Atomos: The Beginning Part 4

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The airship has lifted off, leaving the group at the edge of the Golmore Jungle. The winds die down when the airship gets out of range. The Mists at the edge of the jungle swell up, almost as if watching the group and waiting. Edward holds up his bracelet and glances toward the jungle, "This way." The moogle staring to lead the way flying slowly. The Mist seem to part leaving the moogle a safe path, though here safe is realtive.

"Mist," Alba says in a tone of mingled disgust and unease, ears lying flat as the fog parts, mask tipping upward toward the jungle trees. "We follow from above. It will do our journey no favors to walk within. Come, shaman." Crouching, the hunter leaps toward the nearest tree, scrabbling upward toward the closest branch to be found above the mistline.

Talen looks rather in awe of the Jungle, his eyes noting the mists that lay within. "Leviathan himself told me that the solution of the riddle of Exodus begins in Golmore Jungle." His ears perk up when Alba heads to the trees, and he tightens the strap of his satchel. His leap isn't as sure or as high as Alba's, but the shaman scrabbles up behind her nonetheless. "We shall be your eye and ears from above.", he calls down to those below.

Ainsley seems somewhat unhappy with the idea of wandering into the Golmore Jungle. When the two Viera decide to take to the trees, the lizard girl makes no complaint, simply waving. From there, she silently tags along with Edward, frowning at the mist as it parts as if alive.

Tristania stretches, standing tall and squaring her shoulders. With the mists at bay for the time being, she breaths deep, filling her lungs with the forest air and exhaling slowly. "We move," she murmurs. A nod is given to the viera following from above, before she draws her knobkerrie, holding it at the ready as she follows the moogle, quietly enjoying the feel of bare ground beneath bare feet.

Zhgir could just tie you two up too!" A distant, yet quite familiar voice calls out from a nearby bush. Then breaking through the vegetation, he rustles his hips and head. "Should Zhgir go ahead and potentially bait monsters, or should he just follow silently and be a brooding reminder of their existence?" He asks from Edward with a toothy smile, flicking off a leaf from his hair as he follows the group.

The brances the Viera go for shift out of way offering no place for the Viera to land. The highground being denied to them, and each attempt to try to get up, the tree's move just enough to prevent landing. The Mist continues to stay low and dances around the group, the forest growing darker the deeper the group goes. Which is odd considering it is morning and the sun is rising, it should be getting brighter. Various sounds can be heard in the woods, from a few nearby fiends to the russling of a rabbit or two. Some sounds are heard by one member of the party while others do not. The monsters of the forest appear to be leaving the group alone. Edward glances to Zhgir, "Best stay with the group." With the fading light and dense foilage of the jungle, soon it will only be the faint blue light of the moogles bracelet that can be seen. The loud breathing of a creature can be heard in the direction the group is going.

"Sssschah!" Alba spits, after the third attempt to climb a tree is rebuffed, by the *tree itself.* "Trees do not move," she grumbles she relents, dropping to the canopy and stalking after the rest. "Trees *stand* and *grow* and *no more,* else they are not trees, they are Ochu and Malboro and Fiends which crave flesh..." Her grumbling continues in this vein for some good time, subsiding into near-inaudibility after awhile, eartips quivering as they orient on the sound of breathing ahead of them.

Talen's attempts are just as frustrated as Alba's, and he doesn't bother trying after the first couple. Silently, he falls in line with Alba once she returned to walking along the path. His ears perk only a little at the noises up ahead, instead, he seems to be focusing on what comes behind. "The trees are just trees, their ... animations are of something larger than themselves. Perhaps the forest as a whole is a living creature. I am both eager and dreading to discover what this may be."

There's some surprise out of Ainsley as the two Viera are rejected by the local trees. She didn't expect as much, and so she more closely scrutinizes the trees... but only for a short time, as they seem to be outside of their range of vision soon. She frowns as the forest gets dark. She pulls something out of her clothing... is that a ruler made of steel? She taps it against her palm a few times, as they head toward the Spooky Breathing Noise. She has seen so much that she only looks mad that they have to walk toward the potentially huge beasty.

