Action. Thought. "Speech."

he turned to the other voices for a moment, smiling. "yep, you can call me specs! a pleasure to meet you all" he chirped with a smile.

he hummed. he turned to the shouting voices for a moment, confused, but shook them off. sinister lessers? well, he did suppose they looked as such. best to be careful, but you all know how it is. curious.

he looked around. he supposed it wouldn't hurt to sniff around, would it?

he walked to one of the nearby walls, magic thrumming through his feet as he did so. he sniffed the walls and rocks, between cracks and crevices. if something was here, hidden, surely it'd have a scent, its just a matter of if his nose could catch it...

The Queen hissed under her breath, her mask hiding her glaring features. She turned to face the idiot and scoffed, instantly amused.

"What a stupid little creature," she said to Matthieu, "Ignore it, friends, it isn't worth our time."

Hopefully the beast was eaten first...

She peered over at Cerilaine and offered a gentle wave, pleased by her apparent intelligence. But aside from that, she mostly ignored those who weren't fae except for Cerilaine and Forgraves. At least they seemed to be polite.

She picked her way forward daintily, her deer hind delicate, matching the rest of her. She peered around Rain and tilted her head, curious.

"Does it not work?", she hummed.

Won't you play a game with me?

By the name of the forest, why were there so many intruders here?!

Yes, yes, it was a free space. But that did not mean the "Marsh Strider" liked all this company. Their head(s) swiveled away at the sound of baying, staring off with narrowed eyes at the panicked canine. So loud. So nosy. And yes, it was true-- they were incredibly dangerous, and all these innocent creatures had no idea how easy it would be to rip out their teeth-- but they digress. It'd be impossible to chase them off now without drawing more attention to the questers.

Up came another-- spotted pelt, strange rims, shouting at the Wild Dog Who Cried Sinister. Matthieu regarded them coldly, before turning their snout to Rain again. Tick tock. Their fork didn't find anything of note. Their false-hooves stomped on the rock. Tick tock. Water dripped. The fox, the one called "Specs," rattled on. Tick Tock. The Wild Dog yowled. Tick tock. Another, even more oblivious fox joined the fraw. Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

Enough passive observation. That was Marshmallow's job. These little toys needed directing if they weren't going to hamper their progress. Plus, his illusionary spell was wearing off.

Or not. Bee hissed between clenched mandibles as the deer mirage began to flicker. "Veil's falling," she whispered in bug-speak, mainly to Arwen. This was not a good place for their lesser disguise to fall apart, not with everyone staring at them. 'What do we do?' But Boy, the humanoid screwed on backward, knew just what. "We'll keep the toys entertained."

"Friends!" Matthieu's cryptic whispering sickeningly smooth just in time as the spell flickered and exploded into a shower of sparks, revealing the monster beneath. A horrifying amalgam of insectoid and mammalian parts twisted together, one massive bee head staring into the crowd as their second, talking one swiveled around on their spine. Smiling like all hell. "Greetings. We see you have come here, ready to witness the extravagant event!" Of course, there wasn't actually a spectacle they planned for, but the faerie was a master at lying through his teeth. "We are the Cheery Court, and-- as the obscured one orates-- we seek the singing stones as directed by this."

Matthieu then turned back to Walks Like Rain, much quieter compared to their speech. "May we?" Barely leaving a moment to respond, her mandibles locked over the tuning fork and grabbed it away. Their rosy eyes flicked to the Queen, briefly, looking for any sort of response. And then they raised it into the air.

"Tada! Now, there are spoils behind the melody, so good thing you're here, because you may get a piece of them if you help us." Lies, lies, lies. Matthieu could barely tolerate their nosy butting. But they knew it would be quicker this way.

The faerie demon grinned ever larger.

"Now, which one of our marvelous friends wants to be the first to lend a hand, and the first to be rewarded?" They dangled the fork tantalizingly in the air. "Would it be you, Specs?" to Cerilaine-- "Would it be our spotted guest? Or maybe little miss 'Banana Crown', here-- perhaps you'll get your own, real crown...?"

He sighed dramatically and pulled the tong back. "Of course, we can always search by ourselves, but that would be no fun, would it?"

Talking. Acting. Glancing furtively at the rest of their Court.

Lying.

Cerilaine's ears dialed back briefly at the canine's ear-splitting response. Her expression had barely changed, though a look of disappointment, perhaps, came across her. Blue eyes flicked to the one she had pointed out- skull, perhaps, yes, but it didn't seem so much as a grim ritual and instead some form of warning.

And, it seemed, they weren't trying to warn away those that approached them, all but the dog.

Working her jaw, she turned her head away from the canine with a short huff, nodding once to the one waving. Her expression was still hard from the interaction with Mosaic- who was she to assume on lesser (or lesser adjacent) beings? She did not look like one, nor did she know their intentions- and neither did Cerilaine, really. They had some sort of odd object, but past that, well.

No matter. They were talking of needing help, and Cerilaine slinked forward, ears pushed forward in benign interest.

Treasure? What sort of treasure? What use was treasure here? Ceri's ear flicked as she listened (what was with the rhyming?), eyes roaming over Rain's cloak in a quick pass and lingering on the skull. Her fur bristled here, very minutely and nearly unnoticeable if someone weren't directly watching her, hesitating in a step forward. It felt off. Was it a warning or a lure? Why were they being so cryptic? Ceri clicked her teeth together in minute thought as she turned to the deer-

Just as they whispered out over an explosion of magic. Cerilaine winced back in response, fur bristling more- what- no, that didn't look right. It was two beings fused into one. Well- it was unfortunate, yes, and the leopard attempted to smooth down her fur as she slinked back forward.

Oh, but that smile was off-putting. Her ears flattened against her skull in her body's only protest to it, listening calmly to Matthieu speak about this Cheery Court. What was with the prose, too? Sure, Cerilaine liked a bit of formality, but it all seemed to be a bit too sweet.

The metal of the fork caught Cerilaine's eyes, and she straightened. "Looking for... Spoils, with that. What kind of spoils?" She squinted, briefly- perhaps she'd look serious, but with oversized spectacles on a child's face, it looks like she was playing dress-up for a detective game. And, as she looked to the others, her mind worked. They wouldn't gather so many people if there wasn't a good reason. Either it was a lot of treasure, they each wanted it for themselves, or- "And just how dangerous will this be?" If they were asking for help with this large of a crew, then there must be at least some level of risk.

The more it settled on her, the more it felt like a trap, but she wasn't about to let this opportunity slip her by. She didn't desire the treasure of it- but the knowledge of this... thing, that was being held out was certainly intriguing enough.

Arwen sighed softly, hands clasped in front of her. This was already falling apart...

’Do what you want,’ she chittered back, and then watched them explode into sparks.

She looked ahead and sluggishly followed Rain, hoping that the normies were entertained at least. She turned and faced Cerilaine suddenly, her masked face blank, a false expression of content on it.

"You haven't left yet. Hm."

She poked Rain after a moment, "I like her. Leave her fur on her body, perhaps she can be useful."

Another messenger, perhaps, or a pet. Though Marshmallow was just so stupid she barely had intelligence at all, and that was different.