Oliver lay the basket carefully beside the river. In it were stones--small stones; and around them were woven vines. Each stone had been baubled: a bright and gleaming light, not strong, but it would be enough for his needs. And in the basket, too, were seeds: bulbs and kernels, ferns, even fungus, that he'd picked carefully from Eridanus.

His grove in Canis had grown well: trees and purified pools, myriad ferns and flowers, and the ground there was thick with moss where he'd transplanted even soil, basket by cautious basket. Now he was repeating this in Monoceros: down along the Gorge, where the slender river threaded along its lowest points.

Old, battered trees had grown there, but Oliver was bringing new life, green life, beginning with big trees for shade and then planting smaller plants beneath. He spent time first planting each of the new plants, and then, leaning up on his hind legs, carefully affixing the hanging vines and their baubled stones to each and every branch that he could reach. The soft glow illuminated the plants. He wanted shade for them, but not darkness; the baubles wouldn't do much but... well, they looked pretty, too. He didn't often make concessions for aesthetics, but this time, he would do so. Monoceros was, after all, their new home.

The hybrid was quite absorbed in his work, too; he forgot that Dread was not here to protect them, at the moment, and instead he focused wholly on the plants.

"Okay," he said aloud, softly, kindly--speaking to the plants, as he always did--and pressed clawed black forepaws down among the seeds. A pale green glow illuminated the growth, and a moment later it was sprouting: a new sapling, springing up from an acorn, spreading branching twigs for the nonexistent sky. "There you are," he said, and smiled.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

She had searched carefully, following the faint trace of clustered magic through Eridanus and the tunnel, and then through a glittering room she loved immediately, which came to be known to her as Orion. But she had no time to dally there, instead continuing to follow the magic left behind by those who were reminiscent of Atinneas—the gathered and shared magic between them, noting them as a group.

However, it was a slow process. She periodically had to wait for her own magic to regenerate, resting her third eye that she used to track magic essence with. It was taxing, both on her magic and her body.

Several dimming cycles had passed before she found her way into the room of howling wind.

Her first impression of Monoceros was pretty negative. She really didn't like the noise of rushing wind, and the debris flying around made it difficult to track magic auras. Clambering up the side of the gorge, she slipped in and out of various cavities, escaping the dense storm at the center of the room.

As she drew closer to a source of the magic she was tracking, she approached slowly, resting her eye and going forth with only the two that saw normal sight: and what she saw kind of surprised her. It was a garden of some kind, growing in this gross room like a small patch of beauty. An oasis.

Her feet clattered against the stone as she came to a halt, simply admiring the new plantlife. How fascinating! And tucked within their growing lushness was a shadow—she squinted at it, her sight shifting from the creature to the basket to the—

...shining objects!

"Hey!" she blurted, hurtling herself forward (with shameful disregard for the plants as she tunnel-visioned onto the baubled items), curling her body up and carefully enclosing one of the objects between her pointed feet. "I want this." Her upper-half twisted completely around to view the shadow. "Did you do this?" This was exactly the same kind of effect she wanted for her chrysalis pieces!

@Oliver

Oliver turned, and Oliver screamed. He leapt a solid yard into the air, flapping back and tumbling, nearly falling into the river, before freezing and staring with wide, terrified blue eyes up at the friendly, it's friendly, it's friendly ...monster.

He blinked and hitched a breath, staring, before pulling himself back upright. His voice came out as a squeak and he cleared his throat to try again, trembling.

"Sorry--I'm sorry--you scared me," he stammered rapidly, eyes still bulging, memories of black violence and tittering sinister words flicking through his mind. He tried to shake them away. "Um--I didn't make the--the rocks? But I made them glow," he went on quietly, daring to draw closer. His gaze now travelled over the creature. She was... almost pretty, in her own way, if one could get over the horrible fear of too many legs and savage, pointed mandibles. She could tear him apart in a heartbeat--he wasn't about to say 'no.' Not that he would, anyway.

