ITS A TRAP!

Andraste closed the cell door that was under her spell, she could see up through the hole and now all she had to do was wait for someone to step through it. She wondered who she would catch.

His terror lasted a brief second before impacting with the ground - face first. Rendaz had dealt with a lot of pain in his time - his most recent addition: being struck by a tsunami. But nothing could've prepared him for the agony felt by the crushing of his ribs.

He screamed - it was loud, and sounded more animalistic than human. It lasted no longer than a few seconds, and immediately afterwards he wrapped his arms around his chest, curling up. "Wuh..." he gasped, twitching slightly. The sudden darkness made him paranoid; had he gone blind?

"Who's there?!" he yelled, remaining still on the ground. "Who did this?!"

The child looked at him in terror. She screamed at the top of her lungs seeing his furry, she thought he was going to take a bite out of her and she quickly ran away to go find Yvonne, screaming that there was a monster after her. Poor Rendaz was left alone, the keys out of reach, and the cell door locked.

He heard a scream in reply and the faint noise of footsteps fading away in the distance. Well, that was just great. Whoever had been with him was now long gone. He couldn't see a thing in the darkness, he couldn't move, and his chest was still throbbing painfully. He didn't expect anybody to come running back for him; whoever had done this had obviously done it purposefully.

The floor was cold, and slightly damp too, much to his disgust. He attempted shift into a better position, but his arms ached too much to move, and his legs wouldn't do anything useful.

What he didn't plan on was staying there forever. Twisting his body around to face the ground, he grunted as he placed both hands on the stony floor to push himself up.
'Crrk!'
Biting back another cry, Rendaz flopped to the ground again, cursing himself for his lack of endurance.

After several attempts, he realised he wasn't about to be going anywhere. In defeat, he rolled to his side, resuming his first position. There was only one regret he had: to have that one last cup of coffee.

Lizzie heard two loud screams, she jumped startled and her head snapped in the direction they had come. She ran along at her snail pace until she reached the entrance to what she could only assume was a cellar or basement. Elizabeth lit her hand as she entered, a circle of light around her was all she could see in the pitch darkness. "Hello?" She called nervously, "Is someone down here?" She could barely make out what was in front of her as she shuffled around clumsily.

Yvonne quickly followed the directions given by the girl in her arms, carrying the child as quickly as she could to find out if there was actually someone hurt. She had a bad feeling about 'I-it might be hurt... it fell and I trapped it.' Her vision was fairly decent at night, but then a light blinded her and she stopped, blinking. She'd come around the corner and someone had a torch, which didn't help her night vision at all. "Would you stop a moment, please?" she called from behind whomever was there with the light. "I'm looking for something that may have fallen down here." For the voice from the shadows, she happens to be rather pleasant-sounding to most of the world, her voice a mellow mezzo-soprano, and musical. (Not a monster in the dark, by any means.)

With tentative steps, Yv moved towards the light, trying to regain some of her vision by looking at the walls somewhere between herself and the torch... which where only lit somewhat, not as brightly as the fire ahead of her.

As he lay there unmovingly, he saw a faint, orange light from the corner of his eye. Was he finally on his trip to Hell? He closed his eyes, welcoming his new fate, that is, until he heard a voice. Hello? Is someone down here? The voice sounded strangely familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Then he realised; was someone looking for him? He found it difficult to be true, they were probably looking for the one who trapped him... Or they WERE the one that trapped him. He heard another voice. It sounded older, but he was pretty sure he didn't recognise this one either. I'm looking for something that may have fallen... Had he heard right? He couldn't be sure, he was finding it rather difficult to concentrate on anything. He let out a groan, dreading them discovering him - a broken shell of the prideful ruckarl he used to be.

"That's him! That's the monster!" she cried as they neared Rendaz. They could just see him, and his groan was quite loud, it frightened her. She clung to Yvonne. "He'll eat us.... he'll eat us!" she cried. "I was just trying to do the assignment Mr Rendaz assigned... and I caught a mad monster! He'll eat us..." she was crying hard, she was luckily still understandable through her thick Irish accent, especially since the crying was so loud. Her body shook against Yvonne, and she hid her face, not aware that the person she caught was the very person who made that assignment.

Lizzie jumped at the sound of voices and spun round, dimming her flame lightly. However when she heard the groan she spun back to face where the 'monster' was and almost started laughing, "No way" She muttered, shaking her head and wandering over ot crouch by the cage. "Having fun?" She smiled cheekily down at the lizard man from earlier lying on the hard ground. "He is an ugly monster isnt he?" she turned her head to look at the woman and small girl in her arms.

