When she went over to Nova, so full of joy to see her best friend again, another puppy came up, growling at her, asking her a question in a low voice, and she stopped short, her exultation fading. She'd never had anyone upset with her before, and she blinked. Why was he upset? Did she do something wrong?

And Nova was saying she found him when he woke up, just like Thistle did with Nova, and Thistle's mouth closed. She felt....strange. Off. She should be really happy for Nova, to have what she did with the pup, but instead of happy she felt...quiet.

So she smiled a smile she didn't really feel, and she said, "That's good, Nova, that's really good! I'm glad for you."

Nova was off having her own adventures while Thistle was off trying to find treasure for her two best friends to see, and Nova was off with her teacher and seeing different sights and she mentioned this place called Polaris? She should be happy, but she wasn't.

Well, regardless, she would support Nova, even if she was going farther and farther away. That's what friends did.

With his failure, the primate absolutely pouted. It was the saddest thing ever. More Gembound began to gather, but the only one he found familiar was his mama's Fire. "Fire!" he squealed and as she lowered her great head, the small child hopped onto her face and nestled himself right between the two horns and Nemesis's thick frill. From the eye-burning wulfenite came a warm glow, and he snuggled right into it.

He was still curious though, and probably just as curious as Fire was. Shifting slightly so his palms rested on the warm stone of the rhinoceratops, he gazed at the statue. Howl pant-hooted in excitement as an idea came to mind. There were fragments of stone all about.

Disregarding any nearby Gembound, he scampered over to the nearest fragment of stone and gazed at it. There were detailed designs inscribed and carved into the fragment that he approached. It was about the size of a basketball, and he placed his hands on it and attempted to lift it up and carry it towards the statue, but he was too small and weak yet. With a frustrated holler, he turned towards Nemesis and chirped, "can Auntie Nemesis pick up this rock?" Yes. If they could just pick up the stone and maybe place it back in the statue... that might just work!

@Nemesis

Ozias' eyes were narrow, listening to Nova and heading her words - choosing to say nothing to the deer. She seemed uncomfortable anyway, and he wondered if it was because of him. This made him straighten, stiffen almost, at Nova's side. He liked having that effect on others, if that was what it was, anyway. He wanted to feel more, but being so young, he knew better than to think others would fall for this puppy's games. He turned his head to the statue then, thinking back to the tall thing back when he hatched. That must've been the spire, right? Seemed logical. Either way, he didn't reply to Nova with anything more than a curt nod. His fiery gaze found it's way back to Thistle out of the corners of his eyes and he wondered why Nova was friends with the deer. What could the deer do? Anything? Certainly didn't look like it, hell, she didn't even look strong. Did Nova protect this deer? Why? His gaze left and moved to the group of others gathered as they were. No one seemed to come up with a reasonable explanation yet, but it didn't concern the painted dog. He couldn't care less why the statue fell or where it came from, anyway. "Speech!" TABLE CODE © RASTA 2016

@nova @thistle im sorry idk why ozzy doesn't like thistle lmao <3

The monkey fell at his side, and that was no big deal, but then he nearly got ran over by something massive! A scream would've erupted from the boys frightened vocals, however he was silent, picking himself up off the ground from where he tripped, getting out of the way. Now covered in dirt, Othello sighed. Many others had arrived now, most of them unfamiliar. He hadn't been in Monoceros long, but he did recognize a few smells. The thing that ran him over was a frequent scent, as was the talking small thing that arrived some time while he was nearly killed.

Looking around the crowd and testing the air, he picked up on a very faint scent that hadn't even been a part of the group. The winds from Monoceros pushed the scent towards him, but he couldn't be sure the molefox was in the tunnel or still back in the cave. Regardless, Odyssey's scent wasn't carried with it, leaving the maned wolf worried that Iliad was alone. Even their mother wasn't with him. A frown pulled at the corners of his mouth before he broke from the group, caring little about the statue now. He was focused on finding Iliad and making sure he was safe and that the fat thing hadn't tried to run him over too.

@iliad

Gigatsuhali flapped around, trying to gain some semblance of flight. While not actually achieving her goal, she was managing to strengthen her muscles, which would be handy for the tail she finally caught the air beneath them. Before she even realized it, she was among a crowd of gembounds, hearing murmuring and voices think out loud and to each other. A chill shot up her spine and every feather stood up. She gazed upward at the massive formation that seemed to grow from the wall. There were pieces missing, but... something about it seemed so strange.

He had been strolling along, intending to return to Monoceros and visit Nemesis, when he heard voices ahead. One, he thought, was hers.

The black horse delicately crept along on his stalklike thin legs. Long, narrow head poked around the curve in the tunnel, lamplight eyes glowing as his ears pricked up.

"Nemesis?" he asked quietly as he came forward. He wondered if she'd even recognize him: he was far taller, more solid than he had been, even if he was still a hanging curtain of putrid dull coat over bones.

