Why Exactly?

Robin jumped a bit as Sonya's voice came through in her helmet. Well that was going to take a bit to get used to. When she turned around, she saw the man next to Sonya do the same, and she couldn't help but giggle, although whoever's helmet that just came through to, she had no idea. Almost jumping at the sound of the tour guide's voice, too, she looked over to her, listening to her instructions. Alright, so basically don't run. Well that was a bummer. As the elevator slowed to a stop at the bottom, Robin was practically grinning ear to ear. The door opened to let the group out, but Robin sped ahead of them, probably tripping a few people accidentally. She was the first out into the mines - and of course - the first one to come crashing down on her rear. Getting back up and regaining her balance, she frowned and mumbled to herself, "Well that hurt... Definitely no running, then." Turning around to face the doors, she waited as the rest of the group exited to try and go anywhere else.

Sonya stepped out confidently, striding over to Robin with a smug grin on her face. "I take it your going to listen to the guide a bit more now?" She asked jokingly, nudging the girl with her elbow before the woman caught their attention again. "Now then, remember what I said, folks. If you get lost, call for me, My name is Natalia." She beamed at the rest of them before turning around and slowly making her way deeper into the tunnel.

Sonya froze at the mention of the woman's name, a flashback from the last time she saw her longtime friend. "Oh... Well, I suppose there's only so many names in the universe." she murmured under her breath before walking along behind the rest of the group, already distracted from her momentary lapse by the breathtaking beauty around them. The walls shimmered with multiple colors as their lights bounced off of their reflective surfaces. The ceiling was full of hanging diamonds, making the mine look like a palace more than a tunnel.

(That's right, I said it and you can't make me take it back xP lol)

((*punch* FDIUGHLKANQWA WHY?!))

Robin, finally finding her balance, took a look around. "Woah..." The group's combined light did actually light up the tunnel quite a bit, showing all of the beauty of the planet. She didn't really think that the entire planet was made of diamonds - maybe the outside was and the inside was like dirt with some crystals or something, but no, it was actually properly all diamonds. She walked slowly ahead, partially too awestruck to move quickly, partially trying not to fall down again. Her mouth was stuck in an open mouth smile, still not quite believing that something could be this incredible.

Sonya chuckled lightly and twisted her head around, lighting the ceiling above them a bit more to be seen easier. "As good as you hoped it would be?" She asked quietly, glancing over at Robin quickly before turning to look at the wall beside them. "I have to say, I'm surprised too. I half expected it to be like a mine shaft back on Earth." A grin lighted her face as they turned a corner and came out into a large underground room of sorts. Several tunnels branching off of it lighting up as they made their way towards the center. "This is the main cavern, the first area studied at length by our researchers. Several artifacts have been found in here and is now believed it was a ceremony room of sorts." Natalia said to the group, her light turning upwards at the ceiling above them. "They took the time to carve the diamonds above even, indicating this room was indeed used for a special significance."

Sonya turned her own light upwards, letting out a small whistle of approval at the sight she saw. Carvings of creatures, the planets and several star maps all formed out of the diamonds above their heads. "It must have taken them years... Generations even to finish that."

Robin looked up at the carvings in the crystal, the grin still stuck on her face. Between the beauty of the diamonds and the intricate details of the carving, she was practically speechless. "This is just too cool," She laughed, looking over to Sonya. Lucky her, she could take the TARDIS here any time she wanted to. There was no way Robin was ever gonna leave. Peering back up at the carvings, she tried to make out which planets where shown there. With a sigh, she realized she couldn't make out a single one - she was really off her game. Giving up with science, she decided to just enjoy the magnificence of it all.

Sonya clapped Robin on the shoulder before turning and following the guide as she led them down one of the adjoining tunnels. "This one gets a bit rough in the middle. Some crawling, some climbing. Lots of branching tunnels, so don't wander off. Stick with the group." Natalia warned them. Turning around once everyone was inside the tunnel with her. "Stay where you can be seen." Turning back around, she headed deeper in and continued on her way. Before long the ceiling of the tunnel slowly arched downward, forcing anyone taller than five feet to crouch down as they walked along.

"Up ahead is a large wall of diamonds. There are handholds in it so we can climb up easily." Natalia called over her shoulder as they were dropped down to their knees and began crawling through the last stretch of the tunnel towards the opening up ahead. "Only use the handles set there to climb with, do not attempt to climb up the wall itself you will slip, and you will fall. I will not have imbeciles hurt after I've told them expressly not to do so. If I see anyone using anything besides the handles, we will turn around an go back. No refunds will be received either." She added, her tone turning to a warning from the light one she usually used.

