Fantasy Age of Wonderbeasts

[Semblance]

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• AGE OF WONDERBEASTS
  
  

  

  
  
  Main- IC OOC CS World
  
  GM: Semblance
  Genre: Post-apocalyptic fantasy, Adventure, Action
  Status: Closed to new characters.
  
  Structure: This RP will be separated into different chapters based on certain plot points with a different goal for each chapter.
  
  Post Order: There is no set order. As there are 7 writers in this RP with varying levels of activity, a good rule of thumb is that if there has been at least 4 posts since your last one, then you're good to post another one.
  
  Characters List
  
  

  Humans
  
  - Ardyn Blake (burrow)
  Semblance
  - Arias "Flame" Drayceon (burrow)
  ScatheAriiasqDrayceon
  - Jonathan Anderson (burrow)
  Shotgunpenguin

  Mutes
  
  - Kirri-Girri-Koroko (mongoose)
  CelticHero37
  - Jet Arian Kadoshi (fish owl)
  ScatheAriiasqDrayceon
  - Harloteck Bolrias (komodo
  dragon) Huntertabbysandshark3
  - Kiruk (crow)
  kaito9049
  
  
  
• 
  
  

  
  
  INTRODUCTION
  

  Two hundred years ago, radiation levels on the earth's surface rose to a deadly level. The end of life as we knew it fell upon civilization everywhere. The unprecedented radiation levels began to alter the DNA structure of many living creatures, not only affecting their physical appearance and size, but also their mental and intelligent capabilities. This was called the Great Mutant Outbreak. Animals such as cats, monkeys, rabbits, and wolves, received the capability to be just as intelligent as their human counterparts. They acquired hobbies, critical-thinking, creativity, ideas. Some learned to coexist with humans while others wanted to control the earth's surface for their own benefit. Eventually, humans were forced to flee underground, escaping the mutant animals that ravaged the surface as well as the rising radiation levels.
  
  Now, in present day, people have thrived in their underground bunker. Each person has a role in keeping their society safe, well-fed, and happy. Children go to school, adults have jobs, and the elderly are cared for. Kids are taught that the surface is dangerous, filled with savage mutant animals ready to kill them at the mere sight of them, that the radiation will have risen to levels much too high for any human to stay on the surface for more than a few minutes without burning to death. Thus, people are content with their underground lives. Students learn about the constellations without ever having seen a single star, about photosynthesis without ever having smelled a single flower, and about the diverse biology of nature without ever having touched a single animal.
• 
  
  

  
  
  HUMAN CHARACTERS
  

  Half of you will be playing descendants of the humans who fled the surface and currently live in an underground burrow that is represented by the clover symbol. Your characters are members of the burrow's rock climbing club. You and your teammates were at practice one day with your coach, Lio, training for the next competition when the entire burrow began to collapse into itself. When you looked up, you saw a gigantic Mega Monkey, the size of a large building, destroying your burrow and breaking through the overheard rocks.
  
  A ray of sunlight broke through the top as the roof of the burrow was destroyed and you caught your first glimpse at real sunlight, feeling its warmth and heat. You didn't have any time to marvel, however, as chaos exploded. All of your fellow burrowmates began to panic and scatter, trying to avoid the huge rocks falling from the ceiling and walls. Before you could react, Lio threw you and your teammates down into the flooding sewage system in an attempt to save you from collapse. As a result, you and your rock climbing teammates were washed through the long, dark underground tunnels, fighting to keep yourselves from drowning. In the end, you get blown up through an old pothole on the surface and land onto the hard dirt ground, soaking wet, gasping for air, and stinking like sewage.
  
  Looking around, you and your teammates realize that this is not only your first time on the post-apocalyptic earth's surface, but you are also not burning to death from the radiation like you were taught. Your body and skin feel fine. It feels more than fine- it feels alive, because it has returned to the place it truly belongs: on earth. Before you get a chance to celebrate not dying, you hear growling and rustling all around you and you quickly realize that the surface is as wild and dangerous as everyone told you it was.
• 
  
  

  
  
  MUTANT CHARACTERS
  

  The other half of you will be playing intelligent animal mutants (or "mutes") who have been living on the earth's surface all your lives. Life is harsh up here- eat or be eaten, kill or be killed. Never pass up any chances for food, no matter the means, because you never know where your next meal will be coming from.
  
  When the radiation first rose 200 years ago, it made your species gain human-level intelligence, walking upright on two feet, dressing yourself with clothing, and growing to human height/size. Not only were you born with all the mental/emotional capabilities that a human has, but you also kept your original fangs, claws, and talons, making you a formidable being.
  
  Some mutes live in groups while others prefer to keep to themselves. Some mutes have set up base in one location while others roam around, hopping from one place to the next. But if there's one thing everyone agrees on, it's the burrow-people: the soft, weak humans who escaped underground, and if they ever show their face on the surface, they would be easy picking for any lucky mutant who stumbles upon them first.
  
  For one reason or another, when you yourself come across the soaking wet, young, fresh-faced burrow-people by the pothole, you decide to help them find their way back to their burrow home instead of making them your next meal or killing them just because you can. Will you regret it? Maybe. Is this probably the dumbest decision you've ever made? Most definitely.
• 
  
  

  
  
  A NOTE FROM YOUR GM
  

  Welcome to my RP everyone! My name is Semblance but you can call me Sem or whatever your heart desires. I know most GM's like giving a list of rules but I think they're pretty self-explanatory. All RPN rules apply. Be nice and use common sense. I expect that we will all be kind and cooperative adults who just want to have fun writing together because I certainly do.
  
  Size- I'm looking for a small/medium group of dedicated writers, so probably somewhere around 4-6 people, but it will also depend on how many acceptable character sheets get posted.
  
  Character selection- This will NOT be first come first serve. I will be choosing an even number of human characters and mutant characters from all the posted character sheets. I will make the decision based on how original, interesting, and dynamic your character is. Please have fun with this! Character creation is one of my favorite parts of RPing- try to do something you haven't done before and leave lots of room for growth. (No perfect Mary Sue's please.)
  
  Writing Level- This RP is advanced when it comes to post content and length. No one-liner/one-paragraph posts but a novel is not required either. Use your best judgement for how long you think your post should be (generally 2-5 detailed paragraphs with proper grammar/spelling is adequate.)
  
  Activity- Ideally, I would like each person to write at least 2 posts per week, but I know that everyone is busy with their own lives so this is not a strict rule. If something comes up in real life, just let us all know!
  
  Inspiration- This RP is directly inspired by the TV show, Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts, on Netflix. The world, story, and characters are all extremely well thought-out and enjoyable. I would highly recommend it if anyone wants to check it out! The setting of this RP is pretty much the exact same as the TV show, but the characters and plot are of course altered. If you would like, feel free to watch the first episode (~20min) so you get a better sense of the world and vibe I'm going for.
  
  Plot- I did create a general story outline for us to follow. However, I would LOVE to have side-plots that diverge us from the main storyline once in a while if you think of something for your character(s). I welcome any and all ideas- I want this to be a collaborative group effort with dynamic characters and taking full advantage of this world. Romance is perfectly acceptable, if not encouraged.
  
