City Rat and Country Mouse (Sophie!)

[Rylok]

A heavy ringing started buzzing in Simon's ears, obfuscating Sophie's request that he go to him, but her hug broke through the rising feeling of dissociation that was threatening to overwhelm him.

That said, it startled him.

His first reaction to her touch was to stiffen and flinch again, but then he melted into the hug. He shivered briefly while trying to overpower the intrusive thoughts throttling his voice. Whenever he'd made a friend in prison, Monmouth punished him. Whenever he tried to form any connection with his guards, they were transferred. Having someone treat him like he was important...this was-new. New was okay. New was good. He could do new. He could do this. He breathed deep finally, and released his own shaky breath.

"...okay. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for scaring you. I didn't-d-din't think, I just...needed you safe." He gulped another breath and settled himself that much more.

Simon stood carefully and took Sophie's hand in a gentle hold, trying to hide how desperately necessary the connection was for him.

"Okay. Deal...and...I-" How did he explain? She probably already accepted what she knew. He reached up and pushed the hood off his head, then removed his mask. He busied himself putting the mask in his satchel so that he didn't have to see her reaction. In the torch light, his pale and ghoulish face was emphasized, but he wanted to show her rather just tell her what kind of trust he was offering her. Still, he just couldn't meet her eyes.

"...Thank you."

[Hyacinthus]

"I know. I appreciate you, you know? Just gotta get you to appreciate yourself a bit more, is all!"

It was all Sophie could do to verbally prop Simon up a bit-- She'd physically propped him up a bit already, after all. He seemed to be at least a little bit more lively-- for a lack of a better turn of phrase-- after her reassurances, and Sophie could live with that. She preferred an open-door relationship with her friends, allies and the like-- That they were free to come to her with what they wanted to come to her with, on their own time, and their own willingness.

A policy that seemed to be paying dividends, she thought, as he moved to remove the coverings on his face, revealing the man behind the mask. Perhaps the correct reaction would've been to be afraid, or shocked; Maybe even appall. But Sophie was in no position to judge anyone, honestly-- 'exotic' as she was. Instead, she only offered him a bright, reaffirming smile... though he may or may not have missed it in his efforts to do literally anything other than hold eye contact with her. Yep, she noticed it. Nope, she didn't feel offended or disappointed over it. "Figured it might be a little stuffy under there," She teased a little, the closest thing to an unspoken 'I accept you for who you are' that she could muster without getting too much more mushy. Simon seemed to struggle a little with mushy.

Before long, the mousey little historian was turning her gaze back to the room they were in. Business was still booming, after all; There was still a great many mysteries to unravel here! "Now-- hopefully no more surprises in here, at least..."

[Rylok]

Her words felt like a warm bath for his heart. Despite his best efforts to be a submissive, gloomy sourpuss, her affirmations and teasing drew a smile from him.

"Maybe. Don't need to breathe, anyway, so it's not terrible..." he tried not to mumble. The smile didn't quite fade away as he started looking around at the hall. The dwarves and elves wouldn't have let themselves stay in the pitch black, but he didn't see any of the wires or glass tubes that some of the more industry-focused societies used for light. There were some trenches on the floor by the wall...he pointed them out to Sophie.

"Do you think these are oil trenches for light? The dramatic lighting from below would soften the geometric nature of the mosaics like the elves liked, but it would stay dimmer like the dwarves preferred..."

He went over to the trench closest to them and gingerly touched the bottom of the trench. There was a thin, almost dry layer of oil and soot lining the stone trough.

[Hyacinthus]

Sophie beamed, particularly pleased that Simon was starting to feel like himself again— or at least, seeming to. More than happy to leave the topic where it lay, she followed him toward the inlet he described, her eyes glistening with intrigue as she knelt down beside him.

