((ooc - this is for members of the Cetus Group for July's quest, It Takes a Village. In the end a group may be formed for Cetus but you're naturally not obligated to join or anything, this is just IC for: Dragon, Ghanyarah, Tal'at, Usui, Baratheon, and Eve, along with any others who wind up signing up over here.))

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Dragon huffed, his alligator features knotted into as close a thing to worry as he could get. Where was everyone?! He needed help! Where was Ghanyarah? Baratheon--was he in Cetus, would Dragon get lucky? For that matter where was the bird, the little black one who could find out what was magic and what was not... Eve! Where was Eve?

"Hello?" he shouted, or tried to--it was more like a hissing, gurgling growl-squeak. "Is anyone there? Ghanyarah? Baratheon? Eve? Hello?"

The young gator pushed through the swamp, high-walking and gasping through his jaws. His kind weren't made for long treks over dry land, but every time the marsh water ran out he found himself clambering over everything. And he had to.

"Helloooo?"

He'd meant to find the others, anyway, to ask if they wanted to join him in feeding Aquarian in return for food. But then Aquarian had come slamming out of the water this morning--rather sulky, all in all, thought Dragon--and gone on and on about how that golden collar had been stolen.

"Hello? Is anyone here?"

And why does he want it, anyway, with the stupid long stupid broken red cloth all stupid-stitched onto it, stupid thing doesn't even fit him.

Dragon was still young, and his irritation resulted in far from mature thoughts, at first, but as he slipped into the black channel of water that led to the Divine, he calmed somewhat.

Gotta figure out where everyone is, first. I don't know anywhere outside this cave, really--maybe someone saw someone take something... Maybe someone has some kinda magic that can find it? I wonder if Eve took it, without realizing--it was up high, and I think she can fly...

He reached the Divine a moment later, eyeing it warily lest it attack him again, but it seemed inert for the moment. The alligator circled the tree widely, and then looked around, trying to decide where to go next.

"Hello...?"

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I hate rain, the crow scowled to herself.
Flying through Cetus with the water pounding against her back, she searched for shelter. She could not find any as of yet, and she felt horribly close to The Tree, (capitalized in her own mind because of how evil it was) about to fly off when she heard strange noises.

A child's gargle and croak. She stopped and hovered in the air - eyes catching sight of a small alligator circling The Tree. It took her a moment, but she eventually identified it as the small Dragon who ate an enchanted carcass.

Did... Did his poop glow?

Too important to pass off. She fluttered down to land on the 'dragons' head, squawking loudly to announce her arrival with each beat of her stubby wings. Unfortunately, once she noticed the distressed look on the gator's face, she croaked vague concern - though ultimately, she decided now was not the time to question the status of Dragon's feacal matter.

"Dragon? What's wrong?" Eve seemed to almost cluck her words, chest jittering. She nestled down on top of his head and huffed, rain still pouring down.


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He didn't really know why he'd returned to Cetus, really. Things seemed to go terribly wrong whenever the lion set foot in this environment that disagreed with him. He padded through the mysterious room with mist and rain which drenched his pelt utterly. Aquarian's clues had failed to give him any answers and perhaps, a small part of him felt that today might be his lucky break - he'd get another audience with this mysterious frilled fish. Moving deeper into the heart of Cetus, Usui attempted to use his magic to sense if other gembounds were around. As his gem glowed a ghastly black, his magic sputtered for a moment, then revealed to him faint, pulsating colours - one brilliant and shiny like iridescent blue and silvers, another he was familiar with - it seemed like Dragon's, and highly likely so for this creature resided here.

He hadn't met the first gembound though and so brushed past the flora and fauna and quickened his trek towards them. Soon, he came across both gembounds and came across a rather distracted Dragon who was eyeing the tree and a raven who seemed to be asking him what was wrong. The cub lifted his pale green eyes to look at the tree, then looked down at Dragon to shield his vision from the rain. "Need help?" he offered cordially, if not kindly.

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The squawking took him by surprise, and if he hadn't been thinking about Eve just a moment before, he might have snapped at her out of instinct and shock. As it was he just blinked large greenish eyes at her.

"Eve!" he exclaimed. "Did you take a gold collar from the rocks over by the marsh?!"

He then heard Usui's voice and swung his large head to peer at the lion cub--he knew him, and despite all else he had helped in trying to calm Dragon's brother, so he nodded a greeting back, probably making the poor crow bob up and down.

"Usui--hi. Aquarian lost the thing I found him! The gold collar thing with the stupid red cape. He said he'd protect me and my friends if we fed him but now he's all upset that his collar got stolen and I don't know where it is! Have either of you seen it?!"

He almost wailed the "I don't know where it is," every bit the despairing youngster, peering between Usui and the blank space above his head (he couldn't quite see Eve up there) hopefully.

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The crow's mind ran as she tried to remeber this information - the collar, with a red cape, did he mean the thing he found in Polaris? Aquarian-- a monster in the marsh. She knew these both, though it had been a while since she'd seen Dragon.

"Krak! Not seen them in a long time. Where was it last?" squawked Eve, absent-mindedly and very gently nudging the top of the alligator's head a few times; an attempt at 'comforting' Dragon.

