2018-05-11: Scrambled Egg

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Revision as of 06:13, 20 July 2018 by Hats (talk | contribs) (Created page with "*'''Log: Scrambled Egg''' *'''Cast:''' Character :: Hellion Horde, Character :: Catenna, Character :: Layna Manydays, Character :: Ida Everstead-Rey, Charact...")
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<Pose Tracker> Hellion Horde has posed.

    Lots of weird things have been happening. A good number of those present - or about to be present - are fine, fine examples of being a weird thing that is happening. This is a weirder thinger that has been happeninger. Good that this has been established. Let's go on to the thing.
     It's not exactly... recent. A bunch of children have been talking about finding this giant shiny thing that looks like a big ol' egg that won't hatch or open no matter what they do. The adults have mostly written it off as a flight of fancy. Since the kids have been coming back alive and not at all turning weird or crazy in the process, that's a safe assumption. Safe as safe can be, on the continent of Meribus.
     They start thinking otherwise when none of the children have returned home in a day's time. The curious link among each case: they all snuck a large amount of food (by child standards) out with them and then did not return. That's alarming, and thus qualifies as a weird thing that is currently happening and there is a vested interest by local families, understandably, to seek help so that this is not a tragic thing that happened in the past tense.
     Piecing together the stories, there's a small forested area off the peaceful beaten path. The forest itself does seem... too peaceful. Idyllic. Quiet, aside from the distant laughter of children. The wholesome, warm, happy kind of distant laughter of children, delightful and free of any concern to speak of. There's no creatures engorged with Malevolence, no corpses, or any overturned carts full of contraband or other interesting goods. Just a nice, happy little forest that beckons those who have come to investigate further in.
     Could appearances be deceiving? 

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

"A giant shiny thing, huh," Catenna murmurs to herself.

The week, for her, had been spent returning to Drago's illegal caravan, plying her cover trade as a dancer and trolling that little corner of the underworld for information. The children from the caravan had passed on word of something unusual. Something about missing children and a giant egg.

Pushing aside a branch with one arm, the Moon Shaman presses her lips together as she peers into the copse of trees. She hasn't bothered to draw a weapon - not yet. If all it is is some sort of odd egg, perhaps a fight won't be needed - or at least one that magic can handle.

That warm laughter rings in her ears, though. Distant, but audible. The priestess bites down to her lower lip, her shoulders rising a little.

"Very well," she murmurs as she eases into the undergrowth, beginning to push forward, trying to centre the sound in her thoughts so that she can localize it and move towards it. A couple of branches tug at the tail of her "skirt" but she brushes them away with a grimace.

Next time I wear something better suited to forestry, she decides. 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

'A large, shiny thing that looked like a big ol' egg', they said. Layna wasn't usually the type for random bouts of charity, at least without one of her friends pulling her into it, but this caught her interest.

This definitely counts as a weird thing that is happening - in what world could a pirate captain listening to the whims of some podunk village be considered normal? And yet, here she is, in what appears to be a pleasant, picturesque little forest, with the laughter of children echoing off into the distance.

All together, it doesn't seem like something someone like her should be involved with...

And yet, it bears repeating, here she is.

She's making her way through the brush toward the sound when she spots someone else...and chuckles slightly at the misfortune the Moon Priestess has found herself in.

"They wrapped you up in this too, aye lass? Hold on, lemme help you with that." Layna moves in ahead of Catenna, shifting some brush aside to give her an easier time.

From that point on, though, she focuses on finding where exactly that sound is coming from. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Honestly, Ida was just passing through. It's kind of a necessity, given the not-inconsiderable bounty on her head, and the fact that she has a new headquarters well away from any populated area. She just so happened to stop by a former tavern to get something to eat and check the pulse of the goings-on near Meribus--she didn't expect to run into a terribly anxious man who asked the bartender if she'd seen his daughter. You don't have the time to go chasing lost children, she thought to herself.

    And yet, a lone and conspicuously non-Malevolent grey mare grazes near the forest, and a thin, wan-looking young woman in leggings and a traveler's cloak makes her way through the underbrush. Ida is making no effort to be stealthy--she has a walking stick in one hand, and occasionally uses it to move foliage out of the way. So far, she hasn't seen hide or hair of the missing girl, but the ambient Malevolence seems to rule out Hellion activity. This does not, of course, rule out the possibility of wildlife, or just plain horrible people, or even a small girl going out and getting lost.

