[Axey]

A few days after being transported into this new world, Axey decided to explore the outskirts of Romalia where he could use song skills to then try to imitate what his body did, and search for materials he could use to craft potions with, mainly herbs.
I guess I should consider myself lucky I picked Bard. If I had been any other class I'd have to learn stuff the hard way.
With the 3 songs I have I should be able to keep singing for long periods of time if I use the Adagio tempo thanks to the boost it gives to Mana regeneration. That's also the more defense-oriented one, which will be useful if I get ambushed.

Thinking that, Axey tuned his lute and tried to remember a slow, calm song he knew. A bit childish but I guess lullabies could work.

"Au clair de la-" he said, before interrupting the skill. NO, I'm not gonna sing clair de lune, there's no way I can't think of another one... oh, that one works!
Once the cooldown for Minnesong of the White Maiden reset he tried again.
"A la claire fontaine,
M'en allant promener,
J'ai trouvé l'eau si belle que je m'y suis baigné
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime jamais je ne t'oublierais"
Much better.
The song continued on as he kept chaining the song skills, paying close attention to which muscles were moving and by how much, putting his medical knowledge to practice. After a while he noticed something and paused for a bit. Wait you're supposed to use the temporalis to speak? The fuck? The other ones make sense, they're in the mouth or throat, but what the fuck does the goddamn temple have to do with the voice, huh? Why does talking need you to use your temple? That doesn't make any goddamn sense! while thinking that, he noticed he had never left the voice chat with Atlas.
"Hey, Atlas, are you there?"
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Do you know why talking needs you to use your temple of all things? The temple is nowhere near the mouth or thoat, how the fuck does it affect speech?
"I... holy shit I never even realized it does."
"I KNOW RIGHT?"
After talking about it for a little bit with Atlas, Axey gave up trying to understand and just accepted it before getting back to his songs and exploring while training his voice. And searching for herbs. Is this mint? Oh my god it totally is!
Lucky for him, most animals seemed to be either wary of adventurers and ran away on sight or friendly. Before he realized it he noticed he had strayed pretty far from Romalia and he decided to rest sitting on a fallen tree for a bit before heading back.

While resting and playing a calm, gentle tune on his lute, he heard some rustling in the bushes nearby and turned his attention to it without stopping his song, ready to switch to Presto to boost his speed and run away if something dangerous came out. Much to his relief, what came out of the bushes wasn't an animal. Much to his surprise, it was a human. A kid, to be exact. Seeing that he relaxed a little and lowered his guard.
"Hello there. Are you lost?" he tried to say in a friendly tone, trying to mimick the way Ellie spoke. His voice still had some pretty bad voice cracks, but not nearly as bad as it had been mere hours ago.
His clothes look... 'primitive' I guess is the right word. And he looks more curious than scared...
"My name ish Axey." he said, pointing at himself as he said his name."What's yours?" his voice cracking at the end, although not nearly as bad as it did mere hours ago.
He tried to stand up but stopped mid-way and sat back down when he saw the boy take step back the moment he started moving. Looks like he's wary of me. I should be careful not to make any sudden movements.

---

Word count: 683
Total word count: 683
Tags: Celeste
Notes: does Atlas get XP for briefly appearing in this post?

Axey color: 9b19e6

[Celeste]

Celeste rubbed his eyes, yawning as the sun slowly rose above the treetops. He stretched toward the sky lightly moaning as joints all over his body made popping sounds. Moisture from the night before still laid across the forest, making the entire scenery glow slightly. He looked around him, viewing a quiet open area, with little vegetation, giving him a great overview of everything around him. He knew these woods like the back of his hand, and very rarely ever left them. He knew all the sweet spots. Where the greatest amount of fruit grew, where the breeding grounds of most creatures were, where the most tranquil lakes laid, all of it.

His stomach made a slight growl, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since noon the day before.
Longjumper. Today we eat Longjumper, He thought and started preparing for yet another hunt. He had collected patches of fur from various animals he had previously taken down. A short, sharp whistle escaped through his lips, and a canine reaching the lower parts of his chest appeared beside him. He took a patch of rabbit out and placed it down toward the hound dog. It immediately knew what Celeste meant by this and lowered its head toward the patch of fur.
*Sniff sniff*. The canine smelled the patch for a good 5 seconds before raising its head slightly, indicating it was ready. Celeste packed away the fur and got onto the back of the canine.

The dog’s snout had been in the forest floor for quite some time when its head rose and it snorted noiselessly to tell Celeste that their target was right up front. Celeste clapped the side of the canine, and it slowly disappeared. Or, rather, it vanished, but a bow showed up in Celeste’s hands instead, together with a couple of spike-like arrows. He picked up the arrows, crouched down, and started to move forward.
*Chirp*. Celeste called upon another of his familiars. A large golden parrot flapped its wings and slowly descended until it landed on his shoulder.
’Forward. Longjumper. Hover above, I will kill.’ As if telepathically sending a message to the parrot, he glanced at it, then faced forward and nodded gently in the direction the canine pointed towards. And as if the parrot understood him, it rose slightly, before gliding forward. Celeste stayed in place, crouched down and ready to fire the bow. Suddenly his body jerked slightly, as his eyes turned the same color as the parrot’s feathers. His vision was no longer that of his own, but rather that of the parrot’s. It had found the rabbit, and now showed Celeste where it was. The parrot looked around the area before again focussing on the rabbit to give Celeste the precise position of it. Celeste noted all the different marks, before blinking a couple of times. His eyes regained their original color, and he saw everything from his own perspective yet again. He stretched the string of the bow and took aim. His breathing slowed in a steady rhythm as his pupils shrunk slightly. He held his breath and released the arrow toward the rabbit, who was still, to this point, unaware of his presence.
*Whoosh*. The arrow shot toward the rabbit. However,
*Thunk*... The arrow missed. It hit the tree trunk right behind the rabbit.

The rabbit jumped in pure shock and started sprinting away. Celeste quickly grabbed another arrow and shot wildly, missing by a couple of centimeters to the left. He grunted, clearly annoyed and dissatisfied, and commanded the parrot.
’Follow,’ before the canine reappeared. It looked at him as if waiting for him to tell it what to do.
’Catch,’ he commanded and jumped onto its back once again before it darted in the direction of the bird.

Celeste’s group quickly closed in on the rabbit, which was fleeing for its life. Celeste had a clear view of the rabbit and could follow its every move with the help of the parrot and the weird ability to share its perspective. The rabbit seemed to lose speed, slowly but surely. It seemed as if the hunt was about to reach its endpoint. After another couple of minutes, the rabbit seemed to jump slightly lower than at the start. It jumped forward and found its way toward a hole in the ground. Unfortunately, at the last jump, it launched right into a large root which stuck up from the ground close to a large tree. It knocked itself completely empty for air and squirmed whilst laying on the ground. The canine immediately saw its opportunity to take the rabbit down and launched toward the rabbit. Its jaw was just about to close around the body of the rabbit when;
’Mine,’ Celeste commanded and reprimanded the dog. The canine stopped immediately and retreated a bit before vanishing once again. In Celeste’s hands, a bony hatchet appeared. He saw the rabbit squirming, and quickly approached it, knowing that once it got back up on its feet, he would have little chance of catching it.

