[Kodai]

The middle of the mountains was not a place for someone in a short-sleeved shirt (even if said person was wearing a vest). Yet that was exactly where Kami had found himself, coming out of a forest of pine and other coniferous trees into snow-covered rocky slopes. Very much confused as to where he was and why his brother wasn't nearby, Kami had set out in search of a cave so that he could sit down and gather his thoughts in relative safety. Luckily, he didn't need to search for long. He found a comfortably-sized cave that opened out towards the forest he had come from and swiftly settled himself inside, pressing against the wall and moving back from the mouth so that the cold winds didn't bother him as much. Shivering, he sighed and wondered where he was... and if he could manage to survive long enough to find Kaamil.

[Jaykobell]

In the cold and silence of the cave, the winds could barely reach Kami. They whispered outside the cave, flying right past the entrance. The cave was quiet, save for the whispering of the wind outside, and the gentle sound of water droplets dripping from the ceiling. It was cold, but the cave could keep Kami warm to a certain extent. The cave was unoccupied; but outside, something didn't quite agree...



Shortly after Kami had shuffled inside, a Glacial Bruma did just the same. Fangs bare and eyes glaring at Kami, the Bruma slowly made its way towards the boy, growling both angrily and hungrily. Maybe it couldn't find lunch outside in this kind of storm, but it certainly could eat the little boy who had entered its cave...

[Kodai]

Uh-oh. This could be a problem... Kami wasn't really sure if Brumas were man-eaters, but it certainly wouldn't be a good thing for him to find out that they were firsthand. Besides, if it was angry, it didn't need to eat him in order to kill him. ...Not that the Bruma had a good chance of killing him, since Kami could defend himself just fine if he had to, but the boy didn't really want to kill the ursine unless it was absolutely unavoidable. "U-um... Hulloss Mister Bruma..." he began, standing up and trying to convince the Bruma not to attack him. "Iss this your cavess? Iss will leavess if you wantss me toss..." It didn't seem likely that it would just let him pass, though, as it filled a large portion of the mouth of the cave. "Iss would givess you somethingss to eat if Iss had anythingss... but Iss don't... And you dun wantss to eat mess, because Iss will fight backss... So it'd be betterss if you just let me leavess..."

[Jaykobell]

Being a savage animal, the Bruma didn't back down when Kami started speaking and moving. It did the opposite: the Bruma got even more excited as Kami moved around. The Bruma's mouth started to water slowly, its eyes refusing to look at anything but their prey. It got closer and closer to Kami, driven solely by hunger. At one point, the Bruma rose to stand on its hind paws, roaring hungrily towards the boy. Its huge front paws were ready to slash at him to tear him apart...

That was until something assaulted the Bruma. Passing right besides Kami and coming through the wall, spears made out of translucent ice flew at the bear. When they impaled the Bruma's shoulders and front arms, the ursine roared in pain, some droplets of blood scattering around as the Bruma flailed. Still hungry, the Bruma decided against trying to assault Kami, instead turning back and leaving the cave, blood dripping as it ran, icicles still sticking out of its body...

The wall looked normal, just like any wall one could find in a cave. However, shortly after the Bruma had ran off, the wall started to ripple gently, the rocks distorting, until a little creature came out of the wall.



Out of the wall was a squirrel-like animal, its tail gigantic (and bristling) and its body covered in an array of strange markings. It was shaking its little fist at the entrance of the cave, fur bristling madly with furry. "Go get your own damn cave!" it yelled after the running Bruma, which neither Kami nor the squirrel could see anymore. "Every time! Every damn time!" It stood there, shaking its fist and screaming. It eventually turned around to go back the way it had come from, but then there was yet another obstacle awaiting the squirrel. "What the hell?" it said when it spotted Kami besides the wall. "What are you doing here? You trying to take my damn cave, too?" For its small size, that squirrel was certainly extremely hot-headed... Still, there was something about the squirrel, something about the air it gave out. Its presence was nothing like that of a normal animal...