    It makes her think. She used to do things like this when she was small. Her father always worried.

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei Fong Wong gets along with pirates and Layna is no exception.

He is here with her, at first, though he does recognize Catenna--throwing her a wave when he sees her--and is concerned with this egg. Something about a hidden egg. Something about a hidden special egg. It feels him with...Determination.

He scratches at his head and adds, "Hopefully it's not one of those things you need the heart of a child to get," thoughtfully. "But on the other hand... I guess we have to just go in."

Layna and Catenna are already going in. Fei sweats faintly and follows after them. He spots Ida and watches her for a moment. The gaze is a moment too long. 

<Pose Tracker> Hellion Horde has posed.

    The forest brush is the only thing that stands in their way. The forest brush lacks a mind or will of its own beyond its desire to suck in nutrients from the ground, moisture, and sunlight, and bends to the will of the curious as they search deeper. It is not a long journey.
     They find the children within a clearing. A clearing whose sky above seems to cast the early evening sunlight like it were the height of the afternoon, the rays of sunlight dancing upon bright and colorful flowers. There is no scent of lingering death. There are scents of some rotting fruit and maybe overly salted meats, but that's about as death-y as the scents get.
     There's no less than sixteen children, only maybe three of them being in the double digits in years. Most of them are carrying small sacks full of food, some of which litters about the clearing floor. One of them, a young rabbit-esque beastwoman, is brandishing a stick that is being applied liberally against something shiny... metallic... and sort of soft-lookin', for being shiny and metallic.
     "C'mon ooooout," she coos, "it's okay, we're all your mommy~!"
     "I'M NOT A MOMMY!" Cries a human male kid who is probably the only vaguely preturbed camper of the lot.
     "Shhh! It's going to think we're all it's mommy!" Another girl chimes in.
     The laughter continues. Lots of chatter about how it's okay, they'll take care of it, that it must be hungry and that they have food.
     The soft shiny metal 'egg' rumbles and shudders every so often. At least two others have picked up sticks at this point to try and tease it out of the egg.
     The egg - oh, there's the quotation marks, was wondering where they went, ahem - the 'egg' shakes a little more, building in activity and intensity as the children's enthusiasm grows. Only a few kids start to think maybe they should back away so it'll come out this time.
     Then there is a terrified scream.
     It's not from any of the kids.
     The 'egg' hatches in so much that something yellowish, long, and thin breaks free from the confines of egg-dom, up the nearest tree, and coils itself up in the branches. It is the wrong color to attempt to use the natural greenery as anything that could ever be defined as local camoflauge.
     The children, unexpected in this kind of situation, cheer and coo and start waving food around.
     "Come doooown!"
          "We wanna feed you!"
               "We're all your mommies!"
                    "I SAID I'M NOT A MOMMY!!"
                         "You'll scare it!"
 
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA---"
 
Wait, that kind of scream, that's... oh.
 
     Wait - He's Still Alive? Damn It, The Boss Subtitles Were Enjoying The Extra Time Off
          YAROBELEEDT
 
     "---AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
     This is a situation that should probably not be left unattended. (As for whose sake, that matter is sort of vague, isn't it...) 

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Helpful pirates sure are helpful. Catenna smiles gratefully as Layna piratehandles the brush out of the way, inclining her head to the older woman. "Thank you. And, yes... I thought I would investigate."

Fortunately there's not much brush! But there are others coming along, too. Ducking through it, Catenna steals a glance back towards Fei, her brows coming up in a shallow arch. "...No. No, I hope it is not something like that. I do not think I have such a heart."

The other arrival gets a glance from her.

So it's her, she realizes, eyes holding on Ida for a couple of seconds. But Ida doesn't seem to be doing anything more than exploring, so she simply nods politely to her and lets it lie, before stepping into the clearing --

To watch the children prod at something she only vaguely recognizes. She smiles lopsidedly, mildly charmed by the sight.

Well, until the screaming starts. Catenna inhales in surprise as the 'egg' unfolds itself into something yellow, long and shrieky that goes sliming its way into the trees. That she also recognizes.

"Children, be careful," Catenna calls with a certain urgency as she bustles towards the group of youths, holding a hand out as if to try and hold them back. "It--" She pauses for a second. Telling the kids what is really up there might scare them.

