Kin-Kin's ears swiveled, and she turned slightly as a familiar voice greeted her. She paused momentarily, drawing to a halt, her tail swishing in greeting as she grinned back towards them. Her glow brightened, casting dark shadows from the tiniest of pebbles. "Hey, kid," she greeted, her voice friendly but oozing confidence. "Nothin' concrete yet. Ya smell that?" she took another sniff with wet black nose twitching. "Think it's what we're lookin' for?"

She waited until Xireidi had caught up, and then began moving again, slowly, cape rustling softly at her back and blade clinking gently in her sheathe. The tendrils of scent she followed were faint, she couldn't be sure of its source, but she felt sure that she was onto something, at least. She chuckled softly at their apology, eyes twinkling with mirth. "Heh, things have gotten pretty crazy lately, eh?"

---

Kin-Kin chuckled, glancing the younger wolf's way with a wry grin tweaking the side of her muzzle. "...Heh. You don't say?" Their words brought Kin-Kin back to Xireidi's emergence, and she found herself internally comparing the wolf -the much taller wolf- walking beside her now to the curious pup of many, many cycles ago. Kin-Kin had never noticed- or particularly cared- about her small size, but the pup in her memories and the tall wolf beside her made for an interesting juxtaposition. Though they'd passed one another close by many times, it had been a long, long time since Kin-Kin and Xireidi had actually spoken.

She chuckled quietly, seemingly pleased with their perceived compliment. "Heh, don't hold that against yourself, kiddo. It's me, after all. If ya need any... y'know... tutoring, I ain't going anywhere."

Kin-Kin was especially pleased that the scent she'd picked out was in fact the one they'd been looking for. She flicked her tail in a swift gesture, and broke into a brisk trot. "Excellent. Let's get to it, then!" the golden wolf called back, raising her nose again after a while to keep the scent pinned down. "Say... did the fairy let ya know how to tell the real from the fakes?" Kin-Kin asked after a while, still sniffing. The scent, however, was faint enough that she soon lost it, and with a small grumble, pressed her nose to the ground and began retracing her steps, trying a different way.

---

Rinaotei did already have many tasks to do as while she does have to help those kings out in their search, Rinaotei decided she'll help them later. Initially, she hastily opted to assist the kings first to let Mintaka victoriously triumph, and now that's concluded even if they do require further assistance Rinaotei believes the kings have lots of support already from the other Gembound. The search group for Batcat, on the other hand, is a jarringly small group, so Rinaotei has decided to make searching for Batcat a priority, the others most likely will need her more currently. So, with that, she's presently scouting Orion herself in the search for this Batcat entity that faerie so desires to the point of suppositiously committing the despicable act of potentially jeopardising every Gembound livelihood by setting these lights off until her demand has been and thus tantrum resolved in the process.

Rinaotei considered many things in her head about this Batcat, for it has 'bat' within its name so it must be able to fly; but can it swim? If so is it possible for it to remain submerged for an elongated period for it to be able to obscure itself in the water? Rina scouted many places, high up the ceiling of Orion, the lowest level of the ground and diving in any deep waters she could find. Albeit with the water what little light there is in Orion starts to fade away, the more in-depth she got until she had to return up for air. She expeditiously surfaced and took to the air again, water dripping from her fur and scales, but she managed to shake a plethora of it off with each beat of her wings.

Rina resisted the urge to shiver from the cold; this being not being capable of handling the frigid as previously is becoming a concern for Rina; is it her physical health? She has continuously conjured that it's this new form of hers being the cause, but how can she be sure about that?

Hmm, nothing peculiar to be detected with just utilising her sight so she decided to go with her nose too, with that Rina dearly hopes more that Batcat to not be submerged in water for if it was then Rina won't be able to utilise her scent of smell the moment she has dived again. Rinaotei could see her fellow seekers from down below, albeit their forms were minuscule for her eyes from how high her altitude is but she could recognise them as ones who are additionally part of this search group.

