"Could you take off your tank top?" She blushed while she said this, she didn't know why, but she suddenly felt embarrassed for asking such a question at a moment such as the one they were trapped in.
"You're sure about that?" Raph had the wrong idea of what she meant and could only doubt if she was playing a joke with him.
Her curiosity sparked up, she couldn't quite picture what he was talking about. What she had in mind was pertaining to his injury, she had to treat it properly, then he'd wear his clothes back.
As simple as it sounded in her mind, she wasn't quite sure they were on the same ground about what she had thought.
"What do you think I meant?" She tilted her head in confusion as one of her fingers was hanging loosely at the corner of her lips.
He couldn't bear to say it out loud and decided to forfeit by accepting defeat. Just probably, he had thought he was wrongly judging her.
"Nevermind."
"Then I guess it's okay for me to carry out my plans for you in relation to your injury."
"Oh..." He zoned out, but a bit relieved at the fact she was the one to do it.
Rolling the cloth into a ball, she applied pressure on his wound, not minding the scrunch on his face.
"Big boys don't feel these little things, right?" She teased, using the ripped one to warp above his shoulder and crossing it under his armpit to secure it tightly.
"Would you be less aggressive when it comes to these kinds of things?" He felt that the bandage was adjusted a little too.
"Noted." She tightened the makeshift bandage.
"You two make for a good soap opera," Mr Nigel cackled, he couldn't care less what was going on, but he felt whatever it was, it was something worth watching. "But right now, you two idiots need to quiet down, it is soon to arrive."
'Idiot?!' They had both thought in unison, their minds had picked on nothing but the insult thrown at them.
"Psst." Raph said in a hushed whisper to her. "That freaking idiot of a leader just called us an idiot."
"You just called him an idiot, you idiot!" She deadpanned with a blank face.
"Fair point."
"Look above!" One of the archeologists pointed above them as they watched with wide eyes and horror stricken faces.
Levitating in the air, was a glowing stone, it just stayed there suspended, it was still unknown what that was.
"What the hell did we get ourselves into?" Another trembled, he knew their jobs were to find ancient relics, artifacts and all, but what they had witnessed was enough for them to forgo their work and retire while they still had their body intact.
"At last!" Mr Nigel howled, quieting down as he realized people were still out there.
Even though this runic stone was close, yet far from him as he couldn't still reach it. If he did jump to reach for it, there was no guarantee he could dodge the arrows aimed at him at such height.
"Did you hear that howl?" Raph whispered to Chantel.
Nodding her head, she was sure it wasn't just her who had heard that, why would Mr Nigel howl like an animal?
"We need to get going." He held her hand once more, if they had any chance of survival as he had read about this sort of thing. They needed to get to the source, the very thing the arrows were protecting and that could only be that glowing stone suspended in the air.
He wondered why Mr Nigel hadn't made a move yet to it, judging by his words earlier, he was certain this was the confidential artifact he had so desperately kept from all of them.
"Are you sure you can make it?" Chantel looked at him worried, she didn't want to be a burden to him anymore.
"Here, put this on." Handing his tank top to her, he studied their next line of action, they needed to hurry to the safest yet closest place to Mr Nigel.
They were merely a few feets away from his location.
Chantel shook her head, although she had so desperately wanted to cover herself up. She had also reasoned there were times she would jog back in her neighborhood clad in her sports bra and shorts, this wasn't all too the same and so she could manage it.
Raph needed his clothing more than she did and she was determined not to wear it.
"Your shirt reeks of manly sweat." She pegged her nose, pushing his hand away as if she had seen some sort of ghost.
Raph furrowed his brows at her answer. What exactly does she mean by manly sweat?
He took a whiff of his tank top, just to confirm if her claims were true.
"Don't sniff it, just put it on." She scolded.
"Hmmm." He narrowed his eyes, reluctantly obliging.
"Hold my hand tightly, okay?" He advised, a repeat of last time was something he wished not to happen, next time he or they might not be so lucky.
Sprinting towards the next boulder, he caught sight of Mr Nigel's khaki pants, "fancy meeting you here, Sir." He gave a cocky smile.
"You–" His gaze darted towards Chantel then back at Raph.
"You don't seem pleased to see us." Raph spat with spite, "is there something we are interfering in?" He hummed.
Chantel held onto his hand like her life depended on it, there was something about his eye color that scared her. If she remembered correctly, he had blue eyes, so why could she see a hint of yellow at that point?
She could only come to the conclusion that it was probably the luminous fungus playing tricks on her. Tugging on Raph's clothing she whispered with the corner of her mouth. "Please tell me you can see the yellow in his eyes."
"What are you talking about?" He whispered in a like manner, maintaining eye contact with Mr Nigel.