Fantasy Flight of the Phoenix Main

[BittyBobcat]

Luca Graymin
Interacting with Hale ( noil ), Jet ( ScatheAriiasqDrayceon ), Levin ( Tapfic )
"What? No, I— we're going. We need to go. Now," Gray stage-whispered, decidedly ignoring the fact that Levin was holding his hand. To punctuate his point and definitely not just because he wanted Levin's fingers out of his own, he pulled backward. It was times like these that he regretted not taking Lan up on his offer to 'stop being such a bitch and exercise, for fuck's sake' because, if he was going to get Levin to do anything in a some semblance of a swift manner, he suspected he'd need to drag him.

And then the very-tall-one's wings flickered and any hope Gray had for a calm exit was promptly shattered.

"What do you people think you're doing?" Up until very recently, Gray had known exactly one other phoenix. That phoenix was stupid and reckless, but he never seemed to be actively trying to get either of them caught. Now Gray knew four new phoenixes, two of which he was completely convinced had never so much as rubbed two thoughts together in their life for lack of having them, one of which was a child, and one that was probably going to reveal themself as a fake and turn them in within about five minutes.

Needless to say, he wasn't thrilled.

"You know what? Actually, I don't care. Whatever drug it is you people are on, I kn— I have a good idea of what's going on and I unfortunately have moral problems with letting you lead yourselves to your own dooms, so why don't we take a moment to talk somewhere with a slimmer threat of being kidnapped?"

 

[Tapfic]

[ill fix the header later im on my phone atm]
Lan
Interacting with: Riku Dawnstar
A small hand nudged against his shoulder. Lan tossed a sour glance back to the tiny offender; only to find Riku.
Oh. Oh Lan was gonna bite Gray for sending the kid after him after agreeing (more or less) to watch him.

"Pssst. Hey uh... Lan-rhe, I mean Lan-Sir. We urm. Gray told me. We urm.." Lan took a moment to appretiate the use of the honorific. It calmed his spite towards Gray somewhat- not enough to avoid Lan's ire, but maybe he wouldnt get bit.
And then the boy caught sight of the worried frown tugging at Riku's expression. Different enough to the normal worry for Lan to notice.
"We need to go back to the ship. Like now! Ran into one of the vulture hunters who was on my tail."

Oh.
Oh shit.

"Mr Gray said if one's here more might be around,"
Lan's eyes- once narrowed in annoyance blew wide, no further observation of his face was allowed before he grabbed onto Riku's wrist ( not...hard, but he was in too much of a hurry to be all that gentle ) and pulled in the direction Riku had come from. Silent as he shouldered and shoved innocent civilians out of the way.

" I fuckin forgot which way the shipyard is, tell me if i start pullin us the wrong way," He would have let Riku lead, if he had thought about it. Unfortunately his pea brain had been infected with panic driven tunnel vision.

Pushing his way through the feathery/scaly/insectoid crowd certainly earned him his fair share of swears and shoves back, but fortunately no one attempted a fight onve they saw the respective sizes of the pair; assuming someone was letting their brats run amuck as they shopped.

The owl was thankfully, rather fast for a man with such little legs, and in a matter of minutes both of the displaced crew made it back to the ship yard.

Levin
Interacting with Gray BittyBobcat

"You know what? Actually, I don't care. Whatever drug it is you people are on, I kn— I have a good idea of what's going on and I unfortunately have moral problems with letting you lead yourselves to your own dooms, so why don't we take a moment to talk somewhere with a slimmer threat of being kidnapped?"

Levin nodded solemnly.

" Only point one nine percent of kidnappings happen in a mourgue," Levin lied. Or maybe not, he didn't actually know the statistic.

" But given we don't know where one is; the ship works too. "

Without waiting for confirmation, the boy turned heel and made his way back to the ship. The boy reached the dock again just as Lan broke through the crowd with Riku.

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

Key:
Arial: Common
Underlined Arial: Tradesign
Average: Valiaek

---

Jet blinked down at the maybe-maybe-not-noble as they opted to speak again, blue eyes flicking from them to the grimy ghost to the one who spoke too fast. They were all acting... weird, he decided eventually, having seen enough that he felt comfortable in his decision.

And acting weird usually meant there was something going on. He and Vihaan shared a glance, Jet mummering something along the lines of "They know something." He was, however, quickly distracted.

Maybe-maybe-not-noble shoved at one of his wings, and as he was distracted (and felt relatively safe), it caught him off-guard. As he used his wings for balance, this, understandably, prompted quite the destabilization.

Far faster than anything of his wingspan should rightfully be able to move, both wings snapped open above the heads of every person in the crowd. As his feathers hit light (and coincidentally as fumbled to keep a certain grip on his necklace), splintering gold cracks laced down the edges of each feather. The black of his plumage was easily burned away by the spreading golds, oranges, and blues, almost in the same way soot flaked from a burning log.

Jet flapped backward, aware of but unconcerned over this sudden change in coloration. Instead of paying attention to the foul-mouthed fountain of multilingual profanity spouting from Vihaan, he huffed, slipping the necklace into the inner pocket of his robe. It'd be safer there, anyway.

He turned his attention back on the misfit little group in front of him, focusing mainly on the maybe-maybe-not-noble as he shook the phantom sensation of feathers peeling away from his wings off. "Rude."

 

[noil]

Hale^{- - - ScatheAriiasqDrayceon BittyBobcat Tapfic - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -}
The tall one's wings flared open above them all, flickers of color resolving into a bright edge to their plumage that no doubt shone even more damningly across the backside of the span that yet faced away from the small group. Hale's thoughts were startled into blankness by the brazen reveal, but only for a moment as she shook it off and moved again to take flight. She stopped short of actually spreading her wings to take to the air, though, hesitation to do so having become ingrained in the short time she'd been dealing with their new colors. That pause gave her a split second of a chance to reconsider her options.

