At least he seemed to be getting a basic grasp as to how she... worked? How this whole thing worked. Whatever had her attached to the lamp also seemed to siphon magic through her. If they could... break that somehow... then she wouldn't be beholden to him and he wouldn't feel like he was lording over someone who most certainly did not want to be lorded over. He smiled, just a little, when she seemed to ease up a little.

However brief that was. Which made his ears wilt as quickly as her own smile vanished.

That was just going to be their life and relationship, it seemed. He let out a long breath, stood up, and nodded at her clipped and rote response. Of course. He hated this entire thing and were he a more temperamental creature, might've cursed the man who had saddled him with a lantern as payment to begin with.

Alas.

"As it stands... I'm going to clean up and get some rest. Then I'll get Tial saddled and we can be on our way. You... can travel however you like. In the lamp, walking, on the horse..." He had no idea what her preferred method would be, but he wasn't about to have her return to it if she didn't want to.

Natias gave her what privacy could be afforded – not paying her any mind – while he cleaned up his meal prep and settled in for the night. Stretching out on a bedroll. He'd slept beneath the stars enough, this would be easy. If he could get used to the fact he wasn't alone and his company was not willing.

The Red Jewel did not frequently make port, but when it did there was much fanfaire, celebration, and loot to be unloaded. Docking into a city generally made Vailea nervous. Anxious, more like. She was a lich of the sea, a creature who had extended her life through murderous means so she could continue the never ending adventure the ocean promised. Docking as they were forced to do, for repairs and supplies, always made her feel grounded. How a bird must feel when it must land.

She sat on the railing, holding onto one of her cigars, and oversaw the unload of the cargo. Stiffly moving zombies shuffled about, dressed up like low ranked sailors. They likely smelt a bit off, but anyone that had been out to sea for extended periods did. Vailea and a few choice others on board maneuvered and micromanaged the free labor with unseen strings. It'd be poor form if one of the mindless crew went off and bit someone else on the docks.

No matter how fun that might be otherwise.

When the loot was unloaded, and would be set to be sold, Vailea slid off the railing and popped her cigar in her mouth. Now she had to do the captainly thing and see about procuring the needed supplies for the living members. Food. Things that would preserve well or could be preserved through magical means easily.

Vailea hated being on solid ground. Made her legs feel awkward.

It didn't take her long, though. She had a sharp, though charming way about her and she didn't care to barter any longer than she absolutely had to. While there were other members of the crew who would find fun in the buildings of the port, Vailea invariably returned to her home, her ship, as night fell on the glittering city. The docks were quieter, now, with cargo being managed by the few that decided to forgo the festivities offered by a trade town. That left Vailea more or less alone with her handful of mindless crew to move supplies in the gathering gloom.

There weren't that many other ships that were docked at that moment, anyway, which lent some manner of privacy, too. Invariably, Vailea returned to the railing so she could finish her cigar from previous while the goods she purchased earlier were loaded up.

Red looked over the new batch of pack mates before she stepped forward to take ahold of the offered, sleeping form. Slight and easy to hold, especially since she wasn't moving. Red didn't understand bothering with those that would protest. Her purple gaze lingered on the one that seemed to be an issue, but she didn't say anything.

Alexios would do as he would. It wasn't her place. "To Evangeline's cabin, I assume?" she remarked absently, turning from him and heading in that direction. The girl was draped over Red's shoulder, much like a sac of potatoes. It was easier to carry her this way.

Lupuna settled outside the temple walls, watching and waiting. Eternally patient. The rain was calm and quiet, drawing rivulets down the leaves and stone. The jungle was generally a wet place, anyway. Humid and warm.

While the sun climbed higher in the sky, she inevitably encroached farther into the old temple proper. Aware that the guest was present, but unconcerned. Not exactly thinking of the space as theirs anyway. No one owned the jungle. Everyone was a guest.

