Sharp

we can wander through the forest, and do so as we please

Sharp waddle-dug her way into Orion, half-submerged in the dirt like some weird, terrestrial duck. She was a little older than the last time she came here, but still absolutely tiny, barely larger than the rocks around her. The lizard had overheard something about "kings" (whatever that was) from the dark creature that had been walking about. She wasn't too interested at first, but then she heard the reward-- wings. Big-scary-cool-friend Dread had wings, and he was awesome, meaning that if she had wings, she'd be awesome too! How fun!

The bluish light of the false stars shown down on Sharp as she, excitable as ever, burst out of the stonework. "Kingies! Kingies!" the dirt-caked sungazer giggled, looking around at the gembounds around her. Most of them she hadn't met before-- except for Alrik, the stinky-friend -- but who caught her eye the most was the beautiful, triple-stoned avian. Was that the "Three Kings"? Well, nobody else here seemed to fit that title. "Are you... the Three Kingies?" she asked the phoenix, yellow eyes glinting with wonder.

thinking | "speaking"

_{dice boy said i could come to this party}
Glaive was, indeed, a very polite large-beast by standing outside and not being Orthoclase-Alpha, currently shouldering its way in with a mix of grunts and growls as it nearly stepped on a smaller Gembound here, almost kicked one there.

It, of course, had hung back for a moment. At least, long enough to wait for the last few folks to meander in and settle down; and, long enough to take a survey and make sure that all of those it'd seen walk in remained, and that there were no surprises within. No extra bodies (unless the Kings were visible on a bloody radar) lay inside, and that was apparently an all-clear to just sidle on in and clear its own bit of personal space among the relatively tiny Gembound.

Yes, the nosiness was coming out. If anyone tried to get within a foot of it, they'd get a nice growl and teeth-snap in their direction. Otherwise, it was relatively relaxed, plonked onto its ears and staring at the Kings - clearly of older design.

There were so many that came-! The Kings were all three pleased, though Alnilam was unsettled, a glint of gold shimmering through the Kings' eyes periodically.

"We are the Kings," they confirmed, as one, to the cat that approached them. And before they could explain further, another child was demanding knowledge: what are Kings? "Kings are-" "Rulers!" "Paragons." "Leaders," and each of the three voices spoke at once. The galaxy swirls shifted through the bird's body, glittering stars shifting over their purple wings.

The ice blue eyes--the dominant color, only occasionally shifting to gold, or red--observed the children as they entered. Many seemed strong, or curious--many showed promise. The Three Kings dipped their single head.

"Many of you have come," they noted, aloud. They offered a nod do the sheep-creature, Crown, who had first come to them, and then eyed over the rest. When it seemed that enough were present--that no more might filter in--they began to speak.

___________

"Every few centuries there is... a hunt." The bird's body stirred, as if uneasy, or in disagreement with itself. "The Huntsmen and their Hounds sweep through the skies of a dozen worlds seeking their quarry. We can feel it beginning again. But we are in disagreement as to what to do about it."

Their voices split, again, speaking one a time, this time:

"I, Alnilam, would have the quarry saved, and spared."
"And I, Mintaka, would not interfere. The Hunt is what must be."
"If it exists, you can tamper with it! If you have the strength. I say, join the hunt, take down that prey."

There was a pause, a quiet murmuring between the Kings, and then the second voice again spoke. "But we have decided to let all of you do as you will. First we must draw the hunt here, though, or it will wander the stars for years. And for that there are things that we need--things that you must bring us."

"We will need the hair or fur of a being pure of heart, spun into cloth."
"We will need a long, flat rod, of strong metal, stone, or wood."
"We will need the blood of the savage!"

"Go now, and bring these things to us; and when we have them all, we will summon the Hunt."

Characters may temporarily exit this thread, if they wish, and create other threads to seek the objects described. They may work together or alone, and any other characters not already present may assume the Kings would give them the same information, should they arrive later (therefore, anyone can still join at any time).

@Un Poco Loco @Alrik @Puck @Scout @Glaive @Akaari @Aran @Hargrave @Crown @Sharp @Orthoclase-Alpha

More creatures came in, most average in size but some huge. Alrik couldn't help but stare at the big brown one with glow-y eyes (Alpha). Alrik had no concept of what a "normal" creature looked like, but if that one didn't look weird then it certainly did look frightening. Frightening as in... cool.

"The Kings" explained what kings were. Alrik didn't understand the second word but the first and the last sounded really appealing! Alrik wanted to be a king as well! "The Kings" was also strange, not unlike the brown-and-green beast. It spoke with different voices and kept changing colors! To be honest, Alrik was feeling very aesthetically pleased. The Kings did look awesome, and had such an authoritative tone, and Alrik felt a bit of admiration for that.

Then The Kings began talking about a "hunt". Something that took place across the skies of dozens of worlds. Alrik was only understanding about 45% of this, but the parts he was getting sounded pretty great. Then they said The Kings admitted to being indecisive about what to do about this hunt. Hm... that drained Alrik's respect a little bit. Being indecisive was a trait Alrik was finding too common in too many, and it was annoying. Hopefully The Kings would at least call objects by a single name.

Things weren't looking up for that hope however, because it seemed the Kings couldn't even call itself by a single name. The fact that The Kings were in fact three separate entities was flying rather high over Alrik's head here. The Kings called itself Alnilam or Mintaka, and the third voice didn't offer a name. Alrik just mushed the two offered names together: Alnitaka or Minilam. Minilam sounded better.