Rinaotei soon sniffed the air to see if she can find anything at all out of the mundane. But woefully while she thought she noticed something out of the ordinary but it was gone from her just as quick; maybe she just imagined it? She took a deep breath to help get into concentration, clouds of frozen vapour emanating from her jaws as she does while shaking her head.

"Speech"

Albeon could've taken to the air to help search; instead, he's hop-walking intending to catch up with the others and help with this search. A lot of the canines, which is about everyone else in the search party look to be using their scent of smell in their hopes to track down this Batcat. Albeon doubts will help if he were to do that himself or at least he doesn't think a raven's sense of smell is a good one in comparison to canines; where sniffing could almost be like some unique skilled art of their's to master. So Albeon himself is thinking of using his Magick as he knows he's maybe the best Gembound ever at Magick. Still, he walk-hops right beside Kin-Kin and Xireidi and listens a little to what they have to say when the mention on whether Nimean gave any tips at all to help find the thing she's searching. Sadly regarding that apparently the little shit is useless in that regard, and she's blaming it all on Xireidi for getting her that 'fake' one from the sounds of it if she felt justified to do this to the lights.

What a complete asshole that faerie is.

When the mention of whether it has fleed makes him wonder whether that is possible, he looks up to where Rinaotei is but notices she's shaking her head might be to herself but must mean that she has been unable to find Batcat too. He wonders if Batcat was ever here, to begin with, and so he wonders if he could try looking into the past with his Magick to see if the corvid is correct. Albeon stops for a second and closes his eyes; his talons are touching the ground, so he doesn't think he needs to have physical contact any rock with his wings right? He feels like that may make it not work but, he doesn't want to look too weird in front of the others even if they're searching for the same thing.

Was Batcat in Orion?

Albeon could see some images when his Spell looks to have worked, but they are so hazy he has some difficulty deciphering any of them, but soon with his concentration and tapping more of his powers he could see some creature he has never seen before, appears to be some eyeless, winged feline. Cat and a bat are this what the Batcat look like then? Hmmm, he's getting something then, just need to concentrate on where Batcat is in this here vision to get an idea. Albeon doesn't know yet he tapped into the future instead of the past.

Kin-Kin's brows raised slightly as Xireidi declined her offer; the wolf hadn't expected that. Of course, her initial reaction veered towards disbelief; had her initial first impression really been that bad? Kin-Kin had been creating her blade at the time, and was considerably weakened by the act of forming crystal. of course, she'd mastered the art by now, but she must have seemed... so much weaker. Kin-Kin sighed softly, but a smirk remained on her face.

"Alright! Suit yourself. still, if you ever want a bit of variation..." she winked their way. "Ya know who to call."

Kin-Kin's ears twisted to the fluttering of wings and the sound of claws against stone. she turned to see the rest of their small party entering the scene, and waved her plumed tail in greeting. Her ears pricked. "Any luck, you guys?"

then she turned back to Xireidi. Suddenly, Kin-Kin felt as though she'd encountered Batcat before; she just hadn't remembered until now. It had been many, many cycles ago. Before the magic competition, before she'd been a demigod. Before she'd even reached adulthood, if she remembered right. Kin-Kin decided to give these thoughts a voice. "Wait. Batcat. That's right... I dunno about these clones of yours, but I... think... I met the real thing. A long time ago... Before you emerged, Xireidi. Much further back even than that. The memory's a haze, but I think I fought it."

Kin-Kin paused at the sound of hoofbeats, and she turned around towards the familiar figure now perched on a nearby boulder. Immediately Kin-Kin's muzzle parted into a toothy grin. She turned towards the ram, approaching with a high-stepping trot and shaking her cloak. "Heyyyy, tough guy!" She reciprocated their greeting and came to a halt at the base of the boulder, tail swishing. "We're lookin' for a thing called Batcat. If we can get it back to the generator -alive- then we get the lights back," she explained briskly, raising her muzzle again. She took a deep sniff, seeking again to recapture that tendril of scent.

---