[Quest] LIFE FINDS A WAY - Printable Version

A shrill voice--one high-pitched with youth--responded to the horrific Devilbeak screech. "NO! SOMEONE SET THEM OFFFF!"

It sounded like a complaint--but who would be out here, living in the thick of this unknown island? The question--in case anyone actually was wondering--was answered a moment later when a several-foot-high-fuzzball came stumbling out of the thick jungle close by. The little one looked young; he had that ungainly, oversized-limbs-and-head unsteadiness that came from being a child. But he didn't look newly hatched, either; his legs were growing into that long and awkward teenage lankiness that promised a few trips and stumbles along the way. A coat of coffee-brown feathers fluffed up against the damp. Big, yellow eyes blinked up with fearless curiosity at the group from a few yards up the trial, and then the kid turned, calling over his shoulder.

"ANDY! THERE'S STRANGERS HERE!" He sounded excited, and quickly blinked back to the new arrivals, looking from one to the other in turn. "Hi! I'm Rex! Do you live here too?" he asked. And then he glanced up at the mountain's peak. "Do you know what's going on up there? It's gotten noisy," he noted, his snout wrinkling up in childlike disapproval.

Obieth glanced up, eyeing the distant Skimmers. She narrowed her eyes, studying them--they were too far for most of her magic, and she had no real reason to attack them, anyway. She wasn't hungry, and it'd make her presence known here; she preferred her unseen stealth.

With a flick of her tail she glanced to the others. "These aren't creatures I have seen," she remarked--which meant, of course, that they didn't exist anywhere else. Her certainty was a little arrogant.

Then she turned, slinking up into the underbrush, along the trail that was now exposed. Catlike reflexes would server her well, unless the earth gave way underfoot; she picked her way with caution, tail counter-balancing in sways and waves.

The extra, and purified, Oilstone at her back and skull were irritating her, now. Most of the time she could ignore Rrevalk's "gift," but right now it was screwing with her balance just a little, and she let out a deep and irritated growl as she stalked up the cliffsides.

She did not fall, though; and that was something. At length she glanced down, some half-forgotten urge to check on Relic taking her. Would the cub make it up all right-? She found the cub staring down a distant beast--one of the ugly green things--and quizzically, Obieth followed their gaze. Her brow perked as she glanced back--but Relic seemed satisfied now, and was easily making their way up the hill.

Well-... that was good. Right? The Valkcat didn't feel all that much relief; she just took approving note, and then moved on.

The Pricklebacks upon which Nidhogg stumbled, quite by accident, looked dangerous. While only three feet tall, they bore warning colors and long spines, both of which might have warded off a careful predator. But no one had ever accused Nidhogg of having common sense.

His instinct immediately fired off and--like a dog after a squirrel--he at once gave idiotic chase, scrambling wide-eyed and eager into the underbrush after them.

Others might have seen the swaying of jungle brush in a straight line along the slopes: then doubling back, as Nidhogg obliviously careened his way through the foliage. He nearly lost them--and when one split off he almost tumbled down the cliff in his blind desire to catch and kill.

His black jaws finally closed around one--a snap, a crunch, a squeal--and when he emerged triumphantly a moment later, he was oblivious to his own drool (mixed with a little blood from the spines) already dripping from his mouth. His eyes, in fact, were glazing over, and as he reached the group, he was beginning already to tremble.

Nidhogg took a moment to dismember his prize, to pick out the meat and gulp it down in pieces without a second thought.

But by the last of it, he was having trouble swallowing, and the shaking in his limbs had become staggering. Still oblivious to his own predicament, he picked up the scrap of carcass remaining and started to carry it up the switchback trail.

He did not even notice that his tail was no longer a sweeping, thrashing counterbalance behind him, as Obieth's was up ahead: it was, instead, dragging in the dirt.

It was, perhaps, sheer force of idiocy that got him up the hill. If Nidhogg noticed that now and then his entire limbs gave out and pitched him a few feet down, he didn't mention it, or even look twice. If he noticed that his hind legs stopped working for awhile, he also didn't mention that: he just hauled himself on forelegs, his intense and foolish eyes fixed upward.

His willpower might have been impressive if there were any indication he even realized that he'd been poisoned. At the very least, he at last seemed to cotton onto the fact that the Prickleback was at fault, and spat it out, leaving his prize behind.

He would fall behind the others, undoubtedly--except for any who might fail to scale the cliff entirely--but Nidhogg showed no sign of distress.

Khavur would stare for a moment at the visage of its findings. Large, sharp, iridescent, capable of eating fruit and possibly meat? And it seemed to have enough of a sense of reason that it dared not attack him, who was similarly large and spiky. Very intriguing. Khavur wondered if it had a stone, if it had a name... but that's not what he was here to find out. Business came second, the safety of its siblings came first. Speaking of which... the Labradorite and Nidhogg appeared safe, as far as Khavur could tell. He would remember this, these creatures that everyone appeared to be finding. And then he would attempt to carry on up the path, hopefully without issue—completely ignoring any new arrivals who looked as if they posed no threat.

Kaimana appeared to have stumbled on a little lizard fight night. Well, "little"—they were a kind of big for little lizards, but certainly smaller than Kaimana. Arguing over a patch of meat. Well, she couldn't blame them, although personally she would have taken much more interest in the bone. They were all skedaddling away at the sight of her though, which was unfortunate but understandable. Were they sentient? Ah, Kaimana probably should've asked, but perhaps it was better to let it go. She imagined this wouldn't be the only opportunity to learn. They all already knew how to get here after all, so unless all the entrances were blocked or something catastrophic happened, it probably wasn't that big of a loss.

Kaimana would retreat himself back towards the trail, only stopping to take notice of the upset-sounding kid once he saw them and his mind started making some snap connections. Glaive? No, no, color's all wrong, size is quite different as well of course. But in their childhood, Glaive had been smaller... Kaimana was knocked in the head with the urge to rhyme words again (Andy rhymes with handy), the desire to be pet again, the sudden burst of melancholy. He wouldn't let any of it get in the way of saying: "Hello Rex! I think we've had an increase in noise where we're from as well. Since you live here, do you happen to know what this room is called? If not that's alright, no pressure." Perhaps it was a bit too much of a tirade for someone who looked, if Kaimana could go by Glaive standards, pretty young. She had trouble reigning herself in even without the poison.

Kaimana would wait for a response before attempting the ascent. Perhaps Rex (and Hand—I mean Andy) would like to follow along, although Kaimana wasn't sure he could condone that. The journey ahead might be too perilous.

First there was a different large prickly monster, and then there was shrieking. Madhukar was (surprise incoming [this is sarcasm]) NOT A FAN! At least she had been partially deafened from a lifetime of loud noises in her ears, but this was still so grating. WHY did nature PRODUCE things like this. Madhukar wasn't sticking around, no way no thank you. The monster itself was smart not to engage, although it was a little silly that it would find someone as small as herself to be suitably intimidating. She would storm off, hunched over with her hands on her ears to block out the rest of the sound, trundling up the path. The most crucial thing she could do what keep her heart at bay; the poisons within her would howl and keen until she erupted, risking everyone present. That wasn't worth it. None of that was worth it. Madhukar would keep her eyes on the road and climb and try very hard to think of something else other than the noises and the presences she no longer wanted to be in the midst of.