The hybrid tried his best to gather himself; screaming in terror wasn't... exactly a polite greeting. "You're very pretty," he hastened to assure her, not out of fear of harm but fear that he'd hurt her feelings; "You can... take those... keep those? I can make more. ...I'm sorry I just--I didn't hear you coming. I'm Oliver," he added, slowly lowering himself to sit. "Just--if you take them down--please don't hurt the tree?"

The black bird-dog cast a wary glance upward. He didn't want her to tear the vines down, and the branches with them--that would damage the growth he'd so carefully tended, and of course, cherished.

Oliver's gaze then slipped worriedly back to Venari. "Where, uh--where are you from--I don't think we've met?" He knew they hadn't, of course.

This one, this he'd have remembered.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Game Master CJ

Venari jolted back as the creature screamed, pieces of her body shifting one section back each; but as he settled, so too did Venari. She stared awkwardly as it caught its breath, then apologized to her. She held a bland and neutral face, if slightly judgemental. She scared him? The feet of her raised body clicked together thoughtfully. Hmm. Yes. She was scary. A grin etched itself into her chitinous face.

As he continued to speak, Venari turned her attention back to the glowing rocks as he explained he did not make them, but he did make them glow. There was shuffling and quiet, until he spoke up again, mentioning that she was pretty. What was... pretty?

She turned to look at him. "What is pretty?" she asked harshly between his own words. What was that, was it an insult? She'd slice his fucking legs off if it was an insult.

He talked about the glowing rocks again and she lowered her feet from it, shaking her head.

"Ah, no thank you, Oliver," she said politely, taking care to move her fat and long body across the plants so that she was no longer potentially harming any of them. Whoops. "I have rocks I would like to glow like this, but I do not have them with me..." she paused, hesitating. "If I bring them to you, you can make them glow?"

When she was done positioning herself, she returned her attention to him and began idly rubbing her front-most feet against her mandibles. "Eridanus," she answered dully. "I am Venari, the Hunter."

Her third eye flickered under its eyelid, but she did not want to see him yet—she was enjoying the conversation for now.

@Oliver

He winced a little, again, at her harsh words. She was scary, too. But pretty-? How could he describe what pretty was?

The hybrid hesitated, then looked around and settled his gaze on the few sprouted flowers: pale white and delicate against the half-crushed once-carpet of green.

"It's-... like this," he said softly, gesturing to them. "It means--beautiful? Like... the light reflecting off the water, or a pretty--I mean, a good storm. It means... colors and shapes and things that are--nice to look at?" he offered up, hesitant. He wasn't really one to decide the meanings for things; he was the one told, and he hoped he was getting it right.

He listened politely to her request, though, and tilted his tufted head a little. Helping! That, he could do. That he liked doing. "I'd be happy to. I could even go back with you and do it now, if you wanted--if they're still in Eridanus? I used to live there," he added, and balked short of blurting the entire story about how he was on the run. We aren't meant to tell others about that, he reminded himself, sternly. "It's where I get these plants. I like the glowing rocks too--they're pretty," he explained, with a slightly-worried smile.

All else aside, those mandibles were... huge.

"It's nice to meet you, Venari. Um. What do you--hunt?" It was an odd title, and he found himself both curious, and a little worried. Killing Lessers was never really his thing; he avoided it when he could, despite his carnivorous nature. He'd learned to live off plants, for the most part--and even that hurt, a little. He just hated killing living things, really.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Game Master CJ

Venari listened as he explained what pretty was. She followed his gesturing, leaning lower to inspect the flowers as he went on about other things he thought were pretty. Hmm. Nice to look at.

Well, alright. It wasn't an insult then, she decided. But she didn't think she liked it. She was supposed to be scary. She was scary! Was scary nice to look at? Hmph.