"Trees are much more than you give them credit for," the dryad observes, in response to Alba's complaints. She taps her knobkerrie against her palm as she walks. "But this jungle is alive in ways most woods are not. I would advise against doing things that a tree would not like... casting fire magic, for example." She smiles wrly as she walks, still following confidently after Edward. "Or," she adds, "They may crave flesh. Who knows?"

Zhgir stays with the group then, though he does lean towards Talen and says, "Zhgir can still find enough rope." He nods sagely then, but he doesn't seem too unnerved by their strange surroundings otherwise. He just tilts his head towards Tristania, then nods along as she explains. "Yes, trees sometimes sing too." He adds, before falling silent as they approach the thing that is breathing very loudly and do they really have to go and bother its rest?

The darkness gets suffocating, making you feel like you cannot breath. Then suddenly it is blindingly bright as the group steps out into a clearing. A giant tree is in the center of the clearing standing at least twice the height of the jungle around it. Some stones have been laid arond the clearing, each one engraved with a rune. The tree has a vine ladder leadingup into its branches. The branches are to high and to far from the jungle to attempt any kind of jumping. Before the ladder rest a giant malboro, which appears to be asleep. Around the Malboro is a collar, with a tag reading "Snuggles."

"...Snuggles," Alba reads from the tag, ears lowering so far, it's clear they'd like the flexibility to wrap over the back of her head. "It is a pet Malboro, and its name is Snuggles." Drawing in a deep breath, she looks from Malboro, to ladder, to the rune-inscribed stones. "...Hn," she grunts, turning her back on the clearing and taking a step toward the suffocating darkness.

Talen thrusts an arm out to impede the retreat of Alba. "Come now, you are not so easily defeated are you?", he says in a whisper. "We can carefully walk around it, and see what lies above, yet?" He looks to see what the rest of the group thinks, wrapping an arm around Alba's waist.

The lizard girl sees... a Malboro. She taps the ruler against her palm a few more times, and approaches, as closely as she is comfortable with. She looks back into the encroaching darkness, her brow knitting. Her head turns to look back at the Malboro. And then Ainsley begins to pace around the clearing, to try to read the runes without waking the beasty. It's a pet, so someone went to the trouble of taming it. She hums a song as she does this, very gently.

Tristania sighs heavily. "We are at the correct location," she observes, taking a step closer to the clearing, and... Snuggles. "Those," she gestures, pointing her weapon at the stones, "Are Rydia's runes." She pauses for a moment, and pushes her knobkerrie back into her belt. "Do not antagonize the malboro. Come, we must climb the ladder." Cautiously, she takes another step forwards; even pet malboros can be unpredictable. Especially if they haven't been neutered.

When Tristania warned them off antagonizing the marlboro, Zhgir suddenly pulls back his stick. His lips quiver for a moment, before he puts the stick away. "Fine, Zhgir. Zhgir knows everything about malrboros. They are not gentle webs." He mutters underneath his breath, apparently somewhat soured by this discouragement, hands in his pockets. He takes a step forward after Tristania, mimicking her careful step.

"Oh Snuggles will let you pass!" Offers a high pitched girly voice from above. A young green haired woman can be sitting sitting on one of the branches swigning her legs. She is clearly a dryad and without a mask. She then waves to Tristania, "Hey sister! How ya been?" A giggle escaping her and she motions to Snuggles, 'Snuggles let them pass, and as promised the Viera will play with you!" Eeping a moment, "Oh I forgot to mention, Talen and Alba cannot pass yet, they need to play with Snuggles. It is because you tried to climb the tree's without permission. Have fun! Oh watch out, Snuggles likes to burp." The Malboro offering a hiccup of noxious gas and snorts, moving out of the way for those who can pass. Turning face the Viera with a grin. One of the Malboro's tentacles reaches over and pets Zhgir on the head, another giggle escapes Rydia, "Oh he likes you zhgir!"

"*Moving trees* and *Mist* and *Malboros named Snuggles,*" Alba hisses in Talen's ear, voice high with fury. "*No.* *Enough.* Rather I would be within the dead town of madness and murder than here." The hunter could go on, at length, and clearly means to, but is interrupted by the high voice from the treetops. Whipping around, she simply stares in shocked silence as her fate and Talen's are tossed off like a used handkerchief. "...What say your liver, shaman. Eager is it still, to meet the challenge?"

