Tumblr Academy reimagined

"Great," I replied. "Then let's get going." With a short flick of the reigns I headed back over to the rest of our group who waited patiently to head out. "We're all good now, so lets go."

I flicked my reigns as well, and the horse started in a trot after him. I smiled a bit. "This is fun."

I followed as well.

"Loosen up," I advised them both. "I'm not going to keep us at a slow pace for long, and if you're not relaxed you'll be jostled around even more, which will only be uncomfortable for you."

I nodded slightly and relaxed.

((Should I timeskip again here to get them to the ruins))

((Yeah.))

After they were getting used to riding I pushed our speed forward. Half a day and a couple stops later the ruins were almost within sight, and we had just passed our of hearing range of the rock flutes and their eerie sounds. I stopped everyone the second that I could see the ruins. I turned to Maddie. "It's time for us to go look around," I told her, then glanced at the others. "Stay out of sight. We won't be gone for too long."

Aiden: I gave him a thumbs up.

Maddie and I headed out on foot for the ruins, easily blending in to the background and shadows with a practiced skill. To anyone watching us we'd be a blur. To anyone not specifically looking for us, we wouldn't be visible. We studied the location as we approached, surprised by how much the area had recovered from the erosion of time. It was like the ruins were new. Unfamiliar technology had pieced it back together. We scouted for a while searching for signs of life and coming up empty. I did spot multiple entrance sites, however. We eventually headed back to the others.

Kira: I was playing poker with Aiden. He slammed a full house, but I destroyed him with a four of a kind. "Sucker!" I whisper shouted, taking the coins that he provided that we were subbing in for chips. I was robbing him stupid.

Maddie and I hurried back to the others, but neither of us actually ever left our stealth mode on accident. "What do you think you're doing?" I asked from behind Aiden, realizing just then that it would have seemed to them like I materialized out of thin air.

Aiden: I jumped a million feet in the air before I realized it was just Nic. "Geez, you almost gave me a heart attack! And I'm playing poker with Kira."
"Losing poker to Kira."
"Watch it." I started gathering my pennies while Kira grabbed her quarters.

"You two decided to... gamble while Maddie and I were out looking around?" I asked slowly. While there wasn't anything they could have done directly to help the two of us, they could have also preoccupied themselves with tasks related to our mission, like sharpening weapons or tending the horses.

Kira: "Yeah, after I sharpened my knives to the point where I could slice a blade of grass in half lengthwise and Aiden sparred for five minutes with Alistair, we decided to do something else to pass the time. while the others tended to the horses."

I paused. "So you guys didn't take care of your own horses?" I asked carefully. I shouldn't be bothered by something like that. They were taken care of in the end. Though I had it ingrained into me to tend my things on my own and take are of my horse myself. Then again, these were only temporary horses for them. I sighed a little bit, dropping the subject. I turned back to Maddie.
"You didn't spot anyone either, did you?" I questioned.
She shook her head. "Definitely not. It was odd that there wouldn't be anyone moving around."
I nodded in agreement. "It was strange..." I trailed off, thinking. "We might be expected."

Aiden: I stood up. "Yeah, I took care of my horse before sparring with Alistair, and what do you mean, we might be expected?" I looked over at Matt.

((Dunno why he'd be looking over at Matt? Nic was the one who said that))
"The ruins were fixed," Maddie announced. I nodded to back her up.
"There are two entrances, a front and a side entrance, but the way that we didn't see any kind of life, or any signs of it, seemed unnatural. Such a sudden change in the ruin's condition means there would have to have been someone working on it, but there's nothing to show that. So I have to believe that whoever fixed the ruins up is inside the building and knew we were coming, hence why they would show no signs of life," I explained. "And two different entrances? Probably both traps."

((Because Matt knows things about their enemies. It's not that he's blaming Matt, it's that he's looking to Matt for answers.))

"Then how do we proceed? Do we knowing look at traps, trying to surpass them, or do we go back to the drawing board and come up with other locations they might be in, assuming they abandoned this place once they got light that we were coming?"

I glanced at Maddie to see if she had a better plan than I did. She shook her head slightly. "We split up. Two groups, each with someone who can deviate the androids. The side entrance would be a stealth mission, and the head on would be a larger group." I paused. "Maddie and I can split up so it's one ranger per group..." I trailed off as I thought of who to have in each group.

I raised my hand. "Pick me, pick me!" I called, smirking.

I smiled and thought about how to split it. Matt should go head on because he was able to interface with them, which sounded like a fast way of getting that done, and the way that we knew would work. Aiden could take Artemis' cube and use it. Plus if he borrowed Maddie's cloak he could be silent and camouflaged. But I didn't want Artemis charging into a head-on battle. Perhaps I could take both of them with me and do the stealth part...

I mentally commanded my vibranium to cover my forearm and hand, then I developed an algorithm for the light waves to initiate the cloaking sequence, causing it refract the waves around it, making my arm see through. "Hey, is this useful to either of your plans?" I asked, holding my invisible arm up.

I stared at his arm for a moment before I brought my thoughts to words. "I'll take the side route, and you're coming with me," I insisted. "Artemis too. Everyone else goes head on and draws as much attention there as they can. That way any people that might be set there at the side entrance may go to help in the front." I said. I turned to Maddie. "Give your cloak to Artemis so that he can blend in better, since apparently Aiden was hiding his tricks." She nodded and unbuttoned her cloak, tossing it to Atremis.

"I wasn't hiding anything, I just thought of that just now! See, I used this basic algorithm to figure out at what angle iridescence occurs for the color green, but then I remembered about the mirages for water on the roads and the basic principle for how it creates the optical illusion, and I thought about how I could configure that to get a reflective angle to refract the light I emit so it can... and I lost you, didn't I?"