Going Wild

((apologies for leaving it until the last minute, again! I promise I'll be a little quicker!))

Before Raito decided to follow along with the equine, the hyena pointed out that the other fox was pretty good looking, before making a heavy insinuation of something rather insulting towards Raito. She clenched her hand into a fist "hey, what are you trying to say?!" She shouted aggressively "he's not that much younger than me!" She continued.

The arctic fox took a deep breath, before turning away from the hyena. Before she fully disengaged herself from conversation, she made one more remark "besides, at least I'm not flirting with anyone and everyone or..." She turned her gaze to the hyena, smirking "maybe even shaking out of sheer delight when someone touches you!" She finished, her voice going squeaky and high-pitched as she mocks her.

It barely registered to Storm that the other fox and the hyena were talking about him. Maybe their words were lost in the music, maybe he was losing his other senses to how hungry he was. Either way, he drifted towards the food truck in a haze. He didn't even feel himself ordering the fries smothered in ketchup and mayonnaise. It just... happened, as if his stomach took direct control. The meal was grim solace, it would merely tide him over until he discovered the true food that he was craving in his heart of hearts.

The fries went in. His stomach growled its sarcastic appreciation as each bite seemed to settle it a little, and the fox found himself walking towards the direction that he had set out upon before in search of the golden slice. Though games of skill and colorful, hanging prizes tempted his interest, he felt inexplicably drawn... somewhere. Had he picked up on the scent? Was true food bliss merely moments away? He threw another clump of fried potatoes in his mouth. Then, he stopped dead in his tracks. Something felt... off. Storm slowly turned his head towards a particular tent. Outside, there was the strange hooded figure he had seen earlier, talking to a little girl. But the tent... something about the tent seemed... unnerving.

ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ...

A dreadful breeze seemed to blow by at that moment.

"I've seen enough movies before to know not to mess with real magic." The fox spoke out loud, licking the salt, oil, and ketchup from his fingers.

WAIT YOU FOOL! His stomach spoke up. Let's not be hasty.

"Whatchu talkin' bout, belly?" Storm patted his stomach suspiciously, clearly too delirious to care if anyone was watching.

Okay... hear me out. There is a high probability that that is a real-ass gypsy fortune teller in there, which means we might contract a werewolf curse. OR, and this is the important part... OR, she uses her gypsy fortune telling to point us to the freaking pizza stand with one-hundred percent accuracy, minus one ironic twist.

Storm stopped to think about this for a moment. Why was his stomach talking to him? More important, why did what his stomach have to say make so much sense? It was flawless logic.

"HEY! Little girl!" Storm yelled across the aisle. "What's in the tent and how can I get in on this?"

While he understood what the young kid was saying from outside, it didn't prevent the eyebrow raising in utter loss to how he would respond to that sort of comment,regardless of if she could see it or not. He hadn't exactly meant it in the sense that they needed flashy lights and majestic looking drapes, he merely pointed out the lack of space to actually be capable of doing anything other than stand or sit uncomfortably on a wooden crate. 

The teal haired male simply shrugged, not thinking much more on the matter. The kid would come in soon enough, show her 'friends' cool pretend powers that would be based completely off of how questions would be answered like the usual, then they would be on their merry way. 

Right? 

"Man, that wolf guy is persistent, ain't he?" He mumbled impatiently. He continued to hover silently in the air a few feet off the ground to appear taller to the only other occupant in the tent. "She just wants a little time from us... It's not like she's gonna send us off on a life-fulfilling mission that'll change our lives forever, is it? Let her read your palms or whatever... "

He placed his head in his right open hand in thought. "Or what if she is a crazy all powerful witch and is bent on usin' us as sacrifices to her deity to bring destruction to the land...?"

He couldn't help but chuckle a little at his own ridiculousness. 'Nah, that's just the result of watchin' too many fantasy movies, ya birdbrain.' He thought to himself, letting another quiet chortle escape him as he folded his arms loosely across his chest and continued to wait in silence. He turned to glance at Ira who had agreed with him, when suddenly he realised just how rude he had actually been to the large hybrid cat. 

"Hey, Ira? Ahm sorry about just kinda bargin' into ya and talkin' without even sayin' who ah was or anythin'." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he landed back on the ground and stuck out a hand in means of a formal handshake. "Names Zephyros Dumisa, but y'all are free to call me Zeph if it suits."

