Nemo

His feathers ruffle slightly at the bitterness in Giggle's voice, and the eerie scraping of the skete-specters voice on his... ears? Is he hearing this properly? In any case, it's hurting his brain the more he thinks, and the lammergeier scoots closer to Giggle out of a blend of nerves and determination to protect her. Quite the odd emotional cocktail but here he is.

The gesture to the stone in the pool draws his attention, wondering if it's a chrysalis or the stone remains of someone's life. Either case, part of him feels for this guardian. After all, the bird had taken up his own sentinel post at the mouth of Ursa a few months ago. He'd given himself a name, and sure it means 'nothing' but it's a name damnit.

More than the pity he feels, he can feel some level of appreciation skate across his mind for the other offering to explain things to the group of them before actually expecting their help... so he looks to Giggle.

"I... want to help them, Giggle. They're offering an explanation at the very least, we should hear them out." Unspoken is the implication that the bird will do whatever Giggle chooses- he waits with her and for her as Kaimana leaves, as a random hybrid appears and tears off the tunnel after the leopard... much to his bewildered amusement.

Giggle glanced to Nemo, and perhaps ironically, she in turn felt protective of him. It probably didn't help that he resembled her now-dead best friend, or her actual son; worse still, he was comparatively small. It frightened her that they might simply die in here or--worse still--might be stuck in here forever. "Stick close," she told him gruffly, her rough voice shunted down to a near-whisper. She didn't trust this thing, this entire situation, and her suspicious glare at the skeleton's back said this clearly enough. She was glancing around at the others, trying to get some idea of who they might be, when-

...Mother-sister? came the tentative pull at the back of Giggle's mind. Giggle faltered mid-step. Her dark eyes widened. Omen! she cried--mentally, of course. Stay high! Are you still outside the dream-? Can you see what's happening? Keep me updated on our bodies! The thoughts came with a rush of relief: Omen had always been her eyes, and even when she'd been lost in the Void, Omen had been her go-between with the real world. If she could keep watch over them, inform them of any danger... well, there wasn't much they could do about it but it'd put her mind at ease to know they were safe.

Half a second later, she felt a thrill of excitement--I found you! quickly followed by panic.

The ghostly image of a black Hallowed Caller--crowlike but with her single red eye--tumbled into the dreamscape, flapping frantically by Giggle's side. She stared down at Omen, relief washing away to be replaced by intense consternation. Hyena paws settled by the flailing bird's sides. "...I told you to stay high," she said, with a sigh, and then nudged Omen upright. Her familiar squawked and flew upward, settling on Giggle's back, and she shook her head and glanced to the rest before following after Nemo.

"...Let's see what it has to show us, then," she grumbled.

DUST OF DREAMS

The Cave Stories - Canis

The tunnel of bones... changed, as they entered it. Rather than something solid and ancient, covered in dust and bleached by light and time, it began to swirl and shift with pink-streaked black. Sparks of color danced past them and drifted away, and ahead, a bright light beckoned them onward.

There was... music, ahead. Someone singing, softly. Their voice was sweet. The scents of food--mingled savory and sugary--reached the Gembounds' nostrils, and though this was a dream, the odors were mouthwatering. There was a quiet hush of voices, like a small throng of creatures gathering but trying to keep quiet; they sounded happy, content, despite their quiet.

Colors coalesced, and a scene took form before them: a dozen or more unfamiliar faces, though their bodies bore much of that old familiar look, with purple hues and wicked spines. But these creatures did not seem particularly Chaotic: they lounged, chatting and eating together, and a few children ran around at their paws.

A few seemed to turn, looking directly at the dream-state Gembound, but none addressed them directly: instead they went back to their conversations, their gently warm expressions somehow knowing and wise.

Then a shape stepped out from around a corner, making its way across the floor and through the gathering, stepping over a child with a laugh or gently moving another aside. This creature was perhaps less foreign: a large white tiger striped with inky black. His eyes glowed a soft lavender, and a similarly-colored gemstone, a perfect little orb, was nestled in his forehead. "Everything looks clear," he rumbled, and the sheer depth of his voice resonated through their chests. The tiger paced to the stone slabs upon which the food was all laid out. He laughed quietly. "This is some meal, Vesperus. What happened-? Did the guards get lax?" He turned toward a slender black, six-legged creature covered in fur, and his expression was warm, gentle, and downright kingly.

