[Azura Rayume]

((Mysterious open RP? Dieing breed, I know. o3o))

Samhain grumbled to himself as he trudged through the underbrush, dark boots scuffed from walking. Why did his mother have to pick here of all places to live? He hated all the stupid plants he had to trip through to get anywhere. Not to mention the fact that that witch of a woman he called "Mom" always sent him out to run her errands- which involved yet more walking and probably falling. Really, was he her son or her slave? Sometimes he doubted there was a difference in the old bat's mind, but he supposed that here was better than most places he could be. Well, other than the places that had regular buildings and more people than frogs and trees.

Not that he didn't like those things. Frogs and trees were some of the few things that hadn't changed much in his life. He'd always been around plants because his mother was a forest witch; plants kinda came with the territory. The frogs were just a pleasant addition due to all the vegetation.

Sam repositioned the pumpkin mask on his face and pushed his orange and green bangs back from in front of his eyes for the twelve-hundredth time today. Gods, that woman didn't know how to cut hair. It wasn't his fault that hers didn't grow anymore, and he couldn't put his up by magic or however she got it so perfect every morning. And the mask? Well, the mask had been her idea to begin with. Something about hiding his face from... something. He couldn't remember anymore. He wore it out of habit more than necessity now. Plus she'd probably yell at him if he tried to leave without it; she was such a stickler when it came to her own rules it drove him almost mad some days.

Now where was that stupid..? Ah, there the blasted thing was. He hopped over a scraggly shrub and landed on the border of what appeared to be just a random patch of grasses growing together in clumps in an otherwise unvegetated area. Samhain stooped low over one of the patches, plucked a few leaves from the stem, and moved on to the next one.

"Crazy old bat..," he grumbled as the leaves began to pile up in his hand. "Sending me to get her stupid herbs... Why can't she have a window garden? Or at least plant closer to the house?"

[Indigo]

Fondue's tail lashed violently as he glared at the undergrowth. He shouldn't have to do this; he was a master chef, not some kind of explorer! At least, that was what he kept telling himself. The master chef part, at least, was true, or close enough, but as for the exploring thing...well. He had to admit that despite his original apprehension, this venture was turning out to be, if not fun, then at least not boring. And he still hadn't found that one essential ingredient, so he couldn't go home just yet. There was just the small problem of there being so many plants in the way, and none of them the one he was looking for. Well, as far as he knew, anyway. Certainly none of them looked, well, essential enough to be his secret ingredient.

And that was the trouble. He'd found an ancient cookbook, so old he couldn't even read the title, in a box in the attic, and had found a recipe for something that promised to be his most amazing dish yet. But. One of the ingredients hadn't had a name listed, just an amount and the word "essential". On another page he'd found folded instructions that had led him here, and which had informed him that whatever he was seeking was indeed a plant, but it hadn't actually told him the place he was expected to look for it in. Thus there was nothing for it but to keep looking. He sighed and jumped over some rather large ferns.

Fondue was just beginning to entertain the notion that perhaps the plant he was searching for was actually extinct; after all, the book had been very old, to say the least, and it was possible that it was out of date. But there was still that vague chance that maybe, just maybe, there was some kind of plant that could finally make him a world-famous chef. Of course, he would continue his culinary experiments anyway, but it would be nice to be known.

That shrub was rather large, but there was no room to get around it. He resolutely placed a paw on the most solid-looking part he could find and tried to vault over.

It was a miserable failure. The shrub was nowhere near as sturdy as he'd expected, and its small branches snapped and bent under his weight as he scrabbled frantically in an effort to make it over. Finally, his frenzied efforts must have broken something important in the trunk--well, more of a stem--of the plant, because it bent over and deposited him on the ground, his tail still tangled in the twisted twigs. And, oh joy, there was someone there, who had probably seen everything.

[Azura Rayume]

Samhain jumped at the crash, turning quickly to the direction of the sound with his fist full of leaves clutched to his chest. Was that... a cat? In a bush? He'd never seen that cat before, so it obviously didn't belong there. Things that got stuck in bushes around here normally weren't from the area.

"Who are you?" he asked, trying his best not to sound frightened. Startled, sure, but he wasn't scared out of his wits by some kitten in a bush. He hoped the mask and the plants and all his odd manners didn't give off the "scared little kid" look. He wasn't the most comfortable around people, but he could handle himself as long as no one else got involved. One person could be fine, but a crowd? No, he didn't do well with crowds.