"So it seems..." Ira replied to the bird next to him. "I wonder where she is though, that friend of hers." He rested his head on his hands as he leaned on his knees. 'Come on kid, make this quick. I have a job to do here and this is only wasting my time, waiting here on a... wooden crate in a tent.' 

When the bird directed his words to Ira, the feline sat up straight and listened to his somewhat nervous talking. "It's fine, yo! It's not like I thought I'd run into you again anyways hahaha." He took the hand and shook it rather firmly before letting go again and returning to his original position and sighing slightly. 

A few minutes passed and the hybrid listened to the quirrel and arguing of the kid and the wolf outside the tent until a new voice introduced itself. It appeared to be a male. It also appeared to be very excited to be in the tent. "Heh, he's going to get such a disappointment when he gets here." he said and chuckled lightly.

Well, things changed… quickly here, huh? Esme couldn’t help but stare at Raito as she began her rants and ravings, her cocky smirk seeming almost cemented to her face. Did they really think…? Oh gods they did. Before she really knew it, Esme found herself laughing out loud, with more gusto than she probably should have considering she soon raises a hand to wipe away tears.

‘oh my lords.’ Esme exclaimed, tilting her head and grinning at the scowling fox ‘You are such a drama queen! I was talkin’ about him bein’ an IT nerd you fuckin’ idiot. He looks like a fuckin’ dork! That’s what I was getting’ at, not your weird… age gap or whatever it is your think I was talkin’ about.’ Her grin just sorta grew, before she doubled over with laughter. ‘Oh my lords what even… Why would I even be mockin’ you here? Why, do you think I think it’s bad to like someone? Girl, please.’

With great difficulty, considering she was partly bent over from laughter, Esme moved to follow the horse. She glanced back over her shoulder over towards the outraged fox, before adding ‘And perhaps it’s the fact I was caught off guard by the hand on my shoulder? And even if it was delight, why would that be a problem, hm?’ she said, mockery lacing her voice. She paused, her lips pursing slightly, before adding ‘And at least I’m not the one smitten by the first guy to take a photo of me~’ Which… probably would have been rude enough, but she’d somehow managed to shift her voice to mimic the exact same high pitched squeak Raito had used.
Mortals were such amusing creatures.

The wolf listens to the kid's reply, before she returns her focus to him.

"Wait... so they're just sitting inside there and waiting for someone to show up?" he asks, "I'm not sure I have m..."

The wolf stops speaking again as a voice shouts out from nearby. It's enough to startle him, breaking his train of thought and getting him to turn towards the source of the voice. He sees a fox only a short distance away, on the opposite side of the walkway from where he was. He was looking in his and the kid's direction.

He'd tensed up as he'd turned. Now seeing that it was just someone look for information, he relaxes a bit once more. He looks back towards the kid.

*And just think... she was mentioning something about me being scared...* he thinks to himself, *And I almost jumped at a loud noise...*

He sighs softly and closes his eyes as he gathers himself.

*I don't do well with crowds...*

The equine's ears perked up at something of an altercation behind her. Upon glancing back over one shoulder, she was quite surprised to suddenly find Raito yelling and hollering at Esme one moment, then being smug the next, then mocking her after. Rather than yell back, Esme had only started to laugh, perhaps a little bit too much, and make her own clearly mocking reply. People were certainly staring, probably hoping for a cat fight.

'...Is that offensive? To call it a cat fight when there's no cats involved?' the horse found herself wondering, 'Maybe I should never use that term out loud.'

Venus very much felt like she was missing something, but it did seem to revolve around the other fox that... that had totally disappeared, wow. Perhaps if she just kept walking, things would resolve on their own.

With that thought in mind and another swish of her long tail, the Clydesdale continued to walk on away from this now even louder area. She walked a little slower to give opportunity for anyone to catch up, but was making it plenty clear she didn't want any part in the situation.

-

As the wolf started to ask a question and then continue to try and evade being urged into the tent, the young goat looked on. The interest on her face was starting to wane a bit, but it's not like there was anyone else nearby and just two victims people wouldn't suffice. Her eyes wandered as movement of someone else appearing caught her attention. A fox, from the looks of it, eating and... talking to.. someone..? Although she looked back at the wolf, the fox was yelling in their direction a couple of moments later, drawing both their gazes.

