Skittles

Mirror, Fox, Key

TEAM EGGPLANT

Lux shook her head when Emma asked about her scratch. It stung a bit more than she thought it would, and she winced when Emma lightly touched it, but the pain was more than manageable. She'd gone through worse skulking about in the strangest places in town. Like the time she crawled into a perfectly Lux-shaped hole underneath the baker's shop; she got a small but deep scar on her back where a loose nail had dug into her. Or when she squeezed her way through a narrow not-really-alleyway and got stuck there when the decrepit walls caved in. A bunch of the town's construction workers had to hammer away at the stone walls until they made a whole big enough for her to escape from. Ouch, did she get a lot of bruises from that. And a lot of lectures, too. That hurt a lot more.

But really, the main reason was this: "No, no, leave it like that! It looks like a battle scar, doesn't it? Lux versus the fearsome felidrake!"

It would make for a wonderful story for her brother, and maybe even her other friends back at home. As long as she exaggerated the size of the fearsome felidrake, make it dragon-sized instead of cat-sized.

Emma let her know then that she'd already caught one—of course Emms did, and probably without much effort to boot! She really needed to take a page from Emma's handy how-to-get-things-done-with-ease-(and-style) journal. There was nothing that botanist couldn't do! Lux figured Emma could help with her cheeky felidrake nemesis, but before she had a chance to ask, some rustling caught her ever-alert ears (sharpened by years of nosiness and gossiping).

It was that popping sound that the felidrakes made when teleporting.

Lux looked up and around the suspect tree. From her brief observations, the felidrakes didn't just leave aural traces of their 'before' locations, but some very faint visuals as well. It was like an afterimage, there longer than it was supposed to be. They were hard to spy, but if she were to look for it as soon as the popping sounded, she knew she would find it. Lux looked for one now and followed what she thought was the trail up, up, up, where Meryn just teleported.

Where Meryn just teleported. She knew it.

Lux would have been a lot more excited if Meryn wasn't currently hurtling downward at a pace that surely meant no good. Whether she had teleported through her own magical abilities (very, very likely) or through some accidental accompaniment of a felidrake (also very, very likely, but not as much fun), some miscalculations must have been made.

"Emms, look!"

Lux scrambled forward, arms outreached, ready to catch the falling—teleporting!—delivery girl even though she probably couldn't handle her weight, only to gracefully fall flat on her face. In her haste, she had tripped over her own feet and went skidding across the ground, to the side and farther away from where she wanted to go. There was second-delay in her cognition, and she only realized she was no longer moving forward (and downward instead) when a fallen Meryn perfectly aligned in her line of sight. She had crashed landed unto her iron cage, breaking it into pieces, and Lux caught only air and some dirt on her face.

The thudding sound that resounded after Meryn fell made Lux shriek in empathetic pain. Ow, ow, ow. She'd observed the roof-hopping girl long enough to know she can handle a fall, but still. Ow, ow, ow. Lux quickly dusted herself off, ignoring the few extra scratches she got because they were nothing compared to the literal holes in Meryn's body, and rushed back to Emma. She all but yanked the botanist, who was no doubt getting her healing stuff, toward stubborn, teleporting Meryn who still bothered with the felidrake even though she literally had holes in her body.

"Go do your magic on her, Emm. I bet she'll be teleporting again in no time!" Lux said as she led the way. Meryn seemed well enough to move and interact with that guard guy who caused the commotion earlier this morning, but Lux wouldn't be certain that she was better until amazing Emma did her thing.

Spook got to Meryn the same time they did and handed over some Traveller medicine that made Lux super curious, then guilty because there were more important matters at hand. She waited until Emma took it and applied it to Meryn, straining to keep her attention on the injured girl that needed attention instead of the masked Traveller talking about temples and magis.

^{@Diggerton@c3p-0h}

Mirror, Fox, Key

I'm here, I'm here! Thanksgiving vacay starts early for Skittles, yay. Now I have time to play ketchup.

^{@Diggerton damn right, you wait for lux ;p ily2}

Mirror, Fox, Key

Here! Just haven't been able to squeeze writing between classes and more classes. ;x;

Mirror, Fox, Key

@c3p-0h @Diggerton Gahhh, and here I was waiting for @Darinthus to catch up. :o

I've got a full day of classes tomorrow, but I'll work on a post as soon as I get home. Sorry to keep you guys waiting!