"...The Yellow-Bellied Garbler does not like the kind of food you and I would eat," she explains. "It is very allergic." 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    It's an entire gathering. Ida watches the children for a moment, a small smile dawning on her face--but it doesn't stick around for very long. In fact, it turns into a full-on grimace as the egg starts emitting a horrible, blood-curdling sound. She doesn't quite catch what emerges, but that something has done so in such a manner requires urgent attention. Catenna busies herself with the kids, which is probably for the best. Ida approaches the tree that Yaro just bolted up, confused and slightly perturbed.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    It's an entire gathering. Ida watches the children for a moment, a small smile dawning on her face--but it doesn't stick around for very long. In fact, it turns into a full-on grimace as the egg starts emitting a horrible, blood-curdling sound. She doesn't quite catch what emerges, but that something has done so in such a manner requires urgent attention. Catenna busies herself with the kids, which is probably for the best. Ida approaches the tree that Yaro just bolted up, confused and slightly perturbed.

    She peers up into the branches, shifting up the grip on her walking stick just in case it needs to see duty as a weapon.

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

"Won't know until we look, aye?" Layna agrees with a nod toward Fei. She glances off in the distance and spots Ida, who receives a nod and a wave.

"Ida." Layna acknowledges, but her attention soon turns back to Catenna.

"Well, I don't think it'll be anythin' too major, but-" Before she can finish this sentence they emerge into the clear where a shiny metallic egg sits amidst a large group of children poking at it with a stick.

Before she can say anything the egg 'hatches', and its inhabitants slithers its way up a nearby tree, screaming all the time.

Layna has encountered Yarobeleedt more than once, but...

...She absolutely does not recognize him. Her first instinct is to punch him, but she can't really do that when he's all the way up in the tree. Fortunately, Catenna has another solution.

"That means it'll get really sick." She helpfully provides, since she doesn't know if they'd know what that meant...though they might have trouble hearing her over...well, the screaming. "So why don't you run on home an' find somethin' else, and we'll try ta coax it down from there, aye?"

By 'coax', Layna probably means 'punch'. She doesn't say this, but those who are familiar with her would know it's probably implied. 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei stares in the background, color washed away from his face, as Yarobeleedt 'hatches' from the egg. He doesn't attack Yarobeleedt because it seems like he's already defeated, but regardless he can't formulate words. He's just staring. It's this guy. It's this guy named Yarobeleedt. It's poorly translated yellowbellied. Fei closes his eyes, thinking about when Lunata seemed about ready to murder him.

"So... should we... help him?" He asks, uncertainly. 

<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.

    Ida takes a closer look. It has stopped screaming, so it's a little less murder on the ears. (All the other senses, touch aside, are still wanted for questioning on manslaughter.) The thing in the tree clutches ever tighter as Ida gives them a stare.
     Yarobeleedt always looks like a half-melted blobby snake-worm-naga-whatever, but up there in the tree, he looks even more wretched than usual. One of his arms seems to be even more drippy than usual - actually, let's backspace on the 'blobby' bit, he seems more... shriveled. The sort of appearance one might assume of a someone or a something that has not eaten in some time. The sagely advice of the Moon Priestess as it regards the Yellow-Bellied Garbler seems to reflect this reality in a way appreciable by the youngsters around.
     "Awww! We kept trying to give it food... we didn't want to hurt it," a disappointed-looking lion-like beastman kicks the ground, "is it okay?" He is very concerned for this...um, baby Yellow-Bellied Garbler.
     "We brought everything we coooould," whines another as Layna suggests they get more food, but the lot of them start to back away - more out of being inquisitive to the newcomers who seem to know all about this Yellow-Bellied Garbler! A Yellow-Bellied Garbler who has expertly maneuvered himself out of the range of these immediate threats: punches, sticks, foodstuffs, and maintaining any semblance of dignity whatsoever.
     "mother mother mother"
     "It taaaaaalks!" One of the kids goes agape. "It's saying 'mother'! It wants their mommy!"
     "We're all their mommy!"
     "I'M NOT A MOMMY!!"
     The kids start to come close to the tree again, just as Fei asks the all-important question - should they help him? Aside from the toxic drips of liquid he excretes which will surely kill the tree he's currently hiding in, his sixteen (plus four?) mommies seem to have it in hand.
     ...
     He tries to crawl higher up the tree, panting and gasping as panic overtakes him. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    "Layna," Ida says. Realization dawns behind her eyes as she takes in the wretched, blobby form wrapped around the tree branch. She remembers that thing bursting out of the ground to attack her, Cyre, and Claude in Adlehyde, not long after the assault began. The memory of it makes her hear beat faster, and the look in her eyes grows faraway. She still has only the roughest idea of what Yarobeleedt is, but that doesn't stop her from sinking back into a ready stance, prepared to fight. A part of her is even eager for it.

