A Tail of Curiosity

[Jemnisimi]

(Open to anyone to do anything you like with! I couldn't find an existing quest she'd fit in for a proper intro, so I guess here comes another. This post takes place along the Firewine River, near where it crosses the road smack dab between Jadet and Underwood.)

(I dedicate whatever comes of it to my cat. I once wondered aloud why playful cats seem to find everything so interesting. During one of many musings about my roleplaying characters, I answered it, or at least my character did. They don't find everything interesting. They find everything boring. They merely search for a final something that is not.)

The air felt tingly here. Tingly and crisp, an odd, energetic sensation that brought a smile to the face of one of the strangest creatures to ever walk amongst the trees that breathed it. There was a confused nervousness behind that smile, though. It was less musty here, and the trees were much smaller. Why? Would they be as small as her if she kept walking? What else would change?

Change seemed like a very good thing after awhile of monotony. A very good thing indeed. So boring, her home. Always the same, never changing. She had thought the small area around the place she woke up for the first time was existance in its entirety. She had no time to question it, until she understood it. She understood it, grew used to it. And thus, it was boring.

That was when she decided that she, herself, would change and see what happened.

She would walk! She would walk and keep walking, and never stop.

That idea didn't go on for too long. Droopy grew the young girl's wings. Floppy grew the tail. Heavy grew the eyelids, and then sleep came. Then dreams came. A field with no trees. Rocks so much larger than trees that they touched the sky. She awoke, and wondered if she kept walking long enough, would she see these things? Something better came first!

Water. She smelled it, and craved it now more than anything her imagination could concieve although it was the first thought of it in almost two days. There was food where there was water, too! There always was, so there always would be, yes?

With a renewed resolve, she rushed toward the spring breeze, toward the scent, toward the water, and found...

Moving water. Lots of moving water. Water could move by itself? Was this water alive? Probably not. It couldn't run away like things with thoughts. Could it? Water didn't have a will, or didn't seem to. It wasn't like her, so it wasn't alive! Not alive at all. What moved it though? Where was it going? Would it stop? Would it go away if she didn't... drink... fast enough...?

For someone who didn't think with words, that thought was quite motivating. Not paying attention to anything else at the time (including the road she hopped right across in her haste), she bolted to the river and stopped so abruptly...

She fell right in.

"Yeek!"

SPLASH.

She quickly sat up in the water and began to stare at it as if it were the most fascinating thing she'd ever seen.

[Cielalune]

((OOC: I'm sorry, I have no clue whether it was morning, noon or night. It doesn't say on your post I think. Wah!))


What the heck is that thing?

Cielalune asked herself that as she observed a strange creatures of huge feathered wings and brilliantly shiny violet tail running like crazy towards the river. Ciel had been dipping her feet into the water, cooling them off after such a long journey from nowhere. Her boots lain next to her, the soft shine of the moon made the red color so illuminating.

The surrounding was heavenly, of very tall slim trees with no much leaves attached to them. The swayed silently in the soft breeze that smell of earth. The ground was soft and moist being near the riverbank. There wasn't many rocks but some were quite large but smooth on top. The woods was a vast area but stops a few yards away from the brook. The sky was tinged purplish-black, as the night completely took over. The half moon shone brightly under some dark clouds. It was a very cloudy day, seems like there would be a rain the next morning. No stars covered the heavens, it was most unfortunate since Cielalune rarely had time to star gaze since she left off on her journey.

Crickets chirped, no other animal was awake except for the owls that hooted in their nests. Cielalune took a deep breath, inhaling her surroundings, trying to concentrate on relaxing. Her shoulders eased up as she rested her hands beside her to keep herself upright.


SPLASH.

The odd creature jumped into the cool water. Cielalune quickly lifted her feet, afraid that the thing could contaminate her skin. The last thing she wanted was to have scales all over her body. No offense, but it was just something Cielalune didn't find very attractive to have. She cringed her nose; she figured she wasn't going to like whatever is going to come out of the river. At least, she hoped, it would be intelligent otherwise, she'd be convinced to quickly leave before things turn even more ugly.

'It' rose again out of the stream and sat upright in the water.

Female? Cielalune thought, noticing the curves of the figure. It was dark, so she couldn't see very well. She stood up, ready to leave. It seemed hungry other than thirsty as she noticed the distant gaze it gave at the clear liquid. Putting on her boots, tapping it lightly so her feet could take it's shape, she continued to eye on the humanoid. Her bright red hair drooped on her face but she quickly flipped it up without taking her silver eyes away from the thing.

Cielalune backed away quietly, closing her left hand firmly on the handle of her rapier. Ready to attack whenever the beast would charge. Sadly, she didn't notice the rock behind her as she backed away. Her right foot stepped on it and surprised her enough to make her fall on her back.

THUD.

"Ow."

[Jemnisimi]

(I figured 'when she awoke' would inferr morning but I wasn't really thinking about it and shoulda explained bettah. Severe writer's block made it feel like I was writing an encyclopedia entry for awhile so I chunked it and tried to write as thoughts instead of scenery. Bad choice apparently hehe, but anyhow, night works too!)

After awhile of sitting there, entranced by the flow of the cool water, the strange girl abruptly dipped her hands into it and quickly pulled them back up, cupped, and began to hastily drink. Moments later, she repeated this, four times before she finally stopped to get up. She paused before completely standing to feel it brush against her soft scaled legs. Her eyes again trained on the source of the river. Would it stop? It didn't look like it was going to...

She couldn't surpress a purring gurgle to signal the eventual silence of her mind. The shifting to her right was barely heard over it, but heard it was nonetheless.

SPLASH.

A snake-like tail emerged loudly from the glowing river to swivel above her back and head as she trained her eyes on the source of the noise. She quickly remembered that some creatures seemed to find that offensive, so curled and bunched it up like a recoiling serpent, then stood upright. On instinct, she started to raise her wings to shake the water off but quickly decided against that, too. Instead, they were loosely folded against her shoulders, left to dip in the water along with the hyperactive tail she'd finally gotten under control. The moon brightly gleamed off of the pure, highly shiny silver slivers of her armor then, moreso than the water.

Squish.

With all water came squishy stuff. An old lesson.

Squish, squish~

Suction was a very fun thing to play with indeed! Butbutbut, there was a strange creature thingy! She lifted one inhuman foot, then the other, eyes trained toward them briefly.

Squish, squish, squish...

Once on solid ground again, she wiggled three scaley digits each while trying for all her might to pay attention to the strange creature before her. Then, a thought dawned. A quick peek at the moon, then the water and she was bent over it again, much more carefully this time. She glanced back to the human. Then back to the river. And finally, to the human once more. The reflection...

".... Mrrp?"

Lifting each leg one more time, she twiddled three heavily-clawed toes each to get that horribly irritating mud out from between them. Then, cautiously, she tip-toed toward the fallen girl. Creatures run from her, but this one didn't. Yet. It had the same look though....

"Herro," she squeaked in a soft child's voice. It seemed like the only natural noise to make at the moment. This creature, it was like her. It thought loudly! Well, it was a bit upset like all those four-legged ones...

She paused several feet away, cringing. Her tail found its way around her own leg, and held on for dear life.

[Cielalune]

"Yeah. Hi. Nice weather huh..."

Cielalune sighed bitterly. It was too late for her to make a run for it.


It said 'Herro'. Is it 5 years old or something? At least it can speak proper language. Kind of. I don't want to stay any longer. I hope this thing wouldn't be like Khalxaen. Ugh, all the nagging and annoyance.

Ciel turned around and lain on her back and looked up at the strange creature standing before her. Beautiful violet wings emerged from its back, it's soft feathers glistened at the moonlight. It had a long tail, much like a dragon's, that curled around its legs. It seemed to be more afraid of Ciel than the other way around.

It was time she took advantage of that. She pushed herself up, using her hands as support. Dusting herself, she continued to stare at the odd brute wondering what species it was.


Don't tell me she's elven too. Though, I don't recall them having freakishly large parts of birds and lizards. Or blue skin at that. Must be a chimera or something.

Being somewhat clean, Cielalune moved her left hand towards the hilt of her sword and released Oublié from its sheath. She thrusted upon the direction of the stranger, hoping it would scare 'it' off and prevent Cielalune from shedding any more unecessary blood.

