[Moofius]

Safi --- Cussanke (Cuss)

We have the crococat monster prompt, or well I do and I am looping KYRIT and KODAI into the shenanigans

This was a mistake.

It had to be done, of that she was sure, but maybe not like this.

Not with this idiot. Safi watched the chaos two feet ahead of her struggle with... a plastic bag?
"What on Evelon are you doing?" She asked, exasperation heard even through Cuss' thick skull, if the glare he shot back at her was any indication. The chaos turned around and walked back to her, making the seraphim freeze and scowl in anger and confusion.

"Look," Cuss said, taking her by the shoulders firmly, but not aggressively, "YOU asked ME to be here, so I don't want... This," he said gesturing to all of her which... forced her to relax the stiff stance she was carrying if only so she could look at herself, "look I don't care if I'm here or not. But I'm here because you asked me to be here so... If you don't want to be here, we can go man. Show me you're at least WILLING to do... whatever we're doing?"

He had no problems with the job, he'd done shadier, scarier shit than this... With the seraphim in front of him, no less. But he didn't want party members who didn't want to be there, or work with him. That he couldn't stand.

For a moment Safi looked shocked, then ashamed. Gods, had she turned into that person? She looked up to apologize but instead blurted out: "Kay"

Cuss, who had thought he'd spoken pretty eloquently, thank you, drooped.
"What? That's it? Aren't you all artsy-writer or-"
"No, I mean, yes I'll do better but that's uh-" She looked around Cuss' body to see a familiar figure in a white mask dissapear into the crowd.
"It's K-32206!"
"Is that a phone?" Cuss asked, turning as Safi ducked around him and went after whoever she had seen.

Cuss, being the kind of person who parts crowds a lot more than dodges through them, managed to follow after her only because she was dressed head to toe in bright blues.

Real sneaky, Safi. Aren't you on the run? Seraphim...

Cuss caught up just in time for Safi to introduce him to:
"Kay and N, got it," Yeah he wasn't messing with that string of numbers BS, "So, you're headed to the sewers too, right? Safi didn't want to go in the main entrance, we picked out a good spot with little traffic during the festival."

Cuss steered the group that way while Safi and "Kay" catching up on whatever nerds catch up on. Cuss was trying to get a read on this N guy but best way to get to know somebody was to do stuff with them.

Down an alley Cuss gave a few bags of trash a kick and voila, a manhole cover.
"Mind helping me with this.... N?" He asked, crouching down as he got his fingers in the holes on one side of the cover. He could lift it by himself, or just erode the thing away, but again he was trying to get a read on this N guy and what he could do.

Kay and Safi were both nerds, but this guy? If they were going to shuffle around in a sewer he had to know what he was working with, right?

[Kodai]

K-32206 / N-113005

The pair hadn't gotten very far (in either their dispersal or their private conversation) when K-32206 paused, antennae perking up at an angle of curiosity.

Eh? Did someone call me? OuO she asked N-113005, glancing between him and the crowd.

Mmmmmaybe? Someone's coming this way, >:V N-113005 replied, stuffing his hands into his jacket's pockets. And approach the someone did, earning an excited little clap from K-32206 as she recognized who it was.

"Safi! Hello! OuO"

But this time there was a new person to meet on both sides, so instead of immediately launching into a discussion on what Safi thought about this whole sewer hunt ordeal, introductions were made. ... And then Kay went into interrogation mode, as the other two went off to actually put a start to the adventure.

"So, what do you think it is we are supposed to retrieve from the containment unit? The name implies some sort of living specimen. I hope it is not too large to take back with us... OuO"

Meanwhile, N crouched beside the manhole cover with Cuss, poking his clawed fingers through the holes just as the other was doing.

"Sure, but I can't tell you how much help I'll be," he shrugged nonchalantly, giving Cuss a sharp-toothed grin. "I'm kinda s**t at manual labor. >:V"

[Moofius]

This? This complicated things. There were so many people here for a job. It seemed incredibly likely yhere would be exposure of Tirumvirate secrets at this event... likely but not a definite. And while Safi was... She wouldn't want to see innocent people hurt.

"I suspect they wouldn't send down so many of us in such a loose collection if we could not carry it... though, K-33206, I have reason to believe this mission will be dangerous... and likely involve things best kept from the public. W-wouldn't you rather explore one of Evelon's most important holidays and learn first hand about the festivities, rather than... jump into a sewer?"

Cuss barked a laugh at the admission, then reached across to take the manhole cover off on his own.
"Good to know it's three pipskqueaks and a battering ram on this one," he said, shooing as much as was required to get this N guy to leave the heavy lifting to him.

