[Jaykobell]

What was exciting to see about Craiss Caverns was the caves themselves: filled with hidden treasures and gems of all kinds. The possibility of how many precious things one could find in those caverns was endless. If one could find a way to fight off the monsters and wild creatures that roamed inside in order to just explore the area, who knew how big a fortune one could bring back with them?

It was because of this endless array of possibilities that the small group of friends was camping by the forests that were on the border of the caverns.



"From the map I got of the caverns, they're usually consisted of narrow paths that lead to vast and open clearings. They're not too labyrinth-like, so we shouldn't have too much of a problem."

The two siblings sat on a huge wooden log, the sister of the two showing the brother a map of the caverns they were planning on exploring. They were peculiar kids that didn't quite look like other children; their unusual hair colors and pointed ears were a dead giveaway that weren't quite fully human, despite having that appearance.

The girl had long green hair tied in a pony, with a soft yellow tint here and there. She wore a pullover with some shorts and boots, accented by a ribbon she wore around her waist; while she preferred skirts, dresses and heels by far, wearing those in such a terrain probably wouldn't end very well for her. Convinced by her brother to wear something a bit more adventure-appropriate, the sister had complied and worn something more comfortable for action situations.

The brother looked similar to her, having pale yellow hair with tints of a teal-like color, which was also long; unlike the sister's hair, however, it didn't end in a ponytail and simply sat on the boy's back. He was wearing his usual clothes: a scarf around his neck, a sleeveless leather jacket and shorts, together with boots and gloves that matched.

Both sported glasses and wore a similar red band in their hair, making it obvious that they were related. Personality-wise, however, the two couldn't have been any more different from each other. "Okay, so we just follow this map around and we'll get to good stuff, right, Morgan?" the brother asked, the excitement of the journey burning in his voice like wildfire.

"Well, no, it's not as simple as that, Milton," Morgan answered, hoping her brother would listen to her at least this once. "There are wild creatures in that cave, and there's no telling—"

"Oh, please! Some puny animals aren't any match for both of us. We can turn into dragons, remember?" Milton pointed out as he abruptly interrupted his sister in order to say that, and to give her a light punch on the arm. "We'll be just fine!"

Morgan squealed a little at being punched on the arm, despite the fact that it didn't hurt. She sighed and tried to shove the map in her brother's face a bit harder. "Milton, they're not just cats and dogs, they're wild creatures," the sister tried to explain, getting more and more anxious as her brother refused to listen to reason: for a change.

"Ohh, animals? Are we talking about animals? I love critters!"



Next to the bench-log was a huge tent, big enough to house almost ten people. A boy came out of the said tent, his albino features being just as obvious as the pointed ears and unusual hair colors of the two siblings. He, too, was wearing fairly simply adventure clothing, although nothing too fancy: just a light blouse with some shorts and good running shoes. It was a strange style to see on the boy, whom had slightly long white hair tied in a tiny little ponytail, and glasses that gave him a more nerdy sort of look rather than that of an adventurer.

Despite that, the boy was radiant with energy, and his curiosity for anything was quite obvious and even rivalled Milton's taste for adventure. "Ah, no critters you'd want as pets, Mark, I'm sure," Morgan answered to the albino's question about them mentioning animals. "I'm just trying to make Milton listen to reason that the caverns are dangerous, despite us being able to turn into dragons."

"Oh, well, you guys can do just that... So we'll be just fine, I'm sure!" Mark replied, waving his hand dismissively and giving the siblings a wide, confident grin. "Besides, my parents are powerful mages! I've brought a whole collection of spells, so I'll be able to shock or burn a few wild critters," the boy added, looking more confident than ever.

"I knew it was the right thing to bring you along, Mark! Only you understand me," Milton said as he got up from the log and wrapped an arm around Mark's shoulders, pulling him over just a bit. "Morgan's a stick in the mud when it comes to this stuff, so I'm lucky I have you around!"

"S... Stick in the mud?" Morgan whimpered quietly as she stared at her brother with slight disbelief, although she wasn't surprised by his blunt — if rude — honesty.

"You're the one who'll be a dead stick in the mud if you don't listen to your sister; God knows she's more brains than you."