It would be a burden for Ciel to drag along a 300-something-pound creature with her in her journey. Not to mention food costs. Even if it had money, she knew this thing would only slow her down. She had little time to build friendship and trust and other sappy things.

"Listen. No offense and all." She said cooly, trying to hide her apparent worry that this thing could kill her. "...But I don't really have time to chat and stuff. You know, I have this thing called a life so yeah, I'm going to continue having one. We should go on our merry way, I suppose."

She drew back her rapier, hoping her words would seep in to the beast's mind. Turning around, Ciel started walking again, in the direction of a near town. A warm meal and a soft bed formed in Cielalune's mind. She was in need of luxury after her aimless treks in the woods for months.

"Don't you dare follow me."

It was her way of saying farewell since she has difficulty trying to say goodbye to someone whether friend or stranger. Goodbyes were never real, so she sees no point in saying it. What're the chances that fate would bring them again? It shames Cielalune to say goodbye and soon after, they would see each other again.

She assumes when one says goodbye, that in the end, they were likely to die.

[Jemnisimi]

For being such an avoidant creature, it was a very, very loud creature. She had briefly wondered why it would try to frighten her like many creatures have done, but yet held no malice in doing so. Her head tilted as she sorted the floating feelings. She felt a wall being erected subconsciously, and knew exactly what was desired even before the woman turned her back.

Solitude.

Words formed at the tip of her tongue, momentarily muddling her mind. She softly stroked it on the roof of her mouth and lowered her head a bit more, defensively.

"What... do yoo.... seek?" She pronounced the words carefully, but had a hard time of it. She was unsure of what she wanted to ask, as she had never been able to ask anything of anyone else before. Only herself.

She didn't expect an answer.

Why would a creature.... desire monotony? Maybe. Maybe... it knew something. Something interesting.

The tail tightened around her leg.

[Cielalune]

"I seek truth. Peace of mind rather."

Cielalune replied but didn't bother to turn around. She never fails to answer a question, she was simply taught to do it that way. There are some questions though that she knew didn't need answering nonetheless if it were able to get rid of the inquirer, she would satisfy their curiosity.

"I lost someone. I want to know if that person is still alive. That's all."

Again, Cielalune began her walking. Wasting more time than ever, she hated the habit of answering questions. She grinded her teeth, knowing it was her fault for the time but she could always compensate by walking even faster. Which is what she did.

She paced quickly, having a quick run after slowing down again. With the beast far behind her, she sighed with relief.


I hope she doesn't follow me. Though, I don't mind the compa-No! I walk alone. Alone is good. Remember that.

She looked up, the moon had vanished under the dark clouds. Camp would have to be set up soon so she could have a good rest before starting again the next day.


Aroooooo!!

A howl echoed inside the thick woods. A shadowy silhouette formed in the darkness. Cielalune reached for the handle of her weapon, another beast had come for her. It seems like the forces of nature are against her journeying that day. She walked slowly for falling on her face again wasn't exactly the best action right now.

"Have at me, you fiend! Let's try you on for size."

With one last long howl, the monster charged at her.

[Jemnisimi]

Why do they always run? Does no one find anything interesting? ... Does everyone know more than she does? That would explain a lot, she decided. Her tongue traced the soft ridges of her mouth again, but this time, no words came. A tiny unfamiliar tinge caused her brow to crease at that. A droop of the shoulders dispelled the feeling though, and she crouched, looking away from the retreating figure.

"Bwah," she grumbled pointedly and flopped on her back. The sky was something that never lost its appeal.

"Arrrooooo~"

Black fuzzy thing? It sounded close. Oh well. They run away, too.

"Arrrrroooooooooooooo!"

Angry black fuzzy thing....

Angry at what? She pondered this for a moment.

.... creature not scared of her.

Hopping up, she lept deftly toward the sound.

It was black. But it wasn't fuzzy. She grumbled in thought, standing far enough not to be noticed. She made everything run away. This would run away too! Creatures don't like wings. Even winged things don't like wings. She hopped closer and spread them, then tried to think of a scary noise to make. Its battle cry was scary enough.

"Err, Arrrrrrroooooooo!!"

Huge purple wings flared around her as she tried to look as scary as possible. The thing didn't seem to be paying attention....

[Cielalune]

It jumped, its image still clouded by darkness. How quick it seemed as it paced left and right, trying to confuse Ciel. She squinted, trying to figure out what her attacker is. The growl was deep but didn’t sound large enough to be a wolf really but she noticed that its movements were based on four legs so she figured it wasn’t human at all, for now at least. She had learned from Marlois that there are different kinds of people out there in Althanas and humans were only one of the races that lurked about.

The moon was still hidden but Cielalune wished it would shine its light upon the foe, hoping it might vanquish the unnecessary bloodshed. She stood still as the rushing creature charged even faster. She shifted her feet slightly apart from each other, tightening her grip on her rapier.


It’s not very tactical though, perhaps I just happened to cross its territory. It doesn’t seem to be very intelligent enough to figure out that I’ll strike it as soon as it comes.


“Arooo!!”

Cielalune swung her sword towards its direction, cleaving it in two. The black shapeless form gave a loud thump as its corpse remained mangled and bloody when it hit the ground. It barely even put up a fight. Ciel sheathed her rapier, patting it gently, and bent down to have a closer look at the carcass of her short battle. The dark substance that wrapped around the creature started to disperse, melting like ice cream under the hot sun. It dripped, sinking to the ground and vanished quietly.

She picked up a stick nearby, not so much large but enough to be properly held. Ciel gave the corpse a good sharp prod and soon the inky shadow disappeared even faster.

What remained, to Ciel’s disbelief what was that of a mere raccoon. She had slain an innocent creature and her heart sunk at the look of its dead foggy eyes staring up at her.

I don't recall raccoons or any kind of rodent having the ability to howl. She thought as she cringed her nose at the wretched sight.

Its blood was spreading around its body as if trying to swallow it whole. Ciela stood up and backed away, the lass was too disgusted to watch anymore of the poor forest creature being eaten by its very blood.


What’re you waiting for Ciel! Move! Keep on with the walking.

The red head went back to her general direction, shaking of the last of the gruesome images in her head. She had no time to ponder; after all, it wasn’t her business if the forest had possessed animals in it. Circle of life and all that.

The ground seemed to shake. Pebbles and other small objects shivered in their location. Ciel had to keep standing to stop herself from falling. It grew even stronger as every minute was wasted, the tall trees crashing on each other, causing a chain of them to fall to the ground like dominoes.

A few birds flew out of the dense forest, squawking and hooting in fear. They soared towards the mountain a few kilometers away. Cielalune suspected height was a solution for them or distance maybe. The girl squinted toward the assumed location of the said earthquake; it was due north, maybe northwest.

What came in view was big group of shadowed creatures gathering in lines like an army.

They seemed very, very angry.

[Jemnisimi]

"... -ooo?"

So much for that idea.

What is it?, she wondered as she stared at the strange red-clad human, holding out her gleaming instrument of defense, whatever it was. And why did it stop?

The ground itself seemed to absorb the thing's anger before she could investigate. Many wonders, many muddling thoughts bubbled. Nothing would come to the surface though. Just a feeling. Feelings. An... emotion?

To and fro she looked, trying to gain bearings and find some place of security, but for miles... trees. Only trees. Only trees were around, and the trees... were the trees afraid? She didn't have to look to know what was coming. Her wings, previously frozen in their flared position, dropped sharply and leveled out with her tail to steady herself. Everything was black and there was nowhere to go. The ground groaned as if it were an entity in itself. The ground itself was trying to threaten them. And there was nowhere to go...

You can't hide from the ground.

"They like us!" With the distance between the two of them so spread out, the girl wasn't sure she was actually heard amongst the crashing, or amongst the other's thoughts. The words came mindlessly. "They not... afraid!"

She looked down.

Moving water... The water could stop them. It stopped her...

For complete lack of anything better to do, she found herself hopping carefully over the grassy ground toward the stationary human.

[Cielalune]

“No.” The red-headed girl said, “They NOT like us. They don’t have any signs of life as far as I can see.”