The fawn didn't hesitate to respond, gesturing back to the tent. "My friend on the other side can answer the questions you have! There is nothing she does not know! Come see!" she replied.

Casting another glance up at the wolf, who seemed to be trying to calm himself, the kid raised one hand, then paused for a moment, as though bracing herself. She then took a light hold of the wolf's cloak, giving it a brief tug before letting go.

"You will not die, nervous wolf. Go and see that I'm right."





((Side note! Additional research has pointed out to me that the young of this child's mysterious species are referred to as 'fawns', hence my shift in terms. However, I'll keep using both terms regardless because hahahaha talking animals and besides nobody knows what she is yet.))

Raito stood there, open-jawed at the sheer cheek of the hyena that stood before her. Her eye appeared to twitch as anger rose within her. Not only had she basically been called a nerd, she had also been openly mocked about her admiring a guy's looks. She clenched her hand into a fist "who are you to talk?!" She yelled "standing there, flirting and winking and making suggestive comments the moment you see anything that walks and talks! You... You..." She raised a finger to Esme, visibly shaking in frustration. Soon, she sighed, walking back towards Venus "asshole," Raito muttered under her breath as she walked.

With a clap of his hands, and the eager rubbing of his palms, the fox swept over to the tent, a gleam in his eyes, and not nearly enough food in his belly.

"SWEET!" The fox yelped as he passed between the... uhm... girl, and the hooded... OH! Dog! He was a dog of some kind. He smiled broadly at the two, before realizing that his presence was interrupting some sort of previous conversation. An awkward moment of silence passed before he slinked into the tent. 

And what a tent it was! Actually, it was rather sparse to say the least. Save for the blue bird and the big cat, all there was to offer were a few miscellaneous bits of stuff going relatively unused. He glimpsed over to the other two members of the slowly growing party, his facial expression a little confused at the situation.

"I mean... I'm sure she's just getting ready to appear in a flash of light and a puff of smoke to answer all of our questions. That seems reasonable, right?" He let the question hang in front of the new faces already in the tent.

The sudden barging in of the foxy newcomer caused Zephyros to raise an eyebrow in curiosity. The girl has been able to get someone else to sit it here while she tried to convince the other guy? And he seemed so eager too. 

"Hey to y'all too," he quipped as he took a rather large mouthful of the blue cotton candy he completely forgot about. "You're into this mumbo jumbo heebie jeebie stuff too?"

He took a peek outside the tent for a moment to see the small fawn and the other male still conversing, but the stranger looked to be on edge. Had the arrival of the fox guy spooked him? He let out a quiet chuckle to himself. He turned back around and noded to nobody in particular as he continued to munch away at the sugary fluff in his hands. 

"If things don't get movin' soon, imma have to leave y'all. Ah got a job to do, regardless of how borin' as hell it is. Ah give it 'till ah finish this here candy then ahm hittin' the road outta here." 

It was really nothing against anyone around, but if he was not seen in a certain amount of time then he would be in it deep with the seargant back at the station. He inwardly shuddered at the thought of having to help out with clean ups in the overnight cells. He swore he could still smell the urine of the delinquents who defaced their cells to get a rise out of his fellow officers for a week after his last mess up.

At the arrival of the fox, Ira just... sat there and watched as he nearly stormed into the tent. "Uhh.. I suppose? I guess we'll just have to see." He shrugged and stretched. 

"I just don't have a lot of time either. I'm here for work as well, y'see? Oh, wait, Zephyros, you do know hahah." He scratched the back of his head and turned to the fox. "Sooo.. what brings you here? I mean, that girl didn't exactly approach you or anything, you just kind of burst into here." 

Was that rude? That probably was. Ah well. Next time's a new chance and if the vulpine didn't like him, so be it. He wouldn't see the fox after this anyways.

