Albeon indeed has tapped into the future, and several outcomes flash before the raven's eyes, some close in time and some far—but when is when?

—zipping by their heads, missing each of them perfectly, until it buried into soft, small flesh of the sprite's chest—fell off of its body like a slopping mess as it turned—mass of clones descended on them in a flurry of shrill cries—emerald glowing softly beneath its chest, it stood out among the others—"Get me out of here! I know you can!" she cried—

It was up to Albeon to decide what was important, which outcome might be the one most relevant, most desirable. Would they even be close to achieving any of those?

The clones were spawn of the original; scent would not distinguish them greatly. Environments or surroundings that each had been in would distinguish their scents, and the fact that the original had been a companion of sorts recently to Jupiter, and may smell of her; but otherwise, scent was a useless track, and indeed they were following the scent of Batcat, but too was it the scent of its spawn.

A lucky break for the group, at least; they would stumble upon a mysterious trail of black ooze.

Xireidi grinned as the others arrived, no doubt finished now with the search. Monoceros was now clear and the search though Orion had officially started in full. Even more than that another seemed to have shown up, perhaps to help as well?

Demigod of light though? What right did Kin-Kin have to claim such a title? Or course she had every right to make up accolades for herself. No doubt she'd spend countless hours training to come close to claiming such a bold title. Or perhaps there was something that had happened that he didn't know about?

Whatever the case might have been, with so many members here now they would no doubt find the trail much more easily than they might have individually.

"There’s something I haven't seen in a while." the wolf commented as they came upon the ooze trail. He'd seen similar a few cycles ago wandering through Eridanus, but something about this one felt slightly different. For one thing the trail itself didn't seem quite so large as that one had. "What do you all make of it?"

---

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags: @Kin-kin Aries @Albeon @Rinaotei
notes: None

If only there were any leads on this Batcat; what would their scent be is it a precise different kind? Her ears did perk at a sudden sound wondering if that was Batcat, looking down Rina realised it was Kin-Kin inquiring Rina herself and others if she and the others have come across anything. Gradually she lowered herself from the air to be more proximate to the ground, and Rina shakes her head again to silently express that has yet to come across anything peculiar at all. She flies a little ahead of the group, not too far and doesn't raise her flying's altitude either.

Soon though a newcomer appears; perhaps they could assist the team additionally? Of course, she can't assume and suddenly request such a thing out of nowhere, but it could be possible, and the group does require more members. So, she turns her body again towards the team that's a little behind her currently, occasionally glancing what's behind her now as she proceeded to fly backwards and gives the sheep a wave of a sort with her claws as some form of way to say 'hello' to them.

"Hm?" she hummed to Xireidi in curiosity as to what they have found, looking down she sees the ebony ooze too which was familiar to her as well, slowly she landed onto the ground to further inspect it. Albeit it isn't as immensely large and since Rinaotei herself has met the Gembound who seems to ooze with this very type of slime was not a small Gembound in the slightest. It was quite the contrary; indeed, they may have been the biggest Gembound she had ever encountered so would it even be possible for them to make such a small trail like this. Still, there is one thing she requires to point out.

"I have seen it before myself. This one does look a little different though," Rina had to consider this. Even so, even if it isn't identical, the properties it has is most likely similar to the one she is familiar with so it may be hazardous if exposed to fire, Rina recalls how destructive it got in Eridanus when exposed to fire. "Still even if it is an identical one or not it's highly flammable, be sure no fire of any sorts comes in contact with it, it may spread wildly if so." Best to throw that warning out now, even if she could extinguish it like last time there was still a casualty since her Magick that time refused to cooperate with her.

@Kin-Kin @Aries @Xireidi

"Speech"

Albeon soon not realising it at all that he had shut his eyes when the flashing fragmented visions took over all of his senses and mind, the Spell has worked, but there's something about this one that feels very different from the usual sort. The fact that things are flashing in between each other is one thing some which made no damn sense at all, but he refuses to let this chance pass. Squeezing his eyes shut as some way to try and concentrate on it all as they seem to be very instant; very different from the usual Hindsight.

