Aurum had a tendency to avoid the crater that lingered within Tanglewood's territory like the plague. While he personally hadn't had any really traumatic events go on in the middle of the deep pit, he knew well the tragedy that had been caused because of it, and knew that it was the source of the radiation that held Tanglewood in its iron grip. Not to mention the fact that it was where Piers was supposedly found, right after he had become all strangely robotic. Everything about the crater just seemed so oddly cursed that it practically let off an aura of don't come near me, or terrible things will happen. Aurum kept to this advice pretty strongly, since he already had his wings – which he honestly wasn't sure whether they were a mutation or a result of being an angel anymore, but he tended to err on the side of caution – and had no desire to be growing any more extra limbs. For the most part, it seemed as though everyone else within Tanglewood, and even those outside of Tanglewood, also tended to stay away from the crater, and give it a wide berth so that they wouldn't be subject to some terrible fate like the skeletons and bits of remains left inside – however little that was. Unfortunately, it seemed as though not everybody had the decent sense to stay away, and that was how Aurum ended up at the edge of the crater, looking downward at an unfamiliar lynx that didn't smell of Tanglewood, or anywhere else really. He had just been soaring overhead when he spotted the small shape of a distinctly living body down below, and a heavy sigh had rippled through him, knowing he would have to deal with it.

The proxy watched from a distance for several minutes, watching as the strange lynx ambled around before talking to the mostly charred and desecrated skeleton of what might've once been a human. His ramblings made little sense to the angel, and as the scene continued, Aurum got the distinct feeling that this guy wasn't quite right in the head. Sighing heavily, he watched as Sterling swiped something from the body, dropping it down into the bucket he had with him. The proxy didn't actually care that much about the locker in question, since it was just some old human nonsense, but he was still worried about the mentally unstable individual in the middle of the territory, acting as if he could go wherever he wanted. When the lynx gripped the handle of the bucket in his jaws, evidently ready to move on from where he was, Aurum finally decided to speak up, shaking out his fur before moving downward. Clearing out his throat, he rumbled firmly at Sterling, trying to seem intimidating but not utterly terrify the poor guy, "Hey! You, the lynx, can I speak to you?" He didn't really wait for an answer, just continuing in his questioning when he settled into a sitting position nearby, trying to ignore the prickle of his fur at the stuffy air around him, "What's your name, and why're you here? You're on Tanglewood territory, and it's very impolite to just show up and start taking things, you know." Aurum wasn't really sure he'd get a straight answer from this guy, considering the behavior he had exhibited in the past, but he could at least try.

This was hardly the first time that someone had been frightened of Aurum, much to his own chagrin. Despite being quite kindhearted on the inside – save for when he was dealing with Pittians – it was easy for newcomers to assume that he was a big and scary lion, intent on coming down upon them with his wings and tearing them limb from limb. To anyone who knew Aurum, it was laughable to even imagine such a thing, as was currently being demonstrated by Snarl, but apparently to this unfamiliar lynx, he was utterly horrifying. The proxy's ears flattened down against his head as Sterling began to ramble at him, not only seeming to be wound up by apparently being frightened, but also seemingly arguing with himself. None of it exactly screamed very mentally stable to him, but that wasn't what annoyed him the most about this particular little encounter. After all, it wasn't as if Tanglewood didn't have their fair share of weirdos who weren't quite all there at all times. No, what did annoy him, however, was the fact that Sterling had ignored every one of the questions that the larger male had supplied, instead just choosing to spew and sputter through his ridiculousness. Taking a deep breath inwards through his nose, Aurum found himself counting slowly downward before he responded, voice sounding tired, "Sorry to break it to you, but you really shouldn't be complaining when you're on someone else's territory. Not to mention the fact that I was hardly sneaking up on you." Sure, Aurum had flown down into the crater from above, but he had hardly made any sort of effort to silence his footsteps or his wing beats.

Looking up when Snarl spoke, the lion just offered a short nod to the other in greeting, figuring that perhaps having someone else around to wrangle the crazy would work well. Unfortunately for him, it seemed as though the hyena was intent on taking advantage of the situation in front of her, and only possibly making it worse. He grimaced when Snarl commented on him scaring all the newbies, but he wasn't given long to dwell on it, since the chaser was hurriedly moving on to the next part of this little dance of hers. Half of the proxy wanted to scold her for being mean spirited, but the other half of him just thought that perhaps this would actually get Sterling to answer questions. Deciding to let things just play out for now – it wasn't as if Snarl was attacking the poor guy, after all – Aurum turned his gaze back to Sterling. He said gruffly to the lynx, his wings folding down against his back and his tail twitching restlessly behind him, "Don't think I'd put it quite so... bluntly... but Snarl here is right. It's in your best interest to answer why you're here, and what your name is. Cause this is Tanglewood territory, and trespassers are not appreciated." Especially not trespassers that hadn't identified themselves yet, and could very well be from the Pitt for all they knew. Perhaps Sterling didn't smell of the Pitt, but it was hardly difficult these days to acquire another body, or just wash the scent off of your coat. If Sterling was really as out of his mind as Aurum suspected, he might even just offer that information up without a second thought.