[Indigo]

Fondue grumbled to himself under his breath as he tried to untangle his tail. Of course someone had to be around when he did something so utterly incompetent. Such was the way of things in his life. But being fairly good-natured, on the general principle that it didn't do anyone any harm and generally made people like him, he refrained from running away in the hope that this person wouldn't tease him mercilessly.

"I'm Fondue," he replied, clawing desperately at the tangle of sticks keeping him from getting up. "Er...do you think you could give me a little bit of help with this?" As he yanked on his tail, it occurred rather suddenly to him that this person might know what the essential ingredient was. He probably shouldn't ask immediately, though. It seemed that his sudden appearance had startled...whoever this was. That might be useful information as well. "And who are you, if you don't mind my asking?"

[ForeverYours]

Ria and sin plodded through the dense undergrowth. Sin, in the lead, cursed and muttered under his breath, while Ria stepped carfully behind. "Please," Sin growled impatiently as a tree branch wacked him in the face, "Why we are out here? in the middle of this-" He paused as he plowed throw a clump of particularly large ferns, "This Growth monster?" Ria gaged and stiffled back laughter. "Because," She said, still trying not to laugh, "We need to find a..." She paused a moment to think. "A red-tipped, Black centered Treelilly. We need it to help make the antadote for that treefrog, who needs to eat it so that the treefrog can help the sparrow, so that the-" Sin cut her off. "So this does that, then that does this because of that. Lets get in, then get OUT." HE leaped over a large tree that had fallen over, and nearly stepped on a cat-like creature. "what on earth?" He hissed, nearly sitting down from surprise. "Keep moving, don't sit down, I'm right behind you!" Ria called out, coming to stand next to his shoulder.

[Azura Rayume]

Samhain sighed. Well, the cat seemed entirely sentient and could even speak. That was good. How it had managed to get his tail so tangled was entirely beyond him, but, seeing how it could talk and had even asked so nicely, he should help it.

Cracking his knuckles, he knelt beside the bush. He whispered syllables that weren't quite words to the plant, which quivered slightly in protest before finally releasing its grip on the feline's tail. Sometimes having a witch for a mother really helped in odd situations.

"I'm Sam," he said at last, turning his gaze back to Fondue for a moment.

Then something big came crashing through the trees and abruptly stopped right before stepping on the two of them. He paled slightly at the size of the creature since things that big didn't normally wander the rainforest, then realized he should say something before it decided to move again.

"Don't come any closer!" he shouted up at it. If it planted on of those huge claws on the witch's garden, he was a dead man.

[Indigo]

"Thank you very much." Fondue licked his paw and began smoothing out the fur on his tail, picking out twigs and leaves before sitting back and coiling it around him, as was his default position. "Nice to meet you, Sam," he added. His family had trained him in social conventions since he was old enough to talk, but his politeness remained genuine as opposed to just being a habit. Of course, if he didn't like someone, he had to make an effort, but Sam seemed like a fairly nice person.

That thing he'd done with that shrub, though--that had been odd. Of course, Fondue was no stranger to magic, since several of the residents of the house practiced it in some form or other, but he'd never seen that particular talent before. Perhaps, if Sam could talk to plants, as it seemed, he could help find the essential ingredient. He really ought to ask about that.

As he started to speak, almost as if he were in a book of some sort, a shadow fell over him. Looking up, he saw a large dragonlike creature about to step on him. Almost instantly he shot out from under the looming beast, ending up several feet away, panting, fur standing on end. He stared around wildly, then realized how silly he must look and went to work flattening his fur, composing himself. Then. once he was fairly calm, he looked up at the dragon and inquired, "And who might you be?"

[ForeverYours]

Sin Carfully stepped back. "I'm me, of course." He said with a smirk. Ria punched him. "Sin!" She wailed. "Why can't you be more polite?" Sin sniffed distastefully. "they wouldn't even make a good snack." Ria sighed. "SIN!" She yelled. Sin looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "I'm Ria, and He's sin." Ria offered the two creatures. Sin looked up at the trees, looking at the bird-creatures flying around. "I might go hunt." He growled.

Ooc: Soooooorrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy for not posting sooner!!!!

[Azura Rayume]

At least the cat was polite. The dragon thing seemed rather keen on eating something, which unnerved, but the human girl seemed unwilling to let him turn that idea on anyone here. He worried for the birds though. He could never tell what in this forest was sentient and what was just a stupid beast and so neither he nor anyone in his little family had meat except when they could steal into town for a day (which was more like a week).

