ic inbox ( ǣfenglōm )

[digiorno]

"buongiorno! sorry i missed you; i'll happily get back to you as soon as i'm done with whatever business i'm on. leave a message!" ⯈ text ⯈ voice ⯈ video ⯈ action

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[digiorno]

Whee.

[Whee! Only sarcasm in these woods. Don't worry, he's no more impressed than you are, Kaede.]

I wish we had breathing masks. [Or hazmat suits.] If there are mushrooms, there'll be spores.

[long_live_the_queen]

[Kaede snorted, both ears flicking back to the side of her head.]

A bit late for--

[A sound that didn't fit with the forest or either of their movements strayed over the wind, and the Chimera froze, looking off to the edge of the forest proper. Something was moving--was it the undergrowth stirring in a breeze? Something with--legs. Those were legs, spindly things, belonging to more than one creature.]

--get down.

[The garishly feathered Chimera vanished into the grass in a moment, the twitching of her tail feathers the only sign of where she'd gone.]

[digiorno]

[He doesn't question it. He may not always act smart, but he isn't stupid. The second she stops speaking and looks away, he's ready. The second she says get down, he's down.]

[Not as quiet as she is, naturally, not as animal as she is, but quiet. Still. Unbreathing, unblinking in the grass, he watches with wide eyes, listens, parts his lips to better scent the air. He hears it coming, of course. But more than that—]

[Tastes it. That mold smell, that fungus. Tensed to bolt, or to attack, he glances at her out of the corner of his eye as something comes into view.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[The Chimera might have vanished into the hedge like a cat, but her voice was still a clear whisper. Her tail kept twitching, stirring the grass where she hid.]

At the treeline, look.

[A deer had appeared, pushing aside the scrub underfoot with practiced, gentle ease. It was a big one, with antlers scooped and rounded as satellite dishes. Nothing like the sharp points of Kaede's horns.

But its oddness didn't end there. There were...growths on its limbs, and Kaede thought they were scales at first until the stag turned towards the nearest stream. But--no. The growths resembled the shelflike fungus underfoot, but many magnitudes larger. And the reek of rot drifted towards them on the wind.

The stag wasn't alone--another deer followed it, then another, and another. All calmly plodding towards the stream Kaede and Giorno were standing near, unaware of their presence. There were a few precious moments to act.]