[Explorer group thread! If you want to join the group this is the thread for you!]

This was a crazy idea, why was she doing this? This was even crazier than fighting Redfangs, than fighting Ursa, than fighting a Golden Charger. Just because she had done all those things didn't mean she was good enough to lead a group. Sure, she was already in The Seven, but leading and being a member of were very different things.

Comet took a deep breath. She wanted this, she really, really wanted this! A group of explorers to accompany her on her on all her crazy ideas. Surely she wasn't the only crazy animal in the caves? Carja accompanied her to fight Redfangs. That certainly meant something.

The pup jumped onto a tall rock, her muscles could be seen through her thick fur. She was halfway to adulthood now, so perhaps she was perfectly capable of starting a group. "Adventurers! Explorers! Gather here!" she exclaimed, her loud voice carrying the message through the forest.

Ever since fleeing from Vargas and the others, they'd hidden here in Eridanus, having run, flown, and then collapsed into a deep sleep for a day or so, absolutely exhausted. Hellfire was still mostly out, curled up with Luci around themselves, Koi taking the reins for now.

They were alone for the first time. Even when they hatched, Vargas had been there. Now... they were alone. All alone.

Koi made her way through the brush, carefully stepping through the roots and grasses, much more graceful than Hellfire was when he trudged them through here last.

A voice came from her left and she quickly turned, deer-like ears flicking up. What was that? Who was that? It was female, and softer than Garnet-Delta or Ruby-Beta.

"Hello?" she called out, earning herself twin grumbles from Hellfire and Luci, who didn't wake just yet.

Koi picked up a lope and carefully galloped into the clearing, wings tucked in. Hellfire and Luci woke up and growled at her before their eyes landed on the wolf, silencing them.

They were wary.

TEMA, the Voidkin
There can be love in Chaos; just follow the Void

Tema had done plenty of travelling from Cetus to Eridanus, mostly for breaks from the misty air in the cave Voidcrawlers called home. Besides, it gave Tema the excuse to hunt far out of Sunny's view, an opportunity Tema was grateful for. It didn't hurt that the greens here were tastier, either, and that Eridanus was close enough to Cetus that someone could fetch her with ease if she was needed.

On this particular occasion, Tema just needed to rest her lungs for a while until she got used to the mist that tickled her nose and throat, so she was just wandering when she heard a familiar voice. It hadn't been too long since she first met the sweet pup, but Tema was eager to see her again anyway, especially if it gave her an excuse to talk about the Voidcrawlers while catching up!

"Adventure?" She asked as she trotted over. Her trot was wobbly as she swayed when she stepped of course, but it was a trot nonetheless.

She tried not to stare at the other creature nearby, but surely the three-headed gembound would have noticed her eyes stick to them for a long moment before she turned back to Comet. It wasn't meant to be rude by any means, but Tema was a curious bear and she had never seen a creature with more than one head before, let alone three.

"Oh, hello!" She offered them as a small attempt to salvage their first impression of her.

OOC Notes:

Comet had not expected animals to actually hear her call. It would have been much, much easier if they didn't, so she could exit this whole idea. But there was no backing out now, someone had arrived. The softer steps told her ears that it was probably not a very large animal, but her hearing had deceived her. An entire Hydra stepped out of the trees, and she jumped in surprise.

"Hello!" greeted the pup, who was sort of desensitized to the fact that they were huge since she had a dragon, Carja, for a friend. "You're the first one here!" Comet looked around to see if any others had arrived before starting. Sure enough, Tema showed up. "Hello Tema!" she had met the bear before, and had found them to be quite nice.

"Okay we have two here now! I think I can start?" Comet felt her nerves start to kick in. She didn't really like to give speeches like this. Was it even a speech? "We should probably introduce ourselves first, I'm Comet!" Yep, manners were important even in this situation. Also because she was stalling a bit to see if any others showed up.

@Bloodstone
@Tema
((No posting order just post once a round))

The hydra flinched at the appearance of another Gembound, thankfully smaller than them. They were no Vargas, but they were still rather hefty, with thick-set shoulders and a deep chest, with wings that spanned far. Thickly armored with yellow eyes and fangs that poked out of their lips depending on their expression.

"Hellfire," the center head said, clearly the dominant head.

The grey one spoke up next, "I'm Lucifer."

Koi lifted her head and looked at Comet with an interested expression, her eyes alight, "I'm Koi! We all respond to Bloodstone if you have need of us, though. We um... need a different name than that."

Bad memories.

