Forest of Ceylis

"That's a good question."

A voice came out of nowhere, loud but not booming, like an echo floating out of the back of a cave. A cascade of dust fell from the side of a nearby small boulder, revealing a wolf's head made entirely of stone protruding from the rock. The stone face blinked, its gemstone eyes seeming to swivel in the direction of the group.

"Don't... Ahum."

The face paused, looking as though it was listening to its own echoing voice. The next words were spoken more professionally.

"Do not be alarmed, travellers. I am here to help. "

(posting for Ran again.)

There was a rustle in the nearby bushes, but Ran noted a lack of wind. Ran started to turn around, to investigate, When his vision was blocked by a mass of grey and white fur. "Ran! Yay! I found you!!" Said the furry projectile, "Can we play a game? I'm bored!"

After overcoming his shock, Ran smiled a bit. "Hey asta." he said, pawing back at her. "No, we can't play right now! We have to-" his words were cut short by a rumbling voice. Ran looked around, unable to locate the source. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a rock move all on its own! When he noticed that the rock had a face, he backed up to hide behind his mother.

Celcia listened to Reem's description of her symptoms and nodded. "We need to hurry up and get cured, Reem, before any of us attack one another."

Asta then came running up and pounced Ran, "Oh, hello Asta! We can't play any games right now.. We're going to go save the world. Do you want to come with us..?" She probably should, considering Sing and Lute were staying here.

Celcia didn't notice the demon monster materializing in the rock until it spoke. She stared at it and slightly tilted her head. Was hallucinating part of the side effects..? Kor never showed any symptoms of hallucination. Celcia went up to it and pawed its face, just to make sure it was real.

Reem was grateful for Celcia's seemingly cool head. Reem just felt like she was a huge mess compared to eveyone else. She simply nodded at her words and mentally prepared herself for what would probably the most tense journey she had travel since she had decided to leave the forest with Kashi years before.

But just as she was starting to get her mind steady, another fox came flying out of the foliage, startling her. Reem's went right back to being on edge. She jumped, but managed not to get too riled up from it. A few steps back and she could regain her composure before anyone had time to notice. But when the rock suddenly spoke in that booming voice, Reem lost it. Yelping loudly, she darted from the group - which wasn't terribly fast considering what state she was in. She made for the first hiding place she could find, a little gap under a thorn bush. She ignored the pricks and pokes from the thorns and huddled there as if her life depended on it. Her mind was all in a muddle, the poor thing couldn't even think correctly.

Kallec was too surprised by the sudden appearance of the face on the rock. Almost dropping his glasses, he quickly adjusted them and inspected the stone wolf head protruding from the rock formation.

"Um.. wow... I didn't know earth elementals inhabited our forest! It's a pleasure to meet you, sir.. miss... Look, I understand how you elementals appreciate communing with the natural elements you're made of, but it may be an inapropriate time to act mysteriously. Most of us are prone to sudden changes in behavior, and you seem to be startling the affected ones in a negative way"

He caught himself trying to promote diplomacy, which was unfitting of him.

"Well, maybe you could just step out and introduce yourself? Our friend here, Reem, is very displeased and probably feels threatened by the way you hide yourself within the rocks..."

Astatine lowered her body and slightly arched her back, portraying much similarity to a frightened cat. But, it was clear from the look on her face, that she was not scared, but fuming. She was displeased that her question remained unanswered and all of these strangers surrounded her family, but she lost it when her brother retreated. Almost immediately, her words turned hostile, "I don't know who the hell all you people are, but you better all get away from my brother right now!"

Asta then stretched out her paws, revealing rather well sharpened claws, directing her full attention to the rock creature. She emitted a low rumble from the back of her throat, before shouting again, "If you don't move away, I'll move you myself!" As of this time, Asta had only had success moving small rocks and believed that perhaps her powers were Earth related, but she would not divulge her lack of magical ability or practice to any one but her close family.