While Cuss was hardly a small man, the ease with which he lifted the manhile cover and set it down without so much as a grunt of effort was abnormal.
"Battering rams first," he said, climbing down to check that the coast was clear.

Except it wasn't. He jumped as an extremely large rat, no a small sewer gator, popped it's head around the corner.
"Eh!? What the fuck!?" It didn't attack, and Cuss scented the air, "... a dweller?" What was a dweller doing down here, and why did it look like somebody's pet that had been flushed?

Safi was doing her best to convince K-33306 to go enjoy the city wide party, but once everyone was in the sewers it seemed a moot point.
"Just... keep what I taught you at the hotel in mind, please." Hopefully this wasn't seraphim business at all, and not HER business either.

(( Kyrit that's your flushed sewer rat Cuss spotted incase that wwasn't obvious. I am calling it official that everyone is in the sewer! Anyone can start crococat interactions. ))

[Kyrit]

It felt like they had been going in circles for some time now. Maybe that was just because Zae had never been down into the sewers before? Nah, as her eyes scanned the nearby walls she was pretty sure she'd seen mold in that exact shape before. Looking back at the strange little critter she'd been letting take the lead, Zae was beginning to doubt Faen's claims that it could track whatever she needed. The most logical conclusion was that the sewer smells were too strong for even its nose.

But then it started barking. Or chirping? A weird noise that was hard to explain, as something seemed to have its attention. Keeping up was difficult as the critter suddenly bolted forth, unperturbed by any obstacles until they turned a corner with light from above shining down.

Ailou stopped finally a few feet from Cuss, continuing to screech up at the light filtering in. Safi! Safi! She recognized that scent, it was Safi! Stumbling in behind her, calling out for her to stop constantly, was a very unfamiliar - to Safi and friends at least - scientist lugging about various gear. Her calls stopped though as she caught sight of Cuss.

"Oh. Heh.... uh, hallo?"

[Kodai]

There was... a thing in the sewer tunnel. An unknown thing.

Unknown things attracted notails like flies to honey.

Basically forgetting all about her conversation with Safi (and about the Seraph herself, for that matter), Kay made a beeline for Ailou, pulling out her tablet and pen and scribbling furiously as she took notes on the odd creature.

Do you think it might be anomalous? OuO she privately asked N, crouching down to get a better look at the goo dripping from Ailou's body.

I mean... you know there aren't any anomalies on this planet, he replied, giving the reptilian beast a wary glance all the same. Who the fuck knows. >:V

Neither of the two paid any attention to the unfamiliar scientist (for now), captivated as they were. Who cared about a person who looked, for all intents and purposes, like any other?

[Moofius]

"Ailou- aaah..." And there went her extraterrestrial friend. It was going to be hard to couch the "seraphim and chaos are beings of myth and good and evil" spin if Faen was here. Honestly how someone from Essolei was allowed such free movement...

Not that she had anything to say about giving people freedom... The fact that she could just up and leave her post with exactly zero notice was not a freedom oft given.

But who was calling for Ailou? It wasn't Faen and that put Safi on edge. She offered a nid and a smile to Ailou, and lowered her hand so Ailou could run herself into it for pets or... whatever she was looking for while Safi braced herself.

Cuss stood by with arms crossed, also waiting for whoever was coming around the corner.
"Hey," Cuss snorted and looked to Safi, "well she's not here to murder us."
"Where's Faen? Why do you have Ailou?" Safi asked, far less relaxed than Cuss who straightened up at the mention of the weird scientist woman who had had fought with against Einsor's experiments.

"Faen? ... She would have a weird hatchling for a pet. And what are you doing in the sewer? Weird shifty mission, just like us, I bet." Cuss snorted a laugh, looking at the woman's gear. What was all that stuff for?

With all the noise and echoing voices, it seemed the movement in the sewers water, and the waves of motion approaching the crowd would go unnoticed.

[Kyrit]

As K approached Ailou she gave a small chirp and clicked her jaws. Not really a threat, but acknowledging them briefly before she darted over to Safi and began to gently nip at her fingers while wobbly standing on two legs in order to reach. She briefly looked back at all the others before hopping around Safi excitedly, as if proudly presenting that she had found what she'd been after.

Meanwhile, as Safi asked where Faen was Zae let out a quick "Ohhhh" before listening to them all.

"Ah, ah! That makes sense, yes. You know Faen!" A quick nod. She now understood Ailou wasn't after a Chaos, she had just picked up a familiar scent. Or... actually, could it have been both? Was this lady a Chaos?? Faen had mentioned knowing several!

