Not much time later Pomella was cleaning the dishes, grumbling all the while, while Selena and Bio went to check-in at the town hall. Jose had sent them a notice that the scout had returned, and that they had some important info for what lay ahead. So leaving Pomella to her work the two went out to the streets, walking side by side down the road.

"Selena, if you had to guess what would you say is next?" Bio asked casually, glancing south with some amount of trepidation. She couldn't say she wasn't worried, especially after the rocky start. If she had ended up dead only a few hours into their first day in this world, she could only imagine what would lay ahead of them.

"Hmm... well I would rather not imagine what's ahead, I'm crazy enough with these gloves," she commented, turning her head in the same direction as Bio. "But if you insist - which I know you will - if these scenarios are based on some personifications nightmares and phobias, then we should probably expect something that could fit in a cramped space..." she went silent for a moment, rubbing her chin idly. Bio watched her as she thought, fascinated at how she could almost see the gears in Selena's head slowly spinning before beginning to speed up more and more. "I mean, from what we've seen it's a narrow passage between two cliffs with something unknown at the other side, so I wouldn't be surprised if we had some kind of insect..."

"Ugh, I know as a personification of mutation - something akin to nature - I should like all life on this earth to some extent, but bugs still creep me out..." Bio shivered the sensation of a millipede running down her neck - she decided it would be better to cut off that thought before it got worse. Selena laughed softly, and gently bapped her with her right hand.

"Oh come on nobody can love everything, well... except maybe Pomella when she's not tired,"

"Nah she hates work and anything that isn't fun, she doesn't qualify," Bio joked, and Selena nodded gravely. "How much you want to bet she stopped washing the second we left?"

"Hmm... ten dollars,"

"Deal,"

The two approached the front door of the town hall, which turned out to be the same building Selena had gone into to find the man in the wall. She could tell from her expression the memory was still fresh for Selena, lips stretched into a tight line. Without much thought, Bio gently reached out and took Selena's hand in her own, and after only a second Selena squeezed gently. She gave a small squeeze back, then the two walked into the building side by side - or they tried at least, they had to walk sideways.

"Let's call this meeting into order, shall we?" the old man at the table, Bio believed his name was Frederick, called as those gathered slowly went silent. "Micheal, what do you have to report?"

"Well I'm no expert, but from what I saw something is living between those cliffs," Micheal responded softly, his foot tapping on the floor with nervous energy. "I didn't get a good look at what it was, I just heard clicking and ran,"

"Probably a smart move, all the other scouts we had sent in the past never returned," Jose commented, a small smile on his face as the color drained from Micheal's face. Bio had noticed Jose had a sort of morbid humor. "S-so you sent me to scout out an area you knew was dangerous!?" Micheal stuttered, staring at Jose in horror who only shrugged. "Everyone else we sent was starting to go insane, so it's not like we knew it was inhabitants of the cliffs," he reasoned, resting his hands on the table. Micheal simply glared without responding, his fingers tensing a bit.

Selena, as if sensing the building tension, called to Micheal, "You said you heard a clicking, what do you mean?"

"It was a really disturbing sound, it echoed off the walls as if it came from the walls themselves," he began to speak, his anger seeming forgotten in the memory.

"Was it something from... behind, the wall perhaps?" Bio questioned softly, tilting her head curiously. "Could there perhaps be a cave system in the cliffs?"

"It would make sense for this region, a lot of caves formed from when the ocean was still high so it wouldn't be surprising if something made a home," Jose responded, nodding in confirmation. Those gathered at the table began to mutter among themselves, most of the talk on what could possibly in the caves. Bio had to admit, most of their guesses were not friendly and she had to agree with them.

"Well, does anyone have anything else to add?" Frederick called, and the murmuring went silent. After the silence had stretched on just long enough to become awkward, he nodded. "Well then, the council is dismissed,"

Selena had her head tilted to the side as if listening to someone speak into her ear. Bio had seen her do it every now and then, noticing how her jaw also moved just behind her lips as if she were speaking. She had done this every now and then while they recovered, it seeming to be a side effect from what the gloves had done to her. The weird part was how she often had information to share that Bio knew she didn't have before, so she had simply chalked it up to it being the gloves. A small part of her did still worry if Selena was actually going insane though...

"We should probably head back and see if Pomella behaved," Selena sighed softly, bending partially backward in an attempt to re-align her spine. Bio could faintly hear the popping sounds as she nodded, and the two quickly headed back to Pomella to tell her the news.

"Pomella, did you behave while we were going - dammit Pom!" Bio called as the door opened, only to cut herself off as a surge of annoyance washed through her. nearly all of the dishes Pomella had been supposed to clean were still sitting in the sink, while the bird girl slept on her bed... in the nude, again. Bio nearly jumped on top of her the second she was close enough, causing her to shriek in surprise. While Bio began to chastise and wrestle the girl out of bed Selena simply sighed, grabbing out her wallet to get the ten dollars she had bet.

Not long after the three stood in front of the cliff faces, facing the deep crack that ran through the seeming wall of stone. "How did they say this was formed again?" Selena mumbled under her breath, staring at it with some level of awe.

"Mmm... Jose told me about it a little bit ago, supposedly this is where the river that formed the sea had traveled through, cutting through the rock after a very long time..." she grumbled, still all pouty that she had been forced to actually do her chores. Looking as far into the ravine as she could, Bio groaned as she noticed the edges of a large white splotch that lined one of the walls, nearly out of sight. "Great, I think we found out what lives in those caves..."

"Oh my dear babies, I hope none of you have arachnophobia!" a voice called from just behind the three, the sudden weight of an arm resting across Bio's shoulders. "Oh hey Fobus!" Pomella called cheerfully, waving to the tall personification of fear that was currently leaning on Bio and just asking to get smacked. Pomella and Fobus had talked sparingly while Selena and Bio had recovered, the nosey guy having nothing better to do he had claimed. "Hello darling, I heard this meanie forced you to work - how dare she make you productive!" he cried in mock horror, pulling at one of her cheeks.

"Fobus, I'll warn you just once that my left foot is awfully well placed for me to trip and just... 'fall forward'," Bio warned, glaring down at the dark blue hand still pinching her cheek.

"Yeesh, so prickly," he grumbled, pulling his hand away from her face as well as taking a step back.

"Not to everyone, you just get special treatment..."

"Oh stop, my heart can only take so much abuse!" he moaned, clutching at his chest before almost immediately dropping the act. "In all seriousness though good luck you three, arachnophobia exists for a good reason and I can tell you giant spiders only makes it worse,"

Then with that ominous statement, he vanished, leaving the three staring into the ravine... before beginning to treck forwards to find what lies beyond.

Author's Note

So favorites anyone? We'd love to hear any character you may especially like so far, not that they will get special treatment of course, hmhm - Fobus

He is a special case, I can't stop him...
Anyway, hope yall enjoyed the chapter