sheep_game | Limbustrek

[ holy MOLY. ]

[ kaveh stares following the puppet explosion. ] Wow. [ that's all he can put to words, especially when the other puppets have taken immediate notice and started to back off. sometimes you need to choose your battles. ]

H- Hah hahaha. Nice one, Azdaja. But we should probably pick up the pace. We're almost there.

[ aLMoST tHErE. they'll actually be walking for a while, but the map does make getting lost next to impossible. the puppets, still salty, do occasionally poke their creepy little heads out of the bushes to hiss at them, but beyond that they seem to have learned a valuable lesson: don't fuck with azdaja. ]

[ EVENTUALLY! the honeysuckle patch will begin to come into view! ]

Edited 2023-09-04 04:10 (UTC)

[Don't fuck with Azdaja because she's a weenie and just wants to have a nice stroll in the woods and she WILL cry!!!]

[But aside from being occasionally menaced by puppets, spooky wispy things, maybe a gatordawg or ten, there is nothing insurmountable along the way, and she actually does enjoy herself. She listens to some very nice bird songs. Sees some very centipedes, and a newt, and lots of very cute and colorful slime molds. She marvels at the sunflower patch in the middle of the woods. The damp forest humus feels lovely under her bare feet, and the deep forest is beautiful in its haunted sort of way. Although danger is all around, her heart gets lighter and more buoyant with each passing mile, each trickling stream, each mossy branch.]

[The world is wonderful. She feels much happier here than she does in the pasture.]

Edited 2023-09-04 04:21 (UTC)

[ Maomao is... mostly good about this. There are probably a couple of times where Fantasia needs to scruff her before she starts wandering off their decided path because she saw some kind of interesting plant that was NOT their target. But as they go, she is slowly accumulating anything that looks or is identified as interesting or useful for her work as an apothecary. ]

[ fantasia is going his best to keep them on the right track, but it's hard to get too annoyed when azdaja is enjoying herself and maomao is just collecting plants. he summons tempo with a snap and whispers a little something to him... leaving his claymore in his tool box's capable hands. his machines work together to flay anything that aggros on them, so everybody can have a nice stroll in the mist laden woods. ]

[ but no one is allowed to wanderer too far off the beaten trail and he WILL scruff if necessary! ]

[ as he nears the honeysuckles his vision starts to flicker, eventually turning dull. ] We're in the home stretch. [ he does want to collect some more honeysuckles, but that's probably something to do on the way back. ]

[Thanks for being such a patient babysitter, bro. The girls are having a nice day.]

[As they approach the honeysuckle patch, Azdaja's expression gets even brighter somehow.]

This scent... [she takes a huuuuge inhale] heavenly! Ohhh I wish I could wear this as a perfume. Or roll in it. Or eat it.

[She wades into the flowers, huffing that sweet, sweet honeysuckle fragrance]

AH--I don't think--

[ well. who's she to stop a giant dragon from going anywhere. on principle Maomao thinks that Azdaja should have a nice time with the pretty-smelling flowers.

in practice, though, she's not really sure what that's going to do with a dragon... ]

[ he is happy that they’re happy! but his expression does change as soon as she hurries into the flowers. he… had a concern earlier, but no magic means no problem, right? right? ]

[ tempo drops out of the sky like a lead balloon as soon as they’re close enough, but fantasia simply picks him and his chainsaw up like they’re nothing. ]

We can grab some on the way back if you like. I already planned to, but the note the merrier.

[THEY SMELL SO SWEET AND SO DELICIOUS. Golly Miss dragon don't u wanna take a bite. . .though, the more she breathes in, the weaker she's suddenly going to start to feel.

Maybe weak enough that she doesn't feel some vines trying to curl around her legs.]

[Joke's on you, no amount of scent is enough to completely tamp down her aggressive hypervigilance. She notices the vines touching her immediately and backpedals straight out of the plants, flicking her paws and hopping from foot to foot like a cat that just escaped from the bathtub, trying to get them off.]

Ah—! Guys...?!

There's something wiggly in here????

...There's what?

[ Maomao is staying a safety distance away even though she is not magical, but oh dear. oh heck. oh no. ]

Wh- What?!

[ fantasia sets down tempo and, taking the chainsaw, and his claymore he hurries into the honeysuckle patch. ] Where? I'll take care of it. [ if there are any vines getting too close to azdaja he'll slice them. ]

I think this means you're magical, Azdaja. [ it wouldn't have activated otherwise. ]

[fyi he can't take the chainsaw. MAGICALLY BOUND TO TEMPO--

But as the vines miss Azdaja, there's a hiss from the bush. Looks like the jig is up. The honeysuckle flowers themselves are fine, aside from their magical sapping properties. Their purpose is to lure in prey for the core of the plant. . .a massive flower lined with fang like thorns. The bushes part as the massive plant reveals itself, bumping out more pollen to weaken the potential prey and lashing out vines to real it in.

