smart enough to know that the two of them staying friendly was for the best while they had to be roommates. Ethan was, too, so he’d keep future comments about Adam to himself unless the guy actually did something. Maybe he’d whisper them to Romeo.

All that was out of his mind the second they got into that chamber, though. Ethan was in awe of what he was seeing, and started to look around at the hieroglyphs and taking in the remaining architecture. It was like a little slice of nerd heaven. He made sure not to stray too far from the group, but he certainly didn’t stay right with any of them, instead opting to meander around, moving his lips as he silently muttered to himself. He had a lot of thoughts about all of this, and quickly decided to pull the notebook and pen out of his backpack to jot some of them down so he wouldn’t forget. It was a little dark for note taking, but with his flashlight expertly propped between his chin and shoulder he could make do. Hopefully he’d be able to decipher it all later. Maybe Nova could help- she knew his handwriting spectacularly well by now.

Then someone screamed, and Ethan jumped, dropping everything he’d been holding in the process. He turned in the direction he’d heard the yelling, noted that several people were already heading in that direction, and took a brief moment just to breathe. He gathered up his notebook and flashlight, but abandoned the pen when he couldn’t immediately find it. Not worth it. Sol was going off about something, and Ethan might need to go make her play nice.

There was a bit of a traffic jam at the entrance to the next chamber, but Ethan- politely- pushed through. Adam was apologizing for what Sol had done. As he passed by Sol, Ethan raised an eyebrow to silently ask ‘you okay?’ She got on his last damn nerve, but he didn’t want to see her hurt or upset. She rolled her eyes at him, but he knew it wasn’t because of anything he’d done, so he rolled his eyes right back (a commiserating sort of thing he’d gotten into the habit of doing thanks to his younger sister) and moved on.

It probably surprised no one when he went to stand next to Nova. Things were tense, now. Soledad had started yelling at people, the professor and Kayden were nowhere to be seen. For a short moment, he wondered if they might have asked the group to stay behind and he’d just missed it, but that didn’t make any sense. Ethan wasn’t sure how to feel about that, and a part of him wished he could accept his initial, though far too hopeful, thought.

“Hey,” He said, trying to sound casual and much less nervous than he was feeling, “What’s,” He paused, longer than he needed to, but just long enough to hear that the professor and Kayden had just… vanished, apparently. “Did I- What’s… What’s happening?” Something told him that nobody in the room was sure, though, so he also asked, ”Is everyone okay?” Because it would make them all feel better to have a question they knew the answer to.

He crossed his arms, looked around the room, and sighed. ”So…what now, we wait for them here?”

Ethan raised an eyebrow at Romeo’s suggestion, ”I don’t,” He frowned, visibly thinking through the situation in his head, ”It doesn’t make sense.”

FLETCHER STONE
zhost of Hathor - #AE6378 - outfit
zzzzzzzzz.zz

xxThey say the devil's water, it ain't so sweet
xxYou don't have to drink right now
xxBut you can dip your feet
xxEvery once in a little while

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

”C'moooon Fletch it's my last year here! you can't tell me you aren't at least a little bit curious about what's down there. It'll be like Indiana Jones or The Mummy, just watch!"

Fletcher opened his mouth to respond to Yousof, but Nancy walked by and made some sort of comment about Yousof being Jonathan. Fletch wasn’t sure what that meant, but he looked back at the camera on Yousof’s phone (because Yousof had trained him well) and replied with a question, ”Didn’t a lot of people die in those movies?” Nevertheless, Fletcher let Yousof drag him into the tomb, and for the most part he would stay glued to his roommate’s side. Not that Yousof felt like a particularly safe person to be beside (no offense, he just makes some questionable life decisions), but Fletch was very comfortable with him by now.

The chamber with all the hieroglyphs and stuff was amazing- Fletcher kept seeing things he’d never seen before. He’d never even seen anything like it: not a recreation at a museum, or anything like that. He’d really never seen much of anything until he’d left home. He didn’t really absorb most of what Price said- it was really interesting, but he was more focused on keeping even footing and not activating any hidden traps. Yousof’s Indiana Jones comment really stuck with him.

There was a scream, and basically everyone started towards that direction. Fletcher wasn’t sure how much help he could be, but it sounded like Tarren was in there, so he was going too. He didn’t mean to run into Sol, but it was dark and he hadn’t even fully realized she’d tripped at all until she was backing up into him, and he didn’t have the time to move. He immediately started trying to babble out an apology, but before he could say anything she was already laying into him, “Can you two back the fuck up?” He guessed that was also aimed at whoever was on the other side of the doorway.

”Of course,” He quickly spat out, taking a step back, ”I’m sorry.”

Sol, however, wasn’t finished, “I know you have the social skills of a ferret, but you should not be in this close proximity of someone who does not give a fuck about you.”

Fletch didn’t know what to say. He felt like he was going to cry, so instead of saying anything he just nodded and looked down at the ground, a defense mechanism leftover from his childhood.

It wasn’t long before Sol’s friends were coming out of the woodwork, ”Come on, we’re in a dark scary tomb. There really is no need to push, give the lady some space, will you?” Fletcher didn’t know Romeo well, but he was being kind enough. Fletch nodded. Yeah, he probably was just following too close. He glanced back and took another half step back, for good measure.

Then Sol’s boyfriend stepped in, apologizing for her. Fletcher just wanted this to be over. ”It’s okay,” He said, meekly… Weakly, ”It was my fault, I wasn’t paying attention.” He looked at Charlie apologetically, offering a quiet, ”Sorry.” Before brushing past to go stand by Rahmi, instinctively leaning into her a little, as if this were the dorms at school and they were watching horror films.

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-06-10 07:06:14, as written by Bartholomew Finch

hex #0a3533

Lenny didn’t fear the dark, nor the bugs, not even the threat of certain death really got to her. There was something undeniably fun about this strange little detour. A flickering pulse of excitement running through her veins. Yet her hands shook. She tried to wipe away the sweat that had gathered across her forehead but the wetness came back anew. They were walking pretty far in, and she couldn’t stop herself from internally panicking at the tighter sections, where they could no longer walk shoulder to shoulder. What was this? Lenny didn’t scare easy - as far as she thought anyway. But had she truly ever faced anything like this before? No, this was a wild unknown.

When they reached the open chamber she let out a gasping breath, feeling the constriction of her chest loosening. She could focus now, without the strange feelings that invaded her. She found herself wishing she hadn’t tagged along. The bravado she always confidently wore was wearing thin. They were lost in some ancient tomb; possibly undiscovered, so the chances of anyone looking for them were slim to none.

She distracted herself by nearing the mural, hovering her hand carefully over the lines. She dared not touch it, in fear of harming this ancient piece of art. But she could definitely see why this would be so exciting for the professor. This was history right here, and they were seeing it for the very first time.

She’d never had much interest in myth. She preferred the type of history that was easily explainable - gods weren’t exactly in that wheelhouse for her. She’d barely been paying any attention to the others when she heard the scream. Her blood ran cold, skin crawling as she swung around. Turning away from the mural and back towards the group. She felt frozen to the spot - but her feet seemed to have other ideas as she quickly followed behind the others. She caught sight of Rahmi, pushing to stand just behind her.

She caught the tail end of Sol’s bitchfest and rolled her eyes - of all the times to do this? Really?

“This feels like the start of a horror movie.”

Rahmi suppressed a laugh, her lips turning upwards into a wicked grin. Lowering her voice to make sure Sol couldn’t hear, she turned towards Lenny as she spoke. “Honestly love that for us, if nothing else but because who else among us would be the first to go beside the one that just threw a fit?”