"Yes, yes!  Ailou and I are down here on a mission of sorts. Heh. I guess if you know Faen it's fine to say, yeah?" At least it was safe to assume if it had been someone Faen was on bad terms with Ailou wouldn't have seemed so happy.  "Faen let me borrow Ailou for the day while she participates in the festival. She was still upset about it being crashed last year. Anyways!"

Her loose sleeve flapped in the air as she waved the thought off. "We're down here trying to find that-"

Ailou had stopped bouncing around and was ducking down behind Safi now, growling toward the direction of all the others. Thinking that one of the others had just gotten too close, Zae ignored it and continued, "trying to find that lab that's supposed to be down here!"

[Kodai]

Sadly for Kay, Ailou didn't have much interest in being studied – though the information that was revealed regarding Safi's relation to the creature was consolation enough. If she knew the owner, then perhaps she could tell Kay all about Ailou's specifics later. Or even introduce her to this Faen person so she could question her directly! Yes, this was fantastic.

Being more sensitive than his companion when it came to warning signals from animals, N turned around in an attempt to see what Ailou was growling at. But there didn't seem to be anything; it was just the sewer canal–

FWOOSH!!

With a massive surge of the rancid water, a terrifying beast lunged at the group, mad eyes rolling in its head as it split open its jaws (truly split, into four parts) to screech.

"Oh! OuO" Kay remarked, quite uselessly, as the crocodilian-feline mashup inched its bulk closer on tiny legs. In a way, it was impressive the creature could move at all, considering how thoroughly it was ensnared in the golden thread that wound around its body... but there wasn't really time to admire its dogged determination.

N, for his part, seemed to have been rendered even more useless than Kay's utterance. He stared blankly at the approaching brute, antennae flat against his head.

Fucking blessed, >:V he spat to Kay, fear and disgust clouding the mental ping. No anomalies on this planet, my ass. >:V

[Moofius]

"Figured. Dodgy lab game." Cuss smioed, proud he'd sorted that mystery.
"Yes, but who ARE you? Why should I believe any of that?" Safi asked, not exactly trusting of second hand information since That time. She was petting Ailou and avoiding grtting her fingers caught in her teeth - she had had ample practice when rooming with Faen - when Ailou went to growl at the.. group? Or maybe just Cuss?

Cuss stood with his back to the sewer watching Nerd Con set up shop when he noticed the little, tasty snacks change in demeanor.
"Mmm, agreed. All this chattering and no action is annoying. Could we go TO this lab? Safi's been so we should get there no proble-"

And then Cuss' shoes were ruined and the "delicate" sewer scent was stirred into something truly foul as the water's churned beneath them. Cuss jumped back and spun around and grinned.
"Oh THIS is why you're growling!"

Safi yelped as the crococat pulled itself from the water. She jumped into a sort of action, pulling Kay and N by the wrist to pull them closer to the wall and yelled: "Cuss, DON'T!"

But Cuss did, the human form he wore shifting or maybe phasing away and quickly replaced with something similar to the monster - in that he was reptilian and vaguely crocodillian. He wasn't much taller in his chaos form, but a lot bulkier - his body certainly brushing up - if not pressing against - the young woman scientist before he stepped into the sewer's water while lunging at the monster infront of him. His shorter maw did it's best to capture the mouth parts of the other, while he dug his claws into the other's neck. This was about when Cuss noticed the thread as it caught on his claws and severely hindered the slashing he was going for.

The pinging, excited chirps from Cuss - he did love a good fight - turned to growls of irritation.

Safi, for what it was worth, didn't dwell on what she could not change.
"Everyone, deeper into the sewer, or back up the ladder!" Hey maybe with this happening some of them would give up on this whole job, "They need space!"

Cuss' stubby tail was already smacking the stonework of the sewers path, and it was only a matter of time before one of them moved to use the entire space - regardless of who or what might be there.

(( I say crococat is shared by everyone in the RP, including myself, though I'll refrain from godmoding damage too too much. I'd say Cuss got at atleast one up and down half of the open mouth jaw parts, if not 3. ))

[Kyrit]

Oh. Oh. Right. She hadn't said her name. How stupid of her. Before Zae could get the chance to further explain to Safi and perhaps calm her nerves at least a bit things started happening very fast. Sewer water was splashing everywhere, a loud screech threatened to blow her eardrums from behind, Safi was pulling two of her companions back, and holy shit! Did that one dude just transform???