The smell of death still stunk up their nostrils, the black ooze and the gruesome death of the vulgar beast still replayed itself in their mind like a movie. It was horrible...

"It's nice to meet you both," she said softly, "Um- apologies if we're ah... reluctant. We just ran from Vargas and his Gembound followers. Something terrible happened..."

She shook her head and nudged Hellfire when he shuddered, before looking forward again, "What is this gathering for?"

TEMA, the Voidkin
There can be love in Chaos; just follow the Void

Tema nodded as each of the hydra's heads spoke, only slightly put off by the fact that the creature was a fair bit larger than her. Just as she hadn't met a gembound with three heads before, she hadn't met a gembound that was larger than her either. Regardless, she tried to focus enough to memorize their names.

Oh! It was her turn!

"I'm Tema, it's nice to meet you three. And good to see you again Comet!" Her voice was wobbly, the bear absolutely baffled by the idea of three separate entities living as one, her head spinning from all the questions she had. What happened when they fought?!?!

She shook her head rather violently to clear it, apologizing for her strange behaviour. There were just so many interesting creatures in these caves! But... Vargas? The name felt important, setting itself deep into her memory rather quickly. She looked at the three- Bloodstone all together she supposed, confusion visible on her face as they moved on from the topic.

Oh yes, what was the meeting about?

OOC Notes:

She was, perhaps, half-grown now: a young teen faun, gangly and impish-eyed. Black hair hung lanky around violet shoulders, and she periodically tugged the loose tunic back up across them as its frayed edges threatened to just fall off.

Hooved feet carried her closer, tail twitching, a quizzical smile on her face.

"Comet? That you?" Oh--and damn, the wolf was not alone. A whole group of Gembound were clustered in the clearing, and Thalia perked a brow to pick her way through foliage.

Arms folded over her chest. She wasn't an adventurer, an explorer--but she certainly lived here. And she'd found a bit of a love in singing, in storytelling. "Adventurers, huh? Not much has changed. She grinned up at Comet. "You guys need a singer to follow you around? A storyteller to memorize all your, uh, grand adventures and tell everyone all about them?" It was an offer playfully-made, but the more Thalia thought about it, the cooler it sounded.

It wasn't like she was doing anything else right now, anyway; and she felt like she was just the right age to start really exploring the caves.

"Nice to meet you Bloodstone." Comet nodded at each of the three heads, "It's good to see you again Tema!" She wondered if the bear was better at catching lessers now, and was about to ask, but decided against it when she saw that Tema was looking nervously at the hydra. Better speed this up. The pup opened her mouth the continue when she saw a fawn emerge into the clearing. "Thalia! Haven't seen you in a while." And she would be perfect for this group too, Comet remembered that when she had first met her, they had done some exploring.

"Okay everyone! So my idea is that we can be a group of adventurers! And fight monsters and explore places that haven't been explored before!" she announced her idea, "And Thalia can be the storyteller to tell everyone about our adventures!" Comet nodded at the fawn.

"What do you think? I actually may already have one planned..."

@Blackwing
@Tema
@Thalia

Thalia smiled as she listened, arms crossing; she leaned against the nearest tree. And there, she observed.

'Fight monsters' seemed, to her, a very generic idea--as naive and as adorable as it had been when they'd been a single cycle old. After all, look at her; Comet had befriended the monsters--and at this thought, Thalia's smile lingered on the one that called itself 'Bloodstone.'

"Maybe something like Pearl-scale or Nightwing or something? -Your colors are quite nice," she offered up. If Comet was still as she remembered, it would be a lot of that--dreams of adventure, with the end result of friends.

And that was okay, too; either one would make for pretty good songs. "I'm Thalia; good to meet you both too," she added, with a nod to Tema.

"Nightwing?"
"Pearlscale?"

Koi and Luci stared at each other, eyes narrowed.

"We'll think about it!", Hellfire piped up before the two started to fight, "Thank you."

He offered Thalia a smile, and Koi stuck her head out to offer her nose, either to touch or just to sniff the other. Their eyesight, as good as it was, wasn't as good as their nose. Bloodhound could be a good name too.

"Fighting monsters?", Luci said, frowning, "I mean... sure, someone has to fight them off, but why go looking?"

"WELL I THINK IT SOUNDS FUN!", Hellfire said loudly, puffing out his chest, ignoring Luci as they glared at him, "Exploring and stuff especially!"

Koi turned her attention away from Thalia and nodded in agreement, shuffling their paws gently.