“God, right? I can’t imagine any monsters passing Sol up after that.” She laughed, the slight tinge of fear receding at last. She glanced at Fletcher as he approached, watching him lean against Rahmi. Lenny offered him a small smile, though she was unsure if he saw or not. “Don’t let her get to you okay, she’s not worth it.” She spoke up. Rahmi pat his head reassuringly, nodding her head to emphasize Lenny’s words of encouragement.

“Anyways,” She glanced towards the others, dropping the whisper and adopting a normal volume.

“We’re probably just freaking out for nothing, I bet Kayden and the Professor just went ahead of us a bit, he was awfully excited about exploring. Shouldn't we start looking for them?” Before they get even further…

“Honestly?” Rahmi looked around warily, “I don’t really think poking around for them will do any good. Maybe we should just head back and hope they do the same?” Lenny considered this for a moment. They could definitely do that, rather than risking their lives going further in.

“Yeah,” Lenny rubbed the back of her neck, “Maybe we should try and call for help?” If they called for help would anyone even be able to do so? Even explaining where they were and how they got there seemed like an impossible task. Plus, if her cell service was shitty out here she doubted she was the only one.

Rahmi pulled out her phone. Her battery was low, she’d brought an additional battery but she wasn’t getting any service. Looking back to the others who seemed to all be gathering in the next chamber, she looked over to Lenny with a grimace. As the two who had been in their dorm the longest out of most of the others, they’d often default into the role of problem solvers - but there didn’t seem to be many smart ways out beyond don’t go in the sealed tomb in the first place.

“I dunno, let’s see what these idiots are saying before we lose any more of them though.” Rahmi wrapped an arm around Fletch’s shoulders, giving him a squeeze to keep him close. “What if we make them all hold hands, maybe then we can all learn to play nice - huh?”

“Oof, good luck, we’d probably have an easier time using handcuffs.” Lenny found that visual particularly hilarious, grinning suddenly. Rahmi was right though, they needed to catch up with the group before they all wound up MIA or worse. She motioned ahead of herself, as if to say lets get this show on the road. And hope to whatever god is out there we don't all wind up dead.

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-06-14 17:18:29, as written by rubytuesday

host of thoth
hex code: ffc58d
attire: x
theme: stars are blind

Nancy did not feel rage often. Even when anger struck her, she had mastered the art of silence; she suffocated the flame in her own complacency. Her inability to act prompted even more resentment towards herself, but it was in good company, and every time such an event occurred, she merely tucked away among all the other objects of self-criticism that stood stacked in her mind. Another source of frustration for her to chide herself for later.

Such was the occasion now, as Sol bludgeoned Fletcher with unwarranted cruelty. Nancy had built up quite a resistance to the woman's verbal brutalities, but she could not say the same for her friend. More so, Fletcher had never done anything to hurt Sol, and, as Nancy had peered through the dark, even the collision was Sol's own fault.

“I know you have the social skills of a ferret, but you should not be in this close proximity of someone who does not give a fuck about you.”

She wanted to bite back, to return the gesture, but instead, as always, she retreated into herself. Her lips parted as if to speak, but any words she had to share died before leaving her tongue. A coward, until the end.

She felt Romeo brush past her in the dark, and for a moment, she hoped that he might have the courage that she did not. Of course, he was a friend of Sol's, but he was no stranger to kindness, nor to boldness. Nancy watched as he approached Fletcher, and, with his words, her hope sank, stonelike, in her chest.

"Come on, we’re in a dark scary tomb. There really is no need to push, give the lady some space, will you?”

She was shocked by the rage that bubbled again in her chest. It seared her, acidic and internal, like indigestion. It felt hypocritical, but for whatever reason, Romeo's words were especially frustrating. That shift of blame, that complicity to cruelty... it felt familiar, and reminded her of home in a way she did not ever want Romeo to do so.

And then there was Adam. She is a much better person than she outwardly conveys. Nancy had never understood that logic, and yet it was employed so often that sometimes she wondered if she was just as ignorant as her family insisted. What did it matter, how much 'better' Sol was deep down, if what was on the surface was so dedicated to hurting?

She breathed, tempering the burning. She had been too slow once more, and there was no point, and no chance, of her saying anything now. This memory would fit in nicely among her aforementioned collections of regret.

Navigating her way through the dark, she inserted herself between Fletcher and Charlie, reaching over to squeeze their hands reassuringly. "Are you guys okay?"

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-06-14 20:03:11, as written by Wolf's Bane109

Tarren Havenfield

Host of Anubis | Song | outfit | #575772

Oh and she hits like ecstasy
Comes up and bangs the sense out of me
It's wrong but surely worse to leave
She hits like ecstasy
So free up the cheaper seats
Here comes a Greek tragedy

By the time that most of the others entered the chamber that Tarren and Eden were in, they had been mostly calmed down. It was only when Nova asked where the professor and Kayden were, that they turned to look at the others. Tarren honestly didn't have an answer to that question. Ren had been so close behind them and had even seen them seconds prior before being scared by that damn scorpion. But right before that happened, they remembered seeing both Kayden and Trevor looking at a wall further down the chamber. Which, had caught their attention as odd.

The moment that Tarren heard Sol start going off on the others, they were going to shut her down, this really wasn't the time for one of her damned outbursts. But Eden grabbed Ren by the arm, stopping them as Ren was given a knowing look by their friend. Looking off to see Adam trying to deesculate the situation. Which, was honestly impressive enough for the guy, all things considered. Instead, Tarren reached down and grabbed the flashlight from the ground that they had dropped, and walked over towards the wall that Trevor and Kayden had been looking at.

Some old text was engraved into the stone, right above it was a large portrait of Anubis, God of Death and Embalming. From what Tarren remembered, he was also the son of Set and Nephthys, and brother of Osiris. At least, in some versions of the mythos anyway. Ren at least knew that for every Egyptian mythos, there were at least five other versions that were different. Their eyes trailed over the wall and text, trying to get some idea of what it all meant, when another figure was engraved into the wall. "Any idea what this one is, History Boy?" they teased, looking to their side to see Eden.

There was a brief pause before he replied. Apparently it was Serqet, Goddess of Scorpions. Tarren chuckled a bit before looking up at Eden, "Sounds like your kinda lady." Ren jabbed Eden in the shoulder, before they continued walking again, their fingers gliding over the wall as their eyes examined further. But the further they looked, and more of the ancient texts, the more it left Ren confused. Not because they couldn't comprehend what was being told, but because there was no possible or physical way for Kayden and Trevor to have left. This chamber was a bit smaller than the previous two they had been through. It was wider sure, but it came to an end at a large wall. There wasn't any hidden doors or drop offs. There wasn't any crevice or anything for them to have passed through when the group got distracted. So...Where the hell did they go?

It was only then that Tarren noticed it, a low, soft-pitched ringing sound. It started innocently enough in their right ear, before it slowly started in their left ear as well. Ren initially thought that it was due to them simply being tired and having been out all day long but, this wasn't the normal ringing people could hear. It just...Didn't feel natural. Ren pinched the bridge of their nose, hoping to ease the tension and pressure building in their head, and even attempted to turn around to ask the others if anyone else was feeling off, but they were all doing the same thing. Looking slightly disointated and confused, pinching the bridge of their nose or rubbing their temples. Anything to help relieve the pressure. And that was when it finally happened. Tarren felt fine one moment, and then the next they were light-headed, and unconciousness swept over them as everything went dark and then silent.

Tarren didn't know how long it had been, but they finally found themself stirring from their sleep, or whatever it was that overtook them. Their head was just as fuzzy as it was when they had fainted, or, whatever it was that happened. But the more they looked around as they sat up, their head began to clear once more. The ringing finally coming to an end about a minute after Ren had woken up. After blinking a few times, they realized that they could see without the need of a torch. Looking about whatever kind of room they were in, there was a small crevice in the corner of the wall, allowing light to filter in. At first, that brought some relief to Tarren, but after they thought about it, panic and anxiety began to fill them. Why was there sunlight already coming through? Had they passed out and spent the entire night in the tomb? But surely someone would have come to wake them up and check on them, right?

