hRhianne

Waiting at the halfway point of the race, the tokotas were rather nervous to see a relatively normal looking human climb into place further up the mountain beside Slate. "This is Flash, he's agreed to help me out for the second leg! Wouldn't want things to get boring now, would we?" Slate shouted down. Alesandro didn't look too happy at that, which wasn't surprising given Slate had been throwing logs down at them already to make the course more 'interesting'. Myr and Arianna still sported bruises from when they'd been clipped by some of the obstacles, and Harmonic looked wary as well. Kalima had got away from the first half of the race without a scratch, and was just eager to get going. "Do you recognise the human?" he asked the group. Alo shook his head, looking across at his sister Alawa. "I mean, if they're going to make it more fun, what's the problem?" Theia and Kalima demonstrated similarly blase attitudes to the increasing challenge of the course, and so Alesandro ended

The raid had been going on for some time now, Byrnhild staying at the edge, watching nervously as the fighters did their work in the distance. But she couldn't spend too long in contemplation - there was the fire to keep going, and raiders continually staggering back to find somewhere to rest who needed directing to her fire or one of the ones run by another support ketucari, as well as plying with hot drinks until they stopped shivering. She nearly had a far more exciting time when a gust of wind blew across the fire, sending burning stalks of shyll scattering. Some caught on the stone barrier surrounding the pit, but others threatened the fighters resting around it, and she raced about, stamping with paws on flaming strands of grass before it could set fire to the surroundings. Here Danuoc's habit of drenching everything within combat distance helped, as there wasn't much dry to catch light.

Danuoc was a familiar presence to Yttin, though usually more friendly and helpful (so long as she had adequate food, and no one made the mistake of moving in a particularly exciting fashion near her paws) than the current keticidal creature who was thrashing about, currently clawing out of the river to throw herself at some of the fighters. Yttrin was ready, though. Beside her were Slate, Flash and Idris, the quartet ready for a fight, even if this one was going to be a little different than usual. Surrounding Danuoc, seated on the few small hilltops that could be found in the flat plains, were weapons, prepared and ready to be used. Gigantic guns, and creations of half magic, half metal, that were just waiting for ketucari to use them. None had intelligence within them, because no one was about to repeat the mistakes of the Akadri, but they still provided a reminder that there were things more powerful than their own magic. Of course, first they had to change into humanoid forms

The fight continued in the distance, Danuoc making waves that crashed up the river, the water nearly threatening to flood Brynhild's position as she tried to keep her eyes on the fighters straggling in from the front lines. Some were badly injured - those went straight to the medics, some even being carried in (something that usually meant a ketucari was on their last legs) after being picked up from the front. Brynhild's job was easier. She kept the fire going, stacking dried out shyll on top of it when it started running low, and let the fighters sit around it to dry out as they drank great draughts of healing and invigoration (which Byrnhild suspected had been obtained by dumping a huge amount of caffeine in there) potions that had been prepared in advance, and heated up by her. It wasn't complicated, but she was doing some good.

Stanton had taken to combat training remarkably well, considering that prior to his unfortunate attempt at a date with Vi, where the entire restaurant had been destroyed before they even reached it, he hadn't fought anything larger than a rabbit. Still, regular practice against the variety of combat dummies available in the gym Vi trained at (Stanton still wasn't entirely sure who or what she worked for, just that monster fighting was definitely a large part of it. No one ever interrupted their combat practice, and each time he entered the gym it stank of disinfectant like someone had been removing all traces of scent of those who had been using it earlier. Now, he was ready for his first real test - at least according to Vi. Stanton was less sure about the whole thing, and already feeling a certain amount of regret that he'd started training at all. "It'll be fine," Vi said, giving him what was presumably meant to be a reassuring bump with her shoulder. It would have been more

Brynhild looked out over the Plains of Messus, and at the battle taking place in the far distance. For a moment she was wistful that she wasn't fighting with the others, but she didn't have the combat skills for that, not yet at least. Instead she was working on the defense, gathering up as many things as she could in preparation for when the fighters needed to retreat for a break. There wasn't much in the way of wood, not out here in the open, but year old stalks of Shyll would still burn well enough to provided nice fires for the fighters to dry themselves out at. Though they did require a solid surround of stone and careful tending to avoid the flames licking out across the fields and providing yet another hazard to deal with. Hopefully the single fire she'd managed to create and maintain would be enough.

hRhianne: Picard was a little cautious when word came in of a new project which needed some helping paws. After the quiet of helping the monks at Aga’s Sanctuary, surely the next mission would mean excessive danger, or at least be in a hazardous environment. But when he had Swift and Dreamer research Trebok Forest and Lote Polne, both came back as largely harmless - at least unless you meant harm to the inhabitants or land of Narnvak. Once he was certain it was safe (he would have gone anyway, just differently prepared) Picard sent word to Cedar, Map and Bernadetta as usual. The group met on the beach at the very edge of the forest, and Lote Polne was there to greet them. “The tides have been particularly high recently - it is the way with spring,” she said. “But that means that the forest floor has been disturbed, and treasures long buried may be visible once more. I could use some assistance in finding these artifacts - with the caveat that I expect you to bring them to me, not

Things had gone...well, a bit wrong, when Vi and Stanton had stumbled upon the ruins of the restaurant they'd been planning to have dinner in only to find the entire place collapsed, and then further wrong when they'd found the survivors from the restaurant sheltering in a cafe, and learnt that a creature made of bricks, mortar and knives was rampaging the streets. At least as far as Stanton was concerned. He didn't have the same enthusiasm for monster hunting that Vi did, and frankly had been entirely on board with the original have some nice food, served on a low table where they could sit on couches, having civilised food like the humans but without all the knives and forks which would have made it impossible for Tokotas to eat(or glasses - who thought a narrow opening was a good idea?), rather than stalking the streets in search of something terrifying. But he wanted to impress his companion, so Stanton had left the brightly lit cafe behind, and was padding along the streets

"Don't mind Artemis, she's just having a few issues with the sudden influx of people. The sudden jump from just us and the occasional new arrival to sudden crowds has been a lot for all of us," Rhea said, grinning up at us. "Most of the newcomers have been well behaved, but those that haven't...well, they've made enough chaos for the rest." I nodded along, though now were were so close I could feel the tension gathering along my throat. I knelt down by Hannah to make it easier for her to resume her place. Her weight on my back had gone from awkward to a welcome sense of companionship. "Do you mind if I join you?" the yeti dire asked. "It would be nice to converse now you're feeling better." "Of course, I don't remember your name though," I said. "Prince Charming," he said with a slight bow which I returned. With Kendra and Lana also on their paws and ready to move out, it was time to go. I just tried to keep my nerves from showing too much. Even if I wasn't sure I wanted to go home

I had scattered memories of the crossing to Sikatou - talking to a yeti dire I didn't recognize, and would need to track down later to apologize to for any faux pas I'd made while sedated. It was strange remembering seeing the ocean out of the ship's window and not being afraid of it, or at least the fear being suppressed by what felt like a very warm, heavy blanket until the sea was just fine. I was not looking forward to repeating that on the way back, but for the moment there was the reassuring solidity of lava tubes in front of me. Kendra and Lana finished filling me in on the background of the area as we traveled through the tunnels, Hannah folded almost entirely forward along my neck, and me leaning forward so she wouldn't scrape the ceiling. By the time we reached the opening, where the now icy tunnels gave way to a cavern so large I couldn't see the other sides of it, where mushrooms took the place of trees in reaching towards the sky (or rather, glowing blue ceiling, though I