“Of course they’re not afraid! They aren’t even conscious!” Cielalune thought to herself as she backed off towards the direction of the elven creature. “We’re going to be surrounded! Blast it! I can’t kill all these, not even with that creature’s help!”

She paced back, away from the charging crowd of demons. Her rapier was raised to defend herself from any forward attacks from the enemy.

One of the black shapeless creatures howled, running faster than the others. It gave a great jump and lunged at Ciel as soon as its feet touched the ground. The lass pushed her weight to the right, dodging the blow in the nick of time.


“Arrrooo!!”

Another one pounced at her.



She dodged.



And another one.



She dodged again.


One more.


“Gah!”

Cielalune staggered to stay at a standstill, the blow to her left shoulder was painstaking. As it charged, its claws took a piece of her; piercing the skin of her shoulder and making it bleed. She slashed a few more of the foes, using her right hand to hold her bleeding arm as it continued to hold and assault the adversaries with her rapier. All of the carcasses lain of the ground started to seep into the ground, leaving behind a mass of dead innocent forest creatures. What monster would do such a thing to those harmless beasts, turning them into mindless zombies?

“What is WRONG with this forest?!” Ciel gasped for her breath as she continued to fend off the opponents, which in anyone’s opinion, wasn’t getting any smaller in number. The girl needed to stay calm, drawing in some air. Her brows knitted as her eyes squinted to have a look see into her mind’s eye, hoping an idea would sprout up somehow in the midst of the confrontation.


“Riverbed on the right, woodlands of the left, in front, a mountain path and behind me, a dirt road; So where in these places can I go to in order to stop these foul brutes? Think, Ciel think!”

Cielalune bit her lip, sweat forming on her brow. Her eyes looked in all directions for any sign of hope; trying to find out what could she do to save her life.

Suddenly, it hit her.

“Those birds! They weren’t escaping the earthquake, heck! The earthquake came from where they flew to! Perhaps they were running away from what changed these creatures! Is the forest really the source of this ominous evil?” She thought to herself, finally a big grin shone brightly on her face as she stabbed two of the demons in one strike.

“C’mon!” She turned around, to advise the odd companion of what to do.

“To the mountains! Hurry up!”

And off she went.

[Blackwhisker]

Blackwhisker’d been just trying to get something to eat. Some sort of small fuzzy thing from here in the woods preferably, so she’d gone about following her nose to where ever it chose to lead her. Usually it was a pretty dependable friend when it came to such matters. This time though it seems to of played her the fool because when she came within sight of what her nose was telling her was a hoppity kind of fuzzy well.. that’s most definitely not what she was seeing.

The young Skuugra had stopped dead once her gaze came up from the ground to see a well.. strange sort of non-hoppity fuzzy beast thing snarling at her, hackles raised and an odd thick looking darkness drifting around it. Now Blackwhisker was fairly certain darkness didn’t usually look like that, or act like that. So there had to be something wrong.. Plus, her nose had told her this was supposed to be a hoppity, not something inclined to fight against her. And she really wasn’t in the sort of blood thirsty mood to go battling some other big aggressive predator for a meal. She was just hungry!

Now for some reason it seemed the strange non-hoppity didn’t feel like letting her just wander off away from it. It decided it wanted to be spiteful. Well that’s the impression Blackwhisker got anyway seeing as it went about charging her despite the fact she was trying to wander away quietly without gaining it’s notice.. sort of. There are some issues of disappearing from sight when you’re the size of a very large wolf, have a tail that stretches a good distance behind you and you’ve got nice blue scales to catch the what waning light there is with. Ah well.

It’s not just the dark beast that snarls as the two bodies come into contact with each other. Blackwhisker makes her own point of complaining to such treatment as she writhes against the creature with hisses and growls, limbs flailing, claws lashing out to find purchase and remove it from her scaly hide. At least those teeth don’t seem to be all that impressive as she hears more than feels the contact of bone with scale repeatedly among the other creature’s snarls.

The fight’s over much quicker than she would of thought considering the size of the beastie that had launched itself at her. But a couple of slashes, a good ol’ chomp to it’s throat and Blackwhisker finds a limp body in her claws.. one that’s sizably smaller than she’d originally been grappling with. Huh? There’s also an exceedingly foul taste to her mouth that she quickly makes point of first spitting out as fast as possible. Argh! Disgusting by far! Foul! Worse than than.. well she doesn’t know what but by Gods.. Bleah!

Having rolled over without care to anything other than removing that most disgusting taste from her mouth Blackwhisker misses out on seeing the body start to eat itself. Or more it’s blood devouring the flesh as the strange inky darkness dissipates revealing well.. the ‘hoppity’ the Skuugra had originally been tracking down. A couple of odd sounds and rather distinct smell brings Blackwhisker’s attention to the body and she blinks at it with curiosity.. That hadn’t been a hoppity before.. Well, it was supposed to be, but it wasn’t when she last looked at it. Odd.
There’s a moment’s temptation to go and eat it, a thought that passes almost as soon as it comes. Something’s very wrong there, not just the bad smell and the rather unnatural way the thing’s own blood is eating it but well.. it just makes her scales creep. So best be she left it alone, yes. Anyways, it’s mostly gone now and she wouldn’t get more than a couple of mouthfuls out of it, so really, not worth the bother.


Picking herself up Blackwhisker looks about the nearby surroundings wondering what to do now. She’s still hungry after all..

‘AroooooOooOooo..’

A start and the young Skuugra fans out ear fins, head raised and pointing in the direction of thicker forest. Huh? What was that?
Then there’s trembling, the earth shaking below her feet and birds flocking out of the trees off to somewhere unknown, squawking all the way. Blackwhisker flinches to the noise and movement, hunkering down for a moment as crimson eyes look to the darkness above to watch the fluttering shapes pass over. Now one of those’d be nice to eat. Too late now. Bother.
Then her head snaps around again as there’s more noises from between the trees and strange black forms can be seen sliding about, from one open space to another. A small whisker’s twitch and there’s a light lash of the tail fin behind her as Blackwhisker finds herself becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Nope, that’s not right either. Forests aren’t supposed to do that, not as far as she knows anyway. The darkness isn’t supposed to grow at night, not sprout limbs and sharp teeth with beady eyes. Most definitely it’s not supposed to emit menace so forcefully and most definitely not specifically in her direction. This isn’t any good, nope, no way, no how.

Blackwhisker finds herself backing up, tail coming slightly up between her legs as she turns left and right looking among the trees at the approaching shapes. No, this is most definitely not where she wants to be right now. The darkness in the trees seems to be coming closer and she’s hearing more disagreeable sounds.. and some of those eyes are looking at her and not turning away. Okay, time to run. Sure she’s a small dragon sort of thing with hard scales, lots of teeth and claws and she’s happy for a good fight or scuffle, but really, these sort of odds are just completely unreasonable and she knows when she’s beat.

Tail turned she bolts.
Snarls and growls becoming quieter as they echo behind her.


So through trees, more trees, trees, trees, trees and what do you know?! Yet more trees! She runs, not a thought in her mind but avoiding the shadow things that she can feel following not too far behind. Maybe they’re upset she killed the other one? Well really, if it hadn’t made a point of attacking her when she would of been perfectly happy to just slink off it wouldn’t of happened. She can’t be put to blame. So through the trees she continues to run. An activity that sure she’s built for, but not for extended periods.. well not really anyway.

Then there’s a sudden halt to the trees and Blackwhisker finds herself hurtling along a cleared patch, a path winding along to either side not too far into the open space. A pity that this is all that she’s paying attention to as she runs out, her mind on the racing shadows behind her, because really, she would of noticed the human making a dash along the path right in the line of her own run.

With the short distance between the line of trees and the path it's all perfectly timed for a collision between Skuugra and human with very little warning on either's behalf! Woo!


<<: OOC: Still open, yes? ^^; :>>

[Jemnisimi]

(Indeed. BTW! In the book aptly named 'How to get Chopped in Half in One Easy Step' (It's really one page; How amazing is that?), they have an illustration of what your character is doing at the moment. Doesn't do much good at this point, but my best well wishes to you.)

Mountains...

Suddenly it was daylight outside. The rumbling stopped, the shaking, the growling. The bright glow of the sky literally swallowed the peak of a pile of rocks. She could only stare. Her mind's eye could only stare. The shadows around her closed in but she didn't see them. She just looked toward the human who fled while she paused, and peered beyond her to the horizon which was only visible from the vast clearing. Was that black shadow in the distance... her vision? Her destination?

