With confidence, Xerxes strode from Pisces to Polaris with the others that wished to join him in their search for the crystals Naskital needed. Gifts sounded exciting, especially from someone he'd never met. Did they know things about each and everyone? How would they know these things? Xerxes couldn't remember ever getting a gift before really, that or he'd pushed the memory from his brain because of Cure or something similar.

Once the group got to Polaris, Xerxes paused in the entry and turned to the group. "So we're looking for crystals - let's just grab everything we can carry and take them back as quick as possible. If we don't get the right ones, then we'll have to head back, so grab a variety of crystals and make sure they're bright!" He nodded to the group then, eager to split up and look for what the crystals that Naskital requested.

@Auré @Vincenzo @anyone else wanting to help them find crystals for santalien naskital

Astaroth followed the black lion slowly, head down. Mumbling to himself about how arrogant the feline seemed. He stalked past him, and to the side of the cavern, his eyes widening as they glowed blindingly, a surge of magic going through him and blowing up a couple crystals on the walls, turning them into a sparkly cloud of mineral dust. "Sorry... I'm a little rusty."

"Speaking."
Thoughts.

Notes: @Xerxes

VINNIE THE VOICE

Vinnie soared past, flapping once, then circled to land nearby. He approached at a waddle, head tilted back to watch the big, graceful lion and the somewhat smaller but still, compared to he himself, massive wolf. Aure was dwarfed by them, and Vinnie rather quickly made his way closer.

He listened to Xerxes' advice, and gave a few nodding bobs of his head. "Crystals it is, boss--OH --" The gull cut himself off from whatever swearword he was about to undoubtedly utter, jerking away from the explosion of crystals. He gave the wolf a brief stare, as if about to scold him, but at its apology he shook his beak. "Happens to the best of us, pal. I blow stuff up accidentally all the time. Boom!" A brief spout of good-natured, if raucous laughter followed, and the seagull took wing again.

A couple of flaps and he was up on a ledge, prying and picking at some smaller, but brighter, gemstones.

It took him a few moments of wedging his beak in and twisting it about, and he scraped himself up a little in the doing, but he managed to get two small crystals loose. These at least served the purpose of silencing him, as he had to carry them in his beak; he swept back down with them to join the others, always keeping close to--and keeping a close eye on--Aure.

________________

Okay, all packed up! Flowers were blooming, mushrooms were propagating in their mountain of banana peels, and what glowy stones were left were buried in the ground so no one would ever guess where they could possibly have gone.

At least hopefully. All the other glowy stones had disappeared over time and there was no telling where they had wandered off to. Who knew that magical rocks could just hop up and walk away when no one was looking?

The shield and femurs and singing gemstone were neatly packed away in Bremen's super secret hideaway far above so one would try to steal them while he was gone. That talking black spike had been too modern of art for anyone's tastes so the little hybrid had brought it back to the spiky rune-covered wall he had got it from and left bananas on some of the other spikes as a means of apology. No way of knowing if they really appreciated it though, when he touched them they just mentally screamed the same incomprehensible gibberish the broken spike had kept repeating. How boring! No wonder no one had been interested in it.

With a deep breath the little odd hybrid looked over his empty shop- the place he'd spent pretty much every waking moment for the last few cycles. "Don't worry little bananas and bones and baubles and bartering bazaar. You get to sleep for a little bit and when you wake up again I'll have lots of really fun and cool items to display and you'll be better than new!"

Almost on cue a voice rang out in the distance, to which Bremen raised only his left ear as he continued looking over the space to make doubly final sure that nothing was out of place for his big trip. The words of that other voice though broke his concentration almost instantly as contained within them were promise of a possible adventure.

A search party! the hybrid thought as he spun around in a near instant. I bet if I help them they'd let me keep some of the crystals we find. What fun it would be to go treasure hunting together!

A noise of pure excitement, somewhere between a dophin squeal and a lammergeier's screech, erupted from the oddity’s throat as he bounded toward the source of the announcement. Before he got more than halfway though a thought occurred to him.

I bet they'd let me keep even more gems if I brought a little gem with me to begin with!

The alien sound continued to grate on as his bounding reversed course and he performed a full sprint back to the closed shop and flung himself toward the ground almost as though it were snow. Webbed paws and vulpine instinct in the back of his psyche made quick work of unearthing the hiding glowy purple gem, which he plucked up from the dirt and held in his break as he dashed toward the gathering.

By the time he actually arrived at the group his stamina was strained as evidenced by the slightly fatigued smile on his face and sound like a well-loved squeaky toy coming from him in waves between deep breaths. Crane-like neck reeled back and he chucked the purple gem toward the group at a decent speed.

"Crystals..." he spoke between breaths, the squeaking noise finally stopping, "I have crystals... Let’s find more crystals..."