She had a choice to make here. She could run, go back to doing things alone, never knowing where she might next be able to take shelter or when a Hunter might show up to end it. Or she could follow these strangers, and - if the bug hadn't told them to kill her - see how it was they did things, maybe have a better chance at survival. Were they really true strangers, anyway? She might not know them personally, but she knew what they were. They were Phoenixes - dangerous, violent creatures that stand apart from civilized society. Maybe that was what she needed around her right now to be able to make it in this new reality she'd found herself thrust into. That is what you are, after all.

In a rush Hale let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and turned back to the group. "Fine," she said, "lead the way."

As the bizarre group made their way back to the ship they had come from, she was distinctly aware of her knife riding in its holster low on her back. If this was leading to a trap she could always fight her way out, and if she couldn't then, well, at least she wouldn't have to worry about what to do anymore if they killed her.

 

[Tapfic]

Lan
The Docks- Interacting with: Hale noil
Lan was not entirely sure what he was seeing- for some reason the vulture hunter Riku had mentioned earlier was following Gray back to their ship. Menacingly.
Was he being threatened back on? Blackmailed? Being taken to a secondary location- using their own goddamn ship?
Oh fuck- what if Gray had sent Riku away to keep him safe while he lead the hunter away from the rest of the crew? That was just the type of self sacrificial bullshit he would pull at the drop of a hat, and in about the same time it took for Lan to make any other stupid decision- he decided that was exactly what was going on.
The boy dropped Riku's arm, and the bag clutched in his hand. The next moment he was sprinting ( incredibly fast for such small legs ) towards the offending hunter.

His shoulder hit them with all the force of a 5'2 ,110 pound man sprinting with the intent to topple an empire. Except the empire was a dusty vulture who honestly did not deserve such treatment.

Either way, the force was enough to send both phoenixes crashing to the hard wood of the dock in a flurry of dust and feathers. Had Lan been thinking with a few more brain cells than where currently bouncing around whatever was under his ponytail- he may have taken the time to assess the situation more thoroughly. Maybe notice the fiery glow peaking through the gaps on their wings where his tackle had knocked the dust away- or ask Gray exactly what was going on.

Unfortunatley, the boy was about as inteligent as a wild animal at the moment; he may as well have been one with the sounds he made- attention divided evenly into "not letting go " and " biting " protocols.

Levin
The Docks- Interacting with: N/A

Where had Levin gone? Let's get an update on him.
He actually had not gone anywhere, somehow standing in monotone as he watched Gray's little orange blur of a friend tackle the possible ex hunter.
Levin made no move to help, nor explain. Judging by the look on his face- the thought had yet to occur to him.

 

[BittyBobcat]

Luca Graymin
Interacting with Lan ( Tapfic ), Hale ( noil )
After having done this for so long, it still never failed to surprise him that a situation could dissolve so quickly.

Already whispers rose at their sides, spreading like a wildfire on wings. He even spotted someone reaching out a hand to brush against tall, bright, and stupid's feathers out of the corner of his eye. They would be lucky if they had even a handful of seconds before someone decided to get more physical with the walking bags of cash in front of them. If they didn't get on the ship and sailing soon, they might as well skip the trouble and hand themselves over to the next hunter they saw... present company excluded.

That is all to say that Gray had never been so grateful they didn't get very far from the ship before running into a hunter.

It was just his luck, though, that the instant the thought passed his mind a scattered handful of shouts sounded from somewhere in the crowd. Naturally, he pointed this out as eloquently as humanly possible.

"Shit."

No sooner had the word left his mouth than yet another problem came rocketing out of skies-knew-where and slamming directly into the resident hunter.

He was reaching for the hand crossbow tucked on one of the inner pockets of his jacket before he so much as glanced at the human projectile. A bolt sat neatly in its slot and pointed directly at them by the time he had, and it took half a second longer for him to register that he knew the face he was pointing an arrow at.

"Lan!" There was a drop of relief in his voice, but few of those present would know him well enough to hear it. "What were you thinking? You can't wander off without telling anyone!" He held out a hand to help him up, crossbow still out and seemingly sending the more curious members of the crowd scurrying back a foot or two. "We need to get the ship started." His eyes flicked over to the hunter Lan had knocked down. "And get off of them. They're either a phoenix or going to shoot us soon and I'd rather take a chance on the first."

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

Key:
Arial: Common
Underlined Arial: Tradesign
Average: Valiaek

---

Vihaan was rapidly regretting not learning more common.

With the spread of Jet's glamour, murmurs started in the crowd, and the dirty runaway set off toward the docks. He was about to say something—ask questions, interject, something—but a sharp  hiss to his right was more important.

Jet stood tall and bright in the sun—easy to see and easier still to notice his wings. That wouldn't have been a problem, but apparently, the crowd had taken it upon themselves to start reaching up to touch his feathers for a reason Vihaan opted not to think about too hard.

Understandably, Jet didn't take too kindly to this, whirling on his heel wity a sharp downstoke of his wings with feathers raised and ears flat.

Even if Jet didn't want to follow the group, Vihaan realized, the crowd was pushing them back toward the docks, anyway.

Vihaan growled low to himself, but reached up to snatch Jet's hand before things got worse for reasons no one seemed to want to tell him. Jet's hand was warm, and on contact, he twined their fingers, only briefly glancing down to see him.

Vi turned and started at a jog, ignoring the heat in his cheeks and the oddity of his heartbeat so he could turn to follow the dirty runaway.

He didn't get very far before an orange blur shot through the cloud of people like a malevolent falcon, ramming into the dirty runaway at full speed, throwing them both to the ground, whereupon tall-dark-and-sickly pulled a crossbow and loaded it in a fluid movement. Vihaan grinned, and ignored the little jolt of... something that rattled his spine.

Jet stilled at his side, ears perking as an entirely unfamiliar word hit the air. Vihaan wrinkled his nose. "What in skies' name is a Lan?"

Jet snorted covering his mouth with a hand as he always—for seemingly no reason; Jet had a nice laugh—did when he laughed. He used his other to point at the orange blob of 70% jacket, 10% shirt, and 20% man perched atop the runaway's chest.