As Zae took a step back to give Cuss more room, she turned more to get a better look at both of them going at it. Now this was exactly what she'd been hoping to see! Well, kinda. She certainly hadn't been expecting a Chaos fight right before her very eyes, but oh was it exciting! But then Safi was calling for them all to get moving, which brought about a frown. Feeling Ailou's teeth grabbing at her coat and tugging it though, Zae knew she was right. If they didn't want to get caught up in a huge brawl moving would be necessary.

But this could be her chance to get a sample! They could get a step closer to fine tuning Ailou's body. A tail nearly striking her face was enough convincing though as Zae let out a groan and responded, "Fine, fine! Come on Ailou, let's get out of the big guy's way!"

As she began making her way back deeper into the sewer, doing her best to not trip or get hit by all the falling debris, she called back to the others, "Zae! My name's Zae! And if you could get a mouthful of that beast for me that would be really awesome, big guy!" Not that Cuss had any reason to oblige her request, and she knew he almost certainly would ignore her, but she had to at least try!

[Kodai]

Fucking blessed anomalies– He hated them. He hated them, he hated them–!!

"N-113005, you are an insult to everything we are working for. OuO"

With Safi having pulled the two out of the way of the warring Chaos, Kay felt comfortable enough to try snapping N out of his stress-induced reaction. It was... painful, in a way, to see her companion like this. Out of all of them, N was the one who seemed to have his act together; he was the one who was always urging them to be better than their upbringing, to fight against the beliefs that had been baked into them by a cruel and unjust society.

The other notail paused in his mental tirade to stare at Kay as if he'd been slapped in the face (though, with the strength of the agitation coming through her ping, he might as well have been). She was right, of course. He was acting more like a fine, upstanding member of his species than he'd ever had in his life.

Of course, he couldn't really erase the hate he held for the Limbo gods – nor did he actually want to, as he was at least able to agree that their behavior was malicious and destructive and deserved to be scorned – but N could change his reaction to the current situation. These were probably just more examples of the anomalies-that-weren't-anomalies that apparently existed in abundance on this planet. Anxiety-inducing, for sure, but... not related to the Neo or the other gods in any way, shape, or form.

"Right! Time to go, >:V" he announced suddenly, echoing Safi and Zae unintentionally as he followed the latter deeper into the sewer.

"I would like a sample too, please! OuO" Kay called to Cuss as she, too, left the area, feeling better now that N's head had cleared some. "Anything you can retrieve is fine! OuO"

Prompt 2 Start

[Moofius]

Safi, following her core duties as any seraphim worth their salt would, usshered the huma- mortals (Wait...???? ???) further into the sewers away from harm and also towards harm.

Damn it she hated groups.

There wasn't a whole lot of speaking from Cuss, not because he couldn't, but because he was a little busy.

From around the corner (and as far as Safi could reasonably shoo the peanut gallery) they could heard water sloshing, meaty things hitting stone and metal, and the regular hissing and snarling of a battle that was a lot more bite than bark. Sounds nearing a yip of surprise, then a yowl that turned liquid. A moment of calm. An eruption of sound as water was again thrown enmass against the stone walls. Then something moving through the water.

A crocodillian shaped came around the corner and hauled himself onto the pathway and lowered himself with a huff and a tired set of trills. He had a few good cuts and scrapes, but what seemed to leave him most upset was the collection of threads that bit into the spaces between his scutes and scales.

"Ah, Cuss." Safi ran over and pulled a stick of white chalk out from a sleeve. After everything that happened she'd learned some runes to help untangle golden threads. Just in case.

Ugh, I hate gold... Also, don't go in the water. I made it all acidic. It should dilute but...
It was Cuss voice, just as they had heard it from his mouth in his human form but mentally projected out to anything with a mind that could pick it up in the area.
The beast snarled as the runes Safi drew took effect. The threads seemed to have a mind of their own as they shivered and move, sliding across Cuss' scales to untie and try and find their place in the world; creating bonds instead of binds.
OW FUCK! Seraphim runes? Really? On a Chaos?

Cuss stood up and snarled at Safi who looked up and him with her hands on her hips.
"Well that or stay tangled, Cuss."
The Chaos huffed and opened his mouth, one of the creature's horns falling out of his mouth as he did. Then he turned back into his human form and scratched his head, pulling out a few rather wicked teeth.
"You scientist types are REAL weird, you know that?" He huffed, squatting down to pick up the horn before approaching the group.

