[META ORP] Called To The Caves

[Baneful]

[imgleft]https://www.matope-swamp.com/images/blu ... uncert.png[/imgleft]

"It was a rare and exclusive offer." he said. "Tar is delicious and good for the complexion. But it's RECINDED. Withdrawn. Taken back. You may not lick me, not now and not ever, so there."

He held his snout haughtily aloft.

"My name is Dominant."

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@Corn

[Dizzy_Kat]

[imgleft]https://i.ibb.co/GdCjnDj/Biteand-Bat.png[/imgleft] Speaking. Bite glanced at her briefly, taking a moment to process what she'd said as his focus was splintered. Ah, a pity. The stag had taken up conversation with another. His kimeti shape was currently of less interest to Bite. He shifted his full attention to the zikwa speaking to him. "Bat's normally sleep through the day. I suspect you're right."

Bat's ears swiveled as it peeked from under Bite's hair. It chrrd at Rhythm around a mouthful of fish. At least one of them could appreciate a compliment. Bat immediately liked her. 

A loud voice also coming from the shade drew his attention briefly to Dominant. That one. He'd seen him around the pits but that was about all the attention he'd paid the overly dramatic buck. It was bad enough listening to Night Father some times.





~...~




[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... esires.gif[/imgleft] The raven hopped back a couple feet. Was it really threatening enough though? Desires cocked his head to the side, sizing up the not-dead kimeti. It's attention seemed to be taken up by the other kin there. Acting as if he too had lost interest the raven shuffled sideways, casually, not at all creeping closer to the open wound on the kimeti's leg. Not at all.

Okay maybe a little. Desires nipped forward angling for a quick taste.

@Kalahari
@Bane

[Corn]

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"Traveling Cat," she returned simply, laying her head down on her front legs. "If you're as concerned about walking as you said, you should rest your legs more before we have to start the journey proper."

[Baneful]

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"I could NEVER rest my legs enough to make this journey. Being this gorgeous is difficult, I get so hot when I have to walk in the sun."

He looked thoughtful. "You know, the tar's a bit like a protection from all the does and bucks who are just throwing themselves at me constantly." He sighed under this heavy burden. In actuality, no one threw themselves at him, unless they were trying to get him to pull them out of the pit, which he didn't.

"Hey Cat. Do you think you could carry me?"

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... uncert.png[/imgleft]

"Oh for bunny's sake." Will hissed. "STOP."

As the raven moved closer, he snapped out with his very sharp teeth and went on the offensive himself. "I'm not the snack YOU ARE."

@Corn
@Dizzy_Kat

[Nashawryn]

[imgleft]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... rtwork.png[/imgleft] Hidden Beauty finished nibbling on the fish she had received from Real Big Fish, giving the rest to Despair. She then moved through the crowd for a bit before coming to a stop near a quite handsome male with a long spiky tail and horns that were a bit longer than what was normal. The pattern on his body was very eye-catching, causing her to inch a bit closer. She caught a few words he said with another male, something about daughters. As soon as he finished his last sentence she went right up to him and blinked at him in what she hoped was an eye-catching way (Not really. It looked more like something had gotten stuck in her eye and she was trying to blink to get it out) and smiled. "Hellooo. I thought I'd start introducing myself around a little bit and, well, you caught my eye first. I'm Hidden Beauty and this is my granddaughter, Blossoms in Despair. Might I have the honor of your name?", she said, boldly interrupting his conversation with the other kin.

@kuropeco

---

[imgright]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... uncert.png[/imgright] Despair huffed at her grandmother's antics. She knew exactly what Hidden was trying to do and it wasn't introducing herself and her granddaughter to everyone there at all. Despair smiled at the male, showing off a very very large amount of teeth. "Hi." She turned away from her grandmother and started listening to the other conversations around the area. There were so many kin around that it almost overwhelmed her for a moment. She was used to small gatherings, nothing like this. She noted a few different things, such as talk of a tar pit and a raven that seemed to have decided that one of the kin in the area was a snack.

[Dizzy_Kat]

[imgleft]https://i.ibb.co/8BBpMpF/Odins-Ravens.png[/imgleft] Desires screeched and floundered away out of reach of the snapping jaws. It wasn't the first time he'd tried to snack on a caiman but at least that one had looked like a caiman! The raven finally found his wings and got himself into the air. He did a high swoop overhead, cawing his offense out the entire way before winging it back towards All-Father feather's thoroughly ruffled.