Kip's face flinched at the probing paw. "Excuse me, do you mind?" Her ears swiveled towards Kallec to hear his explanation, producing a grating squeal from the rock, and without further prelude she stepped out of the rock as easily as if it were water. She was a bulky wolf, her form comprised of ever-shifting particles of pulverized rock that seemed to simulate thick rippling fur.

"I apologize for startling you. I don't live here- I don't even believe I've been to these woods before- but I have come to help you restore balance to these lands. My name is Kip. You have nothing to fear from me."

The last remark seemed pointed at Astatine. Privately, Kip doubted she could even muss her fur. The elemental turned her head and looked at Celcia peeringly, her gaze oddly flat due to the stones. "I sense illness here. Is that what I have been sent to correct?"

(Ran-post, find your damn password already)


Ran cautiously reached out a paw to grab asta, but kept most of his body carefully behind his mother. Asta's tail was just within reach, and he grabbed ahold of the tip, and started pulling gently on it. If the big rock thing turned violent, he didn't want his sister vulnerably out in the open. When the conversation paused, he poked his head around Celcia's leg, and quietly asked his living shield "Mom, what is she? What does she mean she was sent here? By who?" though he did not stop his efforts with Asta'a tail.

Celcia tried to pay attention to everybody and the commotion they were causing. Kip was scaring Reem, who went to hide in a bush way too small to hide her pregnant body. Kallec was being uncharacteristically communicative with Kip. Celcia figured that he was much more comfortable talking to non-biological things. Asta was being a very mean Asta, and Celcia would give her a stern ass-whooping later.

"Okay, everybody stop!" Celcia made her way over to Reem's hideybush. "Reem, calm down, it's okay! Kip is one of our friends, she won't hurt anybody.." That last part was directed as much to Asta as it was to Reem. Celcia turned back towards the rock monster, "Listen, Kip.. I don't know who or what caused you to come here, but we have a virus that needs to be cured. It causes people to become insane and attack others. We need to find the cure really fast, and I mean we should have left a long time ago. Come on, everybody, we're running out of time, we can talk while we walk.."

Celcia began walking in the vague direction of the valley. Flashbacks had already begun surfacing in her mind. Memories of her family before it had been torn apart.

Reem jumped when she heard Celcia's voice right near her. With her eyes shut tight, she hadn't seen the fox approaching and heard nothing through the panick. But at least her words got through a bit and Reem relaxed a little bit - even if not much.

She didn't say anything, but she did give a timid little nod and pulled her giant self from bush. It was an awkward moment and Reem wasn't sure if she should apologize or be embarrassed or what. She simply followed Celcia and stayed quiet for now.

*Kallec had simply lost track of how many people there were now. Was it always like that? When something went wrong, a bunch of friends gathered together to see what they could do? Why was he never told about that? There were no books in his library telling stories of collaborative parties like that, so he wasn't sure if it was going to work or not. Something told him it was a good thing*

*As Kip assumed a wolf-form, Kallec felt a bit embarrassed to have talked so much to her, so he just nodded as Celcia explained she was a friend*

"Um... I think we should really get going"

*He looked at Reem, Asta and Ran, and decided they were all convinced that Kip would cause no harm. Also, he skipped introducing himself and walked after Celcia, nervously. He unconsciously expected the earth elemental to assume a more neutral form instead of a wolf*

Astatine was neither coaxed by Kip’s words nor her mother’s, but instead seemed to only lose her aggressive stance when her brother started tugging on her tail. Her personality almost immediately switched, taking a turn back into the childish state she had entered with. She sat firmly down and let out a whine, “But Rannnnnn! I don’t like all these people. They are strange and I don’t want to go anywhere with strangers. Can’t we just go by ourselves?”

She let out a huff and pouted, already knowing the answer to her question. Her mother would never allow them be so rude to refuse offered help, even if they were not part of the family. She shifted next to her brother, only moving to leave when her brother did and keeping close to him along the way. It was clear she didn’t care if she had just insulted the entire group, but despite her displeasure, she would follow her brother wherever he went. She’d just have to watch the others very carefully and most likely be inhospitable to anyone she didn’t already know.