Safi followed behind looking annoyed and maybe a little shameful. The lying-to-mortals part of the job was always a struggle. As one who placed the pursuit of knowledge at the forefront, sending Kay away from the truth of the world had not been easy.
"Well... The kuhna's out of the bag on Chaos... Honestly, Cuss, how have you not been hunted down for being so cavalier with the rules?"
Cuss had no answer but a shrug before offering his open hands full of chaos teeth and a horn for the group of nerds looking for body parts.

[Kyrit]

Zae had surprisingly been rather quiet as the group pushed on deeper into the sewers and away from the battle. Curiosity should have demanded that she was asking the others dozens of questions, but she didn't exactly have to. Not with everything Faen had told her in order to have access to the labs. That didn't mean she didn't want to ask more questions though, but instead she took the lead of looking for the safest paths away from the fight going on behind them all. As Cuss caught back up and his words reached them all she began to take an interest again though. Telepathy? Oh man, Faen hadn't said anything about that! And then she caught the word seraphim slip through and she eagerly stared at the runes that Safi had drawn.

"Ohhhhh. I figured they would all be Chaos." The words slipped through her lips, possibly loud enough to be heard but not loud enough that she was obviously trying to get anyone's attention with them. Just a statement. What were the other two though if this was a group of at least one Chaos and one Seraph? Could they have been Dwellers??? If they were they were doing a pretty good job of feigning emotions. She wouldn't get a chance to ask them just yet though as one of the horns fell to the ground in front of Cuss, quickly drawing her attention.

Her hands clapped excitedly together. "Ahhhh! I did not expect you would actually bring anything!" A bit more excited clapping before she stepped forward and gently took the horn and one of the teeth. Glancing over toward Ailou, whom seemed more interested in some sort of hole in the wall further down the way, Zae commented, "This will make Faen happy! With more samples we can finally get serious about fixing the little hunter!"

Meanwhile, Ailou was already barking at them, having entered the hole in the wall. "Yes, yes! We'll be there in a second!" Zae called back to her before looking toward K and N. "So. You are... Chaos? Seraphim? Dweller? Or just human too?"

[Moofius]

Once the water's had literally settled Safi turned to Zae, taking them in. Looked like they could be a friend of Faen's for sure, all ready for lab work as they were.

It was Ailou not acting at all in distress that really convinced Safi though. Ailou – with a pet level intelligence – was a lot more trustworthy not to lie. She was comfortable with Zae and not acting under duress of any sort.

As she tucked the chalk away she caught the little comment and turned, unable to conceal her irritation at the comment. Look, she was pretty accepting of chaos, but no seraphim was going to be okay being mistaken for- Urgh! Safi swallowed her pride and huffed, following Ailou towards the... labs. She had a bad feeling about just about everything, so that didn't really stop her from proceeding.

“Little hunter?” Cuss asked, scratching his beard, “Who's that? Also, if Faen needed Chaos shedding, she can always come to me. Or Ishin. I mean I'm old, but I still shed like any other organic thing should be doing...”

He eyed the other weird humans travelling with them warily. They seemed a lot less versed in chaos, or maybe more versed? They reacted with fear which was appropriate compared to Zae.
“Safi, you know these two, right? Did you NOT tell them about yourself?”
“Of course not, I can't, it's a secret!” Safi retorted back. Cuss raised a brow.
“Yeah, a real well kept one, what with a hole blown open in the Tirumvirate LITERALLY right above the city!”

[Kodai]

Normally, such a bombardment of new and unusual information would make a person start mentally reeling. Notails, however, were not your average person. Kay followed the odd happenings with a keen eye (hidden behind her mask, of course), and even N paid more attention than he would've otherwise, recognizing that the words being bandied about were related to the local religion.

"Humans? Fuck no, >:V" N responded to Zae's question as Kay busied herself with sorting Chaos teeth into specimen containers, unable to suppress a little shiver at the word. "We're notails. >:V"

"Our ship crash-landed on this planet a while ago! OuO" Kay finally joined in, the tube in her hands vanishing to... somewhere. "Unfortunately, it appears that none of the native species have achieved interstellar flight, and the planet is not listed on any of our maps, so we have no choice but to stay here until and unless conditions change. OuO"

Silently, N followed Safi through the hole in the wall as Kay kept talking.

"So, you are a 'Chaos'? OuO" she asked Cuss, the tablet and pen reappearing again. "What sort of species is that, exactly? How would you define your role in the universe? Do you provide anything of cultural or material signifi–"

We're leaving, K-32206. >:V

"–anything of cultural or material significance? OuO" the notail asked, clambering through the hole as well.