  I do plan on creating a Discord for all OOC communications after I've officially selected all the characters/writers, but I would like to keep IC posts on the RPN website. Before characters are chosen, we can use the OOC thread on RPN for discussion. I'm still working on the IC, OOC, CS, and setting/lore threads, so I'll post those once this gains enough traction.
• 
  
  THE SETTING
  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

 

[Semblance]

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTIONS

After a long trip through the convoluted tunnels of the sewage drain, the human characters are shot up through an old pothole in the middle of Polis. They decide to try to find their way back to their burrow to see if anyone has survived. This is when the mute characters stumble upon the humans and they meet for the first time. For one reason or another, the mutes decide to help them and advise the humans to hide the fact that they are from an underground burrow in order to avoid being an easy target for dangerous mutes.​

 

[Semblance]

ARDYN BLAKE​

The first thing Ardyn noticed was the soft warmth embracing her entire body. She had never felt such innocent fire dancing over her skin without burning her. Her chest contorted into a tight spasm and she coughed out all the water she had swallowed during her sewage tunnel trip. With both hands flat on the hot black asphalt, she coughed several times until she felt like she had expelled every ounce of liquid from her chest. Wiping the water from her mouth, she pushed her red hair out of her face and looked around her.

Destroyed buildings, old cars, and broken telephone poles and street lights littered the landscape. They were in the middle of what was once a sprawling metropolis but had now turned into a post-apocalyptic urban graveyard. There were green plants growing over just about everything. Based on what she remembered from her Earth Sciences class, she guessed that the green plants were called either "ivy" or "moss," although she had never seen plants before so she wasn't sure if she was correct. Looking directly above her, she was immediately blinded by the extremely bright, giant ball of white light glaring down at her. Ardyn instantly turned her head away and rubbed her eyes with her hands, burning tears falling out. "The sun..." she said to herself, remembering what she had learned in class. "Wait a second... we're alive," she realized out loud and noticed that her rock climbing teammates were beginning to awaken as well. "Are you guys okay?" she asked them. "We're alive," she repeated again, this time to her teammates. Everything they had been taught had been wrong- the surface was survivable.

Her memories of a gigantic, angry monkey destroying their burrow in the middle of rock climbing practice came back to her. What had happened to everyone else? Had the rest of her burrow survived the attack? She had no idea if any of her friends or family were still alive. After all, they were lucky that their coach, Lio, who was belaying them at the time, had reacted quickly enough and yanked them down into the sewage drain below. Ardyn's eyebrows furrowed with concern, but she managed to make herself focus on what was in front of her at the moment. First, she had to make sure everyone here was okay.

CelticHero37 ScatheAriiasqDrayceon SomebodyElse Shotgunpenguin Huntertabbysandshark3

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

Flame all-but threw themself up the rock, using almost every muscle in their body to propel themself up the rough surface, landing up and slightly to the side with a grin that looked much too like they were baring their teeth like a surface "wolf".

They loved climbing, specifically getting that oh-so-freeing air-time between jumping and landing. Every practice, they were the last to come down, and when they did, they jumped the last few feet, always landing on the balls of their feet or—depending—tucking into a graceful (kinda) roll.

This, however, was not any other practice.

A rumble shook the rock below them, the sensation of a vibration so intense it could only be a mega traveling up their arms and legs, jarring their teeth and their spine. It's just a passing Mega. It's fine.

Skies, they hated being underground. Too shaky. Too wet. Cold.

Flame wrinkled their nose in disgust, tracking the thumping progress over their heads and right in the center of the—

BOOM!

Harsh, white light blasted Flame's face, their pupils attempting to narrow down to block it out to no avail. The student always had good vision in the dark, so much so that they were regularly suspected of managing to fabricate some sort of stimulant, but no, it was just the effect of staying in the dark most of the time. That had some unfortunate consequences, however, as the moment light so-much-as brushed past their retina, the vitamin-D-deprived teen lost their ability to see, scrunching their eyes shut with a yelp.

This left them unprepared for their harness to be harshly pulled down, tearing them from the surface of the rock. Startled, Flame did the only thing they knew to do, correcting their posture and landing with knees slightly bent and body leaned forward, fully prepared to roll.

So when they hit the ground, they roll—oh, shit, that's water.

A yelp left their mouth as they rolled without thinking, faceplanting right into the cold liquid with their eyes still closed. Franticly, hands came up to their separate climbing-piece; a rope-dart modified with a grapple-hook disguised as a scarf. The cloth was meant for solo-climbing, and as such, half was wrapped around their torso, but the other half was around their neck for ease of access, a certain type of knot preventing it from constricting around them at all.

The cloth was honestly the only thing they were aware of, but it was also heavy, so they tucked it to their chest and out of the way.

