Rising of Phoebis

Posting Order; wrote:Dregan
C.S.O
Spark
Froshana
Deux
P-Digi

AND THEN, IN THE SKY, A GREAT ORB OF FIRE!
...Which, to be honest, was rather standard fare for a day such as this, the heated Sun beating down on the planet below. Out at sea in particular, the great solar giant was particularly evident. The deep blue of the ocean had gained a golden sheen, glimmering against the sky with each crash of the waves. Each bead and droplet shimmering through the sky became a bronzed coin, clattering to the steps of the temple.
...Ah yes.
The temple.

Having broken through the waters of the Trinus coast, the great structure had earned the name locally of 'Phoebis' - a haphazard translation, awkwardly jammed together as a counterpart to the more familiar name of 'Atlantis'. Similar to the idea of Atlantis, this Phoebis had seemed to be some form of lost city - or perhaps, not a city? - hidden deep beneath the waves for many... years, decades, centuries? Hell, it could've been built under there for all anyone knew. It was all very mysterious, very romantic, very... enticing.
On approach, 'enticing' really did seem the word for the place. For a start, it was much larger close-up than many would at first expect. The size of a small town - and nearly as tall as it was wide. The entire structure was built in layers... like a deeply uneven wedding cake, malformed and lopsides circles of sandy-coloured stone built up on top of each other, walls inlaid with patterns of brass, apparently unspoilt by their exposure to the deep sea. Within each wall a series of buildings - interconnected and intermingling, less independent from each other and more like a system of convoluted tunnels. It seemed a maze from the outside... and surely a mystery on the in.
And then lastly of course, was the cannon. Well... maybe a cannon. It could've been anything really - an ancient telescope, a giant airpipe to the centre, simply decoration, it was hard to tell. Either way, there was no debating that the great turret-like pipe sticking out that one enormous gash seemed to be trained ever-so-delicately on the shore. And that's what had bought some more official attention to the island...

For those making their way to the island today, a certain dip in the island's outer circle seemed to've been built to ensure the attention of any incoming boats, jet-skis, and water-adept independent. The lowest point of the dip highlighted a flat wide area just above the water level, seeming to act as a miniature dock of sorts for the great structure. Whilst it seemed quite small to actually be an official dock - it would be hard to imagine more than maybe... eight or nine fishing boats docking here at once? - it seemed to be the one indicated place for people to really shore up.
And it seemed that some individuals had already done so... down the left hand side of the dock was a decently-sized black boat. 'CoTS' was emblazoned in white along one side - identifying it as a 'City of Trinus Ship' for those up-to-date on their local Naval initials. Those who had a particularly in-depth knowledge of such Naval affairs would also realise that this boat was generally reserved for specialist squads, usually small groups - at most eight, but often less. Of course, to those unfamiliar with such local affairs... well, it just appeared to be a black boat with it's owners evidently absent.

It wouldn't take a genius to work out where exactly they'd gone. There were only two exits to the dock area - a set of steps to each side, both of which a short trek up before leading to the same place as each other - a much larger flat area. Whilst it had it's fair share of intricate detailings around the side, the first thing that would grab anyone's attention was the number of tents set up across the sandy surface. In particular, one large mess tent, from which a small number of voices could be heard...

*Wow... this is one strange, yet impressive looking place. I'm sure Reena would've been thrilled to head here and check the place out. She'd probably be swimming faster than the boat by this point.*

This thought passes through the wolf's head and draws a small smile to his face. The small boat he was currently being ferried in drew close to this place that had been tentatively named "Phoebis" by the local population. He recalled what little he'd been told about its mysterious appearance some time ago, apparently not long before he'd wandered into the city of Trinus. The city had been abuzz with rumours and speculations about what this place might be and what its purpose was. To be honest, none of that really mattered to the wolf at all.

He'd never really had an interest in exploration for the sake of exploration. Anything of the sort he did was because he needed to go someplace he hadn't been before. He never actively sought out sources of danger, but he'd had enough experience being in dangerous situations that he'd learned how to handle himself well enough when it arose. For the most part, he was self sufficient with his survival skills, so being dropped into a relatively isolated area wasn't much of a problem for him. It was because of these traits that he was here now.

It had turned out that because of these particular skills he would to be a preferred choice for an independent group in the city who wanted someone to go and conduct an initial survey of the island for them while they tried to organize a more formal, properly equipped and prepared excursion. They wanted someone to just assess the conditions on the island and any general hazards that might exist. It turned out they were also willing to cover his expenses and pay him a suitable fee for making the journey as well as giving him some equipment and supplies.

For the wolf, this was quite an incentive for him. Recent events had stripped him of much of his belongings, so this had given him a chance to make up some of his prior losses. He still questioned whether it was a good idea to agree to doing this, but the benefits seemed to outweigh the liabilities... at least for the moment.

A short time later the boat pulls up alongside the dock. This had been arranged as a one way trip, since he had no idea how long he'd be there for and if things turned bad, he could always swim back if necessary.

The wolf bid the navigator of the boat safe travels and disembarked with his belongings. Once he's on the dock, the boat begins to move off. The wolf then glances around.