---

’Thinking... thinking... thinking…’
"This is my voice, isn't it neat?"
Tags:

Somewhere along the way, Aure had grown tired of hopping along and adopted a more raptor-like gait. He trotted along, wings tucked up to his sides and legs carrying him with far more grace than he could be credited for. Stopping was still a bit of a hindrance, due to a lack of a long tail to balance him out, but oh well. He could manage! The little wyvern was too busy marveling over the glow and magic of Polaris, anyways! Look at all of those crystals! There was even a giant one that nearly touched the ceiling of the cave! Oh, wait until he told Mother about this!

Xerxes didn't even need to tell Aure what the group was looking for, because he had already begun to scamper toward one of the cave's many offerings with wide, eager eyes. He was too enthralled by the glimmering stones to notice the puff of dust caused by the big wolf. As his newly adopted babysitter and uncle Vinnie began to twist at some crystals, the little wyvern managed to tear his eyes away from the shiny rocks. Watching the motion, Aure nodded and turned back to his choice of stones. Ah, so it was a little bit of a turning motion, right? Yeah!

He set to work! Twisting and twisting, he managed to cleave off a couple small chunks of the shiny stone. As small as they were, they were still too heavy for his little body to carry properly. May as well let the big guys lug the stuff around, right? His little talons wrapped around the crystal chunks and he flapped his wings to take flight. Ears pricking toward a rather alien sound, Aure floated down to its source. It source was, of course, a rather strange looking creature with a shiny stone sticking right out of its forehead! It had a face just like his, too! Beard and all! Plonking his offerings next to the glowy purple stone, the little wyvern squealed excitedly. Looking Bremen up and down, he chirped, "brother?! You have a beard!" Then, suspiciously, he tried to preen at it. "Who's your Father? Does he have a beard too?"

@Xerxes

Oh, it had been so LONG since they could stretch their wings and legs (however small they were!) Freshly reemerged into the world, the noodle had immediately set to yelling as loud as they could; the limit was just about where Kesil could clearly hear themselves scream, which must be loud. Ah, step one: complete! Next, it was time to get dry. After tearing through Polaris for a few laps, that step could be squared away.

Finally, it was time to find their Noodlekin. Which, apparently, was easy, because he was calling to them! Or, maybe calling to them! There was a tell-tale, high-pitched squeak-whistle ringing through Polaris and Kesil had to follow! It was hard to miss the odd blue hybrid with their sharp eyes and the glowy purple stone in Bremen's beak. Approaching in a loping gait, unheeding of the other Gembound present in the crystal-hunting gang, Kesil chirped to get their equally bizarre twin's attention.

If he looked their way, the noodle would immediately rock back onto their haunches and stand up slightly, balancing so that their front feet were free to sign: HELLO NOODLEKIN! I MISS YOU! Clicking their mouth-beak in a giddy grin, Kesil's tail swept across the floor and they swayed. I SLEEP. NOW, I WAKE. In a mock-sleeping motion, they tilted their head down and to the side, closing their eyes and 'resting' it on their hands. Then, abruptly, their bright eyes opened again and they rocked back onto all fours to scamper closer to Bremen. Kesil chirped again --- still ignoring the little one trying to preen at his beard --- and reached out for a little hug.

The deer followed the rather odd group from Pisces to Polaris, keeping her eyes and ears out. She allowed her gaze to drift from the black lion, to the black wolf, to the white bird, to the wyvern. What an odd group they were, despite their largely matching pelts.

She bowed her head in acknlowedgement as Xerxes reiterated what they were doing, her gaze turning to the crystals as she tried to find a spot that looked soft enough to strike with her antlers. She had no magic that would be useful, and had no claws or beak that could be used.

When the wolf blew up some of the crystals, she stepped between the baby wyvern and the explosion instinctively, ears flattening. She grunted, a low sound, at the wolf's apology, asking Auré, "Are you alright?" she lowered her head to sniff at him, before deciding that he seemed largely uninjured.

Stepping back, she observed as the gull pried free a few crystals, head snapping up at an odd screeching sound. A funny looking beast - clearly a hybrid, as she had never before seen anything like him, charging towards them, flinging a gem their way. "Your help would be much appreciated."

Auré, it seemed, was fascinated by the appearance of the beast, racing up to it and beginning to chirp at it. She kept an eye on it and then, too, a long, reptile looking thing, as it approached as well, as she turned to the wall of crystals. She backed up, finding a spot that looked like it would release its crystals easily enough, before charging forward.

Her antlers buried themselves into the earth between the crystals easily enough, and she shook her head to loosen the grip the crystals had, before attempting to pull back -

and, yeah. She was stuck. The earth had been too soft. Her eyes widened, and she dug in her hooves, all of her muscles straining beneath her pelt as she fought, and failed, to pull her antlers free.

As a muscle in her shoulder tore painfully, she stopped straining, and simply stood, grunting unhappily as she glared at the massive crystal that glinted between her antlers tauntingly.

