The alligator held as still as he could as his brother scratched away. At first he barely paid attention, but eventually he realized that Ghanyarah just... wasn't finishing. In fact, he seemed rather lost, and some of his movements had that extra flair that suggested he wasn't aware of them, that he was lost in his own little world.

Dragon was curious, and his curiosity grew the longer Ghanyarah remained silent, scratching away at the stone--but he didn't move, didn't interrupt. In fact, he was careful to barely even breathe, going into that stillness he used when he lurked at the shoreline, waiting for prey.

At length--finally--Ghanyarah sat back. Dragon lifted his head to peer at the scratching, and for a moment he tried to make sense of it. It was nothing like the others, no simple circle and mark.

As his brain finally wrapped around what it was--a realistic depiction of a view of Polaris--his eyes widened.

There was the Spire, and all the little crystals. There was the cave roof--and it was all dark, scratched in to provide shading. And what was that?

...Him?

"It is --lovely. That is the Spire," he rumbled, drawing closer, tilting his head this way and that. "But I do not have wings, Brother. And I'm not that large." It was Raheerah, he supposed. Or him, taking the vast dragon's place. He hardly cared. It was a good map, a good marking of Polaris. He liked it.

He thought the others would, too.

"When we get Eve to make this glow, do you think she could make the Spire light up?" he asked slowly, turning the idea over in his mind.

{ art by dark } ~ { table by aura . edited by banshee and dark }

@Ghanyarah

The komodo grinned widely as he beheld his masterpiece, a delightful rendition the likes of which he had never crafted before. And here it would be, eternally preserved on the wall behind Talat's garden for all to see. Some part of him wondered if they would revel in its beauty, if they would vie for such a talent of their own, if they would raise their heads to the cave roof and shriek Ghanyarah, please, teach me how to art! Give me your great skills! And he would look down upon them and whisper, Maybe later.

Truth be told, Ghanyarah would love more than anybody to sit down and give somebody some art lessons, but he feared his groupmates lacked the patience for it. They could be good if they just practiced, but... did it even interest them? Oh, it didn't matter, Dragon spoke up again and complimented the lovely work of art, causing Ghanyarah to puff up, but when the alligator denied that the great dragon on top of the spire was actually him, the komodo tapped his head and tutted. "No! It's you. It's you if you believe it's you. I do." He followed and peered back up at the drawing, tilting his head as well. Yeah... from a certain angle, it could look like Dragon, save for the wings and the bigness.

"Yes!" Ghanyarah practically wriggled in place. If Eve could make the spire glow... Imagine how beautiful it could truly be! "Yes, she must! Please have her light it up." The komodo gazed down at Dragon and grinned. Then he looked back up at the map - he still had Canis to draw, but... how long had it been since he was there? A while now, wasn't it? Did he remember the way? Ghanyarah narrowed his eyes, but he supposed all his thought power had gone while he was drawing out Polaris. He remembered shit all about the other half of the cave. "Ah... I forget what Canis looks like." Ghanyarah muttered. "And where it is." He laughed guiltily and scrambled off of Dragon, landing with a thump on the ground beside him.

Maybe... they could go on a... short trip...?

table and code © chelsea of ORIGIN


@Dragon

Dragon peered at the drawing thus far, then huffed in thought.

"Get down, for a minute. Let me try something."

First, he reared back his head, and bellowed for Eve. They'd need her to light up what they'd done so far, at least, and he wasn't sure how long it might take her.

"EEEEVE?" he tried, voice reverberating. Then he drew closer, eyeing the gorgeous carving first one way, then the other.

He could blacken the rock with fire, then wipe it all carefully away, so that Ghanyarah's carving was black-lined--making it stand out even further. Yes--he'd do that. Or try, at least.

"Stand back," he commanded, then inhaled a slow, deep surge of cool, damp air to fuel his inner flames. He was careful--his flames came light, licking, not a blast of superheated fire. As he opened his broad jaws to exhale, the entire area lit with a bright glow. Fire poured forth and brushed over the rock, blackening it with soot, scorching his throat and mouth--but he didn't care, not really. He was hardened to it by now. His fangs ached, but a moment later he'd plunged his maw into the wet soil below, biting at the mud to cool his seared flesh. Then he looked up, and--tearing up a clump of wet grass--began to wipe at the drawing.