---

Characters may attempt to use magic to discern more about the scene, or to do anything else they wish, or may simply converse and watch events unfold.

@Giggle @Nemo @Kaimana (Ampelio)

Nemo

A nod at her bid for him to stick close, and he does so.

Nemo remembers her mentioning her dislike of shadows, of darkness, and has a stray though that her discomfort with everything may tie into that event, whatever it was.
The lammergeier watches Giggle, and the changes in her demeanor that precede Omen's entrance into the dream gets a small snort of amusement- before he covers it with a cough.

With one wing, he uses the thumb on his wrist joint to draw the sting of his glowing bauble over his head and offer it to the hyenah matron before they head after the others. "Would... this help?" he asks quietly as they move, keeping an eye on the tunnel and taking note of it's shifting and colors, the dirorienting, dream like shift of reality. Wait.

This isn't reality what am I thinking. he shakes his head minutely at himself, and thats when the smells hit him. It makes him stumble, but he uses his long legs and blunted talons to do his best to keep up with Giggle, and openly gawps at the room.

Had he any knowledge of movies from Earth, he'd of had a fleeting thought of this being some sort of crime syndicate, what with seemingly secret meetings and stolen food... But thankfully it's dismissed as quickly as it crops up, the images of children running around drawing a soft croon form the 'geier.

No knowing glances draw his eye, just the coloration and build of the beings- a memory of his first meeting of Vargas in his mind making him way, unsure- but then the tiger... the lavender stone adorned tiger.

The kingly creature makes him wonder if he's ever seen them before- something itches at the back of his mind. He knows big cats, but... he sets that aside.

Reluctant to interrupt, he instead looks to the children... still smiling fondly before back at the table laden with food.

"So much... a celebration?" he asks, meaning to be under his breath but not quite, give his loud nature. "And what guards, with so much food, why guard it?"

It was disorienting, all of this. Strangers up ahead, the scent of food--strangers behind, too.

Giggle started to wonder what was real, and what was dream; to that end she turned, regarding Ampelio and Kaimana with a little more scrutiny. "Are you two real?" she barked, more worried than demanding, yet that wariness bled through and became sternness out of pure fear.

Her heart was thudding in her chest.

She tried to calm it, and looked back at the scene before her, wondering what it was they were meant to take in--past the streaming colors, past the tantalizing scents.

Was it a puzzle? Were there hints? She glanced at Nemo, and gave a gentle shake of her head. "Got my own, but thanks," she answered, with a tilt of her head to show the baubled stone dangling at her neck. It wasn't dark, in any case--not yet--but now that he'd offered, she was worried it might become so.

Ahh, hell.

"It does look like a celebration. More... relaxed than energetic, though," she observed, and then stepped forward, picking her way among them. She wanted to see if they'd react to her, yet bar what looked like a few glances, they seemed to ignore her, and Nemo, too. "...Do you think they're... echoes?" she asked, confused. "Or is this someone's dream?"

DUST OF DREAMS

The Cave Stories - Canis

The dark-bodied beast with too many legs turned, blinking happily up at the praise. "No! It was just... left out! I think they forgot it!" he squeaked.

Heads turned.

The great tiger froze mid-step, and slowly placed a paw down. "What did you say" he asked, slowly, and Vesperus seemed to realize something was wrong. It cringed away, uncertain.

"They just... left it out?"

"STOP EATING!" the tiger bellowed. Alarm--no, fear--filled his voice. "Stop! Everybody stop!" The children squalled in fear and scattered to the corners.

"...We would have smelled poison," one of the smaller creatures offered, uncertain.

"But..." the tiger protested, and stared in suspicion at the feast. "They would not leave their food out. Not after our scavenging. It must be a trap. It is a trap. But if it is not poisoned, then that means..."

He looked up, staring at--through--the Gembound present in this dream... along the bone tunnel through which they had come.

The sound of heavy footfalls was approaching.

"Run," murmured the tiger. "RUN!" The rest began to flee, scrambling further down the tunnels.

But the tiger did not flee: he stepped forward, guarding their escape.

It was not clear if the Gembound would be safe, or not, from whatever it was that was coming in this vision.

---

Characters may roll to prepare for attack, or perhaps flee, or make any other rolls they choose.