    Fei asks if they should help. Ida turns to him, and the haunted look in her eyes might seem all too familiar, especially since it seems ready to tip over into rage at a moment's notice. "Why was it near these children?" Ida whispers.

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Catenna does remember Yarobeleedt! He was quite prominent in her pursuit of the Statue of Fengalon.

But ushering the children away is probably a better idea than wrestling with a Hyadean. As Layna steps in to help, Catenna flashes her a quiet smile, then turns that same expression towards the youngsters. "I know you had its best interests in mind," she assures, her voice soft and motherly. "But the Yellow-Bellied Garbler is a very confusing creature. Sometimes it doesn't like to eat things that you and I would like."

As the youths continue to proclaim themselves the Metal Demon's mom, the Moon Shaman smiles a small, patient smile, forcing down the urge to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. She shakes her head with a little sigh and takes a step forward, holding her arms out as if to indicate to the kids that they should keep back from their little baby blobling. Really she's just putting herself in front of the kids so she can shield them with her body if she needs to.

When Fei speaks up, Catenna gives him a glance, opening her mouth as if to shoot the idea down - but she holds the thought back.

By all rights, she should do something less than tender to the Hyadean in the tree. But he seems awfully helpless right now. Her ethics grapple with her sense of duty as she bites down to her lower lip, folding her arms across her midsection as she turns the idea over.

"...We can at least try to get him somewhere more out-of-the-way," she murmurs to the martial artist, before raising her voice to call up to Yaro.

"Mr. Yellow-Bellied Garbler! This is your mother calling. It's time to get down off that smokestack and go home." 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

"No idea. Folks in town said they heard the kids talkin' 'bout a 'shiny metal egg' or somethin' of the sort, aye? So I went to check it out, and, well..." Layna replies to Ida, lowering her voice and gesturing toward where Yarobeleedt is currently hiding up in the tree. "Sounds like it's been 'ere for a while."

Not that she knew that for sure, but it didn't matter too much to her how long he had been here. She had no problem with inflicting harm on Yarobeleedt, even looking as pitiful as he was...

But the problem was the kids. If she tried anything, they'd probably get in the way and that'd make things difficult. For now she folds her arms in front of her.

"Think you can bring that tree down without hurtin' any of the kids?" She murmurs to the adults present. Coaxing it down might work, but...well, she wasn't sure she was willing to bet on that. 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei looks towards Ida. He looks back towards Yaro. He looks back to Ida. "I guess he...captured their hearts and imagination?" Pause. "Without...meaning to?"

Maybe perhaps as something of a coward himself he has some sympathy for Yarobeleedt's lot in life. He might feel differently if he was actually trying to eat the children or something but ... he has some pride okay?

"I guess if can get him somewhere...safer, that would be...good?" He admits to Catenna. "Um. I don't... I don't think I'm comfortable trying to knock that tree over. I'd probably hurt them. Yeah." 

<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.