She only briefly lifted her head to shoot a beady-eyed stare at the newcomer and was considering screeching at him to go away - but Dragon seemed to know him. Even then, now is not the time to pester things, not with this flightless dragon being so distressed.

So, instead, the tiny bird made her way down Dragon's snout so he could see her properly, "I'll fly around to see if I can see them."

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The crow gave him a beady stare that was borderline hostile. The lion gazed at her for a second, unfazed, that switched his gaze back towards Dragon who’d responded to him, speaking more words at one go than the totality of their interactions which amused him despite the alligator’s distress. He kept his amusement within his heart though, and nodded emotionlessly to his friend. After that fight, a certain understanding had occurred which was, he believed, just about sufficient to allow them to work together. Dragon’s words were odd though. Offering a sacrifice to Aquarian in return for protection? Aquarian’s gold collar with red cape? He shuffled his paws on the dirt and replied, "Never heard of it nor seen it.” The lion attempted to continue but the crow spoke first, offering to fly around to seek the cape. He chuckled and tilted his head cordially towards Dragon with a light smirk. "Your new henchman?” Then, straightening up, he spoke in a more serious tone. "How large is it? Does the collar contain any metal or gems? I’ll help.” He waited patiently, wanting to understand what constituted the lost item before seeking the quickest way to retrieve it.

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Dragon stared at Usui, for a moment.

...Henchman? What's a henchman?

He wasn't sure whether to be offended, so he went with pretending to be mildly offended, since he figured he should probably know what a "henchman" was if Usui did.

"Huh?! No! She's a friend! Eve knows how to find out if things are magic, and turn them on," he explained. Dragon then thought, for a moment. Had it had jewels...? He thought back, picturing the thing in his head, looking comically confused once more as he did so. It had been gold, a collar, and--"Yes! There were red gems all along it. It was a golden collar. It woulda been big enough to fit around my neck, I guess? It was for holding the red cloth in place. Aquarian really liked it. I think he liked staring at his reflection and he's really upset!"

...Dad gets whiny when he's upset.

Dragon shook this thought away, peering again between the two, hopeful for any help they could give.

"Where should we look? How should we look?"

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Eve had never been so offended; even if she didn't know what a henchman was.

Her feathers abruptly flattened against her body as she turned to deliver a horrifyingly loud screech in the lion's direction - followed by a series of distasteful words and uncontrollable squawking, mindlessly cursing. Half of these words didn't even seem to exist but she said them anyway, wings flailing around until she seemed to finally get it out of her system, panting slightly as she turned to amble back up onto the top of Dragon's head and sit herself back down.

From there, she was coldly silent for a good few minutes. Perhaps thinking, perhaps still quietly fuming. She eventually spoke, unusually quiet, "Where does he stay? We should check around there. He might have dropped it."

She bounced off Dragon's head again to fly a little above him, hovering, seemingly waiting for him to lead the way. The collar couldn't be too far, who would want anything to do with it if it belongs to a giant dragon?

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They sure took offense – too much offense for his scholarly tastes. Usui raised one brow at the spitting mad crow and then looked away, brushing off the entire affair. Instead, he straightened himself up, causing his satchel to jiggle as it readjusted to a more secure position behind his haunches. Eve, was it? ”Eve knows how to find out if things are magic, and turn them on…” Usui wondered what Dragon meant by “turn them on” but remained silent about it. He was pretty sure he’d get to see her use her magic in a bit. "Well…red gems, a golden collar of decent size... I believe I can help,” he replied in serious tones and padded closer to Dragon, nevermind the little black crow who had been indignant about him. With a chuff, Usui swung head and cast an almost bored stare at the one called Eve, nodding at her clever suggestion. While Eve's cawing had disappeared from his mind, Dragon's work stuck with him. It didn’t make sense to him. Why would that useless Aquarian choose to care about his looks over the welfare of the gembounds or the condition of the caves? "Narcissistic beast,” he muttered beneath his breath and shook his head. Squeezing his eyes together for a bit, the lion tried to shake off his thoughts and focus on the task ahead. "I will attempt to summon gems in the area around the area you think it got lost, Dragon. Lets get going then.” Large paws would splosh into the water and mud as they embark on this quest.

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Dragon stared quizzically at Eve as she let out the raucous stream of what... was probably swearing?

"What's a... a cav-draggling rawkravaver?" he asked, bewildered. Then he was distracted by Usui again, and he blinked, nodding a little.

"Oh--right. Well, I'll show you where it is. Where he stays. It's all close together."

He turned, as he spoke, moving off to lead the way to the Heart of Cetus. He didn't mind Eve remaining on his head but as it was she'd flown up, so he pointed his broad snout toward the marsh and launched back into the black water with a splash.

Assuming they both followed, he'd lead them all the way to the Heart of Cetus, eventually pausing under a tall rocky ledge, and peering up at it.

"He was keeping it here. But it's gone!"

Dragon sounded despairing, again, staring wistfully up at the empty ledge before looking almost hopefully at his two comrades, waiting to see if they could sense it nearby, or had any ideas on how to proceed.

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