William rubbed his fingers against his palms until Susan gave the signal, then jammed his hands against the red prints, and held them there with a grimace. You could almost hear the sizzle.

   Susan launched herself forward to leap through the gap, rolling when she hits the ground. She looks up from her place on the floor to make sure William had taken his hands away by now.

William had, almost before she was through. He was now regarding his blistered palms with a stony expression as he moved into position to go through the wall when Susan pushed her hands against the prints on the other side.
They were blue, and radiated intense cold. It would be like pressing bare skin to dry ice to touch them.

This message was deleted by the player at 18:14, Mon 21 Jan 2013.

   Susan gritted her teeth, opening and clenching her hands a few times before shouting, "You better hurry, William! When I say." she inhaled and held her breath for a moment, before letting it out with a curse and calling, "Now!" as she placed her hands against the burning cold prints.

William leapt lightly through the opening, holding his hands carefully apart from his body. "What's on this side?"

   Susan snatched her hands away from the wall the moment he was through, her breath hissing through her teeth. Her eyes teared up, and she blinked the tears away to look down at her white, blistering hands. She made sure her eyes were dry when she looked up at William, "I'll tell you what's on this side. Two useless people, that's what." she bit her bottom lip, a wave of throbbing pain coming from her hands, "How are we supposed to go on like this?" she growled, standing before William and comparing their blistered palms with an angry frown.

William regarded her hands, and held his palm out toward her. "Put your cold hands on my hot hands."

   Susan took a step back, holding her hands away, "No. My hands are burning." she said seriously. She bit her bottom lip and shook her head, "It was like putting my hands on dry ice. Have you ever heard of dry ice burns?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. A throb ached from her hands up to her elbows, she stifled a moan, knowing that William was feeling the same as she, if not worse.

William solemnly shook his head in the negative, glancing over at the next sliding wall, which sported a purple pair of hand-prints.

   Susan opened her mouth, ready to admit that she didn't want to keep going. But a glance at William's expression and she snapped her mouth shut. With a deep inhale, she started for the purple prints, "I think your hands are worse than mine, I'll take these ones." she stopped by the wall to look back at him over her shoulder.

William looked at his hands, then over at her when she turned back to him. After a moment, he nodded slowly, and it was as if some of the gruffness he had been exibiting since the test began melted away. "It would be better if we switched off," he said, walking over to her. "If there's green ones on the other side of this one, then I'll take those."

   Once the two were through the wall as they had done before, each with stinging and uncomfortable hands.
   But on the other side, there is no moving wall. A pedestal with a bowl on top is waiting in the middle of a larger room. The walls are black and from floor to ceiling, and there is a quiet electrical hum.

   Susan leads the way to the bowl, which is a bit taller than her elbow. Inside the bowl is a soft pink creme, swirled like whipped topping. She stands by the pedistal skeptically, "What do you think of this?" she asks, gesturing a limp hand to the lotion like substance.

William shrugged at Susan, leaned over the bowl and sniffed it, then stuck his index finger in. He figured that if it was harmful, better they find out the only way they could.

   Susan watches him, her lip curled with distrust.

   After a moment, the pain in William's finger dies away. And if he wipes the pinkish goop from his finger, it looks to be mostly healed.

William squishes the goopy stuff between his thumb and forefinger, rubbing it around with a thoughtful expression. "My fingers stopped hurting," he remarks.

   With a moments thought and less than a moments hesitation, Susan plunged her hands into the pink medicine. Taking her hands out after a few soconds, she waits and when the pain finally starts to fade she sighs with relief, "Thank goodness.." she lets her chin drop to her chin.

William does likewise, though more slow and careful. He looks around at the black walls with some trepidation, reaching up to brush hair from his forehead with the back of his wrist, since his hands were covered with pink medicine. "Now what?" he asks.

