[Pulse]

Tarn


Melodious Nocturne
(Melody)

Tarn, being among the largest creatures in the known world, cast a great shadow over the trees below. Massive wings pumped occasionally to provide lift, but for the most part, he was able to ride air currents whenever they were available thanks to a specific organ that produced and stored large amounts of helium.

Glowing eyes stole a stare at the Hydrokuhna that insisted on joining him on this outing. He never spent much time with the kuhnas, and he was beginning to regret it if they were all so interesting as this one, for he had never seen one so capable in the skies-able to turn on a pinhead, and one so..exhuberant. It was as though she were constantly love-striken, though without the devotion and obsession, and as though her spirit were as free and wild as she was with her almost irradic flying.

Melody, as the others came to call her, hummed gleefully to herself as she turned a loop-de-loop around the Garagnir's trailing tail, smiling and laughing to herself as she alighted gently on the appendage and crept up to roost on his head, between all of the spikes. Tarn crossed his eyes and looked up to her, shining dim beams of light in her direction.

"Good day, miss Melody. You seem to be in quite the good mood." He looked back to where he was flying, curiosity building at a precarious clearing in the dense forest.

"Wonderful! Today's such a beautiful day..the clouds are smiling and giving us their hellos, and the birds are singing, like they were welcoming us!" She rolled onto her side, staring at one of the sturdy horns jutting from either temple carefully. "Wouldn't it be something if the phoenix bird lived here? Maybe it would let us help it raise the sun tomorrow..you know, they say that the Phoenix bird's song is the most beautiful, and it haralds the rising sun.~"

Tarn chuckled and tilted to one side, dipping towards the ground to work in wide circles to the ground. "I am sure the Phoenix would be glad to have someone so jubilous as you sing with it. If what you say is true, though, then we would have to travel to the far east, where the sun rises first."

Melody: 1
Tarn: 9

[Pulse]

Melody quirked one of her ears and looked down at Tarn. "Then we'll have to go there next. Oh, I'd love to go there! We could go to all the historical places and see how people lived way back when..you know, when legends took place. Maybe we could become legends one day, and people will tell stories of the great Tarn and Melody!"

He alighted gently on the ground..well..as gently as such a massive creature could land, upon a large hill with a gaping entrance carved out of the side. Glowing eyes easily inspected the darkness as the Kuhna slipped off and crept to the entrance, wonder and amazement easily filling her eyes and pouring from her as she wondered if her dream would come true. Tarn spread his wings again and angled them so that the sun would reflect off of the shimmering flesh of his wings and shed more light in the cavern.

Melody gasped and trotted inside, scarecly waiting for Tarn to tuck his wings in close and crouch so he could creep inside. Melody used his eyes like spotlights, jumping and flittering around to get in the dim light until Tarn caught on to what she was doing and watched her. "This is your host with the most, Melody speaking.~ After careful analyzation of myths and maps, we've found the entrance to El Dorado, the legendary city of gold.~

My friend Tarn here, has golden ancestors that lived here andwere worshipped like gods, so he's going to guide us and tell us about all of the wonderful wildlife you can only see in ancient forests and lost cities!~"

Tarn couldn't help but laugh light-heartedly at her enthusiasm and imagination, but who knew? Maybe this was just another sore-thumb of a cave, or maybe it really was the road to El Dorado, and maybe he really did have Gold Stargoyle ancestors. He never really traced his family history.

Melody: 2
Tarn: 10

[Pulse]

Melody jumped and flew back between tarn's forepaws as she heard rock and rubble shifting, breaking loose from the cave's ceiling to bounce between stalagtites and roll a bit on the ground. Of course, her sight in the darkness wasn't as good as Tarn's, and with an imagination like hers, who knew what it could be. "Did you hear that!? Something's moving! I bet it's one of the supposedly extinct ancient temple guardians! They're said to be made of steel with eerie blue eyes and markings that glow all over the place when they're 'activated.' Let's go take a look!"

She darted to it, Tarn following easily behind her and shining his eyes on the large rock that fell from the ceiling. He didn't hear Melody chime in for a moment, and took the opportunity to humor her and keep her spirits raised. "Ah, this is a real find, indeed. This is a rare golem egg..rock golem, to be specific. They live within the maze of caverns to help protect the city of El Dorado, along with the other types of golums and species of guardians."