The older totoma narrowed his one eye over his shoulder as he felt one of his birds land on his back. "If your own fault if you get yourself eaten. I don't save stupid." He warned, trying to hide his smile in a scowl even as he laughed. "Looks like you lost a couple tail feathers-- Ow! So help me I will eat you myself!"

Desire just chortled from his perch.

[Jun]

Shroud was a particularly optimistic fellow, who could make sweet lemon drink out of anything. While his trip to the mountains with the last calling had been filled with pain, peril, many no good terrifying things, peril, pain, and especially pain, time had passed, and he no longer recalled them much, if at all this is called repression.

He now remembered only good things when he thought back upon it, the best of things - the excitement, the adventure, the moving sense of camaderie and purpose, and, most of all, the many wonderful friends he had made (including, for a dreamy moment, the soft and cuddly Friend), including Real Big Fish, the very leader of this expedition, the great Totoma who was a fish, not a bear no - no, don't think of bears, not now, not bears - and definitely not the z-word -, especially his lovely little not-ghost tortoise, Snow.

(This is the bit where, somewhere out in the Swamp, Beauty Past Compare very formidably screamed over the fact that the tortoise was more memorable than what was clearly Shroud's first and bestest friend, moi.)

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... uncert.png[/imgleft]Yes, he loved his little not-ghost tortoise, Snow. Somehow, she had followed him back from the mountains - such a long and arduous way, for a little tortoise! - and with him she had stayed ever since. Many zikwa seemed drawn to the journey this time, including his dear father, so instead of leaving his dear mother in their caves with darling Maggot, he had brought her to the Mother's Club, who would take solicitous care of her, he knew, and brought both darling Maggot (who absolutely had to return to her homelands…caves…homecaves…too) and little Snow (if Maggot was to come, of course Snow must; they were never apart, and she would be so lonely) along with him this time.

He was excited beyond measure for this journey with his father and Take Root - he could think of none more suited for this journey back into the deep caves than his father, the venerable Zikwa historian, Buried Alive. If he had not told the old Zikwa stories and explained the Zikwa ways, over and over, more and more, to the young ones in the Swamp - why, Shroud might not have known how to be a Zikwa at all! He might have known how to be a Kimeti, with his Kimeti mother and his half-Kimeti blood, but it was his father and Zikwa family who made him a Zikwa befitting of the Zikwa-esque form he took. And, most preciously, it was his father who had brought from the caves his greatest joy (along with Snow, of course, he loved all his children equally), his beautiful, darling caveworm, Maggot.

Speaking of, Maggot was making the clicking noises again that indicated that Snow had fallen behind.

The only problem with his little Snow was that it was rather slow.

That was to be expected, for a tortoise.

Perhaps if Shroud could see, he would be better able to nudge it along, but he could not, so he could only feel about, and rely on darling Maggot's clicky noises to double back for Snow.

"I'll catch up!" he called to his father.

Snow must be around here somewhere…

Anyway, he knew the cave journey would be Just As Great!! as the mountain Obelisk. c:



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*******

A...significant amount of time later, Shroud finally emerged, Maggot corralling Snow with her long...body, to join his family.

"I'm ready!"

This was not going to be a problem at all.

[peanutbutter]

"To be completely fair, I'm not so sure I'd be able to avoid all the traps myself. I do still fall into a shuppy hole from time to time," Dusk said, staring off into the distance for a moment. He had become able to avoid a fair share of them, a learned habit by everyone at the Cres no doubt, but there was always one that he managed to miss every now and then.

One day, he'd avoid them all.

Still, since the ground had decided to not swallow him whole after his embarrassing hoof in mouth moment, and Fierce didn't seem like he wanted to never see him again, Dusk gave him a smile back. "It would be nice," He agreed quietly, "Hopefully she'll find her way to me sometime. But I'd like to meet yours too, in the meantime, if I can."

With that said, he was more than happy to keep quiet as a pink doe came and talked to Fierce, glad for a moment to avoid being awkward, for once.

@kuropeco

[LOLLI qAq]

[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... _lolli.gif[/imgleft] With considerable creaking involved Story turned his head and regarded Murkcrow with a nod. It was the sort of pleasant thing one did when you'd survived a harrowing ordeal like the mountain obelisk together. "The same could maybe be said for yourself as well, hmm?" He glanced down at his friends on the ground, one of whom had parked itself at the brighter buck's feet to eat something it had found on the ground around them. "This time I have sentry with me. Though, I suppose, delving into the depths of the underbelly of the swamp may be a rather disparate experience."