@Xerxes @Astaroth @Vincenzo @Bremen @Auré @Kesil

Nemophilist (n.):

a haunter of the woods;one who loves the forestand its beauty and solitude

VINNIE THE VOICE

Oookay. No. No, that wasn't good. That weird thing had turned up, and was gesturing wildly with its clawed forelimbs, and it looked like a snake, and a weasel, and all sortsa predatory things that absolutely should not be near a baby--

He quickly flapped over to intercept. And in this case, "intercept" meant fly really close to Aure, staring suspiciously upward. He was ready to attack--really, he was! It helped that Kesil wasn't all that big, but even if he had been, Vinnie would definitely have fought to defend a child.

He lingered awkwardly near, staring suspiciously upward until it became clear that Kesil was not, in fact, a random predator hell-bent on murdering the hybrid baby. At this point Vinnie decided he'd probably be of more help actually helping--for example, with the deer who had her uhh... head-horns? ...ANTLERS! That's the word! wrapped around a gemstone.

He flapped over, glancing back one last time to make sure Aure was safe, and landed right near Artume's head. He tilted his head to and fro sharply, as he looked down, examining the situation. She was a lot bigger than him, and one could probably deduce, a lot stronger. Leverage, though, had strength way beyond its size, and it was one thing Artume did not currently have.

"Yo, hold still one sec. I gotcha," Vinnie assured her. He could see how she was stuck. He'd just have to step down a bit, wedge his beak in, aaand...

He paused. His beak was stuck.

A frantic flapping moment later and he was free, but he hadn't done anything at all to help. "I mean-... just gimme a minute, yeah? I got this."

________________

Bremen trilled in moderate confusion as another hybrid with similar features to his own approached and called him brother. It seemed young though, so poor thing must have been confused by them looking so similarly. Or perhaps they were a brother and he just didn't know it? Whatever the case he didn't try to force them back at the moment.

"I do have a beard! I don’t think we are related though. I don’t even have a father, just a noodlekin." he replied as his neck twisted this way and that to get a better look at the big hybrid before him. "The closest thing Noodlekin and I had to a father might have been that friendly king in Canis who treated us really special. He didn't have a beard though and went all poof vanished so I don’t think that really counts."

Bremen could never actually understand why the big white winged cat had been so friendly to them. They'd hatched in Canis before so perhaps according to some kingdom law they were supposed to be natural members of the ruling class? That would be a silly law but lots of gembound believed silly things so it wouldn’t be too out there to think that. Big kitty had been nice to everyone though so perhaps he had just been a nice person who thought they still looked young and needed to be taken care of.

Before he could reason any deeper on the subject matter another form approached, a welcome sight and a wonderful coincidence!

"Noodlekin!" Bremen yelled out so loud he imagined even his returning sibling might be able to hear. All attention to the one he was speaking to or even the task at hand dropped instantly as Bremen turned and began to bounce on front paws, wings flapping with excitement.

NOODLEKIN he tried signing back in their made up sibling hand speech, RETURN!

MISS NOODLEKIN. land, hop VERY HAPPY. land,hop WELCOME BACK AWAKE. get balance again after hopping up just a bit too high, land, hop again BEEN BUSY. land, look toward group, hop HOLD ON.

Even if he'd temporarily forgotten what they were doing in all the excitement he did recognize one of the potential new fiends here was in a bit of a bind. What kind of example would he be for his noodlekin if he stood by without helping? With acceleration that would make a chipmunk envious Bremen zipped over toward the crystal cluster that had laid claim to a poor deer's horns. WILL FREE YOU he signed for just a second as he hopped into position before remembering to code switch back to spoken words.

"Let's get you out of there!" he called aloud this time to the unknown deer as webbed paws sunk into the ground at the edges of the crystals. He was way too small to be able to pull the poor thing free and there wasn't anything around that could be used as a tool, like a lot of problems this could probably be solved by looking at it differently. If the crystals weren't stuck in the ground anymore then surely the antlers wouldn't be stuck in the crystals anymore, right?

---

’Thinking... thinking... thinking…’
"This is my voice, isn't it neat?"
Tags: @Auré @Kesil @Artume @Vincenzo

Aure preened at the strange blue thing's beard for a few moments longer before stumbling back with a series of confused chirps. No father? Just... a noodlekin? The little one furrowed his brow in confusion at that, feather-mane smoothing down. The creature mentioned a king in Canis, but he didn't have a beard. Did, perhaps, not all of them have beards, then? Them being children of Aza'zel. It wasn't like the wyvern knew what Carni had looked like, and there had been no other kings in the bone room that he knew of. Oh, so this weird hybrid could be the missing link. "Was the king's name Carni? He was my brother's brother! And my brother, too, I guess..." Aure's eager demeanor sagged visibly at this, but he made himself stay happy for the sake of conversation.

Then, the weird hybrid hollered, forcing his ears to flatten and for his wings to rise as backup. "Who---" --- a big noodle (wrow...) trundled forwards and began gesturing frantically and eagerly. It seemed like his possible brother understood, since he began to gesture back as well before wheeling about and seeing a deer in an unfortunate predicament. At the speed of light, the hybrid vanished from view, leaving Aure stranded with this weird, giant noodle.

"Are you that one's," he gestured toward Bremen, "noodlekin?" He was, justifiably, confused.