All they could do was keep their head above the surface, counting the turns. However, they lost track after being spun in a circle. They were barely conscious for the entire thing, so when they were spat out onto something hard and vaguely warm, they didn't complain and just laid there to catch their breath.
~~~~

Flame tapped back into the real world in pain. Lots of pain. Dull pain that they quickly learned to ignore, but pain nonetheless. They barely registered one of their climbing mates speaking, much less the meanings associated with the sounds. The vague warmth was a welcome on their aching muscles, though.

The light, however, could go to hell.

Even through their eyelids, it tinted their vision red, adding to the rapidly-budding headache blooming in the back of their brain.

The teammate spoke again, allowing for the teen to identify them. Ardyn.

They did not, however, feel like speaking, and instead made a noise that could graciously be described as a "hiss". Their only concern at the moment was getting their body running properly, again, and considering they couldn't move... like... at all, that did not bode well.

And there were still weird black spots in their vision from the temporary sun blindness.

It took them another few moments, but Arias eventually managed to sit upright, gagging as the water they had apparently swallowed (gross) made itself known.

They promptly leaned to the side and puked.

"Too bright," Flame snarled, their first actual words the entire day. "Hurts."

They groped blindly for their scarf until they felt metal—warm to the touch—shaped in a familiar cylinder, wherein they promptly wrapped it around their neck again, the knot going near the back of their neck.

"Define 'okay'," Flame requested dryly upon processing what Ardyn asked. "I feel like I was put through a spin-cycle... oh wait."

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

"Jet Kadoshi, this is possibly the worst idea you've ever had," a voice muttered, drifting through the forest quietly. The owner of said voice already picking his way toward an abandoned pharmacy. Lithe bird-like legs with talons sharper than they had any right to be carried a dark shape through the woods, ear-tufts perking as he saw the street through the thick trunks. "Yes, this is laying low. Very low. Walking out into the street."

He huffed to himself, beak clicking in consideration. It was just a supply run, but the jays had all-but torn a feather from him, meaning they could very well find him.

The spot along his neck—which was already growing a new pin-feather—smarted at the reminder.

Jet glanced both directions down the street briefly before arching his back and jumping enough to carry him a fair distance, hitting the ground already in an all-out sprint. He skidded to a stop by the counter, taking in the store. A normal pharmacy, albeit trashed to hell and back, shelves knocked over and bottles strewn across the floor.

He poked through a few of them, scanning for only two names. One was a long-lasting painkiller that—thankfully—worked on mutes, and the other being ADHD medication. Carmine was out of pills again, and that worried the owl, considering their current... status.

"Methylin, Methylin... nope. Nope. Wow, this place has been raided for all it's worth, huh?"

Jet clicked his beak together again, the sharp sound helping him focus some.

"Not even any advil. Okay... new plan."

Said new plan was briefly interrupted when he heard a rumble, a crash, and the horrible sound of rock on metal.

 

[Shotgunpenguin]

Jonathan Anderson

The familiar feeling of pain radiating through his body was the first thing that Jonathan noticed, having experienced it far too many times to remember. His ribs ached as he drew breath, his head pounded like someone was using it as a drum, and the familiar taste of blood filled his mouth as he opened his eyes, only to immediately shut them as the light assaulted his senses. Instinctively rolling himself onto his side, he began to cough violently as his body attempted to dispel the water from his stomach. Once he had ridden himself of the water, his breath came out in short sputters interrupted by fits of coughing. Attempting to open his eyes again, the same light that had assaulted his senses returned, although thankfully partially muted this time. He blinked his eyes, dispelling the black spots that doted his vision before he could finally take notice of his environment.

His body was so cold, colder than he had ever felt before, and he couldn't help but shiver as his teeth clacked together. "S-so cold. W-where am I?" His mind struggled to recall the events that had just transpired, large blanks in his memory slowly filling in as his brain began to wake up. Jonathan remembered going to rock climbing practice, today was a more intense training for the upcoming competition, something that had peaked his interest. More intense training meant that Lio had thought that they were ready for it, something that Jonathan had respected of the man. He was a good judge of character, he didn't push the members further than they could handle and would always be sure to share any advice he had. It was during practice that the ceiling suddenly exploded outward, showering their group with rocky debris as they scrambled towards the ground. Some huge hairy thing smashed through their burrow, what it was stayed on the tip of his tongue before it fell off, and Lio sprung into action.

What happened next was a blur, Jonathan remembered his body locking up as it tried to decide between fight or flight before he felt something yank at the back of his shirt. Before he knew it, Leo had thrown all of them downward into the sewage drain, he wasn't sure if it was his body's natural response or his fear of falling but he remembered impacting the water below like a rock, sinking down into the muck before he realized he was sinking. The group was pulled down the system, their bodies thrashing around as they tried to stay above water. Jonathan himself had slammed into debris a few times, the memory causing another ache to burst out from his ribs. After that everything went dark, at least until a few minutes ago when he had woken up. Groaning as he rolled himself onto his ass, Jonathan looked around to find one of the other climbers ask if they were okay.

His mind blanked as he tried to remember her name, mentally cursing at himself as he was sure it had come up dozens of times before. "I think so-" He stopped to spit out a glob of blood, the crimson staining the blacktop as he continued "Nothing broken at least." His brain finally recalled the woman's name, Ardyn, as he finally took in his surroundings. It looked as if everyone from the group with the exception of Lio had made it out, something that wasn't lost on Jonathan. "Why didn't Lio follow us through the sewage system? It would have been easy to jump down after he pulled us down." If he wasn't able to follow them, did that mean he went back to try and help the others? Shaking his head, Jonathan turned and replied to his other club member.

"As long as nothing is broken we should be fine. If it were anything serious you probably wouldn't even be awake to complain about it." The body worked wonderfully in that regard, limiting the amount of damage a person could do to it if injured. Calling out to Arias, Ardyn, and the other's who were slowly gaining consciousness "Where are we? This place...." Jonathan trailed off, unsure of what to even call his surroundings. Was this really the outside? The light that has burned his eyes at first was now warming his body up, not burning it to a crisp like they were taught.

Semblance SomebodyElse ScatheAriiasqDrayceon ​

 

[CelticHero37]

Kirri-Girri Koroko

Snake Dance staring MONGUYVER - YouTube​

Kirri-Girri closed the door to her apartment and locked it. She threw on her jean jacket and pulled her dog tags front and center before reaching up and pulling the sucker from her mouth to check how far she was with it. Giving it a disappointed look, she stuck it back in her mouth and slipped her hands into the pockets of her jean jacket as she headed for the elevator. Coming to the elevator shaft, she reached over the protective gate and flicked a string fastened to the inside of the shaft. Then she grabbed a cup hanging freely off the string and said, "Seven."

"Be up in a jiffy," came another voice as the ropes in the elevator shaft began to move. Moments later, a carriage arrived at her floor. Kirri opened the gate and stepped onto the platform.

"Ground," she reported into the cup before letting it go and grabbing onto a stability bar on the carriage. However, before reaching the ground floor, the carriage took another stop at floor three and Kirri found herself being accompanied by another officer in the Judgement Knights.

"Ah, Grand Sentinel Koroko. I've been meaning to talk to you. We've received new reports that there's some suspicious activity going on with the snakes again. Command was hoping you could lead a team over there to find out what's going on." said the official.

Kirri-Girri grimaced at the formal title and shook her head, "Look, uh... Sentry... K... Korval. Another green and hungry Spotter getting wind of the Snakes planning another concert is not suspicious activity."

"But... mam, we have to check it out," interrupted Sentry Korval.

"Fine, go ahead. I'm not stopping you. Go enjoy that concert," the carriage reached the ground floor and Kirri added, "meanwhile, I'm on patrol in about... five minutes. Later."

Without waiting for the Sentry's reply, Kirri stepped out of the elevator and headed to the right -- nodding at the lift operators on her way. Entering big doubled doors, she descended a large flight of stairs, passing other officers as she entered the subbasement -- a network of bunkers and tunnels that connected the high rises of the Mongoosen Queendom and their surrounding streets. Kirri waved at a few officers as she headed for the first point in her patrol. She opened a door and entered a small room with a ladder heading up a cylinder.

"Hey Spotter, your relief is here, how was your first real patrol?" she called. There was no response. She looked up the cylinder and called again, "Spotter?" Her voice echoed a bit and there was a sudden flash as something zoomed down the cylinder.

"Shhh! They might hear us. I-I don't know what they're called but... uh..." the Spotter started up, clearly spooked.

Kirri let out a sigh before giving him a confident smile, "Hey, just go report to Command and tell them what you saw. I'll take it from here."

The Spotter hesitated for a moment before nodding and heading out the door. Kirri then ascended the ladder. As she came to the top of the ladder, she slowly poked her head out of the manhole. At first, all she saw was the street. Then she turned around and she gasped. In a blink she was back out of sight, taking a moment to analyze what she'd seen. Then she decided it was time to investigate. After all, this was Mongoosen territory. Intruders were not welcome. In a flash, she zipped out of the manhole and behind a building. The only real recognizable sign of movement was the sound of the manhole cover rolling to a shut over the hole. Kirri began zooming from building, to bush, to hovel, to any hiding place she could find as she approached the humans and ran a circle around them and inspected them. She let out warning chatters as she did so. Any who knew the Mongoosen would recognize that sound as danger. The chattering bounced off the buildings and echoed around, amplifying them and making it sound like there was more than one voice.

Then, after inspection, she suddenly appeared in front of Ardyn with a stern look as the chattering noise ceased. Kirri shifted the sucker in her mouth before finally stating, "You don't belong here." Her eyes narrowed and flashed red as her muscles were poised. Every Mongoose knew that being caught off guard was usually fatal. However, she held her position to give them a chance to respond.

 

[SomebodyElse]

Lake had heard some noises of talking coming from an old sewage area. Usually people avoided this area but apparently there was some commotion going on. She stayed hidden as possible, in the case of some unfriendly mutes she didn't want to have things end in a fight. However upon arriving she noticed a bunch of burrow humans who had been seemingly washed up. Some mutes were gathering around too.

Lake knew better than to simply reveal herself, even if she could trust anyone there it was still better that she never existed as far as anyone was concerned. Still seeing this many humans was unusual and they seemed...soft in a way. Usually humans were all on edge and had way better survival instincts.

Lake hid behind some railing, clutching a knife incase anything bad went down. As long as she remained hidden, perhaps she would learn some valuable information.

 

[Semblance]

ARDYN BLAKE​

Ardyn looked over as both Flame and Jonathan sat up, coughing up water. They were both drenched and like Flame eloquently put it, looked like they had just been put through a spin cycle, but she didn't see any major physical injuries. "You look like shit," she told Flame, a slight smirk appearing on her face. Throwing out insults was the best way to cope after a traumatic event.

She looked at Jonathan when he asked where they were. "This has to be the surface. There's no other explanation," she replied, her hazel eyes scanning their environment, still taking in all the novel stimuli. "Guys, we're on the surface of Earth and we're not being burned to death. How is this possible?" She was half talking to her fellow humans and half muttering to herself.

Before she could get a response, however, a live, talking, mongoose-looking thing jumped out in front of her face out of nowhere. "Ahhh!!" Ardyn screamed out with shock and her right fist instinctively swung in the direction of the animal's face without thinking.

CelticHero37 Shotgunpenguin ScatheAriiasqDrayceon

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

"I wouldn't know," Flame replied dryly, waving their hand in front of their still-closed eyes. "But I can smell you from all the way over here, so I'll let my nonexistent mind's-eye do the rest of the work for me. Shouldn't be too hard; you reek," they replied with another one of their "grins".

They cut the crap and immediately shot to attention, however, when the chittering started. Their head swiveled around slowly, trying to locate the source of the sound. The scrape of claws on rock was easier to hone in on than the echoing chittering, so they focused on that, turning to face the sound before opening their eyes—and forcing them to stay open—with a wince.

They snorted dryly and couldn't hold back a snide comment. "No, where did you get that idea from?" they asked, voice positively drenched in sarcasm with a light powdering of cynicism. "Was it the pale skin that's never been exposed to solar radiation or the wide-eyed tourist stares?"

Flame was officially terrified.

So much so that they wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball and never get back up.

And that made itself known by fueling their nigh-suicidally sassy remarks.