Kip listened to the proceedings and nodded, taking it all in. As Celcia left, she turned to walk with her. "We go, then."

Kip's brow furrowed slightly as she pondered the effects of the sickness on the surrounding ecology. Epidemics always had to be investigated- they weren't generally a natural disaster, and Kip had a feeling Celcia wasn't telling her everything. She held her own council, though, sensitive to teh fact that she had already put an unstable party unwittingly on edge. She moved with a sound like the swish of windblown sand, small pebbles rolling out of the way as she made her way towards the valley. "Do we know what type of cure we're looking for?"

(short Ranpost, get your damn account fixed)

Ran turned to follow on his mothers heels, but turned his head to keep one eye on asta, and the other on the rock-wolf. "shhhh, Asta... We can use all the help we can get.. Its ok."he said, trying to calm her down.

Celcia certainly wasn't telling Kip everything, but she wasn't trying to hide anything on purpose. "I have absolutely no idea. In fact, I'm almost out of options. If I didn't know where it originated from, I wouldn't even know where to go. However, Mother's place is generally a good idea to look for something anyway.." Celcia continued out of the clearing, looking back to make sure everybody was following along. "I have no idea what the cure is. But whatever it is, either Mother has it, or it doesn't exist."

Poor Reem was extremely uncomfortable, feeling like a dolt for her reactions to, well, everything. Especially around a bunch of strangers.

Now she simply stayed close to Celcia, clinging to the only fox she somewhat knew. She walked along at pace, but stayed close behind. She couldn't help but listen in on the conversation between Celcia and Kip. It was scary knowing that no one knew what was happening. Reem feared for the life of her kits. Without thinking, she chimed in.

"If a cure doesn't exist, does that mean I'm going to die?" Her voice wasn't as grim as one would think. She seemed more curious than sad.

As Kallec was also following Celcia very closely, he could reply to Reem's question without talking aloud. He just looked at her and whispered.

"Don't worry. As I recap all information I have on this disease, it's not a deadly one. Celcia's brothers had it for a long time, but none of them suffered any kind of injury because of it. The worst effect is that it slowly turns you antisocial, constantly angry, and ultimately mad, but you would need to have it for years before you started losing your mind. However, as it existed for a long time and only now had an outbreak, I doubt that it's the same form of disease. It may have evolved into something more serious. Since you probably contracted it after Celcia, we can just observe the symptoms she develops, and if nothing too serious emerges, you can remain unconcerned".

He hoped that wouldn't sound too complex, but as he reviewed his explanation in his mind, it seemed it would work to placate most of Reem's concerns.

Astatine would quickly shake her head in response to her brother’s words, keeping her tone low to appease her brother’s shushing, “No we don’t Ran! You and mom are so much smarter than everybody else, so we can just figure it out on our own! Besides.. you don’t like that stupid rock monster thing.” She briefly looked to Kip, childishly sticking out her tongue at her before continuing to follow along with Ran.

It seemed that she had completely blocked out the conversation around her and became extremely focused on Ran, but some words had made it through to her. Internally, she recognized that the situation seemed extremely dire. But, she had not inherited the wit her mother had, leaving her somewhat unsure of how this disease even worked despite thorough explanations from the group. Instead, she decided to focus on Kip some more, hoping that when she developed her powers, she didn’t scare Ran away.

If Kip still had muscles, she would have winced. Instead, the particles around her neck and shoulders swirled apprehensively. If her companions yielded to despair, there was nothing to be done. She took in Kallec's explanation silently and kept an eye on Reem for a reaction- she seemed the most affected, and maybe a benchmark of the disease's progression could be reached through observation. The thought was bitter to her, though, and she furrowed her brow and walked a little faster.

When she found herself moving a length or so ahead of the group, Kip shook herself out of her rumination and slowed somewhat. Astatine's attempts to control her felt like little more than insects on the perimeter of her senses, but it was something else to focus on. She decided to try and be kind, turning back towards the young magefox with her best approximation of a rocky smile. "Practicing, are we? Are you an earth magefox?"