For a moment maybe it'd have looked like he was wrecking Ghanyarah's work--now, his reason would become clear, as the stone was washed clean. It was slick and damp now, but the scratched-in map would remain a charred black.

A damn good map, indeed.

Now--where was Eve?

Dragon looked around, then peered at Ghanyarah. "It takes forever for me to get anywhere on this leg. It might be best that I stay here--but who could search out the cave, for mapping? Maybe Eve can do that, too? Or--you?" he added, uncertainly.

Perhaps the lizardly cartographer, with a crow scout, would make the best cave-mapper there had ever been. Or maybe not. He wasn't sure, but he knew that he himself wouldn't be great at it; it'd take him weeks to haul himself around in his half-crippled state.

{ art by dark } ~ { table by aura . edited by banshee and dark }

@Ghanyarah ; @Eve

The crow had only just landed in Cetus a few minutes ago; fluttering out of the tunnel H immediately heading to her nest. Her talons touched her home fondly, and she leaned in to gently pull and preen at the twigs and feathers before she moved to settle down into it. Slowly, Eve closed her eyes, realising just how exhausted she was, and relaxed. Perhaps she managed to sleep for a couple of minutes, but regardless a booming voice woke her up. She recognized it immediately; "EEEEVE?" The crow croaked out a soft groan. Her wings felt like they weren't there, her talons felt stiff. She craned her head towards the general direction of Dragon's voice. "WHAT IS IT?" she felt her voice rise to a level it hadn't before - or, at least, her natural voice. It was still nowhere near loud enough to compare with Aquarian, but definitely loud enough for Dragon to hear her clearly. "I'M TRYING TO SLEEP?" She tried hard to not sound particularly rude about it; though there was only so much you could do to control a screaming voice. She didn't hear anything; perhaps Dragon just wasn't loud enough (or perhaps she fell asleep again), but eventually she clambered back up onto the edge of her nest, bleary-eyed. She sprawled her wings out and began to flutter downwards towards where she heard Dragon. Upon spotting him, she practically dive-bombed onto Dragon's head, heavy and stumbling over the alligator's head. With a tired croak the crow pulled herself up straight onto the gator, blankly peering at Ghanyarah and the map. "What's that?" she asked. table code © rasta 2015

@Ghanyarah

Ghanyarah did as he was told, nodding and stepping aside as the alligator first summoned Eve. His great bellow rang through the air and the komodo glanced off in the direction he thought Eve might be, only to hear her distant response. He flicked his tongue and snickered, honestly he didn't know the crow was capable of being that loud, but he dismissed it. And then Dragon turned his attention to the map. And then he... he set it on fire. "WH-WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" The lizard squeaked, stepping back to keep a good, safe distance from the flames and gawking at the obvious vandalism of his masterpiece. Why was Dragon setting it on fire?! Did he not see how long it took Ghanyarah to draw Polaris?!!

When the flames died away, the entire wall of rock was left awash in black ash. Ghanyarah swore he could nearly feel tears spring to his eyes. Dragon only grabbed some grass and began to clean the wall, and before his eyes he witnessed magic: the black char wiped away, at least, on the surface of the rock untouched by claw marks. Where Ghanyarah had drawn on the rock, the char remained as thick black outlines, bringing the map to life. "Oh," He blinked, stepping back to take in the map in all its glory. Well... Alright. That looked better.

Ghanyarah glanced over to the alligator as he added that it would be difficult for him to go anywhere. So... exploring the caves with his brother was out of the question. But by then, Eve had arrived and Ghanyarah turned his head to the bird. "It's a map." He answered with a definite nod. "Except, neither of us knows what the rest of the caves look like. I've only seen Cetus, Eridanus, and Polaris." Ghanyarah gestured to each room in turn, then looked back at Dragon.

table and code © chelsea of ORIGIN


@Dragon

Dragon winced at poor Ghanyarah's brief panic, and made sure to clean the soot off more quickly.