Talen's ears wiggle under the fury of the female Viera, the male looking quite nervous indeed. He too looks upwards, and goes through a variety of emotions such as shock, and anger, as the unmasked Dryad expresses joy at having a Marlboro play with the Viera. "It will take more than a marlboro to turn me from the path, hunter of mine. We have been in far worse scrapes, yes? My liver says to see this through. Will you stand by me, now, as before, and as needed in the unknown future?"

Ainsley looks pretty uncertain about this whole scenario. She looks at the other Dryad, and then to the pet Malboro, and her companions. She lets out a sigh and motions at Alba with the ruler, "Be sure to plug your nose, and be sure to wash up when you're done," she suggests over toward the unhappy knife-wielding woman. "It could be worse!" She smiles brightly. Surely someone with an imagination like Ainsley's can think of hundreds of ways this could be worse, by the confident way she says that. "Ahh." She turns to speak toward the Dryad named Rydia. "Hello, my name is Ainsley," she says, happily.

"...Rydia!!" Tristania's attention snaps upwards, te wooden beak on her mask pointing straight at the other dryad. "What on... HAS YOUR MIND GONE TO WORMWOOD?!" The dryad marches past her companions without a word to any of them and directly to the ladder, past Snuggles (who apparently is harmless enough?) and she immediately begins her ascent. "Cover your face! Are you daft? Where is your mask? You are *NAKED.* In front of outsiders. What is wrong with you?"

Zhgir tilts his head towards the Viera. "Liver? Why is Zhgir never offered liver?" He mutters underneath his breath, before the tentacle pats his head. "A-ahh-!" He exclaims, then turns towards the marlboro. "Fine! I'll play your stupid game!" He mutters underneath his breath and then with a knitted brow, pulls all four arms and two hands of his, weaving something in the middle - before he splays them up and open for the creature. "There, pick your poison!" He grunts, an ornate netted pattern weaved between all his thirty fingers. He nearly even manages to ignore the angry dryad tirade happening somewhere next to him. But as his kind say back in his jungle - less you interfere, the more bonjour.

Snuggles grabs a large brance with its mouth, lobs itself over to Talen and drops the branch. The Malboro then stands there panting waiting for the branch to be thrown. The Malboro does not appear to be paying attention to zhgir, wanting to play fetch instead. "Oh he likes to play fetch, and loves hugs! Toss it for him a couple of times, then give him a snuggle, then you can come on up! Tea will be ready!" Rydia then turns towards Ainsley, "Oh hey Ainsley, knew you were coming. Taking a break from prison hunting are you?" Rydia calls down before hoping up to her feet. She giggles over to the frantic Tristania, "Oh hush you, I am perfectly dressed. Masks are for silly adults afraid of their own shadows!" The young dryad then starts to climb up the tree into the branches and out of view. Zhgir will find that he has another friend, a smaller that crawls up onto the webs and peers at Zhgir, "Oh new! Want to come meet queen?" A local spider kin it seems!

"...Always," Alba grumbles in answer to Talen's question, though her sensibilities are, quite clearly, no less offended by everything in the entire clearing. Turning, her ears track the progress of the Malboro, fingers spreading wide and slowly curling, as it blorps to a halt in front of the pair. "...Hear you the dryad," she says, with the sort of petty glee usually reserved for the fruits of major upsettings. "It enjoys to fetch, and to hug, my shaman."

Talen's ears turn to the sides, an eyebrow raised at the idea of playing fetch, and more so at the unbridled glee heard in Alba's voice. "Tis unbecoming to jab a finger in the wound, and prod so.", he says, stooping to grab an end of the stick that does not have slobber. "Here Snuggles, you want this stick?" The male Viera turns and heaves the stick towards the darkness from whence the group traveled. "FETCH!", he yells. Assuming the creature does indeed love a good game of fetch, Talen takes the few moments he has free to look again at the so-called naked Dryad. "Perhaps the mists affect other races too, just at a slower rate than we Viera, hmm?", he says to Alba.

Tristania continues her ascent, making her way swiftly up the ladder, following Rydia up into the folliage. "I am not afraid of any shadow, mine or otherwise!" she snaps. "It's not a question of fear, it's... it's Taboo, Rydia! You've forgotten who you are." She disappears into the branches as well, though her progress can still be tracked by listening to her voice. "Put a leaf over your face! Do *something!* You are indecent!"

