Wanted: Exit [Francine, Mei, Soo Yong, Yong Soo]

[k]

It was a fine enough day with a mostly cloudless sky and a somewhat gentle breeze. These were the kinds of days when Mei felt that she could just walk right inside the Training Maze and come out unscathed.

Well, she did walk right inside the maze. The only problem was that she didn't quite know how to get out of it.

She pulled her hand back to her person when she felt a thorn prick her middle finger. She had been using the one-hand-one-wall trick to get her out of the maze, but it, judging from how the walls had gotten somewhat more dangerous that she would like, was probably something she couldn't do anymore.

She quickened the healing of her finger and then, with a frown on her face, wiped the blood off with her handkerchief.

"This is just stupid," she muttered.

She could, in all honestly, just touch the walls and, as it was made out of something living, make it wilt, but then she'd have to deal with concrete or whatever it was the other walls were made of next and nonliving things just weren't her forte.

Oh, she should have taken someone with her. Preferably someone who knew the way out.

She sighed. Chances were, no one was going to be inside the maze. Most people spent days like these going to all the fun places outside the campus. Plus, the staff, if she'd heard correctly, only checked the maze for missing students come nighttime; there were even days when they didn't check the maze.

"Now how are we going to get ourselves out of here?" she asked herself.

She looked up at the sky and felt as if it was mocking her by being too blue and cheery.

[nambusonyeo]

The sun's beams shone down bright and champagne-colored on the green hedge leaves, filling the plants with warm, flowing life before bouncing back up into the robin's egg sky. Soo Yong wished she could jump up and join them: if it weren't for the unfortunate fact the Korean was ground bound, she would have had a better view of the maze and been out ages ago.

"Then again," she reflected aloud, brushing back her hair curl and smiling at it. "If I was a bird, this would hardly be necessary, right, da ze?"

As it was, she shifted aside more vines, pressing her palms to the stone wall beneath. With an easy exertion of will, a purple-black shadow coalesced beneath her fingers. Probing deeper through the stone, the hole soon became a window to the other side. Smiling to know she hadn't found another dead-end (but disappointed that she had failed to find the outside), Soo Yong spread her hands, stepping through the portal way.

Glancing to the left and the right, the corridor resembled almost to the stone and leaves all of the others she had passed. Soo Yong huffed, placing her sleeved hands on her hips. "Would it kill them to put in a courtyard every once in a while? All these passageways get boring, y'know."

Turning around, she dismissed this side of the portal, walking a bit of a distance both directions of the path to see what she could see. At the same time, she tested the distance she could manage away from the portal, counting her footsteps and feeling the pull. After all, she had come here in the first place to practice. It was just a matter of finding a way back out...

"At least it's a nice day," she murmured aloud, swinging her arms as she let the portal collapse behind her. "If I find a good place to sit, we can have a picnic, da ze~!" She beamed up at her hair-curl, whistling slightly to make it bob.

[keyatehspazz]

Ah, the maze. It was always a nice way to relax, wandering through it as if nothing was wrong with the world. Besides, the smell of the garden was always so sweet compared to the musky smell of the halls. Francine choose an entrance and started the maze, leaving a trail of pheromones in her wake.

Hey, she never said she went through the maze without cheating.

Besides, could it be called cheating? She was just using her powers, which was what the whole purpose of the maze was. And she never got lost because of them. Well, except for that one time where she wandered too far in and ran out of pheromones. But that was freshman year, and she found the trail soon enough. Even through the next day she woke up with a killer headache. Urgh. Just thinking about that made her want to rub her temples. Shaking off the thought, she continued to follow the twists and turns of the maze, enjoying the sort of calm that she always got when walking around outside. Humming a soft tune under her breath, she idly wondered if she’d find anyone in the maze. Last time, she had met up with this cute boy and they had wandered around for a bit. And it seemed his power was plant based, and he grew a flower for her. So romantic.

[sokkoy]

YongSoo sucked in his cheeks as he looked around. Hedges and leaves as far as the eye can see; he idly realized that rushing into the maze head-on and without much thought was not the best idea he ever had. Plus he also did have that slight problem of lacking a directional sense. It wasn't his fault, really. Everything just seems to move around without his consent which ended up getting him even more lost.

He let out a breath through pursued lips. His eyes stared at the hedge in thought. Perhaps he could climb to the top of the hedges and just walk on them and eventually free himself from the confusing maze. He was just about to when he was suddenly struck with a thought. Had his older twin siblings finished the maze? That thought swirled in his mind for a while. Biting the inner of his cheek, he wished he could confirm that assumption. He knew that TaeHyun wouldn't have a phone on him, due to his stupid twin being old-fashioned. But he did know that SooYong would have a phone on her; she was into technology like him. And he was glad for that.

