[Rina]

No need to worry, Arle. Schezo's in much deliberation to even consider anything funny at the moment. And he took no mind to Shulk's disappearance. He's still thinking on what to do.

"Jealousy I often associate with a true green, and not someone tinted with another color. Thus, it must be a blue-yellow combination, but that would mean discarding the 'two blues' loophole should the blue and pink be the method of creating Vanity's color. A dark emotion such as despair would certainly exhibit a dark hue. A color that reflects the darkness and hopelessness lingering in...one's...heart..."

...Did Schezo just trail off?

[Mari]

Arle thought little of Schezo's rather poetic words. Surely those held no meaningful undertones. She promptly moved to the red boulder and cast a spell on the ground before it.

"Ice Storm!"

...The ground before the boulder was slicked over by ice, creating a straight path to the blue switch. Arle then gently yet firmly pressed herself to the boulder and dug her feet in, giving it a good shove. After a good moment's delay, the boulder began to shift with the crunch of ice and rock before losing traction and seamlessly sliding across the room onto the blue switch. The switch began to glow a nice shade of purple, but nothing else happened. "...There! That wasn't so hard, and it doesn't look like it was wrong. Either that, or this puzzle really isn't booby trapped." Arle mused aloud, turning back to Schezo. She seemed to be waiting for further deliberation on the remaining two switches.

[Rina]

"Huh?! What re you-"

Schezo was taken aback at how Arle proceeded to get the boulder on the switch. What if there's...Huh...no punishment? Schezo is curious now. Does this mean they're on the right track or will it give it out accordingly depending on how wrong the answer is? So that leaves the blue and green boulders, and the yellow and pink switches.

"Hmm...now that we have a purple combination established, it would be rather redundant to put the blue boulder on the pink. Perchance mixing green and pink would produce a muddy color due, if we were to follow, say, a color wheel? No...that would be brown...unless that truly is a color we seek, I fail to see the connection with the keywords."

Schezo put a hand to his chin, thinking over the current status.

[Mari]

Arle waved a hand about. "Well, we just removed five of the nine possible options. It's no longer possible to make a shade of blue using the green boulder which means--" Arle began, only for a slow and awful realization to sink in in tandem with the earth beginning to tremble around them.

"Ah! We can't make blue! I messed up! Schezo, run!"

[Rina]

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE ARLE!?

"I'M RUNNING I'M RUNNING!"

Schezo made a mad dash to safety, after the realization that Arle had made a critical error in the puzzle. For added safety, Schezo put on a Super Bell for agility, especially for climbing onto the walls should the floor cave-in. Please don't grab the tail, Arle.

[Mari]

Light debris collapsed onto Schezo's shoulders from the roof above, a cloud of dust being violently kicked up as he fled, blowing past his cape as he ran!

...

Schezo is able to escape back into the previous room. Turning around, Schezo would be able to observe that the room was now filled with loose soil, a simple yet very effective and deadly booby trap designed to burry the victim alive, dating back to... well--probably before even Schezo's time really! This, of course likely raised some very unfortunate implications about Arle's absence. ...The apprentice mage was nowhere to be seen; it seemed she had not been able to escape in time.

[Rina]

Schezo caught his breath after the sprint, having got out of the ensuing disaster in time. The ears drooped a bit out of exhaustion, and his tail was rather limp as well.

"Hah...Are you okay, Arle?"

Schezo turned to...nobody. She wasn't present with him. His ears perked up with concern, twitching about to try and hear her. Not a single peep.

"...Arle?"

When he turned around, there was soil jutting out of the entrance he came from, and his concern began to sink deeper. Oh no...is she trapped in there? Schezo ran up to the dirt, worried that she might still be in there. However, if he tried to dig in, would it collapse onto him as well, taking him with it? There was a sinking feeling in his mind that made his tail curl in with worry. He's had the idea of telling something important to her, but now what? Does he dig in anyway?

[Mari]

Arle could breath underwater, but only because there was actual oxygen inside the water to be magically separated from the water itself. This soil, however, would doubtlessly be her death if she was indeed trapped underneath it. Schezo could definitely try and dig his way back into the room, but it was a lot of soil... A lot of heavy shoulder. Could Arle's breastplate even protect her from simply having the breath crushed out of her? The situation was pretty dire either which way. Only Schezo's choice of how to handle it remained in the air.

[Rina]

...There's no other choice but to dig!

Schezo sheathed away his sword and began digging away into the dirt. He's not going to get anywhere by just standing there, after all. He's certainly going to run his hands ragged, but it'll be worth it if he manages to excavate Arle from this.

"Confound it, don't you dare perish like this!"

[Mari]

...

