BoZV - Arc 2

[Arashi]

Enfurnus laughed a bit, looking at Aqua, then to Rion.

"Oh you guys...it's a fox. They don't live anywhere unless they have babies, and it's not the season for that...don't worry about it. It's not like its a person...a lot of wild animals don't make homes...especially foxes. They just wander about and find safety wherever they can. If anything, we're helping it find a mate sooner by moving it somewhere else."

He snickered, then continued walking. Living in the wild has its perks. Though, he found their concern for the fox rather endearing...it came from good hearts. He was kind of suspicious of the fox though, much like Rion was. It was acting odd. It obviously was not blighted or anything, but still...who knows. But, he knew he was certainly capable of making swift work of anything that was a threat, so he wasn't too worried about it. The worst it could be is some weird nature mage's summon or something...

Silver shrugged and continued walking. She was pretty tired at this point, but wouldn't make note of that to the others. She pet the foxes black-spotted white fur. She didn't really have anything left to say at this point.

[Swim]

Back in Agrova a man stepped away from a pair of smoking corpses and heaved a sigh of disappointment. He strode over to his work station and picked up a small audio recording device, electricity still crackling from his fingers. "Audio log entry 276," he began, "It has been some time since my last human trail. Both subjects endured the conditioning phase but ultimately succumbed to the final procedure. Voltage and length of exposure were both controlled for, progression and decomposition rates to be catalogued into my case study notes. The formula still eludes me but with a bit more time and a few more test subjects I think I can replicate my gift and improve these people's lives. Once I finish analyzing the data here I'll be packing up and moving on to the next town..." He trailed off as his eyes became drawn to the crystal shard sitting on his work bench. He picked it up and fingered it carefully, the crystal seeming to react to the charge coursing through his fingers. At some point he'd need to make time to run some tests on the crystal, for now his Blight research had taken a backseat to his experimentation with Lightning. Now he wondered if the two might be connected, if it were possible that this fragment of mineral might hold the key to both strands of research. Electrified though the thought made him, that would have to wait. By dawn, all trace of the man had vanished.

---------------------------------------------

"But it's so small, I assumed that this fox was a baby," Terra was saying. "Maybe it got lost or some predator killed its mother, that could explain why it's not running away from us."

She stopped abruptly as a bolt of lightning lit up the sky behind them. She waited for an accompanying rumble of thunder but there was none that she could hear. The storm was quite far off then, back in the direction they'd come from. Terra hoped it wouldn't catch up with them, but they would lose some time if they stopped to camp.

[Sorrum]

Aqua thought about what Terra had said. The fox was safe in their care, but taking it from here was another matter entirely. Lightning struck not far away from them. "Perhaps we should make camp before the storm catches us?" She suggested.

[Bloodbane]

Rion turned his head as the flash of lightning lit up the sky... but no sound was heard. "I think we could go a bit farther... still has a few miles to go if it even is heading this way. But you're right, we probably won't be able to get too much farther if it is." He explained. As he figured, Enfurnus had no problem with the fox being around, though he seemed a little curious about its actions as well by the looks of things. Whatever the case, Rion continued looking around as he moved, mainly for a good place to set up for the evening than anything else. He did, however, look over at Silver after a few moments, tilting his head as they walked. "You all right over there? Got real quiet all of a sudden..."

[Arashi]

"No." Enfurnus looked to Terra and laughed a bit. "It has no features of a baby. It's just on the smaller side. It happens. Probably a runt or something...."

Enfurnus nor Silver reacted to the lightning. Being in the sky a lot really desensitized both of them, and...Silver is a lightning dragon anyway. Storms don't mean much to her....besides fun, anyway. Of course she wouldn't admit that though. Well....maybe to Aqua. Aqua seemed to get it.

Enfurnus nodded at Aqua's words, then listened to Rion. "Well, we probably should soon regardless. Scout something out and we can stop. Doesn't really matter where, honestly. You guys pick."

Silver was startled slightly as Rion spoke to her. She wasn't expecting anybody to notice her quietness...since she was usually kinda quiet anyway. It seemed like Rion was starting to figure her out a bit.

"H-huh? Oh...yeah, I'm fine." She was tired, but wouldn't say that in front of everyone...they could all likely hear her. She didn't want them to stop moving forward because of her.