Celeste subdued the rabbit by putting a knee on its body, and a hand on the side of its head. He raised his hatchet and got ready to swing it down, decapitating the rabbit. However, just as he was about to swing, strange noises appeared from somewhere close by. Distracted by the sounds, Celeste forgot to swing and looked toward in the direction the sounds came from. However, in Celeste’s moment of absent-mindedness, the rabbit regained control over its body, and quickly bit down at Celeste’s hand. Being snapped out of his absent-mindedness, Celeste retracted his hand in pain and lifted his leg in shock. The rabbit quickly got up and bolted away as fast as possible, sprinting toward the hole. Celeste roared and threw the hatchet at the rabbit. Unfortunately for him, he missed. Again.

Annoyed about losing a secured meal, he struck the tree trunk in anger and scoffed as he looked the way the sounds came from and still came from. If it hadn’t been for these unknown sounds, he would have a meal on his hands, but now he had to hunt another animal if he could find one. Both the parrot and dog disappeared into a grimoire attached to his back. When they appeared and disappeared, it was as if they spawned out of this book. Looking around, he saw that no other creatures were around, and sighed disappointedly.

The strange sounds still sounded from around half a kilometer away. Celeste raised his head and looked in the direction of the sounds with ears perked up. He walked toward the sounds, silently maneuvering through the vegetation at the forest bed. As he got closer, he crouched down, just in case.

He came to a small open area, with a couple of bushes trees around. Celeste looked toward one of the trees, where the sounds came from. He tilted his head, looking at a creature he had never seen before. It was about the same size as Celeste, but it was bright pink in color, just as some of the fish in the lake. But it had pelt covering it just as Celeste had. However, its pelt was clearly prettier. He was probably a master hunter to get such pretty pelt from a prey. Celeste couldn’t completely figure out what this creature was. It looked a little like a fish, but it was clearly not in the water, so it couldn’t be.
Lakeswimmer on ground? Lakeswimmer with legs... Celeste couldn’t really understand what happened.

It was this creature that made the sounds. However, these weren’t sounds he had heard any other animal make before. And it carried a sort of weapon. However, the weapon also made sounds. This fascinating creature seemed to sing. Sing like the birds. However, the sounds were much weirder. They didn’t sound very pleasant at all. His curiosity and caution were at war right now. His instincts told him to be careful, considering he didn’t know what this creature was, and his curiosity told him to figure out what it was doing. He observed this creature for a little while before his curiosity got the better of him. He just had to find out what this was.

He walked through the bushes in a half-crouched manner, ready to retreat as soon as something bad happened. The creature also seemed interested in his arrival, as the sounds immediately stopped. Well… some of the sounds stopped. It looked at Celeste, and made some new sounds. Celeste tilted his head again, as his curiosity peaked. Then the creature pointed toward itself and said another set of sounds. After a short pause, it made some noises again before starting to rise.

Celeste quickly withdrew a few steps and got down on all fours. He was just about to whistle at the canine, but then when it saw Celeste withdrew, it sat back down. He didn’t understand. Did he get too close? Did he step into its territory? So many questions raced through Celeste’s mind.
*Chirp*. Celeste once again summoned the parrot.
’Observe. Slowly. May not be our territory. Find out what it is.’ he thought. The parrot understood, and slowly flew over. It circled the tree a couple of times before descending before the pink creature. It landed on the ground and looked at Celeste. Celeste looked perplexed, as he stared at the creature. So it wasn’t because he entered its territory? Why did it stand up then? It didn’t wanna scare him away, and sat back down. It didn’t attack his parrot, so it wasn’t because it was protecting territory. Could it be it wanted to bait him in and attack it on close distance? The parrot jumped a little closer to the pink creature but still didn’t want to get too close, just in case.

Celeste didn’t dare come too close but inched closer and closer. He got about 5 meters away from the creature when his stomach growled once again. In this tense situation, Celeste was hyper-reactive, and when his stomach, he jumped in fright and hurried back a few steps again.

Realizing the sound was from his stomach, and not from the creature before him, he quickly got on all fours again, and exposed his neck, trying to express that he meant no harm.

---

Tag: Axey
Words: 1740.
Total word count: 1740.
Notes: Heh. This one got a little longer than anticipated. The next couple of posts probably won't be as long.

[Axey]

Axey sat there, carefully observing the child's actions.
He's getting on all fours, and that pose looks... feral. His attitude kinda reminds me of Tarzan now that I think aout it.
As he throught that, the boy took out an old, worn book and whistled and a parrot just... materialized right then and there, seemingly coming out of the grimoire. Isn't that a summoner spell? Ali-baba or whatever. I remember it was a mostly utility summon, and he doesn't seem to be telling it to attack, maybe he wants to use it to know if I'm aggressive.
Axey made no sudden movements and observed the parrot approach cautiously and land in front of him.
"Hello there, little guy. I do not want any trouble" he said in a friendly tone as it got near.
Much to his surprised, the Alicanto replied with a child-like voice "Hello."
So summons can speak now? "My name ih Axey. I'm shurprised that you can speak." he said, introducing himself the same way he had earlier, pointing to himself as he said his name.
"Axey!"
Doesn't seem much smarter than an actual parrot so far. "Can you tell me who that is?" he asked pointing at the kid. The parrot didn't reply and just looked at where he was pointed, tilting its head slightly in confusion. 
"Doeh he have a name?"
"No name"
Ok, so the kid doesn't have a name and the parrot either knows how to speak or learns very fast. As he was thinking that, he heard low growl which made him raise his guard, preparing to defend himself and the child if a wild monster showed up. He soon realized the growl hadn't come from some unseen beast's throat but from the kid's stomach. "Are you hungry? I can give you some food if you want." turning to the parrot he said "I'm going to move now, don't be alarmed, I don't want to hurt you." he said slowly as he stopped playing his lute and slowly stood up from the tree stump, being careful to avoid sudden movements and mimicking the kid's body language, lowering his shoulders thus leaving his neck exposed, and started picking some sticks to make an improvised fireplace, keeping the kid on the corner of his eye at all times. Let's hope I still remember how to light a fire from my time with the boy scouts.

After a few minutes the campfire was properly set up, he took out his Prime Red Meat from his bag, put it over the fire and started working on lighting it, seeing the kid eyeing up the high-quality meat hungrily. Looks like he's interested. He's practically drooling.
Once again he turned to the kid and spoke, this time also making gestures to illustrate his point:
"Do you want shome? I have more than enough to share." I highly doubt he'll understand sign language but it's worth a shot. The parrot might pick up on it considering how fast it seems to learn.

Axey sat there, tending to the fire for some time as the kid watched until the meat was cooked enough to be safely eaten. I hope he likes it rare. I could keep cooking it but I don't wanna keep him waiting.
Once the meat was ready, he took it out of the fire, grabbed each of the two bones that went through it and pulled them apart, breaking them into two roughly similar-sized pieces.
He put out the flames and placed one of the two pieces back over the now unlit campfire, took the other and stepped away, sitting back down on the fallen tree.
"The other half is for you." He said, pointing at the piece of meat. These voice cracks are getting better. I was expecting it'd take at least a month to get the hang of my voice. At this rate, it looks like it's gonna be more like a week or two.

---

Word Count: 658
Total Word Count: 683+658 = 1341
Tags: Celeste
Notes: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, give a kid your high quality meat and the FBI shows up.