This is Hindsight, right?

Many did not make sense to him at all; he did not get what they're trying to show at all. Although with the first vision that has a flier that was zooming through the air overhead of them. He attempted to make out their form which is hard at first from how fast they are going until it collided what appeared to be that ass Nemean he tried to see what this being was. It turned out too late though as it switched to another vision a one that looked so damn disturbing but it made no sense at all; argh, damnit he needs more context than that!

This won't help!

But the next few drew his attention and interest the most; a massive swarm of Gembound, all the same being from the looks of it flying in an organised group like they had some collective consciousness among them. And that said swarm is diving down on all of them in an ambush with the most annoying screeching sound, they look like feline things with bat wings which made him realise that these must be Batcat, and so this must be what the leader meant by 'fakes' then. The next vision was of another Batcat, but this one had a green Gem on their chest which now that he thought about it he didn't see the Gems on any of the large swarm. Wait, is this green Gem one the real one then? He's getting somewhere then!

The last one was confusing as he heard someone yelling out cries for help, he has no idea what this vision has to do with Batcat though.

The flashes soon ended, and Albeon's eyes shot open, Wait, was that all in the past? It didn't feel like it, for one there was a vision of so many Batcat attacking the whole group, and he knows that did not happen before. Wait, was that a future vision? Then did that voice in the last scenario belong Nemean perhaps and that she'll try to beg for help in the future? If so then when the time comes that asshole can fend for herself, she sabotaged the lights why should the Gembound who she has put at risk help her? That is if that was her anyway who was yelling for help.

Still, there's one thing the visions did show; what Batcat looked like, and what makes the 'real' one stand out soon he tries to catch up to the group which he saw that someone new has come; who are they? What did he miss?

"Hey, I'm back. Kay, if the Spell I just used, is correct the 'real' Batcat apparently has a green Gem on its chest," he needed to say right away before he got side-tracked this could help. "Unless... Hey," he directed his words to Xireidi he needs to ask them about that fake they caught. "Did that 'fake' have a green Gem? Or any Gem at all?" the vision showed them not having any, but perhaps he needed the words of an eye-witness of sorts.

He checked as well to see what exactly the group has discovered some weird ooze which reminded him of that disturbing vision that made the least sense out of all of them a little. He takes note of Rinaotei's answer about it being flammable, don't have to worry about that he knows no Fire Magic suppose his high energy Spells would count though. As for what they could make of it, he could try Hindsight on it; but does he have to? He'd prefer not to touch it, but it seems like the best option.

Moving his scarf out the way as no way in hell any of that ooze is getting on it; if any did he would've burned it then and there regardless if it's flammable or not. He brings one wing out, but he only lets the ends of his feathers touch it as he doesn't want too much to get on his flesh and tries to spark up his Magick again to see what this could show.

The visions once again came, but this time they were pretty hazy from his reluctance to make actual physical contact with it.

Tags: @Aries @Xireidi @Kin-Kin
Side Notes: N/A

"Hey Yours Truly Albeon Speaking."

And that's a good thing...
It means there's hope and potential in one's Future.

we burn the brightest

in the dark

"Ah!" Aries beamed, then a confused look crossed his already confident face "Batcat, batcat.. hmm.." His smile gradually dropped. Aries shook his head in disappointment. "I'm afraid I don't know anything about this batcat." His subtle drooping didn't last long, as the ram perked back up again and leap down beside Kin-Kin.

"But I'll help you get it back to generator." He gave Kin-Kin a smile and puffed out his chest as he strode past her. The red wolf had pointed out a trail of black ooze. Aries thought that was odd. After all his time in Orion, he had never seen something like that before. Without saying anything, he walked up to it and gave it an investigative sniff. It was at the moment that another gembound, a black and white wolf with claws and wings, said something about it being highly flammable. Well, best not use any of my spells on it.

Aries lifted his head just in time to see a scarfed raven join them. By the way he spoke, it look like he was already apart of this search part. According to him, the "real" batcat had a green gem on his chest. Wait, how may batcats are there?