*So... here you are. In another strange place, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, and who knows what you're going to have thrown your way...* he thinks, *Probably going to be another of those trips.*

He sighs, then takes a few moments to adjust his slightly baggy clothes and the backpack he carried behind him, then he starts off towards one of the stairways leading up from the dock. Once at the top he glances around this new open area and all the tents that were setup throughout it.

*Looks more occupied than it did from the boat...* he thinks, *Hope my presence here isn't a problem for anyone else.*

He moves away from the stairs and out across the sand.

*Last thing I need is for this outing to start badly on arrival... or turn into a situation like the last time I was on a beach...*

As his boat slowly finished it's lap of the city, Andile couldn't help but curse himself for having waited so long on checking out the city. He'd heard rumours of strange ruins, but he'd assumed some kind of official government investigation would have begun long before he arrived, and would have resulted in the island being blocked off. It wasn't until he'd looked into it further that he realised it was, for the most part, seemingly open to the public. For awhile, he even toyed with the idea of it having perhaps become a tourist attraction. If anything, the latter put him off even more.

Actually, for all he knew, it might have been, and he'd just failed to find any kind of sailor who'd been willing to sail him out. Having failed to find out such information however, he had eventually caved in to his curiosity.

Still, he couldn't help but marvel at the cities grand view. He wasn't much of an architect, although he had a rough understanding of the science behind it, so he couldn't truly fathom out some of the design choices... but just the sight of it was more than enough to impress him. How such a city had been 'lost' was beyond him, but he was truly grateful it had resurfaced. Especially if there was, as he suspected, lost technology to be found here. The giant cannon [or was it a telescope? From a distance, he couldn't quite work out the full details of it] hinted at this, and there was talk of something blocking scanning and navigational devices.

Out of curiosity, he'd brought with him a compass. Over time, he'd learnt that when most modern tech is blocked, old school sometimes reveals answers. What answers you could hope to get from a compass was anyones guess, but even the knowledge of if simple tech did or did not work would be useful.

Anyway! Having circled the island in hopes of finding another docking point, the ferret conceeded that he should probably dock near the military group who'd arrived before him. As he gently [if a little ungracefully] brought the hired speed boat into the dock, he noted that someone else had arrived as well. Who that person would be he wasn't entirely sure, but he was certain he'd run into them sooner rather than later.

And so! After a little fumbling around and trying not to fall into the ocean, the ferret disembarks from his boat, and proceeded to look for someway of securing the boat to the make-shift docks.

Not too far behind the previous pair that had set foot on the recently-risen structure that everyone seemed to be referring to as 'Phoebis', there was another boat making its way across the water. It was an admittedly small and... rather clunky-looking thing. Like what one might acquire from a cheap, but shady and questionable rental service. Nevertheless, at least it was running, skimming along the surface of the sea and heading straight for this fascinating curiosity just off the coast. Heading straight for it for a while at least. From there the craft had to start circling around as it had come from a direction that didn't allow easy view of the makeshift docking area.

From the boat, a pair of cerulean eyes squinted at the apparent maze of architecture. It was really unlike anything the reptile had ever seen. Then again, this trip marked her first time seeing the ocean as well so perhaps that wasn't saying much... Regardless, it was cool.

Ogling aside, it took quite a while to circle around the place. One could only imagine how easy it would be to get lost in there... Especially after hearing that navigational devices ceased to function when brought into the surrounding area. She had to wonder if her cell phone would even work if she had to make an emergency call. Or what if the place suddenly sunk back into the sea while she was inside? The thought of being trapped and/or drowning out here made her stomach tighten a bit. For a brief moment, she furrowed her brow, deciding that if anything bad happened to her, she would absolutely blame it on those two lazy housecats that had sent her here.

'Less likely to get in trouble my f--Hm?'

Her train of thought was interrupted as a shape on the water caught her attention. It appeared to be another boat leaving the area. She was about to be glad they were leaving when instead she spotted two more boats docked at what appeared to be the easiest way to access the... island.. thing. The dragon sighed softly. It appeared one of the two vessels had just arrived seeing as there was still someone there on the dock. She had expected there would be other people here. So long as she avoided the majority of them, everything should be fine, right? What did bring some concern to her face, however, was the black boat with its white lettering. It looked more official than she would've preferred and dealing with its owners might be... complicated.

She was already headed for the dock, though, reducing her speed to keep from making too much of a mess upon arrival. If the ferret there noticed the little old boat approaching, it would've been easy to see the bright orange dragon manuevering it. The weather was nice enough that she hadn't bothered to try and bundle up. Her rainbow of hair was in its usual ponytail, aside from her bangs, which were currently blown back from the wind. Her clothes were plenty simple with jeans and a half-sleeve shirt that, as usual, had been cropped to her middle to cope with the spikes jutting from halfway down her spine.

The only acknowledgment that the dragon gave, however, was a brief look before focusing more on the task at hand. She had to make sure to not damage this boat. The last thing she needed was to put her being cheap to waste by having to pay a fee for--

"Fffff shiiit..."