                                                                                                                                        -Sun Tsu

Axey color: 9b19e6

[Celeste]

Seeing that the creature did not seem to take offense in his rumbling stomach, Celeste raised his head looked at it once again. However, the lakeswimmer seemed to have switched focus from Celeste to the parrot. They exchanged sounds somehow. First the creature made them, and then the parrot recreated it. The creature seemed interested in the parrots ability to replicate its noises. It pointed at itself, and once again said the words it said to Celeste before. This time to the parrot, however. Then he pointed at Celeste. The parrot also looked toward Celeste, but it seemed confused.
’What is creature?’ Celeste asked the parrot.
’Axey!’ it answered excitedly.
’Axey not attack,’ it flapped its wings a couple of times, and the settled back down.

The creature had heard Celeste’s growling stomach and looked at him. It then slowly rose, also leaving its neck exposed toward Celeste. In Celeste’s head, a treaty had been assigned at that point, making him less cautious of it. It started to wander around, picking up sticks and other flammable objects from the ground. Celeste followed it with his eyes but didn’t move, as he didn’t want to get in the way, as he did not know of its intentions. When it had gathered enough sticks and dry leaves amongst other things, it arranged them into a small bump. Celeste then realized what it was doing. It was making a firehill.
Why make fire in day? Not dark yet, he thought to himself, wondering if the lakeswimmer was cold on land.

However, if Celeste wasn’t confused before, he certainly became so now. The creature suddenly got ahold of a piece of meat. Just the mere view of it made Celeste hug his stomach slightly, trying to keep it from rumbling again. Before he noticed, he’d even begun salivating. The creature stuck two sticks in the ground and used the bone inside the meat as a skewer, and placed it over the fire. Celeste almost yelped as he saw the creature starting to burn the meat, but held it in so he wouldn’t offend it. It looked at him, then the meat, then him again.

Celeste sat down at a tree a bit away, and zoned out, staring into the flames and onto the meat grilling above the flame. The parrot had withdrawn back to Celeste and had placed itself upon his shoulder. Celeste had started feeling a little lightheaded, so the parrot returned to the grimoire. His familiars were usually his only company, and thus he had them summoned until he couldn’t take it anymore. One time, he’d even had them out until he lost consciousness.

The creature got up and jolted Celeste back to his senses. It grabbed the bones sticking out of the piece of meat, and tore it into two. Whilst doing so, it kicked dirt and upon the bonfire, suffocating the flames, and thus killing off the fire.
It no longer cold? Only been short time, it warm already? It make flames only to burn meat? Celeste was yet again confused.
But why destroy meat? Celeste cried internally, looking at the ruined meat. The lakeswimmer placed one of the bones back upon the sticks and sat down at the tree where Celeste found him in the beginning. It pointed toward the meat and made another series of noises. Then it started eating the meat.
It eat burnt meat? Celeste tilted his head and looked at the lakeswimmer. He then looked at the meat, hanging on the bone between the two Y shaped sticks. His stomach rumbled again and this time Celeste felt it all the way into his chest. He was getting very hungry.
*Chirp*. Celeste brought out the parrot again.
’You understand?’ he asked it. It looked at him and turned its head.
’Axey say “for you,”’ it responded, and flapped its wings again. Celeste looked at the parrot, then the meat, then the lakeswimmer and then the parrot again. What? For him? Could that be right?

The parrot was cleaning its feathers, sitting on Celeste’s shoulder. His stomach rumbled once again. Celeste was conflicted. On one hand he really wanted the meat, but could he be sure the parrot hadn’t misunderstood the lakeswimmer? He slowly rose to his feet. The parrot then flapped its wings trying to keep its balance on Celeste’s shoulder. It then returned to the grimoire. Celeste had made up his mind and wanted to test whether or not there’d been a misunderstanding between the two. He took a crouched position, ready to dart if the lakeswimmer showed any sign of the meat being its. He took one step forward. Seeing that the creature did not express any dissatisfaction, he took another. Still no reaction. He slowly approached the meat, constantly shifting his gaze from the lakeswimmer to the meat.

Now all the way up beside the meat, and still no reaction. The lakeswimmer was eating happily, glancing at Celeste from time to time. Celeste lifted his hand and slowly placed it upon the bone going through the meat. Celeste had been drooling ever since the second step toward the meat, and right now, he almost couldn’t control himself. He slowly lifted the piece of meat off the sticks and locked his gaze at the creature, ready to drop the meat at any time. Still no reaction. He took a step backward, gaze still locked onto the creature. Another step. Third step. Still seeing no reaction from the lakeswimmer, Celeste darted back to the tree he came from and started devouring the piece of meat. Celeste bit down into the meat but stopped chewing with the meat in his mouth. Then bit down again. The meat had a hard surface, but inside it was easier to eat than normal. And the taste? It was weird. Not a bad weird, but an unknown weird. It tasted like smoke and wood, and the meat tasted differently than a longjumper or a skyreacher would. However, this was definitely better than what he normally consumed. Celeste had thought it would ruin the meat to burn it, but it was actually not bad.

His eyes looked excitedly at the piece of meat. He gnawed into the meat ferociously, tearing the meat off the bone as fast as he could.
*Cough, cough*. He’d been eating too fast, almost choking on a piece of meat. He spat out the piece, before quickly grabbing it and putting it back into his mouth, eating it. He finished eating it before the lakeswimmer did. After finishing the meat, he looked at the clean bone. Then he looked up at the lakeswimmer and then back at the bone. He turned absentminded for a short while, before nodding without anyone noticing. He then looked up at the lakeswimmer, who’d just finished his piece of meat.

Celeste stood up. He tried making some kind of noise, hoping it meant something.
“Rrrunghf,” he said. It seemed to get the creature's attention, but it didn’t seem as if it knew what he wanted it to do. He thought for a short while, trying to comb through his memory for ways to show the lakeswimmer what he wanted. He stood for a second, before remembering something his brother had done to show him to come along. He’d had turned away, looked at Celeste, and waved his hand toward himself. Celeste tried to replicate that. He turned slightly away, looked at the lakeswimmer, and waved his hand the way his body was facing. Then he moved through the bushes where he had first entered and ran a little away. After moving a good 50 meters, he stopped and looked back for the lakeswimmer.

---

Tag: Axey
Words: 1299.
Total word counter: 1740 + 1299 = 3039.
Notes: ~~~

[Axey]

Axey sat in silence, calmly eating his piece of meat and watching the young boy summon the parrot again and stare at it and at Axey alternatingly for a moment before dismissing the summon and approaching slowly on all fours, visibly more relaxed but still cautious, stopping to check Axey's reaction after each step.
Looks like he can communicate with the bird telepathically and the bird seems to understand me at least partially. I guess it will have to act as a translator if I wanna communicate with the kid.

The boy was closing in on the meat now without ever taking his eyes off Axey. Looking more and more nervous with each step as he got closer to the food. His skittish behavior reminded Axey of a stray kitten he used to feed. He couldn't help but find it a little cute.
Once the boy reached the piece of meat he carefully grabbed it by the bone on each side like Axey had and started backing up slowly. One step... two steps... three steps... after the third step the boy hurried back to the treeline where he no doubt felt safer than in the clearing and slowly took a bite out of the meat. Judging by his expression now and while I was cooking it, he probably didn't know what cooking was. He seems to like it though. Axey thought as the boy started eating ravenously. He must've been starving. Wait, shit is he- oh thank god for a second I was afraid he'd choke. I doubt there's any defibrilators around here.
After that slight scare, Axey and the boy continued eating in relative silence for a few minutes, the boy eating much faster than Axey.