Jet's pupils pinned, and he turned, reminding Vihaan of the task at hand as he spread his wing forward and out, dragging a small hummingbird woman out of the crowd, her hands firmly locked around the shaft of Jet's leading primary.

One of Jet's eyebrows raised, unimpressed.

 

[noil]

Hale^{- - - ScatheAriiasqDrayceon Tapfic BittyBobcat - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -}

The docks seemed to get more crowded the longer they stayed at them, likely just business ramping up for the day, but it meant a lot more pointing and staring at the massive beacon of fiery color behind her, and did nothing for Hale's nervousness at the situation. She could always take her escape vertically if need be - take off from a stand-still wasn't ideal, and she was likely to smash someone over the head with a wing, but, well, that was their own fault for not giving her space. The menacing hunter's swagger that used to keep common folk out of her way seemed to have lost all effectiveness in the wake of the cringing jumpiness that had invaded her bearing.

They were rapidly approaching the Phoenixes' ship and the time when she'd have to actually explain herself. Phoenixes could either be largely solitary and individualistic, or they had been observed on occasion to form small bands in some facsimile of human community. These seemed to be of the second type, so maybe she could appeal to that? She wasn't off to a great start, but if she could make herself seem friendly or useful enough maybe they could help. Or not try to kill her at least, that would be nice.

Hale was lost in her turning thoughts, eyes fixed on the two-toned hair of the Phoenix she was following through the crowd, and so she didn't see the orange blur barreling its way towards her until it made impact.

She hit the rough wood decking of the docks with a whuff of air leaving her lungs at the sudden collision, one wing unfortunately tucked up under them taking the brunt of the fall. Also unfortunate was the way it blocked her from grabbing for her weapon as she scrabbled, hissing at her mystery assailant, who seemed to be gifted with the ability to cling on tighter than a feather louse.

 

[Tapfic]

Lan
On the ship
ScatheAriiasqDrayceon , noil , BittyBobcat

The grapple had quickly become more akin to a violent hug as Lan wrestled the other, clinging and binding their limbs like a buff koala on a squirming eucalyptus.

"Lan!" The owl heard Gray's relived call and turned large golden eyes up to face him.
"What were you thinking? You can't wander off without telling anyone!"
The crossbow was out- but Gray was not aiming it at the hunter he had so dutifully attacked. Instead he was holding a hand out for Lan to take.
"We need to get the ship started. And get off of them. They're either a phoenix or going to shoot us soon and I'd rather take a chance on the first."

Lan's nose wrinkled.
" What?" The word held just as much disbelief as one might expect in such a situation- but he loosened his grip on the hunter pheonix regardless.

No longer bound by the burden of shackleing another- he let go, pushed off- and sat on the dock. Only now did he actually take a moment to process the surroundings.

One god damned tree of a motherfucker stood, all six miles of their shiny-ass orange wings out for the world to see and qawk at. Infact, one member of the chattering blur had latched onto a feather within the depths of the crowd- and been pulled out as they lifted their ridiculously long wing.

Who even needed winds that big, show off.

" What the fuck? Why are there two extras? Do we just collect bitches now?"
Lan looked down to see a short man with white hair.

" Three extras!? "

He would have continued his complaints for q nother good chunk of the day had the reality of the situation not suddenly sunk into the feathers under his coat.

" Oh. " Lan muttered the word, eyes wide with realization as he moved.
With swift movments, Lan took Gray's hand up, and stepped over his victim. Hurrying to the ship to get it started - while Gray was left to gather the stragglers.

 

[BittyBobcat]

Luca Graymin
Interacting with Levin ( Tapfic ), Hale ( noil ), Jet and Vihaan ( ScatheAriiasqDrayceon )
The crossbow felt too light in his hand. His thumb ran up and down the string, flicking back toward its proper resting place on the grip whenever anyone stepped too close.

He watched Lan board the ship out of the corner of his eye. Once he stepping into the control room, his wings—pressed firmly to his back to prevent any absentminded twitching—relaxed enough to feel the fabric of his coat brush against their tips... though, the shortlived ease erased any trace of itself the second he heard shorty and as-far-opposite-from-that-as-humanly-possible whispered something to eachother.

Gray forced a breath out. At this point, his decision had more or less been made. He might as well save the suspicion for when he had time for it.

"Well?" He took a backward step toward the ship, a single eyebrow raising as he closed all but the last inch of space between himself and the ship's deck. "Last call. We don't have much time left."

Something whizzed past his ear and embedded itself in the mast behind him.

"Scratch that, no time left."

His wings strained against the stitched-up back of his coat. Skies, what else did they have to reveal anyway? He traded the crossbow between his hands and let his coat fall unceremoniously to the deck, soon to be blown few feet further as he took to the air. Ignoring the scattered few gasps in the crowd (how they managed to be surprised with all of the other phoenixes standing right there he couldn't guess), Gray stared out over the sea of heads in front of him. A few breaths passed as he hovered just high enough to keep his arms above them. No one stood out, no weapons raised save for his own.

Then, the glinting tip of an arrow.

He didn't see what weapon it went to, nor did he particularly care. All that mattered was the familiar crack of a bolt firing and the arrow falling to the ground thereafter. Whether he hit hand or object, he didn't have time to ponder.

"Really would appreciate some hurrying here!" He barked, nocking another bolt into place.

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

Key:
Arial: Common
Underlined Arial: Tradesign
Average: Valiaek

---

Well these people weren't quite pleasant.

Not only was there a... Lan, as it seemed, tackling random people to the docks, but Jet had just prized his feathers back from the hummingbird who'd grabbed onto them when his other was tugged at.

Vihaan's fingers laced with his were fine, though. That was nice.

Both of his ears flattened as he—frankly ruffled and tired of being touched by random strangers—turned, raising his wings to full mast. Each feather parted from their fellows as the limbs stretched, blotting out a frankly impressive stretch of sun as he backed toward the end of the docks. Teeth bared in an open-mouthed snarl, Jet hissed.