Well, so much for that. There was a less-than-pleasant screech of the side of the boat scraping up on the dock for a couple of seconds. The dragon visibly cringed at the sound, hurriedly readjusting her approach to keep from doing any further damage. Once that was managed, though, the engine was powered off and the reptile took the key and crouched down to tuck it away. When she stood up again, she was pulling a single-strapped sling pack on across her torso. It didn't look very big, but she didn't intend to be here for more than a few hours.

There was a tapping and scraping sound juuust audible among the sound of the sea as the dragon moved to one side of the boat, snatching up a rope already tied to the boat and quickly jumped onto the dock. The source of the noise was revealed to be the claws on her bare feet. Stealth probably wasn't easy with those things.

It took a little bit of glancing around, particularly at how the other two boats there might be secured, before she knelt down and began to follow suit. While she was there, she did lean to one side, scanning the part of the boat that had hit the dock.

...Huh. With the condition the boat was already in, it really hadn't done anything very notable. A little 'phew' escaped her and she lowered her gaze to the rope in her paws again. After several attempts to secure the line, it was quite clear that her knot-tying really needed work, though. Throughout this, she didn't say a word to other person she had seen when she approached, whether they had finished up what they were doing and left or not.

Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no... 

This was a terrible idea! The predominantly white hedgehog clung to the side of a boat for his life, having sunken down onto floor practically laying there as he trembled with fear looking out at the rest of the ocean. For a while, the thought of exploring a place as mysterious as this 'Phoebis' sounded enticing... However, when Volt put that plan into action he quickly changed his mind. There was no turning back, that's for sure. He had already paid the kind owner of this boat to take him to the entrance of the strange place, he was going to get his money's worth! Whether or not his money's worth was actually worth it... Well, that was debatable depending upon who you asked. 
If you were to ask Volt, this was all a giant mistake. He quietly and quickly slipped his goggles over his eyes as he peeked out over the side of the boat. As the boat hobbled closer and closer to the large structure, his eyes glazed over the other visitors to the massive city. 

His observations were quickly scratched out by the screeching that had come from a boat scraping up against the dock. Though it was obvious as to where the noise came from, it only served to make Volt even more anxious than he already was. The hobbling came to a halt when the boat bumped up against the dock not long after, causing it to shake back and forth with slightly more energy than it would have just on the waves alone. Volt clung to the side of the boat, and when the shaking had stopped he peeked his head back over the side. He stared at the dock with extreme nervousness for a long while before a voice piped up behind him. "Go on now! I don't have all day, ya know!" The 'captain' of this boat shrieked from the back, and he was so ready to take the hedgehog's money earlier too...

Volt quickly climbed onto the dock and held onto the stone with both hands as if he absolutely refused to stand upright on this structure. His attention was focused less on the other visitors and more on the fact that the structure was in the middle of all this water- how terrifying! Volt watched his ride take off, shaking so much that his hands nearly slipped. Luckily, he re-positioned himself just fast enough so that he didn't end up face-first on the stone. 
He bit his lip, almost hard enough to have drawn blood as he looked up at the rest of the structure. In a crawl, he tried to make his way towards the tents. Once he was up there, he would be fine... or at least, slightly better than before. Putting one hand in front of the other and shuffling his legs forward, he slowly made his way towards the larger, flat area. It looked... real awkward.

And so it was that many individuals had made their own way onto the isle. Some perhaps more hopeful than others, a compass within one ferret's grasp showing a desire to overcome the bizarre nature the island had thus far demonstrated. No good it seemed... Whilst at first the primitive sea-faring device seemed to point quite eagerly North, the proximity to the great structure seemed to draw the arrow's attention, pulling it's point towards the centre - every now and again erratically twitching or spinning out before refocusing it's point. Well, at least whilst on the island, it would be able to give a vague idea of where the isle's centre lay...
As he was busy shoring up against the similarly-arriving dragon, a couple of others had already gone on and up ahead. Heading up the pack, both a wolf and a hedgehog made their own individual way up the steps, granting a better view of the area surrounding the tents.

The most striking thing about this area was... well, beyond the tents. To the very back of the area was a great vertical wall, in which held a similarly huge door, intricately carved and shut tight. It was a marvel all on it's own, with the rest of the island extending upwards beyond it, giving the individuals present the true scope of the area they had come to find themselves in.
Of course, this wasn't the only unusual or grandiose feature in this area. To the left of the platform on which these tents were based was a great... plate of sorts. A large circular platform, which seemed to serve no immediate purpose. A close investigation over the edge of the right side of the platform would show a similar plate much lower down... only this one appeared to have a tiny house of sorts on it. It seemed completely inaccesible from up here - unless one was willing to take quite a fall to get down to it. Still, taking both plates into account gave a somewhat more complete image of the area. Each plate was almost like... one arm in a set of scales - the connecting central bar apparently running beneath that main central platform. The house was weighing it's own side of the scales down - ironically making itself inaccessible in the process.
One final feature made itself evident here - a large, slightly malformed dome connecting onto the very left edge of the platform, just behind the raised plate on it's side. The dome seemed to be filled with numerous holes - each of which just about large enough to fit a person through. Still... why anyone might want to was anyone's guess at this point.

