It was so focused on observing the others that it absolutely doesn't notice the faint shapes fluttering in the shadows until its too late. And while the trains massive form does block many of the moths, a handful of them still make their way to Soh-ling. It takes a big, dusty breath and sneezes. It shakes its head, ears twitching curiously.

Soh-ling is used to hallucinations, being corrupted and all, but those tend to be far more macabre and violent than whatever is currently happening to it. It's not entirely apparently what's going through the valkcat's mind, but its eyes have gone large like a cat on catnip. It's hide- previously a pallid and murky greyish green- now lazily ripples with muddled colors, like an oilspill or a melted bowl of rainbow sherbert. Soh-ling makes a deep, rumbling sound- a bit closer to a tiger's chuffs or a crocodile's rumbles than a true purr- as it butts it's head against The Train. The tunnel is a bit too narrow for it to squeeze past, but it eyes The Train's 'conductor' with a violent yearning. You may as well be dangling a feather on a string in front of its face.

@Titivilus [Soh-ling still gets hit with some dust despite The Train's attempt to help because its time for Silly Mode]

It was her wisp that did it. The moth that shot out was attracted to the light, no doubt; its flight slammed its body as it flew directly into her beak. It careened by, caught itself and flew away but Hecate-...

It was too late. She was doomed.

The owl hybrid cried out with a melodramatic flair, actually saying "Oh!" with a tone of woe. She spun, wings flailing, and landed on her back. It was only a moment later that she realized... she wasn't actually hurt. As she tried to figure out how to regain her dignity, the others began to speak.

Vestyge was the first, and as a result, it was Vestyge to whom Hecate glanced. Everyone else's conversation faded to a background buzz. Despite it being a single hiss, it drew her attention. And despite Hecate's half-blindness, what she saw was crystal clear (which should probably have been a warning that Something Wasn't Right). She saw Vestyge seeming to loom closer than he was, and he was... winking? Were those... how did... Does he even have eyes?!

Horrified, (how rude) Hecate struggled to stand, blinking and edging away from the Valkhound. "No, thank you," she hastily said, eyeing him sidelong as she shuffled farther. "I do not want any."

She didn't know what it was she didn't want. She just knew... somehow... that it would be bad. Even if it was somehow, also, a little tempting. What?

@Vestyge (sorry.)

Hrimfaxi listened to the back and forth between the Triage, understandably quite confused. They were wary--the goat didnt seem that friendly, and they didn't know what the snake thought. Buckley, though, was quickly their favorite, and they drifted closer to that end of the Triage. In the end though, they'd gotten their answer, and beamed at Buckley. "Okay!" Hrimfaxi was alight with joy. A friend! They hadn't had one of those before. They had so many shapes too. Hrimfaxi didn't know how many shapes they had, but they felt like it was probably less. They ran after Buckley, and was very near to running into those same moths, but had the opportune luck of Richter saving them.

"Thank you!" Hrimfaxi said, pushing their nose into Richter in a short nuzzle. "I think m okay!" They glanced at the Triage, who, as Richter had said, looked to be doing worse for wear. "Um, are you okay...?" They said to them. Wary.

The hunched, strange looking creature at the front told them to get a room, and Hrimfaxi... wasn't quite sure what that meant. It felt bad though. And it sounded mean too.

"What's a room?" Hrimfaxi said, confused.
@Vestyge @Triage @Richter
((Many interactions..))

The moths came and went in a torrential, if very small, brown cloud of fluttering wings. The last of the dust (quite literally) settled, and the way ahead was left clear: a narrow gap through which even the flesh-train lurking behind most of the group (why was it doing that) could squeeze.

Beyond was a room shaped like a pit, the light struggling to reach the darker depths below. A faintly stagnant, almost metallic smell lingered here, recognizable as water: a deep pool of mineral water that had filled this place, kept filled by by rain pouring in now and again from the gaps high above. Right now, it was sunny, so the dim shafts of light cast downward into the room, revealing the path ahead.

A natural stone archway, its worn top indicating it'd long-served as a basic bridge, had collapsed in the centuries prior. Most of the archway had collapsed straight down, forming a serviceable if precarious ramp into the darkness. Other large chunks of stone could serve as jumping points if a Gembound wished to hop on forward; another long slab made a ramp up and out of a dark gap low in the wall, one that had dim light gleaming from it.

The Gembounds would need to make their way safely down, then cross the deep, dark water, watchful and wary for danger on the way.

---

Characters should roll to attempt to safely descend the ramp, and then cross the water, in an attempt to reach this room's exit. This roll may be an attempt to safely climb and maintain balance, or a Perception-type roll to watch for any danger, and be a roll of any type: these will be treated equally in the next round's results.

Reminder: those who inhaled Dust Moth dust will continue to see the others doing happy, overly friendly, or romantic things, like flirting, dancing, singing, and so on.

The next post will take place in four days, on June 15th, afternoon/evening GMT.

@Nebula @Richter @Vestyge @Survivor @Triage @Yvan @Ryoto @Hrimfaxi @Titivilus @Soh-Ling @Hecate

Vestyge's focus lingered a little on the Triage, watching one of it's heads spit back at him, the words becoming An enormous glowing bubble drifting slowly towards him, before popping with enough force to shove him to the side - He stumbled, his hiss becoming something lower and more dangerous. The elongated talons on his forelimbs tapped the rock underneath loudly as he kept pace. They were laughing at him too, giggling with all three of those odd heads.

