Sora had just arrived back in Canis, armed with her diamond-cast basket, several truffles for her siblings (including the massive white one, which she had resisted the urge to eat totally by herself), and the gray stone Pride had made for her (plus all the information she had tugging at her brain). Not to mention, stinking to high heaven. "HEY FAMILY!" she called, letting her voice echo as she settled down in the clear floors to wait for them to gather. Not that she would be that hard to locate.

Once everyone who was going to come find her had come and found her, she cleared her throat and started talking. "First of all? I found these and I don't know what they are but they're awesome," she said, spilling her basket to reveal four or five small, black truffles of various sizes and the two-pound white one. "I ate a bunch in Eridanus -- they're everywhere! -- but I brought some back for everyone," she grunted, totally unaware that most of her family would probably either find the smell alone repulsive or, in the case of siblings with poor senses of smell, just not be interested.

More for her, probably.

"Okay, two! Lots of things to talk about here, so try not to zone out, yeah? Two, Morg and I discussed this earlier, but we're fixing to be ready to move on. I say that because I found the trees-cave, Eridanus -- clearly. Only problem is, there's a lot of Gembound there. Pretty noisy; I don't like noise very much, and it's a pretty small cave, but I'm sure the two groups can integrate or something. ... Plenty of trees, though," she said, and took an intentional moment of silence for the fallen.

"... Then, on my way back, I met a deer called Pride. He runs a group called the Seven -- two of their members, the black cat and the wolf who helped Ifrit, died in the trial. Their names were Nassir and Fireheart, and Pride offered us refuge. I told him it was probably a no, but that it wasn't my decision. He also offered to teach us everything the average Gembound of five cycles would know, if we wanted to learn it. Caves, predators, prey, key figures -- the like. He also volunteered to help me go back into Hydra to find our siblings's stones."

Sora looked around to assess everyone's reactions -- she'd said a lot. "Pride and me? We're definitely going to do it. But does anyone else want to come with us?" Then, very intentionally, she kept going -- "You need to be able to handle yourself. I don't want one of us getting hurt in there, okay? I asked Pride to gather some folks, too; Pumpkin, maybe you can ask the Bonebound if anyone is willing to help."

Then, her last order of business -- "And finally, Pumpkin, can I have a gray feather? Just one of the ones you've shed recently. I've got an idea and I need one for it."

With that, she finally stopped talking and opened the floor up for everyone else to have their say in matters -- and share in the truffles. None of these were decisions that she wanted to be making by herself.


@morganite @pumpkin @anemoi @ifrit @charles

Morgan made her way over immediately, snuffling at the truffles. Being part badger, her sense of smell was great, and her tastes in food more so. She grabbed one of the truffles in her paws (not the white one, she had an idea that her sibling wanted that) and munched on it rather happily.

"Thank you," she said, during one of Sora's pauses in speech.

When Sora mentioned Eridanus, she sighed, "If we could find somewhere to be alone, it would be better, but I seriously doubt we will. I suspect, however, that if we stick nearer to the edges of Eridanus and either under or in the trees, we will be alright. Though... Ifrit. Hard to hide and hard to find shelter for. It will be a challenge, but we'll figure something out."

Oh, Pride sounded nice, especially being associated with Nassir and Fireheart, who seemed alright. Her thoughts ground to a halt as she slowly looked back at Sora. She wanted to WHAT??

"I... think that Pride has something ah... good to offer," she said slowly, "Learning what we can is essential, and perhaps... he can teach us about magic? I know the lot of you either don't have much expertise or can fight physically pretty good, but having diverse skills could help us."

She didn't approve Sora marching into Hydra, but she wanted her family back. Simon, Kini, Oren- she shook her head before she dissolved into sorrow again.

"I... I'll come," she said, steeling her nerves.

Well... who expected that to happen?

he had been quiet for the past few days. he'd been lying around with the group as he contemplated things sloshing around in his head. it barely registered as sora asked him for a feather.

he sighed, nodding with a forced smile, searching around his perch, picking one up and dropping it in front of her.

[sorry for short]

Anemoi

She had been... sleepy, since they'd re-emerged. Anemoi hadn't even gone to the meeting with the others, having eaten something funky and having decided to sleep it off.

Her usually bubbly personality came through the lethargy that came with peace as something akin to being drunk, from time to time, but she mostly sat by with a satisfied smile when she could see her family.

Nightmares aside, she was in a good mood, and had finally made herself get up to join the meeting, sniffing at the truffles and deciding she didn't want one, what with her learning the hard way that not everything was edible...

But, "Going back into Hydra? I understand missing our family, but why risk the rest of us? Why even trust Pride?" Lots of questions for lots of information, along with an image of Nassir and Fireheart flashing in her mind. "I'll come with into Hydra, but I want something made clear. What will we do when another one of us dies in there?" Anemoi is about to cry, ears drooping sideways as her memories reassure her that they all won't come back.

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

Suicidal Ideation

Since the trial had ended, and the days had begun to pass, Charles found that it was getting easier to live. At first, it had seemed impossible that Charles would ever be himself again, that he would ever recover, even a little bit, from the horrible trauma that all of them had experienced. He had wondered if he would ever get that drive to live anymore. Knowing that his siblings had died, protecting them, protecting him when he was the one that should have been doing it for them, made him wonder if he even deserved to live anymore. He wondered if he had the right to be happy when they had never seen beyond their cave, beyond the darkness. And that they had known nothing but pain and fear at the end.