The grimy man—a dragonfly, apparently—barked something at him that Jet only vaguely caught as something the odd trader shouted to call the rest of their crew. Jet rattled his feathers as he was guided blindly backward by Vihaan, who directed him up the plank.

Grimy-dragonfly-man took to the air, and Jet resisted the same, instead folding his wings in a single, quick motion that stirred dust. Jet planted his claws and all-but threw himself onto the deck of the ship, switching from being guided by to dragging Vihaan along behind him.

A crossbow bolt thunked into the mast beside Jet's ear not a heartbeat later.

Less pleasant, still.

Jet dropped into a crouch, wings raising halfway as a particularly soft shield.

 

[Dawnstar]

Raikarun "Riku"
Located: The Docks --> Returning to The Damsel (Gray's ship)
Between all the commotion between being 'dragged' by Lan while guiding him, suddenly returning to many more phoenixes being present, and the sudden devolvement to now having the group be shot at with crossbows - the young scarab was not having a good time. Riku paralysed by fear just found himself stuck eyes wide in the crowd having picked up the bag that Lan had dropped before going off to tackle the vulture hunter.

"Last call. We don't have much time left." As these words were spoken by Gray it snapped Riku out of his fear-paralysis as the teen quickly tried to make his way back to the ship.

As he swiftly moved he felt a hand grab him by the wrist, one of the assailants with a crossbow in hand pointing it at the boy as he tried to flee. Riku's voice echoing out and over the crowd in a angered reaction "No- let go you khaskvet!" Riku not really thinking using both hands to grab back on the arm of the hunter and literally just throwing the person off of him a few feet into the crowd and into another hunter levelling a crossbow at his new allies with some serious force sending both off their feet.

The scarab boy then quickly took to the air and flew back up to the ship, taking flight with his short quad-wings buzzing fast as he took to the sky glowing bioluminescent with a soft green glow. As his feet touched down atop deck of the ship, suddenly another bolt flew past striking the mast of the ship.

Riku was firmly in the 'fight' over 'flight' instinct at the moment. Dropping the bags on the ground, he immediately raising his Elytra up as a shield behind him to not blind Gray and co'.

"Please leave us alone!" Pulling magical energies into his wings and releasing a bright flash of light down upon the hunters and crowd below blinding and incapacitating them at least for the time being. Bolt flowing errant but missing everyone as the hunters recoiled from the powerful light.

 

[Tapfic]

Lan
The Ship- Interacting with: Jet ScatheAriiasqDrayceon , Arc Klown


The noise of a scuffle made its way into the control room. Something thumped, there was a flash of light in the corner of his vision, someone yelled. Lan bit his lip to avoid becoming distracted.


After a quick glance to the deck to insure every one of the crew members; new and old had made it safley on deck- the ship pulled up- and Lan set it on course for " away ". Steering the ship until the kingdom of Amythest was hidden behind cloud cover before ducking out to make sure everyone was allright.

Well. He didnt see any injuries- and no straggling wannabe hunters were ballsey enough to risk flying up to the deck without reinforcments. That was good.

" How the fuck did that even happen?" Lan sent a glare around the ship, crossing his arms and inspecting each passenger as though his stare would make them confess to their crimes.

His eyes landed on bright orange wings of Misplaced Fost Giant, and narrowed. Okay- well. He had a guess then.

" Okay. Nevermind. I have a fuckin guess! " Lan's arms uncrossed to gesture with exasperation towards the tallest new member of the crew.

" You somehow found the worlds tallest infant, since this bastard was apparently born yesterday! Out and about for a time on the town with three miles of " Kill me and sell my parts " written on the back!"

Lan's crinkled nose, raised voice and tight lipped frown were probably enough to get the idea he was upset across well enough; but the fethers that bristled uncomfortably under his jacket really sold the show.

With something between a whine and a grunt of discomfort he turned. Like a dog chacing his tail as he struggled to free his wings from their the heavy canvas confines. Frustration making each movment jagged and ill-planned.

When the oversized orange garment was finnaly dispelled- Lan threw it on the ground with a huff.

He looked like a small dog too. Hair tussled from his run, face tinged with red frustration and brows knit in an annoyance.

Lan stared at the jacket lying on the deck of the ship. His brow twitched.

" I'm going to put this up," he growled- yanking the item back off the ground. If only he wasnt so weak to his cleaning whims- he'd have so much more room for long winded lectures.

" And when I come back, I will continue to explain how stupid you are! " Nevermind the fact he had randomly tackled one of them. That was an honest mistake and would soon be forgotten to the mercy of time- he hoped.


Lan stompped his way past the group, and under deck; making sure each step landed with all the rage he could fit in his little body.

The door to his room was thrown open loudly, door knob thumping against the wall- and deepening the indent where he had done this many times before.

" Hollow skull , marble brain, flare gun fuckin' bastard- I couldn't even get the damn groceries! And now theres more of 'em!"
The boy had an itching suspicion that Gray would try his damndest to avoid eating until they had a second chance to stock up. That was annoying. Really fucking annoying.

It wasnt until Lan was mid contemplating twisting his friend's arm behind his back if he tried to refuse meals- that he noticed the body on the floor.

"How many crew did they have " was Lan's first thought. " Not this many" was his second. " HOLY FUCK OH NO THEY'RE DEAD" was the third. His face contorting in mounting horror as his mind made the journey.

Quickly- Lan looked around the room. What for? He was not sure.

" Hey! Hey- wake up!" The pheonix nelt by the unconcious person- slapping their face gently and repeatedly in his efforts. Shards of shattered window crunched beneath his knees- and Lan realized he should probably get them out of the glass.

With a bit less struggle than one might expect from a 5'2 bundle of nerves attempting to lift a man, Lan dragged the person onto the bed normally used for storing his collection of identical orange jackets.

" Hey- bastard, i swear if you're dead I'll fuckin kill you," Worry was mounting- but there wasnt that much blood- they should be somewhat alive- right? Lan continued to gently slap their face.