"It's interesting to think that the dwarves and elves were able to find a semblance of cohabitation here, in spite of their differences! Did you know— there's written history on ancient mountain dwarven cultural beliefs that suggests that the earliest dwarves didn't even leave their mountain caves— fear of the sky, of all things. The first recorded outings of mountain dwarves— at least, the public ones, are several thousand years old— recorded on stone, of course, but the preservation methods have been lost to time..."

Her right hand reached down and dabbed at the oily scum, bringing it closer to her eyes as she rubbed the thin, tarred substance in her fingers. "Resin? No, but clearly not a modern fuel source either... I wonder how they came up with these— Hey, look there!"

Sophie was never one to miss a detail or two out of turn— and somewhere further down the length of the trench, coated in the same oil and soot, was an... object. She couldn't tell exactly what it was; the dim reflection of the torch flame gave off the inkling that it might've been... hexagon-shaped? And if her eyes didn't fail her, was there... some form of red jewel or other, in the midsts of it? A trick of the light, maybe but...

"An old accessory, perhaps...!? I—" She nearly jumped out of her skin— her enthusiasm to better observe and document the finding faster than her mortal flesh— but she managed to catch herself mid-motion, before blindingly rushing over to it. That had gotten her partner killed just a few moments ago, after all. "...You think it's safe, to grab it?"

[Rylok]

Simon carefully brushed the flammable residue off his hands. Fires were his bane because he couldn't heal them by himself. He watched Sophie in her exuberance and followed her gaze to the item in the oily remains.

"Lessee...no out of place tiles on the floor or walls, no holes in the wall or ceiling, no mechanism hiding above it...should be okay, but go slow and be ready to react if something doesn't seem right," he coached. Maybe if he taught her to spot traps, they could work together and clear the place even faster.

[Hyacinthus]

Should be okay, he claimed; But all the same, just as he warned, Sophie stepped around him slowly and made her way over toward the little emblem in the trench with her eye darting from wall to floor. Everything seemed to be okay...

Before long, she reached it-- and, kneeling down to get her hand down into the trench, Sophie let out a slight yelp of surprise, seemingly unprovoked. She withdrew her hand as if she'd touched fire-- But the look on her face didn't convey pain, or anguish. No, it was moreso... confusion? Perhaps just shock, and intrigue. She looked to her hand once more, to make sure it was fine-- and it was, minus a little soot-- before reaching back down into the trench. "How... strange..." She murmured, before her fingers-- which had been prying the oil-caked-down trinket from the ground-- finally managed to peel it away and pull it up.

Even from the distance, it seemed fairly clear-- the symmetrical, hexagon design, the craftsmanship, the small chain connected to it-- This was indeed either a necklace of some sort, or a keepsake otherwise. But that wasn't even the strangest thing about it! As Sophie held it up to her face for a better look, she looked over toward Simon with a mixture of disbelief and excitement before simply stating, "...It's pulsing! Like a-- like a heart!"

[Rylok]

Simon watched carefully and started forward when she flinched.

"Are you okay?" He started to approach, to try and nanny her, but she didn't need that. She was a skilled researcher and was doing great without him being overprotective. Still...He came closer and looked over her shoulder at the necklace. When Sophie offered it, he gingerly took it, but he was not able to feel its movement.

"I'll take your word for it...is the rhythm steady or does it change?" He asked. At least he could ask good questions and try to be useful to her that way! And...He took out a cloth from his bag and started cleaning the trinket up. The oil and soot were hard to remove, but a bit of work put the shine back onto the metal.

[Hyacinthus]

"It's a steady rhythm-- Almost like a heartbeat, I would say? Two tones, then a pause... two tones, then a pause. Magic, perhaps? But dwarves weren't particular noted to be-- but then again, elves..." Sophie pondered for a moment, before pulling out her trademark notebook once more, and flipping it open to an empty page. It was really, truly a skill to be able to flip the thing open to the first empty page that it had without either a bookmark or a tab to keep things separate. None could beat Sophie at flipping to an empty page in her notebook, you could argue. She was simply the best there was at it.