And that's when it hit them. Ren slowly looked around the room they were in. This was an entirely different chamber than the one they were in the last time. This one was much smaller, but it still retained the same style of engravings and imagery across the walls. Tarren looked around and found their backpack only a few feet away, and immediately scrambled over to get it, looking through it to make sure everything was still there. Thank god, everything was still there. Even their torch. Which, was odd to say the very least. Another thing finally came to mind, were they alone? Tarren looked around more, finally taking in their surroundings fully. The chamber was entirely empty, aside from the four walls and roughly twenty feet in total in this chamber. And...another form was lying on the ground.

It took Tarren a few moments to realize who it was. Soledad De Leon. Of course it would be her. Out of all people, it was her. Why wouldn't fate or whatever it was, be so cruel. A look of worry flashed across Tarren's face for a moment as Sol was still unmoving. But sighed, as they could hear breathing that wasn't their own, and made their way over to the woman, who seemed to be finally coming to as she stirred awake. Tarren stayed back a few feet from her, crouching down in a none threatening manner, both hands raised up slightly infront of them, "Okay look, before you accuse me of anything, I didn't do any of this. I just woke up less than two minutes ago and...I have no idea what happened." Tarren started, looking around the room a bit before looking back at Sol, "I don't know what's going on but...Looks like we're both stuck together....And I'm not any happier about it than you are...But I suppose things could always be worse." Tarren said as they got to their feet.

Finally retrieving the torch from their backpack, and flicked the light on to help get a better view of their surroundings. After a few minutes of silently examining the chamber they were in, their suspicions had been confirmed. There was no entry or exit way from where they currently were and there seemed of being no sign of anyone else around, or even a trace of anyone else having been there. Tarren finally looked back at Sol, eyeing her over once to make sure she was truly okay, at least physically. "...You doing okay?" their tone was sincere with the way they asked, even to the point of where genuine concern could be seen on their face and in their eyes. No matter how seemingly cold and outwardly unfriendly Tarren was to most people, they were above all, someone who wanted to make sure others were okay. Even if things weren't always perfect between them, and if they always bickered and argued, Tarren wasn't above showing some concern for her. Especially in a situation like this.

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-06-15 05:01:45, as written by ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

Yousof Farooq (#CD7F32)
Soundtrack//Outfit

Nancy's words cut deep, so much so that Yousof had to stop himself from clutching his chest in pain. It hurt only marginally less than if she'd called him Jake Johnson.

“Aye! I’ll have you know Jonathan saved them in the end!” he shouted after, though she’d long passed him.

He puffed his cheeks for a second before letting out a breath and walking ahead. Most of the group followed after their professor with Tarren and Eden leading the charge. Cassidy and Romeo followed after, soon caught up by Ethan, Ten, Nova, and the 'it' couple of Lindenwood University. The others trailed behind, seemingly apprehensive of what lay ahead of them.

He didn't blame them either. Not everyone had the adventurer's spirit ~~stupidity~~.

Yousof ran his fingers over the images carved into the walls, stopping short of a long-haired woman with bare feet, long arms, and well, a frog’s head. Heqet, goddess of fertility. Along with Sobek, she represented fertility but unlike Sobek, she was a frog which was an infinitely funnier and more memorable animal. Not that Lenny would agree considering she had equal love for all creatures unconventionally cute.

It seemed that they had a deity for everything in ancient Egypt. Time had eroded the hieroglyphs so other than the vague etchings of another, nobody would know what they meant. Still, he snapped a picture of the carvings before reverting back to flashlight mode. The path had neither lighting nor railing. There were no directional signs nor benches for weary tourists. Instead it narrowed with every turn. The air reeked of must and decay, affirming the lack of human interference and thus, possibility that something unknown resided in the tomb.

Maybe they would uncover lost treasure or a pharaoh's remains. Were ancient gods on the table? The each of them could be something found on the walls or a deity of their own choosing. Hm, the only hitch might be that somebody already did that with the Greek gods. In his younger years he'd taken to assigning different roles to his friends whether they were Harry Potter houses, game characters, or superheroes. Fitting everyone into neat, little categories comforted him as a teenager and amused him in college.

Fletch could be Bastet, Lenny could be Sobek (obviously), Rahmi could be Isis, and I could be-

"Oh shit." Yousof managed to stop himself before becoming the second domino to Sol's wrath, but not before scraping against the wall beside him.

Her words were brief, but venomous enough to leave him astonished. There was a novel cruelty in her verbal lashings, a creativity not seen outside of online circles. The empathetic side of him wanted to comfort Fletcher (as good friends do), but the sudden ringing in his ear forced him stop and clutch the side of his head. Above him, Horus's eyes seemed to follow his movements, a ghost of a bird filling his mind before he blacked out.

---

The moment he regained consciousness, he glanced around, one-quarter aching but three-quarters panicked.

Oh god, oh fuck. Oh god, oh fuck.

What if this was it? Was this how things would end? Lost and broken? Furiously grasping at the ground, he crawled around the stone floor for what felt like hours (thirty seconds) before finally breathing a sigh of relief as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Good his phone was still in working order.

Bringing up the light on his phone, Yousof began surveying the chamber. They were definitely still in a tomb, but where in the tomb was the question. Much like the path over here, the room lacked any lights, directional signs, or tour guides. Instead he saw dried vines, sandy floors, stone walls.

"Oh, hey Ethan," he let out a weak wave as he saw the other man slowly waking up. "Good to see you alive."

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-06-15 05:36:41, as written by leisurelyatwar

outfit x || hex #de9e47

It’s not like Sol expected anyone to come to her defense, she neither needed nor warranted their help. She was used to other’s apologizing for her or trying to defuse her like she was some ticking time bomb. Romeo usually could handle her expertly but it seemed like he was letting others take the lead so he could LARP as some adventurer. Sasha just attempted to placate her, only annoying Sol further. She opened her mouth to speak when Adam pulled her in, Sol immediately melting against him.

"I understand you're upset but I do not think right now, in this fucking tomb, is the right time to start or address previous shit." Her lower lip jut out in a pout, mostly annoyed that he had a point. Before she could think of a response he pressed a finger against her lips. "You've said more than enough already and you are beginning to try my patience."

A complicated knot began to develop in her chest. How could disappointment be so cutting? The worst part was it only made her want him more. He released her, frustration evident on his expression as he added over his shoulder a gruff, "We will talk later.”

Sol looked over to Ten with a pained expression, “Do you think I have to psychoanalyze why that just turned me on? Or can we both just agree that it was hot?”

As much as she hated to admit it, Soledad responded better to a firm hand. Too often people would try to pacify her, or manipulate her. Sometimes she played along, she liked people thinking she was dumber than she really was - made it easier to catch them when she needed to. With Adam however, things were always so straightforward. In his own way he did make her a better person, though it was usually one step forward two steps back. Any calm Adam might have managed to sow was engulfed in a fiery rage as he closed the distance between him and Charlie.

Sol felt her stomach lurch as he leaned in towards her. A shadow passed over her face. What always hurt the most wasn’t Adam’s complete ability to do the thing that would make her the most insecure she could possibly be . No, what hurt the most was the reminder that no matter what Adam never thought about Sol before he would do the very thing that would hurt her. Her emotions were always an afterthought.

She bit her lip in thought, looking around at the others hoping no one had noticed the shift in her demeanor. Ethan quirked an eyebrow her way as he walked past. It was the only glance of concern cast her way and all she could do was roll her eyes, uncomfortable with admitting anything but infallible confidence.

“I’m so over this,” She mumbled to herself, turning back towards the mural room.