Lupuna curiously examined the subtle changes from the last time she'd had cause or curiosity to visit. The shifted stone, the grown vegetation, the worn pillars. Things had changed, obviously, and though she saw the place as new, it was also very familiar. Even with the addition of a stranger. Eventually, she knelt next to the odd fire pit. It was the newest thing, at least to her.

Natias couldn't begin to understand why Raff was being so nice. Likely because that was just the sort of person he was. The haevar wouldn't complain. Not to mention the smirk was rather attractive. No matter his own embarrassment at the whole scene. Chalk it up to how infrequent Natias did this sort of thing. He half expected Raff to excuse himself then. Be on his merry way. That's how casual sex was meant to play out, too, wasn't it?

Instead, there was an invitation to the baths that was not immediately, wholly innocent to the haevar. Though he curbed those thoughts, especially when he realized that Raff made it sound like they would be going back to bed together. Was he intending on sleeping with Natias?

Natias' thoughts were really all over the place. He clearly did not understand the social norms of the area he was in.

He lightly touched Raff's sides, using the physical sensation to ground himself a moment, before nodding once. "A bath sounds wonderful." He'd just... play the rest of the night out as it went and try not to overstep or worry... Let Raff lead as he would. It wasn't like Natias would object to someone sleeping next to him anyway. Then, in the morning, he'd be on his own once more. All the more reason to enjoy the company he had while he did.

"As quickly as possible?" Nezhit'yu repeated, a little dumbfounded. Was there something so pressing? He literally had all the time in the world. It wasn't like time was a problem for him. He watched the other for another awkwardly long pause before he shook his head a little. "Is there a rush? Do you age and die?" It might've sounded a tad flippant, but he'd not meant it as such. More idle curiosity.

Well, that worked out better than she thought it would. Glyssa hadn't exactly expected trouble, but she'd been prepared for it. The devil in her was self-satisfied and smug. Right up until they made it to the front door and beyond.

This was certainly a demon's lair. Which piqued Xog's interest. Stirring the monster in her. He moved about like an uncoiling snake, his presence pushing at her skull like a bad headache that she was intimately familiar with. The feel and scent of demon coated everything.

Where to even begin?

If her family had believed this to be some bastion of a demon lord, Glyssa could go back and report that was likely true. Likely. She couldn't say for certain – and they'd want for certain. It only just then occurred to her, while she slowly walked amongst the shadow-cast guests, that she didn't exactly have an exist strategy.

Did she usually?

Glyssa was offered something to drink, something to eat, something to smoke. She passed on all, though tempted by all three. Xog itched to take control, or to be set loose. He wanted a taste... Not now... The last thing the room needed was a monster breaking everything.

Bect could appreciate... sort of... Chey't's sentiment. It was like watching someone fret over some manner of prized trinket. He didn't want all his toys to be broken. Not all of them. Bect could respect that much. After all, he didn't really appreciate it when someone barged in on him mid-meal and tried to stop him. If he was going to try for anyone, it'd be Chey't. So, he heard that the Mayor and the Judicator didn't matter.

Great. They went on the can eat list.

But the rest of the town? Jeeeeez. Chey't was making a big ask out of Bect. He even scrunched up his face like he'd tasted something woefully rotten as his compatriot began unraveling what sounded like a lot of unnecessary work. Something about a blacksmith – the blacksmith, who was deemed unimportant so he was added to the can eat list – and iron and lead and...

"Damn but you do talk a lot," Bect remarked at the end of it all. He reached up, arm stretching necessarily to do so, and patted his friend's cheek in what he supposed was a comforting gesture. "Don't worry. You're not going to die."

On that note, Bect melted into some mockery of a beetle with too many misshapen legs and janky wings, buzzing out of the hole and taking up a position once more in the shadows. There, he mentally reviewed his list. Mayor. Judicator. Smithy.

Everyone else had to be more or less alive. Fine, fine, fine. Picky.

Something big and visually terrifying, then. Something to get them all to scatter.