For Wolf however, first to arrive on the scene, there were not only sights to take in, but also... sounds. In particular, the voices of what sounded like... three people? Three people in the largest tent. Out here it was kind of hard to gather precisely what was being said, however, the general tone of the conversation seemed to suggest a disagreement of sorts. Every now and again, a segment of sentence or a raised voice broke through the murmur;
"...not a tool!"
"...to learn! ...to be trained!"
"...t just an exercise, this is..."
"...even be here in the first place!"
"...mind you who... funding for... weapon!"
"[b]SHE IS NOT-[b]"
That last sentence may've grasped the attention of the now-present hedgehog. Still, before either the wolf or hedgehog truly had chance to engage, they would find themselves joined by a third.

A distant, inaudible declaration of 'Holy Cow' seemed to almost act as an unknown cue for this individual. Because whilst they admittedly didn't quite cover the 'Holy' aspect all that well, that was definitely a female bovine clambering her way out of one of the smaller tents.
First impressions would perhaps give the instant idea that this was a military girl, perhaps in her early-20s. The military jacket in particular seemed to identify her as part of the local Trinus military, however the manner in which she held herself seemed... younger, almost? This wasn't helped by the presence of a somewhat frilly blue dress beneath her military jacket - matched oddly against her large wellington boots. You could easily imagine a child playing dress-up to find themselves in such a mismatched outfit. A particularly confused child, considering the added addition of a milkman's cap on top of everything else.
With a slightly confused look, she raised a hand... and waved to the two individuals arriving before her.
"Oh, um... hello!"

A distance away, having earlier made the declaration of a divine bovine entity, a one 'Lerna' had made his own, rather unique way onto the island. In particular, he'd stumbled his way into the opening of a large building of his own, a temple of sorts... and unfortunately was to soon find himself sealed within it. A few steps inside the large opening, and a small tile had sunk down - and with it, so had the entrance to the building. Well... shit. And the only way from there was down - down a long flight of steps. Far enough down to assumingly lead below sea-level... though if that were the case, this particular temple must've been water-tight, since beyond the odd puddle and dripping tile, the area was completely dry.
The stone staircase eventually would come to lead it's way out to an enormous chamber. It was... breathtakingly huge, it's ceiling seeming to raise even higher than Lerna had ever travelled down in the first place. At it's top were a series of holes - windows of a sort, allowing beams of light to shine their way down to the floor of the area below. Speaking of which...
Various puddles seemed to be the theme of the area, with moss and damp having infected the aged stonework down here. It stood as a deep contrast to the cleanliness of the islands upper layers - a small pocketed area where the sea's impact apparently had made itself known. Still... this barely seemed of note when held against the other presence within the room.

Central to the temple was an enormous statue. It seemed to vague resemble a person of sorts... like an artist's interpretation of a praying woman, her arms outstretched to any who entered as Lerna had. Whilst time seemed to've decayed most of the statue's features, there was one significant feature which seemed to sit at just above head-height. A large vertical crack in her lower body... perhaps caused by accident, although seemingly much more purposeful...

The wolf glances around the clearing ahead where all the tents had been set up. He spots wall and doorway well past the tents at the far end of the clearing.

*So... there's not going to be much for me to explore that way at the moment.* he thinks, *If that door isn't open and I haven't been invited by the owner I'm sure not just going to let myself in. I'll figure out how to go in that direction if it become necessary.*

To the left, he spots the large circular shape on or in the ground or just on the same level. It looked unnatural, but other than that, the wolf had no real idea what it might be. But close to it, there was a large pit and also a dome like structure that appeared to have suffered from some form of deterioration.

*That might be worth investigating... so long as I can be sure I won't fall in...* he thinks, *Maybe taking a look in the structure would be a safer bet.*

By this point the wolf has heard the approach and departure of some boats to and from the dock. He's moved some distance from the steps and when he turns back in that direction, he can see one boat headed off in the distance, and he spots a hedgehog crawling up the last of the steps.

*I'm... not going to ask.* he thinks.

Turning back towards the tents in the clearing, and with the sound of activity near the dock faded, the wolf can make out the sound of people talking in the tents, although the topic is a mystery and the words he can pick out don't clarify things.

He figures he'll go and check out the structures to the left side of the clearing, but before he can start making his way, he sees a female bovine in a rather mismatched outfit emerge from on of the tents, look in his direction and offer something of a confused greeting.

*Well... it's a greeting at least.* he thinks, *No shooting or threats. Yet.*

The wolf raises one paw and waves back at her.

"Greetings." he replies simply.

'hmm...?' The ferret blinked, looking up from his work at the sound of another boat approaching the island! That was... surprisingly fast for someone else to arrive, but then he had lost some time circling the island before hand. Still, with an easy going smile, he waved at the approaching dragon, before returning to the task at hand. If he didn't get the boat proper secured, he'd be... pretty stuck, unless the dragon or the owners of the large black ship were willing to ferry him back.

A small period of time seemed to pass, and more and more people arrived. He hadn't exchanged much of a greeting with any of them, but was more than happy to smile, wave, nod, etc at them as they arrived. He felt bad for the poor hedgehog, who had been so rudely evacuated from their ship, and if he was surprised by Lerna he showed no sign of it. Still, he didn't really exchange much of a conversation with them, nor did they seem particularly interested in talking to him.