~~~~~~~~

Jet grumbled to himself as he darted out into the open and onto the road, needing a bit of space to take off. Wings spreading wide, the owl's feathers sleeked down unconsciously to reduce drag and he jumped, bringing both wings down as he flared his tail-feathers, needing a view of things from higher up. Well... that and a good escape plan.

As he took off, Jet rolled his shoulders, adjusting his quarterstaff mid-flight because it was lopsided and really messing with his balance.

He got a bit more altitude and settled in to glide, making wide, sweeping circles and keeping himself high enough that there wasn't really any chance anyone would see him—and even if they did, he was too far away for anyone to pay him any mind.

He flew about for a while, scanning the ground cautiously until he caught wind of chattering—literal chattering. Perking an ear-tuft, he angled down and circled around an old sewage outflow. There did, indeed, seem to be a mongoose there, confronting a few... what were those?

Tilting his head, Jet glided down to discreetly land in a nearby tree, hoping they were all distracted enough not to notice him.

The smaller figures seemed to very well be humans, creatures Jet had only ever seen from a distance... they tended to be flighty on account of... well, mutes.

He peered out between the branches, tilting his head as one tried lashing out at the mongoose. Eesh. That could get bad. Another was speaking something Jet couldn't understand from his distance, but he did recognize the unfriendly tone.

He dropped out of the tree with a sigh, landing on his feet with the sharp, distinct click of his claws. Humans were technically endangered, and from the look of them, they had no idea what they were doing. The one that was "fighting" the mongoose didn't even seem to be looking where they were aiming, the sassy one obviously couldn't see, if the rapid blinking and head-shaking was anything to go by (Skies knew he knew that expression and feeling well), and the last was looking around like it was the first time they'd seen anything around them. Amnesia, perhaps.

He glanced up at the outflow with a considering click of his beak. Clogged by rocks. Still wet. The humans were wet.

Interesting. Burrowers, then. Probably, at least.

Jet stepped completely out into the light, clapping his hands together and tucking his feathers back. He was a decent ways away; far enough that he could probably get in the air before any of the possible threats could get to him.

"Would everyone settle down a moment?" he requested quite loudly, musical accent weaving his words into something less threatening than they would otherwise be. "I'm not entirely sure what this..." he tilted his head at the shortest one with a hum, "spat is, but I'm sure there's an easier way than violence?"

Truth be told, Jet knew nothing about modern human culture. The most he could glean from what little information survived was that they liked to fight.

 

[Shotgunpenguin]

Jonathan Anderson

Slowly getting off of his ass, Jonathan winced as another flash of pain ran through his body. While nothing was broken, his body would be bruised and sore for a few days at the very least. He was still looking over this new environment when a new noise suddenly began to emanate from the buildings around them. A chorus of noise erupted from every building, maybe a dozen voices calling out as he looked around wildly. He briefly wondered if he was only imagining it, but judging by the looks of the others the noises were very much real. A soft thump was all the warning he got as a voice suddenly called out behind him. Whipping his body around, his mind blanked as he was met with the sight of orange fur, a large bushy tail, and an animal wearing clothes and standing on two legs. She was standing in front of Ardyn, who responded to the creatures sudden appearance with a scream and a right hook aimed at it's face.

His mind raced as it bounced between fight or flight, whether to rush in and try to take down the creature or put some distance between it and him. Jonathan could tell that whatever was in front of them didn't show themselves out of overconfidence, their muscles were tense and ready to spring into action. Taking a quick glance over to Arias it looked like they were more comfortable making snide remarks than getting up close to this thing. Maybe that was the right move, get whatever this thing was talking so it'd be distracted. Eyes drifting around, he spied a piece of rebar a small distance away from where he was. Taking a quick breath, he sprinted over to the rebar and slid feet first across the still wet ground, grabbing it with his right hand before getting to his feet again. Brandishing the rebar at the creature, Jonathan called out "Don't know what you are, but you better get back."

A new voice broke the standoff, Jonathan turned his body so that he could still keep an eye on the furry thing and see who the new voice belonged to. The new voice belonged to a huge, towering bird like creature that was standing a fair distance away from the group. Far enough that it could probably flee if need be, unlike the other creature that might as well have shouted that they were confident enough that they could take all of them on. "Who- no, what are you?!" His mind was racing to process everything, from the weird animal creatures that were talking to them, to the fact that he was still alive despite being told that he would suffer a painful death if he were to ever go onto the surface. "Where are we!"

Mentioned: Semblance ScatheAriiasqDrayceon CelticHero37 ​

 

[Huntertabbysandshark3]

Harloteck
interaction:​

Digging through a ruined pile of what was once some grand structure was a creature one might not have expected as it was not a small Scavenger but a hulking reptilIan behemoth that was loading any twisted metal remains it had found into a large bag upon its back humming a soft tune to itself as it did so. However it paused upon the change of the wind it’s tongue flickering in and out more as a scent caught the hulking creature attention the metal objects it wore upon itself clinking and chittering as it walking slowly towards the scent.

the creature travelled but a few minutes soon noises could be heard screaming and shouting upon its approach it finally spotted what was causing the scent in the air. A particularly strange gathering of mutes and.. somethings the creature was unsure of they smelled... different perhaps they would prove interesting or of worst came to worst a new dish to prepare. Thusly with clinking and clattering announcing its arrival the huge reptile approached them All.