She didn't have time to consider it. The shadows consumed her small form.

An ear-shattering shriek erupted from the center of the solid black mass. A scream of frenzied pain somehow cut through the crashing, the rumbling, the howling and the gnashing. As children learn the consequences of touching a bright, enticing flame, the small girl learned the consequences of letting the darkness touch her. She learned what pain was, and she didn't like it.

Just as she was sure her wings were about to be torn from her prone body, the three smaller creatures she could feel on her back stopped clawing. Something big, something heavy jumped on top of her, stealing her breath. She heard horrible noises not so dissimilar to her own come from behind her. The big thing wasn't after her, she noted through the haze of soreness. The creature almost immediately jumped over her and kept running. She didn't see it, but she knew the things around her area were fleeing.

Why?

The elven creature dared to open her tightly-shut eyes, only to see the world as a haze. She felt heavier than normal, and the pounding vibrations of the ground weren't helping.

.... Why?

She fainted.

[Cielalune]

WHAM!

The sound of falling trees surprised poor Cielalune as she climbed the rocky pathway. Those things began to reach the mountain but the red-head noticed that most of the blasted creatures seemed to hesitate. She grinned; Ciela assumed she was going the right way, seeing that most of the black shadow things began to retreat. Most likely, they have spotted something far more interesting to eat other than the girl.

“Hah! Look at them flee! Thank God those blasted brutes have stopped annoying me!” she laughed as she continued to view from her spot, the sight of those shadows pace farther and farther away from her.

SPLAGADOG!

Something heavy just rammed into Cielalune much to her dismay. It made her small frail body fly off a few feet away from where she once stood.

“Never should’ve taken my eyes off!” She cursed herself as she crashed onto the dusty ground of the mountain path. “What the hell was that?!”

The red head groaned as the pain began to rush throughout her whole body, her pulse almost stopped from the excruciating fall. Her hair was pushed towards her eyes where with she simply brushed off with her healthier hand. She looked at the monster that caused her to thrash about like she was a child’s rubber ball.

“What in the-?!”

It was blue and scaly like a dragon but not so much as to be gigantic. If Cielalune stood up, she could probably be higher than the creature. It seemed aquatic from the looks of the webbed ears and limbs, it came from the lake in the forest perhaps? She thought.

It seemed somewhat harmless but very much so dangerous if it ever noticed Cielalune being near it. The girl backed away, she wasted hours of her time with such nonsensical magical creatures suddenly popping about without her permission.

“First a scaly legged elf bird thing, then a pathetic possessed rodent and now, THIS!” she heaved a sigh as she hasn’t been crossing any humans lately on her journey. So far, she had befriended a rather tanned elf and a very friendly werewolf. Alas, no humans to befriend yet, she thought, nor did she ever want to befriend anything in the first place. All she wanted to do was to find her captain, Marlois and live happily ever after with him.

From her rage came strength to move on, and that she did but as she looked back on last time, she noticed that the so-called “scaly legged elf bird thing” had fallen to the ground, a likely target for the black creatures’ next main course. Her mind told her to move on and let it be, circle of life and all that, but her heart told her to save it for it might serve as a good tool to getting out of there alive.

Slightly hesitating, she went back down the path to save the poor elf’s soul.

“That thing better make up for what I’m going to do for her!”

Hi there! Sure sure! Feel free to RP with us dear. P:

[Blackwhisker]

"OOF!"

Blackwhisker's crash tackled into something/one and she goes rolling somewhat, claws and limbs flailing desperately to gain purchase again after the contact. Finally coming to a stop she lays there for a moment before remembering she does want to be moving as she was running from something. Right. Okay, first to get her feet back under her and then we'll move on from there.

So one, then the other then the rest come under her body, pushing up until she’s in a crouch and the Skuugra looks about. So what did she actually bump into? Blinkblink and she turns her head about, earfins fanning to a sighing sound and there we go. Ah, two foot of course. A human thing, what else could it be? They’re always getting in the way.. Hmpf.

A web fingered hand comes up and absently scratches at her short muzzle a moment before she remembers once more that she was supposed to be running and she looks back off into the trees she’d come running out from. Giving the shadows a red eyed glare she pauses remaining still as she waits, watching, listening for signs of her pursuers.

Nope, nothing.
Good.

Some scrambling and a body moving tells the young Skuugra without looking that the two foot she’d bumped into is getting up. Hmn. Turning her gaze from the quiet woods Blackwhisker looks over the human and makes an assessment of what she sees. Yup, she comes up lacking in the dragonish creature’s view, but then Blackwhisker generally needs to see someone doing something physically impressive to think much of them and well.. A short skinny young human thing just doesn’t match up to those sort of standards. Oh well. Not like she’s about to tell the thing or that it can read her expression, especially seeing as it’s looking off in a different direction so no big deal.

So what’s the two foot looking at? Blackwhisker snakes her head around to see.. Well she’s not sure what on earth that thing is. It’s got feathers and scale and skin. Ha. Without much thought to if it’s dangerous or not she’s bounding off towards the thing, all thoughts of the strange shade beasts gone from her mind as the curiosity overwhelms her. Really, that’s something Blackwhisker could really do to get a better hold of on herself. Oh well.

So here we go, it’s not just the human that’s coming up for the elfbeast’s help, it’s a youthful Skuugra as well. And well, even if she’s not coming over to help she’s coming over for an inquisitive visit. Maybe it’ll be interesting. Maybe not.
Time will tell as she approaches at a lazy lope upon all fours not far behind the human.


All things considered at least if it’s dead Blackwhisker’s got something to eat, she is still quite hungry after all.

[Cielalune]

The whole lower ground was now infested with those strange dark creatures. Everywhere Cielalune turned, she could see one charging at her and the fainted elf thing. She needed to rush quickly; there was no time unless she let the helpless being die in front of her. It was kind of disgusting to imagine those little demons devouring the bird elf, tearing its flesh apart and the big ones fight over the largest piece of meat.

WHY am I thinking about that?! Ciel blinked her eyes while she moved her legs faster towards the fallen beast. She spun her head to look behind and she noticed the blue scaled beast following her. It looked hungry and it was chasing after her. There were only three things that Ciel could think of why it would do that: A) It wants to help her save the elf thing. B) It wants to eat the elf thing. C) It wants to eat her.

Cielalune hoped for the former; she didn’t need any hindrances right now and this was one.

Hoping it would listen, Cielalune yelled, “I don’t need you!”

With a quick step, she forced her legs to move even faster, trying to lose the creature. Ciel huffed, all the running down the mountain made her lose her breath. Her hair was in the way and kept tickling her nose, slowly but surely, she was regretting the idea of trying to save the weak beast.

At last she reached the poor thing; the demons attempted to trample it, hoping it would suffocate in time. A rather large one seemed to be leading the rest of the shadow things. Although from Ciel’s point of view, they seemed to have been having a hard time to attack it maybe because of its large wings.


Wings…? Birds? Don’t tell me these things are afraid of birds! Then this elf creature would be of good use after all!

The rather large shadow thing, which Ciel assumed used to be a bear or a deer, decided to charge at her. Behind it was a horde of smaller demons, reluctant but seemed more fearful of betraying the giant. Ciel held her rapier close to her.

“Forgive me, dragon!” The red head yelled and gave another dodge as the looming black monster hurtled towards the girl. It went passed her and decided to aim for the other creature, perhaps trying to save itself from shame of missing the intended target. The rest of the creatures fled from the scene as Cielalune went closer to the fainted fighter.

She bent down, still gasping for air after all the conundrum, staring at the blue-skinned face.

“Hey, wake up! Are you dead?”

[Jemnisimi]

(Sorries for the wait. This is perhaps the busiest week I've had in years.)

Through a haze she knew was a dream, two glowing red eyes appeared from the trees. She watched them dully from her place on the ground, from a body she couldn't feel. The eyes weren't menacing and wild like the shadow creatures. In fact, they were watchful and knowing. As they drifted behind the mist-filled trees, the being which they belonged to slowly appeared.