The final kid of the group appeared through the trees, and she made the biggest entrance of the four as she dragged a bloody boar behind her by the tail. "There's probably magic creatures in there, or ones as big as you are when you're a dragon," the red-haired girl continued, dragging a dead boar and being covered in animal blood slightly not fazing her in the slightest. "I'd listen to your 'stick in the mud' sister and be grateful when she ends up saving your ass with her strategies."

While the lecture could've probably been phrased better, it wasn't the words from the girl that left the other three kids dumb-founded: it was the boar. "Dude, Linfan. Did you drag this thing all the way here by the tail?" Milton questioned, pointing to the boar still bleeding behind the smaller red-haired girl that had just appeared with it.

"Er, yeah? Or was that rhetorical?" Linfan answered, letting go of the small boar tail now that the food was in camp. "What, were you going to eat grass all weekend?"

"I meant to point out that you're unusual strong," Milton continued, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. "And you're calling me dense?"

The scarred redhead frowned and gave the boy a hard glare. "And I can point out that I'm strong enough to pick it up and throw it right at you; want me to show you?"

The fourth kid of the group, Linfan, was a bit harsher than the other three, whom were all more soft-hearted or gentle. Unlike them, the redhead was blunt, and she didn't mince her words in any way, saying things for how they were rather than beating around the bush. Like the siblings, she had ears that were unlike regular human ears, but not by much; unless someone really sat down and stared at her, it was hard to see, at first glance, that Linfan's ears were slightly longer and pointier. She also bore scars on her arms and face, and she wore an attire that would usually get a few curious eyes looking in her direction. Wearing a long scarf that doubled as a hoodie, her clothes were light-weight. She wore a light t-shirt for a top and pants, together with a regular pair of boots. She also had bandages wrapped around both arms from the elbow to the wrist, but she was moving well enough to prove that they weren't there because of injuries. The last noteworthy detail about her was the peculiar sword that she carried with her, including a few smaller, sharper daggers. In particular, the bigger sword had a small trinket hanging from it, which looked like a small teddy bear that had been mangled over time, missing an arm and a leg.

"It's incredible how crazy strong you are, Linfan," Mark commented, trying to prevent the situation from going downhill considering how fast Milton and Linfan could disagree about the smallest of things. "With four of us, there's no way we can't best those caverns."

"Unless this idiot strays from the group to go explore on his own," the redhead commented, glaring in Milton's direction the entire time.

"You know," Milton started, his usually happy and excitable mood completely replaced by an angrier tone, "you didn't have to come," he reminded the red-haired assassin, glaring right back at her.

"Well, how about we think about something else and cook that boar instead?" Mark continued, trying to edge closer to Milton in order to prevent him from doing anything rash; the boy was known for having a hard time managing his anger, so the last thing the group needed was for the two hot-headed kids to break into a fight.

The whole time, all Morgan could do was sigh and wonder how in the world she'd gotten stuck into this whole mess. The story behind the group was that their parents were all good friends, and as such, so were the kids... for the most part. Morgan and Milton were siblings, so they always did everything together, even when Morgan couldn't stand to do half the things her brother loved doing. Mark was the son to their father's good friend, and he was too friendly for anyone in the group to dislike him. As for Linfan, she was the daughter of one of their father's friends. Her parents being travellers, it was especially hard to see the red-haired girl. While Milton often clashed with her, Linfan was good friends with Morgan, and she could also tolerate Mark: for the most part.

So when Milton had mentioned that it would be exciting to go on an adventure, just the four of them — no parents involved — Morgan had been elected as the "responsible" one, and now she had to make sure every single kid came back in one piece to their respective parents. And with how quickly Linfan and Milton were to jump at each other's throat, it would prove to be a challenge to keep all four kids intact throughout the journey.

The idea was to explore the caves ahead, but for the time being, the group had established their small camp right by the forest outside of them. They would camp here for the night, and then tackle the caverns tomorrow.

[Kodai]

"Didss you feelss that?"