 

[CelticHero37]

Kirri-Girri Koroko

AWOLNATION - Run (Audio) - YouTube​

Through Kirri's astute observational skills, she noticed the moment Ardyn's muscles engaged, however, it took her a moment to recognize what the girl was actually trying to do. When she realized it was some sort of strike, she leaned to the side in a flash. The punch barely missed her, and it was only due to her natural Mongoose abilities that she was able to get out of the way. However, instead of getting angry, she recognized this girl didn't have a clue how to fight. Thus, instead of returning the favor in kind, Kirri's hand shot up and she grabbed the stick of her sucker, pulled it out of her mouth, and put it right between Ardyn's eyes with a thwack! It wasn't a soft hit, and would possibly leave a mark, but overall the girl would be fine. Kirri-Girri was quite a patient Mongoose. At least until another one of the visitors picked up a metal bar and brandished it as a weapon.

He was clearly scared, but that didn't matter to Kirri at this point. Keeping her eyes on the girl, Kirri's lips pulled back to expose her sharp teeth in a snarl and she chortled angrily in Mongoose before stating very sternly, "You dare brandish a weapon on the grounds of the Mongoose Queen?! Put that down before you get yourself killed!" Kirri's muscles twitched as her instincts told her to strike. Her orders were to kill on sight when intruders were found on the Queen's grounds, so she had already given them way more leeway than they deserved, and with more potential threats showing up, it was becoming harder for her to justify her own restraint. By now she figured sharpshooters would be lining up in the windows of the high rises and training their weapons on the intruders. It wouldn't be long before the streets were flooded with an army of Mongoosen. Once that happened, the group would stand no chance. Kirri knew if there was any chance of a peaceful resolution to this conflict, she needed to get them all off the grounds. Thankfully this road was the perimeter to the domain, so all she needed to do was get them all to step off the road. Jet would likely realize the position Kirri was in as well.

She tried to think of what to do, but before she could say anything, something caused her ears to twitch. She started to hear chattering coming from the buildings. She was out of time, "GET OFF THE ROAD!! IF YOU WISH TO LIVE, MOVE!! NOW!!" she said, pointing to her left. Then she started to chatter as well. Her fur puffed up and her eyes flashed red. She would not hesitate any longer. If they did not move, they were enemies.

Semblance
ScatheAriiasqDrayceon
Shotgunpenguin
Huntertabbysandshark3

 

[Semblance]

ARDYN BLAKE​

Ardyn barely registered Flame's sarcastic remarks when out of the corner of her eye, a tall, towering, black bird appeared seemingly out of nowhere and tried to settle down the tense group. Suddenly, the mongoose she had almost punched retaliated by hitting her in between the eyes with the lollipop she had been sucking in. "Ew!" She commented aloud, as she felt the mongoose's gross spit on her skin. Ardyn wiped off the saliva with her sleeve and rubbed the red mark it had made. Before she could respond, however, a large figure caught her attention from the corner of her eye and she saw some sort of reptile appear from the sidelines, making clinking and clattering sounds as it walked. "What in the world..." she muttered to herself. Had the radiation really evolved all these animals from mere beasts to attaining human-level intelligence?

Suddenly, the mongoose she had almost punched turned her attention onto Jonathan, clearly angry that he had picked up the rebar with intentions of attack. "Mongoose queen? What in god's name is a mongoose queen?" she asked, not really expecting an answer from anyone with this much commotion going on.

Ardyn noticed that a loud chattering noise, similar to the sound that this mongoose had made before she appeared, began to grow louder and louder. Whatever was making those noises was clearly growing closer by the second. An intense feeling of uneasiness overwhelmed her and she felt like she had a big target on her back. So when the mongoose with the lollipop all of a sudden grew in twice her original size and eyes flashed red, shouting at them to get off the road and pointing to the left, she didn't think twice. For some reason, Ardyn trusted every word this mongoose was saying. And if it were a trap, well, she'll cross that bridge when she gets there.

"Get your asses over here!" She shouted at her fellow rock climbing teammates and grabbed the wrist of the person closest to her, which happened to be Flame. She yanked on his arm and sprinted them towards the tall brushes on the left side of the road. Crouching low to the ground to hide herself behind the bushes, she gazed in between the branches to observe the source of the chattering.

CelticHero37 Shotgunpenguin ScatheAriiasqDrayceon Huntertabbysandshark3

 

[Shotgunpenguin]

Jonathan Anderson

Jonathan stood his ground, body tense and eyes wide as he swapped between the furry creature and the bird like creature. The furry creature responded to Ardyn's strike like they weren't even trying, popping out the thing it had been sucking on and slapped it against her head with an audible and wet sounding smack. He tensed, body about to act when Ardyn voiced her displeasure, wiping the things spit from her head on her sleeve. "It didn't strike back?" Whatever this thing was, it must have felt that they weren't a threat to it. Even someone just swinging wild haymakers could get lucky and deal some damage, yet the creature held back instead of retaliating. A little tension slipped from his body, and he released the breath that he wasn't even aware that he was holding.

That tension immediately shot back into his body as the creature spied the piece of rebar in his hands and showed off a pair of wicked looking teeth. It seemed to say something in that noise that he had heard earlier before demanding that he put down his weapon. "Mongoose Queen? I don't care who you are, I'm not dropping it!" Damn, just when he thought that they could have gotten out of this without having to fight. He was confident in his own abilities, and if worse came to worse he could try and run away;but with the other members of the club he had no idea of how useful they would be in a fight. The newly dubbed "Mongoose Queen" was apparently fast enough to dodge Ardyn's strike from that close, and judging from her snarling she was finally losing her patience. Adding onto that, the rhythmic clinking of glass had now introduced yet another creature, and yet another possible threat. Now there were three of these creatures and three of them, and even if the bird seemed like it would run if threatened he still didn't like those odds.

As if the situation wasn't bad enough, the noise from earlier was slowly starting to emanate from the buildings once again. One of these Mongooses were already bad news, and suddenly her question if he had wanted to be killed made much more sense. There was no way he could fight off an entire group of these things, and that wasn't even taking into consideration that the large lizard thing that showed up might also have backup. A cold sweat rolled its way down Jonathan's brow, the very real possibility that he could die was only heightened by his recent brush with death. The Mongoose Queen suddenly shouted for them to get off of the road, her eyes flashing a bloody red as she seemed to grow even larger than before. He was so focused on the mongoose that he didn't even notice that Ardyn had already drug Arias off of the road and into a group of bushes a little ways off of the road.

With a strained swallow, Jonathan slowly backed away from the trio of creatures all the while keeping a tight grip on the piece of rebar. Turning on his feet, he rushed headlong into the bushes after the others. He burst through the foliage, looking around wildly and upon spotting Arias and Ardyn practically threw himself to the ground in a crouch. Catching his breath, he did his best to keep his voice down as he looked further back through the bushes. "What are you two doing?! We need to get out of here now!" Staying here was a mistake, there was no telling what was about to happen and the most important thing right now was survival. Sticking around the area with dangerous creatures like those things was a bad idea.