Minilam said... three conflicting things that it wanted. Perhaps ideas? And then it decided to let the crowd decide what to do. Alright, well, that was a decision. Alrik liked the idea of testing his strength. Mainly because he was certain he had a surplus of it. Not doing anything sounded boring as heck, and sparing it didn't sound bad, but a test of strength sounded way more fun. Far more Alrik's speed.

Then Minilam said it needed three things:
* fur from something pure, spun into cloth (boring)
* a long, flat rod of metal, stone, or wood (BORING)
* the blood of the savage (AWESOME!!!)

Then, the crowd was dismissed. Alrik looked around at the crowd to see what they would do. He totally wanted to go for the blood, because it sounded gnarly (for lack of better word). He didn't know what "the savage" was, but he was sure he could find it. Maybe... maybe he'd need some help finding it, actually.

If anyone decided to go for the blood, Alrik would follow.

table coded by banshee | for free use!

- temp. exit -
Summon the A Team!

James came cantering in, breathless after running so far. He'd heard the message and set out to head here first thing, only to get horribly distracted by his friend's return. But now he was here!

He skid to a stop and paused to catch his breath, perking up as he heard the King's messages. Okay... so he wasn't too late. Good!

Eyes averted for a moment to see toxic green quills, and he looked away, only for his head to snap back and stare up at the Orthoclase with muted disdain. He squinted up at him and stamped a foot, huffing up at the larger.

"... Hello again, stinky," he said, definitely miffed at the massive creature joining the same quest as him.

Regret immediately flared up. Don't apologize don't apologize don't- no, stop-

"Sorry," he mumbled immediately afterwards.

If James could facepalm without giving himself a concussion, he would.

Glaive didn't dislike anyone in the caves, even if the first impressions were less than ideal. That being said, she couldn't help but scuffle out of the way of the glowing monstrosity shoving past her with both a yikes! and rude.

If she could grimace, she would've.

Regardless, the Kings were starting to speak, and the spinosaurus took that as implicit permission to finally crowd into the alcove and listen better. She... didn't like the idea of a hunt, but there was the choice to help! Any chance to help was good, right? They had advanced notice, and the ability to plan ahead for it (and yes, her entire plan involved I'm going to save them!) Glaive knew she had her family(? They'd accepted her, right?) at her back, and they'd surely think the same.

The whelp didn't think that "worlds" and "stars" were real places, but she didn't know enough about anything to dispute that.

"We will need a long, flat rod, of strong metal, stone, or wood."

"Oh, I love looking for stones! I can carry anyone that wants to go look!" Glaive shuffled back until she was out of the alcove, plonking down in place and offering herself up as a bus.

Glaive is looking to help find a rod!
temporary exit?

A hunt, with Huntsmen and Hounds. Hargrave's ears pricked, not-too-distant memories flaring up. An idle curiosity shifted to the forefront of her mind, distracted from whatever the Kings sought to summon this Hunt. The objects required went into a box for later parsing, barely memorized as she mulled over it.

She found that she didn't have a preference for which of the items she went in search for, and would probably trail after whichever had the fewest participants; but before she did so, the dog turned to the Kings, asking quietly, "are these... Huntsmen like the Hands?"

Best not to interfere, if they were.

Forgraves stumbled into orion over a period of time, sniffing around, exploring the caves to their fullest!
he sniffed, and as he moved towards this particular area of the cave, he heard the speaking and commotion of other gembound, waddling over, curious.

as he padded over, trying to be sneaky and listen, he tripped, tumbling down directly into the crowd of gembound with a loud squeak, whimpering as he felt his cheek scrape across the floor again. "owie..."

Scout immediately looked to Glaive and bounded over, looking up at the dino, "Hi- I'm Scout. Um... don't carry me, but I want to come to look."

It seemed like the easiest way to complete at least one of the tasks given. Scout shook herself out and followed Glaive, deeming the other a good shield, should they find danger.

The springbok looked around to see if anyone else was joining, her eyes glittering with mischief. Oh... they'd find that stick.

Exit Scout?

"Many of you have home." That's for sure.

Crown was grateful that they began to speak and give himself something to focus on properly, rather than the idle chattering and murmuring of the other Gembound here. It was something about hunts, quarry, a dozen worlds? Dad'd said something about skies, before... infinite... nothing to bind anyone down but gravity - it was whimsical.

The lamb did not want to favor any one of the Kings - it felt unfair, since they were joined as one - but helping was the option he looked to most. Standing by idly and watching things happen was just as awful as partaking. You would be no better watching injustice than enacting it. Crown didn't believe himself to be holier than though, but he'd been raised to be a guardian - and guard, he would.

"We will need the hair or fur of a being pure of heart, spun into cloth."

Purity, to him, had been Dawa. A lamb, white as snow and taking any injury upon herself. But, she was gone now - forever (not that he knew her personally or that she was gone forever.) The Black Dog had said she was good, pure. How could they find someone to compare? "Um, do... you know who we might have to look for?"

Oh - wait - pale eyes fell onto the fox that'd tumbled in, hooves clattering over to nudge the poor thing and murmur, "are you okay?" Crown reached towards his magic again, managing to muster up a fat, ripe banana. Holding it down with one foot, the hybrid gnawed off part of the peel and offered it to Forgraves: "it won't help your hurting but... it tastes good? It makes you sparkly, too..."