The alligator waited, bobbing gently in the dark shallows at the edge of the Heart. He looked just like any log, but the Children knew he was here--they'd been asked to be ready, to be ready for his call, and to avoid strangers or those who had come with Reji.

The Bonebound were, with any luck, on their way. He'd been warned, by Serek, that they would come in number; and that, more than that, the fungus had been confirmed. That Reji's state had been confirmed. The Bonebound would be allies in Cetus' own little war--and Dragon hoped, too, that they might bring more. There were rumors that even Astraea was involved, which Dragon found... unsettling? Unpleasant, at the very least. But he would not turn the stag away, should he come. Not that it was his place to. And it wasn't that the Bonebound were low in numbers, but if it came to a fight, Reji's clan had gathered quite a few friends.

Large friends.

He'd seen Azrael, with the hulking black form--and wings; he'd seen the bear, Sergei. He didn't want to fuck with either of those without overwhelming force, and that was including ignorance of any powerful casters their group might hold.

So he waited, bobbing up and down on the bank.

The moment he saw a familiar (Bonebound) face, he was ready to slip up onto shore, to call out quietly to them, maybe a little blast of fire to get their eye. They'd have to meet here--and they'd have to move fast.

Note: this thread is PRV to Bonebound and CoR, and any allies Aure brings, but please contact us if you'd happen to have a character nearby. This cannot be completely random.

@Aure (and tag whomstever) @Merrow @Phlegethon @Septiezal @Zyros @Serek (whenever)

Aure urged his family to come along at a steady pace, hurried and quick but not so much that it would wear them all out. He spent some time gliding along, circling ahead; and some time simply walking along, keeping a count of the Bonebound - as if one would suddenly vanish from sight. Astraea hadn't immediately come with them (and that worried the young King) but urged them go immediately, no less.

He couldn't help but to hesitate at the mouth of Cetus, bright eyes staring into the dimly lit fog.

Swallowing, Aure called to his kin and they entered in close quarters. Light sparked from the side of his vision, and he was greeted with a sight that'd scare any other Gembound on an ordinary day. The wyvern nodded, alighting and finding himself in mud up to his ankles, "I brought as many as I could, and I spread the word to the Seven - and the Sentinels - through the way."

@Giggle @Kerberos (Ashtoreth) @Aries @Wilder (and members of the Seven or Sentinels?)

The fears of being burnt alive by Raheerah had subsided for just a moment, put on the backburner by worries over the Children's wellbeing from a far more... invisible threat. Something subtle, wicked, more rotten-smelling than its grandfather's pile of offerings could ever hope to be.

Serek came, and Serek went - and the rot-child laid in wait, hovering close by Dragon's side but maintaining enough distance to sense their coming. When the rustling of wings and heavy, purposeful footfalls rang out, Phlegethon drifted closer. Its singular red eye gleamed through the mist, unsettling as it fixed upon each of the creatures marked Bonebound.

They were an interesting bunch.

Water ran off of it as it extended its neck, swan-like, from the shallows of the swamp, arching so that it was eye-level with the three-headed dog in the party, clearly interested. Its main focus, of course, lied with what plan was to be discussed, what attack was to be made.

because y'all are gonna love a thread w/ like literally 8 dark chars in right??

Giggle moved along sourly. Her dark eyes darted here and there among the vegetation, suspicious, her magic casting out periodically to search out the fungus that she'd been told was somewhere here.

Ahead, Omen had vanished into the murk, quite high up. She was, Giggle knew, native to this cave; she'd been told that the birds nested here, and she knew, too, that the bird would make a good, unseen scout.

But the mud, clinging wet and cold to her paws, the blinding mist, the reek of the place--well, all right, the stink hardly registered beyond her own but everything else was so unlike the bright, dry warmth of Canis, of home, that she found herself resenting even being here.

It was what it was.

They knew how bad the fungus was... but the bones had said something else, and the bones had never steered her wrong. She was unsettled by going against them--it was that, or go against her son, against the Bonebound, against her Bone King. But she'd already decided that if she could get a sample of the stuff, she'd take it.

Just-... to see.

If she could control it, remove it at will, surely it wasn't all that dangerous to her..? But she wouldn't risk her family for it.

Not that there aren't enough of us here. Or coming, she thought to herself, wryly.

"Dragon," she offered, shortly, at last. She'd met him once or twice, and her greeting was polite but rough-voiced, as always--businesslike.

And then her eyes, and magic, went back to canvassing the cave.

She could sense fungus, to be sure, throughout Cetus; it was, in fact, quite widespread. Things must grow better here, she thought, eyeing the mud, the trees. Damp. Dark. Rich soil.

"There's fungus everywhere. It might take me awhile to find what we're looking for," she told the Bone King--and Dragon--in an undertone.

rain stock: D Sharon Pruitt wiki commons; hyena Benjamin Hollis on flickr

Pride wasn't far behind the Bonebound--and he was not pleased.

He wasn't angry; he was rather miserable, actually. Nemean had filled damn Orion with angry gemstone-eating worms, and then Aure had turned up asking for help. Which... was fine, and it meant it got him away from said angry gemstone-eating worms, but did it have to be Cetus? Dark, muddy, dank, slicking his pristine white legs with rank muck. And his magic never worked here. Nassir would be just behind him, he knew, a sleek black shape slinking through the dark, but he? A target, pale and bright in the mist. Hard to see at a distance, perhaps, but up close? He was a liability.

His magic... he'd normally rely on that to devastate his enemies, but now? He'd fought in Cetus, before. It hated him, he was sure of it. His magic had backfired, flaring unsteadily, unreliable and dangerous. He'd warned Nassir; he'd even warned Aure, but he'd never heard of it happening to anyone else and he wasn't about to turn down an ally's request for aid.