"Would you mind holding onto it for a bit longer? I just want to... Take a quick sketch and..." She asked out of politeness, but in truth she was already quill-deep in her notes on the strange artifact, and it's design details. Oh, she already had plenty of ideas as to what it could be; A key, perhaps, or some means of magical communication across distances, or perhaps a spell of defensive or offensive magic was cast into it, to be activated at the proper time and under the proper circumstances. There were simply too many variables, and they'd only scratched the surface of their exploration of the caverns, so it wouldn't do to get too deep in the weeds about it-- not yet, at least.

Notes written, notebook secured once more, she looked to Simon with an almost giddy expression. "Shall I hold onto it? In case it's rhythm changes, or something else occurs? The mountain dwarves weren't exactly known for frivolous toys or pointless creations-- I'm not sure what purpose it'd serve just yet, but I'm sure we'll likely either need this trinket or find an important use for it as we move on!" Her cup runneth over with excitement once again, but Sophie was doing all that she could to temper it for the time being. She was happy to have just made this one discovery-- this trip was already paying dividends, in her mind. "Don't think I'm going back on my deal, though; If we don't end up needing it for anything, it's all yours!"

[Rylok]

The undead explorer watched his friend take notes with an attentive, almost rapt expression on his face. The process of writing wasn't as fascinating as the idea, the implication. Sophie had the essence of the treasure captured, never able to be taken from her, stored in a codified and reproduceable manner. The power of that was staggering...the ability to copy an idea and replicate it meant that he could disseminate plans and ideas to others, for good or for ill. A coordinated thieves ring? Planned strikes to cripple an economy...or recorded information to bring about the rise and fall of nobility...empires? Espionage. That was the word for it. He could steal ideas, not just goods...

Or he could stay on track to be an adventurer, read histories, find ruins and explore them, become an historian like Sophie. He could change his life if only he could read.

"No...I'd trade all the gold in this mountain for the ability to read and write," he replied. There was more value in that knowledge than he had understood as a child. If he knew then what he realized now...ooh, how the world could have been different.

[Hyacinthus]

"Read and-- is that right?"

Sophie's tone was neither condescending nor arrogant. Rather, as she turned to face her fallen friend, her eyes were alight with confusion-- as if she couldn't understand the logistics of what the adventurer had just told her. "I'm afraid you'd make a terrible merchant if you're willing to give that much..." It was an obvious jest, but Sophie didn't stop there. She pulled put her notebook once more, and flipped open to a page she'd been writing in earlier.

She was no mind reader, but the mouse girl would've had to have been both blind and deaf to not hear the longing in Simon's words and passing regret in his eyes as he spoke. She slipped a bit closer to him-- the height difference between them being an effective means of positioning herself in front of him-- and gestured for him to look over her shoulder-- down into the book of notes she'd opened. Her thin fingers traced a word at the top of the page-- isolating it for Simon to focus his attention on.

"D, W, A, R, V, E-- pardon my handwriting,  that's an E, N-- spells 'Dwarven'. These two characters, when seperate, make these sounds respectively-- 'Duh'," She explained, looking back into Simon's eyes to give him a somewhat obvious visualization of sound and symbol, "And 'Wuh'. But when you put them next to each other like that, the first sound shortens-- ans you get 'Dwuh'. It's like the 'Wuh' sound sort of steals the show, in a way." Nodding to herself at her silly joke, she finalized by running her finger across the word once more, and sounding it out as she did. "Add each sound on, just like that. 'Dwuh-are'. 'Dwar'. And then... 'Dwar-ven'. Dwarven."

A slight tinge of pink prodded at the girl's cheeks as she realized how out-of-nowhere this entire thing probably felt toward her companion. "Er-- M-my point being, I'm certainly no teacher by profession but if reading and writing are really that interesting to you, I wouldn't mind teaching you the basics-- for less than 'all the gold in this mountain', to be clear! I normally take four days to myself after an expedition like this, so I have plenty of downtime across the calendar, normally."