The first to come forward was a wolf, or what looked like a wolf, and Jireedon narrowed all four of his eyes at the canine who somehow strangely resembled the gangly purple one on the ledge but not quite. She was cocky and threatened that it would be wiser for them to back away. What! They couldn't threaten them like that! This was their cave! The bird sneered with disbelief at her arrogance and clicked his beak to speak, but another canine stepped in and spoke of resolution as long as they could avoid violence.

Wait... They thought the three of them were trying to start something? These monsters were the ones running amok!

The fetal creature glanced at the marmoset who tried to calm everyone down. "Yes, can we just stop and discuss this?" He chattered nervously.

The violet canine leaned over the edge, scrutinizing the group as a serpent attempted to calm the situation and told them to disregard the golden wolf. He sniffed superciliously at the group, then flicked his eyes over to the bird. "Listen to the young bloods, you ignorant fool." He scowled.

Another wolf looked confused about the situation, and a young, black dog asked what the purpose was of fighting. "The real issue is Jireedon!" He barked and turned his toxic eyes to the bird. "You know they'd strip your bones clean if they wanted a real fight! A minute out of your rock and you're already trying to play the hero!"

The bird whirled around and looked in the vague direction of the canine. "More than you'd ever do! Harumph!" He answered.

"Please, can't you two just stop for a moment? Look at all the hounds here!" The fetal creature whimpered, shrinking back over the edge.

Jireedon focused back on the group, his tiny eyes unable to focus on just one of them. The large eye, however, sharpened its pupil and fixated acutely on each body before them. "You say you don't want a fight? Then what are you here for?" He asked accusingly.

The canine leaned over further, revealing a secondary set of front limbs that dangled uselessly from his torso. "Are you survivors? How many generations have passed?"

At first, Kin-Kin was about to try again... but to her surprise, none of the weird and in her humble opinion... ugly creatures made a move. Instead, they turned to bickering between themselves again, until they finally seemed to reach some sort of agreement. Kin-Kin rolled her eyes with a dramatic fling of her head and a rush of air from her nostrils.

She stretched her bejeweled foreleg out ahead of her, and slid her crystal blade back into its hold.

"Well, originally I was just here to return home, and look good doing it... the fact that there's so many others here... even you oafs is only an added bonus," she responded to the new- or was it old? Gembounds who peered from the ledge above them. Perhaps being aggressive was a mistake, but her fur was still on end with the adrenaline pounding through her veins, just in case.

It was an offhand question of theirs that made Kin-Kin's adrenaline suddenly give way to curiosity. Generations? Survivors? "How are we meant to know how many generations it's been? Survivors of what?"

" speech "