Aries had some questions of his own. "So.. there's more than one batcat?" He asked, approaching the group. "And how will finding the real one fix the generator?"

"Listen to me."
Thoughts...

TAG: @Albeon @Kin-Kin @Rinaotei @Xireidi // OOC:

Kin-Kin found her gaze drawn from the ram for a moment as the others found something- a strange trail of black ooze. The wolf approached, and gave it a sniff. It was unfamiliar, but it was a start. "Well, it's... something. I say we follow it," Kin-Kin replied to Xireidi's question, gaze drifting towards the raven and the dragon-wolf- who she recognized -vaguely- as an old friend of hers. "Flammable? Well, that sounds like fun."

Soon after, the raven added their own slice of information. Just how had they figured that one out? Whatever the case, they'd needed that breakthrough, and Kin-Kin offered them a nod. "Green gem, huh?" she cast her gaze over towards Xireidi, and then back towards the ram who'd just joined them. She grinned.

"Luckily, us lot know what to look for. You just worry about hitting it hard enough, kid." she laughed before moving on to answer their other questions. "Some... energy surge or somethin' made it split off into more than one. We're hoping the one with the gem is the real one. And, there's some fairy... thing... guardin' the generator. Broke it themselves, from what I hear. Pretty much holdin' the lights hostage until we get back that creature."

As she spoke, Kin-Kin began to follow the slime trail. She raised her head, trying to see if it veered along any specific path ahead.

---

words:
tagged: @Aries @Xireidi @Albeon
ooc:
muse:

"Talking looks like this!"
Thinking looks like this...

Xireidi perked up at Albeon's words. An information finding spell? Hindsight, of course! He'd known that one when he was younger and with the voice of magic making itself known again he might be able to use it too. Not that it was needed now, their avian team member had stumbled upon an extremely useful piece of information.

"I don't think it did!" he replied with a hopeful tone, "If the spell is accurate then that could be our key to finding the real Batcat."

His attention turned to Kin-Kin afterwards and nodded in agreement. They had a lead on their target's appearance, and this trail was as good as any to possibly lead them to at least something of interest. But was it a dead end? Perhaps he could try to look into it. With some hesitation he poked a single paw to the edge of the slime.

But would it work? He could feel the hook for magic usage right there, and had felt it ever since the spider incident. Something felt wrong about it but that was just his childhood worries, right? Nothing could go wrong if he just...

---

Finally! Unlike before he could feel every single solitary second pass as that invasive entity paraded around with his body. Just like before he had no ability to actually get his body back unless the imposter actually allowed him to take it. He had to be sneaky about it though, these old knaves around him had been fooled into thinking that was him this entire time and one of them had thought of that thing as being 'Xireidi' from the very beginning of his life.

HE was Xireidi, not that other idiot! Still he had to be subtle, had to pretend to be the imposter until he was no longer outnumbered. First thing to do would be to pretend to investigate this... slime. Gross; what was the other even thinking?

Xireidi, the real one, attempted to move his paw away from the trail. His body, however, did not seem to want to comply. As he issued the order to move his limbs instead froze up, completely useless to him. With his weight already slightly unbalanced the red wolf collapsed into the trail as though struck with paralysis. Vocal chords released disjointed sounds as the real Xireidi struggled for physical control of his own unresponsive body, not knowing how long it would be before the imposter woke back up and stole it away from him again.

---

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags:
notes:

I think I'm just going to drop this here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UclCCFNG9q4

The ooze smells of rot. Black and oily in substance, it is unclear whether or not it would be flammable, but its scent is clearly rot.

Albeon sees glimpses of what appears to be the creature they are looking for walking along this path, but the chest is not visible.

Kin-Kin is able to locate a path, but there are ears waiting, listening; a drip of ooze falls from above and splatters down near the group, followed by another. It cannot be controlled and begins to fall erratically, maybe even hitting members of the search team! A faint clicking and chattering begins softly, then rises into a chorus of shrill screeching as ten Batcat spawn swoop down from the darkness of the roof above and ambush the search party! They are dripping with the strange black ooze that matches that of the trail, and continue to take dives at the party with reaching claws. This is their territory!

