ORIGIN

The alligator waited, bobbing gently in the dark shallows at the edge of the Heart. He looked just like any log, but the Children knew he was here--they'd been asked to be ready, to be ready for his call, and to avoid strangers or those who had come with Reji.

The Bonebound were, with any luck, on their way. He'd been warned, by Serek, that they would come in number; and that, more than that, the fungus had been confirmed. That Reji's state had been confirmed. The Bonebound would be allies in Cetus' own little war--and Dragon hoped, too, that they might bring more. There were rumors that even Astraea was involved, which Dragon found... unsettling? Unpleasant, at the very least. But he would not turn the stag away, should he come. Not that it was his place to. And it wasn't that the Bonebound were low in numbers, but if it came to a fight, Reji's clan had gathered quite a few friends.

Large friends.

He'd seen Azrael, with the hulking black form--and wings; he'd seen the bear, Sergei. He didn't want to fuck with either of those without overwhelming force, and that was including ignorance of any powerful casters their group might hold.

So he waited, bobbing up and down on the bank.

The moment he saw a familiar (Bonebound) face, he was ready to slip up onto shore, to call out quietly to them, maybe a little blast of fire to get their eye. They'd have to meet here--and they'd have to move fast.

Giggle moved along sourly. Her dark eyes darted here and there among the vegetation, suspicious, her magic casting out periodically to search out the fungus that she'd been told was somewhere here.

Ahead, Omen had vanished into the murk, quite high up. She was, Giggle knew, native to this cave; she'd been told that the birds nested here, and she knew, too, that the bird would make a good, unseen scout.

But the mud, clinging wet and cold to her paws, the blinding mist, the reek of the place--well, all right, the stink hardly registered beyond her own but everything else was so unlike the bright, dry warmth of Canis, of home, that she found herself resenting even being here.

It was what it was.

They knew how bad the fungus was... but the bones had said something else, and the bones had never steered her wrong. She was unsettled by going against them--it was that, or go against her son, against the Bonebound, against her Bone King. But she'd already decided that if she could get a sample of the stuff, she'd take it.

Just-... to see.

If she could control it, remove it at will, surely it wasn't all that dangerous to her..? But she wouldn't risk her family for it.

Not that there aren't enough of us here. Or coming, she thought to herself, wryly.

"Dragon," she offered, shortly, at last. She'd met him once or twice, and her greeting was polite but rough-voiced, as always--businesslike.

And then her eyes, and magic, went back to canvassing the cave.

She could sense fungus, to be sure, throughout Cetus; it was, in fact, quite widespread. Things must grow better here, she thought, eyeing the mud, the trees. Damp. Dark. Rich soil.

"There's fungus everywhere. It might take me awhile to find what we're looking for," she told the Bone King--and Dragon--in an undertone.

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr

Pride wasn't far behind the Bonebound--and he was not pleased.

He wasn't angry; he was rather miserable, actually. Nemean had filled damn Orion with angry gemstone-eating worms, and then Aure had turned up asking for help. Which... was fine, and it meant it got him away from said angry gemstone-eating worms, but did it have to be Cetus? Dark, muddy, dank, slicking his pristine white legs with rank muck. And his magic never worked here. Nassir would be just behind him, he knew, a sleek black shape slinking through the dark, but he? A target, pale and bright in the mist. Hard to see at a distance, perhaps, but up close? He was a liability.

His magic... he'd normally rely on that to devastate his enemies, but now? He'd fought in Cetus, before. It hated him, he was sure of it. His magic had backfired, flaring unsteadily, unreliable and dangerous. He'd warned Nassir; he'd even warned Aure, but he'd never heard of it happening to anyone else and he wasn't about to turn down an ally's request for aid.

Particularly not when it was a danger that might threaten the whole caves. No--his responsibility was to be here. He didn't have to like it, though.

The stag gave a nod as he came up alongside the others, coming to a quiet halt. And when Giggle spoke, he could barely hear; he was drawing up alongside. He cast out his own magic in response, hesitant with the fear that it might lash back at him, sensing for gemstones where she'd sought out fungus.

"...There are many gemstones, too. All over the cave, and most Lessers, I'd assume. There's a few clusters... maybe we can work together to figure out where the stones and fungus overlap."

Septiezal poked his head out of the black water and flicked his tongue, tasting many scents, both familiar and unfamiliar. This would be the first sighting of the serpent in a while, and as he slithered onto shore, it was clear that he had not eaten in a while.

He had been too... preoccupied to do so. A developing neonate could not guard themselves after all. However, just because he had been coiled around a chrysalis at the bottom of the swamp does not mean the he had been out of loop. Word can travel fast through the grapevine when you're in the know.

The snake stretched his neck up, tongue flicking and eyes darting. Dragon and Phelgethon were here. There were those that smelled of dust and bone. They must have been the Bonebound. Septiezal was somewhat impressed that the clan still clung to existence after all these cycles. For a moment, he held hope that Eghadi would be among their ranks, but the white cobra was nowhere to been to be seen.

Septiezal swiveled towards the Children of Rot. His gaze was thoughtful. Never in a million cycles did he think he would ever see war, but here it was, and here he was, ready to fight.

And he had something to fight for.

No child of his was going to grow up in a world infested with mind-controlling fungus.

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"Listen"
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