Mentioned: Semblance CelticHero37 Huntertabbysandshark3 ScatheAriiasqDrayceon ​

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

Black was almost all-consuming in Flame's vision, the color swirling around overly-saturated oranges and yellows that seemed to make up most of their vision. They saw in broken fractions of what they should as their vision adjusted.

The saturated colors were fading, but definitely not fast.

"Shit—"

They heard a resounding thwack, like a small pebble against a skull then forced themself into a standing position, keeping their arms at their sides for the moment. If anyone saw them reach for their scarf, that was a dead giveaway to its purpose, and considering their compromised state, that was a bad idea.

The scrape of a metal pipe behind them had them identifying Jonathan and hissing another curse under their breath, speaking lowly as they saw the... thing in front of them bristle slightly, looking past them and to Jonathan, who'd apparently picked up a metal pipe to use as a weapon—did he even know how to use a sta—

"Get off the road!" Another voice—the one who'd called out trying to diffuse the situation snapped. The... Mongoose, they guessed, called out something similar, and, abruptly, someone's hand was around their wrist, the hair on the back of their neck standing up at the unfamiliar touch.

That earned whoever it was (Adryn) a sharp pinch to the underside of their wrist, around the area where the tendon controlling the clench and release of the hand resided. Flame yanked their arm out of the person's grip and pushed to run faster, despising the feeling immensely even as chattering and clattering made itself known to them. "Don't touch me," they hissed, still running half-blind. Though, physical contact should have been the least of their worries at that moment, the skin that the person had touched all-but burned, feeling as though worms were squirming under the surface of their skin.

They bypassed the bush entirely, retreating further into the shadows of the forest and finally, finally regaining their ability to see... only then noticing the large black bird shooing Jonathan along, its beak moving, but words inaudible above the chattering.

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

Jet's feathers puffed up as the chattering started, sleeking in dread. "Get off the road!" Kirri echoed his statement not moments later as the bird slid down and started shooing the humans along with his wings, eyeing the buildings cautiously. He dipped his head in passing to Kirri, murmuring a quick "Grand Sentinel" as an acknowledgement of her position and his respect. The owl all-but shoved Jonathan away from the road, feathered tufts on his head flattened completely.

"Move, move, move, move. I would prefer to survive this encounter, so do pick up those plantigrade legs of yours and move."

He looped around a tree a ways off from the bushes, clambering up it to get a better view. There was something else skirting the edge of the Mongoose territory. He could hear it. Something that was most definitely not a Mongoose and very, very loud.

Of course, the male human's hissing was louder than the clattering of whatever else it was, so he hopped to a branch a little closer but a decent ways above them, clicking his beak. "You're out of their territory, now. You should be fine." he paused, considering them with creepily still blue eyes. He was perched passively on a branch just out of their probable jumping distance, wings tucked to his sides and feathers smoothed down but not laying flat. Now that he was decently sure he wasn't about to get poked with an arrow, his feather tufts were back to being perked forward in interest. "What were you doing in Mongoosen Territory, anyway? Had another patrol found you, you probably would have been pincushions by now."

 

[Huntertabbysandshark3]

Harloteck
interaction: ScatheAriiasqDrayceon Shotgunpenguin Semblance CelticHero37​

the large reptilian creature seemingly scared the group off or at least that what it had assumed. with little urgency in its movements while the rest seemed to run into the bushes and treeline along the other side of the road. the large reptilian creature continued to follow them the metal upon its body clinking and clattering as it moved with a slow inevitability towards the group with little concern of its own health, or the possible incursion of more mongooses. The creature would instead sit down just a little bit away from where the group had begun to hide the huge reptile would remove a few pieces of scrap form its backpack one of the peices looked like the metallic head of a statue it in fact resembled a human. Before looking into the bushes. “Hmmm so your the great builders then... I must say I was expecting such being to be far taller“ the creature finally spoke of a deep grumbling voice.

 

[kaito9049]

There's only so much dirt a rational being can dig before they have to consider that there's not any buried gold. Unfortunately, Kiruk was far from rational.

The crow would have been sweating, if it had the physical capability to do so. It had been scooping away for two, three hours? He'd been on one of his customary walks, searching for long-forgotten caches or tossed-aside trinkets, when he had spotted the small mount of disturbed dirt. Well, what kind of Finder would he be if he didn't seize his hand spade from his backpack — almost the size of Kiruk himself — and get to work?

It did occur to some part of his mutated brain that he had found himself in a forest that his fellow crows didn't frequent, and he was somewhat antsy to be able to see the blue skies unblocked by a canopy of trees, but he was just certain that he would excavate his quarry any moment now.

And then his spade struck something hard. Kiruk chirped. This was it! Hard work always paid off, he thought to himself, chest feathers puffing in pride. He tossed his tool to the earth and began digging with his claws. One scooped around a small object, more oblong than spherical, but too irregular to be an egg. Kiruk brushed away the moist earth from the find with a sweep of his feathers, revealing at last the artifact: an acorn.

Well, that was disappointing. What now? He could take it home; perhaps one of his squirrel acquaintances would appreciate it. Or, if he was in a pinch, he could combine it with some of the traveling provisions in his pack to make a pancake. But then again, he was in a strange forest. Perhaps the nut was some poor soul's retirement fund. And even if the acorn was naturally buried, any conscientious crow had to be careful of disrupting the ecosystem.

There was a sudden flurry of noise and motion to Kiruk's right. The acorn fell from his claw, immediately forgotten. The crow dashed behind a nearby tree, scooping up his spade as he did. He slowly peeked one eye past the trunk. A mess of feathers, fur, and...other things had crashed through the edge of the forest. It was, outside of a few festive gatherings at Ratland, one of the most eclectic collections of Mutes Kiruk had ever seen.

And oh ho HO! What on earth were those? A few of the creatures were unlike any creature he'd ever seen. Smooth-skinned, lanky and tall, the front-facing eyes of these strange beasts identified them as predators. But the expressions on their faces were clearly of shared confusion, if not outright terror.

Then something clicked, and Kiruk felt as if he was soaring above the highest clouds. These were humans! What else could they have been? Oh, he had so many questions! The crow, whose excitement so overwhelmed him that be neglected to hear the increasingly ominous chittering that filled the air, hopped out from behind the tree and ran over to the group, clicking excitedly.

 

[CelticHero37]

Kirri-Girri Koroko

Disturbed - Land Of Confusion [Official Music Video] - YouTube​

As the others made their way off the road and some of them went into hiding, Kirri-Girri kept her gaze set firmly on them. She also noticed a Crow come running out. She wasn't worried, though. If a Crow was hungry or looking to cause trouble, they wouldn't just come running up like that. From behind her the streets and alleyways between the highrises came to life as a horde of Mongoosen flowed through them like a flood. As they approached, Kirri threw her right arm out to her side and made a fist. It was a hand signal. The mass of fur started to calm as individual Mongoosen fell into place in a line behind Kirri. As they halted, they deployed large roundshields, forming a shield wall as they brandished sizeable makeshift spears. In a matter of seconds, hundreds of Mongoosen had appeared and fallen into line. Despite being in an organized military formation, their attire was anything but orderly. Like Kirri herself, the other Mongoosen seemed to be dressed as if they were going to a rave or concert or getting ready for a party. Many of them also had tribal haircuts and patterns died into their fur similar to tattoos. There were only two things that seemed the same across them all. Dog tags, golden torc bangles, and a series of earings on their left ears.

