>Nepeta: Start over.

[sleepZombie]

"Oh. Oh Gog." Tavros scrabbled and clutched frantically at Nepeta's neck, his face promptly flushing a coppery brown as he blushed. He was far too aware how his legs, hooked over one of Nepeta's arms, hung limply down nearly to her hips. He bent forward, back hunching and then just as suddenly as he'd started flailing he went perfectly still - a habit of self-preservation from all those times Gamzee had gotten it in his head to life that Taurus up from his chair. Squirming just meant that he was probably going to get dropped.

"Nepeta. This. Uh. This is really..."

He was too busy being anxious, as well as frantically captchalogueing his chair so it didn't get left behind, to really pay attention to Paula's kind offer to show them around, or Nepeta's eager agreement. He did, however, finally notice the giant waxxy candle-figure and just... stared. But he... it?... was leading the way out and, that was actually pretty nice.

"Thank you." He croaked.

[nintendonut1]

John's offer was quickly taken upon by Nepeta; wow, was she strong! He was about to captchalogue the wheelchair, but Tavros grabbed it first. Oh, cool, so trolls had stylluses too, awesome.

Suddenly, just as Paula offered to guide them, the caves lit up with brilliant candlelight that lead to the way out. "Oh, sweet! Thanks, Wax! Hope to see you guys again soon!"

With their path laid out, the group began to make its way out. John entertained himself with thoughts of this brand new world, of the people he'd meet.... hoping he'd meet not only more trolls, but maybe even his good friends...

[DM: Dersite Merchant]

To Paula's rather mild amazement (she'd been on the island long enough not to be too amazed), Tavros was able to convert his previously discarded wheelchair into a card for easier carrying. Must've been their form of what was called 'hammerspace'. Certainly would've come in handy in her and her friends' adventure; they wouldn't have needed to use the Escargo Express so much then.

Just moments after Paula made her offer, Wax had returned with help of his own. His followers, it seemed, were lighting a quick path out of the caves for them.

"Why, thank you, Wax. That's very kind of you," she said, carefully making her way to the lit path, just taking a quick peek back to the rest.

[shiftyPotentate]

==>

You smile and wave to the candle thing using your tail, arms preoccupied carrying one of your friends in your arms. As his arms hold your neck, and brush against the scar there, you're reminded of three things.

The first, your beloved moirail. Equius. Making a point to keep your mind off the bad things near the end of both your lives, you remember the first time you met. You had been talking on Trollian for a long time before either of you finally worked up the courage to visit the other. You had made the journey all the way from your cave, up to his mountain home, surprised at how close he lived to Vwhiskers.
He had been expecting you and, forseeing your arrival, had spread out as many soft mechanical parts (which in retrospect weren't that soft) as he could scrounge up, so that you could pounce around his hive freely without hurting yourself. Of course you didn't miss with your first pouncegreet.
He welcomed you with open (though reluctant to hug) arms.

The second, Gamzee. Though he'd killed you and Equius, and probably more of your friends, you'd calmed down enough to realize it wasn't his fault. Not entirely. Without his sopor slime he became something else.
Or was that his real self and the sopor slime just made him a goofy peaceful idiot?

You decide not to think about it. But you have a permanent reminder encircling your neck, you now realize.

The third, of all the times you spent hunting musclebeasts. Every time you went out into the wild, you risked being killed and eaten yourself. For your own sake and the sake of your friends, you became the best huntress you could be, that and because it was so much fun! You didn't carry any of your kills quite the way you now carried Tavros, that was still the way you developed most of your strength.

As Tavros captchalogued his four wheeled device, you give him a big friendly smile. It occurs to you to check your own sylladex.

Nepeta: Check sylladex.

You attempt to check your sylladex, only to discover that it is completely empty. Not just your cards, but your deck itself has zero cards. You also seem to be lacking a fetch modus. The only thing you do retain, by some strange miracle, is your CLAWKIND Strife Specibus, along with the BLUE HARPOON CLAWS you alchemized with Eridan's help.

You shake your head. At least you could still just carry things. Like you were now, actually. You notice the pathway become lit up, and thank the candlebeasts for their help and keep up with the rest of your team.