 

[noil]

Hale^{- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -}

Her struggles calmed at the sound of the one's voice admonishing her assailant and the tick of a Phoenix finally released its hold on her. Hale aimed a blistering glare at the back of the short orange-jacketed Phoenix he walked away without so much as a "my bad." Just because he was a potential ally didn't mean he got a free pass for having tackled her to the ground. She had to give him credit for the quick-thinking defense of his cohorts, but still.

Hale pulled herself to her feet, wincing at the soreness in her abused shoulder that she was surely going to pay more for later. And then a crossbow bolt was whistling narrowly past her shoulder startling Hale into motion. A powerful downbeat of her wings brought her up off the docks, and though the wing she had landed on pulled in protest at the sudden motion she managed to latch on to the railing along the side of the ship's deck and swing herself aboard.

The ship's escape from the dockyards was a bit of a blur from there - Hale mostly just tried to be as inconspicuous and out of the way as possible as the crew got them under way and out to sky. She hadn't ever picked up and sailing related skills on hunts, and the whole process of working a ship was a bit of a mystery to her. Before long they were amongst the soft cover of the clouds, and Short Projectile made a temporary reappearance to yell at them before stomping off below decks.

Hale pulled herself back to her feet from where she had been sitting with her back against the ship's railing. "So... I suppose some explaining is in order?" She'd probably rather pluck her wings than face this conversation. There was essentially a gnat's chance in the Abyss this was going to go smoothly, she was shit at talking things out.

 

[BittyBobcat]

Luca Graymin
Interacting with Hale ( noil )
Gray's crossbow—still tight in his hand—lowered to face toward the ground, bolt still shining in its slot. Wings as tense as its strings, he landed and turned to face the motley assortment of phoenixes as soon as the cloud cover allowed it. The worst of the danger had seemingly passed; seemingly being the key word. Sure, they were out of the gryphons' den, but that wouldn't do a scrap of good if they were bringing one with them. Or a particularly loud peryton, for that matter.

"How the fuck did that even happen?"

He tried and failed to hold back a sigh.

Lan deserved an explanation—in fact, if they were going to go about this with any semblance of caution, Lan needed an explanation—but that didn't make Gray any more eager to give it and listen to the inevitable interjections and longwinded lecture that would accompany it). He watched the tirade with a half-squinted look of exhaustion on his face that for once wasn't due to a lack of sleep... not entirely, at least.

Only once Lan disappeared into the lower deck did he step forward, a scowl written clearly across his face (for as much difference as that made from his usual expression).

"So... I suppose some explaining is in order?"

"That and a very good reason for me not to test if you're a real phoenix or not." He pressed a finger against the bolt of his crossbow and clicked it more snugly into the slot. "Though that one's more for your sake than mine."

His wings shifted uneasily, refolding over one another once or twice before settling again. He knew what it was like to get shot. The thought of giving someone else that experience sent a prickling discomfort down his spine. At best, he would learn it wasn't a glamour at the cost of forcing one of the first pheonixes he'd met in four years to regenerate. At worst, he'd kill them. Neither were options he liked.

His thumb tapped against the side of the crossbow, counting the seconds until one of them finally made a decision.

 

[Tapfic]

Levin
The Ship- Interacting with: Jet ScatheAriiasqDrayceon

Levin's mind finally caught up with his body as the light visibly re-entered his eyes.
He looked between Gray with his finger on the trigger of his crossbow and the new person. The tension in the air thick and groggy. Like a grave yard in the early morning after rain.
Wait, where did constructed cities keep their dead? There wasn't a point in burying them to re-fertilize the ground if they had no soil in the first place. Would they just toss them off? Cremate them and keep the ashes?Maybe there was a giant underground maze were they piled up bodies like wine in a cellar.

No expression passed the boy's face as ran away on his train of thought.

Where would they keep the new guy's body if Gray shot her and she turned out to be just some dude? Did they have a wine cellar?

Levin looked between them and Gray once more. This time he frowned, new unpleasant realization fresh in his mind.

" ...The peanuts. "

He was right. A scene happened and now he was left completely nut-less. Tragic. What little joy's this life granted him were so easily taken away, and then what was he left with? Not peanuts. That was sure.

Levin sighed. He wanted to lean on something. Somewhere covered from the sun.

Oh , that something was tall. It would work.

With no further explanation or warning, he meandered over to where the overgrown phoenix they had picked up stood by the little half- winged man.
Pale hands found their way into the bright orange-feathered wing of the giant, and he lifted it slightly; only enough to slip through the gap.
Human tent acquired.

 

[Klown]

A R C A D I U S
LOCATION: LAN'S ROOM
MENTIONS: LAN Tapfic

Arcadius thought of death as much as dogs chased their tails. A subtle, inscrutable movement that catches the attention and hold it until fatigue weighs down or jaws clamp around it, leading to a world of pain. Currently, Arcadius could say with certainty that he was made of pain. Not in a metaphorical sense meant to instigate mystery or intrigue, but in a very literal sense.

His senses seep back into him as his consciousness clumsily gathers itself afoot, only to be met with throbbing bones, a merciless headache, and a persistent tapping on his face. One more thing that Arcadius could say with certainty was that he had not died, but whose to say what could happen in the following minutes? He was waking up to a death threat after all.

Arcadius squints as if the sun were a stretch away, the tension of his furrowed brows cranking that thundering ache in his head. Everything was too bright and too loud. It takes his arm two seconds before registering his brain’s demand to have it rise and snatch the hand of the guy lightly slapping his cheek, but it’s a clumsy attempt. His fingers only combing over the offending hand and forgetting to grip, resulting in Arcadius slapping his own face instead.

“Shit…” He hisses, finally gracing his brain with the chance to balance itself in his skull. It serves him little, and he’s having trouble connecting dots, or finding the dots to begin with. “Don’t mean to alarm you but…” His eyes focus, he thinks. There’s definitely twins at his side, right? His arm reaches out towards one but his fingers phase right through it. “Ha ha holy shit, your twin’s a ghost.” Laughing was an awful idea.