Once the formation was set and everything had gone quiet, another Mongoose appeared, escorted by four others. In place of the bangle, this Mongoose wore a heavy golden torc around her neck and had a trenchcoat over her shoulders like a cape. She wore a sword at her hip and her eyes shone with both ferocity and wisdom. She scanned the area for a moment before calling out, "If one is going to be a coward, they best be able to disappear. Unfortunately, you are lacking in that regard. We can see the movement of the bushes. I am Queen Koroko, and I tell you now that we have sharpshooters trained on your position from our buildings as well as an army awaiting orders. The ones in front of you are simply a frontal force. Just a fraction of my warriors. Now that you understand what you're up against, I will inform you that stepping foot on Mongoosen lands without invitation is forbidden. Punishable by death. However, we are not unreasonable. As you seem to have willingly stepped across the border, I have not ordered my armies upon you."

Looking to Kirri-Girri, the lady continued, "Grand Sentinel, it seems to me you've taken control of the situation. Will you be needing our assistance?"

Kirri thought for a moment before replying, "No, your majesty. I will talk to them further... but remain on high alert."

The queen nodded, turned her back to them, and let out a loud chattering sound before walking away with her escorts. Once she had made the sound, the shield wall retreated slowly. They backed off to the line of buildings but did not leave completely. Instead, the Mongoosen sat down with cross legs and kept the shields in front of them, protecting themselves and denying access to the crossroads. Once this was done, Kirri approached the odd group. Her expression was less intense this time, but she was still poised, ready for a fight if need be. "Thanks for listening to me, and thank you for your help, Jet. We can talk now."

Looking over to the Crow that had just arrived, she continued, "It seems you've attracted quite a bit of attention. I'd say it's a good thing that none of them seems to want to eat you, and I have to agree with my friend here that you are the great builders." Although Kirri knew that it wasn't just the humans who had trespassed on Mongoosen land, it was normal for an occasional wanderer to find them in the area passing through to somewhere else. That wasn't a big issue, and it was the reason for patrols. To keep an eye on wanderers. It was the group of humans that had caused the alarm.

Queen Rio-Na Koroko's Torc
​

​

Semblance
Shotgunpenguin
ScatheAriiasqDrayceon
Huntertabbysandshark3
kaito9049
SomebodyElse

 

[SomebodyElse]

Lake had decided to come out of hiding. Something about Great Builders seemed important to her.
She didn't know if she could trust anyone here but having seen enough she needed to know more. Making her way from her hiding spot she dropped down into the group. Her feet made a light flicking sound as she landed, bringing the attention to her.
Facing the group she spoke up.
"You disturbed the peace of the surface. What's this all about?"

"I know that there shouldn't be any burrowers all the way up here on the surface. It's also strange to see the mongooses so polite. I don't know if I can trust you all but I cannot let this pass without being informed of everyone's intentions here" Lake spoke up, eyeing everyone warily.
If a fight were to break out then so be it. Lake had more than her fair share of fights in the past. More than anything she needed to make sure this wasn't something that could become a problem. If any mute group were to form any kind of alliance with burrowers it could become a threat in the future.
Semblance Shotgunpenguin ScatheAriiasqDrayceon Huntertabbysandshark3 kaito9049 CelticHero37

 

[Semblance]

ARDYN BLAKE​

As Ardyn crouched behind the bushes, the big tall owl came flying over, shouting at her to keep moving. She picked herself up and sprinted into the trees, trying to keep up with the giant bird. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the other rock climbing humans running alongside her as well. She stopped underneath the tree that the big owl was perched in and looked back from where they came from, spotting a large swarm of mongeese with large shields forming a military wall on the road.

Instead of the bangle that all the other mongoose wore, one mongoose in particular stepped forward with an air of power and authority. She wore a golden torc around her neck and a sword hung on her hip. She introduced herself as Queen Koroko and even Ardyn, spying from behind the trees, could feel the respect that she demanded from those around her. Ardyn's whole body tensed up when the mongoose queen said there were sharpshooters currently aimed at them as she spoke. She instantly looked up around her to see if she could see any of them and sure enough, from behind the military wall, she thought she spotted some mongoose hidden amongst the tall trees and buildings. She let out a breath of relief when the mongoose with the lollipop told her queen that everything was under control and the entire hoard of mongoose exited from where they came from.

Just then, the large reptilian creature she had noticed watching their group earlier stepped out of the trees and called them the great builders. "The great builders?" she asked, a smirk appearing on her face. "I guess we are sort of great builders, aren't we?" Ardyn asked her human friends. A movement in the trees caught her eye and a crow wearing a dark, rugged cloak approached their group with excitement in his eyes, making clicking noises with his beak. Before she could respond, the mongoose who hit her with the lollipop reappeared in the group and thanked them for listening to her. Ardyn got a good feeling about this creature, given that she just saved their group from being shot down by sharp arrows. "I have so many questions about what just happened I don't even know where to start," she told her.

However, the biggest surprise came when a human walked out of the trees. "You're human," she said to the lady, stating the obvious. "How did you survive the Great Mutant Outbreak?" she asked incredulously. "The three of us are from the burrows and a gigantic animal tried to destroy our home. We're trying to find our way back. You guys don't happen to know where the closest burrow is, right?" Ardyn asked the group, eyeing each of their faces to see if they knew more.

CelticHero37 SomebodyElse ScatheAriiasqDrayceon kaito9049 Huntertabbysandshark3 Shotgunpenguin

 

[Shotgunpenguin]

Jonathan Anderson
Running behind the other members of the climbing group, the group stopped just below a large tree a ways away from where they had been spat out from the sewer. Trying to bring his breathing back to normal, he slowly looked around the area to try and determine if they were being followed. With his focus firmly on the ground around them, Jonathan could be excused for not noticing that the large bird from before had perched itself a short ways above them. He could also be excused for the rather uncivil cussing that followed him noticing the bird, turning his body and angling the piece of rebar up at the branch. "Mongoose territory? We were just thrown out of a sewer pipe, our home possibly destroyed, and now we are being threatened by some crazy thing calling themselves the mongoose queen! So sorry if I'm not in the mood to answer any questions from some giant talking bird!" His voice steadily rose as he spoke, anger slowly beginning to overtake fear as his primary emotion.

After his tirade against the bird had ended, the rhythmic clanking of metal and glass had him whipping around to face the large scaled lizard-like creature that was now rummaging through the pack from it's back. Jonathan tensed, legs ready to leap forward and lash out at the creature, until it pulled out the head of a metal statue. The creature seemed to think that they were some kind of great builders, whatever that meant, and seemed a tad bit disappointed at their height. "What is that supposed to mean? Compared to you everything is going to look small, you're a giant lizard!" Maybe acting antagonistic to the giant lizard that stood multiple heads over him wasn't a good idea, but at this point it's not like things could get any worse. The soft clacking indicated another arrival, this one a small bundle of cloaks and bags, but before he could confront the new arrival the rhythmic sound of metal on ground drew his attention back the way they had fled.

What Jonathan saw made his jaw drop, the street that they had just vacated was now filled with more of those mongooses, all armed with shields and wicked looking spears. They were all dressed in a similar manner to what the queen wore, ripped clothing, bright colors and all wearing a threatening scowl. At least, that is what he thought until a mongoose dressed entirely different from the others emerged from the wall of furry and metal, flanked by four others. She walked out from the wall, and for a moment he could swear that her eyes were piercing right through him as she scanned the area. He felt a brief flare of anger at being called a coward by a creature that was flanked by guards, although it was quickly smothered as he was reminded of the literal army behind her. After speaking to the mongoose that he had thought was the queen, the true queen departed as the former approached the growing group.