If she wanted to be everyone’s villain, she’d have just gone home. Romeo was more interested in being on some National Geographic shit, and Sasha ran off the moment they heard Ren’s little squeal. Besides if she left without warning maybe she could worry them a little bit into thinking she’d gotten lost or died - that would hopefully teach them to leave her by herself.

Turning back to push past the others, she couldn’t see much - but Cassidy was hard to miss. She paused as she moved past him, suggestively brushing against him just enough that it’d appear to be an accident to someone else. Apparently Adam wasn’t ever going to sever his old ties. They were on a break then, they were on a break now. There was nothing stopping him, so why should anything stop her?

“My bad,” She said as she bumped her hip against Cassidy, her smirk making it apparent it was not an accident. Adjusting herself so that Cass’s large frame blocked her from the others, she twirled a strand of her hair flirtatiously.

“Sorry we haven’t talked,” Sol bit her bottom lip. “Things are . . . complicated.”

Cassidy already knew the details, it was the same circumstances they’d been repeating since her freshman year - though Ten did exacerbate the tension. She wasn’t sure why they never moved past late night link ups. He should have been the perfect guy but he was always someone she came back to between who she thought was the real deal - Adam. Cassidy was smart, sexy and emotionally available. If she was being honest that was probably exactly what kept her away. He was safe, and Soledad rarely played it safe.

“Do you want to maybe sneak out together tomorrow? Make a day of it?” She said with a wink, discretely tugging at the fabric of his shirt.

‘Snap me’ She mouthed silently before turning back towards the mural room. Now that the room was empty, it seemed much larger. Using the flash of her phone, she carefully walked back through the room. A rock skittered in the corner, Sol turning to look but instead her light falling on the design of a hideous creature. She tilted her head to the side, stepping in a bit closer. It was obvious it had been designed to be something that stoke fear when you looked at it, but she somehow found it comforting.

When she stepped forward, a ringing began in her ear. At first she ignored it, but the ringing only got louder until she keeled over everything going black.

It was unclear how much time had passed when she began to stir again, her eyes adjusting. Bleary eyed, she pushed herself upright blinking rapidly trying to take in her surroundings all at once. Crouching just a few feet away Tarren was approaching her. Her lips were moving but Sol was still out of it, their words just background noise.

“What are you doing?” Sol mumbled, more out of confusion as to why Tarren was crouching than anything else. One hand went to her head as she tried to shake herself awake. Ren had pulled out her torch bathing them in the fire light.

"...You doing okay?" Tarren asked her, Sol nodded as she pushed herself upright and finally taking a look at their surroundings. There didn’t seem to be anyone else, none of this looked familiar. She closed her eyes massaging her temples, trying to recall her last lucid moments.

All she could remember was the illustration of that strange being, walking towards it then - nothing. She looked around again, there was no sign of the mural anywhere though there were new markings on the wall. Tarren had been way ahead at the front of the group - how was it that they were the ones stuck here together?

“Hello?” Sol called out to anyone else that might be nearby, listening for a moment before looking back at Tarren with concern. “What do you remember last?”

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-08-09 07:36:54, as written by leisurelyatwar

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It all happened so quickly. Last thing Rahmi remembered was linking arms with Lenny and Fletch as they walked towards the others. She’d felt them shrink as she did when the ringing noise quickly crescendoed until she was rendered unconscious. When she came to immediately her hands went looking for whoever might have been beside her. Sunlight leaked in from above, providing a dim light. It took a few blinks for her eyes to adjust but when they did Rahmi could see she was not alone.

“Nancy,” She instinctively whispered, like she felt someone were watching them. Reaching over to Nancy to give her a gentle shake, relief flushing over her expression when she felt the warmth of life against her palm.

Nancy’s eyes fluttered open, murmuring in wordless confusion. Her left hand still felt warm from Fletcher’s touch, and her right remained furled shut, a nervous response to Charlie’s rejection. But neither Fletcher nor Charlie were with her now. Only Rahmi, shaking her gently in the sun-dappled dark.

“Wha- Did something happen?”

She didn’t remember having fallen, and the lack of pain both in her head and throughout the rest of her body validated that memory. Still disoriented, she stood up, looking around herself as she did. The room was a new one, one different to that in which she had lost her consciousness.

“Where are we?”

Rahmi helped Nancy upright, giving her a once over. Frowning as her posture waivered, they hovered their reach just behind Nancy as she looked around. Rahmi hadn’t even taken a moment to look around them, Nancy’s question prompting her to look up for the first time. There didn’t seem to be an obvious exit, though some parts of the room seemed to be crumbling suggesting some sort of passage. The sunlight was enough to let them see to the edge of the room, but shadows were still casted along the walls.

“There was that sinkhole? Maybe all our weight after all these years just cause a total collapse?” Rahmi theorized, trying to piece together their last moments. She dug out a charging battery she had brought in case her phone died, clicking the button a couple times illuminating the end of the battery and shining the light upwards.

Nancy glanced once more over herself, frowning in confusion. A collapse was yet another possibility that didn’t entirely make sense, but, as nothing currently did, Nancy found herself nonetheless considering it.

“Surely, we’d have some injuries though, right?”

As they looked up, Rahmi felt a sudden rush of lightheadedness. Raising her hand to her head, she stumbled back a few steps to lean against the wall. When she ran her fingers through her hair it felt cold and wet. She drew back her hand, shining her light on her fingers to seem stained in blood.

“Oh shit,” It came out more like a laugh than Rahmi intended, shocked by the realization.

The comment prompted Nancy’s attention, and she gasped in horror at the red drawn across Rahmi’s fingertips. “Are you alright?! You must have hit your head when you fell!” Sliding her bag off her back, she swivelled it around to her front, probing through its contents before pulling out a small first aid kit.

“Come here, I’ll...I’ll fix-” Her words stumbled over each other, the uncertainty of their circumstances slowly setting in. The space was cavernous, and yet Nancy felt as cramped and suffocated as she had on the plane. Adrenaline seemed to be keeping the panic attacks at bay for now, but she could feel them lingering, as they so often did, at her periphery, closing in.

She took a shaky breath, and slipped the first aid kit back into her bag.

“Has the bleeding stopped?”

Rahmi pulled back the gauze, furrowing her brow. She wasn’t really sure if the bleeding stopped, but it seemed that her hair was soaking up the worst of it. Stuffing the gauze into one of her pockets, she wiped her hand on her jeans. Head wounds always looked worse than they really were. Besides, Rahmi was more concerned about Nancy at the moment.

“I think it’s slowed down. . . it doesn’t hurt, I think it’s just a scrape.” Rahmi slid her blood free hand around Nancy, giving her a reassuring smile. “I’ll be fine.”

It was always easier for Rahmi to manage if she could focus on helping someone other than themselves. That’s what made her so prone to slip into a big-sister role for her friends. She felt like she could predict their emotions better than she could her own sometimes - and admittedly she found comfort in that. They opened their mouth to ask Nancy if she was alright when the sound of a distant scream made Rahmi turn her head. Immediately dropping Nancy’s hand she crossed to the opposite wall pressing her ear against it to listen intensely. Nothing.

“Did you hear that?” Rahmi asked, looking back at Nancy. Nancy frowned, confused. It was silent in hear, nothing but their voices, and the anxious thuds of her heart in her chest.

As Rahmi shifted, a portion of the wall gave out beneath her palm, Rahmi jumping back in surprise. “Oh shit.”

Looking back at the wall, Rahmi shined her light at where her hand had been posed inspecting it closely. There was a faint fissure along the wall outlining what appeared to be some sort of entryway. Scraping along the seam, she could tell that it was caked with layers of slowly accumulated sealing it somewhat.

“Nancy - look at this.” Rahmi beckoned her over, tracing her light over the outline. “Do you have something sharp? Maybe in that first aid kit? I think it’s only the stuff on the surface that’s making it stick.”