His body split open and began to grow. Flesh bubbling up from his small form, tendrils shooting up and latching onto bone that spiked out of the mass, constructing an insectoid body of many legs and hooked claws. Centaur-esque in build, but hard-skinned and spine-y. Spidery legs gave way to hard, chitin points as he walked out of the shadows. No one noticed him until one of the slick, purpled tentacles from his shoulders wrapped around them and they shrieked.

Now, normally Bect would've split his mouth open and devoured them. Whole. But Chey't didn't want all of them dying so.. He threw the screaming body at another one that faced him. They collided, drew more attention, and the rippled fear spread from him. Like cockroaches exposed to the light, people began to scatter.

Bect took his time, lingering. Letting them run. Giving them a head start. Until he saw the Mayor. He chittered a clicking laugh and darted over terrified townsfolk to go for him. First person on his list! His screams were cut short when one of Bect's sharp legs pierced through his back, pinning him to the ground. Before he could lean down to dig in, though, some odd tingling played over his skin. Prickling across his flesh. Magic? Was the Judicator trying to do something?

That drew Bect's attention. One of his clawed hands burst into white flame – that he shrugged off, letting the limb fall to the ground so he could regrow a new one. The pain was minimal. A sensation amongst a plethora of others.

Guess that man was next.

Fiachna continues to kneel next to her son, near hovering over him to ensure that if there is to be anything else lethal flung their direction, it will hit her. Pain is but a minimal distraction to the immortal angel. Watching him suffer so close at hand, and both not being the cause and not being able to stop it, is difficult for her. Making her feel oddly desperate and hopeless. Restless and a touch angry. Not with Kanimir, mind, though she finds her thoughts stuck on why wouldn't he just let the damn arrow hit her?

His pleading, though, for another is something she can easily shrug off. Fiachna's heart, as small and tucked away as it is, has been reserved only for her family. She can appreciate that her son had made a promise, but that could be fulfilled at any time. As she'd said, and in that moment she didn't particularly care about anyone else.

When Kyto finally appears, the relief she feels is physical. A weight off her shoulders and a pressure off her chest. Fiachna is a creature of chaos and destruction – she doesn't know the first thing about fixing her son. Surely, though...

His question sounds hollow, though. Silly in the moment. She looks from Kyto's face, down to their bleeding son, then back. "An arrow, obviously." The what of it doesn't seem nearly as important as the how to make it better. "What do you need?" The creation of things is easy enough, if they're small. Anything that's taken from her physically is like pulling feathers. A stinging pain, but bearable given the alternative. Whatever he might have need of, she'd try to provide. It was, quite literally, all she could do to help.

@HeartOfFlame

Another might've found the large half-wolf invading their personal space disquieting, but Red did not. If he was going to hurt her, he would. Not that she thought that was going to happen. Rather, she remained still to allow him whatever he would while he investigated the smell of her new form. It wasn't too different from the wolf form she'd met him in. A subtle shift in the scent, mayhaps, but Red generally smelt like Red. She could no more hide that she wasn't a wolf than she could pretend to be completely human.

She just wasn't.

When he said her name with approval, she smiled and even lightly touched his jaw. Alexios. It didn't matter to her what anyone else might call him, of course.

She watched him change again. A werewolf. Red had heard stories of them. Envied them, a little, that he could become so many variations of what he was, but it was a cursory sort of envy. Red was a proud wolf, after all. His lack of clothing didn't bother her – there was no reason it would – and she closed the space between them as he explained the boundaries. Red would scent them all later.

At the offer to walk and talk, she considered a moment before nodding once. If he would permit it, she'd give voice to her curiosities rather than wait to see for herself. "How many are in our pack?" she asked, easily falling at his side though allowing him to take the lead wherever they'd walk.

She heard them long before she saw them.

Red liked to patrol around the perimeter of the territory when Alexios opted to leave. She felt it was her responsibility as the only wolf in the valley, to take care of the pack in the way that she could. Especially since she believed a lot of the others were rather defenseless when he wasn't there. If she picked up a game trail while she was at it, then maybe she could convince him to go hunting with her once he got back doing... whatever it was he was doing.