[Kodai]

Kami backed away as the Bruma drew closer, trying to both keep his back to the wall and retain some distance between himself and the creature in case he did need to fight (which was looking more likely by the second). Suddenly, just as the Bruma was about to strike and Kami was about to pull a surprise maneuver, several icicle spears flew out of the wall and impaled the ursine's shoulder and forelegs. Naturally, the Bruma took off after this unexpected and painful assault, leaving Kami to stare after it in confusion. At that point, events took a turn for the even stranger, as a small squirrel-like animal stepped out of the wall, shaking its fist and yelling angrily after the Bruma even though it was no longer in sight. Not quite realizing that the squirrel creature was addressing him for its last few sentences, Kami only blinked at it for a few moments before the squirrel's target became clear to him. "...O-Oh! No no no! Iss not tryingss to take your cavess! Isss just terribly cold and snowyss outside right nowss..." He rubbed his bare arms in an attempt to warm them. "Iss didn't know this was your cavess, eitherss. Iss sorryss..." And he looked sorry, like a child being admonished by a parent for going somewhere without permission.

[Jaykobell]

To the squirrel, it didn't matter if the Bruma was out of sight already. It still had to state how pissed it was. Things didn't get any better, either, since it still had to deal with Kami there. A human, in this frozen region? "Well, duh," it replied to Kami's statement that it was cold and snowy outside. "You're stuck on a snowy mountain, just what the hell are you expecting? Rainbows and bunnies hoping in a field?" From the sound of it, that squirrel was anything but nice. Instead, it sounded hot-headed and extremely disagreeable.

And it was probably because of that nasty character that he didn't feel any remorse kicking Kami out of his cave, even if the boy showed regret for trespassing. "Just go back the freakin' way you come from, or something," it eventually said, crossing its little arms and staring at Kami. "I bet you were just sent here by those murderers," it added, uncrossing its arms to leave them hanging by its sides, fists clenched. "Those damn guys who kill whatever Spider they find!" It made a step towards Kami menacingly, glaring at him. "Yeah, I bet you're with them, and that you're infiltrating my home so they can kill me while I'm not paying attention!" It pointed towards the mouth of the cave, not minding the current blizzard that was going on. "Out of my cave, right now!"

[ Modified a bit from the original RP so you have stuff to reply to. xD; ]

[Kodai]

Poor Kami, getting no sympathy from the squirrel. "N-Nu, Iss wasn't expectingss rainbowss and bunniess... Iss wasn't expectingss to be on a mountainss in the first place... Truthfullyss, Iss dunno how Iss got heress. One minutess, Iss in the Tengel, and then suddenlyss Iss here... Whereever here isss..." And then the squirrel went on a small rant about something Kami didn't understand and ordered him out of the cave. "H-Huh? Wh-What'ss... ...Spider? Butss... ...Who'ss going to kill youss? Iss hass no ideass what you're talkingss about..." The confusion was apparent on his face, and in his voice. "Iss wasn't sentss by anyoness... And you'ss not a spiderss... You might not lookss like a regular squirrelss, but you definitely don't lookss like a spiderss..." Still shivering (he had been throughout the whole conversation), Kami looked out to where there was now nothing but white. Not even the forest could be seen through the blizzard. "...Where would Iss even goss? Iss would freeze within minutess..."

[Jaykobell]

As the two spoke, the squirrel didn't seem to care that Kami was shivering. It was just fine, so it didn't feel like anything was wrong. When you get to a cold place, you freaking dress up for a cold place. As simple as that!

As Kami continued to speak, the squirrel looked at him, not saying anything, but instead focusing on Kami's speech pattern. What the hell was up with that? "Ugh, you talk weird," it eventually blurted out shamelessly, not caring about whether Kami would get hurt or not. Now, the speech pattern was the first weird thing; the second was Kami's reply to the squirrel's words: "And you'ss not a spiderss... You might not lookss like a regular squirrelss, but you definitely don't lookss like a spiderss..." "Excuse me?" it squealed, giving Kami a dumbfounded stare. Was this kid joking with it? Even newborns knew about Spiders. They were both that feared and that hated around the whole world. And this kid over here had absolutely no clue?