"No, no, trust me--oh, Eve. Yes--what he said. I have not been outside of this cave, and Eridanus, and Polaris. I do not know what lies beyond. Can you make the map glow? Especially--the Spire, there?"

He nodded his broad shoe-shaped snout up to the Polaris map, admiring it again.

"Ghanyarah did good, didn't he? It really looks like Polaris. If we all make this together, then the Children of Rot will always have it to rely on. But... You can fly. Do you know the cave better, perhaps?"

He huffed a brief plume of thin smoke out through his nostrils, peering hopefully at Eve. He didn't dare hope she knew the whole cave, but even a room or two would be great. It would certainly be better than his knowledge--and, apparently, Ghanyarah's.

{ art by dark } ~ { table by aura . edited by banshee and dark }

@Eve

"A map?" the crow croaked quizzically before she reached a talon out to touch the spire carved into the wall. The gemstone talon began to shimmer white-blue, and as it touched the wall the light began to flood into the spire, stopping dead as it reached the dented lines in the rock. She watched her word for a moment, the spire lightly illuminated, and nodded somewhat. She peered down at Dragon for a moment. "Well, I come from Orion and I lived in Canis for a while. There's a lot of tunnels around there and even some here I haven't been to, though," the crow said, craning her head to adjust the feathers on her chest. "There's probably more places I don't know. 'Monoceros' is a place I've heard of, but I don't know where it is." She lifted her head again. "I don't know if that's particularly helpful." table code © rasta 2015

@Ghanyarah

Ghanyarah watched as Eve summoned her magic and drew light to the spire. Almost instantly it lit up with a gentle glow, marking the core of the caves. He couldn't help but grin at the sight. And to think their drawing lessons earlier had failed - he liked to think that if they tried again, maybe Eve could make something beautiful. He was distracted again as she explained all the places she had visited. Oh, so the bird knew a lot more of the cave tha both Ghanyarah and Dragon. That would make sense since she had wings and Ghanyarah assumed that would make her a lot more mobile. She listed off the names of caves she had been to, and he felt some small guilt knowing she had lived in Canis. Canis, the room he tried (and pretty much failed) to terrorize. Well okay no. It wasn't a failure, he'd remind himself. He had succeeded in causing mass confusion. That was just as good wasn't it? Yeah.

Anyways, even she hadn't been to the Monoceros room, which meant that somebody would have to go there in order to know what to draw on the map. "We should go visit them. Just to know what they're like." He suggested, looking between the two Rots. "So we can finish the map."

@Dragon

Dragon rumbled in thought. His bum leg really gave him trouble in terms of slow, long travel. He had to stop very often, and simply rest, laying there. Getting through the ice tunnel had taken hours, and he'd had to lay there and smolder like coals until he was able to move on.

Okay, so maybe he shouldn't have been clambering around on the Spire and exhausting himself, but still.

"I am reluctant to go. I will slow you, and it will make the going far more dangerous. It will be taxing, and home will be left unguarded. My leg is ruined," he added by way of explanation, jutting out his hind leg briefly.

"If you very much wish it of me, brother, I will come with you--but it is not for the best."

He then lay there, like a fat frog, squashed down into the marsh and awaiting their responses.

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@Eve

Much as he wanted Dragon to go with him so they could explore the caves together, he understood what kind of pain the alligator was experiencing. It was obvious that his leg was toast - delicious toast - and he even went on to explain why it would be detrimental to drag the alligator from one end of the cave to the other. Ghanyarah gave a slow nod, looking to Eve, then back to Dragon. "I understand. I will go by myself," The komodo answered; he kept the disappointment from his voice with a cool neutrality instead, nodding. "I'll go now, and get it done as soon as possible. Eve, you're welcome to join me. I wouldn't mind company." Well, if Dragon couldn't go with him, Eve would be the next best thing, right?

Ghanyarah turned then, allowing the bird time to join him if she so desired, and disappeared into the penumbra.

(Exit yara) @Eve