Mirror, Fox, Key

TEAM EGGPLANT

As Emma scampered off in hopes of reining in the suddenly energetic forest spirit, Lux strayed slightly, unable to fight the pull of curiosity. She made sure to stay within earshot, though, in case mysterious Spook decided to give them more information about the mysterious quest.

Lux found her gaze being pulled overhead, toward the trees Roy loved so much. She had glimpsed movement earlier from somewhere up on those branches, too fast for her to have seen clearly, but not enough for her keen eyes to have missed it. Whatever it had been was quick, there one second and gone and the next, almost like… Lux tried to stop the giddy smile from spreading on her face, but it was no good. The damage was done. Her eyes unconsciously drifted to Meryn, who was already climbing up some branches, narrowing conspiratorially as she watched her.

Was it a coincidence that Meryn was climbing the same tree she saw the shadowy blur that was (maybe, possibly, if the stars were being nice to her) something teleporting?

Probably.

But that was beside the point!

She quickly inspected the tree before returning to Spook's side, right as he began to detail the nature of their first mission. They were to catch felidrakes. While the strange name was enough to seize her attention (she picked up on the portmanteau rather quickly), the sketch and subsequent explanation made her freeze on the spot. No way. Lux stared wide-eyed and jaw slack at Spook, then at the sketch, then at the forest that housed the creatures, wondering if she somehow unwittingly drifted into another daydream. That tended to happen quite often; embarrassingly often, really. But it seemed everyone else heard him as well and they'd already scattered in pursuit.

Lux didn't know whether she wanted to cry or laugh or run back home to grab her brother and show him. Creatures that were half something and half something else were real. Creatures that could teleport were real. Creatures that used to exist only in books, in the stories Lowell told her, were real and they were within reach.

After emitting a sound that was halfway between an excited cheer and manic giggle, Lux picked a direction and ran, her cage swinging wildly behind her. She stopped beside Emma just long enough to point the direction she's going, no doubt quite a hilarious sight with her mouth hanging wide open with overwhelmed excitement and her lilac eyes bright with unadulterated glee.

Now that Spook pointed them out, Lux saw the felidrakes everywhere. She caught yellow eyes staring back at them warily and shadowy blurs around every corner. Her ears became attuned to the soft popping sounds they made before they teleported. If she hadn't been so excited, she could have devised a clever plan to trap one of them. From what she had observed, the limited range of the felidrake's teleportation could be manipulated. If she just looked for the perfect spot, she could try to force one into teleporting close enough to capture.

But no, she was indeed overly excited and any coherent thought process was out the window.

Instead, Lux dove right for the bushes where she saw a tip of a tail swishing, hands immediately closing around whatever scaly part of it she had touched. When seconds had passed and yet the felidrake remained within her grasp, Lux scrunched her nose in curiosity. She popped her head out from the bushes and lifted her hands to see her catch… and regretted it as soon as she did.

Sharp claws greeted her, digging down her face, leaving a light trail of blood in its wake. The felidrake retracted its paw, as if it to strike again, when a loud gunshot echoed through the forest, startling the creature into teleporting away. Lux saw it reappear high up on the tree next to her, perched on a branch. There was an almost smug look on its face as it stared at her, as though it was trying to taunt her, but she noted the way its ears perked up in wariness and saw through its ruse.

Lux jutted her lower lip out. What was it that made the smug little cat-dragon anxious? She wanted to get closer, but there was no use trying to climb the tree—there were no safe footholds, the lower branches looked far too flimsy, and she didn't have Meryn's magical talents. Lux held out a hand, signaling the felidrake to wait for her, even though it might not understand what she was trying to say. Whether it understood or not, the felidrake remained at its perch, looking about cagily.

She ran back to where she last saw Emma and Roy, wincing slightly at her stinging scratches. "Did you guys hear that boooom sound?" she asked, complete with sound effects and wild hand gestures, as she skidded to a halt in front of them. "It spooked one of the felidrake!"

^{@Diggerton@Darinthus}

Mirror, Fox, Key

Ahhh, sorry for being quiet! I got sick a couple days ago and I've been feeling bleehhh since. I'm gonna play catch-up after I get some dinner, and hopefully I can post later tonight. :D

Mirror, Fox, Key

@Darinthus@c3p-0h Ha! Don't get her started on that. She already has pages and pages of notes and conspiracy theories about them. Like Meryn teleporting, and Roy talking to trees (but she's back and forth with this one, 'cause if Roy can talk to trees, she didn't think he'd be a woodcutter...)