Still, he had his boat sorted out now, and he could get to work! He reached into his pockets, and pulled out a small notepad and pencil, and he immediatly set to work sketching out the dock. He began to take a few steps forward, when a screech rented the air from the dragoness' boat. He winced and glanced in her direction, a pang of pity welling up as he watched her stagger around and try to get it sorted.

After a moment, he took a few steps forward, watching as they fumbled with the rope! 'Hey, um! Would you like a hand there, miss?'

Amidst her tying up the rental, another boat approached the docks. The dragon's brow furrowed as she wondered just how she managed her timing that she was getting here at the same time as so many others. Before she could further consider how likely it was that it was all sheer coincidence, a voice spoke from the other side of her.

The reptile blinked a couple of times and focused her gaze on the ferret that she assumed had arrived just before her. At receiving an offer of assistance, she glanced down at the rope she had sloppily managed to tie to the dock. Maybe she should have paid better attention earlier when this was being explained to her... The dragon huffed out a little breath.

"Yeah, I guess it would be a shame to lose the whole boat over one silly knot, huh?" she replied as she turned her attention back to the ferret. At least this time she managed a small, crooked smile across her muzzle. Keeping a hold on the rope, she shifted over to one side to allow easy access for him to either show her how it was done or come over and give instructions. Or whatever he intended to do, really.

She did glance back over to another newly-arrived boat at the sound of someone shouting. One of her eyebrows raised slightly in response to what appeared to be a very nervous hedgehog clambering onto the deck. It rather looked like the poor thing wasn't here of his own accord. But the dragon's eyes didn't linger on him for long, though her hidden ears were definitely listening to the sound of him... apparently crawling by. She made sure to curl her spiked tail around to her left side to keep it both out of the way of the hedgehog and also out of the ferret's way, should he have already joined her or not.

Either way, she was more interested in getting this boat secured to the dock, thus making this ferret fellow her primary focus for now.

After a slow and steady climb up the stairs, Volt had finally made his way to the top. He shimmied forward a few more inches before slowly rising to his feet. Joy! Solid ground! He almost fell right back to his knees again, still shaking out of a slight nervousness. After all, they were still surrounded by water and that definitely wasn't the most pleasant thing to someone incapable of swimming.
He shut his eyes tightly for a moment and shook his head, patting himself on the cheeks a few times before opening them again. He would just focus on something else if he couldn't... stand the thought of being surrounded by water on all sides. He looked towards the wolf who was standing not too far away and waved- though he didn't seem to be looking... Volt was behind him, after all. 

"Hey!" He called, before the bovine greeted them as well. He observed her outfit, then looked around at the tents. "Hiya! Are you with those guys?" He motioned a hand towards the tents.
"This place is p-p-pretty cool, riiiight?" He said, trying to avert his eyes from the waves that danced all around the structure. "Pretty neat-o, yeaah?" He tugged on his scarf slightly, desperately trying to keep his attention on something else so that he wouldn't be so absolutely overcome with fear yet again. 

'Jeez, I've really gotten myself into a bad spot here...' Volt thought to himself as he was conversing with the others. '... Well, these guys might have life-jackets or something at the very least... so... so I won't drown if anything happens... maybe... I sure hope so.'

The young cow girl seemed to be pleased at getting a response from the others, giving a big smile at the wolf's 'Greetings', followed by an enthused nodding at Volt's 'Hiya'. Though her enthusiasm seemed to pause a second at the follow-up questioning.
"...Those guys...?" she followed the direction of the hedgehog's glances, view coming to rest on the tent, "Oh, yeah!" she turned back again with a big grin, "Mummy and Daddy are just talking to Grandad!" Well, that would perhaps explain the three voices... the three voices which were now notable by their absence. Perhaps it was just noone had been bothering to listen out for them to notice, but it seemed that whoever was in there had either lowered the tone of conversation to a more reasonable level... or had stopped talking altogether.
"Oh, um," the girl turned to look the island over in response to the comments on it's decided coolness and neatness, "Y-yes, it is - oh, um sorry!" she whirled back around abruptly, as if having forgotten something extremely important; "My name is Anna!"
There seemed to be a slight noise from the large tent - very quiet and subtle, barely audible for those not bothering to listen. Still, it sounded kind of like a brief, gruff 'Hmph'. And nothing more than that...
"It's a pleasure to meet you... um... both! What are your names?" she gave a sweet little innocent smile, not fully befitting of someone of her apparent age.

Wolf glances back towards the hedgehog behind him, who had started asking questions on the bovine in front of them. Even if he hadn't seen him crawling up the stairs a little while ago, just listening to the hedgehog talk let him know that he was scared or nervous about something.

Wolf then looks back to the bovine as she replies to the questions she'd been asked.

*A family trip?* he thinks, *Weird place to go for that. Most people in town seemed rather anxious about coming here... Obviously something else is going on here, but it's not really my concern.*

He kept listening for any other sounds beyond the bovine talking, but it seemed that the traces of conversation from earlier had stopped. But he heard... something after the bovine introduced herself. He wasn't sure what it was though. He then focuses back on the bovine as she asks for names.