…is what the blue-eyed, orange-y-haired boy would have asked, if he had believed that such a question would have gotten him any sort of real answer. As things were, however, he knew that his companion did not possess any empathic abilities outside that normally given to humans, and so the inquiry would have been akin to asking someone if they could hear the sound that yellow made. Not that he minded, of course -- this was his brother, after all -- but if he had indeed felt what he thought he had, the boy had every intention of suggesting they go off and investigate. If he had misjudged (which was possible, as at this distance the foreign emotion was little more than a strong gut feeling and could really be anything), then such a suggestion would lead them off of a very important topic.

That topic was supper.

Well, it wasn't so much a topic as a trail, for they had long since decided they were going to try to find a source of meat and had set off into the forest in search of one. Ever conscious of the emotions of others (even when he wasn't actively focusing on them), the boy was not exactly pleased, but he recognized the importance of both protein in the diet and target practice with his bow. That was why he and his brother were out in the forests by Craiss in the first place: for training. Neither of them knew exactly when they might expect to be thrust back into the struggle for survival they'd been born into, so they both thought it prudent to be prepared.

Sometimes there were just other things to be prepared for.

Before he had completely decided to brush it off, the boy was suddenly stricken again, the feeling much more sharp and urgent than before. Something -- or someone -- was in trouble.

"Kaamil… something'ss happeningss."

His companion, who was slightly ahead, turned back to look at him with one blue and one orange eye, a mild quizzical expression on his face.

"…What is it, Kami…?"

"Iss feelss… fear. And angerss. And… and painss."

Kaamil considered this, his long lavender ponytail falling to the side as he tilted his head slightly. It wasn't impossible to imagine that there was another person out here, and that they had fallen into some trouble with the local wildlife, but basic emotions were not limited to humans. Kami could just as easily be picking up on the last moments of some unfortunate prey animal… though Kaamil knew that his brother would wish to investigate anyway.

"…Let's go, then…"

Kami gave him a small, grateful smile and started off through the trees, leading the way to where he was fairly sure the emotions were coming from. Even if he wasn't 100% accurate about the direction at first, however, he was quickly able to correct himself by sensing where the feelings became stronger. And stronger they became, making Kami increase his speed and forcing his brother to do the same so that he could keep up. Faster and faster they went, running through the undergrowth as the emotions reached a fever pitch in Kami's mind…

…And then stopped.

The trail lost, Kami came to an abrupt halt, forcing Kaamil to draw up short behind him. He didn't need to ask what had happened; he knew. Instead he busied himself with searching for any sign of a struggle, and sure enough, he could smell the coppery tang of blood nearby.

"…This way…" he said, moving once again. Kami gave a nod, having picked up the scent as well, and sure enough, it didn't take long before the boys found a trail of blood streaking across the ground.  It could be the track of a hunter that had just brought down their prey… or it could be the track of a murderer having gotten rid of a victim. Cautiously, the pair followed after the red path, moving as quickly and quietly as they could. They had no idea what they would find at the end, after all.

What they did find wasn't anything they had been expecting.

They'd heard the raised voices before they saw the camp, which meant that they became even more cautious than before. It wouldn't do to walk into a bandits' camp, especially if they were already angry. But once the pair had gotten through the trees and could see just who was before them, they instantly went from caution to surprise.

Two boys and two girls, all roughly around their age, were milling about a smallish clearing in which they'd had enough space to pitch a gigantic tent. From the glares passing between a tough-looking girl and an angry-looking boy, they had been responsible for the voices they'd heard just earlier. Luckily, the second boy appeared to be attempting to cool things down between the two, so hopefully their anger wouldn't be displaced on the pair that had just stumbled into their camp.

[Jaykobell]

Mark's proposition to just quit bickering and eat the boar somewhat calmed the waters. Milton rolled his eyes and turned around to sit next to his sister, while Linfan just rolled her eyes as well.

And the small group stayed quiet for a while, the air getting tense as Milton and Linfan remained relatively upset at each other, and where Morgan and Mark didn't quite know how to keep the two from lunging at each other. "Soooo..." Mark eventually said, staying ever so cheerful, unlike the other three kids, "who's going to skin the boar, so we can actually eat it?"

"I say Milton can do that just fine," Linfan piped up, arms crossed and staring at the boy now with amusement. "You do know how to skin wild game, don't you?"

That smirk on Linfan's face was rubbing Milton the wrong way, but despite that, the boy didn't quite know what to say. He grumbled a little as he glared back at the girl. "Ugh, no, I don't know how to skin wild game, okay?"