Team Helpfriends. It's the best team name you can come up with, which you have to admit is kind of lame but who cares? At least you're part of a team again!

[ryocker]

Wax awaited everyone else to go first- Admittedly, he wanted to covor the rear for two reasons- to keep his minions from playing a few fire-ball pranks, and because... he had something to do.

"...and guys," Wax added, his large crew of candles stopping in their tracks. "I... I'm gonna need you to hold down the fort for me."

They knew exactly what that meant. "Boss, no! You can't leave us!"

"Sorry guys, but i have to. I don't wanna be a bad guy anymore... so I'm gonna redeem myself. Don't expect me back soon, in fact-" Smiling, Wax gave his cave-mates a quick look. "You guys can spread around, too. Find a good deed to do- light up the ghost-town, stalk the graveyards, find a city somewhere that'll be amazed with your fires- Just don't cause mischief. There's enough of you that I'll know. Got it?"

Wax smiled. He wasn't going to tell his new friends just yet, not until they left the caves. "Hey, Nepeta!" He called. "You want the instructions for that bulb?"

[sleepZombie]

==> Be carried

That's not hard to do because you ARE being carried. Right now, in fact. By one of your friends who was kind of that sort of friend you really just talked to from time to time and maybe sometimes roleplayed with. You've never really talked to Nepeta much but that was kind of because of her Moirail, he really intimidated you. Also you are really, really allergic to cats. In fact her hood is kind of making you feel just a tad itchy. That's alright, though, it's not nearly as bad as that time you met Pounce de Leon.

You don't really have much to say as you're carried along the path, but you do gasp a little bit as Nepeta steps out into the light, instinctively wincing and covering your eyes before you realize that the light of this sun really doesn't seem to be half as cruel as the one on your home planet. With a sound of wonderment you gingerly open your sensitive eyes, squinting at your surroundings.

And then you realize that you are a few steps away from the ledge of a cliff.

==> Have flashbacks

Advance or abscond.

The cold night air and the slick, nervous feeling of your lance against your palms.

Advance or abscond.

Dark, dark raven hair and vision eight-fold. Vision that you know can seep into your brain the same way yours can. It's a power that is terrifying because you know exactly how it works. You know the way it makes the victim go limp, strung along like a puppet, feeling everything but not feeling anything and unable to move, locked in their minds. That's why you always tried to be as gentle as you could, careful and gentle.

Advance or a8scond.

But she never was.

Fly, Pupa, flyyyyyyyy!

==> Flip your shit

With a hoarse whimper you're already tight grip on Nepeta turns into something vice-like. Your fingers clamp down against her shoulders, your arms locking against her neck. For a second you are drawn out of the tiny corridor of your tunnel vision of terror to realize you feel the rough line of flesh badly healed. A scar, maybe?

And then it's you and that cliff edge again, and all you can do is tremble and quake in your friend's arms.

[nintendonut1]

John caught a whif of the wind, and if he had the floppy ears of a dog, they'd perk right up. He practically galloped up past the trolls and stood at the end of the cliff just outside the cave's entrance. With his arms bunched back and chest thrusted out, he took a huge breath of the fresh air, the wind playing with the long tail of his hood.

"--ahhhhh!" he exhaled, outstretched his arms, and called out with wild abandon into the bright blue skies, "HELLLLL-OOOO DIMENSIONAL ISLAND!!"

[DM: Dersite Merchant]

Paula smiled as she stepped out after John and looked out at the open space next to him.

"The climb can be a little tricky if you're not careful," she said, pointing up the trail. "But we'll have to go up to get out of the canyon. Then it's not far to the city from there."

[shiftyPotentate]

"Huh?" Nepeta looked back to Wax, which was bad because she was walking straight for the cliff and didn't realize it. "Oh, sure, that'd be purrfe-- ehh??"

She felt Tavros squirming a little in her arms, and increased her grip on him and stopped in her tracks, to focus on holding him and not dropping him. She hissed in pain as his fingers found the scar, which hurt with pressure. She looked forward to Tavros, and then noticed the cliff. "Tavros, are you all right...?" She softened her grip on him and tried to cradle him gently, fully in her mother cat persona. Good lord this kitten was terrified! She gently licked Tavros's cheek, hoping that would calm her little one down.