"Zhgir?" The arachnid asks, tilts his head, then looks down at the much smaller arachnid-kin hanging off his webs. "Zhgir is not new, Zhgir is Zhgir, zhoor'ling!" He says though with an exasperated sigh he adds, "Zhgir /supposes/ he should trade scents with her." He adds with a grunt, appparently not looking too much forward to the fact. "Up, down, under?" He asks as he attempts to bundle the smaller spider into a kind of a cradle he can hang off his shoulders.

Rydia can be seen climbing down onto another branch into view, while she lets her sister climbing up the wrong side. The girl holds a finger up to her lips and motions for everybody below to say nothing. Though her giggling will reveal her location regardless. The Malboro chases after the stick and launches up to grab it with its mouth. Then turns around and lobs back dropping it at Alba's feet, offering a pant and attempting to lean in and offer her a friendly body slup with its tongue. The smaller spider chuckles, "Zhgir is new Zhgir! I am Aflir! Queeny will be so happy, you taste better and fill her up. Aflir left because Aflir did not want to be eaten, Aflir offer you instead!" The smaller spider crawling all over Zhgir in circles with youthful energy.

The slurp is.... mostly avoided, though the side of her arm and one of her long, poose pigtails are now coated in noxious, bilious drool. The branch, snatched up without a word, and Alba hops forward, turning a circle in three dancing steps, using the motion to help her hurl the branch as far across the clearing as it can go, between her admittedly noodly arms and the laws of physics.

"A good throw, my Hunter.", says the male Viera, who only smiles when her head is turned away from her. Talen's eyes follow the stick for a brief time, before he peers over at Zhgir. "Perhaps I understand more now why Zhgir left his Queen."

The Malboro hopes over to Talen, and using its tentacles tries to grab Alba and Talen, bring them both in for a Malboro bear hug. Then lets them go and bounces off towards the stick to play, the Malboro completely oblivious to anything else. Rydia just offers a giggle, "You can come up now!"

Tristania tilts her head, tracking the sound of her sister giggling and... calling out to people. She mutters curses an imprecations, as she jumps to a branch, and climbs around the tree trunk to reach the other side. "Damnit, Rydia," she snaps, coming to a stop crouched on a branch somewhere above where the other dryad is situated. "Enough nonsense. Explain this madness."

Zhgir continues to attermpt to bundle the exorbitant arachnid-kin with his webs; with such casualness that it felt like he has done it before. "Ah, youth and their tricks, to be young again, Zhgir... no, Zhgir wouldn't want to be young again it was horri- hold on, eat Aflir?" He pauses briefly, twisting his head towards the black widowling. His palps twitch in the air, as he tilts his head this way and that, before he suddenly pulls up the netted web blanket over the smaller arachnid in an attempt to cordon him. "Aflir should know by now that isn't how you find sacrifice for the queen." He chastises, before moving to climb the tree. "Zhoor'lings nowadays..." He mutters underneath his breath.

Rydia stands up and giggles again, "Well lets see, Talen and Alba just passed a test. A minor one but for one seeking Exodus, but a very important one. Though Alba almost ended it for both of them with her impatience, tsk tsk. Talen, you should take note of that, patience." Giggling again, "Oh Zhgir has met one of the younglings from a local spider-kin tribe, who was trying to offer him as lunch so he wouldn't be eaten." Aflir scurries up along the webbing managing to escape, "To slow oldie!" Rydia continues, "Though he may now be adopting. As for you." Rydia glances up and grins, "Your chasing your twelve year old sister through her turf, rather vainely silly!" The young dryad runs up along the branch and out of view, "Now everybody come up here, time for tea!"

Alba stands stock-still, as the Malboro slithers away, fingers curled into claws as she stares off int the middle distance. "Teeth," she says faintly, "next to my face. And now a youngling chides me." Eventually, her muscles loosen, and she begins to slouch toward the ladder. "If my knife does not find flesh to bite in short time, I shall be sore displeased."