 

[Tapfic]

Lan
The Ship- Interacting with: Arc Klown , Gray BittyBobcat

Lan's eyes narrowed as the person slapped their own face.
The words they spoke did nothing to ease the expression of... annoyance? Worry? Who could tell?

" You're not dead, " Evidently.
" Ok. Good. "

There was a singular beat of silence, before Lan's eyes brightened with realization- brows lifting and mouth clamping shut. Oh right, this dude had broken into their ship for one reason or another- and considering the glowing wings that ruffled on his back; the list of why that might be was pretty short.

" GRAY! " The call was quick, but surprisingly loud. Like a distressed mouse heard from across a mile of wheat field. Hair and feathers standing on end as the concerning situation caught up to him.

Lan moved quickly, grabbing the wrist of the hand that had stretched towards him- grip tightening like a vice around it. He wouldn't quite say he had panicked but... He had definitely panicked, and panicked Lan's brain said if the other was faking their injuries and preparing to make an assholeish kidnapping attempt, keeping them in the bed was the best way to prevent it.

" GRAY, SOME FUCKIN' DUDE IS DOWN HERE! " The explanation was no less shockingly loud than the previous call, ringing through the room like a fire siren in a blazing city.

 

[BittyBobcat]

Luca Graymin
Interacting with Levin & Lan ( Tapfic ), Hale ( noil ), Arc ( Klown )
Gray was never an idle sort of person. He was busy. He needed to be busy. Even in the few seconds of time that he spent posturing with the hunter, he found his fidgets. His wings twitched. His foot tapped. His eyes couldn't find a single comfortable place to rest. Waiting simply didn't agree with him, and yet he still found himself doing it. At any moment, he could've ended the standoff. He just had to come to a decision.

The resolve was somewhat ruined by Levin's... everything.

"Levin, what are you doing." Though it was phrased like a question, it lacked all the intonation of one so instead it came out more like a disappointed sigh than anything else. Begrudgingly, Gray craned his neck to face him, crossbow pointing still steadily pointed in Hale's direction. Having no free hand to gesture with, he twitched a wing toward the pair and then backward. "You've never met that person before, get out from under him."

Unfortunately for whatever comedic comments might've been made about his phrasing, any potential innuendo of this phrasing was lost on Gray when yet another problem on his ever-growing list surfaced.

"GRAY! GRAY, SOME FUCKIN' DUDE IS DOWN HERE!"

It took two seconds for Gray to lower his crossbow and sputter a confused, and—frankly—exhausted, "What?. It took five more for him to utter a far more confident "Shit," and, first possible hunter forgotten, sprint down the narrow stairwell that led belowdeck—incidentally slamming shoulder-first into the wall in the process—and swung swung to a stop with a hand on Lan's doorway and a crossbow-laden arm outstretched. "What's going on, where are they, are you okay, is it—" Gray blurted faster than he could properly think before pausing to squint at a miserable heap of a person he was yet to meet properly and reluctantly lowering his weapon a fraction of an inch. "Why are they on your bed?"

 

[Klown]

A R C A D I U S
LOCATION: LAN'S ROOM
MENTIONS: LAN Tapfic , GRAY BittyBobcat

Arcadius was quickly made aware of the singular person leaning over him when his vision fused them whole. A single guy with a damning grip and even more damning volume. The obnoxious call slams into his head and makes him dizzy all over again. Arcadius’ face scrunches tightly as he brings his free hand up to guard his sensitive ears.

“Dude…” He whimpers, feet squirming to attempt to kick the guy away, but they felt like limp bags of water. Which would have been more alarming should his senses not have been so imbalanced. He nearly misses the sound of storming footsteps as another presence is added to the fray. It dawns on Arcadius that things don’t look great for him. Not that he would have an issue playing the pitiful and injured card in his current state. Not like it was an act, anyways.

He turns his head to the doorway, finding the source of the voice and lingering on the crossbow in his hand. That did frighten him a little.

“Woah…” He thinks of sitting before he attempts it, but either by will of his bones or something wiser, decided it was a bad idea to make any sudden movements. Especially when one was holding his wrist tightly over a bed and the other had a weapon pointed at him. “It’s not as pleasing a reason as I would like it to be.” Arcadius comments, gaze slowly moving from the man at the doorway to the one holding his wrist. It’s a good view however unfortunate the situation.

“Anyways, I’d really appreciate it if you guys…” Oh, there’s an oddly warm swirling in his stomach. And not the good kind. He clears his throat. “I know it’s your ship but if you—oh fuck." Before he could piece any more words together, Arcadius lurches to the side and spews most of the contents from his stomach onto the floor beside the bed. All he wanted to ask was for less shouting.

 

[ScatheAriiasqDrayceon]

Key:
Arial: Common
Underlined Arial: Tradesign
Average: Valiaek

---

There was something to be said for improvising. Granted, there was also something to be said for planning, but Jet hardly had the foresight to have planned for such a situation as the one he found himself in, so, he decided in a hardly timely manner, it wasn't relevant.

Now that everyone was out of danger—and below deck—Jet found that simply gliding along, so to speak, was the best course of action.

Which is how he ended up with the odd one tucked under one of his wings, and though the confines of the ship made is difficult to do so in any way that didn't involve trimming his feathers to his coverts, he eventually settled on a vaguely-uncomfortable half-arch that strained the tendon in his propatagium and made it very difficult to keep his primaries tucked back. It gave him a moment to speak with Vihaan, though.

"So, that went well," he said at length, the words drawing themselves out of him lazily. "No one died, at least."

Vihaan looked at him with some approximation of concern, what was left of his nose screwed up to the point where a flash of teeth showed just under his lips. "No leads, still."

"We have a ship."

"We're on a ship by circumstance. And we still don't know what's with the brightwings."

It took Jet a moment to translate Vihaan's butchering of an older word for noble, and his ears betrayed his amusement. "We can ask—"

Yelling.

Jet and Vihaan both moved in the same manner. A step to the side, blading their form to anyone who came from the direction of the yelling. Wings closed to their sides. Steps light and careful as they followed the dragonfly toward the sound.

