[Silversky]

Well, here we are.
Toxa looked around to see if she could spot Morse and Alyss yet. The venom gyrraptor usually stayed away from others, but for this she actually had a traveling companion.
Where are they???
Toxa had never been known for her patience. And of course, she didn't bother taking into account the fact that the other gyrraptor and garagnir had a much longer trip than her to the caverns.

Toxa glanced around, trying to figure out how much longer it might take. The enterence to the Caverns was right behind her, and she stood amongst a few plants that wouldn't have looked out of place in the Tengel Rainforest.
What did others do to pass the time? Toxa had no idea, and for now she was just getting impatient. She wanted to start exploring the caves, but she couldn't until Morse and Alyss got here.

[Indigo]

Alyss didn't do a lot of flying. She had wings, sure, but they were heavy, as was the rest of her body, which was, after all, made of rocks. The only reason she had chosen to fly on this particular day was that Morse didn't want to make Toxa wait longer than necessary. Now, after flying Zu'hai knew how many miles, she was beginning to regret her decision. Each wingbeat was more difficult than the last, and she was distantly aware that her heavy tail was swinging back and forth behind her, likely to hit something important if she wasn't careful. Of course, the added weight of Morse clinging to the spines on her back didn't help much.

She landed outside the caverns with a heavy sigh. Morse leaned over the edge of one enormous stone wing, making sure they were safely on the ground before vaulting over, slipping, and almost falling. Alyss laughed in her deep rumble of a voice and folded her wings to the best of her ability, reaching out her tail to steady her companion. Be careful there, silly, she rumbled.

"Thanks," Morse mumbled, looking around. Where was Toxa? After a few moments, he spotted her by the entrance and ran over. "Hello!" Alyss laughed again and followed at a more leisurely pace.

{16-1}
(Why yes, Alyss's words are a different colour. ...I haven't quite figured out how she talks yet, but Morse has a lot of practice and knows what most of her sounds mean. You can have Toxa understand or not, it doesn't matter to me. I'm not about to say "asdfNonono people don't understand what she's saying unless they've known her for 800 years!" ...Yeah.)

[Silversky]

Ah. There they are.
Toxa knew they had arrived before she even turned around, they were making so much noise. Even so, when she did turn around, she was shocked by the size of the Garagnir. She'd never seen one up close before. At least this one was friendly.
"Hello," she responded to Morse, directing her greeting to both pets. It was strange; she could hear Alyss talking, but she couldn't understand what she was saying.

Heh, silly clumsy Morse. She didn't really blame him for not being exactly graceful dismounting from the Garagnir; she figured she'd be disoriented herself after flying.
I prefer to keep both feet on the ground, thank you very much.

The venom gyrraptor smiled, and turned toward the caves, gesturing back to the others. "Come on, adventure is waiting!" she said with a flourish, before stepping forward and into a pool of mud.
Of course. Why me? Why does this always seem to happen to me?
"Hmph," she grunted, stalking off toward to enterence to the caverns, silently daring them to say anything.

[Indigo]

Morse watched the entrance warily. Voluntarily entering dark, gaping, mysterious holes in the ground wasn't something he normally did, and he was still trying to come to terms with what Alyss called his "new adventurer personality". He himself thought it was more that people kept pushing him to get out into the world than any character development. He rather hoped he was right; staying at home was much safer.

Finally, he followed Toxa, carefully skirting the puddle. In his opinion, adventure could wait for him as long as it wanted, but he'd rather not get involved. Still, he had agreed to this, even if immediately after arriving home he'd begun to have second thoughts. Anyway, he didn't want to disappoint Alyss, not now.

Alyss smiled invisibly, eyes glowing brighter just for a moment, and lumbered after her charge, careful not to hit anything important with her wings, which were hard to keep folded at times. Eventually they would settle.

Morse cautiously prodded the cold floor of the cavern with a toe, then looked up. "Er...it's very big," he ventured. What do you say when you're approaching almost certain peril?

Alyss, coming in behind him, immediately felt at home among so much stone. Perhaps this would help her wings to settle. She stayed off to one side, trying not to get in the way.

{17-2}

[Silversky]

((sorry it took so long))

Seeing the other gyrraptor's uncertainty, Toxa smiled, and said, "Remember, this is going to be an adventure. Come on." Though, to anyone seeing her, her smile wasn't exactly reassuring.
She stepped into the darkness. The cave seemed to be much colder than the outside world, and a draft momentarily gave her the first inklings of fear that maybe this wasn't the best idea after all.

The caves were dim, though there was a little light filtering through openings in the roof. Toxa had a feeling that farther into the caves, they wouldn't have many of these openings, and it would be even harder to see.
The caves seemed still so far; she couldn't see anything really moving around in the shadows. She figured this was a good thing. She didn't particulary want to meet up with anything this early in their journey.

[Indigo]

(Yeep, sorry! I've been having muse problems lately...)

