OPEN you could kiss a hundred boys in bars

[kole.]

Kole wouldn't say he particularly ached, but his muscles were certainly protesting, as he dragged not one, not two, and not three nets along the sandy shores belonging to the Descendants. That could, of course, be attributed to the sheer weight of everything he was carrying. Or dragging, more precisely.

Two nets full of coconut crabs and various fish; caught from both the coral reefs, the islands, and the Hawit River System. The coconut crabs were putting up a fuss about it, but Kole had experience with these little bastards, and was well versed in keeping his tail and ankles well away from their pinching claws. The fish had long since stopped flapping. Useless things couldn't even breathe air, but that was all the better for him, really. Made his job a little better.

Now, he did have a bag of herbs too, of course, but it wasn't as plentiful as the hunt had been; he was better at hunting than foraging, clearly; but it took the form of a big enough satchel around his waist.

And then came the last bag, and the one the biggest fuss was coming from, too. The beastie inside wouldn't quit its yapping and wriggling, and Kole was getting tired of it. It showed on his face; the downright irritated expression that had been firmly planted on his countenance since he'd found the damned beastie. Four wings, four ears, weird eyes; but those weren't what had caught Kole's attention, nor why Kole had captured the fucking thing, either. No, no, beastie had the unfortunate luck to have been caught doing earthly magic not a two days after Meteor had announced that capturing earth elementals was an efficient form of recruitment.

As usual, Kole jumped at the chance to show off a bit, prove himself useful, et cetera, but he was starting to think it probably wasn't worth it. Beastie was almost as big as him, and those wings were a nuisance, even if it couldn't quite get off the ground given it was netted up.

"Oi!" Kole barked out, finally growing well and truly tired of having to fight for every step, and turned around to bap the winged fox freak on the head. "Quit your yapping or I'll feed your tongue to Vale!"

[METEOR]

METEOR

As Meteor walked upon the black sands, he left tracks of paw and hoof. With the desolated landscape, he spotted Kole and his three nets quickly, and instantly switched his trajectory from island inspection to meet up with the vampiric coyote. After all, he had asked Kole to prove himself. Might as well see what Kole decided would impress Meteor.

“I asked for supplies, and you brought a warehouse.” Meteor grinned. And laughed, but only for an instant. “I’ll take the coconut crabs off your paws. I’m used to their predictable, not-sentient behaviors.”

The gamble had been a good one. Perhaps the arrangement with Kole would, indeed, be mutually beneficial?

Then Meteor’s golden gaze slid to the captured fucking thing. Four wings, four ears, weird eyes. A beastie netted up and unable to fly. “And what is this?” Curiosity in his voice. His golden gaze slid back from the winged fox to Kole. A lazy smirk. “Let me guess — you caught labor for repairing the island?”

[VALE]

graphic gore ★ genderfluid ★ three eyed crow

The crow cawed out a laugh as xe circled a downward spiral. “Tongues aren’t my favorite, but they’re better than crab!” Bleh, coconut crabs were disgusting! Vale enjoyed hunting the fuckers, but, really, xe was unusually charitable at giving them away because of their horrible taste. Chicken was superior! Despite the fact that chicken was the eigenvalue of protein! “Hahaha, what a treat to have fresh meat!”

Vale landed on Meteor’s rightmost ram horn. The pharaoh glanced askance at the inquisitor. The inquisitor glanced back with a happy little cackle.

Then Vale’s three red eyes drifted back to Kole. And then xe tilted xyr head at the fox-like creature caught in the net. “Never seen a four winged beastie before.” Vale fluffed out xyr wings, shook out xyr body. Xyr spine popped from every vertebrae. “I should try copying that when I shapeshift!”

Vale blinked, then looked back at the beastie. Head tilted left, then right, then left again. Something… funky… in his eyes? Not the prosocial response to adrenaline, huh? Vale glanced at Meteor—get a fellow psychopath to double-check xyr read—but the pharaoh was making heart eyes at the coyote and didn’t seem to have bothered diverting cognition to reading the netted up beastie’s body language.

“Aye, Beastie, how royally did ya fuck up to end up captured?”

YOU NEVER TRUSTED ME ★

BUT I’M OVER IT NOW

[W]isker

[kole.]