He nodded slightly to the girl and the dragon respectively before voicing his concerns. "I don't suggest eating anything here," he said, hopefully loud enough for the drake to hear. "You can never tell what might know what you're doing and what won't." He hoped that sounded clear enough to them.

He was about to speak to Fondue again, but winced as a shrill voice screeched in his ear. "Samhain Dain!" screamed the familiar voice of his mother. "Bring me what I need!"

Great. Wonderful. It wasn't bad enough that she sent him on this stupid errand, but she couldn't let him finish it in his own time? Still it would be rude for him to just leave these three standing here. Plus he had no guarantee that the dragon Sin would not tread on the wrong thing...

"Now!"

((You guys can't hear his mom. P=))

[Azura Rayume]

In the darkness of her wooded home, the forest witch stirred, angry that her son was taking so long to bring her what she needed for this latest spell. How was she ever going to beat that sand-coated flea bag in the desert if her help took so long to finish their task?

Her wings flapped open as she changed in a spiral of light from her typical bipedal form. She despised having to use this ugly body, but she needed to cover ground quickly to get this errand over with so she could continue her day.

The emerald Paragon burst from the treetops, her multi-eyes gaze staring about to get her barrings from the new altitude. Forests all looked the same from up here, she realized quickly. Still, she knew the way out of ground practice: left then straight until she saw the cliff, then left. This would take less than five minutes if she found Sam dawdling there. If he wasn't where he was supposed to be, well, he could find his way home. She had no true concern for him in this place. He knew her magic; he could take care of himself in the woods better than Fray and she managed to keep from killing herself every day. No, if he was goofing off somewhere, he could find his own way home.

The tips of her claws grazed the topmost leaves of the trees as she passed over them, her wings making the softest sigh in the calm air. The only pleasure she found in this body was the flying. The sheer release of being able to touch the clouds if she so wished was exhilarating, though not reason enough to use this form regularly even if her reason for not liking it was one of the weakest ever imagined: she simply did not like the face.

As the clearing drew closer, she craned her neck slightly to see between the gaps in the branches below, hoping to spy the source of the delay. Nothing... Nothing... There! There was Samhain, right where he should have been even if lazing about. The company he kept surprised her: a feline, a drake, and a human? What in heaven's good name were they doing in her garden of all places? Not curious enough to bother asking, she circled twice, then landed on the treetops surrounding the clearing with a crash that echoed from the cliff she had just passed almost to the far-distant mountains.

[Indigo]

It is to Fondue's credit that he did not screech and shoot out of the forest in a furry purple-and-grey blur, which is what any sensible cat might have done. True, it meant he was more likely to get eaten by anything that happened by if his reactions weren't fast enough, but in his experience it was best to try to reason with things, in case they realized he would prefer to continue living. This passed for sanity where he lived.

He took a few steps back, just in case, since he did have some survival instincts. The more people who showed up, the more likely he was to find someone who knew where and what his ingredient was. He had been taught that you were always supposed to bow to a lady--admittedly, he hadn't done so when the girl had arrived, but that had been because he was distracted by the threat of being squashed--so he did the best he could, which wasd to make a flourishing motion with one paw and incline his head respectfully. "Hello. And who might you be?"

Fondue was exactly the kind of person who likes to know everyone's name before he decides whether to run away from them. Strangely, he was still alive.

(Long lack of posting? I have no idea what you're talking about. O.o)

[Fallen_Snow]

"You said north-northeast, right? Because I don't smell herbs..."

What'cha mean, yay dan't smell 'erbs, ah? Ye mus' be jashin' me! We're gain' the right way, I gats teh map in my mind, see? See? The Icicle Quiksylph tapped her head, and her eye sockets fell into an angry expression. Ye got lotsa nerve ta lie ta meh, Abs! Yeh betta not be--

"Wait! I heard something." Abbey growled, the Polar Fenref's hackles raising. She bared her fangs and nosed the bush out of the way of her vision sight. Oh wow! Look at that Pipe Paragon! Abbey though to herself, watching quietly as a Doom Kitty --a real Doom Kitty!-- spoke up to her. Abbey wanted in on that.

