Where Is My Mind?

Karma's soft leather boots were soundless against the stone as she wandered deeper and deeper into the caves. The substance she needed was in here somewhere, hidden from the rest of the world. Wandering deep into the caves, she hoisted her knapsack higher on her shoulders and continued her way. The properties of this flower would be the most beneficial to her research, a missing puzzle piece, one might say. She'd searched through the library to find a close location, only to find that there was one right within walking distance, should she be able to find it.

Pausing briefly to leave another drop of perfume onto the floor at her feet before moving once more. The stone in the walls had proven to glow, once she'd gone deep enough, and she'd even found an underground stream that led her to a waterfall. She paused eight times to leave a drop of perfume on the floor once more before her eyes caught on the illuminated petals of the beautiful violet flower, just across the river that had grown into a massive barrier. It was at least ten feet across... too far to just jump...

She kicked a stone into the water, watching as the tide swept it away. So swimming was not an option.

Tightening the straps of her knapsack, Karma took a few steps back, judging the distance before looking in the other direction. With a grin, she took a running start before running up the wall that ran alongside the river, pushing herself off when she got high enough to lose her momentum, and backflipping through the air to land solidly on the other side. She blinked and brushed herself off before going for the flower, picking the thing up in her bare hands. Unbeknowst to her, she inhaled some of the flower's fragrance, her superhuman senses picking it up and letting it flow into her system.

She had known the flower's properties, but she could never have guessed the affect it would have on her.

Aragorn drifted over to stand beside her, at least a foot away from her. His dull, grey-green eyes flicked from the flower up to her face. He smiled faintly and waved a hand in front of her face slowly. He felt much too dull to be really there, his body felt almost non-existent. It was like the kid was a ghost, and he was just following Karma around like he was haunting him.

Gorn didn't remember dying. Actually, it was as if he'd fallen asleep and he'd been that way for a long time. He'd felt Karma there, somehow, and he'd seen what she'd been seeing for days. He smiled, maybe he really was dead.

Karma blinked a few times as mist seemed to move past her face, waving her hand before turning back to the flower. With exceeding care, she shrugged off her backpack and set to work, digging it out of the tough ground - roots and all - and into a magical container. Wiping the back of her hand across her nose, and unwittingly bringing the substance fully into her windpipe, Karma tucked the flower into her bag before closing it and pulling it back onto her back.

Turning, she prepared to run up the wall to make her way back before something out of the corner of her eye stopped her.

Freezing, she turned, her movements hesitant and slow, before her eyes landed on him. The boy who, last time she checked, had been moved from her house to the hospital wing on her orders, still completely dead to the world.

"Gorn?"

Aragorn watched her, a little irritated that she hadn't noticed him. He leaned hesitantly against a large rock and hoped her wouldn't fall through it. But he didn't, not like the ghosts at school, and he sat there impatiently. Could he do anything that would make her look at him? He couldn't pick things up, he realised as he reached down and tried to grab a rock. He growled silently and stood back up, pacing back and forth behind Karma.

She was leaving, he realised when he looked up, and his expression flicked from irritated to distressed. What if he couldn't leave with her? He jumped up and down, waving his arms and trying to get her attention. He was glad he wasn't getting tired.

Karma, come on! See me.

And then, she said his name. So she could see him, right?

Stepping closer to the boy, Karma blinked a few times, reaching out her hand as if to touch him before she hesitated. "What are you- doing here?" She frowned at him. To her, he looked perfectly solid, as Gorn as he'd ever been; tall as hell and half as awkward. "Shouldn't you be in the hospital wing?"

The doubt she felt was trumping the irrational happiness that was bubbling inside her. Was he awake then? Finally? She took a step closer to him, her arm still outstretched, though the doubt was still clear in her eyes.

Aragorn's brow creased and he watched her hand. He disliked the hesitation and waited for her trust, listening carefully as she talked. He shrugged a bit when she'd stopped, "I dunno. One minute I'm in my head, the next I'm here." As he said here, he motioned to the cave and continued, "I've never been here before, where are we?"
She moved closer and he grinned, a hopeful twinkle forming in the back of his mind. Maybe living beings could touch him, maybe it was just he who couldn't touch other things. He couldn't touch that rock that he'd wanted to throw though, had he? His grin quickly faded and he frowned, not wanting to disappoint her in case her touch goes straight through him. He backed up slightly.