    When Catenna turns her back to address the children as she positions herself to be a shield of sorts, the Yellow-Bellied Garbler grips one branch about as tight as can be without snapping the thing off wholesale, inching down. He can hear them talking, right? He should be aware that some of them are expressing at least a modicum of real, palpable concern for a pro-genocidal alien terror-horror, and even he seems confused by this - but not so confused as to seem to think 'oh hey, look, an opening--'
     There's a look in Ida's gaze that, contrary to her less-than-healthy appearance, is... too scary. To look into eyes like that, what depths can be plumbed and understood from what actual ability to perceive certain things he may or may not possess... frightening. An arm lifted up with the potential to strike at Catenna is halted on the spot. He freezes solid, sucking in breath as if to try and keep even the melting parts of himself as still as still can be.
     Drip. Drip. Blades of grass die right where the drips dribble and drop.
     When Ida turns away to speak to Fei, it is telling that he doesn't plop down and try to go for a blind-side strike. Nope, instead, tree branches rustle as he seems to launch himself from one tree-top to the next, each one shuddering under the weight of a Metal Dem--- er, I mean Yellow-Bellied Garbler, sorry, yes. Each one shuddering under the weight of a Yellow-Bellied Garbler throwing the entirety of their bodily weight against the trees.
     His 'mother' - Catenna, the honorary seventeenth mother of this baby Yellow-Bellied Garbler - calls out gingerly in an attempt to maintain some balance of wonder for the children while simultaneously trying to find some way, some how, to just get him away from the kids safely.
     "what"
     "It taaaalks!" The novelty doesn't wear off, until another kid pulls their sleeve.
     "C'mooon, let's go find some more food!"
     "...Do they eat cats? I've seen a flying pink one!"
     "Yeah! Let's go catch it!"
     Matters of flying pink cats to be caught as food are going to be someone else's problem, as the children clear out to go try and find more food. Those that want to stay and listen to their baby talk lose out to peer pressure, and are forcibly joined into the quest to forage.
     "^Tiny Warrior Caste^ is everywhen?! Everywhat..." The Yellow-Bellied Garbler, um, garbles, that's why it's a Yellow-Bellied Garbler. The words are raspier than usual. Breathier. Like even talking is something that brings him pain. "Human here 2 yyyyyyy..."
     Nothing stops them from punching the tree down and dealing with him - he seems to be completely in the dark as to the current situation, which might be to their advantage in dealing with him expediently - after all, if he's here, so might be some of the other 'bad' Metal Demons. 

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

"We can very well try," Catenna murmurs back to Layna and Fei, her shoulders tensing a little. "I would really prefer to get it away from the children."

Looking up the tree again, the Moon Shaman watches her...

...Is Yarobeleedt her child now? The thought briefly occurs to her and fills her with an inexplicable horror. But she can see that arm hanging there but not doing anything.

Indeed, as Yarobeleedt garbles something, Catenna brushes back a lock of hair and gives her head a little flick to keep the dark tress clear of her vision. With most of the children rushing off to try and find more food, Catenna opens her mouth a little as if to remind them that cat are not for eating.

Too late. Off they go to hunt Ruby. Catenna sighs and shakes her head.

The good news is, the children are gone. Whatever tenderness and warmth Catenna was willing to show them, it wanes noticeably as she moves her right hand forward, holding it at about waist-level. She hasn't quite leveled it for a spell yet, but she very well could be. "Come down from there," she says rather tartly, a frown creasing her face. "You 

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

"We can very well try," Catenna murmurs back to Layna and Fei, her shoulders tensing a little. "I would really prefer to get it away from the children."

Looking up the tree again, the Moon Shaman watches her...

...Is Yarobeleedt her child now? The thought briefly occurs to her and fills her with an inexplicable horror. But she can see that arm hanging there but not doing anything.

Indeed, as Yarobeleedt garbles something, Catenna brushes back a lock of hair and gives her head a little flick to keep the dark tress clear of her vision. With most of the children rushing off to try and find more food, Catenna opens her mouth a little as if to remind them that cat are not for eating.

Too late. Off they go to hunt Ruby. Catenna sighs and shakes her head.

The good news is, the children are gone. Whatever tenderness and warmth Catenna was willing to show them, it wanes noticeably as she moves her right hand forward, holding it at about waist-level. She hasn't quite leveled it for a spell yet, but she very well could be. "Come down from there," she says rather tartly, a frown creasing her face. "You've troubled this area quite long enough. It is time for you to leave." 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

It talks. ...This doesn't surprise Layna, it was perfectly capable of screaming - and loudly, at that. This, though, seems to reinvigorate the children to find something he can eat. They clear out, on the search for a 'flying pink cat'. ...That was a strange choice for food, but whatever got them out of the way was fine with Layna.

"Right, let's do this." Layna says, cracking her knuckles. She hauls an arm back, and then sends Yarobeleedt a grin.

"Aye, make waves, ye overgrown seaslug. Or else..." The 'or else' is soon elaborated on in the form of an incantation followed by a punch toward the tree, sending out a powerful shockwave with the goal of slamming into it and knocking it over...or at the very least damaging it enough that the 'Yellow-Bellied Garbler' gets the idea. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida turns back to Yarobeleedt, tracking him as he moves through the treetops. There's a sort of perverse, boneless agility to the way he moves, and somehow it's even more disturbing to watch when he's not actively trying to kill her. She can only imagine what sort of illness or injury or accident of birth left him in such a condition--assuming, of course, that he's a Metal Demon.