Wha, wha es et? Lat meh see. Aliyah pushed her way through the bush and sat on Abbey's head, her tiny snow white hands causing little pricks of frost to develop on the warm green leaves. Luckily for her Polar Fenref friend, she didn't feel cold, and neither did the Quiksylph, and it didn't really effect either of them in any way. The little fairy tittered quietly. Oh, locks lake som-a-thing intarastin' is abott to haphan. she giggled, her little hands covering her face to smother the cheerful little bell sound that came from it.

[Azura Rayume]

Well, at least the little cat had some manners. She crossed her front paws before her and craned her neck closer to the Doom Kitty, eight sky blue eyes blinking in unison.

"I?" she said, her voice filled with the smugness that came with her age and a reverberating effect that she usually used to give the impression that she was powerful whether the one she spoke to believed she was or not. "I am Seona Branwin the mistress of the woods, the love of the trees, a weaver of spells, the owner of the garden in which you now stand, and-"

"My mother," Samhain interrupted, arms crossed over his chest irritably. "Really, mother, I was bringing your plants when he showed up asking about some ingredient and those two showed up." He pointed back over his shoulder to the human girl and Battleheart. "I thought you would like me to make sure they didn't stomp on anything instead of leaving them to their own devices." Really, she did not have to check up on him all the time. He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself out here. He assumed she was just being the irritable old bat she turned into sometimes.

Seona glanced up from the cat to her son, frowning for his rudeness, yet still pleased that he was thinking on his own for once. It was good to know she would not have to coddle him forever. He would, of course, argue that there was no coddling needed in the slightest, yet she could not help but feel the need to protect him, even if the methods she used for that aggravated him at times.

"I see that," she acknowledged with a nod. "And you show great promise for thinking that through. I believed you wandering away from your assignment. My apologies." That was a rare thing to hear her say. Her ego normally got in the way when it came to things like saying she was wrong. This was her son, however much company he might have, and she could not allow him to remain angry at her.

((Basically, I got bored of waiting and wanted to bring Seona into this, which was something I was planning to do soon anyway, Indigo. I just felt like writing about her flying in. And she doesn't like using her Paragon form, which is what most of that rambling was to begin with.))

[Fallen_Snow]

Aliyah tittered loudly. Eh, teh luttle man sems tah beh teh Pape's tahmur! she tittered, falling back and kicking her legs up, giggling up a storm. Abbey couldn't help but let out a happy gruff in response to the Quiksylph's cute bell noise. It was like chimes, but squeaky, in a gentle winter breeze with snowflakes in the air.

Abbey puffed out some cool breath, and the plant wilted away from her. Oh dear. She quickly shuffled over to the bush next to it, but she was sure that her light pelt and the movement of the withering bush had given away their coordinates. "Oh dear. Let's hope that that little man knows how to control his Paragon, else we might be her next meal." growled Abbey, baring her teeth and laying her ears flat to her skull. Aliyah stopped giggling and sat up straight, her tiny hands splayed on Abbey's broad Fenref head. She leaned forward, watching the scene. After a few seconds of assessment, she waved her hands in dismissal. Ah, tey wun't knah weh heer. Silleh an'muls, tey knah diddly-scoot!

((Uhm, if you guys have trouble understanding Aliyah, feel free to ask for a translation through OOC/PM. :3 She can be a bit confusing-- a horribly illiterate Quiksylph that's as obsessed with accents as she is rocks is probably a really hard to read conversation. I tend to imagine her with a lilty, quick Scottish-Russian combo accent kind of thing. o3o;;))

[Indigo]

Mistress of the woods? Hmm. Perhaps she could help Fondue find his essential ingredient. He cleared his throat in an effort to get her attention without seeming rude. "Er, you seem to know a lot about this area...well of course you would, if you live here. I was wondering if you might know the location of a plant that is an essential ingredient in...er, something." He must have sounded incredibly incompetent. Something in his subconscious knew this, but he refused to acknowledge it. Asking questions was supposedly the best way to get answers, wasn't it? "I'm not entirely certain what the dish it goes into is called, since the book I found the recipe in was very old and stained, but would you by any chance happen to know of any plant that would be useful in spectacular foods?"

Imagine going out into an unfamiliar rainforest, or anywhere equally dangerous, without having any idea what you're looking for. Now imagine being completely oblivious to the fact that this is rather idiotic--it must be okay, it's all in the name of cooking. Once you've got that mentality down, you can do a pretty reasonable impersonation of Fondue.

He was so focused he didn't even notice the movement of the bush.