In comparison to the slack-jawed Raito, Esme seemed… thrilled. She paused and looked back over her shoulder, her pinky-purple hair drifting slightly at the motion. Her sharp smile twitched slightly at her accusation, giving a small shrug of the shoulders, ‘You’re an idiot. You’re actin’ like I’m sayin’ there’s anythin’ wrong with stuff like that. Flirt all you want, crush on who you want. Doesn’t matter to me, does it? I’m just sayin’, he’s not necessarily my type.’ She paused, before gesturing towards the back of the retreating horse ‘I’d rather have someone like her to talk to, you know?’
 
And with that, she moved to follow again! Although, notably, her stride takes her so she’s just a little bit behind the pair. Her gaze wandered from place to place as she quietly noted the stalls and tents, her mind briefly wondering if the horse had anywhere in mind. After a moment, she piped up with ‘Hey, how about over there?’ she gestured to a distant tent, where a wolf and a… hooded figure? Were talking. ‘Pretty sure I just saw your boyfriend go in as well,’ she added, grinning over to Raito ‘might be you actually get to talk to him this time, huh~?’

The wolf glances up after the kid tugs on his cloak and a few moments later a fox goes right past him and straight into the tent. The wolf glances after him, then looks back to the kid.

"Perhaps not... but things seem a bit busy for you now, and... really the only question I have right now is one I can answer on my own." he says.

He reaches down to take hold of his bag with one paw, keeping it inside his cloak.

"Perhaps another time... when I feel more settled." he adds.

With that, he turns and starts to move away.

The fawn's head turned slightly as she could hear the conversation behind her. She was going to lose a couple of people if she didn't get things rolling soon. And now the wolf was ready to make his leave. The bovine shook her head just slightly.

"You are missing your opportunity. There is no other time but now," she pointed out. But she had little need for someone so jumpy and nervous. She needed people who were more bold and eager. And right on cue, there were three more people rounding a corner not too far off!

Without awaiting a reply from the wolf, she looked to the Clydesdale, arctic fox, and hyena. One little hand raised up to wave and gesture them over. "Come this way!" she urged, "I know what you need!"

-

The argument behind her still wasn't quite dying down. Venus' ears were starting to lean back as it was getting a bit ridiculous. Her strides became a little longer, looking to cover more distance faster without wholly looking like she was trying to escape the disagreeing pair.

Eventually, though, Esme pointed out a tent where a young girl seemed to be talking to a mysterious-looking person in a cloak. As soon as they came into view, the goat child set her gaze on them, too. Venus' ears leaned forward with some curiosity as they were an odd pair. The fawn's clothes seemed... dated. Perhaps like clothing that would have been more commonplace maybe a decade ago? And the person in the cloak, well, how many people nowadays really wear cloaks? Especially in such nice weather! All she could really see of them was a light-colored canine-like muzzle so it was hard to determine a species. Either way, considering they'd just picked up something off the ground and were turning away, it looked as though they were leaving.

Ignoring Esme's attempt to keep on poking fun at Raito, the horse began to make her way over. She wasn't just going to ignore a child that was calling out to them after all and she was rather curious as to what this little fawn believed that they all needed.



((Sorry for the little wait, folks, went out of town unexpectedly for family reasons.))

((sorry for the late reply, been busy decorating!))

After listening to the hyena continue to aggravate the poor fox, Raito turned around and started walking backwards "well, if that's what you meant, then maybe you should talk like a normal person! Or, you know, you could think about what others may think when you say certain things? But no, clearly you don't think about that, do you?!"

With a grunt of disgust, Raito turned away, and sped up to catch up with Venus. As she did so, she shouted back "I'm done talking to you." A rather childish remark, yes, but that's the level of maturity Raito felt this hyena deserved.In her irritation, she completely missed Esme pointing out the tent with two rather suspicious-looking individuals outside of it, however, when one of them called her out, her interest was piqued.

One of them was a young fawn, dressed in dated clothes. Her manner of speaking was also quite odd. Seeing a young girl speaking like that was jarring, to say the least. Either way, Raito continued striding towards her, almost ignoring the canine in a cloak. "Oh, yeah? What is it I need, sweetheart?" She asked, sounding... Skeptical, to say the least.

The fox's eye twinkled a little bit at the bird's dismissal of the situation.