"My name is Wolf." he then replies to her question, seeing no harm in sharing it.

Now that the ferret was close up, the Dragon would notice a few silvery scars around the ferrets lip. They were small, but admist his sea of brown fur they seemed to almost.. shimmer in the light. Indeed, they looked almost too silver, as if they were tiny shards of metal.

After a moments thought, he extends his hand and gently takes the rope, and kneels as he begins tying her boat up for her! 'Docking is always the worst part of boat rides...' he says, quite conversationally, glancing up at her. 'Especially if theres other boats around. As you've already seen, it can be a reaaaaal pain to not crash into them... especially on a dock like this!'

With this being said, he seems to have finished the knot, and is beginning to stand up again. 'That should do it... sorry for just uh, stealing the rope like that. Typically I'd give instructions on how to do it, but I figured you might like to join your friends up ahead?' he says with a casual guesture after those who'd already gone on ahead. 'I'm assuming they're your friends, anyway. Unless like... six different groups have all decided to come here today.' he says with a shrug.

He dusts himself off, before offering a hand to the perhaps bemused dragon. '...Oh! I just realised I haven't introduced myself, sorry.' he says, grinning sheepishly. 'Andile Alin, freelance scientist and inventor! Pleased to meet you miss..?' he inquires, his smile shifting with an odd... natural ease into an easy-going smile. This was not a man who was afraid to smile, nor talk it seems.

The dragon did her best to actually pay attention this time as she watched the ferret re-tie the rope for her. "Yeah, ain't that the truth," she replied in agreement to his initial statement. Once the boat was securely tied to the dock, the reptile also began to rise to a standing position again. She saw the hand being offered to her just a moment late and just dismissed the gesture politely with a wave of one of her paws. Her gaze followed his own gesture past the ferret and towards the stairs and the dragon shook her head.

"Nope, I don't know anybody here," she admitted, "It is kinda weird we're all showing up at the same time, huh?"

When he also saw fit to introduce himself, she shifted her attention back to him. She just barely actually caught his name, but gave a nod in response and managed a smile herself. It took her a short moment to realize he was prompting for her name as well. "Oh." The dragon's smile faded briefly and then returned. "Uh, Tangerine. Just Tangerine."

Even as she gave her name, Tangerine started to step to one side slowly, hoping that the newly-introduced Andile would follow suit in starting off towards the nearby set of stairs. No point in just standing out on the docks now, after all.

(Sorry sorry! Been a bit busy!)

Volt didn't seem all too concerned with the tents in the background, but nodded his head along with Anna's replies. Mom? Dad? Grandad? Well this certainly didn't look like the prime vacation spot, but somehow he thought it was cool that a family could come out and have an adventure here! Considering Anna's outfit, it probably wasn't just any ol' family outing. 

His eyes shifted to Wolf as he introduced himself. Volt walked up so that he was next to Wolf and then, rather shamelessly, introduced himself in a loud and proud manner. "I'm Volt! Adventuring extraordinaire! Wherever you can find adventure, you can find me too!" He grinned a dorky grin and followed up with a rather cheesy thumbs up. "Nice to meet ya!" 

Boy, this conversation thing really was toning down on his nervousness- though perhaps if someone were to look a little closer they'd see that he was still shaking a little bit...

(Hahaha you have nothing on my bad timing, don't worry. c: ;; )

It would seem the water was crowded, filled with new arrivals being jockeyed and littered all across the port of the unsunken city. Inhospitable and certainly unsuited for docking, as the roughed up ship of an unfortunate dragon would prove.
So no, he would not risk his ship like that, crashing recklessly against a seabed. His ship preferred the air anyways.

The unmuffled whirring of the large airship would sweep through the air long before it'd be more than a speck in the sky, though it wouldn't be long until the oaken hull pierced an awry cloud and less-than-gently soared overhead the risen palace. 
Booming and sonorous though the engine may have been, as the ship slowly descended into a gentle hover several tens of meters over the water, it abruptly shifted to a quiet, gentle whisper of air casually holding what appeared to be several tons of ship-weight above the clutch of gravity.

A small hatch under the hull popped open and, unceremoniously from within dropped the orange rabbit-turned-temporary pilot, falling with the grace of a majestic falcon flapping it's wings-only-hands for dear life before plopping past the barrier that was water with open arms. 
Thankfully, for a falcon, he was a good swimmer. Only he wasn't a falcon, he was a rabbit. A bright orange rabbit who quickly paddled his way to shore, straining his large ears of water and mumbling complaints to himself. He was very complacent about his arrival, and seemed more preoccupied drying himself than making friends like a good child.

As both Wolf and Volt introduced themselves to the recently dubbed 'Anna', more sound slowly began to arise from the large tent again. At first it was just a simple muttering, a hushed exchange of words. It seemed however, to be slightly raising in volume, yet lowering in tone... two male voices attempting to have a quiet argument of sorts. Had become rather noticable... and yet the cow girl seemed to be paying it no mind. Whether she'd not heard - or if she was simply ignoring it - was anyone's guess. Still she seemed to smile enthusiastically at recieving the names of the two strangers.

