Garnet-Epsilon

Epsilon had been haunting the edges of the festival for a good while- and yes, although tempted to set up a booth and play along with James and his family, they'd not really had the... erm. Nerve. To do so.

So they're here instead, sneaking around and hoping against hope that they won't meet anyone from the Forge, or worse- the Bloodstone.

...

What the heck is an orange? They tilt their whole body in confusion, and then make their way up to the booth to investigate the odd fruits, listening to Meissa before hopping up on top of one of the ones about their size, and nearly rolling away with it.

Some flapping of wings later, they stabilize their perch, and Epsilon looks at their pair behind the booth.

"Pardon, but how did you grow these? They look too big to be on a tree, but... I don't know how else a fruit grows."

Blackwing trudged through the patch with a pumpkin in Luci's jaws. They looked tired, grumpy (except Koi), and a bit skinnier than usual, but that's what you got when you raised a soldier to kill rabbits and not anything truly sustainable. They'd learned the hard way that many kinds of deer tended to fight back when kicked, judging by some missing scales and cuts.

The hydra peered around, narrowing their eyes at the Chaos Forge members-

Was that Epsilon?

They froze, staring at them, and meekly approached, bigger than they were before by far. They weren't a child anymore, but a fully grown dragon. Big and thick, perhaps not in length but their chest was so heavy that their wings practically dwarfed the rest of them, probably to get their front half off the ground. Any bigger and flight would be impossible.

"Garnet-Epsilon?", Hellfire asked, eyes big, "... You're okay."

@Garnet-Epsilon

Mayfal felt a little embarrassed, being "caught" by Comet. They didn't really want to trouble her or get in her way. But at this was probably better than some other creature finding out about their blindness.

They listened to the thud of the orange on the ground and followed that. They put their paw where they expected it to be. To Mayfal's surprise, there was actually something there!

"They don't smell like anything." Mayfal explained to Comet. "Honestly, it's like they're invisible unless I can touch them." Mayfal thought for a moment. Or, taste them. But how to get in there?

Mayfal didn't really think of just biting into the skin of the orange. They didn't really think any of it through. They just sorta felt the heat going to their paw and into the plant. It took a minute, but Mayfal finally started to smell something. It was a pleasant smell! Then they started to feel something mushy and tore their paw away. The plant was...ready?

Mayfal sniffed at it a little, and it seemed okay. Just a little hot. They licked it a little bit. Then some more. Then they bit a chunk. They couldn't describe the flavor. They just knew that it was

"Good!"

@Comet

Thalia took the pumpkin with wide eyes.

"Oh--thank you," she offered, and tried to... bow? She'd seen family do so as a sign of respect, as awkward as it came off on a faun. A smile was granted Meissa's way, but a moment later Thalia's attention was drawn off by... others.

By Emrys, most of all. By Labradorite--by V-Chaos-Two. Glowing eyes--toxic, crimson--some with dripping black...

She gathered her courage, and went to the most fascinating-looking of them, Emrys. "Excuse me--what are you?" she asked politely, pumpkin cradled in her arms.

@Emrys (for visibility--if Emrys is already gone it's fine though!!)

Avi merrily wiped away the juice from her orange, two out-of-four neon eyes watching Ozzie. "Ooh, that's a good one!" they chirped, and with a turn to the other vulture: "Nah, Lemon. If you were a pumpkin you'd be way lumpier." Even more creatures were arriving-- big ones, small ones, ones that slunk like living darkness. It was surprising. But exciting! The hybrid loved meeting people!

They were just about to wink and go meet one of them when a dark, terrifying dragon landed before Lemonface. Speaking about how he "kidnapped her" and roaring with all her might. They jolted back, dark wings slightly unfolding and scythes pedaling backwards at the surprise. Man, that was one big gembound! The yellow vulture didn't seem to be taking the accusations well, but, past the minor spook, Avi just stared blankly ahead like if nothing was wrong. They were confused more than anything.

"Whaaaaaat?" the gryphon's bioluminescent head cocked to the side. "Sorry, but you're confused. He's not a napping kid! He's Lemonface!" When Avi's friend pointed they, quite hilariously, fell for it, head snapping around to try and find the disturbance. They were just about to ask what it was when-- oh look, Lemon was calling her name! Were they playing tag? They liked tag!

"Eeeee, tag!" Avi's beak clicked together in excitement. "You're it, right?" they asked the dragon, followed immediately by "Aaah, you're probably it!" Their glowing wings snapped out as they launched onto the air, limbs pedaling a bit from the hasty start. "Come on guys, lets go!" They tried to conjure some magic behind them, a bit of wind to help Ozzie and Lemonface along, but the familiar tingle of magic never came. Oh, well.