Nancy peered over Rahmi’s shoulder, unsure whether the entry was something to be celebrated or put at ease by. Still, she leaned over her bag once more, rummaging around for a moment before pulling out a rolled cloth. Unfurling it to reveal a portable cutlery set (fucking nerd), she slid the knife from the case and offered it, handle first, to Rahmi.

Taking the knife carefully, Rahmi began scraping along the seam, pausing occasionally to readjust. She didn’t know if this helped anything but it was their only promise of escape so far. Once she cleared the bulk of the caked clay, Rahmi shifted her weight into her arm, trying her best to ram herself into the wall. It shifted slightly, jumping from its place.

“Hell yeah -” Rahmi cheered, carelessly throwing the knife into her pocket moving over to beckon Nancy over. “Come on, help me push.”

Nancy, who had been watching the attempts with unease, snapped back into focus when Rahmi addressed her, and joined Rahmi pushing against the wall. Neither of them were physically strong, by any means, but as the two of them pressed against the wall, the stone began to shift under the pressure. Gaining momentum, the wall’s movement became less begrudging, finally moving enough to reveal the dark passageway beyond it.

Rahmi was too relieved to have found a way out of this room to be discouraged by the darkness. Shining her light into the passageway she could see it forked into multiple paths further down. Forcing a look of optimism, Rahmi gave Nancy a crooked smile as she linked arms with her.

“We’ve got this, just don’t let go - okay? So long as we stick together we can get through it.” She said, unsure if she was talking to Nancy or herself. Their words warmed Nancy, as did the feeling of their arm against her own, but the anxiety still simmered. Forcing a returning smile, Nancy nodded. It can’t lead to anywhere worse, right? The thought itself felt as though it were tempting fate, and Nancy knew better than to verbalise it, and encourage such a manifestation. Instead, she replied with as much firmness as she could muster, though it still came out tremorous.

“Okay. Let’s go.”

Setting

Cairo, Egypt

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#2021-08-17 07:55:29, as written by leisurelyatwar

The ground crunched beneath their feet as they walked down the tunnel, focusing on that sound that was keeping Rahmi’s sanity intact. When they reached the fork in the path, she shined the light down each passage hoping for some end in sight but they all seemed to turn at some point. Rahmi took the knife out her pocket to mark one of the passages with an X on the wall.

“This way we can backtrack if need be.” She said to Nancy. As they took a step down the tunnel the sound of distant voices screaming again made Rahmi’s head turn. Though she couldn’t be certain, Rahmi could feel it in her core that it was Charlie and Fletch screaming.

“Do you hear that?” Rahmi asked Nancy, backtracking, to go towards the voice.

Nancy frowned, and glanced in the direction Rahmi had moved towards. She tilted her ear to the void, but was met with silence.

“No. I don’t hear anything.”

Frantic to find their friends, Rahmi made no effort to mark the tunnel as she pulled Nancy down it with a sense of urgency quickening her pace. The further they headed down the tunnel the louder the voices became. Certain now that it was Charlie and Fletch, Rahmi began to shout back to them.

“Charlie! Fletcher! I’m coming! Stay there!” Rahmi shouted, the tunnel slowly arcing in a way that always made their next step blind. Just as Rahmi thought that they would turn the corner and see their friends, they spat back out into the main chamber. Glancing over to her right, she saw the same X she had marked on the wall earlier.

The voices had momentarily dulled but Rahmi’s head had already begun to ache. No laws of physics could explain the path that took them from the tunnel they entered and would lead to where they exited. She let go of Nancy’s arm briefly, placing both hands atop her head and exhaling roughly trying to make sense of it all.

“That . . . was weird.” Rahmi scratched the back of her neck, looking back over to Nancy. “I’m sorry. Okay - let’s try again.”

Linking arms with Nancy again, this time Rahmi marked the tunnel with an N before they went down. Like the other tunnel it seemed to arc. The direction and trajectory it seemed impossibly that it wouldn’t have intersected with the passage they had just gone through but it went on for some time. At a certain point the path became so narrow that they couldn’t walk side by side, Rahmi taking the lead but sure to still keep a hold of Nancy somehow.

After some time the path widened again eventually opening into a new chamber with two more tunnels leading out to who knows where. There was a shaft of light coming in from above, slightly illuminating the room. Immediately Rahmi looked around to see if there was a way to climb out, hollering for help hoping there was someone above who might hear them.
All this time, Nancy had said very little. Where Rahmi’s panic was spoken, her’s was simmering. It was understandable, to see Rahmi so frightened, so urgent. In their situation, anyone would be. And yet, the sight was so unfamiliar to Nancy that it had rendered her especially helpless, unsure how best to lend aid to someone so used to being the one leant on.

Rahmi slumped against the wall in exhaustion, sliding down to sit on the ground. It was hard not to feel defeated, whatever conception of progress they might have convinced themselves they made was arbitrary. They were still stuck, they were just evershifting where they were stuck.

“I just need a break.” Rahmi murmured, resting her head against the wall behind her. The pressure against her wound reminded her of her head bump earlier, raising a hand to her head. Whatever gauze was there seemed to have already soaked through but not wanting to alarm Nancy she just left it in place. They could redress it later. Her hair was soaking up most of the blood at this point and head wounds always looked way worse than they really were - Rahmi and her sibling had learned that the hard way. She would probably need a couple stitches whenever they got out of here but it wasn’t a priority. They needed to keep their calm, and Rahmi needed to take care of Nancy. She didn’t need Nancy worrying about her.

But inevitably, Nancy did worry. And as she watched Rahmi slump against the wall, her eyes drew to the blood-soaked gauze, and the weariness within Rahmi’s features. Nancy felt like a rat in a barrel, wanting nothing more than to scramble to freedom, to claw her way out if necessary. Instead, however, she nodded, and leaned against the wall opposite.

“Have a rest. We’ll think better after a breather, anyway.” You’ll think better, that is. After all, Nancy never thought well.

Rahmi wasn’t out long but it gave Nancy enough time to look around the room. When a light was shined on the walls there was a faint outline of drawing beneath the layers of dust. It wasn’t the same as the hieroglyphics that they had seen in the pyramid. No this was a script unlike one that any living civilization had ever seen. It appeared as an amalgam of several ancient alphabets, like it had once served as the blueprint for scripture. Though the language was impossible for anyone alive to translate, the drawings painted a story of their own of an ancient city led by a king who ruled the sea that had risen to great power only to be obliterated off the face of the planet.

After about an hour Rahmi began to stir. It took a while to become fully lucid again, forgetting her surroundings. She looked around in a panic, noticing Nancy inspecting a wall intently. As she got up Nancy heard her moving, glancing back. Rahmi raised a hand to indicate she didn’t need any help, stretching before coming beside Nancy now noticing the faint mural on the wall.

“What are these doing in an Egyptian tomb?” Rahmi asked aloud, though she knew Nancy wouldn’t be able to provide some answer.

Taking a sip from her water bottle, Rahmi shined her light on the mural again, stepping in to get a look at the script in better detail. Turning her phone back on, she fought against her inner optimist trying not to be disappointed when there were no bars. It didn’t matter, she just wanted the camera anyway. She snapped a few pics and while it didn’t show up very well in camera, that in combination with her memory she would be able to recreate it.

“Are you good? Do you want to nap or anything before we -” Rahmi looked over behind her shoulder down one of the uncharted paths, suddenly alarmed. She looked back at Nancy. “Please - tell me you hear them this time?”

It was faint but she was certain it was Yousof. There was no question about it. She had heard his voice more than any other through the entirety of her life, Rahmi could even recognize the sound of his breath. Her big-sister instinct was activated, suddenly surged with the need to run after her brother.

The silence was deafening, and Nancy only felt more useless as her attempts to hear were met with nothing.