Kole didn't like to admit that he thrived off praise. It made him seem weak, and of the many things he could be, weak wasn't one of them; it was something he rejected the very notion of. Nevertheless, when Meteor's voice reached his twitching ears, Kole whipped around, neck fur fluffing up with pride. Damn. Way to be obvious, Nikolai.

Without a word, Kole dropped the net containing the coconut crabs. It was tied, and the rope was too thick for them to wriggle or snip free; he was smart like that.

As for the elephant in the room, or net, in this instance... "Noticed beastie while I was out. It was doing some weird nature magic, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone..."

And speaking of birds, Kole nearly jumped out of his skin when Vale's shrill caw resounded from overhead. He looked up, a wry grin curling at the corners of his lips as the grotesque crow prattled on about food. Cannibals were gluttonous, that much Kole had long since discovered and come to terms with. "It hasn't done much talking since I netted it up," Kole responded dryly, looking between the beastie and the crow now perched atop Meteor's horn. "Not sure it even can, actually..."

[KANEMARU.]

AIKAWA KANEMARU.

Creatures were so irritating. He couldn't even mind his own business without someone else trying to mind his business, too. Everyone had to shove their noses where their noses didn't belong.

Kanemaru understood, to some extent, the urge to form large coalitions or prides. Most of these animals were pack animals; something Kanemaru would never understand. Socialising, forming pairs or bonds was pointless when social creatures were stupid. Why would he want to be around creatures who couldn't even understand their own emotions, let alone control them? Creatures prone to war, whose war destroyed the planet that gave them life?

Unintelligent, selfish beasts, Kanemaru thought bitterly as he was dragged along the black sand beach in a net, of all things. How utterly degrading. He'd have this mutt's throat in his jaws when he got out-

His plans had been foiled. Kanemaru's 'weird eyes' narrowed in aggravation as the lion appeared. Great, there was more of them. What, had he stumbled into his pride's territory? What was with the coyote, then, hanging out with a lion? And why, in his own name, were they making moon eyes at each other? Unnatural, strange creatures. Forming pairs outside their own species now, too?

Bonds like this is what made creatures weak.

And, apparently, there was more to come. A crow. A talking, three-eyed crow, at that; Kanemaru bit his tongue to keep his thoughts inside his head. Three was an unlucky number. All good things came in even numbers, didn't they know? Three stupid creatures, three eyes. He could sense it now; they'd either had or were about to have something bad happen to them.

"I can talk," he snapped, pushing his muzzle through a loop in the net, odd eyes flicking between the three beasts. "I just had no reason to. Now let me out. This net is giving me a cramp."

[METEOR]

METEOR

Meteor accepted Vale’s decision to use his horn as a perch with an askance glance. But, whatever, Vale’s displays of friendship were often weird. Given that Vale only perched on Chernabog and Meteor? He decided this was acceptable.

His golden eyes lingered on Kole’s face and the fluff of fur. Praise motivated, eh? Another useful observation about the vampire.

“I believe our arrangement is worth continuing.” He smirked. “Nature magic. How useful.” Though, when he looked at the Beastie, the smirk became a slight frown. Definitely the antisocial adrenaline response. Sherbet, by contrast, would’ve cried himself into a melted puddle of ice cream.

Glance to Vale. And, this time, the two’s eyes met and held for an instant. Then a grumpy nod from Meteor. And a cackle from Vale.

Meteor’s golden gaze slid back to the Beastie. An antisocial with earth elementals. How unfortunate: a prosocial could be tortured into compliance. Shame and fear made a powerful combination. But an antisocial? Dangerous game, torturing an antisocial. Hell, even without torturing. The beastie could be trusted to make the logical play to guarantee his own survival. Meteor’s calculations? Utilize the elemental until the damn beastie showed his fangs. Then kill him. Immediately.

“Your comfort is not my priority.” Meteor snapped back. “You want privileges? Become a reliable tool.”

However, Meteor looked back at Kole. And the smirk returned. “Between the three of us, we can square away the supplies and figure out where to hold this Beastie.”