He smiled as he saw Melody immediately perk up and sit back on her haunches, picking up the rock gently in her forepaws. "You're right! How could I forget? We better leave this litle egg alone before big bad mother catches us with it. Rock golems are the most agressive out of the bunch..I'd rather run into a fire golum than a rock one.~"

She continued to piddle around, inspecting every little thing near the entrance where some sunlight could reach, working her way slowly into the darkness with her large tarn garagnir not far behind.

Melody: 3
Tarn: 11

[Pulse]

Melody's ears perked up yet again as she heard something coming from deeper into the cave. She looked back to Tarn with a questioning look, and in return, the dragon's stony lips curled into a warm, wise smile and nudged her on to signal she should go. Melody gave him a playful feline grin, and lifted off from the ground to fly into the darkness, the water that rose from her body catching and refracting some of the light from Tarn's eyes and the dim glow of misshapen figures on the walls.

Melody hummed happily to herself. That was, until she bumped into something. She bounced backwards with a small 'oof' and brought a paw up to rub gently at her sore nose.

"Are you alright? Do be careful and watch where you're going, Melody." Tarn wasn't far behind the girl, keeping a steady eye on her in case anything that dwelled within these caverns should be lurking about.

"It's okay! I just hit my nose on this wall, I'll be okay! She smiled back to him, and turned back to the wall she bumped into to inspect it. Within a few moments, she found a large, rectangular opening in the wall. "Hey Tarn, come take a look at this! I found a door!~"

Tarn: 12
Melody: 4

[Pulse]

Tarn sauntered, carefully placing his steps to reduce any small tremors he might create with his weight in such a confined space as he caught up to Melody, not wanting to know what would happen to him if anything should happen to her. "What is it, Melody?"

Melody squinted a bit at first, unable to see any more than a dull flash of colors in the darkness. "I..I can't tell yet. Look over that way..I see lights flashing!"

Tarn nodded and did as he was told, shining the dim spotlights of sorts into the doorway, just as an insane cackle started to echo inside the structure. Greens, purples, and yellows started to flash at wild, seizure-inducing patterns almost as a wild tune started to fill the section.

The sudden theatrics caused Melody to squeal in terror and dart behind Tarn's massive metallic body for protection. A low snarl rumbled from the usually peaceful Tarn as the lightshow stalked ever closer, the tune muting and muffling as it did. Melody couldn't look away, curiosity and fear plastering her gaze to the figure. However, she recognized the way in which the lights flashed. The shape of the lights lit up on familiar markings, causing Melody to hiss at the creature and flatten her ears, not at all amused by the prank.

"Trigger! How could you do something like that, scaring us?" Tarn looked back at Melody, then to the creature as it stepped into the dim lights. He grunted and flicked his tail angrily about the air.

"You didn't tell us you were leaving." His voice was tense, notably so, with his agitation.

"Yeah? I shouldn't have to. You're not my keeper." An eerie, electronic-esque voice floated out of the headphones. For a creature that had to speak through a set of headphones, the voice was not at all monochromatic. Instead, it sounded quite snarky.

Tarn: 13
Melody: 5
Trigger: 1

[Pulse]

"Well, you can at least tell us what you're doing here, Trigger." Tarn let Melody flitter to the ground, not worrying much about the Neowocky for the time being. He seemed calm enough for now, but he knew how twisted the creature could get.

"Why else would I be in a hell-hole like this? To find an Akail. Sysko just doesn't cut it for me, the wuss." Trigger huffed and spun on a paw to venture further into the darkness, the markings on him not at all glowing. The Palowockee only needed to feel vibrations in the ground and air to really see. "And your messing it up, scaring them off with all your shenanigans and yelling. Go wait for me outside the cave, kiddies."

Melody puffed up and scooped up a rock in her paw to throw at him. Tarn, however, quickly reached over her to stop her. He gave his head a shake, not wanting to agitate the palowockee so much.

"Because Sysko doesn't pull his pranks out of spite." Tarn carefully scolded the palowockee, knowing he was treading on unstable ground. "Melody and I happened to be traveling together, and came across this clearing. We decided to investigate, simple as that."

Tarn: 14
Melody: 6
Trigger: 2