The blood trail from Tunnel D, followed by a small group of gembound, leads straight into Leo. It is not a continuous stream, but rather splatters here and there. On more earthy ground, the investigating gembound may see footprints - three sets.

Ahead, in the direction they are following, there is something on the beach. A...group? There is the smell of blood in the air.

This thread is open to anyone - please note that epidote infection is possible in this thread but will not happen without player consent.

@Coilean @Callista @Eulogy @Aurelle

The dragon lumbered through the exit of Tunnel D, head to the floor, reptilian tongue flickering out of her mouth as she sniffed her way from one blood smell to the other. It'd taken her time to do so; she had no way to sense blood when it was outside the body, except by smell. Most alarmingly, however, was the fact that Aurelle's smells had joined the unfamiliar ones, the ones of blood. She knew her beloved companion would forage on these routes. So, she braved the cold so she might stumble after her, fighting off the metabolic slowdown.

She hadn't been there in time to notice the events within Tunnel D, too focused on her task to pick up any clues along the way. She had to find Aurelle. She must. Whether she would find Aurelle alive or... or... otherwise.

With just a touch of magic, her feelers swayed in the air. Someone was here. The magic didn't allow her to see, it felt more like a vague electromagnetism across her feelers, the sensation of someone's hands close to yours without actually touching. And there was one person those feelers knew best, as if they had minds of their own they reached out for the kunzite they knew so well, other unfamiliar stones be damned.

"Are you hurt?" Lichen stumbled towards the sensation with urgency. "Where are you?! What happened?!" Her voice betrayed her concern. "Who are these people?"

Aurelle's bloodhound has arrived on the scene.

Coilean's hackles had begun to raise, despite himself. There was a feeling clinging to his stomach, like something was wrong, or something wrong was nearby, or something wrong was going to happen-

Oh, company!

"Hi!" W-" He stopped abruptly as Lichen rushed to Aurelle first, clearly not super interested in making friends right now. Oh wait, there's blood everywhere, of course they'd be nervous - Coilean tried not to feel too stupid or left out for failing to anticipate that.

"Blood's not ours!" He called, hoping to ease the dragon's fear some. "We're following it. I'm Coilean! Hi!"

@Lichen (interaction)

They dutifully follow the blood trail into the new cave, smearing the trail as they carelessly slithered directly over it. Their single-minded focus diminished greatly upon entering the new cave. Leo is relievingly warm compared to the feverish chill of tunnel D, and far more interesting. They pause frequently to investigate little things- the crashing of waves, or a pretty shell- before remembering their mission and continuing on.

Until someone new arrived on the scene.

Lichen was almost incomprehensibly big compared to what could easily be mistaken as an oddly-colored fleasnake at first glance. They rapidly scrunch into a defensive 'S' shape as Lichen thunders over, mouth gaping open with a puffy little hiss. After their initial spike of fear settles they zip over to Coilean- the most trustworthy adult they know- and coil around his ankle. "Scary. Big an' Scary." They stare up at him with big boba eyes. "Go away? Make it go?"

@Lichen @Coilean [interaction]

It was a good thing Lichen was just as blind as Aurelle was, because there was little doubt in Aurelle's mind that the dragon would be scandalized and betrayed to see her holding hands with Callista. There was a little bit of residual guilt regardless, because she slipped her hand away from the paw and reached out to hold the dragon's nose. "Lichen! I'm okay. I'm not hurt," she assured. "You're freezing!"

Her face tingled when she cast a spell, the very air around Lichen warming up. Aurelle still brought the dragon into her side. "Oh, ahh, I don't think we've all introduced ourselves yet. I'm Aurelle. This is my partner, Lichen. She's, ahh, not very scary, I promise. She's very nice." This last part was directed to the general direction of Euology.

"There was some whispering, ahh, asking for help, I think," she told the dragon. "And something dead, and, ahh, now we're following a trail of blood in case someone needs help."

@Lichen @Callista @Euology (interactions)

I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see the light in the shade of the morning sun

She led Aurelle into the cave, perhaps a little quickly but she was trying not to lose the kid that was following the blood trail like they were chasing something down. True, something might be hurt. But she suspected that wasn't what it was trying to get at. Ah, well, she wasn't going to mom some random baby that went speeding off alone.

