open to all hive members!

Phlegethon made amicable conversation with Oliver along the way - another practiced thing with having various passengers - talking about what lay beneath the water and Fornax's warmth. The vibrancy of such clear waters. The slime-beast was regaled with descriptions of caves unconnected to the subsurface rivers (or, as far as it was aware.) One was a cavern full of howling winds. Another was dry, a veritable desert.

Once the taste of decay grew strong enough, Phlegethon carefully lifted its head out of the water, humming, "Here." It gently sloughed off Oliver onto a patch of solid ground it had found, still a number of meters away from the den occupied by Reji and her kin. "I call," the slime-beast informed, before working at magic to create a sort of smoke signal - as if the booming, slightly staticky hum of its voice was not enough.

"Reji and kin - I bring Questions!" Arching its neck and slithering forward through the shallows, it waited.

@Oliver

Oliver hopped down, with a nod. Before he had a chance to ask what "I call" would entail, Phlegethon was shouting and... smoking.

He stepped back, blinking in surprised; but, well, the call was out. He turned to peer toward the vague direction that Phlegethon was calling toward, and lowered himself to sit politely in the muck to wait.

@Azrael @Pallas ? IF YOU WANT

Pallas knew that voice. Pulled from his rest, his head jerked up from his loft, eyes quickly blinking out the sleep that'd overtaken him. 'Stay sharp,' his mind snapped before he began to move, stretching out before jumping to action at the branch outside his den.

He glanced for a moment, watching the others move before bounding forward towards the call. It wasn't hard to find, not with the smoke, and he stopped far enough away in the trees to just barely see them. It was one of the Children, and... Someone else?

"Who do you bring with you?" Pallas called, wary. His tail hung low, and he strained to see, hopping forward another branch to curl his back over. "We have answers if you'll provide your own." That sounded good.

@Phlegethon

Pallas's movement crawled across its skin, churning as he made his approach but hung back - wary.

He called, asking to know who it was that Phlegethon had brought. It arched its neck carefully, humming, "this is Oliver." There, a fine enough answer, yes? "He is a Rot-Child, too." Taking into the fold. The crow-dog was part of their strange alliance now. That should be assurance enough to approach.

Phlegethon took a moment to dunk its head beneath the water, gargling lightly and putting out the smoldering slime all down its length. There was no more need for that.

@Oliver

Sergei trundled slowly around the edge of the den, chewing on a fish. He'd been eating, and was just coming back; the heavy splashes of his paws signalled his return.

He gave a grunt in faint greeting to Phlegethon, and eyed Oliver with dumb disinterest, before standing idle before, and alongside, the den. He was here; he was guarding.

Job done, right?

Reji had been asleep, but woke at the sound of voices. Groggy, she listened, foxlike ears rotating to catch the words muffled by roots and mud.

Another Child of Rot-? Ahh. Her wariness level lowered, though it stayed noticeably there; 'questions' didn't bode well.

She sent, along the Hive's shared link, her approval to Pallas. Good. Find out what he wants. It was a request, a friendly instruction, more than an order; then she lay back again to listen, concentrating on the conversation that she could overhear.

She wouldn't show herself unless it was needed--she wanted to know what this one wanted, first.

Faced with it, Oliver realized he had no idea what to say. The bear was frighteningly large, and though Phlegethon was larger, Oliver didn't really want to put him in harm's way. Those claws-... He eyed them uncertainly, then looked to Pallas, his ear-tufts flattened back and his blue eyes a little wide.

What did he say to that..? If he came right out and spoke about the fungus-... if it were true he'd be deeply in the shit. That bear could kill him in a heartbeat, he knew. So he cleared his throat. Best to leave that bit out, I guess.

"Hey. First of all, I'm--my name's Oliver, and I'm not here to cause trouble? Thanks-" he added over his shoulder, a little late, to Phlegethon. Then, turning back to Pallas, he blinked a couple times. "There's some weird stuff going on, a lot of fighting and things. One of the Masters is looking for someone named Reji. He said she's very dangerous, and was trying to get us--Gembound in other caves--to hunt for her. I'm not--doing that; we said no, but he's probably gonna hurt us for it," Oliver hastened to add, careful to place the Kingdom as vague victims. Which... in fairness, they were. None of it wasn't true, not exactly. "But in secret I said I'd look for her and try to get their side of things? We just want to know what's going on," he finished, hesitating, as he always did.

@Pallas

Pallas's anxieties dimmed as Phleg introduced Oliver. Another of their group was.. fine, but-

As he made his way down the tree to bring himself to Oliver, his eyes tracked the hybrid closely. Lots of weird stuff happened a lot of time, gone unnoticed by the rest of the world. But, of course, this weird stuff involved him.

Why couldn't he just be happy with his family? Letting out a grumbling sigh, Pallas dropped to the mud with a squelch and approached, keeping out of reaching distance. Of course the Masters would still be after them. He didn't distrust the oily beast in bringing their food, but perhaps it should show a bit more wariness in who it showed the way to their den.

Anyways- "She's no less dangerous than anyone else," the linsang began, curling his tail behind him to keep it from betraying his attempt at being friendly. That was getting... Increasingly hard. "I- appreciate your decision to... Ask questions first." His words needed to be chosen carefully. There was no way to know if this being was telling the truth or not.

"You want to know our side- all I know is that we just want to live. We mean no danger for anyone else in these caves- we prefer to stick to our own, anyways." And- well, that wasn't false. He took the lead here for Reji's protection. It was best she not reveal herself now. "I hope you manage to live, too," he tacked on at the end.

But he was at a loss for what else to say. He wasn't sure how much he could say. So, he resorted to going on his own, for the moment, giving out a wary "What do you want to know? We're just... Beings, looking to get by."

@Phlegethon

Azrael lurked in the shadow of the trees, the glow on his chest hidden for now, only the tiniest glow of his pinprick eyes betraying his location as he watched Oliver carefully. He did not trust this thing - he did not trust anyone, really, that was not family. He had grown used to being able to feel their minds, know their intentions and hear their words without speaking. He could not hear the words of this thing, nor the rot-child that had brought him.

It was not violent for now, but it mentioned the Masters - and a command to see them dead. If this true, means Masters not hunting us directly - sending others to do it. It is shameful. He snorted with both amusement and disgust through the link. If he were a Master, and he wanted enemies dead, especially powerful ones like Reji and Mother, he wouldn't send a servant to do it for him, he'd face them himself!

Regardless, he kept to himself for now, waiting and watching in case he was needed.

Predictably, the large ones were at their post. They seemed to always be present.

Getting two perspectives on the same thing, though - it couldn't be too terrible of a thing. Pallas, at least, claimed to just want to live in peace, to get by. Continue to live another day. Phlegethon could not fault them for that. It couldn't find a reason to think otherwise, too. They were not troublesome creatures.

Hardly any of them left their makeshift covert, even with the reek of death around them. It seemed to get stronger by the day. Had something among them died? Leaving something lying around would infect the water and the fish.

It shuffled forward a few inches, hanging its head curiously, "is death around? It tastes like the Rot-pile. I do not see one." Phlegethon didn't sound suspicious at all, merely... concerned, "rot and death bring sickness. Lessers fall ill when they eat it. I can take care of it, if you need."

Y'know, by fire. Phlegethon would eat just about anything except for something that'd crawled into a hole and died four years ago.

@Sergei (Oliver, etc...)