Antics in the rainforest; which way is the sunshine?

((So, we’re off on another roleplay adventure! There’s no real plot as such, we’re just seeing where the words take us. Ideas are fantabulous and much appreciated.))

Setting: Rainforest! Plants are everywhere, ivy and moss dripping from the huge trees and the ground littered with bushes and shrubs. Everything is alive with movement, monkeys and birds in the trees, tapir, anteaters and big predator cats roaming the ground, and insects crossing every boundary inbetween. The weather can be highly changeable, with night falling in minutes and thunderstorms stopping and starting with frightening intensity.

==X==

The rainforest dripped with life, each little excitement leading the amazed young lash Elite, Hone, further into its depths. She wandered from a tangle of purple flowers wrapped around a tree, supposedly needing only air and sunlight, not soil like all the other various plants that exploded from every part of the ground. She had, many an hour ago, started out in the desert where she lived, but had now ended up completely lost in the middle of the rainforest. Not that she really minded- there was so much to see! She raced after a little bird that fluttered past her nose, following its progress from one plant to the other, dipping its long beak into a flower and licking out the nectar that lay at the bottom of the plant. As she saw it remove its head and fly to the next flower she laughed, entranced by the little specks of yellow pollen that now speckled its beak.

She ran further into the depths of the rainforest as she heard the hushing sound of water, her long ears twitching with curiosity. It normally got her into endless trouble, yet she still hadn’t leant that if you stuck your finger near a flame, you got burnt. And she was so stubborn, she was likely to keep annoying the flame until it really did burn her.

A busy stream raced across her path, the water gurgling as it tumbled over its rocky bed. The lash dragon crouched by its side, looking up and down the length of the stream and admiring how it sparkled. A big water source like this one was rare in the desert, and although she had seen them before, she was still always fascinated by the way water always seemed to be in such a hurry to get somewhere. And how it always had to make her thirsty! She bent down and slurped a long draught of water, licking her lips as it dripped off the end of her muzzle. At least it hadn’t gone up her nose-for once.

As he made his way between the trees, ploughing unconcernedly through the layer of moist, squishy, decomposing leaves which coated the ground, Sincostan muttered furiously to himself. The words were inaudible, but they tumbled out of his mouth at an extreme rate.
'Seventy-two!' He announced this triumphantly, giving a pleased little hop into the air qand a flutter of his wings in celebration.
'Ouch,' he said a moment later. 'Mighta notta beena good idea.' A brief inspection of his wing, however, revealed that all was well and he continued on his way, humming happily to himself as he tried to catch the falling droplets of water on his tongue. The air around him was sifling and dense with its humidity, but it didn't bother him- his scales made an effective barrier from the water.

He skipped along contentedly for a little longer. He had no destination in mind; he had just caught sight of the rainforest from the sky and decided it merited some investigation. It turned out that there was no chance of him getting out by air, but no matter- there was plenty enough to see in here to stay for a few more days. He heard a volley of bird calls bounced across the trees above him, and sat back on his haunches to mimic the chirping tone of one brightly-coloured bird he saw perched on a branch above his head. It looked at him with a bemused expression before replying. Delighted, Sincostan chirruped again before jumping back to his feet and trotting towards where he could smell- and hear, actually- a stream. The dragon stuck his face into the water and quickly drank his fill, not particularly considering the faint splashes he could hear off to the side somewhere.

Upon hearing a voice behind him, however, he whisked his muzzle out of the water and spun round to see a wolf dragon lying on the ground looking sorry for himself.
'Whatcha-ronna th'ground for? D'ya wanta drinka outta the stream? Why doncha get up ontaya feet? Areya ill? Imma great healer, Imma th'best you'lla find. Imma better thanna Euphorn.' Here, he puffed his chest out proudly. 'S'long as I gotta somethin'ta drink, I'lla heala everybody in th'world.' His words continued to pour out in an uninterrupted stream, seemingly without even pause for breath.


~*~


Picking her way through the rainforest, Kiesa's ears were flat back along her head. She carried her tail curled up at the end so that the silky tuft on the end didn't drag through the mulch that was getting stuck in the clefts of her delicate hooves. How had she ended up in this horrible place...? Naturally, it would have been the only escape from the hunters who had been stalking her for most of the night. Perhaps the pearly glow she emitted in darkness looked pretty, but it definitely wasn't helpful for her survival- her magic was flighty and erratic at best, and so her only defence was her swift and lightfooted running. But that running had been towards the maze of closely growing trees. The hunters had no hope of finding her now, but equally she had no hope of getting out- and she was hating this place more and more with every second she spent there.