@Diggerton Plus you've got the sheltered, naive noble, and super smart, totes adorbs Emma (who Lux will say, with 120% certainty, is the best ever!). <3

Mirror, Fox, Key

<Snipped quote by Crimson Raven>

Of course! :) In this world, magic is sort of a science -- anyone can learn to use it. I plan for Spook to give a short crash-course near the end of the first mission.

@Mokley

That'll make Lux cry. Magic, finally!

@Apokalipse Aw, sorry to hear that! I was looking forward to seeing Sweeney, as well. I hope you feel better!

Mirror, Fox, Key

TEAM EGGPLANT

It was difficult not to gawk at her surroundings—all new and different and wonderful—but these were discoveries she should have been enjoying with her brother, and it lost half its magic because of that. Lux still marveled at the endless horizon, though. Somewhere out there is a cure for Lowell, and she was this much closer to getting it.

Emma caught up with her not a minute later, and Lux smiled at her affectionate gesture, one that reminded her very much of her brother. In fact, it wasn't the first time she'd thought that Emma made a great sister. When she was younger, she'd even fantasized about Emma meeting Lowell under different circumstances. They'd click instantly and get married right away and then Emma really would be her sister!

At her question, Lux snapped out of her reverie. Her soft smile turned into a sharp one, and her lilac eyes brightened almost manically; telltale signs she was in her investigation mode.

She considered the query seriously, her brows knitting and her lips puckering to the side as she mulled over the facts available. With no solid information about the masked man (boo!), Lux was unable to make any well-informed assumptions about motive. It didn't help that Spook was a particularly strange fellow, even for a Traveller. He had explicitly asked for courage and not experience in his flyer. That meant his mysterious mission couldn't be too dangerous or crucial, or it would have been wiser to recruit veteran Travellers instead (unless they didn't want to help him?), and it couldn't be too trivial either or why would he have bothered with recruitment in the first place?

As for the birdcages, well, that was another tricky one. Having empty bird cages could very well mean having to catch birds, but she had a feeling that might be a little too straightforward. She held out both birdcages as Emma did, staring at all three curiously. All iron, but of different sizes and quality. It seemed she must have subconsciously chosen Roy's in his image—big and sturdy and slightly unwieldy. The one she had gotten for herself was smaller, and one bar were discolored by rust. Emma's was sensible in size and quality, of course. But she was digressing: the point was, it was curious that the sizes differed. Was there a reason for it, or were these the only ones he could get?

"From what little I know right now, Emm," Lux pivoted, swinging the birdcages theatrically before she leaned in conspiratorially. "I'm guessing Mr. Traveller is up to something no good, and he needs help to do it. It should definitely be fun, though!"

She pointed to where Spook and Meryn led the motley crew. "I suppose there's only one way to know for certain, yeah? Let's go ask Spook!"

Before she raced forward to catch up to the Traveller, Lux turned to wave at the green-haired woodcutter staggering behind them. She had been watching Roy out of the corner of her eye, actively ignoring him because, as she correctly predicted, he would need some space to appreciate the vast forestry dotting the horizon. There were tear stains on his cheeks, and if crying over trees wasn't a forest spirit thing to do, then she didn't know what was.

"Roy! This is yours," Lux handed him the bigger birdcage, an amused smile on her face as she wondered what could be going on in his forest spirit mind. She let him juggle the iron cage with the rest of his things, and gave him a friendly pat on the back. "The call of the forest is probably hard to resist, huh? But try to keep up with Spook over there. I'm pretty sure he has more trees to show you."

After settling things with the confused forest spirit (she hoped that was enough guidance to keep him from wandering off), she turned back to Emma. Lux remembered the botanist's earlier nervousness; it had since dissipated, but it still bothered her. Emma wasn't easily fazed, after all.

"Whatever it is that Spook has in store, don't worry, okay? I'll always have your back!"

^{@Diggerton@Darinthus}

Mirror, Fox, Key

@Mokley I kinda want to see that! ;p

Also, I briefly interrupted the Team Rutabaga fight with a Team Eggplant post. ;3