Then a skeptical side-eye to Vale. Three antisocials working together: Meteor, Xanti, and Vale. Unusual? Not particularly, if you knew where antisocials hung out and how they collaborated. But, out of the three of them, Vale was… erratic. Meteor wouldn’t have guessed Vale could be collaborative if he met xem today and didn’t know xyr track record. “Vale, you think this Beastie can be reasonable?”

[VALE]

graphic gore ★ genderfluid ★ winged skullface fox

Vale clicked xyr tongue in sympathy. Not sarcastic, either, but Vale had a habit of sounding sarcastic when xe wasn’t. After Meteor snapped, Vale rolled xyr three red eyes. And answered, “Let you out with your wings unclipped? Trouble!”

Given how Meteor and Kole were being gay on main, Vale fluffed out xyr feathers and jumped down from Meteor’s ram horn. Keep the gazes and smirks contained amongst themselves, please and thank you. Besides, seriously, Kole got a cannibal boyfriend before Vale? How rude!

The three eyed crow landed on the black sands. Xe blinked up at the caught beastie. It wasn’t lost on Vale that the fox-thing hadn’t answered Vale’s question, and only bothered to answer Kole’s unasked one when it seemed possibly advantageous.

Then a Vale thought: Xanti and Meteor were close, but not quite cannibal boyfriend material for Vale. Why not try this antisocial?! Wasn’t like there were an abundance of antisocials in the world, after all, having four in the same goddamn island was a statistical miracle. Except, of course, why wouldn’t the antisocials in an area congregate in a cannibalism cult? Where else would they hang out?

Vale shook out xyr body. Feathers cascaded down onto the black sands. Yet, the wings remained intact, unchained. The flesh beneath pulsed and writhed, shifting as Vale’s bones snapped, cracked, and popped. Rearranged.

In an instant, a white winged fox blinked two red eyes at the beastie. A toothy grin. And then the flesh melted off xyr face, revealing white skull.

Not that Vale reacted to this. A paw swiped the stubborn pieces off the jaw, the cheekbone.

Vale tilted xyr head as xe considered Meteor’s question. No shit Meteor asked the most unhinged of the Departed’s roster of cannibals this question. “Ha, I wouldn’t be reasonable under these circumstances! So the beastie probably won’t, not without a reason, eh, right, Beastie?”

Xyr tongue licked xyr exposed fangs. Thinking. And then xe added, “But, haha, I’m the paragon of collaboration, this is my goddamn puzzle to solve!”

YOU NEVER TRUSTED ME ★

BUT I’M OVER IT NOW

[W]isker

[KANEMARU.]

AIKAWA KANEMARU.

While Meteor took a moment to eye Kanemaru, he did the exact same; swirling, golden eyes flickering over the elysian lion's hulking frame. Noticed the way he seemed to analyse the coyote, noticed the way he seemed to analyse him. That was interesting. Perhaps not as unintelligent as Kanemaru had assumed, then.

His fur bristled as the lion snapped at him, lips curled. Reliable tool, eh? He didn't think so. No privileges, no work; and they could figure out how to get him to work himself. They couldn't torture him, that much Kanemaru had already figured out himself; he couldn't work if he was weak, and if they wanted him to work like they seemed to, then that meant they had to keep him strong. So, what? Prisoner? Socially ostracise him?

Jokes on them, Kanemaru didn't even like other creatures.

His head angled to the crow. Three eyes, he thought to himself; unlucky little bird. But then the crow wasn't a crow anymore, and in its place was a puddle of... gore, and a white winged fox. He blinked. Then the fox's flesh melted off xyr face. He blinked again. Kanemaru wasn't sure what all that was about, nor did he particularly care, either. He was more irritated that xyr'd dropped all that perfectly good rotting carcass on sand, where it was useless.

"Expecting reasonability is absurd," Kanemaru snorted. "I'm in a net. An uncomfortable net. I'm not doing anything until I'm out of the net." He fluffed up his four wings for extra emphasis, as if to show off just how little room he had. The likelihood that they'd actually release him was low, of course, Kanemaru wasn't going to hold out hope; but even if they did, what would he do? Fly away? The gore fox would catch him, not to mention there were three of them to his one. Neither fighting nor fleeing were in his best interests.

[VALE]

graphic gore ★ genderfluid ★ winged skullface fox

“Didn’t ask you to do anything. Not yet.” Vale’s skullhead tilted slight to the right. Beastie hadn’t figured out what kinda creatures he was dealing with, huh?