He'd thought about just...letting go. Suffering no longer, joining his siblings in their dark, sandy graves. Because he didn't deserve to continue. Not while they couldn't.

But then that would make their sacrifices meaningless. Then he could do nothing for the others, couldn't protect them or help them and succeed where he'd failed before. He would only be causing them more pain...and he couldn't do that. No. Never.

So as the time passed by, he wanted to make things right again. He wanted to fit himself back into their dynamic the way he'd been before. It wasn't the same, not with the absence of so many of them, but he could try. And it was working, because now that he was trying to look forward and up instead of backwards and down, he found that there was so much that he would be missing if he were gone. There were so many caves, so many creatures and plants and so many wonders to see that he wondered if he would ever see them in one lifetime.

The chattiness had started slow, pointing out something quite extraordinary every so often with a simple, unenthusiastic chirp, but now it had become a little more like the old Charles. Subdued, perhaps, and infrequent, but his spirit was slowly healing.

So when Sora returned with a collection of truffles, he couldn't stop himself from leaning forward with interest. "Oh?" he chirped softly, hopping forward and poking at one of them, rolling it towards himself. It smelled...interesting, but interesting, in his book, was good! It was a new thing! Something he'd never tried before. "Fascinating! What a smell, I've never smelled it before! It looks like dirt, but I'm intrigued! What wondrous things you can find in a forest, I'm sure!" Carefully, he pecked at the surface of the truffle, nipping off a bit and swallowing it down.

He immediately recoiled, eyes narrowing with disgust and an involuntary shudder rolling through his body. Wow, that tasted disgusting. Like dirt, but also like rot, and something else that was so strong it blocked out his other senses. He swallowed thickly and clacked his beak. "Ah," he said with a strainged voice. "But it is not quite for me. You may have mine, if you like." He rolled the truffle back towards Sora.

At the mention of Hydra, Charles eyes, which had been bright a moment ago, suddenly dulled. He seemed to deflate a little bit, shuffling his feet and taking a small breath. "I don't want to go back into that cave," he admitted, "but I would not want any of you going back in by yourselves. I have been...trying to learn magic, so that I can do something this time, if any of us are in danger. And I want them back. Even if it's just their stones."

He glanced over to Anemoi and clacked his beak again, a little more sharply. "If, Anemoi. Not when. The Merchent took the darkness back. It's not there anymore - you saw the cave after we woke up. It's bright and hot and back to normal. And besides, Pride is coming with us. I don't know much about him, but he sounds like he would be strong." It left a sour taste in his mouth to have to rely on someone again to protect them, but the facts were that they were weak. They were young and they'd never been trained in magic or combat or anything for that matter. If they wanted their siblings back, they'd have to accept help again.

@Sora @Anemoi for visibility

Sora nodded firmly. "Yeah, Pride's good with magic. I'm sure he'd be willing to help." Volunteers started to come -- all except Pumpkin (and Ifrit, who was probably elsewhere or otherwise busy) and she frowned. "I'm saying this to y'all because I love you, but I think all of you need a little more practice before we can go in. Anemoi, Charles -- I know you're both good with magic, but I'd like for you two to have a better understanding of it before you go inside." Then, she looked to Morganite.

A pause, and a sigh. "I'd like for you to have more practice first, too. I don't want... I don't want anyone who hasn't committed to a skillset going in, 'cause you need to have some specialization if we're going to brave Hydra. That way," she said, looking at Anemoi, "none of us die." She drew in a sharp breath. "Our family deserves the chance to live again, and Pride's does, too. We deserve the chance to be whole again. I asked Pride to see if he had anyone who'd go in with him, too. If anyone's made friends out in the world, ask them, too. But I want to do some kind of sparring practice before we go in, to make sure everyone can handle this, okay?"

She wasn't going to leave anyone behind, and needed to make sure everyone could pull their own weight. Then, after letting that sink in -- "Thanks, Pumpkin." She tucked the feather into her basket and started to snap up the unclaimed truffles, leaving the white one a moment longer. She wanted to make sure nobody else wanted them.

@pumpkin

---

note: Sora isn't going to take anyone at Fledgeling level in without convincing; @anemoi and @charles look like they just need successes to hit Pupil, which Sora is happy to provide in her sparring thread, but @morganite might have a few more hoops to jump through (or just try to persuade/force/guilt trip her, which also works).

Morganite frowned.

"... I recall me being the one who beat you," she said, ears pinning.

Though Sora hadn't meant it, that hurt. Bitterness welled up and she felt a growl rise in her throat, hackles raising. She turned away and stormed off a few paces, flopping down to eat her truffle. She didn't want to fight anyone. Not Sora, not a damn soul, but how else was she to practice?

The badger hybrid tucked her paws under herself and glared at her black fur. She used to be... pretty. Grey and light pink, with soft features. Soft ears. Now she was ugly and pointy and not pleasantly round, perfect for napping on.

None of us die.

Morgan didn't say anything to that.