Rendaz twitched slightly. ...Monster? He'd show them a monster, right after he was able to stand. Still, the young voice was unfamiliar, he hadn't recalled anybody this young at the academy. "...the assignment Mr Rendaz assigned..." He blinked. Then suddenly, it all made sense. This gir was following her assignment! This didn't help at all to lessen the embarrassment, in fact, it only happened to make it worse. Hoisted by his own petard, indeed. Still, the girl didn't seem to recognise him. "I am Rendaz," he grumbled, his eyes narrowing with disdain. "And your stupid trap worked."

It was then he noticed the presence of a different young girl near him, although he had difficulty seeing her. It was when she began spoking that he recognised her voice. Was she not the one who made fun of him after his suffering at the kitchen? Though, he hardly could've called that suffering, not compared to now. "You..." he breathed, the smoke from his mouth thick and fresh. Oh, how he wanted to claw that cheeky smirk off her face. He'd take Hell any day over this. Because Lady Luck hadn't given him enough attention, she decided to give him another twinge to the ribcage. "Uugh.." He tried to raise his claws to his face, if only to hide his pain.

It really didn't help rendaz when Rosie fell through the trap and landed on top of him, before falling off and hitting her head on the floor. It sounded like it hurt a lot. The girl immediately curled up holding her head in her hands, her back to rendaz.

"Andraste, dear, shush, I promised I wouldn't let anything hurt you, didn't I?" Yvonne made her way closer, hearing the girl's cheek and then the grumble. "Dearest, you've caught your teacher..." she began, and then someone new arrived. "Andraste, what did you do to the ceiling? You're hurting people, darling. That looked like Rosie!"

She hugged the girl and then tried to set her down. "You need to undo it, sweetheart, before someone else gets hurt." She looked through the door of the only closed cell. "I'm coming," she called louder. "She's undoing it now," she added, fixing Andraste with a look, one eyebrow raised.

The girl ran off to go fix it, she was still crying hard. Andraste fixed it from above and her crying didn't cease even as she came back to try to get Yvonne's attention again, however, this time she kept her distance and watched her afraid that she was in trouble. She just cried softly watching the four in the light source, the shadows practically ate the child up.

Lady Luck apparently hadn't finished with him yet. Just as he was beginning to settle, she decided to drop another fortunate victim on top of him. "Gah!" he flinched; completely unprepared for the sudden attack. Where were they coming from anyway? As he coiled his arms around his throbbing torso, he could only yell in frustration: "Come ON!"

He heard a voice, apparently reassuring him, but he could only frown grimly. A child crying - the one who trapped him, was it? She should be laughing. He desperately wanted to just crawl out of the room and away from that place, which was quickly becoming crowded. However, his body refused to move. The crying, the fuss, the drama... it was all inevitable. And he hated it.

Rosie was breathing heavily, she didn't cry, she just kept herself in a ball, she had cracked a rib or two on top of rendaz'z body, and she had a splitting headache from actually hitting the floor. She was now trying to figure out what happened and how she had fallen through the floor, but it was a little hard with her blurry vision and pounding headache, so she simply laid there and waited to see if the people around would offer any suggestions or clues as to what had just happened.

Yvonne offered Andraste a smile when the girl returned, not ready to yell at her. She moved over to the cell door and stuck her hand through the lock, manipulating the latch until it released its hold. Pulling her hand back--for a moment it looked faintly transparent but she shook it lazily and the substance returned--Yvonne yanked open the cell door. She dropped to her knees between Rosie and Rendaz, worried that her adopted daughter had seriously injured both of them. She glanced around and saw Lizzie, who apparently was the torch. "Come here, please," she requested of the girl. "I need a bit more light."

Both Rendaz and Rosie looked injured, though she couldn't tell how, exactly. They needed to be in bed at the very least. "I'm sorry, both of you," she told the pair. "My name is Yvonne, my daughter caught you in her... trap. I can carry you one at a time up the stairs, but I don't want to move you until I know I won't injure you further in doing so." She didn't feel she needed to mention that she wasn't accustomed to moving while holding such weight, that was her own problem. A dungeon was not a place for the injured!

Rosie groaned softly as her hands finally made their way to holding her head, which was bleeding slightly. She was actually starting to cry as the pain coursed through her head. She attempted to sit up, but it really only made matters worse. She decided to just be still for a minute as she tried to assess herself, "My wrists kind of hurt... possibly broken, but its hard to feel compared to my head which is splitting." she mumbled, "I think I might have cracked a rib or two..." she groaned once more before falling silent, she hoped that she could at least still be able to cook, and was thankful that she could still think logically.

(color used = lightyellow)

The girl whined, "I'M SORRY!!! I DIDN'T ME AN TO HURT ANYONE! I WAS JUST TRYING TO DO MY ASSIGNMENT!" tears streaked down her cheeks, she knew this was all her fault and that people were hurt cause she did what she was told to do...