It was humanoid, similar to the black and red-clad one. Its skin matched the grey of the mists. Its hair, deep purple as the clouds on that fated dark night, and armor black as the shadows themselves. And covered with spikes...

She kept expecting its... his mind to reach out to her. It was silent, but the silence spoke volumes. She understood something now. Something...

Hey, wake up! Are you dead?"

Her head was up, she realized. It wasn't a dream? Dreams were real all the same, she'd long since decided, but she wasn't looking at the trees. Well, she was trying. A huge kneecap was in her way and her eyes widened comically.

"Demon creature saved us. Creature like you." It was hard to speak. It was then she discovered the main difference between dreams and reality.

She hurt.

Her breath wouldn't come easily, but then she imagined that was due in part to her ackward position. She thunked her head roughly on the ground to straighten her back out, and that was a little better, but caused a shrill whimper as her muscles and cuts protested to the sudden action. A silent inventory was taken while she let her eyelids droop again. On her belly and arms, a few places stung. On her back, many places burned. Her wings throbbed and felt heavy. She didn't even bother to try to move, but her tail had ideas of its own. Even it was aching, but the tip just wouldn't stand still.

The girl sighed, but it came out as more of a groan. Just a few more minutes of sleep...

[Blackwhisker]

Blackwhisker had pretty much ignored the two footer ahead of her as she continued on down the mountain towards the fallen.. thing. Like she really cared what it had to say or it's opinion on the matter. She just wanted to go see if the fallen thing was worth anything.

Red gaze to the intended target it's a moment of distraction before the young Skuugra realises there's something considerably bigger bearing down on her. Oh crud.
The smell's all wrong but what she can tell of it it's big and nasty like even without the shadow influence. This shall not be too enjoyable. Sure Blackwhisker is more than capable to put up her own against an adversary but more often than not she prefers to stick to those of a much weaker nature who she can bully and do as she pleases to. Sure, a challange is good now and then, but the possibility of actually being rendered useless is never fun and something she tends to avoid putting herself in the position of.

But here we are being barreled down on by some darkness clung monstrosity and she's right in it's path seeing as the blasted two footer took herself out of it's line of path. Bother. Well at least from what she can tell the rest of the monster shadow things have all run off so it's only this one to contend with.

Heels to feet and hands come down, tail dragging as Blackwhisker puts a halt to her already rather easy going pace so as not to actually collide willy nilly with the monster. A moments pause as she gathers herself then we have a controlled launch into the face of the big beastie.
Sure, not the best method of attack to go right for it's face, not when there's a maw that big, but she's got scales more than strong enough to resist the teeth so good luck to her. Well, the truth of the matter is proven when the monster does actually try clamping it's jaws over an arm and crushing the bone to find itself more crunching it's teeth than the scale they're attempting to imbed. With an arm not broken but still akwardly positioned and being wrenched in a rather uncomfortable way Blackwhisker goes about throwing her body and tail around what she can to grapple with the creature over twice her size in everything but length. Her neck snakes to twist her head into a position where she's got her own jaw locked to the bottom of the thing's throat and she sinks her teeth in, hoping that she can bring the thing down before it manages to dislocate her shoulder.

Blackwhisker finds herself in this position for somewhat longer than originally intended. A couple of minutes at least pass as the monster struggles to pull her loose, long claws scraping at the steel hard scales attempting to dislodge the mini water dragon creature. Still she hangs on, tightening her coiled tail part way over it's back and opposite side to what she's clung to, not giving the monster the space to really do much in the way of anything, well aside from hopefully wear itself out a little so it dies quicker.

And quicker sure would be nice at this point in time. The black ichor sliding between her teeth and down over her tongue tastes just plain nasty and it's all the young Skuugra can do to keep from gagging. Why oh why must it taste so nasty? She could at least be enjoying the taste and feel of flesh between her maws, but nooo.. we had to have what ever this stuff is sliding in. Just plain gross, yuck.
A slip and a slide as the goo builds up too much for a moment and Blackwhisker finds her teeth losing their grip. A quick readjustment and she finds the situation working to her advantage as the refound hold places itself perfectly. So with a sharp twist of her neck Blackwhisker finds herself hanging somewhat freer of the monster with it's throat gushing even more of the revolting liquid all over her, namely as half it's throat is dangling from her mouth.
More twists and movements are required as with much gurgling, snorting and laboured breathing the monster collapses and she needs to readjust herself so as not to be crushed by it. Sure she's got hard scales but there's only so much she can take and having a full grown bear collapse atop of her is just that little bit too much thank you.

So with a bit more effort Blackwhisker pulls herself away from the monster, black stuff dripping off of her all over the place and watches it make a couple more stumbling movements before collapsing. A hand comes up to scrape off the muck from her scales and she looks about to make sure there's no more of the things about to run up and attack.

Nope, she's all good.

So a bit more of a look about as she runs claws carefully over her tongue in an attempt to get rid of the horrid taste she remembers there was a point to coming running down this way. Right, the other two footer weird thing.. and weren't they supposed to offer like numbers for protection or something? Or was it just food?
Some odd sounds cause an earfin to flicker and the young scalie looks at the now dissolving carcass of the no longer shadow infused bear and remembers that yes, she's most definately hungry and could do with some food, preferbly meat that just stays dead and doesn't disappear like the last two things she's killed now.

So eyes going back to the human two foot and the not so human one she can't help but think the struggling not so human one could possibly make a meal if it just stays down for a bit longer. Thusly she has more than reason enough to wander closer.

Still scraping at her tongue and between teeth with a hand she takes those dozen or so extra meters off towards the two to investigate. Coming closer she's pleased to see the not so human one is still on the ground and hardly moving. Good! Food! And fresh too!
Earfins perk and she edges that much closer, nostrils flaring to scent the thing. Most definately an odd combination going on there, she's never smelt anything like it before.. but she's fairly confident it's alive and fleshy and if she could only just get a bite she'll be more than happy.

Idly a claw flicks away some of the black much from her form and as she eyes off that twitching tail Blackwhisker wonders about the other two foot human.. is it gonna complain if she tries munching on the other one?

Well we can test that. The hand that had just flicked away the goo moves around to clamp down atop that twitching tail tip. Red eyes glance to the human to see what it does, there really isn't too much worry towards the not so typical two footer, it's rather down for the count at this point in time, well seemingly at least.


<<OOC: Excuse the well, lameness of that x.X; I really should not of done my post now but I've been busy lately n I'm on now and as I'm not totally sure how much I shall be on I figured now was better than later so here we go! >>

[Cielalune]

Cielalune watched in surprise as her dragon companion lunged towards the unconscious elf and began gnawing on the elf’s tail. She looked behind the two and saw the remnants of the possessed bear lain out on the ground. The dragon was powerful, Ciel thought. It seemed she would have use of the blue scaled creature as well.

She lifted her rapier, Oublié, and swung it at the dragon’s head. She hoped she was able to aim well.

“Stop it you! If you want to live, we will need this thing to accompany us. So if you do as I say, I will provide us with food when we head back up to the mountain. Staying here will not make us safe as you can see from the growing number of creatures.”

Ciel turned her red haired head around, seeing the shadow creatures gather once more towards them. Some though have understood that these two beings were strong and realized that they have no chance against them. Instead, they watched in the darkness, behind their fellow comrades.

The girl kicked the snoozing elf creature on one of its scaly legs; she wanted it to get up already before they get eaten.

“Hey! I said wake up! Get your blasted bum up and help us out here or I’ll let the dragon thing eat you!” Ciel growled. Her patience shortened at every second wasted. She crossed her arms, kicking the winged creature softly but frequently on the legs.

The lass twisted her head towards the mountain road again, wishing she could plan something out. A few birds flew out of the peak, cawing loudly.

Ciel blinked.

“Did that mountain just move…or was that just my imagination?” She thought out loud to herself.

Suddenly, she remembered something.


Where ARE we?

Just to know, she quickly opened one of her belt’s pouches and reached out for a tiny map she bought from one of the towns she passed by. It wasn’t very accurate, only marking the important places and such of Corone. Just as she noticed, there weren’t any images of this mountain being on the map. She was well aware that they were in the river between Underwood and Jadet. But this mountain was not supposed to be in front of it.

