Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was dark. Smoggy. And there were lots of grey shapes off in the distance, shapes that Ren could not make out to save his life. He thought that those might have been mountains, however, and if he squinted hard enough he could see vague blobs that resembled trees. Looking closer he saw that, yes, they were mountains - or rather, mountain. It seemed to be just a rather large one, rocky crevices and moss embalmed stones littered around the base of it.

With Alessa on his back, it made traveling a bit more slow-going (the nagual was not heavy in the slightest, but still), but Ren would rather carry his ghoulfriend then see her stumble and fall while she tried to recover from that disastrous boat ride. That, and the fact that he was finally with the others made him feel much more secure and safe than on that Jackdamned boat.

...although, remembering what that cloaked figure had said; or rather, what he had implied did nothing to alleviate Ren's concern for the welfare of his closest friends. He bit his lower lip, glancing around at the rest of them, and instinctively he moved closer, not wanting to be separated too far from them.

Tightening his hold on Alessa just a bit more (though not enough to make her uncomfortable), Ren said "So. Erm. Where should we, er...start..?"

This trip was starting to resemble that jackforsaken Christmas raid more and more by the moment. The crash, the subsequent landing, the weapons, and now, the walking blindly through a land they had no idea how to cross or even tackle. The only redeeming feature Gabrian thought this island had was the apparent lack of snow; the fact it was not freezing cold was nice, however... the fact he'd attempted to shift to serpent form several times and failed, was not. He felt relatively helpless stuck in this form (though he had to admit he was pleased that at the very least he wasn't shifting back and forth like he had been during the previous raid).

The obvious downside to this trip, however, was that in his mind... they lacked a goal, which means they had no bloody clue where it was they were going or what they were going to do when they got there. How does one fight a mystery enemy in a foreign land one knows nothing about? Apparently they were going to find out soon enough, if that cloaked figure followed through with his threat, "Hhmmmm... well," he turned to look up at Ren as he spoke, "I guess that depends on where we want to go. North, South, East or West," he tilted his head up and tried to squint through the fog, to no avail, "Does anyone even know which was is North? If no one knows... I just suggest we pick a general direction and walk in a straight line," he shifted LW's position on his back and peeked over his shoulder at her, arching a brow, "I'm not entirely sure I like all that table flipping talk. Good Jack... the most dramatic thing that happened to us was that Ren was flung over board. Twice, actually," he let out a sigh, "We made hot cocoa, cleaned and tied knots. I'm not even kidding."

He felt the she-wolf's grip around him tighten and he lifted his head again to look at her, tilting his head to one side, then offered her a small smirk. He said nothing, but at the moment, he didn't feel she needed to be told anything; at the moment, he figured that all she needed... was to feel him beside her, "As far away from the cloaked figure as possible. And hopefully towards a place where Alessa can rest up for a while," a small pause as he turned his head up in the air and inhaled, "I'm not a veggie eater for the most part, and unlike you guys, I'm quite sated," he licked his lips, "fish and sea weed...." then shook is head and snapped out of it, "Did Alessa even get anything to eat? And if not... is there any way there's anything edible for her around here?" this was spoken in Ren's general direction.

Jove may not have unpleasant memories of Christmas haunting his thoughts, but he did clutch his book tighter every time his little ears swivelled towards a sound in the mist, or someone made a sudden movement, or even when Gabrian looked in his direction. He trotted next to Ren and Alessa, occasionally whining in a nervous fashion, too antsy to show how tired he was after the whole shipwreck ordeal. The pup wasn't sure if he was still Alessa's protector, or if Ren had taken back the title, so he had to stay strong just in case.

At the mention of food, Jove's ears perked. He wasn't hungry himself, he never got hungry, but living things did have to eat... The pup scented the air and trotted a bit farther away from the group. Mostly he could smell the sea, and a bit of vegetation, and... there! He bounded off into the fog with childish enthusiasm, wet scarf flopping along behind him until it too disappeared from sight. If the others listened closely they might have heard some shuffling around close to ground.

Jove wasn't gone more than a few seconds before he returned with some pale, skinny mushrooms cradled in his dirty hands. They smelled like mushrooms he would eat. But then again, how far could one trust a kid who couldn't get poisoned by natural means? He offered them in Ren and Alessa's direction first, his wide blue eyes saying "Here! I found these for you!"

