The black King of his own clan returned from another brief trip to Canis. He carried with him a bone, still dripping with the remains of a meal. It was scraps, shared with a certain large bird, but Cure and Remedy were sure to enjoy it none-the-less. As he looped around the Tower towards the Throne and the hidden red crystal den, he noted that the room seemed... too quiet. Lately the twins had been nothing but rambunctious, busy with being kids, constantly squealing or squawking their newfound words and practicing fighting with premature growls and roars. Now, only the soft hush of a gentle breeze fluttered past his whiskers. His chest felt tight with anxiety.

"Amaria? Girls?" He called out, voice tense. He hurried to the den, but as he passed the Forums, the mixture of scents left there only confirmed his fears. Cure, a stranger- like prey but bigger- and fear scent. So much fear. His blood ran cold.

"Cure?" He called again, that cat-like bellow echoing through the cave without answer. He swallowed his panic and raced towards the den, the meaty bone dropped and forgotten as he ran.

He slid to a stop and called out again, roaring now.

"KARKATAS! CURE! REMEDY! AMARIA!" He whirled around, the empty den sending visions of gore and dragons through his head. "WHERE ARE YOU!?"

---

ooc notes: Please wait until I've posted with Remedy before bringing in Amaria. Private for the family and Azazel if Banshee would like. Takes place only an hour or so after Vazi leaves with Cure.

@Amaria @Azazel

Remedy had been hiding throughout the entire ordeal. She'd seen Cure wander off, had heard her scream, had come running to help but stopped when she'd seen what her sister was being harassed by- a giant deer. Not like the little ones Pa brought them. This one was huge, and covered in scars. She had cowered, hidden amongst the rocks, when the giant creature had taken her sister away. She had watched him leave through one of Pa's hunting tunnels, and only moments later, Mara had arrived to discover her true daughter missing.

Thrown for a loop, Remedy was panicked too, so when Amaria flashed past her hiding spot, the chick simply remained in place, frozen solid. When Mara turned to run for another tunnel, Remedy didn't think to go after her. She was sure she'd be in trouble, for leaving Cure to play alone. Surely Papa would be more understanding that Mara, who seemed to have forgotten her smaller daughter in amidst the chaos.

Soon, Papa's voice cried out. Remedy knew not to ignore it when it became a savage roar, vibrating through the stone she hid in. The tiny half-chick slid out of her hiding place and with a pitiful cry, hurried over to her father's waiting paws.

"I'm sorry, Pa! I saw it! Cure was taken! Some big deer thing took her! Mara went that way, but I didn't think- I was- PA HE TOOK CURE!" She wailed, terrified. Her father's protective paw wrapped around her and tucked her in closer, his face pressing against hers and murmuring soft reassurances. She broke down in his grip and began softly crying, mourning the apparent loss of her dear twin, and the imagined rejection of her Mara.

@Amaria @Leon

Amaria

You fell away,
What more can I say?
The feelings evolved,
I won't let it out,
I can't replace...
Your screaming face,
Feeling the sickness inside

She had heard it. All the way in Pisces she had heard his roar. She had taken no moment later to answer it. Once again her scale covered paws raced through the caves, bounding and leaping their way back towards their den. She knew Leon was to follow her, but she had no heart to wait and make sure he was still right behind her. She knew he was injured, that it would possibly take him a bit longer, but she would not be angry at all for it. She would also understand if he had chosen to stay behind. This was not his mess to figure out. Soon her paws met with the throne and with one final leap she landed just behind it where their hidden nest was. "Carce, she's gone!" It was all she could find to say. In her panicked frenzy Amaria was having a hard time admitting to Cancer that she had allowed some beast to come in and steal away their child.

Her eyes moved from Cancer instantly when her ears caught the sound of crying. "Oh, remmy," She nearly whined as she moved closer to the two. Now she felt even worse. She should have checked on her before she had ever left Orion in seearchh of her brother. She dipped her head down and quickly nuzzled at the gryphon's cheek, trying to sooth her tears as Cancer held her close. "Sshh, little one. We will find your sister," Here voice wavered for a split moment, but she quickly regained herself. she would not break down in front of here adopt daughter. She needed to be strong even when she did not even feel close at all to being so. Now was not thee time for her to be breaking down. They had to find Cure.

Finally she turned her gaze up to Carcino, struggling to keep the tears from her eyes she prepared herself for a scolding. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I was hunting. I didn't know there was... We have to find her. Leon said he could help. That he might know..." She trailed off, unsure of what to truly say. She didn't know how Cancer would feel about her going to Leon, but she was also more so on the verge of crying even more when she knew that Cancer would be furious for having left the children unsupervised. Her breathing began to come erratically, a panic attack starting to kick in no matter how hard she tried to keep herself calm.