For one thing, unlike the Jagged Mountains labeled on the chart, it was more rounded on top. She had noticed it's unique shape just now.

“Maybe…maybe…it’s an undiscovered one. Or maybe it's been weathered over the time. Or they're building a new inn on top of it. Or...or...” She tried to reason.


“What the blasted hell is that thing?!”

If there's something wrong with the geography. >_> It's probably my fault not theirs. You can deduct points from me.

[Jemnisimi]

(Sorry again for any tardiness. Been trying to figure out plot options!)

Words came as a hazy mumble, heard perhaps better than understood. All she knew was something was holding her tail in place.

"Mrrp? Dwa... gin th---ing? ... mrr."

A quick glance behind her, as difficult as it was to manage given the current position, answered the question for her.

She'd seen lizard creatures similar. This one looked slightly more intent but at least bore no resemblance to the black-sheened beasts she saw before being nearly eaten alive. Ignoring the current situation, she began to ask why it was latching to her tail, but a piercing yell from the human brought a swift end to that.

Purple eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

"Ragh?" she squeaked.

For a moment, the blaring, demanding question made her forget how very much she hurt. The creature forgotten, she moved to jump up but only made it to a crouching position before yelping loudly in pain.

A mental note was made never to do that again while squinting at whatever seemed to get her companion's noisy attentions. The mountain? she wondered.

[Blackwhisker]

Blackwhisker's teeth go to meet scale and.. she finds herself being yelled at by the two foot and promptly stops. Well, more she ducks away with a hiss and a lash of her tail as she glowers at the woman. Okay fine she wont try tasting the scaley/feathered thing.

With an ear flicker the words the two foot is yelling at her actually get through and she pauses in the hissing to eye the human off. Food? She's offering food? Well now maybe we can come to an agreement. Giving the other a cursory glance she decides to give her full attention to the human instead.

Earfins pin back and there's more hissing from the young Skuugra as the human takes her anger out on the no longer food and yells at it before repeatedly prodding it with a foot. Well, it's getting a result at least. The thing's moved.. and done something it shouldn't of. Blackwhisker sniggers towards it's pain, eyeing off the dragonelf thing out the corner of a red eye wondering if really, maybe she should try snacking on the thing. It's not in the best of sorts obviously. Still, it could possibly have some sort of use at a later point in time, even if only as something to throw to those weird shadowy things while trying to escape.

A tail twitch and Blackwhisker looks back towards the human staring at the distance with very much a look of 'Soooo.. what now then?' Not being one to really take notice of where she is past the fact she's about a forest/river/beach/town/etc, the whole not supposed to be there mountain is lost on her.

Those shadowy bits hanging back do have her attention though and the way they mill around has her glancing back and forth around them between eyeing the human for some sort of suggestion of what's happening next. Evidently the Skuugra's already decided she'll stay with this lot for now, better than fending for herself against the weird shadow posessed animal things and all.

Even with her lack of perception for most things Blackwhisker is noticing the fact that the black things off their short distance are keeping more to one side of them, passing glances off towards the distance with the mountain now and then with some actually parting ways to go back deeper into the trees in the opposite direction. She can't put two and two together to figure why they're doing it, they just are.. Hmn. Nervous over something mayhaps?

[Cielalune]

“FINALLY! I thought you’d never wake up! Well, let’s get a move on then! I don’t have any more time!”

The red head huffed, still overwhelmed by the delusions.

It was strange that Ciel would imagine such odd things but perhaps it was caused by the moon’s light. After all, it had only been a few hours since night came. Perhaps it was telling Ciel that she had to find a place to rest soon, otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to concentrate properly. It was hard to deal with these creatures, especially in the dark. Though, already her platinum eyes had been used to the darkness and this had been a great asset to her battles with the shadow demons.

How she wished that the sun would come up again to banish the foul creatures! She feared they would increase more in number as the hours of darkness would as well. Clearly, Ciel was beginning to tire out as the creatures slowly crawled their way towards the trio.

Pine trees crashing down could be heard from the distance; no doubt, something had large had been awakened. The riot of demons rose as the light of the moon slowly faded away beneath the clouds.

“Come on you two! If you want to live, let’s get out of here. I, for one, am not interested in dying in such a foolish way!”



“Is it really safe, up on that mountain? Maybe it wasn’t my imagination at all that the peak moved. Then again, it convinces me that whatever lies there has the ability to drive these foul beasts away but perhaps it may be the actual source of these putrid spawns of the devil like I said before. Blast it! My time is ticking away from every breath I take…Oh why do I feel such compassion to these beings before me?!“


“‘It is your duty as a knight.’ Sir Marlois would say to me. ‘The innocent should never be slain unless proven that their sins have earned its justice!’”



“…But alas, I know not what these things are! Neither specie nor name have I heard from them so why do I have to blasted protect them?! Bah!”

Sadly, Ciela’s train of thought has distracted her from reality, not noticing that the hefty beast was dragging itself towards the three. It was larger than the previous one, it could be compared to that of an elephant but how unusual it would be to see one of them in their location. Its yellow beady eyes flickered like two lampposts; the whole of its body is coated in a pure black mist just like its lesser kind. It had no signs of feet; the bottom was like a sheet being dragged against the earth.

Cielalune paused, looking at the giant pulsating demon and its minions coming closer and closer than ever. It was too late to move now; they were surrounded between the army of shadows and the wide river. She panicked; sweat forming on her brow once more, trying to change her tactics. She blamed the other two for slowing her down, for putting her in a dangerous situation. She cursed, reaching for her sheathed rapier and slowly moving her feet towards the riverbed.



Sir Marlois, please, guide me for I can’t swim!


The lass jumped high and plunged into the cold water.

The sound of gurgling filled her ears and then, silence.

[Jemnisimi]

Still stunned by the rude awakening, the winged girl found herself pausing in another brief time lapse of sorts, absorbing the words, and then the approaching abomination's presence slowly. Overcome with a strange sensation closer to recognition than fear, she looked on blankly at first.

Then, her expression hardened.

Almost missing the fact that her human aquaintence had made a nosedive into the deep part of the river, she found herself staring the approaching creature down as she slowly stood up.

Her deep purple wings flared again. Her face, however... It registered nothing. Perhaps she was trying to shield the creature behind them and her tail? Perhaps she was trying to defend herself. An onlooker may have asked these questions, but the large, lumbering beast before them was no simple onlooker. Its eyes grew brighter, and alone it charged. Without a sound, without a word, it bolted toward the two much smaller creatures with speed that should have been impossible for its bulk.

Thirty feet... twenty feet... ten feet.

That was as far as it got.

The shadow seemed to turn into an obsidian wall with eyes as it crashed to a hault, standing up on its 'haunches', if it had any. The smaller creatures who hesitantly followed suit found themselves in the same position before quickly retreating. The largest of them, blacker than pitch, just roared. It roared a horrible, murderous sound and pressed itself further against the invisible barrier which had presumably haulted its approach.

The sound snapped the feathery elf out of her reverie and she finally realized what had happened.

"Oh.... oh!"

Her purple eyes went wide.

"Run as water does!"

Finally letting some measure of fear settle into her countenance, she lept, with a lopsided flap of her wings into the dead center of the river, and followed after the strange woman.

She quickly learned that you're not supposed to breathe in water as you would air.

[Blackwhisker]

Water, yes, water’s a good idea.

And that’s where Blackwhisker takes herself the moment she realizes the more ‘normal’ two-foot has taken itself into the depths.


Big. Very big. Much too big for there to be any sense remaining right here on this spot where she’s watching the thing. Things that big just aren’t worth the effort, no matter what the prize. Mostly definitely like now when there isn’t a prize.

So Blackwhisker does the smart thing and turns tail, bolting right on after the two-foot that’d gone splashing off into the water. Now that’s a smart idea. Water’s the best place to be most definitely, especially seeing as none of those weird yucky tasting black things had come out of the water so far.