By the time that Miller had rolled up onto the scene as well, Aurum was fairly sure that this Sterling guy was going to drive him crazy as well. His ramblings made little to no sense to the proxy, and he pointedly seemed to avoid answering their questions. They knew his name, yes, but they didn't know where he came from, and the lion wasn't entirely sure he was willing to believe the whole "just searching for goodies" story the other was claiming. Although, Sterling did seem like just the kind of type to go around doing such a thing, unfortunately for Tanglewood. When the lion heard the lynch's first comment, he sighed heavily and rested a paw against his temple, trying in vain to stop the developing migraine that pulse there. When he pulled his large paw back downwards and let it rest against the rusty dirt below them, he rumbled, "Stuck here together? I have no idea what you mean by that. Unless you mean we're all on the island together. Which is true, but we also have territories on this island." He didn't even consider for a second that Sterling could've been comparing their wide open lands to the likes of the cage of a circus or a zoo. It just seemed so utterly ridiculous and foreign to the lion, who had never had to worry about cages or humans or anything else like that. He had been born in a pride where they had all been free, and had only ever found out about zoos and other human things like that from books.

The next couple of comments... well, they left Aurum both dumbfounded and annoyed, along with not helping even slightly with the headache that was forming. Did he lay what? For the briefest of moments after that little question, the angel actually considered turning around and leaving, and just letting Snarl and Miller deal with this guy. That would've been irresponsible of him, however, especially since there was around a forty percent chance the two of them might kill him, or something equally unpleasant. Instead, he just took a deep breath inwards, letting the air fill up his lungs fully before he let it back out, trying his best to focus on counting down from ten. He had read in one of his books that it would supposedly help with stress, but he was beginning to think it was just as much nonsense as what Sterling was spewing. Thankfully, he was able to calm down enough to speak again, opening his one icy blue eye back up again before fixing it on Sterling, "Snarl was kidding. I don't often startle people. At least not as long as they're not a threat. And no. I don't lay eggs, and I'm not a bird. I'm just a lion with wings. That's all." He wasn't going to even attempt explaining something like his angelhood to Sterling, since he was fairly sure that would just end with him having an aneurysm. Instead, he just rolled his shoulders, begging the tension in his muscles to ease as he listened to Sterling's origins.

The answer to where he came from was... vague, at best, but it was pretty clear from the look on his face that he didn't really know how to explain it either. At least he didn't seem to be a Pittian, judging by his scent and his supposed story. When the lion heard the other's question about his caretakers, he just snorted and shook his head, answering briefly, "I highly doubt they're ever coming back. There aren't really any humans on this entire island. Pretty sure any that lived here all died out ages ago." If there were still any humans hiding out on the island with the groups, they either had to be pretty damn good at hiding, or living deep down beneath the earth, considering one hadn't been seen in what felt like centuries now. For all intents and purposes, humans seemed to be effectively extinct on the island that Tanglewood and the rest of the groups resided on, and Aurum hadn't seen many that were really complaining about that. Leroy seemed like he had a bit of an affinity for humans, and Aurum could certainly admit that they had written some pretty good stories to read, but nobody was crying out for the humans to come and take the island back.

Stretching out a little bit as he heard Miller, the lion nodded before echoing gruffly, "That is true. This pit isn't as a result of anybody digging. It's years old, from a massive catastrophe that wiped pretty much everything around this big area out. This place is extremely irradiated and bad for all of us, so it's probably best for you and the rest of us to go back up to safe ground." The proxy flicked a paw upward, towards the edges of the pit that led back into the rest of Tanglewood territory. As he did so, he stretched his wings back out from his back, giving them a couple of experimental flaps before looking upward. He, like both Snarl and Miller, was not exactly keen on staying in the pit for much longer, and he knew he could get out faster than anybody else just by flying up. He had no idea what they were going to do with Sterling once they were out of there, but... well, it wasn't as if they could just stay there. The lynx might start mutating or something, or perhaps somehow become even more completely bonkers. Just the thought of it was enough to make an unpleasant shiver run down Aurum's spine.

Virgil was quite late to the party, but she was with everything. She wasn’t one to be found in the actual town. Most of her days were spent roaming beyond the borders. She wouldn’t touch the pit area with a 100 foot pole. Ever since she had vomited up the rabbit she had first caught in this land, she hadn’t taken anything else. The painted wolf was well aware of the strange mutations some of these Tanglers had. While it might be nice to have wings, she was perfectly fine being a canine.

The only reason she departed from her usual course and headed for the crater was because her large ears had picked up something that sounded like a scuffle. Not an actual fight, but a verbal one. There was a new person here. Most likely a friend or neutral, if Aurum hadn’t kicked his ass sideways yet. She had never seen Tanglers in action, but she knew how dangerous lions were.

The thin-legged lycaon trotted over to stand with the rest of her groupmates, blinking her wide golden eyes at the stranger. He spoke very strange. It was not quite an accent. He had a certain prose to his words. Most of what he said went in one of Virgil’s ears and out the other. She was quite simple minded and couldn’t retain long and winded sentences. It was probably also why she was struggling with sorting out her feelings after realizing that her emotions were too complex for her to understand completely.

”Yes, get out of there unless you want to sprout wings and talons, or turn purple or some other unnatural color.” Virgil chimed in, her yellow eyes shining with genuine seriousness. “Why do you like collecting useless things anyway?”