Glacialis-Quasar

It starts with dreams - like there's some remnant of lost friends reaching out to him from beyond, grasping fingers seeking to inform him of the state of things like they expect him to be able to do something about it. Vreditel really doesn't know what to do with that, but the dreams are clear enough. There's something wrong with Yggdrasil, and he's needed to help with it. Whatever it is. The dreams carry the scent and feeling of lost friends, and Vreditel finds his eyes wet with unshed tears when he wakes from them. They'd do something about this, about Yggdrasil apparently rotting. They were all heroic sorts anyway, Heroic sorts that Vreditel never really understood the motivation of sticking around someone like him... Shaking his head, Vreditel gets to his hooves. It's the first night he's slept out on his own like this, and his back and body hurt in a way they never did when he slept in a stall or when he shared that halcyon cave with--- He can watch the sunrise like this

Domino stares Alma down, shifting from hoof to hoof and scowling. They lost last time, and that loss stings in a way that Domino loathes. Hates. It's unacceptable. They can't lose like that! Alma is watching them, head tilted to one side like she's waiting for them to either attack or speak first. Perhaps she is, perhaps she already knows why Domino is here. How many come back time and time again in order to soothe their egos after a loss? Many, Domino suspects, and in this they are perhaps no different from any of those individuals. In their defense, the others have explained over and over that there's no reason for them to feel so slighted by their loss. Sometimes another rukaan is simply better at something, and there's nothing wrong with that. None of the herd thinks any less of Domino for losing to someone as well seasoned as Alma, and none of the herd is judging them in any way for it. Except Domino themself will. Domino always will. Losing. Getting stuck. Not being good

There's no telling how much time creeps by before the teeth entities slink away, put out by the way that Yigg absolutely does not back down at all. There's much complaining, but eventually the cave lightens up again - though the fog and the whispering of the spirits hasn't changed at all. Only once she's sure that the creatures are gone, Yigg turns back to the group that's with her. Clay and Kiesul no longer have tucked tails, which is most certainly a good sigh. Margaret is watching Yigg like Yigg is a strange creature, and Yigg supposes that means that there's most certainly no way out of explaining herself this time. Not with the way Margaret is watching her. "I learned, recently, about what you've been doing behind my back." Yigg says, and she decides all at once that she can't do this while looking directly at Margaret. It has to be... a different way, because she doesn't want to look at Margaret for this. For any of this, really. "I tried to refuse the knowledge for a long

The original purpose of heading into these caves hasn't been lost, even if Margaret thinks so for a moment. Except now the scent trail has gone cold, according to Kiesul, and Clay has his tail tucked like he feels personally guilty for the cold trail. Margaret can't help but go off on him a little. Really? There's no personal guilt anywhere here. If any of them are personally guilty for the trail having gone cold, then it's Margaret herself! Yigg hushes them all when she snaps that, head held high and gaze scanning the caves like she thinks she might see something. "Shhh, there's something... there's something in the fog." Yigg murmurs, putting herself bodily in front of Margaret, Kiesul, and Clay. Like she can personally protect them from whatever it is that she thinks she can see. It's the kind of move that Margaret has come to nearly expect out of her mother, as strange and out of place as it sometimes seems. They don't even know for certain that there's something in the fog, and

Superstitions. Chetiri has had more than her fill of superstitions these last few years - seared into her back and scored against her flesh under her fur. And yet, here she is. Here she is. But... if she has to be entirely honest, she's willing to do just about anything for the sheer whisper of learning anything about her past. It gnaws at her, in the dead of night, in ways that she really can't articulate to anyone. Shaking her head, Chetiri casts her gaze down at the goat that she's luring. For someone who feels like a protector, something like this feels... counter to everything she is. But that's the trouble, isn't it? Chetiri doesn't know what she is. Her memories from before her escape are few and far between. And Renegade is a good sort, really, but he doesn't have any leads on who she was once. Which is what's led her here - luring a white goat up a steep path towards a waterfall. The little creature is watching her, eyes empty of suspicion. Not quite trusting, no, but