He reached his hand into his jean pocket, only to feel nothing. He froze when the fact that he hadn't had his phone on him dawned into his mind. Letting out an agitated groan, he mussed up his hair with frustration and plopped onto the ground. He really needed to know if SooYong finished the maze or not. If she did, then he obviously would not get out of the maze using cheating methods. That would strike a heavy blow on his pride and competitive spirit. And if she didn't finish, then he would most definitely have to finish before her.

He leaned against the hedges, staring up at the sky. How exactly would he know if SooYong did or not? His mind wandered around aimlessly when he noticed something.

"Hey... The sky's really blue today, da ze," he spoke to no one in particular. And then he sneezed.

[k]

OOC: I'm so sorry I took so late in replying! D:

There was this feeling Mei had, a gut feeling and a strong one at that, that told her that there was someone else inside the maze. There had to be someone in it, she reasoned with herself. In such a large place, that also seemed to beckon at you to just come inside and get lost, it simply wasn't possible for her to be the only person in it.

So there had to be someone else in the maze. Even if they didn't know the way out.

She slapped her cheeks with her hands. "So let's try and find them, Xiaomei." Before any of those monsters she'd heard about popped out. Some of the people who'd gone inside the maze had told her that, if one was unfortunate to pass certain corridors, they'd meet up with the maze monsters.

Yes, the maze monsters. Just like in that story. Too bad she hadn't thought of leaving a trail of string behind her so that she could find her way out.

She shuddered.

She fished for her phone inside her skirt pocket. She looked at the time, then she flipped the phone open and looked at the signal bar. "Still out of coverage." The whole maze was built so that the people (trapped) inside couldn't get help from the outside easily. And what was up with that? What if an emergency inside the maze happened? What would they do then?

"Surely they've got cameras in here." She, expecting lens poking from here and there, looked at the walls surrounding her. Of course, if there were cameras, they'd be a little more hidden.

She sighed and walked some more. She wondered when the thorny walls would morph into something else; it was getting boring seeing the same old thing.

Then right after she rounded a corner, she spotted a girl. One that seemed to be bright and cheery and right around her age. And looked familiar too.

"Hey there!" Mei waved her hand at her a little.

[nambusonyeo]

Soo Yong’s whistling came to an abrupt stop as she heard someone calling out in her direction, turning swiftly and lifting a hand to edge Sang Hee out of the way. It took her a moment to recognize the Asian in front of her, but once she did Soo Yong broke into a brilliant smile.

“Mei-Mei!” She called out, pouncing forward to envelop the other girl in an affectionate ‘glomp.’ She nuzzled the Taiwanese girl’s chest, happy if rather bemused by this strange turn of events, before drawing back enough to look the other girl in the eye, clasping the other’s hands through her sleeves.

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen you, da ze! How is Yao-Oppa doing? Is he here too? I didn’t know you guys got into Asher! This is amazing, da ze!” Soo Yong took a moment to stop gushing, smiling broadly.

It seemed like forever and a day ago since the Korean girl had last seen her distant cousin. She remembered how happy and giddy she was when Umma first told her that a girl would be visiting, taking it as a wonderful reprieve from being surrounded by rowdy boys all the time.

If Soo Yong remembered right, she hadn’t been disappointed: Mei-Mei was a fun girl to play with, and she had brought many cute things with her during the visit. Soo Yong remembered sending Mei-Mei-Unni the occasional email now and again, but had fallen a bit out of touch as she and her brothers continued to develop their powers. She had forgotten how much she missed having a girl of the same age to talk to.

And now, to find out her cousin was another Asher student! Had to be fate, da ze.

Oh, but right, they were still in a situation. Soo Yong looked around the other, and tried to see if there was anything different down the path.

Nope. More hedges.

Soo Yong looked back at Mei, tilting her head slightly with a grin. “You’re lost too, da ze?” She asked, a bit more calmly than her earlier rapid fire questions.

[keyatehspazz]

Francine smiled and continued walking along the path, traveling deeper and deeper into the maze. Maybe she should have called her brother to come with her, it would have been nice to have someone to talk to. Well, no matter, she could be by herself for a bit. Although, it was starting to get boring. Giving a small sigh, Francine contemplated just turning around and following the trail back out. She wasn’t very good at sticking to an idea it seemed. That was when she heard a mumble and a sneeze.

Blinking at the sudden sound, Francine tried to detect where exactly it came from. Chuckling, she peered around the corner and saw nothing. Going forward to the next corridor and looking around produced a boy. He was sitting on the ground and leaning against the wall, staring up at the sky. Perking up, Francine smiled and made her way over. “Bonjour.” She greeted, walking over to the slumped figure against the wall. “What are you doing down there?” Leaning forward, she put her hands on her knees so they were more at eye level. He didn’t look like he was in her class. In fact, he looked rather young. Maybe he was a freshman? She didn't reconize him at any rate, and that wouldn't do. Francine took pride in knowing almost all the kids in school (and their powers, but that was beside the point). “And who are you?”