It was also kind of cold now. Man, stupid weather. She clung to the fox, stealing warmth from its fur.

[Bloodbane]

Rion nodded to Enfurnus' suggestion to pick out a spot to camp soon. The thing about the fox didn't really bother him too much, as long as it didn't lead the group into trouble. He looked at Silver, who still seemed rather clammed up about something all of a sudden, but decided it was not his business to pry.

After some time of traveling, Rion found what looked to be a spacious clearing that would allow plenty of room to set up camp. It was still a ways away from the mountains, but with how likely it seemed that bad weather was approaching, it was as good a place as any. Looking to the rest of the group, he nodded. "I'd say this is a pretty good place to stop and rest. We can get to the mountains in the morning." He stated, as he began clearing space to get things set up.

[Arashi]

As they approached the clearing, Silver sighed with relief. She was glad that the group had decided to rest somewhere now, and perhaps she could even steal a little time to herself in this nice and safe area.

"I like it." She smiled a bit. "Mmm...it's cold, I'll go get firewood. I'll be right back." She wandered off in a random direction in to the trees to go fetch some firewood for the group, and also to get a little bit of time for herself. She took the fox with her.

Enfurnus looked around the clearing underneath the cloudy night sky and nodded. "Maybe we can set things up while she's off? She should be back soon. She likes to wander off sometimes." He laughed a bit. He knew her actual intentions with taking off; Silver did it all the time back when she was helping Enfurnus out.

He began moving any debris out of the way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


As Silver walked through the woods, she smiled a bit. It was nice and quiet here, and it gave her some time to unwind a bit. Though it was pretty cold, she couldn't really do anything about that, so she just chose to enjoy the peace away from all the fighting.

Soon, a bit away from where the group had set up camp, she stumbled upon some decent sized branches that would make for great firewood.

"Okay little guy, I have to put you down, so you'll have to walk now." She spoke to the fox that she was holding. It tilted its head a bit, but otherwise made no reactions to her words this time around.

But...before she could put it down, it began glowing white....and its shape began...changing? Before she could even react, the fox had turned in to a human male that was, much to Silver's dismay, waaaaayyyy too close; maybe just a couple inches away. He was slightly taller than her, with a thin build. His hair was black with a white streak through his bangs. A sly, satisfied expression soon crossed his face.

A bestia.

He put his hands on Silver's shoulders gently, still staying close. She pretty much just looked a combination of disgusted and horrified.

"Hi there. Finally we are alone." He paused for a moment.

"You helped me! You reward is me. Congratulations. What shall you do with your prize, pretty dragon lady?"

He drew slightly closer to her, still looking pleased with himself. He didn't seem like he was up to anything bad, he just seemed to be a massive flirt. It was innocent, but...Silver never liked strangers close to her in such a manner. It scared her more than monsters and beasts ever could. Plus, it was such a surprise; it freaked her out. She stayed quiet, frozen for a few moments.

"Well?" The fox bestia spoke, not moving. "It's cold, I can warm you up~"

Silver then shoved him back slightly and took off running back towards the group as fast as she could, nearly tripping on things along the way. She made her way back in to the camp, scrambled over to Rion, likely interrupting whatever he was doing, and hid behind him in an almost comical fashion.

"I-It's a bestia." She spoke quietly, her voice a bit shaky. That probably made no sense.

Soon after, the fox walked back in to the camp, still limping slightly. It sat down somewhat near Aqua and yawned, as if nothing happened.

[Sorrum]

Aqua holstered her spear, the ice disappearing from the end as she stopped supporting its form with a flow of mana. While the men cleared away rocks and dirt to set up camp, she thought it best to use her own skills. She removed her cape, folding it over itself in three layers and rested it upon a log, followed by her helmet which she simply unbuckled and placed atop the folded cape. She freed a backpack that had been behind her cape and propped the blue and gold woven backpack against the log turned furniture. She withdrew a sleeping bag from its contents, its design matching the backpack. Aqua judged the temperature to be cold enough, and with the oncoming storm..

A wide glyph appeared below her. A few seconds passed, and amidst the cleared area beams of ice ascended from either side of the clearing, skewering the open air, crashing into one another. Her hands moved and twisted in the air in front of her, as she manipulated the haphazard pillars into a domed roof, which she moved to put the sleeping bag under.