It was Ardyn who broke the silence that had drifted in after the display of power, explaining their situation to the crowd of creatures. Creatures, and shockingly another human. They weren't anyone that Jonathan recognized from the burrow, which meant that they were either from a different burrow and had been driven out like they had been, or that they were from the surface. Both brought to mind a multitude of questions, all of which could be answered after they weren't surrounded by these creatures. "Ardyn," Jonathan grasped her shoulder with his free hand and whispered "We shouldn't be trusting these things. What if they decide that the burrow is part of their territory and try and take it over?" There was no way that the burrow would survive if these creatures decided to try and invade, especially if they knew more of those giant things that had busted through in the first place.

Mentioned: Semblance CelticHero37 SomebodyElse ScatheAriiasqDrayceon kaito9049 Huntertabbysandshark3​

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

Jet bobbed his head politely at Kirri and greeted the crow with chattering similar to their own, tilting his head at the lizard. He hopped up to a taller branch as a rebar was thrust at him, removing his own—much more refined, and much heavier staff to ever-so-gently push it away. "Apologies, I was not aware." This one seemed aggressive, or, at least, very volatile. The other was amicable and easily trusting... not a good thing when it came to unfamiliar packs, but Jet couldn't say much. He resheathed his staff, the metal singing on one of the straps on the holder.

And then there was the other one.

It was a little quiet, yes, having not said a word that wasn't an outburst since he'd observed them.

The amicable one spoke up, pride coloring their voice as they acknowledged that their species built the structures around them.

"I am... unfamiliar with how to find burrows. They are underground and hidden for a reason, no?" He asked, switching trees again as another human popped out of the underbrush. He was decently high, now, away from possible melee range. He was about to speak to the angry one again when a snort from below him had him clacking his beak shut, the quiet one's voice interrupting his thought process.

"Jonathan, everyone in the burrow's either dead or buried alive. There's no way someone could have survived that! The mega wrecked the support, meaning the cavern's probably collapsed in on itself," they tilted their head up and clicked in the back of their throat, much like a bat did when pleased, though the sound was far from content.

"I don't know if you know this, but supports exist for a reason. It's naïve to think anyone'd live through that. If the rocks didn't kill them, the oxygen and dust would."

Jet tilted his head at the quiet one's ire, feathers fluffing uncertainly. They sounded angry—which, fair, but also terribly unproductive.

"I could... look," he offered, opening one wing to show the feathers. "From the air, I mean. If you have something—a landmark, a sign... anything, really, I could try looking for it."

Honestly, this was leaving himself very open to the angry one.

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

Flame snorted so hard they thought they burst a nasal cavity. They voiced their annoyance soon after. They hated the naïve denial their team mate was exhibiting, all-but growling. While they didn't trust the things around them, they weren't dead, yet, and that's what mattered at the moment. The mongoose and the bird helped them, so they were probably safe with them for the moment... maybe.

The other things and the odd human, however, were highly debatable, though the little bundle of clacking cloth may not be, seeing as it hadn't exactly tried anything. The lizard got waaay too close for comfort, though, prompting them to back away with bared teeth.

 

[kaito9049]

Kiruk was about to lose his damn mind.

His heart was already aflutter when he saw the humans, and then a near army of furry, orange creatures surrounded them all. That's when it clicked — he probably shouldn't be there.

Sadly, that intelligent thought was just about steamrolled by another: hey! They all have gold! Kiruk did his best impression of a spin-drill as he whirled around, unable to focus on just one of the shiny bangles and earrings. But one item just draw his attention: a dazzling neck ring possessed by what appeared to be this group's leader. Oh, what a beauty! Kiruk had to have it. He unclipped one of his many detachable pouches from his backpack and began rummaging through it, searching for something to trade. Perhaps the Queen would like a nice comb, to keep her hair smooth! Or, maybe, a fun hat, recovered from a toppled building at the outskirts of town. Or, if she preferred —

Kiruk looked up as the sound of clinking metal faded. Oh. The Queen had left. He dug his talons into the dirt, willing himself to remain still rather than rushing after the ruler. He'd probably get a spear for his trouble, and he generally tried to avoid that when possible. As he watched the guard — with all their pretty accessories — faded into the background, he felt a deep stabbing in his chest. He really would have loved to have one of those bracelets. Maybe the remaining Mongoose — Grate Suntunnel? — would let him have hers.

But before he could ask the creature about the item, the trees moved. Or, Kiruk realized once he regained his nerve, perhaps not a tree. An owl of some sort. Had it not chittered back at him and shifted, he probably wouldn't have noticed heard.

Ooh! That human was waving around a piece of metal in his hand. It wasn't the shiniest, but if a human was holding it, maybe it was special! Kiruk removed a small set of silver-framed eyeglasses from his pocket and ran over to the tall, dark-haired man, chirping happily.

 

[Huntertabbysandshark3]

Harloteck
interaction: ScatheAriiasqDrayceon Shotgunpenguin Semblance CelticHero37​

the enormous reptile paid little mind when the army of mongees arrived after all in its mind they posed little threat nor interest to it. slowly but surely the odd-smelling ones that it had called great builders began to comment upon what the beast has said all the while its forked tongue flickered in and out trying to make sense of all the smells around it. seemingly ignoring the bickering amongst the others as those conversations did not concern it only those that only the ones that had commented on what it had said were of importance. "yes yes great builders, after all, you are the ones that made all the things... and if the legends are true are the ones that caused the world to spawn us... and to answer your question... you are still shorter then I reasonably considered.. i understand i appear massive.." the creature called them out on their comment. slowly getting up and placing the statue head back into its large backpack. "now tell me builders why would ones such as yourself be upon this desolate earth..." the creature asked

 

[CelticHero37]

Kirri-Girri Koroko

K/DA - DRUM GO DUM ft. Aluna, Wolftyla, Bekuh BOOM (Official Concept Video - Starring Bailey Sok) - YouTube​

The moment Ardyn mentioned that their home had been attacked, Kirri's expression became serious. She didn't say anything for a while, listening to what others had to say instead. Despite this, it would be clear that something struck a chord with her. Although most in this odd group weren't all that familiar with the Mongoosen, Jet would likely be able to recognize the red glint in Kirri's eye. Whatever had been said struck a chord with the Mongoose. Kirri was glaring off into the woods with the expression of a predator. When a Mongoose got that look, it generally meant someone was going to get their ass kicked.

After a bit of time seemingly zoned out of the conversation, Kirri disappeared in a flash. She reappeared a few moments later with some more gear than before. She now had a bow strung across her back with a quiver full of arrows slung on her hip as well as a utility belt with knives, explosives, and a few other hand weapons and tools. This was all topped off with a small rucksack. Looking over to Jet, Kirri reported, "Someone encroached on their own space and destroyed their home when they were keeping to themselves. I'm going to help them find their burrow and deal with the situation properly. I will bring the oppressor to justice. The rest of you are welcome to join us if you wish."

Semblance
Shotgunpenguin
ScatheAriiasqDrayceon
Huntertabbysandshark3
kaito9049