The squirrel stared at Kami some more, trying to figure this out. It didn't trust tones, only because some people could easily fake them. Still, the kid was speaking nonsense. Didn't know about Spiders, supposedly came here all of a sudden from a forest... And that speech pattern. So it stared, thinking, wondering. After a moment, it walked over to the cave wall and kicked it; while the squirrel should've gotten hurt, instead of giving the rodent a bad bruise, the wall literally shattered like glass. The wall cracked slowly, the fissures spreading, until the pieces fell down on the ground, revealing a passageway behind the "wall." The squirrel pointed towards the passageway, facing Kami again. "Get moving," it ordered harshly, glaring. "You seem too freaking naive to be lying to me. But if you even try to screw me behind my back..." It didn't finish its sentence, but its glare was so dreadfully aggressive that Kami would probably be able to guess the missing part. Still... it seemed to be willing to give Kami a chance, even if it still doubted the boy.

[Kodai]

Kami blinked. It seemed that the squirrel had suddenly changed its mind about kicking him out of the cave, and was now inviting him in further to whatever lay beyond the wall. Of course, that offer was only so good as long as Kami didn't try anything funny, but seeing as he had no intentions of doing anything of the sort, there shouldn't be any problems, right? He gave no reply to the angry squirrel-Spider-creature, only nodding and then moving quickly into the passageway. It was best, Kami figured, to just follow its orders and try his best to not insult it. With the sort of volatile temper the squirrel had, though, that could be difficult...

[Jaykobell]

When Kami finally stepped to the other side of the glass wall -- and thank God he didn't say anything about it! -- the squirrel followed suit. However, it didn't lead the way inside the passage quite yet. "Just wait there for a minute," it told Kami bluntly, but without the usual sharp tone in its voice. Still, it was enough to get the point across.

The squirrel raised its arms to the top of the cave, its palms facing where the wall used to be. There was silence for a while, and then suddenly, the markings on the squirrel's fur started to glow softly. As it focused more, the glow got brighter and brighter. After a short while, a small portion of ice started to form at the squirrel's feet, and the ice rose upwards, towards the ceiling of the cave. It convulted and twisted a little to imitate the cave wall, even changing color to match its environment. When the ice finally reached the ceiling, and a new camouflage wall had been created, the squirrel let its arms fall to its sides, and the markings stopped glowing. It huffed, seemingly from tiredness, but otherwise, it seemed fine. This squirrel was definitely not your average little acorn-gathering chipmunk.

Once the wall was done, it turned around and started walking down the hidden passageway. It didn't say anything to Kami, but the boy was now on the other side of the camouflage, so obviously, he had to follow the squirrel, right? To wherever it was taking the both of them. Now was Kami's chance to ask the squirrel some questions about what was going on.

[Kodai]

Obediently, Kami waited as the squirrel used some sort of magic to make the ice wall reform over the entrance to the passageway. Was it ice magic? Or was it just a general sort of magic that he used to make this ice? Kami didn't feel like bothering the squirrel with this sort of question, though. However, there were other questions that he felt more comfortable asking, now that they were both walking along in silence...
"Um... so, what'ss your namess? And doss you livess here aloness, or isss there otherss like you? ...And what didss you mean by 'Spider'? Fromss the way you reactedss, Iss don't thinkss you meant the eight-legged typess..." Maybe his asking all these questions in quick succession would irritate the squirrel a little, but they were all pretty important things to know, if he and the squirrel were going to be in each other's company for any extended amount of time.

[Jaykobell]

As they walked in the passageway, it got warmer and warmer. The deeper they went, the steeper the path became. And the further they went, the walls started to change colors softly, going from a cold grey-blue to a nice blueish color, to a slightly teal, blue-green aura.

The squirrel didn't say anything as they walked, but Kami had questions, which he asked in quick succession. "For God's sake, hold your horses!" it snapped, looking over its shoulder as it continued to walk. "One freaking question at a time." How did the kid expect it to answer everything if he asked everything at the same time? "Psh. Enric," the squirrel answered at Kami's first question. From the name, Kami would be able to tell the squirrel was male. "I live alone. I don't see why I'd live with anyone else," he answered to the second question. Unlike Kami's question, Enric's answers were separated, most likely because the squirrel had to think about what the questions were.