She thought it strange for a moment, upon seeing her work, how the blight had effected her magic when they were near the crystal before, compared to now. She felt the warmth of the amulet she had against her shirt, beneath her armor. Internally, she debated its credibility. She wondered where that person, Celestrus, had ran off to. The thought returned to the back of her mind as she noticed the return of Silver, who scurried back into the camp with alarming frenzy.

"What?" She heard what the girl spoke, but as quietly as she said it, she didn't believe she heard right. The fox returned as well, finding itself a nice spot on Aqua's bag. Whatever happened, it was now a concern. Aqua pulled the fox up by the scuff of its neck in one hand scrutinizing it, her elven eyes peering into the fox's. A bestia in disguise? She would soon find out. Unlike dragons, she was all too well familiar with bestia.

"Hey Terra," Aqua turned and called out across the pit. "We didn't catch anything on the way up here. This little fox should be a good appetizer at least, don't you think?" She said, hoping the girl would play along. "Wanna cook it up?" She said, before tossing the fox through the air towards Terra.

[Swim]

When they finally stopped to make camp the first thing Terra did was to remove her armor. Stopping would at least give her the opportunity to properly care for it and to clean it properly, she'd neglected it for far too long now. The cloak she left on mostly again for the facial bruising, she could generate enough heat to keep warm without any additional clothing. It seemed like the others were getting cold though, so Terra decided the best thing that she could do was to make them a fire.

While Frida and Rion worked on a shelter, Terra set to work creating a fire pit and ignited a few branches in her hands. It was a start but she'd need more wood than that to keep it going and Silver hadn't returned yet. For some reason Enfurnus' comment made Terra think that Silver was just wandering off for some alone time and not fetching wood after all as she'd claimed. Either way, they'd probably use whatever they gathered so an extra armful probably wouldn't hurt.

Terra stepped away from their place of encampment and into the trees looking for good wood to burn. She found a likely looking tree that wasn't getting enough sunlight and was probably going to die soon anyway. Terra rammed her fist into the base of the trunk and stepped away as it fell with a crash. Once it had settled Terra spent the next few minutes breaking it into campfire sized logs and carried them back to the others.

When she returned Terra saw that the others had gotten the shelter up and that Silver had returned, predictably without any firewood. What a team player. She was now huddled behind Rion shivering. For a moment Terra felt a mixture of pity and surprise, she would've expected dragons to handle cold better than humans or elves but that didn't seem to be the case. Her pet handwarmer was now in Frida's hands and the elf was looking over it closely for some reason.

"Hey Terra," she called, noticing her return and tossing the fox toward her. Terra abruptly dropped the stack of firewood to catch the animal. "We didn't catch anything on the way up here. This little fox should be a good appetizer at least, don't you think? Wanna cook it up?"

Terra considered. It'd be a bit gamey and there wasn't much meat on it for five people. But then any amount of some warm food was sure to lighten everyone's spirits so in one motion she snapped the fox's neck and set it down near the fire pit along with the wood.

"Could you toss me my bag?" she asked Frida, noticing that her gear was sitting near the elf. Inside it Terra had a hunting knife and some cooking supplies. After skinning the fox she sliced up the meat and tossed it into a cooking pot which she hung over the fire to stew. The fur she set aside, having already decided to make mittens out of it for Silver. Hopefully that would be a good first step toward bridging the rift she felt between them.

[Arashi]

The fox put on an innocent face as Aqua picked him up. Welp, his cover was blown now....maybe. Before he could react though, he was tossed over to Terra.

Terra thought she had killed the fox, but in reality...she was probably laying on the floor, mumbling incoherently. Everything she had just done had been some sort of induced hallucination, apparently. The bestia wasn't defenseless, apparently; he was skilled in some sort of odd magic...in inducing hallucinations? Probably not too surprising for a fox bestia; they were known for their tricks.

Before anybody could react, the fox had taken off in to the forest, and Terra was likely back to normal and confused after he was gone. The magic had no lingering effects; it was just a distraction.