"Wait, really?" Mark interrupted, turning from Linfan to Milton and sounding surprised to hear that. "But doesn't Morgan know how to do that? And isn't your dad a really good chef, too?" It was always a delicacy to go eat at Milton's and Morgan's place: their dad was exceptional at cooking, and his dishes were always intense and full of different flavors. The same couldn't be said of Mark's parents, his dad being nearly incapable of cooking, and his mother fortunately being decent enough, but not amazing like the siblings' father.

"How much more salt do you wanna rub in, Mark?" Milton asked the albino, and it was clear from his tone that he wasn't happy at all: which was unusual to see and hear from the dragon-boy.

"Well, to be honest, the only thing I want to rub with salt is that boar," the albino mage answered, Milton's anger going over his head fairly easily.

As the small group of three continued to argue — although Morgan was staying out of the whole argument, apparently — Linfan remained by the boar, still stained by the blood of the game. It wasn't something that bothered her; she had been covered in much worse, so just a little game blood was nothing that could faze her. She was listening to the mind-numbingly pointless conversation from the other kids when she heard rustling coming from behind her. None of the other kids had heard, apparently, since they kept on arguing.

Reacting quickly, Linfan drew her sword and turned around swiftly, pointing the weapon just a few inches away from the source of the noise. Two boys is what she found, which, admittedly, she hadn't expected. Still, they were suddenly presented with two strangers, and while they were about the same age as all the kids in their group, you could never be too careful. "Names," the red-haired assassin asked, her voice steady and commanding, and her eyes sharper than her sword. "Now."

The sudden reaction from Linfan snapped the group out of their food conversation, and in a flash, all four kids were now looking in Kami's and Kaamil's direction, with one of them pointing a sharp weapon right in their faces. Morgan gasped at Linfan's reaction, getting up and hoping the girl didn't have any intentions of jumping to conclusions. "L-Linfan!"

[Kodai]

Luckily for everyone, a fight was averted, although the air remained tense. Kami had nearly forgotten about the blood trail he'd been leading his brother on, instead wondering if maybe this would be a good chance to practice his diplomacy skills. Generally it wasn't smart to meddle in the affairs of strangers, but the boy and girl were clearly upset with each other and the other two didn't seem to know what to do in order to get them to calm down completely. In fact, the argument began to flare up again as the girl poked at the boy's nonexistent skinning skills. Hm, maybe he could offer to do it for them and thus try to gain their trust so he could help? Or should he just hang back and attempt to influence their emotions a little from a distance?

While Kami thought this over, however, he lost his chance to act. The angry red-headed girl noticed the pair standing nearby and instantly went on the offensive, swinging her sword so that she was directing the point at them. Kami jumped back slightly at the sudden movement, quickly throwing his hands up into the air as a sign of surrender. Kaamil, however, didn't act nearly as surprised, simply raising his hands slowly. When the girl asked for their names, he looked over to Kami, indicating that he felt that he should be the one to speak.

"U-Ummss… I-Iss Kami, and this isss my brotherss, Kaamil…" he stammered, trying to get used to the fact that he had a pointy object stuck in his face. Thinking quickly, he added, "W-We were justss followingss that blood trailss because we weren't suress if someoness had been hurtss. But… But Iss seess that it'sss just fromss your supperss. S-So ifss you wantss us to leavess, we'll just goss now…"

Believing that his brother had left out an important bit of information, Kaamil turned his attention to the girl. "…We're camping in the area as a sort of training exercise, you see… …We mean no offense…"

Whether she would believe them or not was a different story.

[Jaykobell]

At least the two intruders weren't interested in fighting, from the looks of it. As they explained what they were doing here and gave the group their names, Linfan blinked at Kami's explanation. "What blood— ... Shit," the assassin replied, realizing that the blood trail the kid was talking about had been left behind by her.

"You left a whole blood trail leading to our camp?" Milton piped up from behind, seeing his opportunity to poke fun at Linfan, to try to turn the tables in his favor. "That's a pretty careless thing to do for a professional assassin, isn't it?"