Once they were both done the kid groaned loudly, clearly trying to get Axey's attention. Once it was clear Axey hadn't understood the what he wanted to say, the boy turned away while still looking at Axey and waved his towards the direction he was facing.
"Do you want me to follow you?" Axey asked, standing up and picking up his Lute. As he did that, the kid started to move. It didn't look like the boy was running away from him, but he was certainly moving fast. Afer running for about 50 meters the boy stopped, looked behind him and kept going once he confirmed Axey was following. The boy was much nimbler than Axey, avoiding the vegetation easily while Axey kept hitting his face on branches or scraping his legs on bushes.
I can't keep up with him at this speed, I'm just not used to navigating forests. Wait, I know! he thought as an idea came to him. Remembering how he cheesed that PE exam back in high school, Axey grabbed his lute and began to play softly at a regular tempo, letting his footsteps naturally adopt that same tempo and started singing softly, not loud enough for the boy to hear over the sounds of running and of the forest, and activated Sonata of the Resonating Beat in the Presto tempo.

"Girl you can tell by the way I use my walk I'm a women's man, no time to talk.
Music loud and women warm I've been kicked around since I was born"

It's working! he thought to himself, feeling the music boost his speed, allowing him to keep up with the boy in front of him.

"And it's alright, it's ok, and you may look the other way
Or we can try to understand the new york times effect on man."

As the effect of the Song Skill ended he swapped to Moderato and activated Minnesong of the White Maiden, raising his evasion allowing him to avoid being slowed down by the vegetation. I won't be able to keep these two songs going 24/7 because of their cooldowns but at least I won't be slowing the boy down as much.

"Whether you're a mother or where you're brother you're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Hear the city breaking and everybody shaking and you're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, stayin' aliiiiiive"

Axey kept quietly singing as he followed the boy through the woods. I wonder where he's leading me to. Does he have a home somewhere around here?

---

Word Count: 712
Total Word Count: 1341 + 712 = 2053
Notes: Fun fact: I actualy did cheese a PE exam IRL by singing Stayin' Alive. Singing while you run helps you keep a regular rythm in your footsteps, which drastically increases your endurance. Feel free to PM if you're curious about more details.
Axey color: 9b19e6

[Celeste]

Celeste waited for the Lakeswimmer to walk through the bushes before advancing further into the forest. Every 50 meters, he’d turn around and check if the Lakeswimmer was still following him. It had trouble keeping up at first, but after running for a few minutes, the Lakeswimmer began to speed up, and kept up with him. Celeste avoided crossing some of the aggressive animals’ territories, not to cause unnecessary trouble.

However, a curious pack of drear doe came very close. Celeste noticed a couple of them wandering, but they hadn’t seen him.
Feast! Cool! Celeste crouched down and whistled for the canine. At the same time, a golden whip appeared in his hand. He slowly approached them with the dog slightly behind him. His breathing became slow and steady, and his pupils shrank. He raised the hand with the whip in it and took another step forward.
*Crack*. As Celeste put down his foot, it landed on a branch which snapped underneath him. All the deer turned their heads as one and stared toward the boy. Celeste knew he didn’t have long before they'd start running, so he swung his whip toward them. The canine also jumped to its feet, as bony spikes started flying out of its back and shoulders. Mysteriously, they stayed, hovering in the air for a short period of time, before they all rained down upon the deer. Most of the flock fled with haste, but one of them couldn’t move. The whip had wrapped around its leg and didn’t let go. Celeste stood in a deep squat, functioning as a counterweight to its force. Or, at least trying to with his ~50 kg of weight. Whilst most of the deer escaped unscathed, some with lesser wounds, this deer in stood in the middle of the barrage as it fell. Multiple bony spikes pierced its skin. Fresh blood started oozing out of the puncture wounds, and the deer started panicking in its pain. With adrenaline pumping, it gave all it had to escape the grasp of its attackers. It pulled with all its might, and Celeste couldn’t hold on the the whip. It flew out of his hands, but disappeared immediately when it left them. In Celeste’s hands appeared instead golden crossbow. Amidst all the chaos, the Lakeswimmer had hastily advanced to the side of the deer. Celeste focussed down sights, and didn’t see much of what happened, all he knew, was that as the deer stood still for a second. And Celeste was obviously not gonna let such an opportunity slide.
Too slow, no escape me now, he thought and pulled the trigger. A golden, blue-tipped arrow flew through the air, penetrating through the back of the fleeing deer’s skull. It dropped to the ground with a deep
*Thump*.

’We did it!’ Celeste excitedly thought as he raised both his arms into the air jumped excitedly. The canine released an excited howl and nudged at Celeste. He looked at it, and pet it. Ruffled its sides and clapped it. At this moment, the parrot had turned back to its original appearance and placed itself on Celeste’s head.
’Good work!’ he thought, and drove his hand up around canine's ear and squeezed it lightly before letting go. The canine barked a couple of times before it slowly disappeared and returned to the grimoire together with the parrot.

Celeste was so stoked, he’d forgotten that the Lakeswimmer was right beside him until now. He looked at it with glistening eyes and a smile that didn’t seem like it would disappear any time soon plastered on his face.. He turned toward the deer, and walked over to it. He squatted down beside it, examining it. It had tender thigh muscles, especially the rear thighs. Lots of meat. His eyes sparkled, just thinking about it. Celeste looked up at the Lakeswimmer and pointed at the deer with open hands as if telling it, that it was was theirs.

The Lakeswimmer seemed to understand his intention, as it approached the corpse. It squatted down before it took a simple leather carrier off its back. It then proceeded to open it up and place it on the ground with the opening toward the deer. Celeste wasn't exactly sure what good the backpack would do, the deer was obviously bigger than it. The Lakeswimmer grabbed the front legs of the deer and pulled them into the bag. It began pulling the bag down over the corpse of the deer. At first, Celeste didn't think much of it. But little by little, the deer disappeared into the bag. Celeste's eyes grew wider and wider with each second at this moment. The patch of grass, where the deer had previously laid, was now empty. It had been completely swallowed by the small bag, in which the deer surely couldn't fit. Celeste quickly approached, completely enchanted by this mysterious piece of leather. He grabbed the opening of the bag and looked inside. But to his surprise, he didn't see anything. He then tried putting his hand inside. As soon as it entered, true enough, the deer was right there. He could feel the back thigh he inspected before. His eyes switched between the bag and the Lakeswimmer multiple times in confusion. His eyes ended on the Lakeswimmer, where he blinked a couple of times before handing back the bag.

Celeste stood, dazed, whilst the Lakeswimmer put it's bag back on. It was only when it started making noises again, he zoned back in and brought the Lakeswimmer with him further into the forest to show it the place he'd initially intended.

After about 15 minutes, the two had ventured a good bit into the forest. Celeste stopped before some large trees. These trees stood close together and gave off an odd resemblance of an entrance. The trees had these vine-like branches, that hung like a cover, hiding something behind. Celeste sat down and waited until the Lakeswimmer caught up. He looked through the cover created by the branches, and then out toward the Lakeswimmer.

When the Lakeswimmer arrived, Celeste already stood in the opening and disappeared in behind the cover. On the other side, a large group of trees stood, bearing many types of fruit. Celeste’s eyes sparkled. Even though he’d been there multiple times, it was a beautiful view. All the trees stood majestically, carrying anything from apples or pears to plums. Further down to earth, berry bushes protruded with berries of multiple colors. Truly a sacred place in the forest. A place that none of the animals dared lay claim to.