Unfortunately, it would many long and agonizing minutes trying to dig the mage out of the mound of loose soil. There was a lot of soil to move and Schezo had only his hands. Really, the odds of survival were very poor and growing slimmer by the minute. ...However, Schezo's determination would eventually pull off--at least as far as recovering Arle's body went. Eventually the loose soil would give way to something mich less maleable and Schezo would find one of Arle's arms. It was limp and unresponsive. A bit more digging would allow him to drag the mage from her de facto grave. She was not breathing, and it appeared as if the loose soil had found its way into her mouth and nostrils. Schezo could attempt to revive her, but the same breastplate that may or may not have bought her some time under all that dirt now posed an obstacle in trying to provide CPR. ...Or at least, the less awkward kind anyway.

[Rina]

...Is that her arm!?

Schezo tried to pick up his pace to unearth her as quickly as possible and pry her out one she's uncovered enough. Once she's out of the soil he laid her on the ground to check on her condition...and she's not looking too good. He's not getting any responses out of her. Traditional CPR wouldn't be practical, considering the armor so then the only way to get her back is...

...uh oh...

...I...have to perform that?!

Schezo's ears heeled, feeling very conflicted and uneasy about what he has to do to revive her: mouth to mouth. He tilted her head back to check...and nothing. Looks like he has to do it. So wait...if he didn't have much to do about her...why is he nervous about this? He wouldn't bat an eye to such an idea yet...why now? Schezo got close to her face...his own face flushed red as he closed in. He pinched her nose...

"...F-Forgive me for doing this Arle, it's for your own good..."

...and he locked lips. He knows he's trying to breathe life back into her, but the fact he's practically kissing her makes him even more uneasy about performing this.

[Mari]

It was a pretty awful first kiss, if you could even call it a kiss, but of course it served a far more important function. With some assisted breathing Arle's chest could be observed rising and falling, indicating that Schezo was performing his rescue correctly. It would take several attempts, but after a couple of tries the mage would begin breathing on her own. Moments after that she abruptly jolted awake in alarm without warning and promptly attempted to spring to her feet, only for a wave of nausea to wash over her before she could even sit up and make her reconsider. Instead, she awkwardly rolled onto her side and halfway curled into a ball.

"...Did I just ...die?" Arle would ask. After a moment further of recovering from shock, she would produce a little bottle to aid her in washing the taste of dirt from her mouth. ...Or at least she hoped it was dirt. Definitely iron-y.

[Rina]

The moment Arle jerked away, Schezo did so as well. Well...it was to be expected. That "kiss" was practically uncalled for, but he had to do it or she wouldn't have jerked up! Understandably, Schezo is rendered incapable of making eye contact with her, and his face is completely red. Schezo's covering part of his face with his cape, in a frankly shoddy attempt at covering it up. Time to explain himself to Arle...

"...Not quite dead, in truth. You were rendered unconscious from the resulting cave-in, and I was the one that pried you out from it. Your bodily functions were unable to function, and due to being unable to do chest presses because of your armor..."

Schezo buried his face in his cape, muffling the last part of the explanation. His ears drooped in guilt and his tail was hidden away.

"...I restored to performing mouth-to-mouth. PleaseforgivemeforviolatingyourbodytherewasnootheroptionIhad."

[Mari]

Arle was busy trying to soothe her tortured throat when Schezo said something that made her choke. A gush of water shot out of her nose and she quickly covered her mouth, coughing several more times as she tried to regain her composure. ...Well, that was one way to clean the soil out of her nostrils. The mage moved to sit up, this time with a bit more success. She still wasn't feeling well though, and so she decided not to attempt standing. "You violated what now?!" Arle blurted out, still covering her mouth as she shot Schezo a skeptical look. Thankfully, the context of Schezo's words allowed Arle to gain some insight into what he ... probably meant. ...Hopefully. She really didn't want to think about all the perverted things he could be implying. Arle held up a hand. "...Nevermind." she relented, giving him the benefit of the doubt. Arle took a deep breath, coughing again. She used this moment to consider her choice of words carefully. "I'm not stupid, Schezo. I know you were just trying to save me. I remember being burried. ...Kinda." Arle would reassure in a rather exasperated tone, apparently a little insulted that Schezo thought she was going to hurt him for saving her life. "It's just... It's probably nothing. Thanks, Schezo. That puzzle was really a pain."

[Rina]

Schezo slowly pulled away his cape, showing a bit more of his face...and his cat ears. If Arle were to look closely, he's still flushed red, and has yet to compose himself. He did at least muster up the will to answer Arle.

"..........................................................................you're welcome."

...Albeit very hesitant. He was only able to escape the death trap thanks to his increased agility, but if he refrained from using it...Oh dear, that would spell the end of these two unless someone were to find out about their disappearance. The thought of being trapped in this temple is rather unsettling, and not being able to find Arle genuinely worried him. The important part is that the duo is alive and not in this tomb of a dungeon. However...Arle's here to seek out treasure. If the seemingly only entrance is blocked off, then the big question is...

"...now what, Arle?"