@Giggle @Nemo @Kaimana (Ampelio)

Giggle froze at the tiger's sudden alarm--and as he spun toward the exit, as the footfalls sounded, her slow dread turned to near-terror. It wasn't complete panic--she didn't lose her cool, exactly--but she felt the hackles along her back stand tall, felt her dark eyes spring wide and her heart begin to jump in her chest.

"Oh, shit," she breathed, and scrambled backwards, facing the approaching footfalls. She glanced only briefly at the others--wondering if they'd stand their ground or flee--and then hastened further back, ignoring the screeching of her alarmed familiar.

Dark fungus sprouted up along her sides, slick and smooth and gooey--an instinct, a "just in case," a hope that if something barreled in through that tunnel and snagged her they'd grab nothing but the black goop that'd fall away in their claws or maw.

Other than that, all she could do was wait.

They had made their way through the the terrifying tunnel, into the room of bones that was somehow substantially better. Except the bones proved to be a tripping hazard, and they often slid and skittered and clattered as they made their way through this new, interesting place. They found themselves naturally drawn towards the center of the room- due to a literal or metaphorical gravity.

The small chamber they eventually arrived at- the small pool, tranquil foliage, and mysterious skeleton- absolutely ENRAPTURED them both. They stepped forward to investigate...

And then immediately conked out as a double-dose of spores from hit their shared body.

And what they woke up into wasn't beautiful or interesting at all. It was a nightmare.

The thundering of distant-but-approaching footsteps. The order to run. The many, many strangers.

They both bleated in fear, legs scrambling into a run to get away from WHATEVER may be approaching. But.. they still hadn't gotten the hang of movement. A couple steps and they were sprawled on the floor, eyes wide, curling in on themselves as they gave up on the idea of running entirely. Maybe they would just be mistaken for some weird bones?

Nemo


Part of him coils at his question being answered- sort of, and still unsure if he was addressed or the tiger was asking the collector of the feast. Feast being a trap- a cruel trap, but one as a hunter he knew of from his non- flying days.

He'd leave food for Lessers out, so the idea that whomever these other Gembound are hiding from leaving a bait like that makes bile and... oddly enough, rage raise in his chest at the very idea. These people were a family, whomever hunting them can't be anyone he'd like to associate with.

Everyone fleeing in the mirage, a sudden addition of the two headed calf and Giggle standing her ground to a degree makes his decision more than simple. Opening his wings, he pivots in place to face the opening, and pulls on his magic in preparation...

I might not be able to do anything in this dream... but I refuse to sit and watch a nightmare.

DUST OF DREAMS

The Cave Stories - Canis

It was strange, the way the white tiger paused... and seemed to look straight, for the briefest moment, at Nemo. There was a flicker of confusion in his face, but perhaps he wasn't about to doubt this new ally... or maybe it was something more.

"He still relives it. We do not dream in our stones... but he does."

"His failure. His guilt."

The voice that had come from the skeletal form now echoed through the visions. Were they in a dream-?

"Waken him. Change his fate. Please..."

It was pleading. Begging.

The footsteps hammered in, and a massive beast--all slavering black jaws and hooked talons--tried to shove through the narrow tunnel, right on Infinity's heels.

It slammed into Nemo's barrier--and the tiger whipped back again, staring with puzzlement at Nemo. "Who are you?" he asked, and then looked to the rest of them, even as the monsters clawed at the 'gates.' "...Who are all of you?"

Screams, then--screams from those fleeing further down, and suddenly they were all tumbling back into the little hollow, eyes wide with terror. In the darkness beyond, another beast too big to quite fit had slammed clawed forelimbs into one of them, and the sound of cracking bones could be heard. Six chartreuse eyes peered in from some twelve feet up, and a brief flash of violet hide was visible in the dim light. There was no escape, in that direction.

But--forward?

The Valkhound shoving for Nemo was immense; its shoulders were grinding through the tunnel, bones clattering away, dust cascading off its sides. A massive, green-lit maw opened, its jaw splitting in two directions, yawning as if to swallow Nemo whole.

---

The mysterious voice has asked characters to change the white tiger's fate. Characters may roll in any way they wish to attempt to accomplish this.

@Nemo @Infinity @Giggle @Ampelio (Kaimana)