Talen makes a face as the Marlboro hugs him, and shudders as the thing lopes away with its stick. His ears quiver at Alba's mention of teeth and faces, and reaches out to gently squeeze her shoulder. "Not all tests are of strength and speed and tenacity, but of willpower and patience. You are a silent, stalking hunter, waiting for your prey to grow complacent. Use that patience now, yes?" Talen follows behind Alba, climbing upwards only after she has gotten some distance up.

Tristania sputters in frustration. "I have lost my grove," she mutters, "But you have lost the wilds. Tea? Tea. Tea indeed." She watches the other dryad making her way up the branches, and shakes her head before following. "We will talk about this later," she adds. "*Try* not to let anyone see your face too much. *Please*."

Zhgir hisses underneath his breath, "Z-Zhgir!" He flails as he attempts to grab the fleeing spiderling with his hands. "Zhgir is not oldie! Aflir is oldie, if he were old!" He shakes his head and then starts to ascend the tree, to follow the rest of the group for tea. "And next time don't mention the part about the heads and lack of heads!"

The house itself is made of vines, branches and leaves. Chairs made out of branches circle arond a central table. Rydia is wondering around humming to herself, and pouring tea for everybody. As Talen and Alba make their way in they will find any traces of smells removed from them magically. Alfair rides up on Zhgir's back and waves to everybody, "Alfir is here with Zhgir who be here! Alfir is son, zhgir son!" The youngling nodding like that made the most sense in the world. Rydia just gigles and makes her way to a hammock and jumps up into it, "Oh oh!" Jumping out of it, "I have other guest to! Edward meet Gust, Breeze, and Draft! Imps of Valefor who are visiting, they love music." Edward makes his way in last, still laughing a bit himself from all that happened below. He blinks towards the imps and waves, "Uhh hi."

Talen ponders the forest below, once he has reached the top of the ladder. "Such a fine view from up here.", he says in awe. "Hah, make a good impression, young moogle, imps are known emissaries of the many spirits. When they aren't causing mischief."

"Spirits," Alba mutters, blowing out a sigh against her mask. "Trees which move and Mist and Malboros named Snuggles and Spirits. My shaman is dearly fortunate he is loved so." With that, she finds a corner of the house near the door, dropping down and leaning her back against the wall, her own mask quite firmly placed between herself and the room's occupants.

Tristania climbs up into the tree house, and finds a spot where she can sit, comfortably. She makes a point of adjusting her mask, to make sure it is firmly in place, before crossing her legs and clasping her hands. "I see you have been busy," she observes. "Do you always have so many visitors? It is enough to make any normal Dryad feel... invaded." She tilts her head to watch the others making their way up, and briefly contemplates offering a helping hand. In the end, she stays exactly where she is. "There are local spider kin tribes? Interesting. I should like to observe."

Zhgir had his hands full in trying to keep Alfir in check, muttering as he waddles with the exurbant youth atop his head. "Zhgir will give Zhgir-son to Talen-queen while we discuss adult things, yes?" He says, and then attempts to pluck the quarter-sized arachnid-kin off his head - and pretty bluntly just drop him in Alba's hands. "No biting, no sacrifices, and absolutely no mention of Talen-queen's quirks." He warns.

The three imps named are actually not visible at first. Alba will find one of the imps sitting in front of her and offering a smile, "You like music?" With a tilt of his head, "I am Gust!" Another imp appears sitting on top of Tristania's mask, "your sister is grumpy, she needs to loosen up. Oh I am Draft by the way." The last imp appears by Talen and tugs at one of his ears gently, "Your woman is grumpy, shouldn't you be trying to soother her? I am Breeze!" Edward finds his own seat and nods slowly, "I umm hello all." Rydia giggles again and smiles, "Oh sister I enjoy gusts. Gets lonely at here, and the spiders keep trying to eat me. Silly creatures, after I burned several of them and fed more to Snuggles, they are bugging me less." Rydia offering a big smile, "I am no ordinary dryad, I am a super seer dryad!" Alfir blinks with all of his eyes as he is plucked up and dropped into Alba's lap. He glances up to Alba and his lips quiver, "Are you my new queen?" The imps all offers chuckles, "We have to go soon, music first! Edward you should play for us! Play for us!" The imps start chanting in unison, "Play...play the Lazy Viera! That is one of your best!"

