Ashtoreth had met the most amazing pair of sisters in her entire life, and when Remedy had come to Canis without Cure, well... Ash couldn't just sit around and wait! She had to know where Cure was, even if the adults wouldn't explain. The sisters reminded her of herself and her own sister, and so she eagerly made mimicking squawks at her sister until the oversize crow hybrid came toddling off after her. If Liora even liked Ash a little bit, she would absolutely love Cure!

Now, the hard part was telling her sister just exactly what she wanted to do. If she was lucky, the bird would get the message relatively quickly. A game of hide and seek-- and they had to dodge Kerberos, because the big dumb mutt was determined to keep her from wandering off too far!

Ash waited for Liora to come over to the tunnel before she started to flap her wings, trying viciously to keep the bird's attention. For this special occasion, she would have to do her best to explain, which meant using her magic like she never had before. Taking a deep breath, the tiny noodle settled down and waited for her sister to start the barrage of questions and huffing that was sure to come.

That was the good news-- Ash could always count on Liora to be a blabber mouth. It would make it a lot easier to tell Liora what was up!

Listen to me + Hear my thoughts

@Liora

Liora had absolutely no idea what her sister was trying to get at. Well, alright - maybe the lammeraven thought she did, but she had a feeling it was a far cry from the real honest truth. When Ashtoreth had run up to her and enticed her into a game of follow-me, Liora excitedly hobbled after the furry, feathery little noodle, chattering up a storm in an attempt to guess at what Ashtoreth was so excited about. Usually Liora was pretty good at guessing - she liked to think she had some kind of sister-intuition that told her what Ashy was going on about - but this seemed more like the older girl wanted her to follow. So Liora dutifully followed at her, chattering out a million questions about what it was they were going to see, and why, and how long they were going to take, and - oh, Liora had never left Canis before, this would be her first time! Did Ashy know that?

They left Canis and the familiar sights and smells - the stale, musty sensation of the atmosphere that felt thick, like she was riding on a breeze of dust instead of air. This place they were in now... it was empty, and there was something foreboding of it. Now, unfortunately, Liora was incredibly superstitious. All the stories she'd heard from the Lorekeeper amounted to this tunnel being particularly spooky. Maybe that was because Canis was meant to be spooky, and this tunnel led to it - or maybe something else had been intended of this tunnel. Either way, its emptiness gave her the crepes. But she wouldn't say anything about it. She wanted to impress Ashy by not being scared.

Now that Ashtoreth had stopped, Liora waddled up behind her and tucked her wings in, bright white eyes peering around the tunnel. "Great! We're here! Now what Ashy?" The bird crowed, tilting her head once her gaze had landed on her sister again.

@Ashtoreth

Ashtoreth's feathered fluffed up along her mane, pricking up in a crest along her neck. She gave a tentative flap of her wings, and then began to flap them harder, and soon the tunnel began to creak with echoes from her own past. She would explain to her sister, best she could.

The first thing the tiny noodle thought of when it came to finding Cure was obviously a game. Eve and her had played a game, and so the first voice was that of a creaky, squawky bird that sounded quite a bit like Liora, if only a bit calmer in general.

"How about a game?" Her wings cooed, soft and calm, almost motherly. She beamed with pride as her magic worked just as she had intended. She raised a paw, hushing her sister before she could interrupt. For once, the mute mustelid had something to say. "See if you can catch..." She put her paw down, leaning back on to her hind feet. She flapped her wings more, fishing for a way to echo her meaning clearly.

Her second memory was when she had first met Cure and Remedy. The angry sister of black and red was noisy and loud, just like Liora, and she knew her sister was smart enough to recognize the voice. "Cure, Cure, Cure," she repeated a few times, trying to emphasise the name in a way that Remedy's scolding voice didn't quite capture. She wriggled a bit, throwing her paws up into the air as she grabbed Cure's voice and began to explain just who this Cure was. Remmy... Sister!" "Cure," "...she's my friend now," and then she echoed Eve once more, "See if you can catch..."