He considered teaching this little bastard a lesson - before remembering that this was, actually, just an asshole baby. Babies are allowed to be assholes - it's one of the only things to do at that age. Vestyge was beginning to realise, also, that not everything he was seeing was real. Not in any way that actually helped him, but there was a quiet instinct telling him to maybe not lash out based on flawed information. Maybe it was best to just... accept things as they came.

Vestyge couldn't stay bitter about the things he couldn't control forever. It was counter-productive to be a cranky old bastard in this situation especially. He left that anger with a deep breath, and choked on some of the dust that had remained in the air.

There was a thud nearby, and he spared Hecate a glance. If there was any concern in it, it didn't show. But she held his gaze for a moment, something shifting in her vibrant green eyes. Something warm and bright, like firelight. And suddenly she was shuffling desperately away - had he done something to scare her? "Want what? What did I say?" There was a defensive edge, like he was worried that he'd done something to offend. That was not like him at all.

No. Something is very, very wrong here.

Nebula returned to his place behind him, doing a gleeful little twirl as he approached. Vestyge had very little to offer him, returning his enthusiasm with a weary squint. "For you, maybe." Come to think of it, Vestyge didn't see him among the ones who'd been caught in the dust. He took this opportunity to whisper a question his way - "Does that kid actually have three heads?"

His attention returned to the path ahead, making sure to pay attention this time. And hey, if not, better him in danger than the rest of this lot. He had a better chance at surviving whatever this cave would throw their way.

"You don't know what a room is?" He turned to glance back at Hrimfaxi, more perplexed than accusing. "You've been to Scorpio. You've been in one." They'd all left a room just hours before.

OKAY. in order of interaction
@Triage @Hecate @Nebula @Hrimfaxi

The torchlight, though dim, is enough to see by. They're able to avert their face away from the fluttering wings, and that means it isn't getting a lungfull of dream dust.

But it needs to keep moving, and so it presses on, step after step. The others, even as their banter reaches a fever pitch, are doing so. Survivor doesn't want to be left behind.

Someone, distantly, informs the Drone what those moths are capable of, and the cacophony of voices arising from the other gathered Gembound starts to make sense. But it finds the arguing and hollering painfully distracting, and they push their hands against the sides of their head to try and blot it out.

They'd rather be listening to Skyreaver's boasting right about now.

double post 1/2 to catch up

And then there was the bridge. rickety was an understatement, considering it was a bridge.

There was also the water, deep below - if it was too deep, or it fell in, it would loose its only light source. And the torch had become a comforting warmth too.

The others hadn't yet begun their descent, though, and Survivor was the one carrying the light. It would probably have a decent shot of finding the way down, right?

Nervously, it approaches the path down, eyeing the piled stones. It would be simple, right? Just one claw in front of the other, step at a time-

And then it hits one far mossier than the others, slipping the moment it shifts its weight. And then the Drone is careening down, down, down-

2/2

[oh, i love you!]

And here, there's a great reason and means to get ahead of the rest of the group before something a bit more toothy emerges from the dark to contest all of their noisiness. The others would probably be trying to avoid the water, spending all of their time hopping across the stones. But, there's no sound of running water here, so probably no fish or anything else in there. More bugs, maybe, but ...

Ryoto gives Yvan's hand another, more insistent tug (and a squeeze of the palms) before letting go to clamber down the slope. "I'll make sure we don' get too far ahead, m'kay.. ?" Not that it's hard to keep track of the yelling behind them—

Toeing the rather chilly depths, she gives it a few curious splashes before turning to announce to Yvan as well, "Gonna hold m'rock in my mouth. Follow me... Going t'sun spot first."

Then, her splashing grows wary even with her confidence in a lack of fish, careful and even strokes that don't disturb the water's surface too much; slow and deliberate enough to make sure that her head is always above the water and that she can keep track of her friend.

@Yvan (again, for visibility.)

He smiled up at the creature, not detecting any sort of sarcasm because, lets be honest, sarcasm wasn't really apart of his vocabulary anyway. However the whisper made him pause for a moment, cocking his head to the side as he turned to look at the creature that was being pointed at. Uh.... that guy? Yah... is that.. normal? He asked with the curiosity of a child.

As they walked, he would remain at Vestyge's side, letting out a few clicks as his ears flicked, listening around for the echo in the darkness. Vestyge now had a friend at his side, whether he wanted one or not.

@Vestyge

The room opened up, and Soh-ling was finally able to push past the train. Now given the opportunity, it WOULD attempt to bat at it's conductor once or twice, before its gaze abruptly jerked away, focusing intensely on an empty spot in the murky darkness.

Soh-ling was a creature of the water and the dark, so it felt absolutely at home in this room. Completely heedless of the others in this room, it bounded down the broken archway and lept into the water with a sizeable SPLASH! It would swim in looping, aimless spirals, chasing after non-existent rainbow-shifting fish and flickering lights.

@Titivilus