Particularly not when it was a danger that might threaten the whole caves. No--his responsibility was to be here. He didn't have to like it, though.

The stag gave a nod as he came up alongside the others, coming to a quiet halt. And when Giggle spoke, he could barely hear; he was drawing up alongside. He cast out his own magic in response, hesitant with the fear that it might lash back at him, sensing for gemstones where she'd sought out fungus.

"...There are many gemstones, too. All over the cave, and most Lessers, I'd assume. There's a few clusters... maybe we can work together to figure out where the stones and fungus overlap."

Well, it was like a bad game of Telephone. Someone whispered to Aure; Aure whispered to Pride; Pride... well, he didn't whisper to anyone; he trotted to Monoceros with a fat topaz hovering before him and promised Dread half a stack of the damn things for his assistance.

Dread was Pride's insurance.

Dread did not know this, or care. He knew that he was a. being promised shinies; and b. would get to burn things.

But Cetus had him suspicious. He'd grown up in Fornax, so he was no stranger to humidity--but the dark, cold type was new to him and his heat-and-light-oriented nature did not like it one bit. The tunnel had been too narrow to fly through, so he'd wing-walked (or, more accurately, wing-waddled) the entire way through; and Cetus had had his bulk sinking into the mud almost at once.

Pulling his legs back out had been a squelching, popping ordeal, and rather than hang around and talk to the others (and inevitably sink and die like other beasts in sad swamps that won't be named) he'd decided to say f-... forget it, and take wing.

A running (stumbling) start had him airborne, if awkwardly and lopsidedly at first; he did one short pass over the very edge of the Heart and then raised skyward. Well, upward; there was no sky.

Then he was circling out over the trees, in tight, short loops, keeping Pride and the others in sight. He was ready to breathe fire. He was ready to destroy shit.

He was unaware of the alligator staring at him with shock and jealousy below.

Septiezal poked his head out of the black water and flicked his tongue, tasting many scents, both familiar and unfamiliar. This would be the first sighting of the serpent in a while, and as he slithered onto shore, it was clear that he had not eaten in a while.

He had been too... preoccupied to do so. A developing neonate could not guard themselves after all. However, just because he had been coiled around a chrysalis at the bottom of the swamp does not mean the he had been out of loop. Word can travel fast through the grapevine when you're in the know.

The snake stretched his neck up, tongue flicking and eyes darting. Dragon and Phelgethon were here. There were those that smelled of dust and bone. They must have been the Bonebound. Septiezal was somewhat impressed that the clan still clung to existence after all these cycles. For a moment, he held hope that Eghadi would be among their ranks, but the white cobra was nowhere to been to be seen.

Septiezal swiveled towards the Children of Rot. His gaze was thoughtful. Never in a million cycles did he think he would ever see war, but here it was, and here he was, ready to fight.

And he had something to fight for.

No child of his was going to grow up in a world infested with mind-controlling fungus.

__________________________________________________________

"Listen"
Tag: Name || OOC:

Cetus was shitty compared to a room full of bones, and it hosted a pretty severe bit of traumatic memories. Alright - just one, and that was being full-on punched by a golem at the Collector's bidding. Eythan was pretty sure he got nothing out of that except for straight-up developing an aversion to using a prior reward.

So, Eythan didn't like this place because of his own idiocy. Try getting your flesh punched off, Collector.

Anyways.

There wasn't much to say about what Eythan did as the Bonebound entered the swamp, aside from the fact that he was taking up the rear in the procession at Aries's side. It was both to watch their six and to... totally hide his hesitation about being here. He'd seen what this fungus could do with just a touch.

we burn the brightest

in the dark

To say Aries was excited would be an understatement. The ram was practically chomping at the bit. Finally, some real action! He couldn't wait to torch the fungus out of the Hive. The whole trek there, he had snorted smoke like a steam engine on fire, and moved as briskly as one, frustrated at the others for slowing him down.

Eventually, he fell in line beside Eythan. The gryphon had a way of reining him in. Perhaps he was the only one that could.

So, this the Child of Rot? He looked over at the three of them when he arrived. "Huh." He was a little disappointed at the turn out. He's thought there'd be more.

Pride, the white stag, looked like the radiant specter of Astraea. The resemblance was uncanny. Apparently, this was all the "Seven" had to show too. He didn't know who the actual dragon belonged to, but grateful to have it their side nonetheless.

He brushed up against Eythan.
"Is this it?" Aries remarked, low enough to keep the conversation private. "I'd thought there's be more." He squinted at Pride. "Hmm. Wasn't there supposed to be seven of them?"

"Listen to me."
Thoughts...

TAG: @Eythan // OOC:

Pride wasn't alone in his general disdain for the muck and mire.

Mud was clinging fast to Nassir's limbs, forming rather sizeable lumps on them that were persistently growing larger with every step. At least the stag had the benefit of long, slender limbs - his own were feeling quite overly heavy. Quite frankly, he was miserable and already sopping wet. If they had time to mess around and waste magicka, he suspected that he and Pride would've just carried one another across the swamp via telekinesis.

But, no - they were at some mysterious odds that would finally give the leopard a chance to prove himself as... well, something. Nassir'd already apparently proved his loyalty and pro-activity in the wake of Zothra's leaving.

Nassir moved in step behind the pale stag, leaving him to his canvassing of Cetus and instead just watching silently and calling to the limbed serpent - "I'm Nassir, of the Seven."

Someone'd been practicing his speech.