But there were others, there--the strange creature clinging to her, the black Cayenne doing-... something, to what looked like a statue. Myriad Gembound he had never even seen.

For a moment, it occurred to him that this might all be a trap. He lingered at the outskirts, watching for awhile, then decided that it seemed safe enough. In fact, something felt more alive about this tunnel--something different from what it had used to be. He touched on the bacteria that vibrated within his body, and called upon his magic, using his other sight to look at the tunnel, and the statue. Perhaps the place was filled with invisible life? Maybe that's why it felt so vibrant...?

The tall, skinny horse slowly made his way to Nemesis's side, snuffling gently at her in greeting. He then turned his attention to the strange statue ahead. He didn't remember this being there, but then, maybe he had simply missed it, in passing.

"I was coming to see you. What's going on?" he finally asked, quiet.

________________

BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

They were all becoming quite the crowd, all these animals gathered around a mysterious statue. She angled her gaze around to take them all in. Quite a few certainly seemed to know each other, but she still saw no one she recognized. Ignoring the incessant dog's barking and the half-heard conversations of those around her, Boar turned her attention to the statue again. Being more strongly in tune with physicality, she could barely feel the strange magical aura it was putting off. But her lack of sensitivity to the magical didn't make it any less annoying; in fact that was likely the very reason she was so irritated by it. It was almost like a static charge creeping up the hairs of her back, or a fly's leg brushing too gently against her ear. She flicked her head absently, but the movement didn't shake off the strange electricity. Her lips curled into a frown as she took one solid step back, lowered her head, and launched herself toward the statue with a solid headbutt.

Nemesis' ear twitched when she heard Diamondfang, her dark eyes searching the corridor, watching the miraid of gembounds gather. There were so many. Howl scamped up on to her face and asked a question to her, but she barely seemed to hear it. Instead, her head swept towards Khloros, a smile twitching on to her features. It had been a long time indeed...

"It's good to see you... I don't know what's going on, but this wasn't here before." She exhaled a warm huff of a breath, glad to have Fang's child attached to her hot face. He would be safe there, she would protect him. Her eyes caught a glance of Louie's offspring and another, different fox, and she merely gave them a quiet glance and a short murmur, "stay close, I'll keep you safe," before turning away. It would be quite the effort to protect them all--

Caves, there were like FIFTY babies here! Frustration bubbling up in her at the shuffling noises and constant talking, she let out a roar, "QUIET!" She snapped at the stranger children, standing along side her friend Khloros, Fang and the fox cubs. The rest of them were strangers, too close, too invasive. They did not belong to the Merrymen. She did not trust them for a moment.

Snorting with anger, the momma rhino stomped forward and tried to move the broken stone back towards the statue with brute force. She scooped up the stone with a thrust of her horn, chucking it back at the statue. Her massive tail swept slowly behind her as she raised her head once more to look around at the group.

"Alright, alright, listen up children. Whoever wants to help me figure out this statue, hush up unless you've got an idea. The rest of you shut up-- and any of you who don't want to help, get out before I make you get out."

Nemesis was not above threatening children, not now, not ever. It was too dangerous to be playing around here anyway.

The young female was so happy to see her friend, that she almost didn't take note of the wildebeest child who was attempting a take a bite out of the statue. Come to think of it, a lot was going on in this tunnel, and it was starting to feel a little tight. Her glaze fell back over to the painted boy that she took under her "wing" before a booming voice range out amongst the crown. QUITE! Attention went right to the large rhino beast she was spoke over all the voices. Nova had to delve deep in herself to keep calm and try to pay attention. This might be important? So, the rock needed to be fixed? Unsure why, but she only looked back to the two she was standing near. "Thistle, what do you think we can do?" Letting the question hang in the air if anyone else around the young ones knew the answer in case the gazelle did not. Even looking to Ozias, "How about you?" Finding that including him might help him grow as a gembound . . at least it made sense in her mind. Plus, if she was going to have him be a friend, he needed to help contribute; even if it was just a couple words. --------- "Speech" Thoughts OOC: all the babies

@Thistle | @Ozias

"Speech" | 'Thoughts' |
Everything seemed to be going on hectically. All the gembounds were beginning to delve into the mystery of the statue and it wasn't long before a much larger gembound bellowed for all to be quiet. Her eyes narrowed at the creature, but she had to admit it had gotten awfully loud. Her focus had remained on Cayenne after her brief glance at the rhino and she watched as the lemur tried to cast her magic upon the statue. She rose to her paws and trailed closer, all the while ignoring the loud bellowing of the rhino as she continued to speak and threaten anyone who spoke and or didn't help. She was a rather cranky creature wasn't she.

Shaking her thoughts she peered up at the statue. It seemed several of the others thought it needed to be repaired, but her curiosity led her to ponder over something else. It was emitting raw power from it and it left Cure wondering what could be causing it to be putting of such a vibe. "Are you guys sure it even needs to be fixed?" She tossed the idea out thoughtfully.