W4 CYOA - Lucas, Maomao, Neverah, Uruha

[holyspirits]

make your own memes actually

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[kumeyuri]

[despite the hamham jokes, uruha is actually... a cat! waow. he looks down at himself.]

—Huh!?

[faithkept]

[CATHA JUST ISN'T THE SAME AS HAMHA. Lucas is a dog because of course he is, just looking down at himself and then looking over at Uruha who is now a cat and then back down at himself again, and then out toward the buildings where a bunch of other furries are wandering around.]

...I see! [HE REALLY DOESN'T.] You're looking very charming, Uruha, dear.

[holyspirits]

[ catdog... i see...

The animals milling around are looking curiously and maybe a little warily in their direction as they talk, but no one approaches them. The closest building seems to be a tavern going by the sign announcing as much, though they're free to explore further into the village if they wish. To leave entirely, they'd have to go through the forest, and that one might be a little more problematic. ]

[kumeyuri]

[we're natural enemies...

uruha points at lucas.]

Why are we animals!? And where are we?

[forces aki to decide where we're going.]

[faithkept]

[THIS ICON HELP ME... ALSO WHY ARE THEY GETTING WARY LOOKS, THEY'RE NOT NAKED, DAMN.

Anyway, despite being natural enemies, Lucas will hold a paw (literal) out for Uruha. Buddy system.]

I don't know, but we really must be getting back home... Let's not spend overly-long here. [Surely once they leave this place they will be de-animaled, he's not worrying about it too much! It's fine!

Whether Uruha takes his paw or leaves him tragically bereft, he'll glance around and then move in the direction of the tavern. He won't bother anyone else just yet and also isn't reckless enough to just careen off into the woods...]

[holyspirits]

[ Imagine what kind of looks they'd get if they were naked!

When they go in, the tavern is pretty empty. It did seem to be sometime in the afternoon going by how much sun was outside, so it at least looks like this is not a village of drunks. That's good. There's a bear (literal) behind the counter, wearing an apron and stereotypically drying a mug with a cloth. Across from him is a bird (literal, no british women here) sitting there, enjoying a plate of tasty looking bird seed. Then there's a wolf person sitting at a corner table and drinking what looks like grape juice by themselves. They all glance at the new arrivals, but don't seem too concerned with greetings...

It's a nice looking place despite the emptiness. Clean and nicely lit up through the windows, with a nice homey atmosphere and sturdy wooden furniture. There's wooden decorations on the walls as well as some tapestries. ]

[kumeyuri]

[he will take lucas's paw (literal)... though he drops it once they arrive at their destination, sorry.

he looks around the tavern, before he whispers to lucas.]

What should we do? Try talking to someone? Order something first so we don't look like weirdos?

[faithkept]

[you would abandon him like this....... No it's fine, he will let this happen, looking around the tavern himself. People aren't day drinkers here... That's wild. Can't relate at all. Whispering back:]

Do you have any money... [His pockets are so empty unless zia is about to tell me they aren't........] Why don't we just ask the bartender how to get back home? I don't want to interrupt anyone while they're eating.

[holyspirits]

[ no, unfortunately your pockets are currently empty. Whatever secrets they may have held at home(heaven?) are gone. You can head towards the bartender, though the bear is not looking at either of you as he continues to wipe. ]

Gentlemen. What can I do for you?

[ at least he's willing to serve them? probably? ]

[kumeyuri]

[tries to figure out what to ask without sounding insane, even though uruha feels insane because he and lucas are sudden furries surrounded by furries. is this racist against jiaoqiu and the magnus brothers?]

We're looking to travel outside the village. [gestures to lucas and himself.] Do you know if they have any maps around here?

[faithkept]

[Lucas is just vibing, not thinking about them suddenly being furries surrounded by furries because life is simply easier that way. Even Jiaoqiu and the Magnus brothers aren't as furry as they are... They've out-furried the fucking furries.]

If you might know of a place where we could trade for traveling supplies, as well...

[THEIR LACK OF MONEY.]

[holyspirits]

[ this time, the bear does look up. For some reason, he has a curly mustache. You don't think bears (literal) usually have mustaches. Bears (gay) often do, though. Not that either of your characters know gay culture.

He also has very strong eyebrows, one of which he is raising. ]

You're not from here and you're already looking to leave?

[ maybe this explains the wary looks! wow! the bear shakes his head despite starting it like that, voice gruff. ]

You should go back the way you came. There's a reason we don't get a lot of visitors these days.