When Celeste entered the sanctuary, a new figure appeared out of the Grimoire. A male figure, reaching about 185cm in height. It was pale, slim and chiseled. All it was wearing, was a pair of trousers, filled with rips and tears, exposing a good amount of thigh, shin, and calf. Messy, jet black hair with a dark blue hue, fell upon a pair of pointy ears. It had a pair of friendly eyes, with pupils just as black as the hair. A tail the length of its legs protruded from its back, ending in a spikey triangular shape. It had a nice, sincere smile.

When Celeste saw the figure in front of him, his eyes shot open in pure happiness. He charged at it and jumped onto its back. The Incubus took a step forward, whilst making a surprised exclamation. Celeste hugged the back tightly, leaving almost no space between his upper body and the Incubus.
’Brother! Why you here?’ Celeste asked the Incubus. He moved from his back and climbed to his shoulders, where he sat down and leaned forward to look the Incubus in the eyes.
’I’m here to check up on you, of course, can’t have you run around making trouble.’ The Incubus grabbed Celeste under his armpits, lifted him off his shoulders and rustled his hair. It was only then it noticed Axey, who’d entered while Celeste reunited with the Incubus. The Incubus looked at Celeste in confusion.
’Who’s this?’ the Incubus asked.
’This Axey. Axey nice,’ Celeste answered with a large smile on his face.
’Ohooh? I need to introduce myself then,’ it said.

The Incubus looked up at the humanoid. With his right hand still on the back of Celeste, who had wrapped his arms around its waist, it smiled and said.
“Hello. Welcome to The Garden of Eden, I hope he hasn't been too much trouble,” it said and smiled.

---

Tag: Axey
Words: 1432.
Total word count: 3039 + 1432 = 4471.
Notes: All actions made by Axey have been approved by Kny (MrRoboto)

[Axey]

Axey followed the child for several minutes wondering where he was taking him. After a while he noticed he was having an easier time navigating the forest even without the effects of his song.

I'm starting to get used to following his pace. He's probably not going as fast as he usually does though. He thought while continuing to follow him. We're not going in a straight path either, he's probably avoiding the territories of the more dangerous monsters, which makes sense. Those boars could be a massive threat seeing how one of them went through Atlas' armor like paper. Getting back to Romalia on my own during the night might be dangerous now that I think about it.

This "pursuit" continued for some time, with the boy looking back at Axey every few moments to make sure he was still following. After some time the boy slowed down and crouched. Axey took the hint and as soon as he caught up with him started walking stealthily behind him while following his gaze. The kid was staring at a group of deer. Was he still hungry? Well, might as well help him hunt.
The boy pulled out a golden whip seemingly out of nowhere and summoned a spiked dog-like creature while Axey readied his lute. I don't recognize that summon. Is it an italian-server exclusive?

As they were approaching the deer, the boy stepped on a stick, alerting their prey of their presence. Damn.
Before the deer had any time to react, the boy attacked with his whip, wrapping it around one of the deer's legs, holding it in place as the spikes on the dog's back shot up to the air where they seemed to hover, while Axey started playing Minnesong of the White Maiden in Presto, boosting his attack as well as that of the boy and his summon.
Once the song was active, Axey charged in as the spikes fell on the immobilized deer while the others fled leaving it for dead. As soon as it managed to free itself from the boy's whip, Axey hit it on the back of its head using Instrument Strike, hearing the bones crack and leaving the deer Dazed and unable to dodge the crossbow bolt that was coming for it. It went right through the partially cracked skull, killing the deer on the spot.
Turning to the boy Axey gave a thumbs up and said "Nice shot!", not expecting the message to be understood but hoping the general idea would still get through the language barrier.
As the boy approached the doe, he examined it for a few seconds, turned to Axey and pointed at it with open hands I guess he wants me to carry it.
Axey knelt in front of the deer and opened his pack that acted as his inventory and started by putting the deer’s legs in it and pulling it over them, the deer seemingly disappearing into a bag much smaller than it. Once the legs were in, fitting the head of the deer in was a bit of a struggle which ended in Axey having to push it so hard it dislocated the doe’s shoulders. Ouch. he thought, wincing as it happened before continuing to pull the bag over the deer’s body. Thankfully he hind legs weren’t so problematic.
Once the deer was stowed away, the boy approached and looked at the bag in awe, putting his hand in it to see if the deer was really in there.
”Pretty cool huh? I have absolutely no clue how it works either, but hey, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” he said with a chuckle while putting the bag back over his shoulders. “Is this what you wanted to show me?” as he said that he noticed the boy was already continuing in the same direction they were going before stopping to kill that doe. I guess not.

The boy continued to lead Axey deeper into the forest for about 15 more minutes until they reached two trees with vines dropping from them, forming a natural curtain that blocked the view of what was behind. The boy stepped through them and Axey quickly followed. If one were to describe the sight on the other side of that thick curtain with one single word, it would be “stunning”. Tall trees bearing ripe fruits of all shapes and sizes, bushes with flowers and berries of all kinds, and despite the plentiful amount of food there was, not a single creature aside from him and the boy were there, even the birds had not dared to lay a finger on this place by making their nests here.
As he was about to take a big red apple from the nearest tree, he heard a noise behind him. Turning around to face the source he saw a man standing in front of the child. But a second glance revealed the person was not just a man. His ears were pointy, his eyes, the pupils of his eyes were black, and from his lower back protruded a long, leathery tail ending in a pointed tip.
Shit, is that a demon? with that realization, Axey instinctively raised his guard and prepared to use magic at the slightest sign of aggression. This didn’t last long, however, as he saw the boy’s reaction to this demon was to run towards him with a joyful smile and climb on top of him playfully, to which the demon reacted with an equally joyful smile. Once the demon noticed him, he and the boy looked at each other briefly before the demon turned towards Axey and greeted him with a smile that looked genuine.
Hello. Welcome to The Garden of Eden, I hope he hasn't been too much trouble.”
So he’s the boy’s parental figure then.
“Oh, not in the shlightest. My name ish Axey, pleaure to meet you. I’m guessing you’re the boy’s caretaker?” Axey replied, giving a polite bow.

---

Word Count: 1078
Total Word Count: 2053 + 1078 = 3131
Tags: Celeste

Axey Color: 9b19e6

[Celeste]

Celeste stood at the Incubus’ leg, as it, and the Lakeswimmer started making similar sounds. The Incubus seemed to understand the Lakeswimmer. However, as intriguing as their conversation was, Celeste quickly got bored as he understood nothing. So he ran off, grabbing various fruits and berries.

“My name is Axey, pleasure to meet you. I’m guessing you’re the boy’s caretaker?” Axey had introduced himself to Incubus. It smiled and looked toward Celeste before returning its gaze to the humanoid.
“’Name’s Ink. Nice to meet you.” His mouth arched back up into a light smile. He stuck out his hand, suggesting a shake.
“As for me being his caretaker? Hmm. Not anymore. When he was young, yes. But he doesn’t need me now. His mother tasked me with keeping him alive, so that’s what I’ve done.” he said.
Axey shook the incubus' hand and smiled back.
“So he's an orphan then? Does he have a name?"
"I'm not sure whether or not his mother is gone, so I’m not sure how to respond to that." Ink looked at Celeste running around the garden.
"I can't tell you his name, though. His mother never named him. She left us shortly after he came to the world." His smile changed and a pained, sad look fell upon the Incubus' eyes. The humanoid apologized for bringing up difficult memories and explained that he knew what they were going, or had gone, through. He then asked about the garden. Whether this, in actuality, was the garden of Eden, to which Ink responded with a light chuckled and said.
“It is but the Garden of Eden in name."