"Speech"

Tags: @Cancer
Words: 423
OoC:

---

Keep on trying I’ll not die so easily
I will not die…
Why is everything so fucking hard for me?
I will not die…
Why is everything so fucking hard for me?
I will not die…

The bear didn't have to be asked twice to help out his little sister. He knew how beloved those children were to her, and to Cancer - he'd seen the way the leopard guarded the twin chrysali during Amaria's absence. It made him anticipate the arrival of his own children, news he had yet to relinquish to even Amaria. After having heard of the kidnapping of her child, Leon didn't want to spread the news of more children about the caves in the event that whoever was behind Cure's kidnapping would be listening. So, he kept it tucked away for now, focusing solely on helping his dear sister. He followed her through the tunnels from Pisces to Orion, though his movements were labored and slower than usual. It had only been a few days since the fight, maybe a week, and his skin had only barely managed to seal itself up again. It wouldn't take much to reopen his fresh wounds.

The sound of crying piqued his curiosity and the bear raised his head, looking out to where Amaria bolted off to meet the child. His brow furrowed, watching her attempt to comfort the gryphon that looked a lot more like Bevy than Amaria, but Leon wouldn't say anything about it. It wasn't his business. Instead he listened as he slowly closed the distance between himself and the family, lumbering up behind Amaria. He nodded slowly at her words, shifting his gaze over to Cancer and Remedy. Word of the hoofprints around the sight of the kidnapping had already set Leon's mind in motion, but having caught the tail end of the gryphon's sobbing words, Leon need only her eye witness account to confirm his suspicions. "Could you describe what you saw for me?" He rumbled, fixing his eyes on Remedy. He couldn't imagine that she'd want to relive it again, but he needed to know everything that she did.

Amaria, beloved creature, came on swiftest paws into Orion's mainway. Carce turned immediately, tucking Remedy just into his inner foreleg as he reached to place a firm, grounding paw on Amy's shoulder. She wailed confirmation, and his arm fell back to the ground, barely stabling him as his balance wavered. She wasn't with Amaria. There hadn't been a rescue yet. Cure was still with her kidnapper. His skin prickled, hotter, and a rumble like distance thunder rolled in his throat. Below him, little Remedy shrank, her sobbing quieter than before.

Amaria turned to Remedy, and Carcino stepped aside, his movement stiff. He began to pace, just as Leon arrived. Amaria was speaking, begging forgiveness. The darker leopard looked at her with some sense of concern, but his nerves would let him speak- nothing he had to say would be good. It's my temper that got us all into this mess in the first place. He reminded himself bitterly, turning to Leon as the bear addressed his daughter. Hackles lifting, he snapped away and went back to pacing, all the while rumbling that furious note.

Remedy recounted the events. Carce stared at his daughter, pace slowing. A moment later, he found himself pushing towards and against Amaria again, as if leaning on her. He shook, a mixture of shock, rage, adrenaline- but despite his fury, a part of him clung to the one constant. Remedy was safe. Amaria was by his side. Even Leon had come to help.

They'd handle this. Somehow, Carcino didn't have any doubt of it. Cure would be saved, and her captor exterminated.

In an instant, Mara was back. Between gasping hiccups and tear-soaked vision, Remedy could barely make out the concerned expression. A moment later, Mara's warm voice was soothing her, soft nose pressing at her cheek, and Rem pressed back, that keening sound playing in her throat- pleading but definate, as if accepting the assurance without question. Her Pa moved away and she scurried to Mara's scaled toes, placing her talons on them as she liked, standing against her. Another showed up a moment later, and Remedy shivered, backing between her surrogant mother's legs and hiding from view of the newcomer.

No, wait, this one was familiar. Oh, it was that bear Mara liked! The cub's shivered slowed at the realization, so when Leon spoke to her, she wasn't caught stammering. What she saw...

Now to say that Remedy was her father's child would be like calling a lemon a fruit. Except, most fruit are sweet. Remedy, like her father, was ballsy and bold, outspoken- but unlike her dear old dad, the little tyke didn't get defensive, or outragious. Not too much, anyway. So when she spoke, it was with excited persistance- she was on a mission to help get her Sissy back! This bear was the muscle, as made obvious by his gruesome wounds now! He did lots of fighting! He'd kicked that big deer's butt no problem!

"Mara and Papa were out huntin' and we were told to stay in the den, but then Cure got bored and was like, "I wanna go out and hunt" or something, and I was like, "No way we gotta stay put, we's tiny!" but she didn't listen and we argued and she went out anyway and I tried to tell her no but she didn't listen- ANYWAY, there was this big nasty thing that like, we sorta see around the cave a lot but he's usually in the forum- he never gets close to the den- but Cure must've gone to the forum 'cause then I heard yelling and then Cure screamed so I went running to find her, but then I saw that it was this GIANT DEER MONSTER and it had these GIANT HORNS on it's GIANT HEAD and I was like "OH MAN I can't take that!" so I hid but then I thought "Oh no, neither can Cure!" but then I saw Cure climb the rocks over there--" For the briefest moment, she paused and pointed abruptly to the far wall of the forum. Then, she continued without missing another beat. "and I thought she'd be okay but then she fell and that deer monster TOOK HER--" Another pause and she whirled the other direction, switching talons to point with her other hand at the tunnel towards Eridanus. "--through THAT tunnel, right there, where Pa always goes to hunt!"