Robin's smile turned to a slight frown. So much for that idea. Oh well, she didn't want to be blamed for everyone having to lose their money. Crawling out of the tunnel, she stepped out into the opening, immediately spotting the wall they were to climb. At least she still got to climb. Smile returning to her face, she strolled up to the wall - the only reason she wasn't running being she would slip. Glancing over at Sonya, then at Natalia, she giggled, reaching up and beginning to climb the wall. 

((short reply is short. meh.))

Sonya shrugged in apology at Natalia before following Robin up another set of rungs imbedded into the wall. "She's excited, her first time to Midnight." She added as an afterthought, looking down at the bemused guide before returning to the task at hand. "Be careful once you reach the top, it's as slick as the floor down here. Crawl forward until you get away from the edge." Natalia called up to them before turning to assist the others as they began to climb up themselves.

Sonya grinned and settled into a comfortable speed as she steadily climbed higher. Pacing herself much like when she used to climb when she was younger. The wall they climbed up had to be at least four stories high. Massive for a rock climb, but made easier with the rungs. Checking on Robin's progress, she eyed the young girl carefully, keeping an eye on her feet and hands should they slip.

Robin looked up to see Sonya speeding ahead of her, and naturally, she sped up to meet her. Only then she wasn't looking where her hands and feet were. "Woah!" She yelped, her foot slipping off the hold. Scrambling to stay up, she clung to the wall and tried to find her footing. "Heheh.. sorry..." She smiled meekly to Sonya and Natalia, knowing she probably just gave them quite a spook. From that point on, she paid good attention to where she put her hands and feet.

Sonya cast a scowl down at Robin in irritation. Both of her hearts were sent into overdrive once she saw the younger girl was about to fall from the wall and down to the floor far below. "Don't do that again. You nearly caused me to go into cardiac arrest, twice." She hissed to her softly so the others wouldn't hear. Taking a deep breath, she looked back up and was gratified to see they were nearly to the top. Settling back into her pace again, she gripped the edge of the wall and crawled herself up, crawling forward a few paces before standing on her feet and taking a look around. Another tunnel opened up ahead of her, most likely taking them to a different area with more climbing and crawling.

Turning around, she knelt by the edge and held a hand out to Robin to help her up once she reached the top as well. "Come on, girlie, let's get you somewhere to sit before you end up falling and becoming a stain on the diamond floors below, yeah?"

"Well that's a nice image..." Robin mumbled, climbing up to the top and taking Sonya's hand. Using the help, she pulled herself up onto the floor and crawled over a few steps like she was told. "And it's not like I intended to die or anything." Standing up, she turned around to look back down at the place she might have just have just splatted. Once that thought entered her head, she had to back up a few more steps. "I blame the suit." She mumbled, scowling at the ground the just left behind. She really hoped that the exit was a separate place from the start point, not wanting to have to travel down that wall as well on the way back.

Sonya chuckled lightly and walked over to where Robin stood and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Relax, you think I wouldn't have caught you?" She asked quietly as another hand appeared at the top and she rushed over to help them up as well. Before long, the entire group as at the top along with Natalia. "Alright folks, keep moving. Lots more to do before we're through." She called brightly over her shoulder, already walking down the tunnel ahead of them.

Sonya shrugged at the other as they exchanged surprised looks at each other. Apparently there would be no resting during the tour. Stretching her arms over her head, she wandered along behind the guide, her light sweeping from side to side as she studied the larger tunnel with wonder. "How much farther is the end?" She suddenly asked curiously, catching up with the woman and walking beside her as they trudged along. "Oh, quite a bit. We still have about a hour and a half of walking ahead of us." She replied with a smile, Sonya nodded and slowed down until she was next to Nat once more. "Alright, we have a while go to yet, still glad you decided on coming here?" She asked in a teasing tone.

Robin shrugged, "Hey, it's still beats sitting on Earth and riding a bike." She looked around the tunnel, starting to get a bit bored with all the same look everywhere. "On your right, you'll see a wall of diamonds, and on your left, you'll see another large stretch of diamonds. And if you look up - more diamonds!" She whispered to Sonya, doing her mock impression of a tour guide. Then a thought crossed her mind and she really hoped that Natalia wasn't hearing all of the transmissions from the group. She'd probably be insulted, even if she didn't mean to mock her. Well... not her specifically....

Sonya shook her head in amusement as they walked. Up ahead another opening shone as their lights were directed onto it. "Come on, you wanted to come here, now let's keep with the rest of the group." She said quietly, picking up the pace a bit so she could catch up with the back of the group.

