"Speech"

Away from everyone he'd fled.

Legs barely moving any more, he'd had to drag himself. Blistered skin showed instead of the proud, silver-streaked coat he'd been growing into. Scabs and exposed skin all over his back legs and lower spine. His tail still held a few wispy threads of fur, blackened and curled from the heat. His front half was left mainly unharmed, making him appear as though his front and back had been crudely slapped onto one another as a sick joke. He'd escaped, but barely. With help of course; he'd never have lived if it hadn't been for Caravaggio.

Even still, when the time had come, Todd had fled. Mashed polutices of herbs and flowers stung as they were rubbed into his wounds, causing him to whine and cry. It was for the best; that's what he'd been told. But how was he meant to believe them, after what happened? It was mindless trust that took his ability to walk. Todd felt like he believed nothing any more. He had nothing left to believe in but himself, and even then he was a small and fragile thing. So easily overcome by pain, so easy to snuff out. He remembered the bones in Canis, how Khloros had explained they'd been like him once, and shivered softly. He wanted to go back for that skull he'd found. He'd forgotten about that skull, even after he'd promised to go back and tell it about their adventure.

Perhaps he'd recover given time, but Todd didn't know that. He lacked both a sense of optimism and pessimism. all that lived in him now was fear and mistrust. He lived in the now, not in what he was going to do. And in this now, Todd was feeling vaguely sorry for himself as he dangled his back end in the cool water of the lagoon. He'd been hesitant at first, but feeling the waters of the tiny ponds lapping around had made the pain go away more than anything else. It was like things were finally looking up, yet Todd had been lying here for hours now, never moving or caring, with complete disregard for food or water.

For what felt like the hundredth time, Todd focused. Focused, and focused on his gem. But nothing happened. It didn't even glow.

Todd's small paw absently played with the glowing feather Macawi had given him. He remembered her words and how he hadn't understood them; part of him wished he still didn't, and the other half resisted. He strained to remember her exact words. Something about darkness. Something about strength. Something about purity. Bah. What was the point?

Without even saying a word, Todd hid his face in his paws and sobbed, the tiny noise hidden behind the roar of the crashing waterfall.

BAROQUE SONGCAT

Baroque was considering where he wanted to put his garden. The idea had been slowly festering in the back of his.... mind, though he wasn't sure when it had really come to fruition. His mother had always had a way with finding the most beautiful blossoms to tuck in his sisters' fur-- to their disdain-- but that had always been a girl thing, not a boy thing.

Perhaps it was his way of trying to get closer to his mother, but there were other moments in his life. Adventures with Thistle, chasing down the rarest flower in the deepest snow... And searching Bevy's den, staring at the vines that dropped down over the entrance, the moss that grew softest by the entrance, the way he found her memories in the dried herbs and bandages that she had abandoned in places in her death that no one seemed to notice.

Suffice to say, it all had come to a point. Cancer's old den behind the waterfall was a nice, cool, damp place but he couldn't remember if it got enough light. That was why he trotted into the quiet space today, a bit out of sorts, his tail twitching with the distractions of a greater plan in his head. The grizzly lion cub was starting to reach a reasonable size, easily rivaling a large house cat, and when he saw the fox he froze and his fur puffed up to make him look even bigger.

He didn't recognize this stranger, nor did he even really know what kind of thing it was. He could smell the burn skin and fur, making his lungs revolt as he struggled to hold back a cough. He didn't speak, heart in his throat, as he realized the creature was hurt, worse, it was crying.

"H-hello? A-are you okay?" Baroque stammered out a question, afraid of startling the fox. He kept his distance from the injured vulpine gembound, ears flat against his skull. Although it was, frankly, against his nature to purr without another cat around, the young boy forced a rumble to his chest-- hoping that the stranger would know he was friendly, harmless.

Coyah didn't like being alone; but they didn't like being with strangers, either. The eyeless hybrid wasn't so good at the seeing thing; but they could sort of tell what heat-thing was which -as long as they knew them prior, of course. Zanya was a heap of motionless warmth - napping, it seemed.

Hawthorne wasn't around, or perhaps out of their range. Baroque, however, was near by. The hulking newborn lifted himself to his paws and carefully headed towards the general direction of Baroque; nose and beak bumping into the wall once before they turned around.

Their ears flickered - they didn't hear it at first, but they heard the quiet sobs of the fox. More heat was near by - a stranger. A croak came from their beak, the muzzle gently whimpered as they lumbered half-blindly behind Baroque, nudging their nose into his rumpus.

"Who is that?" they murmured quietly. "Are they okay?"

"Canine."
"Bird."
"Snake."

@Baroque @Coyah

Todd looked up abruptly as a voice broke through his sobbing, his tears and the sound of the waterfall. That same feeling of helplessness hit the little fox immediately as he looked up at the enormous stranger above him, and his eyes widened at first, only for the little one to stay where he was, frozen. He swallowed as he struggled to understand over the sound of the roaring waterfall, but eventually he clamped his teeth together and gave a stiff nod. He lifted his head from his paws, fluffed out his fur and tried to look all big and strong.

He looked down at the bluish feather in his paw and pushed it over his shoulder, re-entangling it messily into his mane. "Who're you?" he asked nervously and a little coldly, shying back down into the lagoon slightly. "You here to play or hurt or be all mean or do bad things?" He shook tearfully, and then twitched his head away so that the tears soaked into his fur. Though he felt like there was something else there, no matter how much Todd strained to hear he was unable to hear Baroque's purr against the roar of the waterfall.