The she-wolf sighed and glanced sideways at the nix. It wasn't her fault that the boat she'd gotten stuck on had been...more eventful. She would much rather have been making hot cocoa and even tying knots. "Well...we had very small space to move around. And Desu-chan for a first mate with Red as our captain." LW gave him an amused look. "What would you expect from a werewolf's boat?" The she-wolf lightly teased him. Teasing was the least she could do to try and ease their unease. Although being in touching distance of her favorite people helped with this too.

Mention of food made her realize that she had eaten...once maybe twice the whole trip? It was true that wolves were able to survive without food for a small period of time. But even this was pushing it. Her tail flicked again before just hanging there. Food sounded so very good right now. There was just one slight problem. She and Gabrian were the only two (at least she thought so; did Jove eat meat?) that ate meat. Which sounded soooo good right now.

"You know...dear demon, you don't have to carry me the whole time." LW whispered. "Unless you want to of course." She really couldn't complain and quite liked where she was.

Her nose wrinkled again. "Maybe we should just keep walking straight and see if we run into...something?" LW offered, hoping it would be a thing and not a one. Then again. Alright, the general unease of the group was going to get to her soon. They were doing good by sticking toge- what was the puppy doing?

LW perked up, becoming a little more alert as she watched the pup disappear into the fog. If she so much as heard one little whine, this she-wolf was going to bite something in the a**. But the pup returned pretty quickly carrying something in his hands that he held out to Ren. A small breath escaped that she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"It must be a canine thing." LW muttered to Gabe. "To wander off and cause heart attacks."

The mushrooms Jove held looked at least a little edible. Ren eyed them for a moment, lifting his gaze to Gabrian when the nix spoke.

"No," he said. "No, I didn't eat much either." He gave a shrug. "Not much to eat when all you have is that disgusting, grotesque fish. It smelled nauseating, like salty seawater and...grossness."

Giving a shudder, Ren reached out to the puppy stepping close as he lifted one trailing end of his damp scarf. "You're gonna trip over this if you keep dragging it on the ground, you know," he said lightly, and wound the scarf around Jove's neck and shoulders, patting it down to keep it in place. The fog around them was thick, so thick that it was becoming rapidly more difficult to see. In fact -

"...er..." said Ren, glancing around. "Where...where did everyone...go?"

He and Jove were alone. Alone. There was no sign of Gabrian, Alessa, or LW. In fact, it was as if the rest had simply...disappeared.

Ren's fingers tightened around the boil's scarf. He tugged Jove closer to him, putting a hand on his shoulder, as if worried that if he let go, the puppy would disappear as well. And Ren did not want to be alone, no not now.

"Stay with me," he said, voice laced with a myriad of emotions, the primary ones consisting of worry, anxiety, and concern. "Stay with me, Jove, don't go anywhere - "

Was that a fire up ahead? Ren squinted, trying to make some shape of the dark, shadowy smears ahead. Is that the camp..?

Perhaps they would be safer there.

[[ exit posttt ]]

She tried to give him a look that said he was giving her way too much credit for any trouble she might get into if he set her down. But he was pretty much right. She probably would get curious about something, walk over to look at it, and then lose her group. Best to stay attached to someone then. So she just huffed and nuzzled against him before glancing around to the others again.

A snort of much needed amusement escaped as Gabe began to sing song a little. At his look, she merely pretended not to see it. Yes, Jove had just proven his earlier point. It really had to be a canine thing.

When she was lowered to the ground, LW stretched and shook herself, as if she were in her other form. Violet eyes blinked at the flipping wooden sword that was the nix's choice of weapon. It made her glance at her own weapon of choice. It was the wooden table leg. She wondered for a moment, if it would connect with the ghost should she run into her and used this as a club? The table had hit her. Then she heard the clattering of wooden sword hitting the ground. LW glanced up just in time to see Gabrian disappear.

"Gabe!" Jack damnit. This was why she didn't want to separate! Her feet were moving before her mind kicked in and she went after him, disappearing into the fog before she could turn to say anything over her shoulder to the others.

((Exit post! this is also just before the boss battle, timeline wise))