When he mentioned he could go back to Eridanus with her now, she clicked her feet together in thought. She did want that. He said the glowing rocks were also pretty. Hmm. He used to live in Erida—Oh!

"I have seen pretty!" she remembered suddenly, her thoughts evaporating. She even had used that word! "If you want to come back to my den now, I can show you! It's there!" Oh! Venari was suddenly so excited! It hadn't dawned on her, but she did know what pretty was—it was the painting in her den! That was pretty. Not Venari!

But her third eye had opened slightly, some instinctual part of her core needing to know, needing to confirm—and indeed, he bled with the wistful green that she was seeking.

Venari frowned gently. "I hunt..." she started, hesitating to tell him. She wanted him to see the pretty art in her den and to bauble her chrysalis pieces. "I hunt what I'm told to hunt. I take contracts," she explained, her feet clicking awkwardly. "Can we talk about it later?" Maybe she didn't have to kill this one, at least... she just needed to find Rift. But, later. Of course.

@Oliver

The creature was frightening, alien, but her enthusiasm was real, and it was infectious. Oliver found himself trying to restrain a grin as the massive, carapaced huntress spoke excitedly. He turned back, glancing up, and abruptly pushed upright onto his hind legs.

"Sure!" he agreed, oblivious to the fact that maybe he was the contract and was about to be lured off and murdered. She was friendly, after all! "Just a second. I'm gonna leave it raining for these guys," he explained, reaching feathered forelimbs high into the air. He went still, silent, deep in focus for a moment. The dry air seemed to thicken with faint humidity, and then darken, grey; a few drizzling drops began to fall, and the hybrid dropped back down to all fours. It was draining magic--strong, and intense--but he had practice with it, now, at least; he'd learned to give it that little push, the catalyst, instead of forcing the entire weather pattern. It was harder in Monoceros, still, and in Canis--but doable. He turned to Venari with a happy, peaceful expression--all contentment and bright-eyed hope--and approached.

But she seemed... uneasy. Unsettled? Uncomfortable, he realized, and his smile faded, a little. He nodded sombrely. "Yeah, of course. We don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to. I don't know what a contract is but--we don't need to talk about it," he repeated. He began to pick his way up along the narrow trail that led from the Gorges, as the rain began to fall in earnest. It wouldn't last long, here; Monoceros was bright and dry. But it would be enough, he hoped, to keep the plants well-tended in his absence. "Lead on," he added, firing a reassuring smile at what he hoped was a new friend.

{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

@Game Master CJ

Her head tilted when he mentioned he would leave it raining for—these... guys? Who, the plants? With a confused look, she glanced around, poking gently at one of the flowers while trying to elicit a response. Hmm. Nothing... But it seemed to satisfy Oliver, so whatever. She was indifferent to the rain, but was fascinated by its appearance nonetheless.

When he was ready to leave, she nodded, curling her body over him to slip a skinny leg through the arm of the basket. "Let's bring this, you can bring back some more stuff," she offered, thinking how cool the pieces of her diamond chrysalis would look among his garden. Her body carefully wove itself back out the way it had come, leaving only the single path of destruction.

Venari started along the wall, peeking down to Oliver.

"Hmm. Want a ride? It'll be faster." She still had a job to do, anyway.

Good to fade here, and start a new thread in Eridanus ?? @Oliver

Oliver froze a little, blinking, as the massive, many-legged assassin curled her body over his and delicately picked up his basket. He blinked at it, and then at her, and smiled, and relaxed. If she was gonna hurt him, she'd have done it right then, he decided; he was safe, with her. And the basket; she was thoughtful, too!

They were friends.

"Sure," he agreed, deciding then and there to trust her, terrifying as she was. She was nice, all else aside--and so he moved to scramble up, for the much-swifter journey back to Eridanus.
{Table code credit to Madison, altered a bit!}

exit Oliver to Eridanus, then! picnic time picnic time picnic time
@Game Master CJ