"And how are you-" she began to speak up in return, before pausing. She seemed to frown slightly, as if trying to think of something... before suddenly springing back into conversation with a big smile; "How are you both doing today?"
"This is ridiculous."

Rather abruptly, two figures emerged from the tent. The first was, without question, a military man. Dressed in a smart uniform, sandy colour befitting the environment, the large jackal held something of an intimidating presence. The man must've been somewhere in his 40s at a guess, neatly parted hair and stars across his chest giving off a degree of importance. There was no question in his stride - this man was in charge here.
Following after the man, somewhat red-faced and looking percievably aggravated was a somewhat short human. Golden-blonde hair adorned the man's head, set somewhat out of shape by the local gusts, giving him something of an overall unkempt look. This was in spite of having a uniform of his own - a lightly padded body suit, patterned as sand, overlayed with a labcoat and a significant pair of boots. He seemed to be doing his best to keep up with the exit of what was assumingly his superior.

"SR-1," the jackal seemed to be addressing the poor young bovine, "This is a military assignment-"
"Saturday-"
"-not a social gathering and therefore it is not appropriate that you should be-"
"Saturday, sir." There was a brief moment of silence as the jackal glared down at the human who seemed so eager to interupt, "With all due respect sir, Anna was-"
"If you are going to propose to me that SR-1 is making any form of progress then I would suggest that your priorities are skewed," the jackal cut him off coldly, "Perhaps it's time you take things back to square one and consider the concept of when such social pleasantries are appropriate."

"Then perhaps you can set Anna an example of your professionalism instead."
Oh.
One more figure had seemingly entered the scene, the third and final voice from the tent. A hawk it would seem, wearing a uniform not dissimilar to that worn by the human. It seemed that she'd arrived at some point during the argument, having placed a comforting arm of sorts around the apparent subject of debate;
"Only, we have an audience as it were, and I feel now is not the time for this."
The jackal simply offered a glare to the bird, before turning his gaze to Wolf and Volt;
"My apologies, however, this is-"

Aaand then he stopped talking, mouth still hanging open slightly. He simply sort of... stood, and stared, looking directly over the heads of those he was conversing with. There appeared to be a great aircraft before him - one which appeared to be depositing some sort of floppy being into the ocean.

Wolf listened to the hedgehog named Volt introduce himself a bit too eagerly. He just glances away, still listening as Volt finishes speaking and then as the bovine began to reply as well, making some sort of inquiry. But he's not really listening to her at this point.

His ears twitch as he hears some strange sound. It seemed faint and more strangely... like it was coming from somewhere above. Wolf glances skyward and sees something big apparently flying towards the island.

*What... is that?!* he wonders to himself, staring at the object as it approaches fairly quickly, seemingly headed towards the island, *And how does something that big fly?!*

He barely notes the emergence of the three individuals from the tents as he continues to watch the flying object approach, descend and then eject... something into the water.

*Oh boy... This is going to be one of those days... I'm fairly certain of it now.* he thinks, *Well... at least maybe I can be prepared for the descent when things start going downhill fairly soon...*

As the object in the air continues to hold its position, Wolf turns and glances back towards the bovine and now the three others beyond her, who appeared to be staring at the flying object in awe as well.

*Oh good... it's not just me then.* he thinks.

Andile frowned eeeeeever so slightly as he saw Tangerine begin to edge her way towards the stairs, even whilst she introduced herself. He decided she wasn't necessarily trying to be rude, but that she was simply eager to get onto the island proper. He made a mental note of her name, but didn't immediatly follow her towards the stairs.

Instead, he made his way back over to the small boat he'd arrived on, and fished out a large white lab coat. However, instead of putting it on, he began to rummage through the pockets. It took a moment, but finally he extracted a few items - One is the compass he was using earlier on, another looking to be a slightly modified laser pointer. The third and final item was a notepad, with a a pencil neatly tucked away.

Carefully, he put the compass into his pocket, before experimentally turning the laser pointer on, and directing it towards the floor. He now knew that the island definetly interfered with navigational devices, so it would be worth knowing if /all/ technology would fail him here. If it indeed worked, a tiny, concentrated beam of red light would project itself towards the docks, and would burn a tiny hole after a few moments before being turned off. If it didn't, Andile would scowl and turn it off, annoyed but unsurprised.

In either case, he slipped it carefully into his jeans pocket after switching it off.

So finally, he made his way towards the stairs! In the distance he could hear people shouting, but they were fully cut out by the time he was halfway up the stairs. His brow furrowed, and he glanced back just intime to see the airship finish it's descent, and it's passenger drop off into the water.

'...what on Mobius is this about.'

When Andile instead elected to return to his own boat, the dragon paused. She at least wasn't going to just walk off yet. However, instead of just eyeballing him the entire time he was tending to his own business, she averted her gaze to look up the stairs again. She thought she heard voices, which wasn't surprising since she had actually seen others take off that way already. Someone sounded... annoyed, though.

Tangerine's attention was drawn away by another sound approaching. She turned to look for another ship, only for a dark shape in the sky to catch her off guard instead. The reptile's eyes widened slightly and she backed up a couple of steps to observe the approaching airship. She'd never seen anything like it before, aside from in movies. As a result, it was plenty imposing to see.