He didn’t get to elaborate further as.
’Catch!’ Suddenly, Celeste threw a palm-sized round fruit toward Ink. The Incubus quickly turned around, seeing the fruit hurling toward him. When he caught it, Celeste threw a large smile, before returning to his adventure in around the various trees and bushes. Ink turned back around and stuck out his hand.
“Here, try this." He said, offering the fruit to Axey. Axey accepted the offer and took a bite out of the fruit. Clearly enjoying the fruit, he finished it.

The humanoid further inquired about Celeste, and whether or not the boy was a Summoner. He then referred to the parrot and the canine, which Celeste seemingly had summoned.
"Summoner?" the Incubus placed his hand on his chin.
"I guess you could call him that, yes. However, the familiars are actually his mother's. She left the Grimoire with him when she left. We're all hers in theory, but all of us have agreed to stay with him until the end." Ink said. This was followed by a short while of silence, both not really knowing where to resume the conversation at.

Axey was the one who broke the silence, asking about the Incubus’ ability to communicate with Celeste. He said that Celeste had seemed interested in the instrument earlier, and wanted to know whether Ink thought he’d be interested in learning how to play it.
"Uh." The Incubus looked at the instrument.
"Sure." it said.

’Boy, come here,’ Ink called out. Celeste turned his head, mouth full of berries and fruit.
’Hm?’ Celeste asked him, trotting toward the Incubus.
’Axey here tells me you were quite interested in the instrument.’ Ink pointed toward Axey's Lute.
’Mhm, weapon make noise, noise sounds good,’ he answered and nodded.
’Not weapon, instrument.’ Ink said.
’In... strument?’ Celeste asked.
’Yes, you want to learn how to play it?’ the Incubus inquired.
’... Play... it?’ he asked and tilted his head.
’Make sounds.’ the Incubus clarified.
"Hey, could you play a short piece?" he asked Axey, to which the humanoid complied and started playing a soft melody.
’Like that, you wanna try that?’ the Incubus said. Ink looked at Celeste, who seemed to vastly enjoy this. He nodded excitedly.
’Mhm!’ he said. His entire body felt light and refreshed as he heard the song.

The humanoid seemed to have already noticed the boy's positive reaction as he stopped playing.
"I don't think I need your translation" he told the Incubus and took a second lute out of the backpack. Celeste's eyes sparkled. He rushed off for a short time, before returning with an embrace filled with fruit. He looked at the Incubus.
’Trade?’ he asked and signaled toward Axey with his head. He couldn't accept the soundmaker without giving the Axey something in return. Ink looked toward Axey.
"He's asking for a trade, will you take it?" He asked. The humanoid nodded and opened his bag for Celeste.
’Trade.’ Ink nodded and said to Celeste. Axey had opened his carrier, allowing Celeste to dump all the fruit in there.

He, then, happily received the soundmaker and started trying to replicate what he had seen Axey do back at the tree. Jamming his fingers across the strings, a series of twisted, non-harmonical noises sounded, making Celeste grimace. It was clearly not the same as what Axey had played earlier.

---

Tag: Axey
Words: 860.
Total word count: 4471 + 860 = 5331.
Notes: Full conversation was made in Discord, Kny (MrRoboto) can confirm.

[Axey]

Shortly after Axey introduced himself, the demon did the same, introducing himself as Ink and stretched out his hand for a handshake, which Axey gladly accepted. Ink? What a strange name. he thought to himself, leaving the thought unspoken to not offend the demon.
Apparently the mother had asked the demon to look after the boy until he could fend for himself. The question “So he's an orphan then? Does he have a name?" slipped out of Axey's lips before he realized how rude it might sound. The demon's expression turned to a sad one as he explained the mother left shortly after the boy was born without even naming him.
"I apologize if my question brought up harsh memories. I know all too well how it is to lose someone." he replied, his own expression changing as he remembered the loss of his grandmother.
As usual, to avoid lingering on the sad throughts Axey decided to change the subject, with a slight joke.
"You called this place the 'Garden of Eden' earlier, right? Does this mean I shouldn't eat any of the apples here or is the name just for show?"
The demon slightly chuckled, before replying the name was just that and nothing more, as the boy threw a fruit at the Demon, who seemed to be aware of it even without seeing the boy and caught it in midair. How'd he know the fruit was coming? Wait, the boy can communicate with his summons telepathically right, so this guy must be a summoned creature too. Assuming the summons are still the same as in other servers, then he must be an Incubus.
As Axey made that realization the Incubus handed him the fruit, inviting him to try it.
Axey accepted the fruit and curiously took a bite out of it. It had a unique flavor that seemed familiar but he couldn't quite remember what it reminded him of. If such a fruit existed back in his old world, he definitely had never heard of it.
"This is delicious." he proclaimed after finishing it.

Once more Axey looked at the garden's beauty and watched as the boy ran around, climbed up and down trees and occasionally sampled some fruit.
"Forgive me if I'm being rude, but the boy ish a Shummoner, right? He made a bird and a dog-like creature earlier. And I'm assuming that means you yourself are an Incubus he shummoned, right?"
Ink thought for a moment before answering.
"Summoner? I guess you could call him that, yes."
Do people from this world not have the same nomenclature for classes? Wait do they even HAVE classes?
The Incubus briefly explained they were technically summons of the boy's mother, but the boy could summon them thanks to the grimoire she left behind.
"I see..." he replied, before an awkward silence fell over the conversation.
Shit, what should I say... Fuck it let's change the subject again.

"Oh, I just remembered. You can communicate with the boy telepathically right? He seemed to be curious about my lute earlier, can you ask him if he'd be interested in learning how to play it? I have a spare one I could lend him."
Ink looked at Axey with a weird expression, then at his lute then agreed. He called the boy over, and after what Axey assumed was a short telepathic conversation, the Incubus turned back towards Axey and asked if he could play a short tune for the boy.
"Oh, sure thing."
Axey grabbed his lute and began playing a soft, gentle yet cheerful melody on his lute, unconsciously activating Music Focus in Adagio while doing so, the music making all who hear it feel their stamina returning to them faster than usual. He watched as the child stared at him with a pleased expression.
Well, he seems to be liking the song at any rate.
After a few seconds he stopped playing and told Ink "Heh, I don't think I need your translation to shee the boy is interested." while he took out his second Lute from his backpack. "Oh, which reminds me, I'm still carrying the deer the boy and I hunted on our way here. I need to remember to take it out later. I don't really need much of the meat, just a tiny part of the meat and the deer's hide is more than enough for me."
Turning to the boy he handed him his spare lute and said "Here, for you."
The boy's face lit up like a christmas tree before he rushed off and quickly returned with a handful of fruit. "He's asking for a trade, will you take it?" Ink explained.
"Oh, a trade? Sure, that hounds good." he replied opening his backpack and holding it in front of the boy so he could drop the fruits in it.
Once the trade was done, Axey gave the boy the lute, sat down on a nearby rock and said "Here, you're supposed to hold it like this" while showing him how to do it.
The boy grabbed the lute and immediately tried to play like Axey did, only resulting in a loud, unharmonic noise.
"That's a shtart I guess. You're supposed to be more gentle with it though."
Turning to the Incubus Axey asked "Can you ashk if it's ok if I get closer to show him? He was a bit weary of me earlier so I'd rather be careful not to make him uncomfortable."