And then there was another- a creature completely different to the other, so strange and scary. Was it a monster? Todd was fearful as they spoke first like him, and then with a beak on their chest. He'd never seen anything like them before. Part of him wanted to go over, to ask what they were and then play and be friends. But that was the old him talking. It was because of that that he was here in the first place. So out of place and beaten, and... weak. "Are you a monster?" he asked softly, looking from creature to creature and shying down a little. "'M okay. Don't wanna... don't wanna bother. Don't wanna play any games or anything." He shivered at the thought. Todd never wanted to play again. And then something else struck him. Fear rushed through him. "You're herbivores aren't you?" he asked, his heart pounding in his chest."P-please, I don't wanna play squeal again, I don't wanna play anything anymore."

He broke down again, hiding his face in his paws and letting out tiny sobs.

He needed to get better, he felt he had to. Todd strained, focus, focus. He put every ounce of thought and strength he had on his gem, and his wounds. And abruptly, much to his surprise, the pain began to fade. His sobbing suddenly stopped. The gem in his paw glowed bright and his mouth dropped open, stunned at the feeling that rushed out from it. The scabbing and blisters all over his hind end began to fade away into scars before the very eye.

BAROQUE SONGCAT

....
Baroque stepped back at Todd started to speak, ears flattening against his skull, when he noticed that Coyah was ......behind him. A gentle smile cracked across his face and he gently lifted a paw to put against the hybrid's shoulder, whispering, "I dunno.. but they're hurt." His blue eyes met with Todd's broken frame, trying to understand... He wouldn't mind playing with the fox, but from the way he asked he sounded as though playing was a mean thing-- especially with all the other things.

On top of that, the injured boy called Coyah a monster, and he grit his teeth as a swelling of protectiveness hit him. Obviously the fox didn't mean any harm by that, shivering and asking weird questions and practically begging for mercy. For once, he found himself at a loss for what to do while simultaneously bursting out with words. "N-no, no, we're not herbivores! But what does that matter? Look, we're not going to hurt you-- we just want to make sure you're okay... Hey, no, we... I want to help."

The older cub looked at Coyah and gave them a pat on their shoulder. "Stay here, okay?" He tried to tell them, hoping they'd understand how delicate the situation was. Coyah was young, and they might startle the injured fox. Setting his blue eyes on Todd once more, he crept forward, forcing his purr to grow stronger. The big baby was all too aware that he came off as a brutish thug with his hulking weight, but he hoped he didn't seem that intimidating. "It's okay... I'm here to help. I swear I won't hurt you--" his words were broken off as the fox's gemstone began to glow, and the grizzly lion flinched, afraid that the magic might be dangerous... But instead, it seemed to heal Todd.

Staring, the gentle giant cracked a smile and dipped his head at Todd. "I'm Baroque, and you're safe here, I promise."

"Speech" @Baroque @Coyah

Shivering violently and huddling down, Todd looked again over the two that looked over him. listened to their voices, ears drooping and flattened and eyes scared and round. It was clear he'd never seen a hybrid before in his life or even known of their existence; there was a lot he didn't know about life and his most recent realization was pain, and lots of it. He watched the quiet exchange between the two with fear in his eyes. The smaller red 'monster' had three voices but no eyes, it seemed. So if they attacked, he could escape. And the other seemed more eager to talk than eat him. Then again, so had Kingsfoil at first.

"Th-they said they were herbivores, an' they called me sharptooth and said I was stupid and evil. I dunno if I am, I think they were right," Todd spoke quietly at first, but gradually his voice picked up in both loudness and intensity. "An' then, they asked to play a game and they did this to me." He covered up his eyes. "I used to like games, but I di'nt like that game. I don't wanna play anymore. You don't wanna play too, then?" the little one's jumble of words came out like an oil spill, slipping and sliding over one another, so that it was impossible to tell what was going through his head at any one moment.

But in his chest there came a little tremble of comfort; so long as there were no herbivores, he felt safe. What did 'herbivore' even mean, anyway?

Even still, he shivered and shied down as the bigger creature came closer, looming over him. Todd didn't try to flee though, simply looked up at them with pathetic eyes. "Promise you won't do all mean things?" he asked quietly, finally seeming more at ease. His heart was pounding, and though his first instinct was to flee, Todd resisted it because stronger was the urge to stay. Resisting made him feel wrong, and he'd cut himself off for so long. He didn't want to run. He wanted to succumb to kind words. But his stomach really didn't want him to.

"Uhm, I'm Todd..."

Safe. They said he was safe. Kingsfoil hadn't reassured him that. No-one had ever had to reassure him that before. That was something new, too. And so he believed it, clinging to those words with all of his remaining heart.

Struggling to get rid of the pain, he focused again, hoping that another spellcast would make it go away. He felt a dull prickle creeping over his skin and a small surge of energy that made his heart pound, but nothing else changed. In recent days the little fox had become heavily reliant on magic, whether it was working or not. Perhaps he simply needed to rely on others again...

"Why?" Todd asked eventually, looking back up at Baroque. From where he clung to the bank with his lower half trailing in the water, he looked every bit as helpless as he was. He hadn't even tried to stand. "Why do you wanna help?"

Coyah was quiet for a moment, muzzle turned towards Baroque, quizzically. At the fox's words something stirred in their chest, a strange hurting feeling filled them up to the brim. It was pressing against all three eyeless faces, and came out of his beak as a strangled squawk.

Stocky legs shifted, followed by the scrambling of half-bird half-candid legs. Baroque didn't say anything about them being called a monster - why didn't he say anything? He only told them to stay where he was, but whatever this huddle of sad heat was, they didn't really want to stay either.

Their muzzle turned to quietly lick Baroque's toes. "Not a monster," hissed the snake quietly through the crying chirps of their beak, the dog-head too focused on Baroque's touch. As he crept away, the dog's ears flattened against his head and they went still, waiting.