“I- I’m sorry… I still don’t hear anything. What is it that you keep-”

“Nancy, I’m telling you - I hear Yousof.” Rahmi listened down the tunnel, beckoning for Nancy to listen. Fear, concern and frustration. And amalgamation of feelings Nancy was all too familiar with. She couldn’t hear anything, let alone a familiar voice, but Rahmi was so sincere, her worry so palpable, Nancy believed her nevertheless.

“It’s my brother. I have to try to go after him.” Rahmi gave Nancy a pleading expression, knowing that Nancy had every reason to doubt her but asking her to trust them anyways.

Nancy nodded, “Of course.” She swallowed her fear, and pushed her tired body away from the wall. “Let’s get a move on, then.”

Marking the tunnel as they walked down it together, Rahmi’s pace had quickened to almost a light jog. Occasionally glancing back to Nancy, it was evident that she still couldn’t hear Yousof but to Rahmi he was only getting louder. Much like when she had heard Charlie and Adam before, just as it sounded that she was going to reach Yousof she turned back into the original chamber.

The first time this anomaly had happened it was strange, this time it was impossible. The distance they traveled to the room with the mural was not the same as the distance in the passage they looped back through. Going around to the tunnels to check each one, she could see the two that she had marked along with the two others that they still hadn’t gone through. Marking the third unmarked tunnel that she had dragged Nancy through in the chase after Charlie and Fletch’s disembodied voices with a ‘+’ symbol.

“Nancy, I think I might have hit my head harder than I realized.” Rahmi finally admitted, certain now that she was going crazy. “I don’t know if I just blacked out or something but there’s just no way that whatever just happened was physically possible.”

Nancy shook her head, equally confused. “No, you didn- I mean, I don’t get it either.” It didn’t make any sense. Even beyond the impossibilities of the tunnels, the sense of wrongness hanging in the air was almost overwhelming.

“I think our best bet is the process of elimination. Let's try that second passage in that room with the mural.” Rahmi suggested, waiting for Nancy’s nod of agreement this time before barreling down the passage. She almost walked right past the mural when they reached it but her eye immediately was drawn to the differences. Stopping in place, Rahmi inspected the mural intently before looking back to Nancy.

“I don’t think that’s the same mural as before.” Rahmi pulled out her phone, opening the photos she took earlier. It was faint on camera but the difference was apparent.

The script that had previously been the foreign symbols was replaced with Greek characters. The mural once depicting an ancient city now telling the tale of mount olympus, it was a scene that Rahmi had seen depicted in renaissance art many times before. Snapping reference photos again, she studied the mural intently doing her best to commit it to memory.

Though she hadn’t noticed it at first, it also felt more humid in this chamber than the other one did. There might have been some air and light coming in from the break in the ceiling above but they were still supposed to be in the middle of the desert. Rahmi couldn’t believe there was some underground river that kept the air humid here - though she supposed anything could be possible at this point.

“This just gets weirder by the minute.” Rahmi sighed, sliding her phone back into her bag. “Come on, let’s see where that other path takes us.”

Linking their arms again, Rahmi led them down the unmarked passage. The actual tunnel was that same dry heat they’d experienced in the remainder of the tombs but the moment they reached the next chamber it immediately dropped in temperature. They could see their own breath in front of them, Rahmi giving Nancy an incredulous expression making sure she was also experiencing this phenomenon.

Even stranger the light that was coming in from above casted the cold light of the moon. Only moments prior they had been in a room in the warm glow of sparse sunlight. Looking around in more detail, instead of the familiar clay like material the chamber was made of stone. There were pillars with ornate etchings, Rahmi taking a video of the room to properly refer to the dimensions later. Though she wasn’t certain there were some runes she recognized as Norse. Running her fingers over the runes, she could have sworn the stone glowed under her touch for a moment. She turned to look over to Nancy to see if she had seen the same but her gaze had been transfixed elsewhere.

“What do you think this all means?” Rahmi asked after a moment, slowly walking backwards to get a new angle at the layout of the pillars.

Nancy gazed up at the murals. The wrongness was building, to the point of catching in her throat. It was choking her. Still, she eeked out a reply, recognising it as unhelpful the moment she said it.

“I have no idea. None of this makes sense.”

She paused a moment to desperately grasp at straws. “Maybe… could the tomb have had, like, a hallucinating gas or something? Maybe we’re just… really fucking high?”

“Hallucinating gas could make sense. . . I’ve heard about people with carbon monoxide poisoning experiencing shared hallucinations before.” Rahmi theorized. She looked through the pictures on her phone, they only confirmed what they’d already seen - but how did she know she wasn’t hallucinating that as well?

“You’re really all over the place, you know that?” A foreign voice spoke. It sounded like it was coming right behind Rahmi, turning behind suddenly only to see no one. However there was a passage that seemed to appear out of nowhere, or at least that Rahmi hadn’t noticed before.

“Did you see this passageway earlier?” Rahmi asked, stepping into the tunnel. She drew the knife to mark the tunnel when the entry suddenly began to give in. The mouth of the passageway curled inward, blocking Rahmi in, until the weight of it against gravity crumbled casing it to break. Rubble began to rip across the ceiling, Rahmi stumbling back as it buried the spot she had just been standing in.

Immediately Rahmi ran towards the rubble trying to clear a path. Any time she felt she was coming close the tunnel would only give more, slowly becoming more and more precarious. She couldn’t leave Nancy, but there was no way getting back to her through there. Rahmi would have to try to get back another way.

“Nancy just wait there okay - I’m going to back track and try the other tunnels, maybe they circle around like the other ones.” Rahmi shouted through the rubble, certain that she could hear Nancy say something back. She had to find Nancy, there was no way Rahmi was going to lose another friend today. There was only one way out and it was the way they came.

The room had become exponentially more humid than the first time they’d pass through. Rahmi had been so transfixed on the mural she almost missed the vegetation that had suddenly appeared. Even the structure of the room changed, similar but just slight differences like harsh angles instead of smoothed slopes. The mural had changed again, not recounting the tale of yet another ancient civilization. Though Rahmi couldn’t recognize any of the figures, the designs were obviously of South American origins.

Rahmi couldn’t stay and study the designs as long as she wanted to, only taking a few pictures before rushing back to the tunnel towards the first chamber. Instead of turning into the familiar chamber that before seemed impossible to escape, Rahmi was thrusted into a sub zero ice cavern. Her senses were stalled. Though there was no wind around her, her exposed skin immediately felt the cold bite of the frigid air around it. All around her was ice. Her ears felt like they needed to pop, she tried moving her jaw to release the pressure but it was too cold. Struggling to find footing across the ice floor, Rahmi was hit by a sudden wave of nausea. She tried to steady her breath but it was hard to inhale.

She turned to go back the way she came but then the sound of Nancy’s voice caught her attention. It was coming from the tunnel on the opposite side of the cavern. Rahmi turned back, holding her breath because the air was too cold to inhale. It made her lungs burn. When she did try to breathe it staggered, impossible to take a full breath. The ice walls stuck to her skin as she tried to use it to brace herself, Rahmi eventually just trying to balance as she walked across the ice.

Once she reached the tunnel it almost immediately returned to the dry heat they experienced in Egypt. She could hear Nancy’s voice again, too preoccupied to try to make sense of the extreme weather changes and running towards her friend. The tunnel was relatively short so when she was spat back out into the first chamber with multiple passages, she was thrown off for a moment. Nancy’s voice called to her again from the tunnel marked with an N, expecting to see the mural room but instead stumbling into some sort of underground basin of water. It appeared to be clear, Rahmi pausing to refill her water bottle and clean herself some.