---

Word Count: 915
Total Word Count: 3131 + 915 = 4046
Tags: Celeste
Notes: This is my favorite thread in any RP I've ever done so far.

[Axey]

After getting the Incubus's approval, Axey moved closer to the boy. "Here, you're supposed to hold it like this." he said while showing him how to hold the lute, and briefly looking at Ink, assuming he was in the middle of translating what he just said.

Once the boy had copied the position of his hands, he began to explain "As you've seen, touching the strings makes noises. Each of these noises is called a 'note'." he paused, letting the summon translate for him. "To play each note, you have to pinch two strings and pull up. Kinda like plucking a feather off a bird." he continued, hoping the analogy with something he was likely familiar with would help the boy understand as he showed him how to do it.

"Each note has its own name. Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti" he said, playing the according note after naming them. "Try copying what I do.
Do..." he said playing the note as the boy stared at his hands and copied its movements. "Pretty good. Now Re...
This went on for a bit until Axey thought the boy had gotten the hang of it.

"Okay, now we're going to try mixing them up, alright?" once Ink had translated the sentence to the boy he began playing while naming the notes as he did. "Do Do So So La La Ti Fa Fa Mi Mi Re Re Do. Now you try it." he said, repeating the notes so the boy could play them.
"You're learning pretty fast!" he said, playfully patting the boy's head. "You'll be a master musician in no time."

Axey kept teaching the boy how to play the lute, going as far as the basic of keys, before he realized the sun would be setting shortly.
"I think I should be going now if I wanna get back..." he paused right before saying "home before sundown". That's when the fact that he didn't have a home to go back to came back to his mind. "...oh right..."
Turning to Ink he said "Say, do you and the boy live here in the garden or do you a house somewhere in the forest? And if you do, do you think I could spend the night? I... kinda just remembered I don't really have a place to go back to anymore. It's a long story."

---

Word Count: 396
Total Word Count: 4046 + 396 = 4442
Tags: Celeste

[Celeste]

Ink looked at the boy and shook his head, chuckling in his mind.
’I think you should pay attention to Axey, boy,’ he said to Celeste, who was still in the process of figuring out the instrument in his hands. The humanoid caught the Incubus’ attention, asking whether or not he was allowed to approach Celeste. His reason for asking, was that the boy had seemed rather careful around him previously.
Ink said, ”He’s already called you nice, so I wouldn’t be afraid of anything,” as he waved his left hand.

Celeste, who sat on a log, looked up at the approaching Lakeswimmer with curious eyes. However, he was way too occupied with the instrument to give him too much attention. Axey tried to get his attention, clearly showing off its own instrument, but Celeste paid little attention to the Axey.
Ink moved forward, and stretched his hand out to get Celeste to change his point of interest. He said softly, ’Hey, he’s trying to show you something.’
Celeste quickly pulled the lute toward him before the Incubus laid its hands on it.
’It’s mine!’ he answered and snorted at the Incubus, before reluctantly starting to pay attention to the Axey. It was still holding its lute out, showcasing it.
’You hold it like that,’ Ink said. The Axey then started making sounds, but Celeste didn’t know what they meant. He looked at the Incubus, who, clearly, knew what the sounds meant. And it seemed like the Lakeswimmer did the same.
Ink rolled his eyes. These two, I swear, he thought to himself and looked at Celeste.
’Follow Axey. Watch and listen. Remember. Copy,’ he told him. It was simple, but simple was often best when referring to Celeste.

The Lakeswimmer played a series of sounds and waited for Celeste to copy them. He placed his fingers on the strings and did what the Axey had done just before him. However, the sound which was made was definitely not the same. He then stared at the instrument the Axey was holding, then to his own, and then back at the Lakeswimmer’s.
“Do.” it kept repeating the same sound, over and over again as it played the same sound.
“G, g… B… Q…,” Celeste tried to mouth something out, looking for the sound the Axey had been making.
“D-..! D-də.. Deɪ… D-dʊ!... Doʊ... Do!” Excited, he jumped up and looked at the Lakeswimmer and the Incubus, as if to say ‘Did you hear that?’. Ink looked shocked, and just about as excited as Celeste. After this instant of positive events, Celeste interest in the subject peaked.

He quickly learned a small series of sounds, both on the lute, as well as vocally. There was a total of seven sounds and notes.
Ink then told him, ’You’re gonna mix it up a bit now.’ The three of them sat in the Garden for a good while. Just playing. Time seemed to fly, and before they knew, the sun was already setting leaving a beautiful, golden sky.
Celeste looked at Ink. ’Brother, it’s getting late,’ he said.
’You’re right, probably time to go.’.

But before he got to say anything, Axey asked.
“Say, do you and the boy live here in the garden or do you a house somewhere in the forest?”
“No, the boy has a place he usually goes. He’s claimed it as his territory, and most of the animals have learned that entering without permission means death, so they tend to keep away.”, the Incubus answered.
“It’s a bit of travel from here, but it’s probably the safest place for someone like you at night.”.
“I have to go for a while. Will you follow, or should I tell him to go by himself? Ink asked.

Axey told Ink that he’d join Celeste “home”. However, considering the travel, Axey told Ink that he’d need to find some kind of mount. As long as they could find it, he could take care of the rest.
’Boy, Axey will join you home, but he’s gonna need some help first. You need to help him find a... mount. Remember. Find it, but let Axey find a way to deal with it. Okay?’
’Mhm. Will you be going now brother?’ Celeste asked.
’Yep, I’ll see you again at some point, but it won’t be long.’ Ink said and ruffled Celeste’s hair. The boy nodded and looked at the Lakeswimmer. Shortly after Celeste nodded, the Incubus disappeared into thin air, but a small, ash-like substance remained, and got sucked into the grimoire. Celeste was a little light-headed, so he looked around the garden and walked toward a couple of berry bushes. He picked off a couple of blue, glistening berries, the size of raspberries, and threw them into his mouth. He chewed a couple of times, before grimacing wildly. His entire face looked incredibly uncomfortable. He was grinding his teeth, his eyelid was flicking involuntarily and he was shaking as if he had eaten something very sour as his shoulders reached his ears. However, shortly after, his eyes brightened and his entire being felt light. He looked at the Lakeswimmer. More specifically, its carrier. He grabbed a patch of leather from the rim of his clothes, and placed some of the berries in the center, before gathering the tips and tying a thick piece of grass around it and fastening it to his waist. He clapped excitedly a couple of times, before resuming to his task.

Celeste started walking toward the border of the garden. He looked at the Axey before tilting his head and walking out into the forest. He started to jog slowly, weaving nonchalantly through the difficult terrain. He kept his pace down, to allow the Axey to follow him with no, or at least as little as possible, problem. Trotting forward, he listened for breaking branches, small ruffling sounds from leaves being searched through for food, or any other sound indicating a pack of animals being nearby.

It didn’t take them long.

---

Tag: Axey
Words: 1001
Total word count: 5331 + 1001 = 6332.
Notes: Sorry it took so long. I just moved into my new apartment, and life got hectic.

[Axey]

"I'd love to join you guys at your home. But if it's really that far away I'll need to find myself a ride first." Axey said hearing the Incubus' offer.
"Could the boy help me track an animal? Ideally large enough that I'd be able to ride on for extended periods of time." he asked "I have the ability to tame creatures for limited periods of time, so riding it would allow me to not have to worry about making him wait for me."