As soon as the dragon appeared, though, all rushing up and hurrying to Aurelle, she immediately stepped back, letting go of her hand. Seems her friend had it from there as they got back together. Hey that was nice of me, though! Leading a blind person! She felt pretty good about herself.

They were paused, now, approaching the beach, but Callista still felt a bit of urgency. Something had been bleeding. What if it was dead, now? What if they were too later? I mean...we probably were too late from the start. But, still, she kind of didn't want this lingering. "I'm Callista. I'd be careful," she mumbled to the dragon. "Something's been hurt. We're trying to find it." She looked down to the snake and bent down to where it was curling around Coilean's leg. "I don't think Lichen is dangerous but we might be walking into something dangerous. You sure you wanna go?"

That my life would depend on the evening moon
That the night would never comе

@Eulogy @Lichen

It was odd to be surrounded by a crowd of people who were only talking to your fashionable, sharp-toothed anklet. Coilean echoed Aurelle's reassurance. "It's okay buddy, you're safe. You can hang out on my neck if that's more comfortable."

That way he could keep a better eye on them, too, without having to chase after wherever they started slithering. Callista was right to warn them about it. "If they do, I don't mind looking out for them."

But Eulogy wasn't the only Gembound here who needed a heads up. He called to Lichen. "Hey, so- that corpse we found, it told us to hurt each other? No one did, but... It's weird. Something's wrong. We're trying to figure out what."

interactions galore
@Eulogy
@Callista
@Lichen

Once it was settled that Aurelle was accounted for and not missing any limbs, Lichen tilted the side of her head to the others. It was quite obvious she was lacking in the vision department when she tilted her ears towards others; and the whole gemstone for eyes too.

She listened to each speaker in turn, her brow furrowing further and further with each new detail. Her feelers idly swayed in the air towards anyone close enough for them to sense, gravitating towards those closest, as if the organs had minds of their own.

"Ah, no. I'm sorry." Lichen turned her head downwards, not quite 'looking' at the young gembound, more-so facing over the top of the snake, gazing at Coilean's chest specifically. "I'm not dangerous, I like to think I'm a friend." She murmured, before staring back directly ahead.

"A corpse is speaking? And something else is hurt and that's what the trail is?" The confusion is clear in Lichen's voice.

Apparently put in high spirits at Aurelle's state of safety (and not being able to see the hand holding), Lichen is unable to hold back the, somewhat frightening, grin as she tells the group, "I would help you look but..."

Someone had died. She remembered faintly and the grin dropped off of her face. This wasn't the time for blind jokes. The dragon cleared her throat. "I'll uh... I'll help you search."

interaction and tag city
@Eulogy
@Callista
@Aurelle
@Coilean

Everyone was trying to convince them that Lichen wasn't big and scary, but they had EYES and they could SEE that she was sosososo tall and had sosososo many teeth, and could probably squish them flat without even noticing.

They weren't all that concerned by whatever kind of 'other danger' Callista was talking about. Not when finding where the whispers had gone was so important. "I wanna go. Hav'ta go." They told her solemnly.

And then Coilean offered a safe perch outside of Squishing Range. "Yes!! Up please! Uppies!!" They stretched as tall as they could, still leaning against Coileans leg, staring with big ol' puppydog eyes as they waited to be picked up. They did not seem to realize the large glaring issue of Knife Arms might complicate this somewhat. Coilean was nice and would never hurt them, even if THEY had hurt HIM. They were still sorry about that, even if it had been Necessary.

@Coilean @Callista

"Yeah!" Lichen had summed it up pretty neatly. Coilean didn't feel the need to elaborate further.

He met Eulogy's gaze as he puzzled over logistics for a moment, puppydog to puppydog. He squatted down again, then pushed his shoulders to the ground in a sort of Child's Pose, waiting for the snake to slither up his torso.

Assuming that they did, he shot up again, putting a carefully placed palm to where Eulogy hung around his neck to make sure they were stable. Then, well - better hop to it.

It looked like something was on the beach? He wasn't sure what, but it was begging for a closer look. he began to pad towards it.

@Lichen (brief exchange)
@Eulogy