Malodorous
"Stuck."
Jim gave a small sigh. "Yes, Spock, stuck." With a low groan of effort, he heaved himself from the floor and onto his feet. Somehow he felt he couldn't blame Spock for his disbelieving tone; after all, it wasn't his fault they were in this cave.
Well, not exactly his fault.
"We need somewhere else to bunker down," Jim went on, feeling around. There was a passage to his right that, although nothing could be said of looks, didn't smell terrible.
Jim smirked, remembering a line from Lord of the Rings. When in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose.
Chemiluminescent
Even in the near-pitch, Spock's eyes were still functioning, albeit at low levels. He watched as Kirk unbuckled a regulation light stick from his belt, snapped it, and shook it vigorously. The cavern slowly filled with harsh, neon blue light, and Spock winced despite the slow climb in light level.
Perhaps one of the rocks had hit his head on the way down, he mused. It would explain his aversion to light, for one thing.
"Hey."
Spock looked up at Kirk's extended hand. "Come on," the captain said, voice soft.
Spock resisted the help and stood of his own accord.
Stalactite
Okay, Jim thought, I probably deserved that.
They were walking in the tunnel, which was fairly linear and had plateaued twenty meters back. Spock was well ahead of the glowstick but not out of sight; the back of his scuffed uniform tunic occasionally glowed bluer than normal.
More than deserved that, Jim went silently, no longer looking for somewhere to bed down. I've given him the cold shoulder for over two weeks, and I expect him to be friendly?
The cave roof suddenly dipped and Jim knocked his head on a protruding rock. "Fuck," he hissed, and rubbed his skull.
Irriguous
Spock heard the thunk, heard Kirk curse, but he ignored both noises and took five steps forward. Settling into a crouch, he touched his fingertips lightly against the smooth stone walls, feeling for any hint of water. The method was utterly inefficient compared to his tricorder, he knew, but he needed the tricorder charged for as long as possible, if—
Two things happened at once. First, the rock under Spock's fingers felt wetter than before. Second, out of his peripheral vision, he noted a subtle change in light level. When he turned to look, his eyes widened.
"Captain, come look."
Haimish
Jim was nursing his wound when Spock called. Irritated, he started slowly over, grumbling "What now?" When Spock merely pointed, Jim wanted to swear again. "Jesus, Spock, can't you just say what—"
That's when he turned and looked. Put simply, his jaw dropped.
It was an enormous, underground oasis. The walls were covered with all kinds of flora, soft ivy and a myriad of mushrooms, and the massive, crater-in-the-floor pool hosted countless extraterrestrial fish. Most stunningly, the cavern walls and ceiling were littered with hundreds of small, glowing mushrooms, every one emitting the same blue light as the glowstick.
Author's Notes: I think I may have said this before, but these had to have been the hardest to write, which is why this took me so bloody long. This is probably why I never liked padding my essays to meet the word limit; if you can just write "they found a pretty looking cave to bunker down in" then what else do people need? Though I did like describing said cave. Needless to say the idea of neon blue lighting has inspired several ideas, some pertinent to the plot of this thing...
One more thing, and don't shoot me for this either, please! I'm going to be dragged to visit relatives out of state, and I don't know how long I'll be gone. There's literally no internet where I'll be going whatsoever, so wherever I wind up I'll be utterly unable to post next week's set if I'm gone that long.
So...thanks to xladyjagsvolleyball16x for beta'ing and to all my readers (so essentially everyone) for sticking around! :D