As he heard the sound of another breath behind him, he wondered briefly who it may be. They hadn't moved either, perhaps karma had caught up with them for landing on him in the first place?

Gasping for air, he didn't bother turning his head to face Yvonne. "I ain't.. gettin' carried," he sneered, clenching his claws. After his (literal) downfalls, the last thing he wanted was another bruise to his dignity - carried around the academy like someone helpless.

As he heard the voice next to him, he recognised it with a sudden choke - It was Rosie. THE Rosie. She'd screamed at him and had him at knife's end, and now there she was, lying next to him, counting off her injuries. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The young girl was screaming obnoxiously, which hardly helped to lighten the situation.

"Are... all of... you.. complete... ly... useless?!" he rapsed between juddering breaths.

"Andraste, shush. We'll discuss this later, all right? We help people who are hurt and in need before we help ourselves." Yvonne glanced over Rendaz and gave him a stern shake of her head. "Do you really think you have much of a choice? If you could get up, you would have, already. At least I can get you upstairs and see what I can do to help."

She turned first to Rosie, who at least wasn't rejecting her efforts to help the situation. "I don't know your name, dear," she said to Lizzie, "But if you can hold the light steady, I'd appreciate it." Her attention went back to Rosie. "Hit your head?" Her hand hovered near the blood, but didn't actually touch her. "Look here," she requested, holding a finger in front of Rosie's face. "Follow with your eyes. While a concussion probably won't bother you much, I want to make sure." She moved her pale finger from left to right, up and down, and then out and finally in, almost touching Rosie's nose. "Any injuries to your back? Neck? I don't want to aggravate something."

He was slightly grateful for the woman's child-silencing techniques, but didn't feel any more comfortable on the cold, hard surface. At her remark, his face marred into a grimace. He would try once more to get onto his feet, and prove her wrong. He was fine, the trap was just a mere setback! However, upon finding that he couldn't move his arms without his chest screaming in pain, he gave a defeated snort, turning his head away from her. "Do what you will," he hacked. "I don't care." He proved his lack of caring by remaining completely silent as she fussed over Rosie.

As soon as she had the finger near her nose as Rosie's eyes were following it, she pushed the woman's hand away, and managed to roll onto her hands and knees before throwing up right above her hands. She sat back on her knees, and wiped her mouth with a tissue she had at her waist. It looked painful to sit like she was, her back seemed to not quite be strait at the moment, and her wrist, was obviously broken. Her whole body was shaking, and she looked like she could possibly be sick again... She looked over Rendaz and started to laugh, he looked to be in worse shape than she was... She'd be healed in a few days even if nothing was done... however something seemed to snap, and she turned into a five year old due to the head injury - she'd turn back in three day's time. She stared to cry. hard. Pain is especially amplified in children.

"Ah, shit..." Yvonne muttered, watching the woman throw up. Concussion, check. Hysteria, check. And... by the gods. "Rosie, c'mere..." The impression the nymph was getting from the five-year-old was related to the one she'd gotten from the cook, so there was some continuity here. What that was... it was hard to say. Yv fixed Rendaz with a glare. "Try not to move, you'll only hurt yourself further. I'll be back once I've taken her upstairs."

She beckoned to the child again. "Come with me, Rosie, let's go upstairs out of this icky place." Small words for small people... she had no idea what relation this child was to the cook she'd met. Just a physical change? Yv doubted it, at least based on the odd spirit she felt in the girl. "We'll get you healed up, I promise."

Rendaz curled his lip in disgust at the sound of vomitting nearby. What made it worse was the noice that followed immediately after - laughter. At him. He gave a shudder, having no choice but to bottle his rage. When laughter turned to crying, he assumed it was that incessant whining from the toddler again. It still sounded young, but when he looked, he saw that Rosie had been replaced with an uncannily similar child. "...What," he said flatly, not even attempting to put any brink of emotion into it.

As Yvonne fretted over her, he snorted with displeasure as she requested that he didn't move. Like I can do anything else... he seethed inwardly. His eyes glanced around the dimly lit dungeon, frowning. Where was Aethera anyway? Wasn't she meant to be helping him? The girl was probably tripping over her own unstable mentality again. He remained still, finding it rather difficult to breathe.

Andraste gave a little gasp, and tears started to fill her eyes. She drew back further into the shadows, knowing that she had done so much wrong. She drew her legs up to her chest and sat in the dark damp corner of the cell that she had been in to watch her mother take care of things. Andraste knew that she would just get in the way, and more people would yell at her. It was all Rendaz's fault... all his fault... all his fault, now her mother was going to hate her and she barely got to really be with her... and now there was a new girl. Her mother would probably like her better. She tried not to make a sound, she didn't want the attention, her mother could choose who she wanted. Silent tear drops hit the floor.