It’s a few moments of easy gliding through the rush of liquid around her before the waterdragon realizes that there’s an awful lot of splashing and struggling happening about her and it’s not due to the river itself. A hard thrust of her tail and Blackwhisker comes up beside the human two foot who’s really not showing the most impressive skills in swimming.. For that matter she’s showing no skills at all at being able to keep herself in the position that Blackwhisker’s found humans require to survive the whole swimming experience.
Stupid creature.
Ignoring the buffets and struggles being thrown about as the two-foot attempts to keep itself from drowning she puts herself in place to give assistance, at least for a couple of seconds. Using her momentary momentum with how she’s decided to work what she’s doing she gives the creature a good hard shove from the side and below (with no particular effort of care towards the discomfort of the two-foot itself) to lift it’s torso out of the water long enough hopefully for it to grab a grasp of air.

Really, Blackwhisker doesn’t appreciate becoming some stupid creature’s life raft, but of the moment she wants to keep these two creatures as extra protection between herself and those weird shadow monsters, so she’s stuck making sure they keep themselves going at least a little longer.

It’s not so much splashing as the lack there of that has her wondering at the other creature.

There we go!

Blackwhisker missed the ‘elephant’ monster hitting the scale, fur and skinned two-foot’s wall as well, she hadn’t thought anything was going to stop the thing and had made a dive the moment it’d started moving. Evidently the winged one hadn’t been that smart but that doesn’t matter, it’s here joining the fun in the water!

.. and showing all the signs of being as incompetent in the matter as the other two foot. Bother.
The young Skuugra’s still swimming beside the normal two foot, keeping close to it so it has something to hang onto and keep it’s head above the water now and then so as not to be only swallowing water, well she can only presume. Here’s another hassle though, the stupid winged thing isn’t even doing anything to move itself in the water! It’s just there! Argh!

Blackwhisker’s amphibious, so she lives on land and water almost as easy as each other and she’s experienced more than a few things that live either one way or the other. All of them require that you actually move to keep living in the water! Otherwise you’re dead or a plant and miss scale and feathers is most definately not a plant though she is coming very close to being dead.

Well, at least with the rush of the water around them it’s bringing the git over her way and all she has to do is make sure the other one is staying attached to her so she can try and figure a way to keep that one from drowning itself as well.
Really, this is all making itself much more effort than it has any right to be and to be perfectly honest Blackwhisker isn’t that big or that strong as to be able to keep up this sort of effort for too long. Maybe one of them’ll figure out what they’re doing before she finds she finds herself struggling too badly and can’t manage it anymore. Not that it’s consideration of the lives of those she’s trying to keep going past that she’ll lose a body to put between herself and danger, but that is quite an important factor at this point in time for the Skuugra.

Slowing down her and the two-foot attached to her’s speed through the water she makes a snap towards the other figure’s body as it goes by. Trying to grab it by a wing or anything she can get her teeth on really as it goes by. Not the easiest thing to do when there’s drag on her form and the other one’s not made things as easily as it could possibly do, and well, it’s unlikely to appreciate being bitten into. That and the fact it’s not the smallest creature in the world and there’s a lot of bulk with wings and tail to drag at her.

Now this is really getting to be a strain trying to keep two bodies that are her own size and bigger from drowning. Lucky her that her species is built to swim hard and long, of course the fact she’s young, small and hasn’t had nearly as much swimming practice as her kind should have had by this age doesn’t help matters much.

So with the worry that well, her limbs are getting weak and it’s getting to be much harder to keep both bodies from dragging her down (not really a factor that’s so much of a bother for her seeing as she can hold her breath quite some time) Blackwhisker’s of a mind to get to land and dump her load as soon as possible. No thought to the fact they could possibly be still in danger or otherwise even passing through her brain. Nope, just the fact that they’re damned heavy, her teeth are hurting and it’s all just very uncomfortable has her wanting her scaly hide free.

Struggling her head up to lift the winged one a moment red gaze attempts to peer through the wet, splashes and gloom to the side and try and spot somewhere to stop. Three tries it takes before anything comes within sight that could possibly work.
Not too far ahead! Yes! That’d work!
A tree that’s collapsed half way across the water way with a whole myriad of branches being dragged at by the river’s current. That’d work just fine.

Heaves of her tail that take much more effort than originally thought Blackwhisker’s slowly angling herself towards those branches so she can unload the weight. Her flesh under her scales begins to burn as she finds that she’s not making enough headway with all the dead weight she’s carrying. She might miss the contact point needed to drop her load without losing one. Damnit.
So she tries harder, pushing herself as much as she can to inch that bit closer. Come on, come on. She needs to stop, this is getting painful, she can’t remember the last time she’d put this much effort into anything. Why on earth is she doing that? She could just dump the both of them and swim off to where ever the river will lead her and not give either form a thought ever again. But nope, here she is struggling in the water to get them within reach of that tree to pull themselves out of the predicament they both put themselves into. Pfft!
Oh well, too late now, she might as well finish what she’s trying to do or she’s just going to make things really awkward for herself in trying to avoid tangling herself with the tree or the figures she’s helping to keep afloat.

Not far now!
She lets the scale and fur one go, if it can’t get that extra bit on it’s own it’s not worth saving anyway! Not really!

An awkward movement and Blackwhisker finds herself bashed in the head by she couldn’t be totally sure what. The result of which sends her into a spinning tumble in the water, tail and claws lashing out all over the place as she tries to right herself again. It’s too late though and without further a due she slams up backwards in among the branches of the tree with a decent array of crunches and cracks as steel hard scale hits weak wood.

Like OWWW!
Pity she can’t voice such sentiments just now, she’s much too dazed and she just sorta lolls there in the water, partially tangled through various branches. At least she’s got that, it means she’s not drifting off further down the river on her own.

Now if the other two have managed to get themselves safe enough it should all be for the good. Kinda, sorta.. hopefully…

[Jemnisimi]

"Oof!" she tried to say as her belly was headbutted by something, but just spewed out a mouthful of water instead. She briefly wondered if it was the odd lizard, but was feeling too strangely to bother really pondering anything. The only thing she found the mental fortitude to decide with any certainty was that freezing up right now was a bad thing.

The water under her wings was beginning to drag her under, she realized when a change in position sent one near the bottom of the river. She lifted her head just long enough to take in a gasp of precious air and the light from the moon from behind the clouds caught her eyes.

Then, it became a blurry glow as water rushed between it and her line of sight.

Still under the water, she screeched as her back hit a tree branch roughly, though she had no idea what it was at the time. Only that something had broken under the weight of her back. It succeeded in stopping her tumble through the rushing water just long enough that she was able to use the wings that wanted to hinder her to force herself onto the shallow side of the river. Completely inexperienced with using them this way, she found herself tumbling several more times by doing so to the point of nausea. At least she eventually stopped moving, but the much-more-gentle water of the shallows still insisted on nudging her into action.

Begrudgingly, she flopped herself onto dry land and stood still for several moments, just trying to learn how to breathe normally again. When she opened her eyes at last, only darkness greeted her, save for tiny diamonds of green light directly in front of her nose, caused by shadows.

She looked up, and found herself to be under a tree. She couldn't see anything else, but as far as her opinion was concerned, that was a good thing.

Crack!

"Hrr?" With what little energy she had left, she noticed the one smaller fallen tree bounce a little in the water. She wasn't completely sure that she ever wanted to see water again and almost looked away, but two things caught her eye. The odd lizard, and a bright red flash.

Creature like her!

Her soggy wings and torn muscles would have no part of the effort to move, but her drive to know that the only two (or at least one) sentient beings she'd ever known thus far were going to live allowed her to ignore them.

Live...?

The creature from earlier going still and silent once getting near the red-covered being flashed through her mind, as if explaining to herself what that really meant. The mental distraction was enough to allow her muscles mindless movement toward the base of the tree. She looked briefly between the stump and unmoving creatures, fighting the urge to wonder if that tree was 'dead', too. She was much too tired and much too sore to walk out on the log, but thought it best to do something.

Crawling onto the wood, she felt the splinters scratch her skin, but paid it no mind. At the edge of the shallows where the trunk began to dip into the water, she carefully reversed position, and for a moment, slipped. The tree shuddered, and the thought struck her that this thing may not be stable. Well, stable enough for three large things... that, or it was alive. Unlikely...

The exhausted girl limply raised her tail off of the wood and pointed it in the general direction she knew the other two to be.

"Grab!" she said with as much volume as she could muster, which wasn't much.

[Cielalune]

Everything was a blur for the drowning red haired girl.