Notably, the vines only go toward those actively attacking or those with latent (canon) magic. It's like it's completely blind to total normies.]

[ if this were like 99% of the rest of the pasture Maomao would be just like WELL TIME TO SAY GOODBYE LET BYGONES BE BYGONES

but Azdaja is her buddy so now what :(a

she looks at Fantasia, then at Azdaja, and says: ]

Do we... set it on fire...?

[Azdaja is propelled by the force of her adrenaline OUT of the honeysuckle patch, despite feeling strangely weaker all of a sudden. She's hanging back at a safe distance now, like Maomao]

Do you have a way to set it on fire? I thought this thing wasn't supposed to attack normies????

[ oops! my bad, ash, i thought it just wouldn't work for other people. didn't realize tempo bound on pick-up xD. ]

We are not setting it on fire! We can't risk torching the entire forest!! Just... stay back, I can handle this. [ he blocks the vines that it inevitably lashes out at him, since he is attacking it - trying to keep it off of azdaja. thankfully ( weakening or not ) she's quick, so as soon as it reveals itself he's going to try to drive his claymore into it. he's just a regular people, so the plant doesn't affect him. ]

We can talk about that later, Azdaja. Just keep the others safe!

[The flower snaps at him, vines lashing out, and if they don't dodge they might get some welps on them--but lets be real all things considered that's nothing.

When the prime flower opens its jaws to attack, the claymore strikes through, causing the giant carnivorous plant to squeal in pain. Nectar spurts out all over (gross, but tasty!) and it begins to withdraw its vines so it can recover and regroup. As it shrinks back though, they can see a clear path beyond the honeysuckle, one that was apparently overgrown prior. If they're quick they can make their getaway.

Though be sure to gank your sword back, or that plant will eat it out of spite.]

There's risking the forest but there's also risking ourselves?!

[ she's saying that, but she is skittering further out of the way, because even if she's completely nonmagical, she is also 1000000% a noncombatant, without even the benefit of Azdaja's superior size and strength as a dragon. SHE'S JUST A SIMPLE CAT WHO WANTED TO FIND SOME THINGS TO MAKE SOME ~~DRUGS~~ MEDICINE ]

Whoops, time to go!

[When the honeysuckle monster withdraws all its vines and a path is cleared, Azdaja wraps a wing arm around Maomao's waist and scoops her up, hiking her against her side like a football as she bounds off through the plants and off to the other side.]

[ he’s not going to get into how that would put the trio of them more at risk! ] Go go, I’ll catch up in a minute.

[ kaveh hastily yanks his claymore out of the plant, because, that’s his!, he had to break arms for that!! and then follows after the two of them juggling his poor (deactivated) mechanical friends. ]

[escape!! there is a path to avoid the honeysuckle on their way out conveniently. how, don't worry about it. rp convenience.

ANYWAY THEY ARE CLEAR TO GO. pay no mind to the fact that a lot of woodland critters may or may not have extra limbs around here. wack.]

[ well she's small and not very heavy so she's just going to go limp and let herself be carried because that is much faster than trying to run ]

[Once she's out of dodge and the coast seems clear, she unceremoniously drops Maomao right where she's standing. (It's only a 2 ft drop onto spongy dirt, maomao can handle it.) She looks back to see if Fantasia (or anything else?!) is following.]

What the hell was that all about?

Edited 2023-09-04 22:32 (UTC)

[ as soon as the running has stopped fantasia doubles over to catch his breath. he lets his claymore drop, but keeps a hold of his tool box and drone. ] I don't know. I never encountered that thing before. I didn't know there was a monster living in the honeysuckle patch! [ but, then again, the last couple of times he visited the limbus plant the people with powers hung back... ]

At least, at least it's not following us. [ he's going to stand up and take a deep breath. ] The limbus plant shouldn't be much further. Let's collect samples first and then we can see how far its roots go.

[ it's fine she's fine. she rolls her neck to test and then sighs ]

At this rate, we had better be able to bring back some of the plant itself...

[Speaking of!

Once they are clear of the honeysuckle, they reach another dark wooded area. . .with a pond in the middle.

And in the middle of that pond, is a massive, human like orchid. It secretes a nectar from. . .somewhere, and it idly drips into the pond, making the water thick and cloudy, but sweet smelling. Smaller forms of the flower grow all around it.

Additionally, forest animals idly wander in the area, but they are all. . .off. A normal deer but with an extra arm stuck to its chin. A rabbit with two heads, squirrels with six legs. . .

This may be what you've all been looking for.]

Edited 2023-09-05 01:39 (UTC)

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