He looked out at the crowd and spotted a few other familiar faces and was unsurprised and still impressed. He inclined his head towards the gathering and chuckled. "It seems a few members of our previous exploratory party have also had the same thought."

@Tiarana

---

The call of the eagle overhead had come to her as though from underwater - but all things sounded that way to her. Still, the allure of adventure had sung through the figurative waves and settled in her heart. It had taken what felt like a lifetime getting her mother to agree to it, and she was sure a brother was lurking around somewhere to step in and control any "dangerous" situation, but she didn't care. Mother had said yes. So she'd made her way to mouth of the cave with Best Friend guiding her way. The whole time she chattered on and on to her lion about what she thought the caves were like. She knew they were underground, someone at some point in time had told her as much, but she had no idea what that even meant. Dark, supposedly, but that was her whole world anyway. [imgright]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... uncert.png[/imgright]

She moved, danced really, amongst the throng once she arrived and delighted in the warm wave of bodies and muffled cacophony that enveloped her. Best Friend would push on her with shoulder or nose to move her out of the way of others and for a time she was happy to go wherever she was led - Until It hit her nostrils. Whatever it was was sharp, wrong, and interesting. She followed the scent until she was next to someone that sounded big and someone that smelled like sun and sand. The Big Sound One was asking the Sand Scent One to carry it. "Cat?" She asked with as big a smile her face could make. "There's a cat here?" [imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... uncert.png[/imgleft]

@Baneful
@Corn

[Corn]

[imgright]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... uncert.png[/imgright]


Cat was about to say something sour back to Dominant when a new voice joined their conversation - a voice which belonged to a bouncy red Acha with... Cat's ears swiveled towards them. Well, the lion would have to be their helper, wouldn't it? They seemed to be having a good enough time of it, though.

Inclining her head to the newcomer, she said, "Me - my name is Traveling Cat." And, turning back to the buck, "And no, absolutely not, Dominant. I already have enough to carry," she said, nodding briefly to her packed shell sledge.

@Baneful
@LOLLI qAq
[align=center](772 words)[/align]

[Scaramouche Fandango]

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... uncert.png[/imgleft] Strange Creature's tail lashed back and forth with trepidation. She was deeply hesitant as she approached the gathering. It didn't seem that long ago that she'd been to something much like this, something that had led to all of the unpleasantness that she'd spent so long recovering from.

And yet, she'd worked up the courage to get here. Might as well mingle a bit, see how things might go. At least this time she wasn't alone. Trouble was perched on her back, her feathered serpent was trailing after her, and three tiny dragons flitted around her head. She hadn't seen Fish yet, but there were... so many kin here, surely the big Totoma was with one of them.

There were other familiar faces here, though. Including somebody she'd seen die, and then come back to life on that mountain. "Story?" she said. It had to be him. He was a tree. And a kin. There was only one of those, right? She watched the sky as she approached, just out of habit. She didn't see the eagle, of course. She never actually did. But whether it was there or not... didn't really matter, sometimes.

@LOLLI qAq

[Tiarana]

"It is so hard to ignore the Swamp when it calls me on these strange quests anymore," Murkcrow admitted. His sand dog sniffed curiously at the mongoose playing at his feet. He spotted Strange Creature and nodded cheerfully to her. "Ah, there's another of our erstwhile companions now. I hope you don't plan on dropping any more eagles on me!"

@Scaramouche Fandango
@LOLLI qAq

[lilacfishie]

[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... slexic.gif[/imgleft]
The eagle's message wasn't one that she could ignore, that was a fact. The last Obelisk had been a problem. Perhaps this one would be just the same? Unlikely. The only thing another Obelisk guaranteed was a great disturbance the likes all kin had never seen. For her own sake, and the sake of her children, she had to answer the call. This was a different kind of hunt, but a hunt all the same. She stood, following the eagle with her eyes until it was a speck in the sky, before dropping her gaze.

Deadly Nightshade glanced down at her shoulder, the largest scale adorning warped markings. Memories of the invigorating combat with the deranged boar, its tusks smashing into her shoulder as she felled it with a final blow crept into her mind. Her body's attempts at healing the puncture and cracks radiating off it left her with a dent in the center and some warping where the cracks once were. She bore it with pride, feeling it was proof that she was there, that she was the better hunter, that she made it through the whole Fractured Obelisk Fiasco. She could only hope that would be the case with whatever this new Obelisk brought as well. Sending off her two familiars two her two closest daughters, the large kimeti doe began her venture to this supposed meeting place.