Escape! Roll a barely successful or higher!

we burn the brightest

in the dark

"Hmm." Aries responded. He wondered way the fairy-thing needed the real Batcat to fix the Generator. Did he know a special spell? He followed Kin-Kin down the slime trail. Despite the stench he gave the ooze another sniff. Aries lifted his head, crinkling his nose in disgust. He turned to Kin-Kin. "So this real Batcat.. does it smell like rot?"

Aries pricked up when he caught sight of black droplets splatter before his hooves. The ram stopped dead in his tracks. What the--? A few more drippled on his nose and head. Aries shook his coat, sending a few drops black ooze flying, and stepped back.

He squinted, peering up at the cave's immense, dark ceiling. His ears pressed forward as he heard faint chittering. Suddenly, it grew louder. Aries heart beat heavily in his chest, his eyes grew wide with fear. A horrible, shrill chorus now rang out from the blackness and a flock of bat-like hybrids swooped down upon them like fiends.

Aries jaw dropped. Instinctively, the ram reared and bleated an alarm. He tries to summon his magick, but his stone was cold. He could not focus!

"LOOK OUT!" Aries shouted.

The ram did not flee, he chose to stay, steadfast in defiance. He intended to face these creatures head on. Aries pounded the dirt and reared, kicking his front legs in the air, display of intimidation and bravado. Whether the other's choose to escape or join him, he hoped to drawn the batcats' attention away from them.

"Listen to me."
Thoughts...

TAG: @Kin-Kin @Albeon @Rinaotei @Xireidi // OOC: swooping is bad...

(Aries in this post lmao)

Xireidi struggled furiously against the impassable wall of his unresponsive body, his effort only visible from the outside as minor twitching in his limbs. What kind of unfair hand had he been dealt that he would still exist but be stuck in the back of his own mind, watching as an alien entity controlled his every move? What horrible thing might he have done in a past life that even when that entity lost control his limbs rebelled against him in its place?

The sound of screeching arrived at his ears, the sound of certain death incoming. If he couldn't make his body obey him right now then both he and the imposter would be erased from this world. Good riddance, what use was a life in prison anyways? He would die as he had lived, helpless and alone among strangers.

...or at least most of him felt that way. Part of him still held onto hope, still desired to fight for survival even if all he had to look forward to was a life in chains. He could still be the ruler of this body, could still amass power in the caves, but that would never happen if his body was torn apart by monstrosities. He had to survive, and in order to do that he had to do the unthinkable.

'Okay, you idiot bodysnatcher,' he thought toward the completely comatose entity that usually controlled his form, 'Get my body out of here and don't try to be a damned hero.'

He'd play the long game. The oblivious creature still had no idea that he was walking around in a stolen form. They would try to preserve it, and in the mean time they might try improving their magic skill as well. In those periods of magic usage he could take control, play along for a while, get them comfortable with the idea of using it often and during that time learn more and more about this bizarre system that bound him to near uselessness. Xireidi let himself begin to fade back, giving control once more to the parasite that had stolen his body.

'Perhaps...' Xireidi thought as he could feel the abomination slowly come back into consciousness, 'Perhaps I will give him my name now that it has been so sullied by his actions. I will carve a new name for myself; not one gifted by the mordant world but one annealed by the unbending will of the imprisoned. Keep your stupid stolen birth name, Xireidi. If you should ever discover me I will be my own self. I will be called...'

---

The world flooded back into view as consciousness came back to the wolf, a single word on his lips that he could not understand.

"Leikari?" he spoke aloud, confused by the seemingly meaningful nonsense string of syllables.

The enigma was short-lived, however as two things of much greater importance became apparent. First- he had somehow fallen into the trail and now smelled thoroughly of rot. Disgusting. Second- there was a swarm of batcats overhead and the group was royally outmatched.

"Run!" he yelled out as he hopped to his feet and began a charge toward the nearest cover along the trail. If they could find an enclosure they might be able to take these things out one at a time but the playing field was solidly in the enemy's advantage right now.

---

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away
tags:
notes: None