[Swim]

Terra stirred the stew and brought the spoon to her lips to taste. She'd added some herbs and spices from her bag to the broth, she hadn't brought much with her but it was better than nothing. Curiously she was unable to taste the fox, her spoonful contained only broth. She stirred the pot again looking for meat but strangely was unable to find any. There hadn't been very much meat on the fox but there should have been some in the stew. Was the fire so hot that it had actually dissolved the meat? Something felt off about the situation but regardless, the stew was ready to eat so she took the pot off the heat. "Food's ready" she called to everyone still working. Terra ladled five portions into cups before taking one and sitting back down next to the fire.

[Bloodbane]

"A bestia...?" Rion asked, tilting his head in surprise as Silver suddenly hid behind him. What was that all about? While he didn't mind too much that she had gone off while the others set to work on the camp, there was no denying that now even he was thinking this was all a bit weird. He stared at the fox, before seeing Aqua lift it up and examine it. However, whether she was thinking she would try and force the bestia to reveal itself or not, he watched as the fox appeared to be tossed over to Terra... and then after an odd series of motions Terra seemed to prepare a stew while the fox ran off. Did... did the fox do something? She acted like she caught it... He wondered, though by the time it was apparent there was no fox, it was long gone.

"... So what makes you think that was a bestia?" He asked Silver as he got himself a bowl of the meatless soup, curious as to what had her so freaked out. By now, he was somewhat convinced that there was more to the small creature than it appeared, but even something like what just happened didn't seem like it would be enough to rattle Silver so severely. Where it was now did not matter to him too much, but he couldn't let it cause everyone to freak out like that either.

[Arashi]

Silver watched as the fox took off, wondering what the heck he did to Terra. He didn't seem to really harm her, so that's good enough.

Enfurnus snarled a bit as the fox obviously did something to Terra, after doing something to Silver. Though, Aqua seemed to get a handle on the situation before he could. He walked up to her after the whole ordeal and smirked a bit. "I think you handled that just about the way I would have."

She was still spooked after her encounter, though had calmed down a little bit now in the safety of her traveling companions. Aqua seemed to have heard her say he was a bestia; she reacted pretty harshly. Whether it was out of concern for Silver or Aqua just wanting to reveal the impostor, Silver couldn't help but feel a bit relieved and pleased with Aqua's actions.

She had then realized she had just sort of hid behind Rion on instinct without really thinking about it much. She looked down a bit, hiding the embarrassment evident on her face. Luckily, with her hood and mask, it probably wouldn't be so visible anyway.

"S-sorry." She muttered to Rion as he got soup and asked her about the bestia. She took a breath.

"When I stopped to get some wood, the fox turned in to his human form and....and...he got all close and touchy and flirty with me. So...I uh....ran." She shuddered a bit. It was obvious how uncomfortable it made her; she disliked strangers, and one popping her personal bubble like that was horrid. That bubble was reserved for nice people, not creeps. It probably wouldn't make sense to the others; she's a half dragon, she could have just shifted forms and scared him off. But...those sorts of situations fry her brain and set her in panic.

She then quietly got some soup, noticing it...had no meat in it? Oh well. It'd be good on this cold night.

Enfurnus scoffed upon hearing that.

"What a creep, taking advantage of people like that."

[Sorrum]

Aqua had turned away after tossing the fox over. She figured Terra could handle it. She removed her the rest of her armor while Terra fidgeted on the ground.

Aqua was stretching her arms when Enfurnus walked up to her. "Hm? Handled what?" She had been too occupied with her outfit to notice if anything happened. "Ah. Foods ready. Shall we sit?" She grabbed a bowl and filled it with the soup. She hadn't eaten much at the restaurant, and was famished. She sighed after a few spoonfuls, detecting a lack of meat. "What happened with that Fox? Did he run off?" She asked, trying to take her mind off the food.

[Bloodbane]

Rion tilted his head when Silver explained how the fox had transformed into a human form, before eating some of the soup while Silver told her story. Confirming that there was indeed no meat in the stew, he then frowned when Silver explained just what the fox bestia had done. "That's... yeah, creepy." He said, cringing at the tale before looking over to Aqua. "Yeah I think he must have got away somehow, given it was a bestia there was likely magic involved. I don't think it's a big deal, but we'll need to be more careful about picking up random creatures." He said, laughing a little before drinking from the bowl. "Soup's still pretty good, at least." If nothing else, the warmth of the soup was nice. Having finished the bowl, Rion set it down and continued setting up camp, finding little reason to dwell on the matter of the fox now that it was gone.