   Taking a few steps away from the pedestal, Susan scans the tall black walls of the room. The electrical hum drones on in the background, making the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She listens for a few moments and opens her mouth to speak when the lights shut off, leaving the room utterly black.
   Backing up a step, Susan puts a hand out to feel for William, "William..." she whispers.

   A white light flashes on from the base of each wall, illuminating the floor and bringing dim light to the rest of the enclosure. On the far side of the room, a door opens to white light, showing the panels that checker the black floor and their path.

   Holding her hands away from her sides cautiously, Susan glances over her shoulder to her unwilling partner, "Let's keep going." As she takes two steps forward, her bare foot steps onto a new panel, which promptly slides out from under her.
   A startled cry jumps from her throat as she drops through the new space, her stomach lurching in a nauseating fashion. She slams her side against the edge of the panel as she falls through, knocking the air from her lungs but giving her a chance to grab the edge as she slides in and dangle by her fingers. Breathlessly she shouts, "Will!" She hangs above a deep blackness. The panel that slid to make the space extends back out to leave just enough room for her to be pulled back out, but no room for anyone to jump down. "Help me!"

William was leaping for her almost before she struck the edge of the hole. Her cries spurred a feeling of utter panic that made him almost as breathless as she was. At first he grabbed at her arms, but the pink medicine still smeared on his hands made him lose his grip and fall backward. He didn't even spare a thought as to why no panels opened beneath his body; he just wanted to save Susan. "Hold on!" he gasped as he tried to scramble back up into a viable position.

   Gritting her teeth, Susan tried not to jerk her legs and loosen her grip. Her fingers were cramping fast, and her breath was painful to draw in, "I can't." she moaned. As he scrambled back to her, she tried to pull herself up. Her arms began to shake from strain, and she curled her body to bring her legs up, as if it would help her rise, "Will!"

Frantically wiping his hands off on his white shorts, William grabbed her arms again and tugged with all his strength. She was heavier than she looked, but not too much for him. He dragged her free of the trap, then let go of her quickly as soon as her legs cleared the hole. Confusion struck him like an elbow to his ribs.
"I... uh, are you alright?" he muttered as his gaze was drawn to the hole. Would the fall have killed her? Should he have let her go? He took a step toward it to see, and the urge to jump was... not as strong as he thought it should be. He looked back down at Susan to be sure she was alright, the confusion not abating in the least. He was worried about her. He had saved her. But he didn't want to care. He no longer knew what he wanted anymore.

   Pushing herself up to a sitting position, Susan put a hand to her throbbing side. The panel slid back into place, closing the gap. Taking a minute to regain her breath, she nodded her head, "Yeah. I'm okay." She swallowed in an effort to wet her dry throat and took a few shaky breaths.
   Glancing to the closed panel, she turned her gaze up to William. Her eyebrows came up and together in thought. He didn't let her fall. He pulled her back up. The expression on his face brought a strange stinging sensation up in her chest, "Are.. you okay?" she asked carefully.

He raised a hand to his forehead, carelessly smearing a little pink medicine over one eyebrow. He gave his head a little shake, and his face settled back into familiar fatalism. "I'm fine," he said in an even tone. His brown eyes didn't look quite as dead as he wanted them to, however. He knew it, and faint irritation messed up his mask. "I want out of here," he muttered harshly and started toward the door, not caring if he fell. But he had to consciously stop himself from worrying over whether or not Susan would fall again. If she did, this time maybe she would not catch herself. He told himself that would be a good thing. It would.

   Rolling to her feet to follow him, not wanting him to be too separated from herself, Susan took a quick step, only to have the panel slide out from under her foot again. Grunting in surprise, she fell forward, this time able to land on her belly before the hole.
   She turned onto her side to look back as the panel slid closed. She glared at it in frustration and looked back to William. She almost asked him for help, but uncertainty and her pride kept the sound from her lips. Cautiously, she got to her feet again, standing with her hands out by her sides. She studied the panels before her, unable to see any difference between any of them. Susan stood there for a moment, contemplating on how to continue.