Frankly, Jet found the little bat thing sitting on the bed some space between amusing and concerning. Amusing for all it tried to speak despite obviously not doing too well, but concerning for why it wasn't doing all that well.

And then they puked.

The smell rose in such a manner that Jet was quite glad his sense of smell had long since lost what blade it had, but even still, he wasn't saved from the acrid stench. His ears twitched. Obviously, worse than the little bat thing let on.

Well, Jet was nothing if not a doctor.

"Hush." His voice was low and quiet as he coughed up his best approximation of one of Vihaan's favorite modern words, even as he raised a wing to shoo at the two others standing in the room. "Hush," he said again, tacking on an "out" for good measure.

 

[Tapfic]

Lan
The Ship- Interacting with: Arc Klown , Gray BittyBobcat , Jet ScatheAriiasqDrayceon

It took Gray about ten seconds to come sprinting to the room from above deck, crossbow in hand and frantic questions at the ready.
"Why are they on your bed?"
" What kind of stupid question is that? The bastards bleeding out of more holes than he should have!" Lan would have said, had he not been so rudely interrupted by aforementioned haver of holes.

“It’s not as pleasing a reason as I would like it to be.”
Honey eyes narrowed at the nonsensical reply, not so much as pausing to decipher the meaning. He must have been delirious from blood loss already. Fuck.

" Look! He's got brain damage! Fuck Gray- he's dying- oh god-" Panic was not a very nice look on him. At least not when the aesthetic he had been going for was "intimidating" and/or " capable of kicking ass". It was hard enough to cultivate such a persona with his... Everything else, but a little blood being enough to throw him completely off the handle really hit the " total pushover " nail on the head.

And then the dude mumbled some more words the boy bareley registered, before he threw up over the side of Lan's bed.

Lan felt a shiver run up the back of his ruffled wings, crawling up his spine until it settled in the back of his skull and turned off all thought he may have once been capable of.
He didn't register the giant mother fucker had made their way into the chaos until he was being shooed away. An order he followed with a panicked urgency once he felt his stomach flip at the smell of bile. Lan lurched forward as he stepped away from the horror show, forced to let go of his captive to cover his mouth and nose as he felt his stomach turn the wrong way over.

A wing larger than life itself rose, ushering Lan the rest of the way out of his own room; until he was left standing in the doorway. Eyes wide and face pale enough to give Gray a run for his money ( an over exaggeration for the sake of rhetoric, of course ).
So much stupid fucking shit was happening in such a small period of time, Lan couldn't help but ask the question on everyone's mind.

" What the fuck. "

Ah. Eloquence.

 

[noil]

Hale^{- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -}

"That and a very good reason for me not to test if you're a real phoenix or not. Though that one's more for your sake than mine."

With the click of a crossbow bolt sliding into place, Hale's mind went blank. She hadn't actually had any explanation ready to give, and any kind of reasoning she might have been able to scrape together just went winging away into the open sky along with any chance she had of getting through this without getting shot.

Several potential approaches played out rapid fire through her mental scape as her mind desperately grasped at straws that refused to do anything but slip through her fingers.

'I'm a phoenix hunter but-' Bam. Shot.
'I recognized the kid and-' And came after him? Nope, shot.
'I'm a fan'?? Hale no.
'I have no idea what I was going to say and really don't know how to prove anything to you I just don't want you to shoot me.' True, but not helpful.

All she really managed to express was a mouth that opened and closed a couple of times on words she didn't have in her possession. At this point it would probably be better if they just went ahead and killed her. Being dead for a while would at least delay the inevitably moronic and completely un-thought-out string of words that was about to come out of her.

"Uhhh-" Hale started with a grimace, when by the fortune of all the stars in the sky this train crash was interrupted by yelling from below-deck. The breath she prepared to deliver her own sentence left her in a whoosh as attention was mercifully drawn away and the unstable, murderous pack crew rushed off to investigate the new potential threat.

Hale was left standing, rather awkwardly, on deck with the beetle kid. She should really take this opportunity to vacate this global-scale disaster of a situation. Before that could turn into action, however, the name that her tackler had yelled from below sunk in.

"Gray." The name slipped past her lips with all the dread of a potent curse. The Gray? As in 'barely more than a ghost story Hunters tell over campfires to scare each other' Gray? As in 'basis for cautionary tales told of brutal ways a phoenix can kill you (melting a guy?!)' Gray? How had she managed to stumble her way into, out of all the people the beetle could have flocked with, this specific notorious group? This was bad. This was so bad. But... this was also the 'able to give even the most experienced Hunters the slip for over four years' crew. If she could somehow manage to get them to trust her, this was probably her best bet at staying off her old colleagues' radar. High risk, high reward. Oh what the hell, she'd already dove in about as deep as she could get. Might as well fully submerge.

Hale pulled her wings close around her shoulders in a feeble self-comforting attempt and, with a brief glance toward the kid, cautiously made to follow her reluctant hosts inside.

 

[BittyBobcat]

Luca Graymin
Interacting with Lan & Levin ( Tapfic ), Vihaan & Jet ( ScatheAriiasqDrayceon ), Hale ( noil ), Arc ( Klown ), Riku ( Dawnstar )

The events of the past week blurred together into a single whale-sized clusterfuck guaranteed to crush him at any moment. After meeting their newest unexpected guest, Gray lost whatever nerve he had to threaten the hunter in the first place. Some mumbled excuse of his followed, he was sure, but that, too, eluded him at the moment. Bunk assignments were the next to go off-plan. The crew's quarters, of course, was the logical place for any stranger to sleep in when on a ship that wasn't their own, but no, Jet just had to take the med-bay, where he and his plus one could be distressingly close to their medical supplies at any given moment. And that wasn't even beginning to scratch the surface of the bat that had oh-so-conveniently fell through their window and now simply couldn't fly back to land on his own.