She reached her paws up to her face, spreading her toe beans around the shape of her head-- trying to show off what Cure looked like, if a bit arbitrarily. "Sort of gem on her..." A pride fluttered on to her face as she set down her paws, hoping that Liora was up to the challenge of finding Cure with her.

As her magic began to fade, a song of a bard friend she knew echoed through her wings, fading softly as though a riddle of the trials to come.

"Tiny friend flies high and far, as high as the ceiling, covered in stars!"
"Little bird would like to travel, tramp the earth and tramp the gravel?"

Listen to me + Hear my thoughts

Liora had never heard her sister's voice before. But it had become commonplace for her to recognize it as more of an echo of other voices, a repetition of phrases heard before, and it must have been magic. She tilted her head as her sister delivered an array of voices belonging to other Gembounds, her beak parting excitedly at the prompt of a game. She nodded and hopped on her feet, rustling her feathers slightly. See if you can catch... Were they going to play a game of catch? Liora paused and tucked her body down, getting ready to take off after her sister, but then the voice trailed off into something else. Cure, Cure, Cure. Wait. What did Cure mean? Was that a name? See if you can catch Cure?

Sure enough, Ashtoreth elaborated with another voice, Remmy, sister. Remmy... Remedy? Oh! "Remedy's sister Cure?" Liora guessed, blinking. What in the world did Ashtoreth want with her? Liora hated Remedy! So why would Liora want to play a game with Cure? Oh... well, wait, Liora hadn't met Cure before, had she - wait, was she the one that came to see the Lorekeeper? The bird furrowed her brow and glanced aside thoughtfully. No... that was Remedy! Damn! Liora really hadn't seen Cure before, had she? In any case, Ashtoreth explained that she was her friend, and while Liora grimaced she accepted her sister's choice. "Cure is your friend? Krakaw! I hope she's better than Remedy! Krakawakwa!" She chortled and ruffled her feathers.

So she wanted to go looking for Cure. Alright then! "Yes! Let's go catch Cure! Where is she? We'll catch her, rakrak!" Liora declared and hobbled up next to Ashtoreth, ruffling her feathers impatiently.

@Ashtoreth

Delight filled the tiny noodle's expression as her sister started to understand. Liora was a bit of a grouch sometimes, and even now she was huffing about how Remedy wasn't any fun-- but Cure was different! Ash liked Remedy well enough, but Cure was a gentle, kind sweetheart who loved playing games! Liora would love her, Ash was sure of that.

The hybrid nodded again, grinning her toothy little grin, as Liora asked where Cure was. The echo of that song bristled on the breeze, "Tiny friend flies high and far, as high as the ceiling, covered in stars! Little bird would like to travel, tramp the earth and tramp the gravel?" The voice of Eos, the brave and wonderful, so sweet and joyous in her memory. She waved a paw, gesturing towards the other side of the tunnel, but quickly put the paw to her mouth afterwards.

Ash would do her best to silence the air as she led her sister towards the entrance of the tunnel. Getting into Orion was a tricky thing-- getting past Kerberos would be a pain. If she could keep herself, and most importantly, Liora, quiet, then perhaps they could sneak by.

Listen to me + Hear my thoughts

δεξιά . κέντρο . αριστερά

The dog was guarding his door, as he usually did. There was a tension in the air, ever since Cancer took Remedy to Canis. There was something wrong, something he couldn't make sense of. A danger that he wanted to hunt down, to sic his teeth on... Yet he couldn't.

His true body was in Canis, but his magic was working to keep attention on the door at all times. Remedy and the other children took up much of his time, begging for attention and play. He was feeling older and older by the day...

But he would continue to do his job. His false body, the magic formed white ghost of himself, sat by the door, and waited. Occasionally his focus would break, the illusion shimmering, but this way he could keep his eyes on Orion, and make sure that no danger came to his home.