Her smooth coat was almost sticky with the droplets of moisture which clung to the hairs. Sap and yet more water dripped on her from time to time, and while she liked how the place was bristling with thousands of lives, she wasn't so keen on the swarms of insects that pestered her, landing on her skin and forcing her to twitch them off repeatedly. One landed on her nose, and she frantically shook it off, splaying her legs slightly for balance as she thrashed her head from side to side. It left after a second or two. Kiesa huffed as she resumed her careful travel through the trees and undergrowth, her main guiding light that which radiated from her body and particularly her horn.

((ooc;; mind if I jump in to get a bit of practice with Dyavol?))

The rainforest bustled with life, and insects hummed in the air all around. However, amongst them lurked a very tiny creature who was positively fuming. He hated insects, yet Dyavol was completely surrounded by them. As a butterfly dragon, he was invisible from the ground, as he currently clung to a leaf high up in the trees, but to avoid the insects around him he spread his delicate wings and began to flutter down.

Far below, he could see a few figures moving around. He dropped lower and lower until he reached the level of the dense shrubbery nearer the ground, and looked around. He had no idea why he had thought it was a good idea to go out into the rainforest, but there he was. Even the leaves seemed huge to him, and although he would never admit it, he was feeling a little intimidated. However, the spectacle of a wolf-dragon being attacked by ants tackled that emotion. It was inspiring to see that such tiny creatures were so powerful, and he was easily thrice their size.

Dodging a droplet of water from the wolf-dragon’s undignified entry into the water he fluttered a little closer. No one seemed to have noticed him, but he was far enough out in the open to not be perfectly concealed by the huge, damp leaves any longer.

At that remark, Dyavol swung his barbed tail violently. “I am most definitely a dragon. Never compare me to one of those filthy, fluttery things again.” He spat, slicing through a leaf with his sharp, metal-laden tail. The dragon below him seemed far too happy, and it made his flesh crawl. However, he did need to find a way out…

Fluttering down, he settled beside the dragon’s paw and tried to puff out his tiny, scaly chest. “My name is Mahlyenki Dyavol, and I’m…pleased to meet you.” He announced, stumbling over the word ‘pleased’ with a forced smile. “And you are?” It was the most formal introduction he had bothered with for a long time, but in strange places it always seemed better to use his full, somewhat imposing name rather than his shortened one. He knew fully well that he was tiny, and he didn’t need any more weaknesses.

(ooc;; hehe, you know the 150 word count we're supposed to use? that's exactly 150 according to word ^^ That amused me xD)

Temero let out a quiet shriek as the vines disappeared and he dropped like a rock the rest of the way to the ground. Fortunately it was not very far, he thought as he righted himself and stood, hissing at the vines above him. "Stupid things," he grumbled, shaking his fur out. Plopping down where he stood he looked up at the unicorn standing above him. "I give you my thanks," he said more loudly. "That... would have taken me a while." He hated showing any kind of weakness, however the Wolf dragon felt that his rescuer deserved to know of his appreciation. Temero scanned the forest around them, eyes flashing as he decided upon what to do. "So, what are you doing in this strange place?" he asked finally, wary of the creature even though it had saved him.

Hone grinned happily as she shook her wing dry, splattering more water all over the plants nearest to her. She sucked aimlessly on the end of a mouthful of feathers as she inspected the other two dragons, her ears twitching. She had never seen any dragons like these two before- the yellow and black one was particularly exciting looking. And the tear dragon… well, he talked awfully fast. And was apparently lots of fun! She bugled a challenge as she leapt away from the spray of water he sent towards her, giggling as he soaked her front.
“Y’gaarn t’get me? Not afore I get y’more!” she growled, whipping her tail backwards and forwards as she went into a crouch, a wide grin still plastered across her face. “Hey, that rhymes!”