All things considered, Gray found it a blessing to retreat to his own quarters—the captain's by name, though the title hardly meant anything on a ship as informally run as the Damsel—and simply chart a course to the nearest landing place to resupply... or, at least, he would've if it wasn't for the fact that the only landmass likely to have excess food and tradable fuel within a month's travel was Glitra.

He would be lying if he said there was no temptation to simply roll up the map and pretend they were out of luck. Sure, they had missed a supply run and, with four extra mouths to feed, their food stores had, unsurprisingly, begun to dwindle (not that Lan had acted as such considering his renewed determination to ensure he ate a diet that wasn't "so small it'd starve a fucking mouse"), but it couldn't be that bad, right? The majority of the crew could self-revive, after all, and those that weren't as lucky... they could ration among themselves with what little they could scrounge up in small towns, right?
But Gray was nothing if not cautious. He ran the numbers, and, unfortunately, no. They'd be lucky to support even one person for that long, and that was ignoring the chances that they would take advantage of a flock of starving phoenixes when given the very lucrative opportunity.

Even more damningly, they were severely lacking in the one thing Gray was sure no small town could provide: fuel. There was always an off chance that some backwater farming village had managed to harvest more than they expected from a crop, but fuel didn't just happen. Fuel needed to be cultivated, purified, and processed within an inch of its life to make anything of use. If there was a village anywhere nearby that had the proper equimpent for that, he would've heard about it, and all such news had been absent every time he made the journey through this section of the world.

So, with all other options perishing before his eyes, he grabbed Lan for a private chat...

Well, he tried to.

No sooner had the words "a problem for the, ah... crew" left his mouth than Lan started swearing up a storm about how, if it affected everyone, then everyone should get a say in what happened. All without having even heard the problem first. So, they were a democracy now. Next thing he knew they were going to be voting on how much to auction each of their wings for. Gray wasn't sure what he expected.

He rubbed his eyes as if it might clear the nagging from his ears, and fixed the hall behind his lecturing compatriot with a dull stare that rapidly turned to a squint. As if to spite him, Vihaan peeked out from a door only a few feet from them, ears perked to drink in every word out of Lan's mouth. Hale, too, just so happened to be strolling by. At this rate, even Arcadius breaking bedrest orders from the ship's apparent medic at the exact right moment to hear the argument wouldn't surprise him.

One caught patient, a few eavesdroppers, and a lengthy lecture that he would much rather have avoided later, they stood assembled around a makeshift table of barrels on the deck. Having sped through an explanation of their problems (with certain speculations left unmentioned), Gray sighed and shifted one of the many bowls and plates acting as paperweights for the map between them. "This," he tapped a finger against a miniature illustration of a castle, "is Glitra. It's a castle some rich idiot commissioned so he could hold constant parties on it. This time of year, he's probably holding the Gathering Week ball." He slid his hand back to the small bead he had been using as a placemarker. "They're within a couple days travel of us and, during events, they keep a lot of resources on-hand for guests including food, lodging, and fuel if you pay."

"Unfortunately, we aren't quite their usual guest. Glitra only caters to the wealthy. Nobles, successful merchants, and," his wings twitched, "phoenix farmers." Gray drew his hand back, forcing it into a pocket before it could start shaking. "In order to get in, we'd have to blend in. Clothes, behaviour, all of it. Now, the fashion is a bit old, but if we grab a few feathers and fix them right, we could pass off as having phoenix glamours. As for the rest of it, there's a few towns we could stop at along the way that might be able to provide some professional tailoring."

The fingers of his free hand rapped nervously against the barrel lids. "If we're smart about it, we can take enough of whatever their serving to tide us over until our next landing. Obviously don't get too cocky—rich bastards don't have to take food home with them, if one gets caught doing so it'll be suspicious—but they won't be guarding the kitchens." Like a platform on a balance scale, his head tilted a notch to the side before tipping back to an even level as if physically weighing their options. "The fuel, on the other hand... that'll be trickier. I would try to pay for it, but Glitran fuel sells like liquid gold. Since they can hike the price up without any of their guests raising an eyebrow, they do, and I don't think we have enough phoenix components between us to trade for it without coming in looking like a bunch of plucked chickens. Luckily, there's a lot of us, so we might be able to run distraction for eachother." Or step on eachother's toes.

Once again, his wings rearranged themselves without his input. Another heavy sigh wove it's way out of his mouth, and Gray—hair messy, clothes wrinkled, face unshaven, and otherwise looking like he could be anything but a noble—finally lifted his gaze from the map and slid his eyes across the motley crew. "So, any questions?"

 

[noil]

Hale^{- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -}

It had been a week since Hale had made her impulsive into the lives of this flock of phoenixes. It had been... more mundane than she would have expected. She'd imagined the life of a group of phoenixes would have involved a lot more fighting and dramatics and lot less sharing-food and group meetings.

At least they seemed to trust her enough to include her in their planning. Although as the crew gathered on deck she could help but feel it was all a scheme to lure her into letting her guard down.

Glitra?! Hale nearly choked on the name of the place as it hit her.

"You've got to be kidding. You can't just put on a nice outfit and expect to walk in, you know," she blurted out as Gray wrapped up his briefing. Attention around the table turned to her and Hale flushed at the sudden focus.

She'd actually been to Glitra once as a child. As much as setting foot on their service dock could count as going there anyway. The elaborate architecture and attention to a crisp, polished presentation in all matters even at such a relatively unseen side of the castle was enough to dazzle her young eyes. It had all seemed so impossibly perfect, and the elaborate trappings and exotic furnishings had conjured images of a fairy-tale in her mind even as Hale's father openly scoffed at the decadence.

Looking back on the experience, now what stood out the most to her was the firm control with which everything was held. Striving for perfection meant everything was strictly documented and directly orchestrated at all times. The security was numerous and omnipresent as well, and were responsible for ultimately chasing off her and her father from his disgruntled demands to be let in to track down a farmer who owed them payment.

"You have to have an invitation, or- or work papers or something," Hale's words picked up speed as she was eager to have the group's attention leave her. "It's impossible."