    "Good," Ida murmurs, as the children wander off. She doesn't move to help Layna with the tree, instead fixing her gaze on Yarobeleedt again. She's studying him. Her brow furrows as she tries to make heads or tails of what he just said, but mercifully she doesn't spend too long on it. "Children," she corrects. Ida draws herself up, ever-so-slightly. Even thin and frail-looking, she somehow manages to stay imposing next to the Guardian priestess and the pirate and the martial artist. "And if you harm any of them, or any other human, I will kill you and feel nothing but the satisfaction of a job well done."

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei rubs the bridge of his nose. Doesn't it go without saying that Yaro better not hurt those kids? Well, he doesn't seem to know much about them so maybe it's best to just let it be. He's a little worried Yaro will be pushed too far and start violencing even harder than before. Even cowards have their breaking point.

Still, Fei puts his hands in his pocket and looks up the tree towards Yarobeleedt.

"We don't really want trouble or anything," Fei says. "But you're pretty far from Filgaia now. Maybe we can work something out without having to resort to violence?" 

<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.

    Come down from there, Catenna commands. It is time for him to leave. Yarobeleedt doesn't seem too keen on coming down.
     Ida corrects his bizarrely emphasized terminology and puts down a strongly-worded threat about his eventual fate if he does anything to them in eloquent, perfectly-understood language. He dips his head behind some browning foliage, as if wondering if she'll turn her gaze to somewhere else again.
     Fei appeals to reason and points out they're far from Filgaia. He blinks irregularly. At one point one of his eyes looks ready to fuse shut completely mid-blink.
     "what"
     Maybe his brain melted. Plenty else about him seems to be in a permanent state of melting, trying to reform, only to get goopy again. Who's to say that's not happening to his very brain?
     "Silly... ^Tiny Warrior Caste^ is fiercester warriors?? Do not want them at side?? Back? Front? Silly." He coughs and sputters into what might be a 'fu fu fu' but wooooow he could probably use some water to drink. He seems to be getting some of his belligerence back. Can he even think about anything outside of terms of a prospective tactical advantage? "If not Filgaia... then I go Filgaia you stay? Then Mother come back but you go? Then Yaro go, you stay. You stay. You stay," he starts to repeat this with building intensity, scratchiness in his voice--
     Layna just up and wind-punches the tree before he can get too warmed up over playing with Catenna's suggestion. The tree, already stressed from Yaro slamming himself into it, shakes the slug-naga-worm-thing off. Dessicated and sickly as he may appear now, his landing comes with a grace and comfort befitting of a foe so agile and quick. He rears up, casting a fearsome shadow from the declining sunlight overhead. He holds up one arm - his left - which is noticeably more goopy by Yarobeleedt standards in appearance, which seems to translate specifically into 'even more chaotically dangerous-looking weapon-arm shifting.' Lunata must have done a real number on him - a number he may not have been able to fully heal, this far away from home. Stuck in regenerative torpor, aside from having kids poke at the neat egg they found every so often.
     He rears the arm back as it takes on a multi-headed axe-like quality, to the sound of something behind them all making loud cracks and creaking...
     "What if stay in dirt?" He asks, maybe a good question as to whether it is a great idea to kill them first before he goes back--
 
     CRASH!
 
     The tree falls on top of him to a muffled screech. Incidentally, that puts him in dirt.
     Maybe he'll stay there...? 

GS: Yarobeleedt has attacked Yarobeleedt with The Tree Just Stole All The EXPs!
GS: Yarobeleedt takes a solid hit from Yarobeleedt's The Tree Just Stole All The EXPs for 135 hit points!
GS: Yarobeleedt has Fallen! It is no longer able to fight!

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Catenna shoots Ida a sidelong look, frowning for just a moment.

Oh, right. Something's wrong with her, she recalls. The man she'd assaulted on the road a few weeks prior was quite clear about the current state of Ms. Everstead-Rey and her attitude towards the ol' ultraviolence.

But then, here's Catenna, who's seriously considering just pulling Yarobeleedt out of the tree the best way she knows how: With gravity.