The sound of rushing water pounded in her ears endlessly. Her eyes softened, quietly losing consciousness as the waves dragged her limp breathless body upstream. She felt something pick her up, its hard body lifting her up to the surface.

Ciel tried to keep her eyes focused, to see what was happening to her. Amidst the bubbles was the shape of a rather large fish...or was it a reptile of some sort?


Oh...it's the dragon thing. Blast it, I'm being saved by a creature! How it proves so much that I am weak! I'll have to save this thing back one way or another.


She cursed quietly as the feeling of the dense water began to disperse. In a blink, she was back on the surface, breathing as much air as she could as she continued to hold on to the dragon's back.

Just then, something heavy toppled over her causing her to sink back under the water. Ciel flailed in panic as she tried to go back up. With much effort, she was able to breathe once more and faced her supposed killer.

Much to her disappointment, it was only the dragon bird thing. It seems it was terrible in the water as well and the weight was devastating compared to Ciel's. Somehow, she felt pity for the marine lizard.

"Watch it, you!" She hissed at the purple skinned creature. Too tired to move her limbs, Ciel was unable to do anything violent with her two companions, much to her dismay. The currents were too strong for her as well; her frail body would have been carried into the ocean if the dragon had been unable to save her.

The shadow creature gave a low howl; the sound vibrated in the air. Slowly, it began to chase them. The smaller faster shadow creatures started to follow the three also, perhaps excited to watch their large companion destroy Ciel and the others.

They were closing in on the mountain; the river finally coming to somewhat of a standstill. Along the way, were some obstacles created from the previous disasters. Fallen trees were scattered along the way, some leaves and twigs have ended up on the river. Most likely, these were the cause of the river's currents slowing down.


A natural-made dam. , Cielalune thought to herself as she looked around, trying to find a new way for them to escape this living nightmare.

Suddenly, a red glow appeared within the trees. Cielalune was not able to see what it was clearly but it seemed that the winged creature saw it well.

"What is it?" She asked the dragon girl. Alas, the dragon girl seemed to have ignored her question and quickly began climbing up one of the fallen limbs of a tree.

"Grab!" It said as it swung its tail at Ciela and the dragon creature.


Won't it hurt if we do that?! But alright...if you say so.

Slowly, Cielalune began to work her way closer to the purple tail in front of her, her hand reaching as far as she could.

She missed, her limbs shaking from the cold air blowing at her direction. She tried again, this time, trying to straighten her reach as much as she could.

Finally, she managed to hold on and quickly moved her other arm towards the trunk. She held tight, fearing that if she let go, she'd be carried away by the current still.

She turned her head around for a second, wondering if her other companion will follow them. It seemed happier in the water though, so Ciel thought it was alright for herself to go first before the creature did.

She bit her lip for a second, wondering if she should be a little easier on these two people. She had been mean to them the whole time but perhaps it was the time to finally accept them as friends and not as nuisances.

She let her left hand go from the trunk and place it in front of the dragon thing. With slight hesistation, she gave a nod.

"C'mon. Let's go."

[Blackwhisker]

Well there goes the world sorting itself out again.

There swirling water’s below, there’s a dark sky above and some branches and bits all over the place between. For that matter there’s something rather uncomfortable against her scales, bother.
A couple of twists and turns with much squirming has the water dragon pretty much untangled from the mess of branches enough to figure on where to go next. Voices off to the side say something of the two she’d made such an effort of keeping alive. Well good, they’re not quite as stupid as she thought. They’ve gotten themselves together and out of the water where they obviously have no right to be within.

A limb offered in the Skuugra’s direction is ignored as she swims two paces closer. For that matter she turns her nose up at it, giving it such a look you’d think she’d just been offered green stuff to eat. But really, that fleshy pathetic thing? No, she doesn’t think so.

Claws lash out at the flesh of the deceased tree instead, hooking into loose bark so the young Skuugra can pull herself out of the water of her own accord. On all fours she’s not as off put as the other two in scrambling from point A to point B along the lump of wood. The only real problem is the obstacles made by the other figures themselves. But with the water now shallower and essentially dead on either side of the log Blackwhisker simply drops herself back into the water to finish her way ashore.

A couple of scramblings from a bank steeper and more slippery than originally thought means she takes longer than intentioned to get onto solid land. There’s some heavy breathing, panting and hisses of mild annoyance from the Skuugra due to the current situation but otherwise she doesn’t seem too put upon.

Earfins flicker after a moment, head picking itself up and looking about the dark tangled treescape upon the shoreline. Something made a noise? Yup.. bother.

From the dark there’s a red glow, something making itself known as it comes closer. Do they really need this? Not particularly and there’s a low rumbled growl from within the scaled creature’s gullet. Could they possibly be left alone long enough for her to gather herself together at least? Probably not.

Oddly enough it’s not your typical sounds of approach that’s gathered Blackwhisker’s earfins, no, it’s a strange harmonic blend of sound that’s winding itself towards the trio. This time it’s not snarls and things crunching. It’s voices singing and some other sort of strange wind sounds that accompany them in tune.

To be honest the melody isn’t to Blackwhisker’s taste, then again she has this thing where she’s rather tone deaf, so music in general does nothing for her senses. Still, there’s something eerily relaxing to the sound accosting her ears.

It’s not long before that red glow is close enough to make shapes out of it. Figures, multiple figures. Figures that could possibly compete with the scale, fur and skin human thing for oddity.

There’s at least a half dozen of them. All considerably taller than herself, taller than your average two foot even, at around 7ft or so. Hairless creatures from what can be seen of the occasional flash of black pearlised skin under crimson robes. Not a follicle to limbs, hide or head. Then there’s the fact there seems to be too many limbs. Blackwhisker’s not quite sure where some start and where others end. Things aren’t quite bending right of what can be seen and more than one of those limbs seems to be connected between two or three of what should be separate figures. Arms, legs and ‘joiners’ blend and disappear between each of the forms as they pass through the tangled trees so one can never be quite sure how many of each there is.

The red glow emanating from their heavy looking robes being the only light really doesn’t lend itself to discerning the group very well. For that matter one could wonder why it is a group would go wandering about a forest in the dead of night with glowing clothes. Common sense could possibly say something against making oneself such a visible target. Then again each of the lanky unnatural looking beings gives off a rather strange feeling of ease, as if all your worries and anger just aren’t worth bothering about. So perhaps with such an effect on their surroundings they’ve no fear of being attacked.

Either way Blackwhisker’s finding herself all the less inclined to make point of getting away as the forms bring themselves closer. For closer indeed they are coming, the voices rising with each spanning of distance they approach.

The trees are quickly revealing themselves to be little more alive than those fallen within the water as the red glow envelopes more of them revealing their details. Limbs stretch aimlessly to the heavens, earth and each other and back again, not a leaf among them, not even upon the ground. For that matter the ground’s showing itself to be a strange dusty grey affair, soft and comforting to tired feet.

Hmmn..

She really should stay awake. Really, she should.
They don’t know how far away those weird shadow non-animals are that seem out to get them. They could just be a short distance away.
Still that sound is quite nice. Blackwhisker’s not heard that sort of thing before.
Maybe if she just closed her eyes for a bit. Yeah, that’d be good. She is tired after all. And a short rest will make her ready for later and a more successful attempt at hunting.

Yes.
Just a moment or two.. yes.

What had been a worn out ready to move dragon figure now starts to settle itself down. Tail like lead weight against the grey sand, legs slowly crumpling under the weight of a body no longer wishing to be held up. Head droops again, muzzle barely held up to see the group of red robed figures come closer.

What strange white eyes. Empty, lifeless.
There’s no sense of life or control watching out of those sightless orbs.
Puppets? Or do they merely mask true intentions unlike the gaze of a two foot?

Blackwhisker hasn’t the time or care to think on the matter further.

The last thought through her mind that she’s never seen two foots with hollow limbs like those before. But then she hadn’t been able to see instruments upon their bodies to make those whistle sounds. It only figures that it’s their odd limbs themselves making the noises.

What silly creatures, how do they sneak up on prey like that?

The 'red robed figures' are open for either of you to do whateva you want with them. Whether they're gonna help, capture us, try and eat us, etc, I'm not too fussed. Also further definition of them themselves as well is open as ya please. Just thought I'd throw something else in there as well as the shadow things.