And suddenly, it was like Kami and Kaamil didn't exist anymore. Linfan continued to stare at the two strangers, but she slowly lowered her sword before looking over her shoulder at the dragon-boy. Her red eyes glared at the boy with such intense hate that the others — including the twins — could probably feel how insulted the redhead was at that comment. And Milton was especially aware of it, because the boy immediately reached out for one of his pockets.

Internally, Morgan was starting to freak out. She knew exactly what her brother wanted to do, and if she let that happen, their parents would be furious. What was she supposed to do? Which one should she stop, Milton or Linfan? Which one was most likely to cause more damage?

But before the sister could do anything, Mark is the one who stepped in. "Now now, guys, don't be like that," the albino boy said, his cheerful expression not leaving his face despite the unbearable tension that was in the air. "We're here to have fun, remember?" And with a swift movement, Mark slipped an arm by Milton's pocket and grabbed a pristine, round stone right out of it before the dragon-boy could. "So the only thing we'll beat up are monsters, right?"

"H-hey! Mark! Give that back!" Milton cried out as he tried to reach for the albino boy, but the small tactician moved away from the agitated sibling. "My mom's gonna kill me if I lose this!" Ohh, he did not want to upset his mother. If Mark broke the stone or lost it, it would be the end of him.

"Milton, don't worry! I just don't want you to turn into a barn-sized dragon and cause havoc around camp," Mark explained as he kept the stone nice and safe in his own pants. "Especially not since we have—"

But the boy was interrupted by Linfan smacked her face right into Milton's, the two children now standing forehead to forehead. "Can't do much without your little stone, can you, punk?" the assassin pointed out, glaring so hard that the tension in the air was ever rising.

"Yeah, what could you do without your stupid sword, huh?" Milton answered as he glared right back, leaving both kids to be locked in a glaring contest, oblivious to the others around them.

Mark stared for a little bit, but he eventually lost interest and instead went to Kami and Kaamil. The poor twins had first been threatened, and now they had been forced to watch Linfan and Milton argue like two overgrown children. "Sorry about Linfan, she's a bit hot-headed," the albino apologized, looking like a cheerful fellow compared to the other kids. "We just weren't expecting to meet other people around this area. But hey, if you guys are camping around anyway, wanna hang out with us for a bit?"

Hearing that, Milton and Linfan stopped glaring at each other and instead both focused their attention on the albino. "Dude, Mark! Who said you were the one making the decisions?" Milton cried out indignantly, giving a look at the albino kid.

"They could be enemies, you idiot!" Linfan added, the two hot-headed children somehow agreeing with each other, even if for different reasons.

"Ugh, stop it!" Morgan said as she got between Milton and Linfan and pulled the two kids away from each other, looking just as irritated as they were now. "Can't you two be in the same general area without getting the need to upset each other?" And in front of strangers, too! How embarrassing.

Mark looked over his shoulder as the three kids got even more agitated, before he slowly turned back to Kami and Kaamil. "Er, but I won't blame you if you don't want to stick around," the albino added, obviously referring to his friends and how they could be difficult at times. He loved all three of them a lot, he really did, but sometimes it took a bit of time to get used to their active and fiery personalities.

[Kodai]

The good news was that the girl (apparently named Linfan) grew slightly less hostile towards them. The bad news was that she grew more hostile towards the boy she'd been arguing with earlier, as he taunted her for leaving the blood trail that had led the twins to their camp. Apparently she was a professional assassin (and therefore should have known better), but that information was quickly glossed over by the brothers as the air instantly grew tense again. Kami, especially, was well-aware of how Linfan felt, her anger and indignation at being insulted easily bleeding into his mind. Kaamil, too, could tell how miffed she was, though that was due more to her body language than an actual feeling.

Before any physical fighting could begin (and before Kami had a chance to step in), the pale-skinned, cheerful-looking other boy attempted to diffuse the situation. He tried to remind them that they were all here to have fun, and swiftly pulled something out of the first boy's pocket. That upset him as well, though it was more worry than anger -- apparently the small stone was very important to him.

And then there was a mention of dragons.

Although the emotions of the group continued to press in on Kami, he couldn't help but be intrigued. That boy -- Milton -- could turn into a dragon? Was he a Paragon in human form? Or… maybe it had something to do with that stone the other boy -- Mark -- had taken from him? There wasn't too much time to think about it, however, as Linfan and Milton had resumed glaring daggers at each other and tossing insults.