Using her water bottle she did her best to clean her head wound, the water running red under her feet. She didn’t want to worry Nancy earlier but it didn’t seem to be slowing down. She refilled her water again, looking around for an outlet and seeing none other than the one she came through. Rahmi walked back through, intending to try again to find Nancy. The tunnel spat her back out into another room with strange stone columns. These ones were without markings but instead were shaped smoothly. Either end of the columns were buried into the earth above and below but they seemed to be part of something bigger. It was impossible to tell on this small of scale but it reminded her of the sculptures on stonehenge, where all but their heads are buried - except these seem to be the midsection.

Defeated, Rahmi slumped on the ground. It was soft and covered in moss, the closest she had found to a bed down here. Maybe if she napped a bit longer she could sleep off this headache. Her head was too heavy to sleep, now weighted down by her wet hair. She looked at her phone battery, it was at 50%. While she had two extra batteries to charge her phone, she had used some of that charge to power the flashlight attached to them. After giving her pictures another review to make sure the images stayed fresh in her mind she turned off her phone to conserve battery. Unable to fall asleep she ate some more snacks, resting in place until she had enough strength to continue. Sitting in this cave; wet, alone and without any devices - for the first time in a long time Rahmi began to fear for herself.

Her vision went blurry, at first Rahmi thought it was because she hit her head but then she realized she was crying. She wiped her eyes in disbelief. Rahmi never cried. She had been disciplined for her emotions and her passions growing up, her parents often using the way she said something against her instead of actually trying to listen to her. She was never allowed to dream big or want for more because she had duties, she had to take care of her sisters so that Yousof could flourish and bring pride to their family. When that didn’t work out instead of realizing their error, they used Rahmi as their tool to shame the other’s into succeeding. Be it her success or her failure, her parents always knew how to use it to isolate her. The only way Rahmi could make sure she wasn’t alone was by caring for others, sometimes that felt like all she was, a role to fill. If she couldn’t do that, then what was her value?

Rocking herself on the soft moss, Rahmi could feel herself spiral. She was always surrounded by others, be it at home or at school. Left alone with her thoughts and facing death, every impression that had been made on her throughout her life found it’s way to the surface. Maybe this is what people meant by their life flashing right before their eyes. A memory of an arabic lullaby her parents would sing, it was one of the only ones both their cultures shared so it was a common one in their home.

نامي نامي يا صغيري
تانغفى عا لحاصيري
نامي عالعتيمي تا تنزاح الغيمي
ويصير عنا ضو كبير
يضوي عا كل الجيري

بكرة بيّك جاي
حامل غلة الليمون
بيجبلك تنورة وشال
تاتدفي بكانون
يا زغطورة الحندقة
شعرك أسود ومنقى
واللي حبك بيبوسك
والبغضك شو بيترقى
The acoustics of this chamber made her voice ricochet against the room, creating a round of the melody. When she stopped singing, Rahmi closed her eyes and listened as her voice echoed back. She had never thought much of her singing voice, she could hold a note but it wasn’t anything stupendous. In that moment however, the lullaby was the most beautiful thing she’d ever heard. A bit of respite, momentarily taking her to another place, somewhere happier. As her voice faded, she sank back into the moss. There was an eerie silence, Rahmi closing her eyes and allowing herself to just exist for a moment. Just as she began to fade, her voice sang back clear as day. Rahmi shot back upright, looking in the direction of her voice singing.

A tunnel that was hidden in the shadows. If Nancy’s theory was right and this was all a hallucination, then maybe none of it was real - but Rahmi still felt an instinct to follow her voice. It wasn’t a compulsion or an allure, it was a gut feeling. As she stepped down the tunnel, a voice called to her from behind. Rahmi glanced back, listening intently and recognizing Nancy’s voice. She took a few steps towards Nancy’s voice before pausing, her own voice still singing to her from the other direction. Every time Rahmi ran towards other’s voices, she became a little more lost. All she had was her instinct and it was telling her to follow her own voice.

Again she found herself in the initial chamber, three of the five tunnels still unexplored. Her voice had gone quiet, Rahmi looking around with confusion. A part of her wanted to lunge down the tunnel she and Nancy had last gone down together but something was drawing Rahmi to the tunnel she had marked with an ‘X’. Last time it had her loop back to the main chamber, but none of these tunnels had led to the same place twice. Following her instinct again she went down the passage, immediately noticing the change in direction from the first time she went through it. Faintly she could hear the Arabic lullaby she was singing earlier, but now by another voice. It sounded familiar but she couldn’t place it.

“I knew you’d find your way eventually.” Said the voice, Rahmi recognizing it as the same one who she had heard just before she and Nancy were separated. She looked around, still unable to see the source of the voice. Rahmi furrowed her brow, emerging from the tunnel into a canyon. The walls opened outwards all around her, framing the sky. Stunned, Rahmi froze for a moment. The sky was painted in the most vivid colors, speckled with more stars than she’d ever seen in her life. Rahmi wanted to memorize this scene, taking in every inch.

“Now the real challenge.” The voice spoke again. Rahmi scanned the room, noticing two stone entryways. “Or should I say, a choice.”

“What do you mean? Who are you? What do you want?” Rahmi called out.

“That’s a long story, one I’d be happy to share - should you pass your next trial.”

“My next what? Excuse me - I don’t know who you are but you’ve got the wrong one.” She wasn’t sure who this person was but Rahmi was beginning to believe they were why she was trapped down here.

“That may very well be true, which is why you have a choice.” The voice suggested, continuing before Rahmi could interject. “Take the door to your right and you’ll be brought to the surface with only vague memories of what happened down here, blissfully unaware and mediocre. Or you may choose the door on your left and find out just how extraordinary you really are.”

Whoever they were, they knew what to say to pique Rahmi’s interest. Logic was telling her to run for the exit but Rahmi rarely ever took the easy way out - and right now her gut was telling her to go left. The entry led into a stone room, Rahmi gripping the frame as she took a breath. If she was going crazy then so be it, at least she was doing so with certainty.

“You’ve chosen well.” The voice assured her.

At the center of the room there was a stone pedestal, atop it a stone wheel with a fashioned handle. As she stepped into the room a wall the floor spun around, the entry way she passed through sliding out of sight behind the stone walls. Rahmi lost their footing, stumbling forward. As the room came to a stop they squared their footing, bracing themselves to be yanked in the opposite direction. When nothing happened she sighed with relief.

Looking around now it seemed the entire room was made of a carved piece of stone on some sort of pivot. It seemed sturdy enough not to shift as she walked towards the center of the room. Grabbing a hold of the handle, the wheel resisted at first but eventually the room around her began to rotate. It took all of her strength to wind the lever, occasionally altering her method from walking around the pedestal to standing in place.

She took a break to tie her hair in a bun atop her head, pulling off her t-shirt and tossing it aside.Sweat was starting to drip from her forehead, luckily she’d worn a sports bra under her shirt. There wasn’t much water left in her bottle. As badly as she wanted a drink, she needed to reserve her resources. Who knew how much longer she’d be down here.

After some time it felt like she had most certainly already winded past the distance the room shifted when she entered, the lever lost it’s give. She pulled with all her might, exerting cries of desperation as she tried to get it to budge. Collapsing in momentary defeat, Rahmi took a swig from her water bottle glaring up at the lever. Maybe she’d have better luck the other way.

It was impossible to tell how much time had passed, she turned off her phone ages ago to save battery and she hadn’t worn a watch since the shrek one she had in middle school. As she was turning the lever the other way she noticed something she hadn’t before. There were holes all across the ceiling and as she rotated the room little windows of light would slip through, ever changing the patterns it’d strike across the ground.

Rahmi paused, walking around to get a better angle on the pattern the light casted on the ground. There was something familiar about them. She looked back at the wheel suspiciously, bending over to pick up her shirt and bag from the floor. After fishing out her phone and turning on the flashlight, Rahmi could see there appeared to be something painted around the wheel as well as at the center. Doing her best to wipe at the stone, it only was able to get the surface layer of dirt. She could use her water but she only had a little left.