And now Alba has a spiderling in her hands. The day simply cannot get any more upsetting to a Viera who, at the best of times, struggles with giving in to random impulse. "....No," she says simply to the wibbling little arachnid, ears twitching toward the Imps and their chorus of demands for song.

Talen's ears try to flatten themselves to the back of his head, and he shakes his head. "If the young moogle wishes to enjoy our company, I would suggest the Drunken Galka, or the Windgotten's Song over the Lazy Viera. Since the Windgotten's Song is pleasant, and there are no Galka here to take offense. There are, however, two Viera here who would be happy to explain the misconceptions and errors in the moogle's Lazy Viera. Explanations that will require the use of knives and fire." The male Viera steadfastly refuses to look at Alba, for the moment, perhaps concerned about a stray giggle and the effect it would have on his ... enjoyment of certain perks.

Tristania reaches up to shoo the imp off the top of her mask. "I do not need to lighten up," she grumbles. "I am exactly the way I am meant to be." She adjusts her mask once again, and rests one hand on the handle of her knobkerrie; meanwhile, her gaze turns to the two Viera, just as Zhgir deposits the smaller spiderkin in Alba's lap. She tilts her head, and waits, to see if there is going to be bloodshed or not.

Zhgir wipes off his palms and lifts his hands. "Zhgir is Windgotten." He states firmly as he turns his back onto the arachnid-kin. The darkness would be foreboding, if it weren't just the shade of his skin. But still he makes his way over one of the chairs and perches upon it at a crouch, tilting his head between all the imps. After a moment, he holds up his finger, 'Will we be eaten after the song or during?"

Rydia offers a smile to Talen, "You speak of what you know not Summoner. Explainations you offer with threats and violence poorly masked." Rydia sounding twenty years older and very unhappy, "The song had not even begun, and you..." Only to have Rydia cut off as the three imps fly up and clamp their hands over her mouth, "Now now! Silly oracle, quiet quiet!" The imp known as Breeze looks at Talen, "We are servents of the spirit Queen Valefore, and you a summoner, dare throw threats on our request for music? We have made our request. You have two choices, you can sit and learn, or you can leave and know what words we will sing in the spirit realms. Make your choice now." Edward speaks up, "but I cannot play..." Another one of the imps chuckles and pulls out of the air a silver colored lute, "You can with this, while we are here. Worry not." Alfir in Alba's lap curls up and makes himself comfy, clearly eager to listen to music.

Talen looks to Alba for a long, long moment, the grin that's more teeth than smile. He glances back to the three imps, and the moogle, a similarly toothy grin on his face now. "Play on, MacDuff, let us hear your rendition of the Lazy Viera then." He settles back against the wall, and crosses his arms. He'll listen, but he doesn't look particularly pleased about it.

Tristania glares back and forth between those gathered, and a scowl crosses her lips. She holds that look for a moment, before turning her gaze back upwards to the imps. "Do the moogle a grand favor," she states, "And allow him to keep the lute when he is finished. You should have seen his face when his last one broke." She tilts her gaze forwards once more, before turning to face her sister through the eyeholes of her mask. "...And since when have you been an oracle?"

Zhgir turns his head towards the Viera, then back towards the imps. "During, Zhgir presumes. But Zhgir really likes the song, it's very thematic! " He grins very widely and toothily himself, and then begins to undo his satchels and fetch this and that knick knack from his precious pockets. One of them is a coin with a thin strand of web hanging off it - something he less than subtly tosses in Alfir's way.

One of the imps turns towards Tristania and offers a sad smile, "This is a curse we cannot lift or interfer with, only offer a short repreive. Valefor favors him, but cannot interfer." The imps each pull out their own instruments out of the air, to play along with the imp. Rydia clams down and sits back down turning back into her giggly girl self, "Oh since I was born sister. Just never told you, forsaw it was a bad idea." giggling again. Alfir is quiet happily asleep in his new queens lap, not noticing the coin at all or caring for it really. Though it might be noticed he is holding tight one of Zhgir's keys, the spiderling having some talent. Yet the music begins as Edward strums a few strings and smiles happily, "I will take what oppertunity i can get to play. Please everybody sit and relax, judge not the song until it is played out."

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