Five Seven and Two enthusiastically bended to allow Lumut to climb it, shivering and swaying its lantern pole as if to emphasize the moss it had piled on. As the scene shifted, 572 was beside itself with wonder. It nearly tripped over itself as it spun to watch the landscape, clapping its windows in silent joy. The joy was short-lived though. With Lumut's tidbit of knowledge it stopped and sagged, its walls groaned in disappointment. With her endorsement, though, it cautiously accepted the lot of gembound. The idea of them at least.
It approached the group with slow steps. Then froze. The horses and carriage lay beyond the throng of gembound. It threaded through them with light steps, taking care to not step on any toes or tails, before stopping before the wagon. The voice was odd, yes. But 572 was trusting and young. It was made to adore gembound regardless of their faults. It did not recognize the purpose of the sigils nor the talismans, and it faltered when the voice rose.
But the idea of something trapped in such a frigid, empty place hurt it deeply. It desired to rescue it, and house it within the safety and warmth of its room. It longed, too, to rescue the horses. But the voice had caught its attention, as a living talking thing. It whistled intently through its chimney, and raised a clawed foot as if to paw at the covering of the wagon.
"I don't think we should," it voices, shrinking away from the rotting horses. "There is something missing... why?"
"I vote we take 'em out," Mossie says. "Even if they turn out to be a monster or whatever there's so many of us we could probably take them. Plus, treasure!"
Mossie doesn't recognize any of the gembound here, save one. Kinda.
The large dragon makes primordial unease slither through her bones, but the smaller blue one...they seem familiar.
"You," she says, pointing as she approaches Alek. "Is your parent a big white deer-dragon creature who's very good at magic, perchance? You seem quite familiar..."
he wishes, idly, that his dad were here. he'd eat this up, for sure, but they are being confronted by problems before he can get too deep into that train of thought.
he flinches as he listens to the man's cries, and, not quite done processing the sudden shift, he looks around at the others.
"no! lets let him out, we have no actual reason to distrust him yet!! he cried out. he was unsure, it was obvious in his tone, but if this person needed their help, who were they to leave them?
Giggle's comment irks her. Hive? Who? Where? Does she have time to parse who? No, especially not with the people here; surely she'd be stopped before she could take a swing. She'll just keep her vines close and ready then, even if she's put on edge at the sheer idea of it.
The show moves on. It must.
Lifting her muzzle to the sky— the sky, the one she doesn't recognize as anything but a strange Orion, perhaps, with strange light and murky trees refusing to block the chill of the wind blowing through her fur. How new this all is, this story. It's like she's about to be in her very own show. All she needs is Nemean to throw the spotlight on the carriage, the horses... but that's what words are for.
Ears raise and pin back in seconds. Choice. If she were in this beings situation— trapped, beings pulling the carriage left for dead— she'd want to escape too. But how could she trust who was outside the door? Fidgeting with her vines further, Pollen stays close to the carriage and studies the group.
She flicks her muzzle up in a half-nod towards the door.
This place is weird. It creeps Yvan out, full stop, and yet— ... and yet, he's already marveling at it, wondering just how he'll describe this to Ryoto back home. The snow, the moonlight, the trees; it's everything to him, and he's fascinated by this entire world existing in a storytime rift. If he reaches out, he can even touch the trees. It's so startlingly real.
It's also terrifying. It's wrong. Even if he hasn't been around for long, the unease settling in his core at how quiet it is, with nothing but the wind whipping and their feet crunching snow to fill the silence. Yvan huddles his arms across his chest and blow hot air down to his wrists in an ineffective way to keep warm. The cold doesn't need to settle in.
He stops in his tracks at the pleading. Breathing faster, he stares, wide-eyed and panicked and clutching at his biceps. Reptilian feet tap in place as he leans his weight side to side.
Yvan's voice is quieter than he'd like it to be.
Maw wished her amulet would work in here. Or that she didn't have to vote. She wasn't sure was to do, but the trust of everyone in the crowd put her on edge.
After a mild traumatic experience upon seeing a certain ghost from the past, that Wilder's roleplayer does not wish to get into here, the quest began and Wilder trotted along with the rest of the group (keeping more then a fair distance from both Giggle and Pride). As she entered the forest she felt...strangely at peace, but there was a bright excitement, like a child on the morning of Christmas. Her eyes stared, round with wonder, at the moonlight bursting through the trees. She had only seen the night sky of Let in visions and she wasn't sure if she had ever experienced moonlight. After all, wasn't Let itself a moon?
They'd truly entered another world and Wilder stared ahead, now fully separated from whatever drama had threatened the edges of her mind. She would commit this to memory so that she would never forget.
She paused at the sight of the carriage and the horses, eyes widening at the carcasses. In a second, her confidence and sense of excitement faltered, replaced quickly by fear. This was...going to be dangerous, wasn't it? But she looked around, feeling reassured by the number of Gembound here. And she knew Pride to be a strong spellcaster, at least - how many others were as powerful?
At the sound of the banging and the cries for help, Wilder took a few steps forward, wanting to rush to the carriage and claw it open herself. She opened her mouth to protest the questions - of course they should help! He was trapped, freezing! He needed them!
But then the talismans...and the voice of the narrator returning. And Wilder was reminded too much of another time she had attempted to help too hastily, where she had awakened something that should have been left alone. She stopped, fully unsure, stepping back with the rest of the group and saying nothing.
Moving on from whatever thoughts and feeling Kass was experiencing that someone will no longer be including here, he followed them through the forest, wondering at many things - the snow, the trees, the moonlight. Although he couldn't see them as well as others, the new world of smells and sounds - the sharpness of the air, the crunching of their feet through the snow, it was wondrous. But he immediately became on alert when they encountered the carriage.
He sniffed the air, trying to get a whiff of anyone else in the area, or the smell of blood at least, but the coldness of the night air and the new scents were so overwhelming that he could discern little else. He murmured softly to himself, looking at the others as they discussed. He felt very small next to many of them, and he wondered if his voice would carry at all. Nonetheless, he tried to get attention with at least a bit of caution.
The sight of the talismans was extremely concerning and his fur bristled in alarm.
They forgot, even, that it was only a story the Visitor had invited them to partake in, and reacted to the voice's demands with real fear. "Don't!" they cried out loud, to their brother. "Wait--"
Frantically, they tried to reach out to Mother, to consult with her on what to do. She knew so much, and was always a calm and wise presence to guide her children. But no soothing thoughts traveled back along the link. They received no indication that their inquiry had been heard; nor could they sense their siblings outside at all. This too only increased their paranoia. "Don't go near them!" they called again to Juggernaut. "What if--what if they're the one who cut us off! What if they have magic but we all don't!" Frantically they tried to elaborate why they feared through their thoughts, since Juggernaut with his size seemed not to comprehend the fear they held for littler things. Magic can hurt people too! Look what they did to us, in Gemini. What if this person has magic and we can't defend ourselves? Why can't we reach Mother and the rest of our family? What if they're responsible?!
All they wanted was to stay safe. Please, stay away from them.