Walking into the next cavern, they were met by a large turret of diamond in the middle. It sparkled brilliantly when their lights landed on it, casting the dark room into sharp relief from the reflections. "This is the largest, singular piece of diamond on this hemisphere. It could be moved, but it much too heavy to lift up obviously." Natalia spoke up, waving a hand over at the shining column in front of them. "We'll take a bit of a break here, rest up, there is more climbing ahead." She called to the group as they all let out small sighs and murmurs of relief before sitting down on the floor to rest their legs.

Sonya walked over next to the wall and sat down, leaning her back against it, ignoring the sharp points that poked her in the back. "So, caves of pure diamond, what do you think so far? Besides the fact its the same thing over and over again I mean." She asked Robin with a smile. Before the girl could reply, the guide spoke up, calling for attention once again. "I'm going to scout the tunnel ahead, a few weeks back a few rocks came dislodged from the ceiling, nearly hit a couple of the tourists. I want to make sure there won't be another incident like that again." She called over to them before disappearing into the tunnel ahead. "Don't wander off!" She added before the line went silent, leaving the group alone in the cavern as their lights shone off of the diamonds around them, creating rainbow patterns on the floor with each movement.

Robin looked over to where the tour guide disappeared to, her smile growing. "Well now's our chance, let's go do some exploring of our own." She giggled, standing up and looking around for another tunnel to enter. It's not like they'd get in super bad trouble, anyway. Her plans were ruined as soon as she realized they'd most likely just be kicked out and see nothing more interesting than the usual. Sitting back down onto the floor, she sighed. "Forget that idea. Maybe we can have some fun dodging falling diamonds." She shrugged before flopping onto her back.

Sonya let out a laugh and cast a glance around at the others in the group. "Or we could get better acquainted with our partners here." She said with a grin, getting to her feet and grabbing Robin's hand to pull her to hers. "Come on then, let's go meet the neighbors." Striding over to the first person she saw, she plopped herself down next to them and leaned back on her hands. "So, have you taken the tour before? Or a first time for you too?" She asked curiously, casting a glance over at the person as they turned to face her. "Oh, your the one I scared earlier, sorry about that. Was just testing the radio." She added, holding a hand out to the man with an apologetic smile.

"Oh, it's fine. I was just surprised to have someone's voice suddenly go off in my helmet." He said back with a grin, shaking her hand lightly before waving at the cave around them. "This is my second time, we're taking a different route though, I haven't seen this before." He added, a slight frown crossing his features before lifting his shoulders in a shrug. "My name is Derric by the way, what's yours?"

Sonya cast another smile over at him and leaned her head back as she studied the structure in front of them for a moment in silence. "Sonya, my name is Sonya. That over there is my sister, Robin. She wanted to go on the tour so we stopped by here."

Robin was about to speak up and say that she wasn't Sonya's sister, but she put it off and went with it - not everyone gets to have a Timelord 'sister'. Instead, she stood up and wandered over to the other two. Offering Derric a smile, she waved, "Hello, nice to meet you." She took a seat next to her 'sister', looking around the room at the other members of the group. They all looked nice enough to chat with, but she didn't feel like getting up. This might have been the only rest they were going to get, so she was going to use it to her advantage.

Sonya smiled at Robin with a small wink before returning her attention to Derric once more. "So, a different route? That is a bit odd, maybe they changed it up to make frequent tourists come back more often." She said idly, her eyes drifting over to the cave with a small frown flitting across her face. "Natalia has been gone for a while..."

Getting to her feet, she shot a cautionary glare at Robin. "Stay right here, I come back and find out you got lost because you tried to follow me, I'm going to take you home and leave you there once I find you." She said with an arched eyebrow before turning to Derric with another smile. "Care to watch her for me? Thanks." Before the poor man could reply, she spun around and walked into the tunnel she last saw their guide disappear into. "Natalia? Is everything alright?" She called out, hoping the radio in her helmet would reach the woman from wherever she was.

After walking for several minutes, Sonya frowned in frustration. She couldn't have gone this far, it was only a little bit ago that she had left them in the cavern. Staring around the area, her light caught onto something on the floor, something that didn't shine when the beam struck it. Striding over, she bend down and picked it up with a cold chill running down her spine. A helmet, Natalia's helmet in fact. She thought to herself, noticing the word 'Guide' printed on the visor.

