VINNIE THE VOICE

The seagull kept to the caves with water, and these days, he kept to himself. He was lonely, but nobody he knew ever passed through here--and strangers were rare, and seemed bent on their own business. Being a polite sort of guy, he rarely interrupted.

It wasn't the earthquake, then, that drew him--though that sure as hell had his attention!--but the child slamming facefirst into a wall and crying out. Vinnie saw this from where he'd been airborne, soaring, and he quickly drifted down to land near where the youth came to rest.

Before he could waddle over and address him, Aure was already talking, and sounded chipper enough--but he leaned in anyway, questioning. He wasn't worried about the other's predatory appearance; he hadn't been attacked by an other Greater yet, and had kind of forgotten to be worried about it unless they were much, much larger. Instead he leaned in with concern for Aure. "Hey, you okay, kid?" he asked. And then, at the swearing wolf, he leaned back and opened his beak, shouting in an abrasive seagull voice. "Yo, watch your LANGUAGE! We got a KID over here!" Though he supposed that almost having a boulder crush you was reason enough to lose your cool, even if just for a moment.

Black wings settled on his back, feathers ruffling, and he looked to this stranger. Oh, okay, so there was a flood of frigging white animals rushing past--and the gull huddled away, startled--but they didn't trample him, so, uhh, that was nice.

Pale yellow eyes blinked back at the stranger, the red spot on his beak moving sharply as he lifted his head to look up at the damage to the ceiling, and to the sled.

________________

The blue-green stranger winced a little as the wolf swore. That one's been naughty, he made an absent mental note, though he quickly forgot it.

He spoke to Xerxes, unaware that the lion might have been speaking to his friends. His voice was still friendly, gently harmless, and completely lost. "Oh, I don't know how long it's been! I come every year to reward the good workers, you see, but I think I must have slept?" His voice held a questioning and worried lilt, and he looked to Asimona. "I am Naskital," he began to explain. Translucent pink-flushed hands wrung at one another. "And those," he added to Aeroth where she nudged at the sack--gently reaching out to try and prod her back, a little--"are the gifts. But I can't give them out without my list, and the crystal is broken," he mourned. The bulbous-tipped, slender fingers lifted to wave a greeting at Aure as Naskital blinked those large eyes at the little gembound, and at the gull beside him.

"Oh, good," he said, as if genuinely relieved. "Is your--err--mother, an overseer?" He wasn't quite sure what a mother was, but this was good to know! To the black wolf he spoke again, and last. "Oh, yes--oh--to the point, I'm--I apologize. Err, to access the list I shall need-... let me think. Crystals? Please. If you can find them, yes? The brighter ones, from near the Core? Ah... tools, if you have spares, I know you are always so terribly busy--chisels perhaps--and hammers? And I shall need my beasts back. They're very important, you see!" He didn't explain why, fidgeting instead. A single white ptarmigan fluttered up to land on his shoulder, and he gently patted it with a worried peer as he continued.

"My deer, my birds and my bunnies. And food for them, if you could..? Then I can check my list, and offer out our yearly rewards to those who have been good! Could you all do this for me... please?"

He fidged, worriedly. What if they couldn't do it? Whatever would he do?

@Xerxes @Asimona @Auré @Astaroth @Aeroth @Vinnie
@Dezba

"Well, I hope you aren't looking for extremely sturdy tools, we're quite limited in what we can make, I'm not even entirely sure what a chisel or a hammer is..." He trailed off, looking at this odd figure in perplexion, not at all sure whether he wanted to participate or not, but deciding he might as well if he'd get something from it.

"Speaking."
Thoughts.

[/quote]
Notes:

Aeroth sneakily nudged the bag again before hopping up onto the front of the sled, looking into the capstone. ”Whoa, well uh, I guess I can help get your creatures.. shiny..” She said, looking around to see if any of the creatures besides the one ptarmigan were present.

”Speech”
"Thoughts"

Notes: I think it would be absolutely hilarious if Dread just came down and like, snatched the sled with all its contents and took them to Monoceros like the Grinch of Origin Cave like "SO MUCH SHINY"

Xerxes eyed the alien cautiously, barely taking his eyes off of it to study the sled behind and the large sack that was still in it. Many came to investigate the sounds after him, creating a small crowd around the alien that asked all kinds of questions, even ones he wanted to know himself. The alien spoke to many of them, finally revealing it's name when speaking to the dragon. Naskital. Was that even a name? It sounded very strange, but to be fair, the alien was strange on it's own. It deserved a strange name.

Gifts?? Would he get a gift for helping? Or were they just helping out so he could give gifts out to the whole caves? Xerxes wondered for a moment, but looked back to the alien before casting a glance around the crowd around them. The alien spoke to another before listing the things they needed to complete their task. He hadn't a clue what a hammer or a chisel were, but perhaps they could find good alternatives? He was confident that he could find a good crystal or two in the core, so he decided to task himself with that duty.