... As well as make sure that no children wandered off without permission.

i'm ready to start
the conquest of spaces

Liora loosed a trill of delight as Ashtoreth confirmed her words, matching her sister's smile with a vibrant one of her own. She fluttered her wings and followed after the noodle, listening to the song she echoed. Then, she took off - one, two hopes, and a beat of her heavy wings, and Liora lifted up above Ashtoreth. The lammeraven didn't ascend too high above her, nor did she fly too far ahead. She hung back, gliding after the noodle and landing on the ground again as she gestured to the other end of the tunnel, then to be quiet. Liora traced her gaze, and there she saw the shimmering illusion of the cerberus. Oh... getting caught by Kerberos wouldn't be very fun, would it?

The bird nearly squawked in confirmation, but remembered they needed to be quiet. So instead she gave a nod and jumped up again, in the air a second time, waiting for Ashtoreth to follow. There wasn't really any way they could sneak past the illusion without it seeing them, considering Liora couldn't walk without the clacking of her talons, and flying past would be eye-level with the dog. Maybe she could distract him instead...

Only when the bird flew to one wall, intending to scrape it and then dart off to the other so that she could zip past Kerberos with his head turned, she failed miserably. Her one leg extended out, grazing the rock with a sharp sound, and then she got tangled up in her wings. Liora instead crashed into the ground in a flurry of feathers, stunned and twitching.

@Ashtoreth

Ashtoreth silenced the air, but somehow her sister managed to make an absolute mess of things. Flopping on to her back, wings all tangled, talons twisted around each other, the silly bird utterly failed to even just fly! Ash stared, dumb-witted, at her sister, but then she noticed Kerberos' ears pricking.

Squeaking silently, the noodle bolted for the edge of the tunnel, hoping to slip out before Kerberos could stop her. Hopefully Liora would be right after her-- but if not... No! She wasn't going to do this without her sister, she just couldn't!

Ashtoreth looked up at Kerberos and sucked in a deep breath before she jumped at him... And then fell through him. Her body twisting and squirming as she plopped on to the ground unexpectantly, she looked at her sister and frantically flapped her wings.

They had to get out of there immediately!! She tried to summon a bit of wind on the air to help her sister up, so that they could flee as quickly as possible. Kerberos was going to be so mad!

(but that was kinda the fun part, wasn't it?)

... Unfortunately for Ash, her wind magic swept up under her and tossed her on to her back instead, leaving her in a similar position to her sister. She tried to squeal, but her voice as always failed to come to her.

Listen to me + Hear my thoughts

δεξιά . κέντρο . αριστερά

Kerberos' copy turned to find two smol feathered creatures trying frantically to... Imitate fish? He paused, trying to focus on his magic to get a better feel for what was going on. Ashtoreth jumped at him and realized his drift copy wasn't really real, and the dog started to stir.

Were they trying to get out? That was a huge pain-- Kerberos was all the way in the heart of Canis, which meant he had to haul puppy-butt to get to them. He tried to keep up his illusion, but it was a bit difficult with his focus jarred.

As he ran through piles of bones, the fake-Kerberos grew a bit more solid and he saw Liora and Ashtoreth, squirming in a frantic mess like two cave rats caught under his paws. A sigh escaped his illusion's mouths, and he knew he didn't have much time to stop them.

Man, Aza'zel was gonna be so mad.

i'm ready to start
the conquest of spaces

Of course, the illusory Kerb had to see them. Liora lay sprawled on the ground in a heap of feathers and talons, and suddenly Ashtoreth was beside her, pathetically splayed out after her own magic had betrayed her. Liora twisted her head to look at her sister, cracked out a birdish laugh at the silly sight, and then remembered that they were trying to escape. She huffed and rolled onto her stomach, standing up and shaking her body free of dust. Illusion-Kerb knew they were there, but Liora could see that he was intangible - he wouldn't be able to catch them, at least not yet. "Come on Ashy! Hurry!" She crowed, ruffling her feathers and taking off with another few hops.

In another few flaps of her wings, Liora gained a sudden, unexpected burst of speed. She shot through the Kerberos illusion, looking back to make sure Ashtoreth would follow - Liora was certain she would - but either way, Liora was already gone.

exit Liora