That hope died rather quickly when she heard he wasn't alone. Bringing more back to the valley. That he wasn't alone wasn't the bit that bothered her, as Red picked her way toward the source of noise. It just meant he'd need to take them to Evangeline to get settled and likely would want to spend some time with them too. Understandable. New packmates needed attention too.

Red picked up the tail end of what sounded like a scolding as she stepped out of the shadows of a cluster of brush. She'd not been hiding, mind, that was just her direction of approach. Red didn't see a reason to hide from Alexios and she wasn't shy even in the face of new pack members.

His fascination with non-wolves would forever be lost to her, but Red didn't mind enough to challenge him on it. Alexios was alpha of this valley and, when she'd become his, she'd assumed a submissive role. To him.

She was surprised to see there were three. That was... Well. He was outdoing himself. She'd fully intended on remaining a wolf, and just escorting him along, but that seemed impractical if he was chatting away at two new members and carrying a third. The she-wolf huffed a little before she fluidly shifted to her homid form. Red had opted for the simple cloth covering she'd always worn in this form, that melded with her, so she wasn't expressly naked as she stood on two legs. There was subtle patterning on her tanned skin, mirroring the patterns that had been on her fur, but otherwise the only thing similar was her hair color and stark purple eyes.

"I hope no one is in trouble," she remarked, expressly to Alexios while she looked the others over. "Can I help...?"

It didn't exactly surprise Bect when his name was said aloud. Leave it to his nearest and dearest to not only find themselves shoved in a box, but to remain in the box. Bect was fully convinced that Chey't was utterly capable of the same wholesale destruction he, himself, was. That the shapeshifter didn't was the point of curiosity and, ultimately, odd affection Bect had for them.

He made a show of peering around, as though there were anything else to look at in the box, before tsking a little. "One of your little plans go awry. You could've just ate the Mayor and you wouldn't find yourself in such a box," he chided, grinning all the while. There wasn't any question about whether or not Bect was going to help him – of course he was going to. He clapped his tiny hands together and rubbed them with excited enthusiasm. "So, how should I do this? Giant, beastial terror? Some manner of tentacled nightmare? Mix of the two? How many mouths are we talkin' and how fast do you want them all to die?" He couldn't help the excitement that carried in his voice. A kid in a candy shop about to eat the whole damn shop.

It almost looked like Gala was trying to fly away. He stared at his friend a moment – not making the connection that his friend was shaking off mud – before grinning. Hey, if his friend wanted to flap around, who was Alyce to stop him?

As they marched off, up toward the gloomy shape of the mountain in the storm, Alyce rapidly lost what they were looking for. He knew they were going up to the mountain, and that they were there for a hunt, but the rest of it was sort of lost in his focus of march, march, march in the rain.

Isothaire kept an eye out for his little brother. Alyce was hardly the most observant of all of them.

When the cave was pointed out, Alyce nodded a little and simply led them in that direction. What did he mind?

Isothaire stuck his heads in the dark first, just to make sure that it was safe, before turning in the small space. He was a big dragon, after all. It fit him, just so. "Safe," he rumbled.

Good enough. While he pulled in Gala, Alyce asked, "Did you bring anything to eat?" Were they going to wait out the storm? Because if that was the case, they were going to need some food. He should've brought something. Granted, he'd not planned for rain...

@HeartOfFlame

What she wanted to do, and what Glyssa ended up doing, were generally different things. Such as this task. Glyssa didn't exactly want anything to do with it. Meet a demon? Scope him out? Did she look like she could sneak into anything? A little girl dressed all in black and lace? She might've been able to pull it off if she pretended to be someone's lost daughter, maybe, but that wasn't exactly going to work out in this location either.

There's no reason to play the fool. Just go in, Parirsho remarked, voice like her mother scolding. If Glyssa could remember her mother. Normally she'd have thought it'd be the demon to suggest stomping in the front door – and an excited growl confirmed as much – but she didn't exactly have a better idea either.

This was the entire reason Glyssa had been possessed by the two. They were supposed to do the work, the heavy lifting. She was just the cute vessel they happened to occupy.