Robin rolled her eyes as Sonya walked away, the only reason for her not following being that she threatened to dump her back on Earth. Turning to face Derric, she sighed. "You don't have to 'watch' me." - she made air quotes with her fingers - "I won't go anywhere." With a pout, she leaned back against the diamond wall, staring ahead blankly. "I honestly don't see the point in me staying behind anyway..." She grumbled, crossing her arms.

Sonya slowly walked back into the cavern, still clutching the helmet ten minutes later. She had searched the entire tunnel as well as some of the branches, but could not find anything indicating where Natalia had gone. "I have bad news folks..." She called out quietly, dropping the helmet on the floor in front of the gathered tourists and falling silent for a moment. "I can't find her, I've spent the last ten minutes searching the main tunnel as well as some of the branches, but there is no place that I found anything telling me where she went."

Derric stared in astonishment at the helmet on the floor in front of him before looking up at Sonya with confusion. "But, how could she have gotten far without it? With the levels in this tunnel, she would have evaporated before you found her, even with how low level it is in here." Sonya ran a hand over the top of her helmet, momentarily forgetting that she had it on as she stared down at the guide's helmet with perplexity. "Her suit wasn't there, if she evaporated as you say, her suit would have been there, all I found was the helmet."

Robin had to try not to smile. Ah trouble, what would I do without you? She forced herself to frown, knowing that if she smiled while there was a dead - no, possibly dead - woman on the loose, people would notice. She wasn't happy about the woman dying/possibly dying anyway - who would be? Standing up, she walked over to Derric and Sonya slowly, scowling at the helmet. No one was down here anymore, so what did this? "Do you think some of the natives survived or something? I mean, what else would be down here? It's not like they let some kind of evil being down here or anything..."

"No No, the natives all died off years before anyone came here." Sonya murmured in a distracted tone as she began to pace back and forth in front of the group, deep in thought. "I haven't sensed anything down here either, just us. So whatever happened to her, happened quick, and very quietly." She added with a glance over at the tunnel. "The only thing we can do now, is go back. We have to. Tell whoever is up on the surface what happened and send in a crew more experienced for this in to find her if they can." Finally turning her gaze on the group, she motioned with her hands for all of them to get on their feet. "Come on, up! I don't know what that was, but we need to get out of here. And I mean pronto, move!"

As they all turned to go back through the tunnel they originally came through, a sudden rumbling sounded from inside, followed by a loud clatter and a pile of sparkling dust to spew out of the mouth. "It's caved in! Now we can't go back!" Someone from the front shouted in panic, already trying to pry the chunks of diamonds out of the way.

Robin yelped at the loud noise and movement of the cave in. "Oh.. that's just great..." She muttered, stepping back from the rubble as if that would keep her save from whatever was lurking. "So... exiting that way isn't an option. Derric." She looked over to the man, thinking she may have found a way out. Maybe. "You've been on the tour before, even if it wasn't this route. Did you exit the same way you came or did you just leave from a different point? It's likely that they'd do the same thing here, wouldn't you think?" She looked over to Sonya to see if she thought that logic would hold.

Sonya clapped Robin on the shoulder in approval, her eyes turning to Derric as he thought over his last excursion through the mines. "No, there was another place to exit through. Several tunnels met up at the elevator there, so I'm going to say that all of the paths converge there in the end." He finally said with a slight lift of the shoulders, apologizing for not knowing more. Nodding her head at him in thanks, Sonya turned to the group and called for attention. "OI! Stop screaming and acting like panic stricken animals. If you want to get out of here, we have to stay together, get through the path and to the end." She said sharply, causing everyone to stop what they were doing the turn towards her. "Now, I'm going to help get you all out, but you'll have to trust me."

"Why should we trust you? You said it was your first time here too!" A woman piped up from the back, her voice coming through the speakers shrilly and causing more than one person to wince from the sound. "We're lost, and we're going to die down here without the guide!"
Sonya cast an irritated scowl at the woman and turned around, already heading for the tunnel. "If you don't trust me then that's your problem. If you want to sit in here, wait for a rescue team and risk being caught by whatever happened to the guide. That's your choice. Anyone else wanting a better chance at getting out alive, follow me."

Robin turned to follow Sonya after waiting a moment to see who would come. It seemed like most of the group came right away, but a couple of them, including the annoying woman from earlier, were hesitant. Eventually, they were all following after Sonya as if she was their mother duck. "If there's going to be more yelling like that, I'm gonna find a way to turn this speaker off..." She mumbled over to Derric, frowning as she walked forward through the tunnel slowly, listening for anything that sounded off before realizing she wasn't going to hear anything through this helmet, hence the current communication system.