Pride listened, the consternation clear on his face, to the description. At length he turned, without a word, and focused on his magic.

Beside him, a flickering image of Doru appeared: younger, perhaps, but clear and colorful, a navy-indigo streaked with gold and topped with yellow hair and antlers. "Did they look like this-?" Pride asked, pale gaze cutting to September. If they did, I will have words with Cadenza. Perhaps it was justified-... I will leave it to them to deal with.

He glanced at Arsu, then. "I do not mind. We would need to be very careful using any fire--that forest has been burned badly before, and it is still recovering. But we can bring in a number of different elements to combat it. The Forge may aid us, being Chaos; the dragons, or Dragon himself, might." That being said, he didn't sound invested.

He remembered speaking to the ambassadors of Order. While he was quite irritated at the state of Eridanus, and of the full belief that a friendly ally had no business mass-recruiting other creatures without their consent with the fungus, he still hated to start an outright war.

Perhaps he would warn them in advance--and warn them not to interfere.

red deer img credit - dan seagrave

@September

crickets and creatures will come in the night
keep my back from the reaper
who's hunting or running, you gotta decide

September's eyes flickered to the illusion conjured next to Pride, immediately taking a step back out of surprise. For a moment, he wondered if Doru had been here all along, somehow invisible, but the image didn't move and the way Pride addressed it made him realize before he did anything stupid that it was just that - an image. He nodded, still glaring at it warily. "Yeah that's him." An excited chime rung in his ears and he had to stop himself from smirking. Oh, he was going to be in so much trouble!

Potential allies now in September's mind - Forge, dragons, and some singular Dragon. That was good. Pride was very well connected, but he was mildly disappointed at him also not being into fire. Didn't things grow? Didn't they have plant magic people? He was mildly annoyed at how pacifistic the two seemed to be. So scared of causing too much damage.

"Alright, yeah! If you have anyone you know, I'd be willing to talk to them and organize things - I don't want to lug this on you two since it was my idea. Or we do it together. I don't know. You could point me towards them or take me, I don't mind! I've got lots of energy!" And if to accent his point, a small gust of wind whipped up around him, ready to put speed into his movement should he call upon it.

september

@Arsu

Arsu remained silent. On the one topic, it seemed like the attack was being dealt with. And on the other... well. He really didn't want to volunteer himself to traipse the full distance to the other caves, acting as an ambassador.

He remained quiet and motionless, hoping rather selfishly that nobody would look to him. It wasn't that he was generally selfish, or lazy. But he'd... he was still down about things. Still lost in himself. And trekking to Canis to seek out the Bonebound or risking his neck in Draco, or even wandering about looking for dragons or alligators who thought they were dragons, or whatever...

None of it appealed.

Admittedly he still had to find this Oliver, though. For a moment he debated it, then--surrendering to it--he sighed softly, and spoke. "If there's anyone in Canis that needs speaking to, I will find them for you."

The Bonebound, in other words. If Pride wanted them.

Pride considered. "You may seek the Bonebound, if you wish-? They should have a bit of fungal magic to help us out. You-..." he said, starting to make an offer toward September, and then hesitated. "First, know that I will be speaking to those I know about your attacker." But beyond that he'd had a thought, and it made him uncertain.

One of the groups he'd want to speak to was the Forge. But he wasn't sure he wanted to drag a fawn into the potential danger, there. "There's one place that I think might be too dangerous for you, September. But you may accompany me to Cetus and to Leo, if you wish? There is an alligator who has allies in Cetus, and he can breathe flame. And dragons, in Leo, who might be willing to help. Or one, at least, who breathes fire," he corrected himself, thinking. "The Forge does not use flame but they do have Chaos in their ranks, which--while not necessarily a friend to us--is an enemy of Order. Truthfully I am not certain as to why they have not yet struck at it first. But they can be dangerous, and I think I'd rather speak to them alone. I will also warn Order," he added, bluntly.

From this rather surprising revelation, he continued. "They have reached out to us in the past to insist they harbor no ill will. I do not want any of them caught and killed, not after that. But I will make it clear that we need Eridanus clean. If they do not like it... too bad," he added, with a shrug of cervine shoulders.

He looked again to September and Arsu. "If that is acceptable-? Then Arsu can handle Canis, and you and I Leo, and Cetus; then I will continue to Draco alone? We will need," he added, looking at Arsu now, "to clarify a time for it. In half a cycle, or a cycle's time... or longer, if you wish to have a chance to practice and perfect your magic first?" he added, looking again to September, questioningly.

red deer img credit - dan seagrave

@September

crickets and creatures will come in the night
keep my back from the reaper
who's hunting or running, you gotta decide

September nodded, standing up tall, feeling extremely important right now. He was about to meet some pretty awesome people, wasn't he! And, while he liked Arsu and appreciated him, he was glad he would not be going with to see the dragon people. He was a little too scared of fire for what September had in mind.