The clearing at the edge of the swamp was hard to miss, especially with the large group of kin already there and waiting to depart. Deadly Nightshade could feel the tension in the air, uncertainty hanging between the kin like strange air waves on a hot summer day. Giving the few kin she recognized a curt nod, she made her way into the crowd to see what information others might have about this expedition.

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Sparkling Sunrise, for as long as she could remember, had Obelisk related dreams most nights. All of the previous Obelisk Events flitted through her mind as if they were memories while she slept. She felt a pull towards them, something she inherited from her father, Lightning Caller. The feeling was different from the Ache and something hard for her to explain. On top of the physical pull to the Obelisks, she craved to hear stories about others' experiences during the strange events around each one. So when the eagle cried about a journey to an undiscovered Obelisk? She had to answer the call. Every shard she was made of thrummed with anticipation.

The young totoma had never moved so fast in her life. She practically bounded the entire way to the clearing. When she saw how many kin had gathered, her excitement grew. There was a huge group so far! Maybe she could even make some friends during this adventure. There was so much to learn and gain through this, she knew it. Maybe she could learn more about the strange pull she had towards the Obelisks? At the very least, she'd have her own stories to tell and her own memories to dream about nights from now. An experience of her own instead of looking over the shoulders of those who went before her. How exciting!

[imgleft]https://www.matope-swamp.com/images/blu ... uncert.png[/imgleft]
Where the Old Ones Roam knew that if you don't trust your instincts the first time around, you'd be sorry later on. When he glimpsed the eagle soaring overhead through a part in his long bangs, he listened intently to her message. A clearing, a journey, an Obelisk. If he gathered anything from hearing about Obelisks in passing, it was that they were a force to be reckoned with and it took many kin to sort out their effects on the surrounding area. A totoma of his stature could be quite useful in that scenario. His instinct told him to be helpful and do the right thing, so he chuffed lowly and put one huge hoof in front of the other towards this strange new adventure.

It took quite some time to reach this clearing at the edge of the swamp. Roam bowed his head low upon entry, giving a general greeting to the large group of kin that had gathered. It would be quite the journey with so many. He sought out the one that called them all there, Real Big Fish. With a touch of their noses and a promise in her tone, he felt a renewed confidence and determination about this task. Looking around, he tried to read the faces of his new travelling companions.

[phoe]

[imgright]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... uncert.png[/imgright]"No Escape," she said, and maybe in that instant Wildflower Breeze might understand how she came by her name. In an instant, though, she seemed to realize she was coming off a little too intense, and smiled briefly. "I don't think you were with the last obelisk expedition, were you?"

@Corn

[Appeal]

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... appeal.gif[/imgleft] Rotten Liar had received the call, although she'd definitely deny it. Arguably, she'd have just said no. Surely she did. However, here she was. She wasn't necessarily surprised by the amount of kin that had shown up, but she definitely found it interesting. She found the truth boring, and venturing outside of the normal boundaries of existence? That felt like a twisted lie if she'd ever heard one, and she LOVED it. It fascinated her and enthralled her in the excitement that one got when they broke the rules and got away with it.

Would they really leave the swamp? She'd heard the stories but she'd assumed they were just that: Stories. Tall Tales. Everyone knew that stories were just elaborated lies!

- - - - -

[imgright]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... appeal.gif[/imgright] Lack of Air was here, delicately standing on all four slender legs in the middle of a crowd of kin she didn't know. She stood taller than every other kimeti doe but her head was lower as she looked down at the ground. Her face followed the bright flames of a salamander that was skittering around her feet as it lowered its flames completely and then crawled up her long legs until it sat down on her shoulders, peacefully resting until called to service once more.

"Ah, so we're here," she whispered softly, nuzzling her cheek against the warm salamander as she raised her head up to look around. She wasn't blind but her vision was incredibly limited but Moving Light, her salamander companion, had opened her world up in more than she could ever explain.

[imgright]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... kofair.gif[/imgright]

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There was a small fairy dragon here, circling above the kin gathering. He swooped down, landing on the ground, digging around in the dirt. He looked up, chittered a little sound, and then began flying around Real Big Fish like an eagle might encircle prey. He watched as she bumped noses with everyone who approached, studying this activity with curiosity. He swooped and flew back up. He dove and flew back up.

(( @Scaramouche Fandango In case you'd like to be bothered by this flying but adorable menace. ))[/align]