Then a glance at Meteor. Not in a deferring way, like a subordinate might check a superior’s emotions. But in a shoulders relaxed, ears up, this is my problem I’ll handle it myself way. This was cannibal boyfriend material right here! Vale would handle this problem.

A slight quirk of the eyebrow from Meteor, and both seemed satisfied.

Vale turned back to the beastie. Red eyes unblinking—no eyelids, after all—as xe considered how to talk to a version of Meteor, assuming the lion had never interacted with another of his kind before. “Let’s slow down.”

With a paw, Vale gestured to Kole with a snort. “You got your ass beat. Whatever your abilities, you’re not going to be good to go for a while. Because what we need you to fix with your nature magic? Long-term project, friend.” Vale rolled xyr eyes, then pointed at the devistated forest beyond the beach. “You see? That is what you’re here to fix. See the long-term fuckery?”

Then Vale snorted. “No point in letting you out of that net now. What good would an up close inspection of the damage do for you? It’s a long-term project of suckiness. You can see that from the beach.”

Vale lifted xyr chin and cackled. If xe had a face, xe’d be grinning. “You don’t know our names. We don’t know yours. Absurd to ask you to get to work now, eh? So, relax. You chill out while we figure out where to keep ya for the duration of the long-term project, then you and I talk, right?” Vale poked at the puddle of gore with a paw. “And I do mean talk. No torture. Hell, I’ll bring you a boiled coconut crab to eat over our talk.”

“Reasonable, eh?” A snap of teeth. “You’re on the Big Island occupied by the Descendants of the Departed. My name’s Vale Malus-Harbinger. I’m the inquisitor. Not as important as Meteor over there—” Vale flicked xyr tail at the lion. “—but I’ve got sway, and I’ve self-assigned myself to ya, you see? A long-term project like fixing the forests on a post-eruption, post-earthquake volcanic island?” Vale cackled. “We’ve got time to slow down and figure out how to collaborate. You want out of that net. Well, you’ll get out of that net and into a cell. Then we talk, like I said.”

YOU NEVER TRUSTED ME ★

BUT I’M OVER IT NOW

[W]isker

[KANEMARU.]

AIKAWA KANEMARU.

Kanemaru's focus had since shifted from the three, to now just the crow. Well, the fox now, as it were. He didn't get the impression the gore beast was the leader, but xyr was doing all the talking so far, so xyr had Kanemaru's attention for now.

His ears would flick every now and again, as if reluctantly acknowledging bits of information the creature was spouting. He had indeed had his ass beat, he begrudgingly agreed in his own head; the coyote had been strong in ways that seemed unnatural and wrong, in hindsight, and as if just now clicking onto that, he shot said coyote a suspicious look, frowning. But Vale was right; Kane's ass was beat, and he'd be down for a little while as he recovered. Where did that leave him? Was he really that useful if he wasn't in optimal condition?

His gaze followed Vale's paw as xe pointed to the forest. Ah. Yes, he saw what xyr meant by long-term project, now. The forest was ruined, quite simply; it was obvious even from within the irritating net on the beach.

So, the idiots had captured him, but didn't yet know where to keep him? What sort of sucky planning was this? Who just abducted people on a whim? Clearly, the coyote was not the best thinker here; though may arguably be the strongest, if the weird, unnatural strength had been anything to go by. Kanemaru's paw throbbed at the memory.

His attention was grabbed once more as the strange shapeshifting creature began prattling off names and ranks. Kanemaru wasn't going to pretend like he knew what an inquisitor was to these nutjobs, but he figured it was important if the way xe was flaunting it in the moment was anything to go off. Plus, Kane didn't think they had any reason to lie; he was the one in the net, after all.

"I doubt a cell is more comfortable than a fishing net but fine, we'll talk," Kanemaru snipped haughtily, but he reluctantly acknowledged that Vale seemed to be his best option of the three in front of him. Bite-happy coyote, pissy lion, or slightly strange crow-thing? He'd pick the crow-thing. "Aikawa Kanemaru," he grunted begrudgingly. Didn't see the point in giving his name too, but seemed harmless enough; he was already a prisoner, after all.