So, she damn near skipped up to the guards. What were they going to do? Say no? Turn her away? She'd cut them open if she had to.

We could just ask to go in, the devil added. It wouldn't likely leave the best of impressions if Glyssa left broken bodies on the door step.

"Fine, fine," she grumbled under her breath before flashing her prettiest smile at the 'doormen'. "Hey. I think I'm expected inside." She didn't wait for them to ponder on that all that long. Rather, Glyssa intended on going up the pathway the carriages used.

@Dauphin DaGlobster

Things had to happen frequently to both draw her attention and to be of note to the jungle spirit. It wasn't like she noted every change in the small path that picked its way through her territory. Nature was change. Trees fell, animals died, and the people that prayed to her had such short lives. She knew them by their family name. How they felt when they came to her shrine. Familiar scents and feelings that she recognized over the course of generations.

So, when something new moved in the area, Lupuna didn't think anything of it at first. New things were fleeting and few. Sometimes travelers would stay at her shrine a night or two. Campers would sit near one of her many lakes or rivers. Sometimes even monsters roamed into her territory, but the passage of time or a well-meaning hunter would put an end to that.

Except this visitor didn't go away. Set up in one of the old temples and drew the attention of the people, who eventually started leaving him gifts. Lupuna couldn't understand why. They were familiar people to her. Families she'd felt for centuries. Generations. They'd not forgotten about her, mind, but they seemed drawn to this new... thing.

In turn, Lupuna was. Anything that drew such notice should surely be investigated.

The jungle spirit didn't sense any sort of animosity or dark intent. This wasn't something that needed to be exercised from her territory... So, while fat rain drops pattered across the jungle canopy and on the run down temple stones, she picked her way through the thick underbrush. Approaching from a different angle than the small path that had been made from those seeking to make offerings. She wanted to see who, or what, it was for herself. While Lupuna could just... appear in the temple... the spirit had learned over her very long, long life that others didn't take so kindly to her just appearing next to them.

Besides, it was far more in her nature to observe, first, before she approached.

It was an odd sense, feeling full in a new way. An animalistic, self-satisfied way. Red felt quite pleased, all things considering. Even if she was tired and hungry and sore. Her first concern, really, had been acceptance. What was a wolf without a pack?

Lonely, mostly. She wasn't cut out for that sort of life.

When he'd pulled from her, eventually, she simply laid down in place. Content to watch and wait. Resting, really. If he wasn't in a rush to go wherever, Red was hardly going to nip at his heels and insist they carry on. When he started changing, though, she lifted her head. Ears alert. Concerned, for a moment. It sounded awful. Painful.  Her ears laid back and she sniffed, tentatively, in his direction.

Still the same wolf. Just... different. Monstrous. Still very big.

He spoke, then, and her fur ruffled some in response. He was telling her what he wanted. So be it. Red didn't spend a lot of time in her homid form – it was used for traversing amongst two-leggers, trading if need be, being diplomatic on occasion. Things that Red, personally, had never had need of.

Her shift was fluid and quiet. More a melting of one form into the next. She couldn't stop the transition, couldn't become some hybrid between the two. Red was either a wolf, or she was a woman. As quick as he had changed, maybe a hair faster, where she'd laid as a wolf she now knelt as a human. There was subtle patterning on her tanned skin, where her fur markings were replaced on her body, but her hair itself was the same color. Her eyes, too.

A simple skirt had changed with her, from before. Made of cut leather from something her family had hunted before, along with a matching chest wrap. So that if she ever had cause to change for a homid, she wasn't naked. Something that most two-leggers found disquieting. It took her a moment to stand, but she was steady on two legs too. This was as much her body as the wolf, just not her preferred.

Red crossed her arms beneath her ample chest and looked up at him. As though daring him, now that he'd already taken her, to find some manner of fault with this much less furred form. "My family named me Ragnara, though took to calling me Red," she said, voice a little husky from disuse.

