ORIGIN - [FF] FIVE FOR THE STOVEPIPES, SIX LEFT FOR HELL

Watching, watching, watching.

Perched atop a small boulder: Matthieu. The anomaly. One head facing forward, one facing back. Six limbs gracing the marbled stone, two clutching at their chest. Black and yellow and black and yellow and red.

The festival had been going on for-- how long? A few hours? A few days? It was hard to tell. But the influx of strange faces did not stop coming, diving between stores and booths and filling the air with chatter. They themselves only visited one-- the red tailed teen giving out fortunes-- and her words filled their minds. They will find a group of likeminded individuals. Individuals full of curiosity like him.

A nice prophecy. Though the red panda's definition of "curiosity" was likely not the same as their own.

Right now they crouched atop an outcrop, overlooking the carnival with hundreds of apathetic eyes. The twinkling lights and mosses illuminated the place with a warm orange glow. Condensation tickled under their feet and with every breath they took. The background murmurs made them drowsy, but they couldn't sleep just yet. 'There are things to do.' Plus, of course, the two people they accidentally made enemies with were coming by.

The blue thing that shouted and the white thing that screeched, coming by just near. Their lower bee head winced at the memory-- they helped pry their chrysalis off of them, and they accidentally blinded them in return. The harpy was furious. But they were with the grub ('The Queen!') too-- at least she liked them. Hopefully.

'Oh no--' Here they came his way! Hopefully they won't notice the hybrid. It suddenly struck Matthieu how a boulder was such a glaring location to be and, in a frantic push for their magic, tried to make it less glaring. They crouched down, Boy's form hugging the insect as she in turn hugged the rock. Shadows pooled from the darkest corners and pulled over them like a dark blanket. Hopefully they'll stay hidden like this, at least for now.

@Arwen @Redwood @Marshmallow @Rami

Arwen inched along, gnawing on a piece of candy, a necklace dangled around her neck, her mask as expressionless as ever, set in a soft smile, one of perfect serenity. She swayed gently, back and forth, back and forth, humming and dancing along to her own music, looking all over, at all the stalls.

"So many colors!", she twittered after a while, reaching up to take Blue's hand and squeeze it, chittering to herself in words that only she really knew.

It was colorful, with so many Gembound around, with orange pumpkins and colorful booths, and the scents and smells were something else, too. Sweat, the sweet smell of fruit, the smell of fear over at the haunted tunnel. It was wonderful!

Marshmallow contently on Arwen's shoulder as always, swaying along to her music. The little bat held a chunk of candy in her small claws too, a small fourth of the actual piece. The candy stained her fur many colors, but she didn't care. It tasted as yummy as the fruit that Arwen fed her.

But the main source of her happiness was that Arwen was happy. So Marshmallow was happy too.

Blue followed along, inch by inch, not particularly bothered by how slow they were walking. it was nice, being able to take everything in at once.

Blue, overall, just seemed to be having a good time, their little trinket hanging by the base of their tail. they rubbed their eyes, still sensitive after that vile little bee creature nearly blinded them, the lights of polaris harsh. they sat down near the boulder, legs tired, downing the rest of their treat, the juice staining their claws. they much preferred meat, being a bird of prey, but even blue couldn't deny it tasted lovely. perhaps they'd have to find that horse again and ask how they were made.

"the festival is... nice, really. different from eridanus, its usually much more... quiet, there." they twittered, yawning as they stretched. "fun, so far." they hummed, turning their head to face arwen.

absentmindedly, blue scratched at the keratin every slowly growing around their gem. they wondered what that was about.

@Matthieu

Rami didn't really do anything at the festival, she hadn't been interested in any of it. All of those gembounds being in one place just made her feel more small than she already was. It wasn't fun to feel like that, at all, really. Rami desperately wanted to be taller, like everyone else! Even some small gembound were bigger than she was! With a huff, the munchkin cat wandered away from that place, and away from the big groups of gembound. Only to run right into another! Rami didn't notice the one that was hiding itself, but did notice the others that were speaking.

"You guys look funny." The cat voiced, not really holding in her own opinion. She never did, so why start now?

There was a lot of gembound that looked funny in the caves.

@Matthieu [Let me know if I need to edit this for timeline's sake but i just assumed this is before the actual murder since none of the others seemed like that was what was on the mind]

There they came. The other faeires. Matthieu, the two-bodied child, hunched down in the cloak of darkness that hid them. First was the grub, the Queen; she snacked on something delicious and had a strange cord around her neck. She looked happy. Then was the white puffball resting on the girl's shoulder. It's fur was in all sorts of funny colors, though they couldn't figure out why. Happy as well.

And then there was the blue one. The harpy. Walking along on their spindly little legs. The Twins did not like them very much, not after they acted so hostile mere moments after they were born. But still, they looked happy too. All of them talking together. Having fun. The bee-human slunk further down into the shadows, feeling the wet, cold granite rub against their numerous legs. The magic-charged air. The faraway chatter. It was best Matthieu just disappear and let them on their merry way.

Up came another creature, one their rosy eyes didn't recognize. It was small, and long, coated in thick fur and decorated with spots. Eyes narrowed in annoyance. It bumped into the group of faeries and... spoke? Called them "look funny"? Hmph. Already their neurons were firing, deciding they didn't exactly like this feline. 'Not entertaining enough. Poor joke. Eat her.'

Despite it all, they didn't move. Didn't show themselves, Just stayed a gaggle of shadowy, mismatched limbs pressed against stone. Curious of what was going to happen, and unsure of how friendly one particular fairie would be to him.

@Redwood @Arwen @Marshmallow
(And Chisio you're good!)

Arwen didn't notice the cat at first, but the moment it spoke to them, she stopped in her tracks, fist clenching and crushing the fruit roll in her hand.

"Excuse me," she said, voice dripping with false kindness, before it went flat and her voice turned to the chittering of a thousand insects, a swarm of hatred.

"WHAT GAVE YOU THE IMPRESSION YOU WERE ALLOWED TO SPEAK TO US?", she hissed, not liking the tone, not liking the words they used.

She herself wasn't very scary yet, in fact, she looked rather... weak. And not just in appearance. She held onto Blue's hand for support, her soft exterior hard, crackly, and straining, as if she were a zit ready to burst.

"Do not talk to my accomplices that way again,", she said, low and quiet, menacingly.

@Marshmallow @Redwood

Marshmallow could feel the displeasure, the hatred that Arwen emitted. She didn't know what the grub was angry about, but Arwen's problem was her own problem. The small bat bared her own small and pointy teeth, flapping her useless wings even though they couldn't even be used to fly. "eeeeeee..." she gave a warning sound, warning the cat.