Kami had a full three-quarters of a mind to intervene now, but something new acquired his attention. The pale boy, Mark, had approached the brothers and was apologizing for Linfan's behavior... and also asking if they'd like to stay a while? Both Kami and Kaamil gave him a confused look, while Mark's offer had its expected result on the rest of the campers. Milton and Linfan yelled at Mark in disapproval, and the last girl (apparently sick of all the fighting) tried to get them to stop. The albino looked over at his camp-mates for a second before turning back to Kami and Kaamil, acknowledging that he'd understand if they didn't want to stay.

Well.

"We'ss not enemiess," Kami replied quietly, and there was something about him that said he wasn't lying. "If we... If we couldss stayss, that wouldss be goodss, because we wouldss all havess better protectionss... and... and Iss couldss tryss to helpss everyone calm downss..." As much as he wanted to simply start influencing their emotions, he didn't think it would help if he did so and the two began to notice. Best to ask for their permission. "Butss ifss you all don't wantss us here, we can goss."

Kaamil, not surprisingly, said nothing. Kami was supposed to be the diplomat of the two.

They just had to hope he was good at it.

[Jaykobell]

With Morgan pulling the two apart, Milton and Linfan huffed angrily before trying to calm down. For some odd reason, there was something that just prevented the two from getting along. Milton was prone to get angry when things didn't go his way, and Linfan was similar in the sense that she was prone to get angry just because she tended to be very grumpy. Fortunately, what the two often needed to calm down was just to be pulled apart for a minute so they could think about something else.

Once the group was calm again, now it was the matter of those two strange boys that had stumbled upon their camp. Mark was the friendlier guy of the group, while Morgan tended to be the diplomat. Milton and Linfan often just stood nearby, although they often did very little that helped the group in terms of diplomacy. They were more along the lines of powerhouses, and they made sure to defend the group if something happened. Morgan and Mark could fight as well, but they were either weaker than the other two, or they tended to avoid fighting if they could resolve a conflict in another way.

Still, this was far from being a conflict, since the two boys seemed uninterested in starting a fight or anything of the like.

Well, that's what three fourth of the group thought. The remaining fourth wasn't all that interested in Kami's meddling. "We're not going to just let you stay here if you're just going to be useless cowards when actual threats show up," Linfan pointed out as she took a few steps towards the two boys, although without drawing her sword this time. "And what's our group problems got to do with you? Don't butt in on people's arguments!" Ugh, not only that, but what was up with this kid's speech? He was literally pluralizing everything every few other words, and it made his speech difficult to understand.

"Linfan!" Morgan called out as she walked over to the assassin and tried to keep her from getting any closer to the two boys. The two looked at each other for a moment, and Morgan quickly stepped up to stand next to Mark. "I'm sorry," she apologized, nodding her head a little in a small bow. "Our friend is a little wary, but she means good. All she's trying to say is that our group can fight, so mutual protection is what we do; we wouldn't want to leave you vulnerable if something happened. And don't mind the two, they argue often, but they like each other deep down, regardless."

"Well, there you go, that's settled, then!" Mark said as he basically just welcomed Kami and Kaamil to stay with the group. "I guess it'd be good to introduce everyone, right?"

"Dude, Mark, you just cut right through—" But before Milton could finish his sentence, the albino boy was already going through every single kid in the group in order to introduce them.

"The one who's a little daft is Milton," Mark introduced first, pointing and turning as needed as he associated each name with the person who had it. "The grumpy assassin redhead is Linfan; she's not usually this clumsy. This is Morgan, and she is Milton's sister, and somewhat the unspoken leader of the group, since she can keep track of everyone and organize everything. And I'm Mark, I'm the friendly albino tactician of the group!" Despite his happy expression and voice throughout — which did sound and look genuine, too — it sounded like the boy didn't mince his words.

"D-daft?" Milton echoed, narrowing his eyes at the albino.

"I'll show you clumsy, Mark!" Linfan called out indignantly from her position, looking just about ready to beat up the boy.

"Eep! B-but that was a compliment?" the declared-tactician replied, getting a little edgier now that the anger was directed at him.