"I... I need advice." Yigg says, voice low and soft as she glances over at Kiesul and Clay. They're still travelling through the spirit realm, though they've gone from one cave to the next. Margaret seems.... distracted in a way that Yigg has heard tales of - tales of when she was plotting... and it only further damns the suspicions she was hoping were false. Kiesul and Clay are good sorts, they'll be able to help Yigg out here. This is a decision that affects Yigg's entire herd, and it's not as simple as quietly having cannibals remove a problem ruk and claim she has no real involvement in it at all. That... that worked, sure, but... oh. Oh. It's probably one of the many ways in which she's set a precedent that Margaret simply followed. How... how is she going to handle that? Clay and Kiesul are watching her now, both of them quite curious about what she needs advice on. So Yigg breathes, flicks an ear back at Margaret to make sure that she isn't so close that she'll be able

He knows what they're going to say, what they're going to demand before he even gets anywhere near them. The herd elders have summoned him - and he knows now what they've hidden from him all his life. There is hope, thin and tender, a flickering ember - that things will not go the way instinct says it will. Perhaps they will have mercy for him. Perhaps, perhaps there may yet be kindness, somewhere buried in the hearts of the herd's overseers. Sure, he gets that they have to keep the herd in line and in a proper enough sort of position for the bipeds who come around. And having a rukaan like... well, like him, isn't the best of signs when it comes to keeping the bipeds happy. That much has been apparent to him since even before he learned what he really was. Something about his personality makes the bipeds that own the herd dislike him, a stark contrast to the rest of the herd which adores him. Honestly the bipeds aren't even here often! Leading the herd is important, and Vreditel

Yigg breathes, glancing over her shoulder at the companions she has with her this time. It's... quite different, she supposes. She almost misses having Hex along, rather than the current crew, but... if nothing else, she's sure that this will be a pretty peaceful trip through Brekkathorpe. The flowers are bright and pretty - and the waves are crashing but none of the individuals that saw any of the... horrible things that went down before. Burewala and Kertalkos are new faces - both tokotas, both strangers, but that's fine. Preferred maybe, given that she doesn't want to deal with anything that has a good chance of dragging up the problems. As for Simon and Dahlia, they're also new faces. And, apparently, a father and daughter pair. Simon is the father of the two, and an impressively sweet individual. Dahlia is also a pretty sweet individual, just like her father, so she's pretty sure that she can handle whatever comes up. Besides, while Kertalkos is small and... strange looking

Today is one of those days where Victor feels the effects of his illness the most keenly. None of the others are having to stay put and allow their bodies to rest like he is, and while if he said anything the others would be more than happy to stick right there with him until he felt better... it's one of those days where the act of asking for help would make him feel far worse than he would if he just forced himself to deal with it. But, if nothing else, the sickly rukaan has found a few things that he can do. Things he can make work. Oh, sure, they're not exactly the easiest of things, but there is always a need for supplies. And if he can make their supplies stretch even a tiny bit further, that could mean the difference between life and death for someone. So - the perfect thing to ward off the way he's feeling at the moment is to crack open one of those books on runecrafting that he picked up during a trade with some not entirely local dwarves! There's no one around to tell him

She has to talk to her daughter. Oh, oh Yigg very much does not want to do that, but she can't avoid it forever. Can't sidestep the issue for the rest of time. Things simply... they don't go that way. And her latest missions are over. Not only are they over, but she's quite clearly staring down the very real fact that she has to go back and check on her herd. Which means she has to confront one more fact that she loathes. Yigg left Margaret in charge of her most recent calves. She still trusted her daughter at that point, and knew nothing of what Margaret has made a habit out of. That's no longer the case, sure -- but at least one of those calves is a little sickly. Nowhere near as bad as it had been for Victor, sure, but... the fact still remains that she left those calves with Margaret. That little fact is made even more alarming when she realizes that she can see Margaret up ahead. Trotting towards her with the company of a pair of tokotas that the herd contracts with