After a short exchange between the Incubus and his summoner, Ink vanished as the boy started walking out of the garden, not before picking a handful of berries and stowing them away in a makeshift pouch. After pickung up a juicy looking apple, Axey stated following the boy into the wilderness once again, moving stealthily and looking for any tracks. It did not take long for the boy to lead Axey towards a pack of wild cow-like creatures. Oh cool, Cattele are still a thing. he thought, slowly approaching the herd as silently as possible. Once he was close enough, he very slowly walked out of the bush with his hands open and visible, his body language indicating he meant no harm as he activated Basic Taming. Upon seeing him, most of the animals walked away, but one of them stayed and watched as he got closer... closer... until Axey was close enough to scratch the back of its ears, making it do that distinct half-purr-half-moo sound he had heard many times in the old server. Ok good, looks like it worked. he thought to himself, pulling out the apple from his backpack and offering it to the cat cow, which began eating it. "Good girl." he said patting it as he moved around it and jumped onto its back.

Turning to Celeste, he said "I'm ready. Lead the way." as the Cattele approached the boy and licked his face.

---

Word Count: 324
Total Word Count: 324 + 4442 = 4766
Tags: Celeste
Notes: Sorry for taking so long for a mediocre (at best) post.

[Celeste]

Celeste stared curiously at the Lakeswimmer, who was approaching the small herd of docile animals. He took great notice to Axey’s stance, and approach method. Usually, when he approached them, they would scatter quickly. That said, he usually charged at them, with dagger eyes whilst licking his lips, but still. The Lakeswimmer stuck out its hand, and slowly approached the animals. It got up all close, and… clapped the animal? Just like he did with his dog? It seemed to allow the Axey to clap it. It climbed the animal and rode it back to Celeste. He looked at the Lakeswimmer in confusion and surprise. The two of them stopped in front of Celeste, as the animal licked Celeste across his face.
“*Blegh*” Celeste exclaimed, as he stuck out his tongue and removed the saliva with his hands, flicked them and shook his head to get rid of the rest.

Seeing Axey being ready to move out, Celeste summoned the canine and swung onto its back. He clapped it on its side, and it started to head “home”. As they rode, Celeste looked back at the Lakeswimmer to see if it could keep upon the cattele, and it kept up nicely. Celeste maintained his current speed, as they charged through the forest.

After a while, Celeste clapped the canine on its side, signaling it to come to a halt. He got off its back and it turned into the same ashlike substance as the Incubus had done, before returning to the grimoire. The two of them walked the last of the way. Soon, the boy and Lakeswimmer came to a very large clearing, in which a small ring-shaped lake was at the center. In the middle of the lake, was a platform of tall grass and various wildflowers. Celeste looked at the Lakeswimmer and pointed at its feet. Then at his own feet, before turning around and jumping lightfooted through the clearing. When he’d gotten a small distance in, he turned around and looked for the Lakeswimmer. Whilst he’d been moving forward, he’d had his eye out for the traps he’d placed all over. He was usually on his own when traversing this area, so bringing someone else was more difficult. The whole place was one big trap if one did not know the route to the middle. He then waved the Lakeswimmer toward him and pointed at the footprints made in the grass. When the Lakeswimmer started walking, it was as if it hadn’t understood what Celeste had wanted it to do, because already after a few steps, it was on its way into one of his traps. Celeste quickly tried to alarm the Lakeswimmer, stopping it in its tracks. He then chirped, summoning the parrot, since it was able to somehow communicate with it.
'Tell Axey follow close. Don’t walk in trap,' he told it. It basked its wings, as it flew over to the Lakeswimmer and placed itself on its shoulder.
“Many traps, be careful, follow close,” it said and blinked a few times, whilst tilting its head, waiting for confirmation that it had been understood. Celeste then pointed at the slightly trotted down grass again, hoping that the Lakeswimmer would figure out what he meant this time. It seemed as if the Lakeswimmer figured out his intentions and started walking in the same pattern Celeste had just a minute ago. The parrot disappeared and left only behind a few golden specks of dust, that glimmered a couple of times before disappearing. When they got to the river, Celeste just dove headfirst into the waters and swam to the middle island.

The first thing he did after arriving at the island, was to make a bonfire. The sun had soon set and Celeste would start freezing if he didn't dry his clothes. He undressed and placed his wet clothes on a rock near the fire, before whistling for the canine again. He reached for the sky, stretching every muscle in his body. This also fully showed his battle-worn body, which was covered in scars of every length, shape, and form. He turned around and looked at the Lakeswimmer and flashed a large grin, before huddling in with the canine to keep warm. The young kid stared into the gentle orange flames, which left wisps of ash fly into the sky before extinguishing, returning the sky to its dark, beautiful, starry state.

Whilst staring into the flames, his eyesight slowly became blurry and his eyelids heavy, it didn't take long before he dose off to a seemingly calm slumber.

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Tag: Axey
Words: 761
Total word count: 7093
Notes: Sorry for the ded.

[Axey]

Axey couldn't help but giggle as the creature licked the boy's face. "It sheems to like you." he commented.

As the child hopped onto his dog's back, Axey istructed the cattelle to follow while playing a tune to make the beast slightly less clumsy. The cattelle was surprisingly able to follow without much trouble. While the dog was noticeably faster, the cattelle's stamina allowed it to keep up. Probably the cow half at work. he thought as they advanced through the forest. Every ten minutes, the effect keeping the cattelle under control would expire, requiring Axey to reapply it while avoiding being knocked off the beast's back. He almost fell off the first time, but did not struggle nearly as much afterwards.

When Celeste's dog came to a stop, Axey orders his own mount to do the same before dismissing it. He waves at it as it runs back out into the wild before turning back to the boy and following along. After they reached a clearing the kid started making strange gestures, before moving forwards. Axey, being the dumb bitch he is started moving after the boy in a straight line before he summoned his parrot to inform him that there were traps around. "Oh, my bad." he replied before following the boy's footsteps trying to stray from the path as little as possible. As the pair reached the lake at the center of the clearing, the boy dove into the water, followed closely by Axey. His fish-like appearance didn't grant much benefit in water, but he was still a decent enough swimmer.
Finally on the island, the boy started making a fire and taking his wet clothes off to dry them.
"Sho, you live here?" he asked the boy. while taking off his top and squeezing it to try and dry it faster while the boy summoned his dog to warm him up. In hindsight, the cattelle would have been nice to keep around. he thought to himself while feeling the cold wind on his bare chest. Axey shivered as he sat down and took his lute out of his inventory before he started singing a lullaby for the boy and his dog.
"Ainsi font, font, font les petites marionnettes
Ainsi font, font, font trois p'tits tours et puis s'en vont
Les mains aux côtés, sautez, sautez marionnettes,
Les mains aux côtés, marionnettes recommencez.
Ainsi font, font, font les petites marionnettes
Ainsi font, font, font trois p'tits tours et puis s'en vont."
After his shirt had dried enough that he wouldn't freeze by putting it on, after the boy had fallen asleep and the fire had gone out, Axey put his shirt back on. I should probably sleep as well, hopefully I won't trigger the traps on my way out tomorrow.
With that, Axey put his lute away and found a spot to lie down and close his eyes before drifting off to sleep.

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Word Count: 486
Total Word Count: 4756+486=5242
Tags: Celeste
Notes: last message was november 24th, mine is january 9th, that's like barely over a month response time!