Sorta-attempted exit, maybe into another thread, unless stopped? Idk
@Lemonface @Ozzie

Garnet-Epsilon

While they awaited an answer, a familiar shadow dwarfs them - causing them to whip around on their perch, nails and talons helpfully shredding a small circle around the top of the orange, and all of their fluffy bits standing on end- feathers, mane, and then their wings even opening almost fully as they almost take to the air, whole boy would tight and heart pounding as they look up and up at the now massive dragon who seemed...

Happy to see them? Relieved?

What...?

The confusion is enough to help them get a grip, and they slowly but surely manage to calm themselves down - the kid doesn't seem angry, or even betrayed, or sad... okay but they do have scars, which makes Epsilon frown in concern, before they look up at Bloodstone.

A few seconds of shocked silence, and then - "Cirrus. I... go by Cirrus."

@Blackwing

Hellfire blinked and Koi shot forward instead, as happy as ever, "Cirrus!! Because you're fluffy, like a cloud! We have a name too!"

She spread their wings and all three heads grinned.

"Blackwing," she said.

"Cool, innit?", Hellfire asked with a toothy grin, his wreath of horns having grown in.

Blackwing stepped forward and lowered their heads, Luci dropping the pumpkin in favor of trying to nuzzle Cirrus first. The heads squabbled and nipped at each other, and finally Hellfire shoved forward and set his head before the other, butt wiggling happily.

"We can fly now!", he said happily, "And we can sort of hunt. Sort of."

@Garnet-Epsilon

Meissa was ecstatic, practically vibrating out of her skin. The Gembound were slipping into a nice rhythm of just coming in and taking pumpkins for themselves or their friends, and going off to make their own little circles to carve or smash them in. She tried her very best to be a good, reliable merchant (was it really being a merchant when she was just giving all her wares away?) but it was just too tempting to bounce between the groups. Her mouth was split in a wide, doggish grin, her eyes in a squint from being squished upwards. Full-on Duchenne, this smile was.

There was one group of kids that'd come in, all vulture-looking and thick as thieves; then, another duo to match the two white canines, but oddly alien-looking (Lyn cracked an eye open to watch them warily.) The fox-dragon shook her head eagerly towards Aran ("not at all!") when he asked after taking one. She then peered at the mosaic-covered Garnet-Epsilon, ears pricking up, "with magic... ! Lots of vines, too." Her broom of a tail lashed across the floor. "They're too heavy for trees, yeah! So they grow on the ground."

Her wings flared uncertainly as the one dragon came in and stared roaring about something; they'd been sufficiently distracted by the one they were threatening, but... that was mean.

She wasn't spooked, though! They were all out of pumpkins, but Meissa picked her way over to Carja nonetheless and wagged her tail, asking, "what're you gonna do with your pumpkin? Carve it? I've seen a lot of really cool ones so far..." She glanced down. "Your claws look really sharp!"

After claiming their pumpkins, Avi, V-Chaos-Two, Aran, Mayfal, Ozzie, Carja, V-Labradorite-One, Garnet-Epsilon, Blackwing, and Thalia have all received Jack-o-Spawn!

Meissa is all out of pumpkins. She and Lyn are very grateful to everyone that stopped by, and will hang around for any further interactions. Please Request GM for them! ♥️

@Avi @V-Chaos-Two (Carja, Lemonface, Blackwing) @Aran @Mayfal @Ozzie @Comet @Tema @V-Labradorite-One @Garnet-Epsilon @Thalia

Garnet-Epsilon

Epsilon is... interested in what kinds of vines grow fruit like this, on the ground... "That's... weird. Neat, but weird. Thank you for telling me," they nod at Meissa, before watching her flinch at the loud nearby dragon and then she... bounces off, anyway, and the small hybrid shakes their head in awe of how quickly she recovered.


But.. back to the dragon at paw-

We have a name too!
Part of Epsilon almost shrivels up, knowing that the name they have isn't one to keep. Like the names of everyone else.

But... Ep-Cirrus can't help going a bit more relaxed in relief as the three-headed beast before them scrambles to get close enough to feel their breath on each others scales, finally setting a paw on Hellfire's snout in fond greeting. "Very.. cool. Did you find it yourselves? I do hope you've found some others, especially since you got hurt..." the tiny hybrid droops, and they nearly slide off the pumpkin, before actually remembering the fruit underpaw. "I'm happy you learned what I never got to teach you."

A small hindfooted thump against the gourd, and then they look up at the other two heads of the hydra. "Now, since we... uh. Got that out of the way, why don't we see what the insides of these look like?"

@Blackwing

Hellfire lifted his head and shook his head, "A friend did."

They all watched Cirrus act... weird. They weren't as happy to see them as they'd thought. Even Luci was frowning more than usual.

"Is something wrong?", Hellfire asked, saying what the others didn't want to.

"Did we do something?", Koi asked, sweet sweet Koi.

Luci said nothing, and just looked away.

They'd pushed it off so easily... why?

@Garnet-Epsilon