It felt wrong to do so but she didn’t really have another option, spitting on the stone before wiping at it. Scrubbing furiously at the segment the handle was in line with, the colors underneath began to show. She alternated between spitting and scrubbing until she was able to reveal the symbol underneath. Her mouth felt bone dry, there’s no way she wouldn’t be able to use her water to clean this. Rahmi took a swig of her water as she inspected the symbol closer. It was small but she was certain it was meant to be a sphinx.

She looked back at the lights across the ground, remembering where she had seen them before. It was a decan, a constellation that the ancient Egyptians used to observe. Rahmi had always had an interest in astronomy, even taking it as an elective one semester. One thing that had always fascinated Rahmi was how ahead of their time Egyptians had been in the study of the stars. There was evidence of them being knowledgeable of stars beyond their hemisphere, having several sites in divine alignment with astrological points and events.

Her father had taught her about the Egyptian zodiac once. It had been mostly filled with admonishments for her falling into western superstitions such as astrology but it had sparked her interest nonetheless. The Sphinx was one of them. Catapulted by the momentum of this revelation, Rahmi waited no longer to pour her water over the wheel. As she was working her way around scrubbing furiously, she leaned over the center putting her weight against the handle. The combination of her weight and her movement as she braced herself against the handle caused it to flip downwards.

Immediately horrified that she’d broken the thing, Rahmi crouched down to inspect it. She grabbed ahold of the handle, using her full strength to pull it back upright. Furrowing her brow, she lowered it again. While it took strength, it was able to move with relative ease. Curious, Rahmi attempted to wind the wheel while the handle was in the downward position. Above her the stone rotated, revealing two more positions. Each position revealed a pattern Rahmi recognized as corresponding decans to the Sphinx. She never memorized the decans, there were 3 for each zodiac sign and some of them were constellations that weren't even the same as the ones in our sky today.

She didn’t know what she discovered but if she missed the designs on the wheel, that means she missed other things. Rahmi needed to take a closer look around but first she needed to rest again. She was running low on food and water so she’d have to work smart, not hard. Setting a timer on her watch for three hours from now, she noticed for the first time that it seemed to have broken when they fell into the tomb. It was still intact but the digital face was frozen.

Thinking back, she couldn’t remember how long she had been in the tomb. It was difficult to tell how much time had passed since they were down here. Since she’d been turning her phone on and off and it was unable to connect to any network making it an unreliable source. It had to have been at least half a day at this point. She wondered if the hotel had noticed they never returned. As Rahmi shifted trying to get more comfortable, she felt her vape cart in her pocket. She’d forgotten about it, surprisingly. Hoping it would help put her mind at ease for a little bit she took a couple hits.

As Rahmi drifted to sleep, she was struck with an instinct. If she had learned anything in these tombs it’s that she had to learn how to listen to herself. There were so many things going on in the background of her mind that Rahmi wasn’t even capable of realizing, but she had to trust herself. She chugged the last of her water, pushing herself back upright and stretching a little before returning to the wheel.

Out of curiosity, Rahmi had researched the Egyptian zodiac sign for herself and her family. Even mapped out their decan and incorporated them into one of her paintings. Yousof and she had been born under the second decan of Horus. It took about another hour and a few breaks to turn the wheel to the symbol for Horus, Rahmi doing a little jump as she forced the handle down. Using her body weight to help her pull the handle into the second position, the ceiling above her shifted into the position of their constellation.

Where the moonlight struck the floor, the stone began to glow. At the center of the podium a compartment popped up, a sundial rising from the center of the wheel. Above a shaft of light opened right above the podium shining directly onto the sundial. Testing the handle again, it was now locked in place. Whatever the next step was, it probably didn’t involve the wheel anymore. Using her shirt to test the glowing rock to make sure there wasn’t any sort of acidic or burning effects, Rahmi patted at the stone hesitantly with her finger first before stepping into the light.

Nothing happened.

She tested a few different methods of interacting with the glowing stone, not getting any results. Deciding to return later with fresh eyes, Rahmi turned back to the sundial. Not really expecting anything to happen, she grabbed a hold of the dial attempting to rotate it. It gave more easily than she expected, the panel that seemed to be controlling the light that shined above the pedestal shifting. Following her earlier hunch, she wound the dial until the shadow the light casted aligned with her birth time.

At first it seemed that nothing had happened. Rahmi looked back to the constellation, one of the glowing columns of light now emanating a radiant shade of indigo. A part of her wanted to hesitate, but Rahmi had to stop listening to that voice. It wasn’t her, it never had been. Her parents were the ones who had told her that she over analyzes things, that she was too sensitive. All that voice had done for her so far was hold her back. Rahmi had intuition that her parents never understood. It had made her difficult to control when she was so often proven right but boy did they try. She never thought they had succeeded, but sometimes no matter how hard you try the people who hurt you affect you.

Stepping into the indigo light, it seemed to fill her. All around her were a million galaxies swirling like maple tree seeds dancing in the wind. Her skin began to glow shades of blues and violets with blasts of magenta, glittering like stars in the sky. She felt weightless, throwing her head back and realizing the ceiling was coming closer. As it approached the light grew until all Rahmi could see was to the ends of the sky.

“Took you long enough.” The voice from earlier spoke again. “I was beginning to think I’d made a mistake.”

“Yeah well humans have these things called needs, when you deprive them of those things and put them under stress they may not be at peak performance.” Rahmi couldn’t stop the words from leaving her mouth as hard as she tried, then realizing she wasn’t speaking with her mouth at all. “Where are we?”

“The heavens, the sky. . . space. Whatever your mind prefers to call it.”

“Oh that helps, thank you.” Rahmi would roll her eyes if she could. She wasn’t really able to control any part of her body. Looking down she could see her body below, still standing on the glowing stone. “Am I . . . . astral projecting?”

“That’s one word for it, I guess.” The voice almost seemed to tease her, but there was a hint of something Rahmi didn’t expect to hear - maybe pride?

“Well . . . what happens now?” Rahmi asked.

“Now, you prepare.” The voice seemed to sigh, almost speaking to themselves next. “Perhaps Khonsu was right in forbidding me and Geb from having children. If I had known this is where we’d end up. . .”

Rahmi wasn’t sure where this was going, or what to say. Attempting to reach in the recess of her brain to connect the dots, her mind was able to put it together. It was Nut, the goddess of the sky and the stars. Mother to Osiris, Horus, Isis, Set and Nepthys.

“You have to right my wrongs.” She said again. A sensation equivalent to a tap on her forehead sent her back into her body with a blast, Rahmi stumbling backwards. She looked around, gathering her bearings. A panel had opened revealing a new passageway. She wasn’t sure what had been the final key to getting out but Rahmi wasn’t about to question it. Grabbing her shirt and bag, Rahmi ran for the exit. The moment she stepped through the door slammed shut behind her. Whether it was a trigger or timer that shut it, Rahmi slumped with relief.

Finally she was out of there. The adrenaline was slowly waning. Hit with a wave of exhaustion she had to lean against the walls as she walked. Suddenly she felt lightheaded, buckling over. Her hand went to her head. She’d forgotten about the bleeding, her hand returning slick with blood. Her hair had begun to matte. Rahmi tried to keep her eyes open but her tunnel of vision was narrowing. Propping her head up with her folded arms over her shirt and bag on the ground, Rahmi settled into her makeshift pillow. Closing her eyes for a moment would be good, then she could eat something and find the next step to get out.

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Rahmi Farooq

0 · 351 views · located in Cairo, Egypt

a character in “Gods Among Us: Reborn”, as played by leisurelyatwar

Description

So begins...

Rahmi Farooq's Story

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