"Sounds like a good plan!" Although he couldn't help but be curious about the whole "going to Draco alone" thing. He wanted to meet Chaos too, if they were gonna work together, but he had the mind to not fight Pride on this. Besides, it would give him the opportunity to stop by Eridanus first and check it out.

Which, as he thought about it, he mentioned - "While you're off to Draco, I might stop in Eridanus and see if there's anyone there that can help. If we start a fire, we'll need some people around that'll help it from going out of control, and of course help regrowing afterwards. And I'd just like to look at it too. I promise I won't start a fire alone! I know its dangerous," he added, and this, he thought, might be a good moment to try and slip in some extra enthusiasm and persuasion to his argument, "and I know the risks. I don't want to just start burning everything down all carelessly. Fire can be controlled! We just need the right people, the right plan, and the bravery."

september

@Arsu

Arsu fired September a smoldering glance.

"Small. Fires," he reiterated yet again, feeling more than exasperated by now. He started to speak again, but Pride had caught his eye; a subtle shake of the head dissuaded him.

He shook his own head.

"I'll be off, then, yes? No time to waste." And if I don't go now... I will keep putting it off. "It was good to meet you, September."

Then he moved closer to Pride, speaking just softly enough to be heard. "Do you still have Azizos's stone, here? I thought I'd... look into that thing I mentioned."

After Pride's faint shake of the head, he looked to September. "Small fires should be fine, even necessary. But there is no point in one large one. It would drive us out of the cave, and we'd be unable to finish the job; it might even destroy all of the life, there. Best to canvass it, perhaps a grid, and cooperate so that those who use other magics can aid us. Assure me you will not try that, and I will help gather allies. But I do not want to see it destroyed again."

He wasn't sure if Rift was still around. There was even a faint, almost sadistically grim pleasure in the idea that burning it down might hurt the bastard--mentally, though. Not physically. Not even Pride were cruel enough for that, but injustice and fury still simmered in him there. But it wasn't worth harming Eridanus over, not even a single tree.

He listened to Arsu, and his expression sobered, going empty, smooth as marble. A brief, absent glance was fired September's way, and he turned, clicking hooves marking his brief departure behind the Throne.

He returned a moment later with a gemstone: a smooth moonstone horn almost perfectly matching Arsu's diamond one. He set it down with extreme care, gazing at it for a long moment before turning away, shielding his face from the both of them.

red deer img credit - dan seagrave

@September

crickets and creatures will come in the night
keep my back from the reaper
who's hunting or running, you gotta decide

September frowned and huffed, his glance towards Arsu now reaching a level of the childish annoyance of being told the same thing over and over again. "Yes, I get it, okay? Small fires. I'll see you later." What fucking downers both of them were being. Maybe they needed to try a little fire magic themselves and see how fun and how controllable it was.

"Alriiiight, fine," he retorted, looking quite downcast at having finally accepted that these two weren't going to take his "big fire" idea seriously. "I won't, okay? I promise I won't go trying to burn down the forest." He still wouldn't let it go, since they seemed to be forgetting that he wasn't just proposing "fire and quit" he was also saying they would regrow what they destroyed. Why was that so hard to understand?

But...whatever. There were others to try. The dragons, maybe he could get in a word about it? And when he ran to Eridanus alone, maybe there'd be others there that'd listen to him. Surely someone there that lived in those conditions would be ready for a dramatic course of action?

He was so caught up in his thinking that when he focused back on the group talk, he realized it had gone quiet and somber. He looked between Pride, who was turning away, and Arsu, and the stone. It looked just like Arsu's stone, except a little different. A different material, at least, but the same in shape and size. He opened his mouth to ask whose it was when he thought better of it. Instead he just bowed his head, respectfully, and stayed quiet for the mournful moment.

september

@Arsu

Arsu spared another, solemn nod at September. Thing was, though, his jaw was (awkwardly) now wrapped around a gemstone horn; he'd already said his goodbyes, though, regardless.

His gut was sinking in trepidation. Everything had so abruptly churned into a whirlwind to push things along... this purging of Eridanus but more than that, finally tending to Azizos's gemstone.

He exhaled through flared nostrils and paced away, a little slower than he should have been walking, as if to put off the conversation he'd have to have in Canis. Not the one with the Bonebound, but... the other one.

exit Arsu

Pride watched him go. He seemed, for a moment, to be wholly lost in thought, or perhaps in some distant memory: staring off, motionless, his gaze unfocused and somehow sad.

Then he blinked and roused, turning to find September with his gaze. He turned more kindly, as if that grief had touched his normal matter-of-fact regard. "Well-... Are you ready to go to Leo?" he asked, though the melancholy lingered in his tone.

red deer img credit - dan seagrave

@September