"Ah yes. These things are mostly stage acts done by charlatans and hacks to be sure. But don't forget that we still live in a world where the magic is real." The fox grinned ominously, his shadow momentarily seeming to loom at the mere mention of the supernatural. But only for a moment, as his stomach once again groaned its protest, pulling him back to reality.  "I mean... eventually you're going to run into a real-ass gypsy fortune teller if you go to enough of these things, right?"


"Sooo.. what brings you here?" The big cat nonchalantly turned to the fox, posing his question. "I mean, that girl didn't exactly approach you or anything, you just kind of burst into here."

Storm opened his mouth to respond, but decided the truth was... a bit to short-sighted and impulsive. He rubbed his chin contemplating how he was going to dress up the answer.

"I'm here because... because..." His stomach grumbled loudly, silencing him and demanding the attention of those in the tent.

 "Let's just leave it that I have my reasons, and they are certainly profound, thought provoking, and quite introspective."

The fox rambled a little bit on about how it was basically an eventual case that a real gypsy or magic caster would appear at one of these shin-digs and, poof! Do something just for some extra cash? The midnight bird was skeptical to say the least. But hey, whatever floated the fox guys boat and helped him sleep at night. 

The loud stomach belobing to the very same male decided to release the true reason on why he had just basically exploded into the tent. He thought there was food here. Zephyros looked down to his own blue edible fluff and raised an eyebrow as he trailed his gaze back to the random vulpine. "Uhhh, don' wanna be the bearer of bad news but this ain't no food stall. Unless what you seek is actually a giant pizza or whatever, but that's not my business."

Zephy hovered in the air as he heard more voices in the distance and slowly approaching. The familiar voice of the little girl called out to said voices, beckoning them to come into this tent as well. Just how many was she planning on trying to get into her clutches? 

The mumbled tone of the other Mobian who was still getting harassed by the young female sounded quite final all of a sudden and Zephyros heard his last sentence before light footsteps indicated he was beginning to leave the area. "Uh-oh, looks like she lost one of us, heh."

After the fox had finished his small speech about the magicians and charlatans, and after he had answered Ira's own question, the big cat laughed at the fox for his stomach was growling loudly and shrugged. "I don't know, bro. Like I said, we'll have to wait I guess."

Ira watched as Zephyros flew into the air for as far it was possible to fly in the tent. The feline followed him with his eyes as the blue man hovered in the air and was seemingly listening to the other people outside. Apparently the girl was calling over even more people? Was three or four not enough for her? Ira stood up and made his was to the exit of the tent where he peeked around the flaps of the doorway and let his gaze rest upon the five people that were now gathering in front of it. 

The first thing, or well, person, he noticed was the tall equine, about as tall as himself actually. 'Finally someone I can properly talk to.' he thought to himself. The dark red cat found himself sighing and stopped staring at the horse. Admittedly, she was pretty, yes. However, there were more people to inspect. Close to the girl there were two other girls who seemed to be in a bit of a quirrel. 'Typical, girls.' Ira laughed silently and let his gaze move over all three of them, the fox, the hyena and the horse, before looking at the child and the wolf. "Hey, kid, how long do I have to wait until this friend of yours arrives? I really need to get going soon or else I'll be in trouble, just so you know. You wouldn't want that, would you now?" 

As Raito stalked away, Esme merely smirked at her back. Without a thought, she crossed her arms across her chest and called out ‘of course I care about other people. Just not people like you, who seem to think you’re oh so high and fuckin’ mighty… and ha! Pull the other leg. If you were done talkin’ with me, you wouldn’t make a point of tellin’ me that.’ And with that, she stuck her tongue out and waggled it a bit, like the woman-child she was.
 
Then she heard one of the figures up a head calling out to them. She glanced over to the fawn, an eyebrow arching as they proclaimed to know what she needed. Well, that would be something special, she thought to herself. After all, she didn’t know what she wanted… well ok, that’s not true. She knew full well she wanted to keep poking fun at Raito, so she quietly muttered ‘some common sense knocked into you’ following the foxes own response, then adding more loudly ‘Well, you’ll never know standin’ out here, will you? Ah, come on! What’s the harm in listenin’ to someone ramble on, hm? You’ve already proven yourself apt at it~’ She paused, before skipping ahead of the pair, turning mid stride so she was facing the Venus and the Fox and walking backwards.
 
‘Come on, what could possibly go wrong?’