"They are children," the Moon Shaman sighs with a slow shake of her head. "And believe me, I am not sending you back to Filgaia unsupervised." Not even if she had the power. She does, at least, have the power of the pull; she raises her hand.

Layna beats her to it and punches the hell out of the tree.

As Yarobeleedt tumbles, Catenna takes a quick hop back, tensing as she prepares for the inevitable fight - even though the Metal Demon doesn't seem to be in much shape to battle, goopy as he is. Nevertheless, up comes that axe-like arm --

Until the tree falls over and lands on the Yellow-Bellied Garbler. Catenna just stops, blinks twice, and stares in utter disbelief. "...Very well, then," she says with a sigh, lowering her hand. "I suppose we had better find somewhere to put him before the children come back."

From the well-padded pouch at her side, the Owlet pokes out a little, and just shakes its head sadly at the sight before them. 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Yeah, Layna wasn't about to just stand around and listen to him argue to himself all day. It was definitely punch time. She smirks as her punch knocks the 'Yellow-Bellied Garbler' out of the tree. She relaxes and folds her arms in front of her.

"So you got a bit more fight in ya, aye? Coulda fooled me. But fine, if that's what you want..." With an almost manic grin she slides easily enough into a combat stance of her own...but then pauses, as she hears a cracking sound from nearby, and...

...Takes one step to the left as the tree crashes right down where she once was. The shockwave it almost enough to knock her off her feet, but Yarobeleedt was not nearly so lucky.

She might not've been able to do it herself, but it was still pretty satisfying.

"Might be a good idea. ...S'long as there's anythin' left under there but a puddle." Layna agrees with a nod and a shrug. 

<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.

Fei pretends to understand what Yaro is saying. He does get the gist of it, but the end part is where it gets confusing and he gets a little crosseyed. He does tense when it seems like he's about to attack, still pretending that he understands what Yaro means by it--wait, is that a threat? Is Yaro threatening them? With words as well as axe arm?

But then the tree crashes and lands on him and buries him into the ground and Fei's tension fades and he relaxes.

"..."

He sighs. "...Guess turnabout is 'fir play'." yes, he said fir. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida looks over at Fei, seeming to back away from that anxious-angry-fearful-ready-to-punch-something high. The look in her eyes grows less distant, and a little of the tension in her frame dissipates. She doesn't turn her back on Yarobeleedt, even for a second. She can't make much sense out of what he's saying, but he seems to be... afraid of the children?

    Then Yarobeleedt pulls the arm back, and Ida's grip tightens on the staff-like walking stick. If nothing else, she thinks, the others being here means she doesn't have to cut loose, and risk endangering the children--

    CRASH.

    Ida lets out a breath, and shakes her head. "What the devil was that even about," she says, to Layna.

<Pose Tracker> Catenna has posed.

Catenna answers Fei's remark with a look of momentary horror.

With a sigh, the Moon Shaman starts towards the fallen tree and the yellow blob smushed beneath it. "I do not know," she admits with a glance back at Ida, shaking her head. "But it was extremely silly and perhaps is better spoken of no more."

She lays a hand on the tree, looking up towards Layna with a small clearing of her throat. "In any case. Perhaps it is better to find somewhere more appropriate to put him. Somewhere the children will not stumble across him again."

Maybe tossing him in a pond somewhere will work, she ponders. 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna glances toward Ida...and then shrugs.

"...Hell if I know." She replies. The important thing was that they managed to deal with the problem without anyone getting hurt.

...Well, okay, with only one person getting hurt, but that person was Yarobeleedt.

Catenna reiterates her point and Layna sighs, and shrugs again.

"Yeah, yeah. Alright, let's get this over with." She replies, then dusts her hands and gets to lifting. 

<Pose Tracker> Yarobeleedt has posed.

    Yarobeleedt appears to be out cold, in so much that his eyes are rapidly spinning all googly-like when the collapsed tree is moved. He is squashed flat, and leaking a few poisonous juices that will foul the ground underneath him for maybe forever, but with a world this green and vibrant, perhaps his presence will be like it never was.
     The good news is that he's sticking to the tree trunk, so no one actually has to touch... that. There might even be a pond that no one they know or care about intends to use as a watering hole.
     (The only risk at that point is whether or not he becomes the King of the Britons if he gets deposited in the wrong body of water, but this phenomenon is exceedingly unlikely to occur.)

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