Finally, she inhaled sharply (but quietly) through her nostrils and sighed, feeling as if a huge weight had lifted off of her shoulders. With a whistling chirp, she sat back and stared at the three adults as if she expected them to do something that precise instant.

@Amaria @Leon

Amaria

You fell away,
What more can I say?
The feelings evolved,
I won't let it out,
I can't replace...
Your screaming face,
Feeling the sickness inside

A soft purring resonated within the leopragon's chest as her adopted daughter soon came to her and stepped all overe her paws. She gave one more nuzzle to the feathers at the back of Remmy's head before she lifted her gaze up and watched Cancer as he paced back and forth. Her shoulder's haunched up as her ears flicked back to pin against her head again. When Remedy began to tell Leon just what exactly she had seen, Amaria forced her attention to the little cub by her paws. She listened with great interest and had this been any other moment, she may have laughed a little hearing the part where she had tried to get Cure to stay where she should have.

The perpetrator had been identified. Or, at least she now know what she was looking for. A giant stag, or really a normal sized stag. Surely Remedy's conception of the creature was based on the sole fact that she, herself, was rather small. Fur began to bristle as her tail began to lash about behind her. It wasn't until Cancer came back towards her and pressed into her was she able to quell a burning rage that had slowly begun to brew within her. She bumped her forehead against the first part of him she could reach, clenching her eyes shut tight. Even now she felt the need to break down and cry. Though, now was not the time. She would have plenty of time for that after they had rescued their baby.

"Does any of it sound familiar? I know I told you about the hoof trail..." Amaria lifted her gaze towards her brother, ears searching his own desperately, eager to know if he knew of a deer. It was truly not very descriptive, but there wasn't a lot of gembound deers roaming the cave either as far as she was aware. Either way. They knew where the creature had gone with Cure and she was ready to go that way and after the child. Before that, however, she wanted to try and get an idea of what she would be chasing. Or if it were someone she should have known. Perhaps she did? She had met only one other deer in her lifetime in the cave, but that had been so long ago she could barely put a face to them.


"Speech"

Tags:
Words: 396
OoC:

---

Keep on trying I’ll not die so easily
I will not die…
Why is everything so fucking hard for me?
I will not die…
Why is everything so fucking hard for me?
I will not die…

He could practically feel the anger rolling off of Cancer, and Leon dared to steal a glance at the black leopard, pushing his short ears back. He came back to Amaria and sought respite in her, and Leon turned away again to focus on little Remedy, nodding as she dove into her story. She gave him some less than necessary details, but he stowed them away regardless. Only once she started detailing the attack did Leon's attention hone in, and he frowned as she mentioned the huge stag - like everyone else, assuming that it was just a regular stag, but he wouldn't rule that descriptor out completely. It sounded more and more like Vazi, but if what she was talking about really was a monster stag, then it couldn't have been him. Still, Leon had to be realistic. Vazi seemed to match every description he was given: the hoof prints, the blood smattering the ground, the stag - Vazi seemed more than likely to be responsible for attacking a cub and kidnapping it. In fact, Leon wouldn't be surprised if that was what happened to the lion cub.

When Remedy finally finished, Leon huffed and turned his gaze to Amaria. "It's sounding more and more like Vazi." The bear answered, frowning. "Er, Hasira. I don't know if either of you met him, but he was at the truth or dare game, if you remember." Leon couldn't imagine that the leopard or the hybrid would have forgotten. That was an affair he doubted anybody had forgotten. "He was next to the sheep, and the wolf, Arkrael. Anyways, I'd come to Orion a little while ago, and I saw Vazi with this starved lion. He went on some shpiel about carnivores being terrible, then he struck the lion. I attacked Vazi and tried to save the lion, but by the time Vazi went down, the lion ran off. I had to get out of there because one of Vazi's cronies was about to show." He explained, looking between Cancer and Amaria. "He's probably pissed about what happened. We can't be for sure, but it's all pointing to him. Only thing is, doesn't seem like he's here right now, otherwise he probably would've made his grand entrance by now."

Which probably meant that he had taken Cure away somewhere. Leon tightened his lips, but he didn't mention that.

@Cancer

Gonna try to wrap this up. Alm asked me to post again before her~



Amaria's eyes remained on Leon as he spoke. Each passing word made her heart sink even further. Finding that it had been someone she had seen once before boiled her blood and it was all she could do to keep herself from hissing angrily. Her powerful tail whipped back and forth behind her, striking anything in its path with a mild thud. This drag had harmed her brother first and then dared take her child because he was pissed off at carnivores? What even gave him that right?! She clenched her jaws and looked away, towards the tunnel remmy had said Vazi had gone through.

"We need to go after him. Carce what are we going to do with Remmy," she turned her gaze towards the dark furred leopard, "we can't risk taking her with us and I would not feel good leaving her here by herself." It was sad. Sad that young gembounds could not be left on their own. To explore to their hearts content. And all because some of the now much older gembounds were becoming far more dangerous. Her hurl bristled, but she waited to see what Carcino wanted to do.

@cancer