[kumeyuri]

[all right that's it for furry icons. anyway, uruha assumes he means the forest, but.]

What reason is that?

[faithkept]

[NOT YOUR FURRY ICONS COMING TO AN END why did you have so many damn. Anyway he is just eying this bear's suave facial hair and maybe wondering how animals can have facial hair when all of them is hair. But they also have hair don't they?? Hair on their fur???? Well that's enough of thinking about that.]

Is it that easy to tell?

[That they're from out of town... THEY'RE JUST SUDDENLY APPEARING OUTSIDERS.]

[holyspirits]

[ They are not bald ... or are they... a mystery. ]

A village of this size, everyone knows everyone. It makes it easy to recognize travelers. [ he turns around to do some more busy work around the bar, though he keeps talking as he goes ] We used to get them often enough. People liked to visit the shrine at the top of the mountain. For luck. But these days, even us locals can't make it. They say there's monsters roaming there now.

We've had to bury enough people. We've stopped all search parties.

[kumeyuri]

The mountain... is that through the forest?

[he looks at lucas like hm.]

[faithkept]

[DON'T JUST MAKE THEM SCHRODINGER'S BALD.

But he's looking back to Uruha like "oh????" OH??? MONSTERS IN THE MOUNTAINS? He's also just like are we people like this but it's fine it's fine.]

People die on the way up there, then...? Or the way back? I assume the word must have spread beyond this town, if others are reluctant to come here.

[holyspirits]

[ For the record because I somehow erased my own meta about this last comment, there was the top of a mountain visible beyond the forest when they were outside, though they weren't looking too hard at the forest back then so I didn't mention it. ]

On the way there. No one's made it to the shrine since. [ the bear turns back to them with a low grumble in his voice that sounds a bit like a bear growl ] The bodies we did recover were mangled enough, word spread around. Everyone's worried we'll have to evacuate soon. I think the mayor's waiting to see if those last travelers ever make it back first.

[kumeyuri]

[ARE WE PEOPLE LIKE THIS]

Do you have a description of the last travelers?

[it's going to turn out they're not important so zia will kill me for asking this.]

[faithkept]

[are we people or are we dancer...

NOT THE MANGLED BODIES. There is a look of faint concern, but he'll look over to Uruha and then back to the bartender, also adding:]

How long has this been going on for, exactly? And how many have perished...?

[holyspirits]

[ there's an appraising look towards the racist uhura who doesn't believe in animal rights in meta ]

One of them was a young girl. She seemed sickly... And she looked sort of like you. [ nodding towards lucas. oh so it was a young dog! of course. ] We wouldn't have let her go, but she was accompanied by a swordsman. Said he was a master swordsmith... something about having a son, too? Maybe that's why he was helping her along so she could reach the shrine. It's an old legend. Anyone who reaches the shrine and rings the bell can be cured of any ailment.

[ he says this like he does believe in it even though he called it an old legend ]

We've only recovered four bodies, but over a dozen people are missing by now.

[kumeyuri]

[I WAS REPEATING AKI'S META. IT'S LUCAS WHO'S RACIST NOT URUHA

he looks at lucas with increasing concern because hm. he doesn't like this description. not at all. turning back to the bartender with more urgency—]

Do you know the identities of the four?

[faithkept]

[no uruha's the racist now, bear this burden

BUT WOW SAME! The way he is so immediately alarmed to hear this even though it makes no sense for Nadia to be a young dog going up the mountain with a master swordsmith who has a son in this village he's never been to before. Fortunately, he is insane and doesn't think perfectly clearly even on his best days.]

How long have those two been missing?

[holyspirits]

[ well we already knew lucas was racist, what was the point of mentioning it in meta

The bear fills up a glass with Grape Juice (tm) and hands it off to the wolf, who has stood up to come grab another drink and gone back to sit down while they were having Concerns. ]

To be honest... We identified two of them from what was left of their clothes, but only because they were villagers here. We're not sure who the other two are. There wasn't much left to identify of those visitors. [ grimly. while being a cute furry bear. ] Those two were recent, they left maybe a day or so ago. It takes about that time to go all the way up the mountain and back if you rush it.

[kumeyuri]

[GROWING INCREASINGLY RESTLESS]

... Is there anywhere we can get our hands on some kind of weapon? [uruha might be arrested for asking this but it's fine.] We'll be looking for those travelers ourselves, and we'll need to be able to deal with any possible monsters.

[just assigns this to lucas too but he doesn't doubt lucas is thinking the same thing.]