Fantasy Cursed Island

[Darkling0096]

Adran blinked, taking the cub from Joanne. "Beri?", he gave the cub a light shake to rouse it, and it yawned and stretched, kneading its claws a bit on the callous of Adran's palms, before sitting on its haunches and blinking, confused.

"You have grown larger." That was definitely Beri's voice, if squeakier.

 

[Fangs9090]

“What the fuck?” Raine spoke up from where she’d walked over to watch. She looked at the bottle that she’d never put down before just placing it on the ground and walking away.

Fia watched her go before looking at Adran and Beri again. “This is so strange...”

 

[Darkling0096]

Joanne shot Raine a look, Jerry was rubbing off on too many people recently for the paladin's taste.

Adran went into investigation mode, turning the cub over and around, trying to find out if it was actually Beri. Of course, being drastically different in appearance from Beri, the cub was hard to identify. "Village of Skottinjar, when were we there?"

"Seven years ago. You were ran out of town for sleeping with all ten of the mayor's daughters."

"It's Beri," Adran nodded, putting the cub down. "How the hell did you get like this?"

"i do not know."

 

[Fangs9090]

Fia tilted her head. “He was on top of the Phoenix when it was killed. Then it burst into flames for rebirth. It seems Beri was incinerated along with it. And somehow Beri was reborn when the Phoenix wasn’t.” She glanced around. “I’m not sure where the Phoenix is though... Is he...dead? For good?”

 

[Darkling0096]

"I do not know," Beri shrugged again. "I know I am small, and that will not do. Do you have a manner of returning me to size?"

"I don't know how you got this way to undo it," Adran shook his head.

 

[Fangs9090]

“Well... You didn’t look so...fiery before. Maybe you absorbed some Phoenix power? If so, the healing water should help you grow.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"Fiery?", Adran looked Beri over again despite the cub's protests. "Can you do anything with fire?"

"I am not going in water," Beri shook his head. Of all things to not change, the cat's aquaphobia stayed the same.

 

[Fangs9090]

“Throw him!” Corona called out from where she was leaning on her spear. She still couldn’t see, but she could hear.

Fia shook her head. “Just drinking it regularly should work. You probably need to anyway on account of corruption.”

 

[Darkling0096]

For once a drunken suggest seemed like a good one, or at least Adran just wasn't in the mood for any more shenanigans. Over Adran's shoulder and into the pool Beri flew, hissing and panicking all the while. He made a small splash and didn't come up for quite a while until a soggy reverse-colored leopard came crawling out onto the banks, looking as miserable as a wet cat could be, hissing violently at anyone that came near. At least he was mature now. Fia seemed to have the slowest rate of maturity amongst the three that benefited from that.

 

[Fangs9090]

Fia blinked as she watched Beri fly, tilting her head when he came back out. “So, you did take his rebirth. That’s good for you, but it makes me nervous knowing that’s possible...”

 

[Darkling0096]

Joanne frowned, "I did not know it was possible for a phoenix to truly die."

"He probably got really lucky," Adran shook his head as he picked up Beri's rings. "And if that's permanent," he looked down at the rings, "I think he's going to outlive me, now."

 

[Fangs9090]

“Oh. Yeah, that’s something he’ll have to come to terms with. The major downside to immortality is outliving everyone you love...”

 

[Darkling0096]

"Elves are immortal, but we can be killed by blade, poison, or disease." Adran shook his head, "See if you can dry him off before his fur gets moldy. He's too fluffy for his own good."

 

[Fangs9090]

Fia looked at Adran. “My only method of drying anything off is fire, just so you know.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"I know," Adran nodded, "Apparently he's part phoenix now, so that probably won't hurt him."

 

[Fangs9090]

“Mm, alright.” Fia faced Beri and spread her wings breathing a gout of flame over him.

 

[Darkling0096]

The leopard flinched at the oncoming wall of fire, but somehow wasn't harmed. It seemed Beri now had natural resistance to fire damage on top of what the ring provided. Like Adran said, Beri was very fluffy right now, and Fia essetially blowdried the cat, so he didn't look like the fearsome predator he styled himself as, and more like a ball of fuzz with spots.

"And I need to brush him." Adran sighed, "Erina, I'm going to bed, you wanna come?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Erina looked over from her tree. “What about Shuffle? I feel I should keep an eye on her.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"I will handle that," Joanne shook her head, "So far drunkenness has only resulted in danger, so it falls to the sober to take up protection duties."

"You are so far up your own ass you can see out your mouth, can't you," Adran shook his head as he vanished into the tent.

 

[Fangs9090]

“Hm... If you insist. I suppose a bed would be more comfortable than a tree. Even with all of my webbing.” Erina started making her way down the tree, leaving Shuffle hanging from the branch. At least the bundle was still in arm’s reach from Adran feeding her. Shuffle herself was still giggly, but it was clear that she was getting sleepy.

 

[Darkling0096]

Lyak at least found the web comfortable, the parts that weren't sticky, so she stayed in the tree while Adran and Erina went into their tent and dropped the flap.

"The party is over, find somewhere to go to sleep," Joanne instructed as she cut Shuffle down and out of the bundle, "Nyah, take your charge."

 

[Fangs9090]

Shuffle yawned and stretched as she was finally freed before simply curling up on the ground where she was.

Corona had sank back to down to the ground again. Her vision was back, but she opted to sleep as well, holding her spear close.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Goodnight," Adran nodded at Erina as he crawled into bed. Booze and stress from the fight and its aftermath had exausted the wood elf enough that he could sleep if he were inclined.

 

[Fangs9090]

"I suppose it is, all in all." Erina wasn't familiar with the saying, but she wasn't going to question it. She just followed after him, climbing onto the bed over him.

 

[Darkling0096]

Adran smiled, "Sleep well."

-----------------------------
Morning found the camp a bit of a mess, with hangovers abounding. "Ow, my head," Veo groaned as she sat up in bed. "Where..." Her hoof clicked against the empty wine bottle on the ground as she tried to stand and fell, "Oh."

Beri outside could be found prowling around. He was having trouble getting used to his new color scheme. Before he'd had to be very careful to remain hidden, but now it was easier to hide and he wasn't sure he liked how he almost gave Emfa a heart attack when he'd been moving around in front of her for an hour and she only noticed he was there when he asked if she was hungry.