"I can go look for the crystals. How many do you need?" He began to step away from the crowd backwards then. "Anyone with me?" He could go by himself for all he cared, but it certainly seemed like the easier task compared to figuring out what the tools he needed were and gathering animals that were difficult to catch already.

Artume had been drawn by, first, the cracking. And then the frigid blast of air.

But she had had to travel, and so approached shortly after the odd creature appeared. She arrived just in time to hear Vinnie the Seagull begin to shout, and stepped forward to face the one who introduced himself as Naskital. Her ears perked as she listened, and then the deer looked, first, to the wolf, acknowledging him with, "Neither do I. Perhaps the blacksmith, Glory, might?" then to Aeroth, then to Othello.

"I can grow food, for your beasts." and then, to Xerxes, "I can go with you, if you would wish it. I cannot catch birds, but I could try and get the deer to come with me." to show her abilities to grow food, she grew a patch of roses beneath her gem-hoof.

Nemophilist (n.):

a haunter of the woods;one who loves the forestand its beauty and solitude

What was "fuck?" He hadn't heard that word before.

Aure was about to repeat it when a big white bird descended next to him, checking with its hooked beak to see if he was okay. Rather timidly, the little wyvern nodded ("yeah!") and shuffled sideways out of the pile of snow he'd landed in. Then, shaking himself free of snow, he realized that "fuck" might actually be a mean thing to say. Ergo, he would not repeat it. "Thank you," he chirped briefly towards Vinnie before turning his head back to the strange creature from the ceiling --- Naskital, as it had introduced itself. "I don't know what an overseer is but Mother sure can see!"

So, that big thing on the back of the sled held a lot of presents inside? Gifts? Oh, how the little one wondered what was inside! Giddy like a kid on... well, Christmas, Aure waved back toward the alien with an eager wing. He had no idea what was keeping all of the Gembound so busy, apparently, but that wouldn't stop him from pledging his service. Getting creatures sounded like a big task for such a little baby, and he had no clue what tools or any of that was. He did, though, know what crystals were! And he wasn't sure where the Core was, but there was bound to be a bigger Gembound who knew that!

Rocking up to his feet, the little wyvern scampered toward the big black lion. "I'll help with the crystals! I'll come!"

VINNIE THE VOICE

Vinnie listened, and opened his mouth to speak, but the little baby--who'd been polite enough to thank him, what a wonderful world!--was already offering his assistance.

Vinnie looked at the little one, then at the big black lion. Then back to the little one. Oh, hell. If that big bastard decides to eat the little guy, ain't nothin' I can do. Still, he couldn't just leave him. Maybe Xerxes wasn't murderous, but was a bad babysitter, or something. So he hopped a couple steps over, determined to look after the baby, as Vinnie often chose to do.

"Me too, pal. Crystals. Deeefinitely the way forward," he agreed, though his eyes lingered a little worriedly on Aure.

He then glanced back at the strange blue bipedal... thing, and at his big sled and his pale bag. What was this all about, anyway? What workers? What gifts? Gah; if he could make sure that nobody died, that'd be a half-decent start. He was tempted to offer himself as a scout, too, but that might mean being sent away from the child, which would be kind of counter to his intentions.

Oh, well.

________________

"Sturdy..? Ahh... whatever it was you were all using will be fine," Naskital reassured Aeroth. To the others--already planning, offering their help--he nodded in relief.

He hoped they were all on the "good" list. He hated withholding rewards! Oh, how they cried!

"I will do my best to work on repairs while I wait--I thank you all deeply." With this, the soft-spoken stranger bowed, and then turned back, picking over his sleigh.

Aside from the white ptarmigan, none of the other wildlife had lingered in sight--they'd all scattered to the four corners of the caves. Snow, in thick and fluffy flakes, began to fall.

______________

Gembound may exit this thread at their leisure or speak further to Naskital if they so wish.

Those wanting to be involved in aiding and rewarding may create and join threads throughout the caves to do so, and others are free to also get involved after hearing of this by word of mouth (hearing of it 'off-screen' is fine, though involvement for rewards should be 'on-screen').

Gembound involved in threads that handle helping Naskital with his quest are asked to return to this thread and report in with their results no later than December 20th.

@Asimona @Auré @Astaroth @Aeroth @Vinnie @Dezba @Xerxes @Artume

Asimona was silent as the others asked questions, surprised at how big a gathering had appeared. 'Naskital', as he called himself, didn't seem bad. He had, after all, made it snow! At this thought she shifted happily, her tail quivering. She tried to think of what she could do to help. She couldn't made tools and such, she had never done that before. She could find crystals, sure, but there were a few already on that. And none of her magic would probably work to gather the creatures. So maybe...

She nodded towards the stag, thinking. "Yes, I've heard of Glory before. Perhaps I could go and find him. He might be able to help us make some tools. Er...where does he live again?"

But now for the important question. As Naskital turned to walk to his sleigh, she took a small step forward. "Hey, how did you make it snow?" Her voice shook with excitement and her eyes were bright. Anything that had to do with snow and ice was definitely Asimona's favorite topic of conversation.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

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