The wolf pauses at the kid addresses him one more time. He glances back at her.

"Well then, my apologies for wasting your time." he says.

He turns away and starts to walk off again as an arctic fox and a hyena, who really stood out with all the pink on her, were both were heading over to the tent. He couldn't help but stare at the hyena for a few moments as he walks away. Then when he turns his head to look back where he was going, he comes to an abrupt halt as he was just about to walk into a tall equine who was also heading towards the tent as well. He quickly backs away a couple of steps and then glances up towards the face of this woman who towered over him.

"Oh! Excuse me miss." he says, "I should have been watching where I was going."

((Hey, guys! You may have already seen it, but I've posted an important update in the plot thread for the rp. If you haven't had a read through it, click here to check it out as it concerns a new way that we'll handle the post order and also a new time limit for how long we each have to make our posts! These changes are effective starting now, so make sure to get familiar with them so you don't end up lost and confused!))


The goat child only briefly gave the wolf one last glance before turning her attention up to the white-furred fox now approaching. Before she could answer, the hyena also piped in with a response of her own. Despite the tension between the two, the young bovine didn't particularly seem fazed by it. In fact, once Esme had finished talking, she was ready to keep to her own task.

Not missing a beat, the fawn again looked to Raito. "It's my friend! She knows the answer." She gestured with one hand to the tent behind her. "She is on the other side. Go and she will tell you what you need to know."

Before she could expand further on her little spiel, the liger, who had begun to peer out of the tent, directed a question to her. Her head turned and she settled the gaze of her dark eyes on him. "If these join us, she will come," the fawn replied.


Venus did her best to just smile at Raito and Esme even as they kept at it while they approached the tent seemingly 'guarded' by its young speaker. She didn't yet say anything, however, as Raito about asked the same thing she was thinking, even if in a dryer tone than the equine may have used.

As they came up to the tent, she also spotted a dark red-furred feline looking out towards them. Hadn't she seen him earlier...? Oh, she'd seen so many faces in the last while, it was getting harder to place them now.

Almost on cue, as she was drawing closer to the cloaked figure to move past him, he stepped forward, clearly not having seen her while he was rather ogling her two companions. He had to look way up to meet her gaze, but she offered a friendly smile in return. "Not a worry!" she replied, "I think I kinda snuck up... on.. you." Her words trailed off a bit as she looked at this wolf and her brow furrowed a bit as some sort of recognition seemed to wash over her. She felt certain she'd seen him somewhere before today... But where?

Rather than just stand there and stare at the canine, she shook her head a bit and her smile returned to her muzzle, although perhaps with a little more uncertainty this time. "Sorry," she admitted, somewhat flustered by her distraction, "Your face is just really familiar to me for some reason. Have... we met?"

((Out of Turn! Responding to Foreva/Zephyros))


The fox narrowed his eyes a bit at the bird's response. That was a little too on-the-nose.

"What, are you the fortune-teller or something? Because if you are... where is that pizza stall?"

((Ooc: response to Storm! ))

The response wasn't exactly what the midnight avian was expecting. He couldn't help but laugh out loud at how ironic the mere statement was. 

"Dude, I didn't mean anything serious to ya, yer belly gave away you were hungry and pizzas are the one thing I ain't seen 'round here so far, heh."

Before replying to the young fawn, Raito shook in anger, and growled before turning back to Esme and screamed "shut your fuckin' trap!" Almost immediately, she realised that she was standing in front of a child, so she covered her mouth. "Um... So! Uh... You say it's your friend?" She said, trying her best to change the subject.

Before the fawn answered, Esme had skipped ahead, continuing to mock the fox. She gritted her teeth, grinding them back and forth, before changing her entire demeanour, smiling at the child "okay, sweetie, I'll go see your friend," she said, walking past Esme and into the tent "my boot up your ass, that's what could go wrong," she muttered as she passed the hyena.

( OOC: Interrupt! Dialogue with Froshana. )

The wolf inclines his head slightly as he watches the equine. He's a bit surprised by her statement of recognition.

"I'm... pretty sure we've never met." he replies, "I'd have remembered someone like you. Not too often I have to look way up to meet someone's gaze."

He smiles slightly.

"I'm sure I just look like someone else you're thinking of Miss." he adds.