__________________
· Name · Lupuna
· Age · Thousands of years old.
· Gender · Female
· Species · Water / Jungle Spirit
· Height · 5'
· Residence · Kishan Jungle
》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚



__________________

     · Physical Description ·
Lupuna is a lot of things in a tiny physical form - when she chooses to manifest as such. Her long, ankle length hair, in hues of blues and greens, falls around her heavy and wet, but moves and shifts like water so it's never tripping her up or falling in her face. Lupuna's white skin has a faint green cast to it, usually more noticable in lighter rain showers and during the day.

She has large, brown-green eyes that are bright and reflective like the surface of a jungle river. She's curvy by nature - half representative of her health. When her section of the jungle is healthy, she looks healthy. Lupuna is frequently wrapped in vines and various flowers or grasses can get tangled in her hair or vines, if she's manifest her physical self in the water.


     · Personality ·
Lupuna is an old spirit, with a shrine to her in the jungle that she is affectionately attached to. Families for generations have brought gifts of fish, flowers, and widdled trinkets - all of which she keeps and collects. In return, a large swath of jungle falls under her watch. Lupuna doesn't interfere in daily tasks or minor details in the lives of people, but she keeps the jungle humid, hot, and wet, the ground fertile, and the weather generally pleasant. Storms are a reflection of her mood and, though there rumbles from time to time, her area of the jungle hasn't seen any manner of flooding or weather damage for some time.

Ultimately, Lupuna is a curious and kind spirit who has seen a lot of time. Not to say she isn't capable of violence and destruction, but she's been appeased for at least the last century. Now she spends time occasionally manifesting and watching.


     · Magic / Abilities ·
As a jungle spirit, Lupuna's abilities and magic is wide, vast, and varied. She can command the weather in her area of influence - though it's more a reflection of her mood than a willful thing. The plants in the jungle can be moved at her command, but this is only during times of distress.

Lupuna can, and does, frequently manifest into a physical form. Otherwise, she exists in the rivers and ground of her area of jungle.

     · Relationships ·

     · History ·

     · Additional Notes ·

Estiess maintained his amused stance while he watched the other pretty man explain the wards, filing all the information away. Then he gave a short nod when the golden elf turned, intending to leave. Obviously he was going to have to make good on the threat he'd just casually tossed up in the air, which only meant a longer day, but Estiess didn't mind.

Call it flirting. One didn't just give up the game just because the game became difficult. Was more entertaining that way. So he watched the retreating form with not a little interest before he turned on his heel to retrieve one of the enchanters in the family employ.

Even if it was going to take however long, as the other man said, Estiess had nothing but time.

He returned within the hour, a small fairy with glittering iridescent wings reminiscent of a humming birds trailing him. She was a small, slight thing with vibrant hair that rivaled his own. Her dress was a flimsy thing made of gauze that fluttered in the breeze created by her rapidly beating wings.

Estiess gestured to the walls and the estate before she nodded, flitting near it before landing so she could start her work.

OOC

Lemme know if you need me to change anything.

[close]

His ear twitched while he listened. A reflexive thing while he was quite interested in what she had to say. Since she was offering information about herself freely. Some of the words didn't mean anything to him – evocation? Invoking?  Was djinn magic different than other magic? He had no idea.

"So... You're just... a person... that magic works through?" he stumbled through the thought, his ear twitching again while he worked to understand what she was saying. She didn't have any magic herself.

He didn't either, mind.

But maybe that would be useful to whomever they found.

Natias was brought back to the moment when she pointed at a cluster of stars. He looked. The name didn't mean anything to him. The haevar had their own constellations and stories writ in the stars. "We're in the west, as far as I know. Not too far out from a couple cities. I'd just left one after I completed a job. Guess we could head back that way. It's not too far off."

Inaya clenched her jaw, steeling herself. She very much wanted to go, but she wasn't about to admit that to Amaya. For a handful of reasons. Besides, she'd never let her fear get the best of her when she'd been a captive. She wouldn't now.

So she tucked the blade away and gestured with a wave. "After you, oh fearless leader." Using the quip to help cover how anxious she really was.