She glanced towards Andile again and saw that he was heading for the stairs. After a few moments of hesitation, she began to follow the ferret. Another look over her shoulder from the base of the stairs allowed her to catch a glimpse of something--no, someone falling from an open hatch on the airship and landing amidst the gentle sea waves below. It made the orange dragon furrow her brow a bit.

'...Is that what being fashionably late is...?' she wondered silently as she spent a couple moments more watching what appeared to be a rabbit heading for shore. With a shake of her head, she turned and continued on up the stairs to see just what was going on up ahead.

Volt's eyes carefully followed the two inside the tent as their voices became more apparent. At first, the subject matter was confusing to him. He tried not to pay attention until they had mentioned Anna, in which case his interest piqued yet again. His face slowly took on a more and more frustrated look as he listened to the two talking. What was so wrong with being nice to people? He didn't speak up, though, the conversation flew by too quickly for him to have interjected... and.. and the Jackal was a little more scary to him than he'd like to admit. He just stood there and stared at them with a rather sour look, until the Hawk came over and diffused the situation altogether.

What a bunch of jerks is a thought that he would have expounded on if it weren't for the sudden change in the looks of the military group standing in front of him. Confused, he turned around a few moments after- and what he would have gotten a glimpse of most likely was the floppy being halfway through their fall out of the aircraft. 

He shuddered and stared at the water where the being had fallen in. That wasn't a person, right? It's not like there was much he could do about it, just the thought of someone having fallen into such a terrible place like the ocean... He couldn't bear to think of it any longer so he turned away to look back at the group, or rather he shifted his view to some other point on the platform with a rather uneasy look. This way, he wouldn't have to keep staring at the ocean.

After a few good twists, his ears stopped dripping too much water and merely took on a dampened appearance. Less fortunately was that his pants were still sopping wet, though there wasn't much he could do about that with an uh...
Audience.
For indeed, as he was stomping his way, wet and grumpily like a soaked cat, up the path to the higher ground, his view alerted him to quite a few people he didn't care to strip in front of.
And uh, many of them were staring right at him and his airship, which was fun. Little did they know that not even he could fly that thing properly, so stealing it was out of the question. 
Still, he was here on a particular mission, and there appeared to be a worrying set of individuals gaping at his magnificent entrance that could possibly get in his way. Those outfits... were familiar, to say the least. Many a military had been on his tail before for his less-authorized treasure-hunts, and they typically didn't sting a little when they got to him, so.... That was something to worry about.
With the raw charisma and subtly you could expect from a teenager, he cupped his hands around his mouth so he'd be heard over by the tent where the spiffy-looking government types were gawking.
"OI!" He called. "Are you guys cops?"

(Welp, now for my own apology for the delay - was sorting over some details with Whip and certain elements got somewhat sidetracked.)

Down at the dock, as Andile so eagerly tested his laser pointed, he would probably be quite delighted to find it working. There was... a little bit of flickering as it came to light, but as soon as it stablised, it seemed pretty happy to burn a little hole in the stone. Was probably for the best that he was aiming that down and not up, considering the great airship overhead.

Back up top, there was a range of expressions to take in from the small group who had based themselves here. The jackal seemed... vaguely digruntled, almost subtly annoyed at the great balloon. The human was more shocked than anything, mouth gaping wide. The hawk seemed to be more closely paying attention to Anna - Anna who was staring up in child-like wonder.
"...Wwwooowww..." she spoke up in genuine awe.

And then the rabbit arrived. And then the rabbit spoke.
"OI!" he called, "Are you guys cops?"

There was a moment of pause. A short, uncomfortable moment, before the apparent leader of the outfit dropped his gaze into a glare;
"No," 'Saturday' stated flatly, "We are Trinus Military here as part of an important military exercise."
Behind the jackal, Anna seemed to be whispering something in the ear of coated hawk. The hawk simply responded with a warm smile as the young cow turned to stare all starry-eyed towards the rabbit.

Wolf glances around taking in a bit more of the reactions and activity of those around him. Volt appeared quite uneasy after he looked back at the floating... thing, whatever it was. The people ahead of him seemed to be studying the object with varying degrees of interest and a wider range of emotion. Then the rabbit showed up from the stairway and called out to everyone present. Wolf frowns slightly in response to the rabbit's query.

*Are they cops? Really?* he thinks, *This one is clearly trouble of some sort. It's usually the trouble makers who want to know if authority figures are around...*

Then the jackal replies, drawing Wolf's attention back towards him.

*Huh... well, that's not much to be worried about. Just military forces here...* he thinks to himself.

Wolf turns and glances back towards shore.

*I wonder how disappointed the people who asked me here would be if I just left now before this gets worse...* he thinks, *Gods... I'm just going to have to hope that I can stay out of the way. I really have a bad feeling about all this...*

Wolf turns away from the group, still listening for anything else that might be said, and heads towards the left side of the platform and the broken dome structure that stood there.

*May as well start looking and taking note of things. Sooner I finish, sooner I leave.* he thinks.