Before she had a chance to retaliate the wolf dragon had suddenly leapt into the river with a howl, adding even more madness to the water-wetness situation. She flicked her tail blade over her face just in time to deflect the worst of what came her way, peeking over it as he sighed in relief, water dripping from her every scale.
“Well, tha’ was a bit… abrupt?” she giggled, the look on the dragon’s face making her laugh outright. “Whistae suddenly do tha’ for?” she asked, sidestepping around Sincostan and padding over to Fenrir’s side. He really did look silly now, his fur drenched and plastered down in long sticky strands. She didn’t envy him- first off, she was a desert dragon at heart, and water wasn’t her favourite thing, and secondly, it looked like it would take hours for his fur to dry out. Ick.
“I guess y’ain’t thirsty any more now then?” she asked rhetorically, rubbing her wings together to dry them off a bit. The tactic didn’t really work, and they started to stick together uncomfortably.

At the sound of voices behind her, she spun excitedly, wondering who it was the tear dragon was talking to. Of all the people she might have expected, the least of them was… a butterfly? On closer inspection it wasn’t really a butterfly, but a teeny tiny dragon instead. Her nose twitched in interest and she padded closer, her eyes flicking over the bright markings on the dragon’s body.
“I’m Hone!” she chirped as he announced his –rather long- name. Hers sounded rather simple in comparison, so she decided to lengthen it.
“Hone the super-awesome-epic lash dragon! Tadaaa!”


((I know, long time no reply. I suddenly got a life and everything.))

‘Oops, sorry,’ said Sincostan, not sounding particularly bothered. ‘But ain’cha flutt’ry yaself? Its how ya fly.’ He shrugged, took a rare break from talking to lick a few droplets of water from his paw, and then introduced himself in turn. ‘Imma Sincostan, butta you c’n calla me Sin. Imma the sup’rawesomepic tear drag’n, iffa she’sa th’sup’rawesomepic lash drag’n.’ He flicked his tail as he quickly sucked in another breath before the flow of words resumed. ‘I’vea gotta no idea whatsa th’way out. Coulda youa fly up between th’trees? You’rea smaller thanna me, I don’ta fit. Athink thatsa th’best way.’ His last words were accompanied by a glance at Fenrir, before he turned his attention back to the butterfly dragon. He gazed expectantly up at the tiny dragon, wondering vaguely why Dyavol hadn’t thought of simply flying himself. Those few moments, however, were long enough for his attention to wander, and in the next second he licked his lips thoughtfully before crouching down and beginning to sketch out equations in the mud.


~*~


True, Kesia acknowledged, watching the spider unconcernedly as it scurried across Temero’s foot. I don’t know if staying together would really help us find a way out, but we may as well, I suppose. It’ll give me some company, at the very least. She shifted uncomfortably on the squelchy ground. Do you think we could get moving quickly? I really don’t want to spend any more time here than I have to.

Hone's question made Sincostan jump, his head jerking up as he blinked at her in surprise.
'Itsa trigganommatry,' he explained. 'Doncha know how itsa workin'?' He was clearly ready to launch into a lengthy explanation of his namesake, but luckily for Hone he was soon distracted by Dyavol insisting that he wouldn't be able to make the flight. Instantly, the tear dragon swiped his tail across the maths he had already written in the mud, wiping out the numbers and symbols. He began to feverishly sketch in new sums and he soon straightened, just as Dyavol reassessed his flying abilites.
'From whatt'A estymayted th'heighta th'trees ta-be, anda ya weight anda th'sizea ya wings, I thinka thatta you c'n fly uppa there. I'lla carry ya on th'way back, I don'ta mind.' He gave the smaller dragon a bright grin. If possible, his words had grown even faster than normal from the excitement of the maths to be used in everyday life rather than having to make up problems to solve as entertainment or just to challenge himself. It didn't occur to him that his manic cheerfulness might annoy Fenrir and Dyavol, possibly even Hone- or that it could be the reason why nobody seemed to stick around him for long.


~*~


Maybe the wolf dragon wouldn't be her top choice of a travel companion- that would quite likely be nobody- but at least he didn't seem like he wanted to hang around. She gladly followed his suggestion, moving smoothly off in the direction he had indicated and trying not to let her delicate hooves sink too far into the mulch beneath them.
I hope you're right, dragon, Kesia thought to Temero. I've spent far too much time in this place already and I don't want to waste time getting further into it. As she finished the words, she looked over to the side, her ears pricked at the sound of a river.


Ooc: Spirit, we can either have them meet up with all the others along by the river or just have them find their own way out. I don't mind at all