Morse, meanwhile, was freezing every few steps, constantly imagining he'd heard something moving or seen a shadow slip closer to them. Finally, after jumping about a foot after what turned out to be a boulder loomed into view, he sidled over to Alyss and surreptitiously grabbed two of her spikes in an attempt to climb up without her noticing.

Stay on the ground, silly Morse, Alyss rumbled, shaking him off. You need to face your fears.

Morse sighed, but he stayed on the ground. After a moment, he approached the boulder and tapped it hesitantly with a claw. "Funny. I thought you didn't get boulders in caves. That's what caves are for, isn't it? To not have big rocks in them?" He tapped it again, as if afraid it would turn into something nasty.

Perhaps it's hiding something, Alyss suggested, though she didn't move from her position close to the wall.

{18-3}

[Silversky]

"Maybe something's behind it; maybe it's hiding an entrance," said Toxa, unaware that she was basically repeating Alyss. The Venom Gyrraptor scrambled around the side of the boulder and pushed against it.
...Nothing.
Great.

"Uh... Alyss?" she asked hesitantly. "Do you mind..."
Meanwhile, Toxa glanced around the cave. She didn't see much, but she could certaintly hear things, scuttling around in the darkness, little bugs or creatures with no knowledge of the outside world. Poor Morse looked like he could jump ten feet in the air at any moment.

"Bug's don't eat you," she said. "At least, most of them don't..."

((it's okay, me too.))

[Indigo]

"Most of them," Morse muttered. "Oh, that's reassuring. Supposing these are the kind that do?" You could tell he was on edge when he started using italics.

Alyss, meanwhile, shrugged and hauled herself over to the boulder. Certainly, she rumbled, although she knew Toxa wouldn't understand her. Morse wasn't a very good translator; most of the time he forgot not everyone knew her speech as well as he did. Alyss put as much of her weight as possible on her forefeet, leaned against the boulder, and shoved. It rocked.

Morse! Stop quivering and help me, please!

Morse shook his head and made his way over to Alyss, checking the floor for bugs at every step. Finally, he put both hands against the boulder, and he and Alyss both pushed.

The boulder rolled a few inches, stood suspended ominously on one edge, and finally crashed aside, revealing a nondescript hole in the wall.

Morse eyed it critically. "How anticlimactic."

{19-4}

[Silversky]

Toxa snorted in badly-suppressed laughter, before trying to turn it into a polite cough at the last minute.
It didn't work too well.
Shaking her head, the Venom Gyrraptor peered into the hole, unable to see anything in the inky blackness. Expirimentally, she stuck her whole head in, but that just caused the few beams of light that could reach the shadows to be blocked. The hole seemed like it went on for a while into the dark, though Toxa couldn't tell how far.

Glancing back over her shoulder, she realized that Morse was still peering at the ground in suppressed anxiety.
Toxa rolled her eyes.
"Morse, I don't think any bugs are going to try to eat you. Now," she continued, speaking to both Morse and Alyss, "it seems we have a choice. Dark hole in the wall, or open tunnel out there." She gestured with her tail toward another opening in the cavern on the opposite wall. Toxa decided she'd let the others choose, since it was her idea to come here.

[Indigo]

Morse scraped one claw vaguely along the wall, as if trying to avoid the decision. He knew what Alyss was going to say, it was so obvious, and he'd have to go with because she'd go with him or without him, and he really didn't want to stand in here alone...

Dark hole in the wall, I think. We may find something interesting in there. Morse? Alyss tilted her head inquisitively at her companion, obviously wondering whether he'd prefer to go along with her or wait...alone...in a dark tunnel...which might be full of carnivorous bugs.

Morse sighed. "I guess it's the hole in the wall, then. But I'm not going in first if I can help it." He took several steps away from it until he was as close to the opposite wall as possible. Hopefully Alyss would be able to see well enough to protect him whilst inside...wherever the hole went. Or maybe he could convince her not to go. But probably not.

Morse? Are you coming?

Make that definitely not. "Yes, I'm coming." He trotted over next to Alyss.

{20-5}

[Silversky]

Toxa grinned. She had been hoping that the darkness would be Morse's choice. They were sure to find something more interesting in there.
"After you," she said, sweeping her arm forward in an exaggerated gesture. It was probably best if Alyss went first, considering she was the one who had chosen... and she was the biggest. Alyss could go first, and she herself could keep a lookout behind.

Toxa decided to take a moment to listen. She couldn't hear much, not even really from outside, but what she could hear made her stop and pay attention. From the other passage, the lighter one, there was a sound like something slithering, along the ground and across the cavern floor. Something... hissing.

"Uh..." she muttered, slightly flustered. "I think the dark hole is looking like a great choice right about now. I think maybe we should get going and start to hurry???"
Her voice kind of increased in pitch as she talked, since she could hear the thing, whatever it was, getting closer.

((Uh, two ooc things- one, should I make this officially an akail hunt or are they just exploring? And two, is it okay if I bring in another character- keeping in mind that said character isn't very friendly...))