As she was tending to Tavros, she noticed that they were now outside in the daylight. She looked up at the sky, noting how, despite the bright sun, the sky still seemed to hold a darkened effect past the light. Almost as if it were a brightened night. She blinked. She could almost swear she heard a whisper in some guttural, but familiar tongue.

It chilled her to her very core, and her arms nearly dropped Tavros. But she remembered, and then focused on him. She couldn't be weak for him now of all times!

[ryocker]

"Woah!"

The light of the outside world, two of the troll kids freaking out (well, one of them, the other just got a vice-grip to her body), and it happened a little bit too fast. Fortunately, it probably wasn't that bad- they seemed calm... sort of.

"...heh, I'll tell you about the mini wax when you feel better about it, alright?" Wax sighed. "Anyway, If it's Void City you want, I know a shortcut. Not much of one, but it's a shortcut."

His face began to lose its happy grin, sinking into a saddened look. The flame on his head began to die a bit, not flaring as bad as it had been. Most people feel a pressure in their chest when they get upset...

His heart isn't in his chest. "...Uh." Oh get it together, how hard is it to tell them you're leaving the caves for a while?! he thought, tensing a little.

[sleepZombie]

"I. Just, uh. No, not really, I am not alright." He squeezed his eyes shut, shoulders still shivering nervously. "I'm not really, very fond of, high places. Or actually, edges of high places, mostly. Nepeta, please don't, uh, don't drop me."

He wasn't necessarily afraid of heights. He did plenty of flying on Prospit while he was sleeping, but he was pretty sure that he would NOT be able to fly should he go careening off the cliffs edge in this island... world... wherever he was.

[nintendonut1]

Having finished his bravado, John turned back to realize that the others didn't really share in his glee. He felt kind of bad when he thought about it; this world looked very similar to his so far, so it was natural he was excited, and Paula seemed to be the same. But the trolls and candle looked intimidated, obviously because this was not what they were used to, and poor Tavros was just panicking.

Maybe getting into the city would calm some nerves. John looked up the trail Paula indicated, and heard Wax's mention of a shortcut, but a hesitant grin came to his face at another idea entirely.

"Hey, uh..." he spoke up, hoping this suggestion would be acceptable despite everyone's anxiety. "In this wide open space doing the windy thing and carrying everyone would be a breeze (he snickered at his own pun). Just point me in the general direction of this city you're talking about and we should get there fast than any trail would get us."

A pause. He needed to get into leader mode and realize there needed to be a vote. "...I mean, if we're all okay with that, anyway."

[DM: Dersite Merchant]

Pausing to think, Paula considered both possibilities. The shortcut option seemed the more stable. Then again...

"If you do, are you sure enough in your abilities to be certain it will be completely safe?" she asked John.

[shiftyPotentate]

"Drop you? I purromise I won't!" she said, clutching Tavros even tighter to reassure him. She did back away from the ledge to help his anxiety. She continued to lick his cheek like a mother cat, hoping to calm him down a little more.

She looked up at John as he suggested the Windy Thing. "I saw you carry yourself earlier! Do you think you can lift fur of us as well as yourself with it, John??" She wasn't skeptical, just making sure he was confident! She liked boosting peoples' confidence, she noticed.

"If you are, I'm okay with it!" She couldn't really climb with Tavros in hand anyway. And no way was she leaving him behind.

[ryocker]

Waxevius was about to finally tell them- when the windy thing was brought up as transportation. "Uuuuh... I'm... alright with it..." he said, putting his waxy hands on his head. "But... I'm not sure if my... 'heart' can take that kind of pressure, you know?"

Oh what was he saying? "But, if there's someone here with fire abilities, or something that'll make a spark, we're good. Seeing the city is pretty easy from here, and the sky- manage to find the entrance to the top of the caves, get up there, and past all the desert is Void City, plain as day."

He slided close to John, then whispered. "You... do know where my heart is, right?"