Kami's last question, however, left him perplexed (so to speak). "If I tell you, you're going to despise me," Enric finally replied after a long pause; a pause that probably gave Kami the feeling the squirrel wasn't going to reply. "They give Spiders like me a bad name. Those freaking retarded ones that can't even say no to a little tidbit of stupid power. Yeah, so maybe they're retarded, but that's not a reason for those humans to go killing every last one they freaking find. What do you think will happen when they'll find me? Huh? What do you think they'll do? They'll tear me to pieces, limb by limb: that's what." While he'd said he wouldn't tell Kami, it seemed like Enric had gone off into a tangent (or a rant) of his own. "They're monsters. That's what Spiders are," he eventually added, his fur bristling with anger.

[Kodai]

Yep, the squirrel was irritated by Kami's bombardment of questions. He did his best to hold his tongue now and wait until the squirrel (or Enric, rather) had finished answering all of them. The first two questions were easy to answer, as they didn't require a lot of thinking, but the third took Enric so long to answer that the two walked along in silence long enough that Kami did manage to notice the walls turning color and the increase in temperature. Finally Enric did answer the last question, which managed to make Kami feel a little uneasy. It was as if he was in the company of a mild-natured Chaos... and he and his brother did attack those monsters, but only in self-defense... so far... However, the thought of indiscriminately killing -- whether Chaos, Spiders, or anything else -- distressed him. That wasn't the course of action he wished to take personally, and one that he felt no one should pursue.
"That'ss... That'ss not fairss..." Kami replied, his tone low and soft. "To commitss genocide based on the actionss of a fewss..."

[Jaykobell]

Kami's response surprised Enric. The squirrel looked over his shoulder, wondering why the boy was seemingly sympathizing with him -- or his species, rather. Enric humphed as they continued to walk, and as the trip continued, down the passageway, the walls eventually started to change colors again... This time, it was because vegetation seemed to be creeping up on the walls. A moss-like layer was all over the wall, glittering softly with quiet beauty.

"Psh, genocide." Enric didn't add anymore, or at least, not right away. "You really don't know anything," he finally added, although his tone had changed slightly, rid of the contact irritation... a little bit. "There's three planes in this world: high, middle, bottom. The high plane has the Bane: they're like the government. The middle plane is this one: filled with humans and usually primitive Spiders. The bottom plane is home to the most powerful, developed, and intelligent Spiders. They're more commonly called the planes of the Bane, the Academy, and the Sanctum." His fur started to bristle again. "Spiders born or created on this plane are retarded. But what do you humans do with your criminals, huh?" At this, Enric stopped in his tracks and turned around to look up at Kami. "Do you kill them? Do you imprison them? What do you do with the humans that threaten your precious little society? Huh? So there's no reason to kill us, even if all those retarded ones do is try to kill people."

If Enric said the truth, then why was it that he was intelligent and seemingly not after power? Either he came from another plane, or there was another explanation to it.

[Kodai]

Kami listened carefully as Enric explained how the planes of this world worked. Again, the talk of planes made him think about his own reality, with the various species living on different planes and walking among them, which generally caused havoc. Suddenly, Enric stopped and turned, asking Kami a question. He wasn't entirely sure if this was a rhetorical question, but Kami decided to give an answer and not risk Enric getting any more angry. "For criminalss... It dependss on what they'ss done... If they'ss killed somebodyss on purpose, they'ss probably killed themselvess... But not all criminalss are killed, you'ss right... And if someone'ss not done anythingss against the lawss, then they'ss not punished." This last statement seemed to reflect his earlier idea about how punishing an entire race by killing them for the actions of a few was wrong.
The boy then noticed that a layer of moss was covering the walls, and put out a hand to touch it lightly. "Iss would never expectss to see moss in a cavess on a mountainss," he remarked, covering the fact that he was thinking about what Enric had said concerning Spiders from the middle plane. Surely Enric didn't think of himself as 'retarded'? But then, if he really felt all Spiders from the Academy plane were that stupid, Enric himself must not be from this plane. Perhaps he came from the bottom plane, the Sanctum. However, that only managed to raise the question of why Enric was on this plane in the first place. Maybe trouble was brewing there and so the squirrel Spider had decided to escape from it?