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You slither down a narrow path ducking under branches and carefully selecting your footing. You begin to wonder if this is really a path at all. You hear the sound of water and your pace slows in an instinct to be wary. You pull away at large hanging leaves and your eyes widen. The clearing before you, from what you can see, is littered with marble rubble that may have been apart of the fountain in the center. It still spouts water and it feeds into a pool that seems to take up the half closest to you. You think you must be on some elevation and take a few steps closer to see how you could traverse the rather deep-looking pond. Your foot gets caught under a root and you fall forward, entangling yourself in vines. You are suspended above the water by these vines and sigh in relief. You lay back for a moment, steadying your heartbeat and you close your eyes as you swing gently in the breeze. You eyes abruptly open at the sound of a snap and before you can even yelp, you are engulfed in cool, refreshing water.  You sputter as you break the surface and look around wildly for a moment of disorientation. You sigh heavily and pull yourself on to a slab of marble jutting out from the rise of earth behind you, where you once stood. You rub your eyes and wipe the water from your face. Well, at least it was refreshing, you think with a small chuckle. The rustling of leaves and boyish laughter catches your attention. Still sitting, you look around to try and locate the origin of the sound. Trees rustle to your right, then to your left, a shadow is cast directly above you and is gone again. You blink and stand at last, whatever is watching you has stopped moving. You look back at your path and notice you can step on pieces of the shattered fountain to get to the other side. Jumping from piece to piece you set foot on clearing that is level with the side you just left. You look down at the water. An earthquake perhaps, you think to yourself briefly. The part of the fountain still standing is nested at the edge of the clearing, above the water, apart from that, there's no trace of the fountain on this side. The flowers cast a sweet, alluring aroma around you and you momentarily forget why you're here. Something jumps down from the trees feet from you and is crouched low, looking up at you with fear and interest. You stand perfectly still unsure of how to react. You furrow your brow curiously. Is that... an iguana? At your expression, his eyes widen and scurries up a tree. He edges out over the branch, still curious as ever.  You look up at him with a smile but he remains perfectly still. You nearly speak but a cool, chiming laugh interrupts you. You turn and immediately recognize the white, black-striped feline. She walks up to you, black skirt swaying gingerly with each step. She only smiles at you with her eerie eyes staring directly through you. Lady Reaper, tail tip twitching, walks passed you to the creature with the taupe shorts in the tree. She strokes his cheek softly and then turns to you after he has receeded into the shadows of the tree. "You've made quite a distance to be here, Fair One." Lady Reaper crosses her arms over her black blouse, flowing sleeves draping over her arms. "Athos is an Iguana Chibifuzz, from the Dragon's Dominion." She trots over to the ruins of the fountain and sits on the ledge still remaining. You follow with slight hesitation. "Erm... what is a Chibifuzz?" You sit sit infront of her and watch her gaze down at the water. She looks up nonchalantly and points to the tree limb, "Why, he is of course." You glare at her with a smirk. She looks at you from the corner of her eye and laughs. Lady Reaper dips one hand into the clear water and splashes it up in her face gracefully. She takes a moment to soak it in, eyes closed, smiling placidly. "A Chibifuzz," she begins while standing and returning to the tree where Athos now sits peacefully. "They are miniature anthros, chibis, and as far as I know, this one doesn't speak." She smirks as Athos ruffles her black hair sending a few strands of her bright red bangs over her eyes. "I think he does it deliberately." Lady Reaper casts an evil eye up at the iguana chibi and he sticks out his tongue at her with a carefree expression. She leads you away, leaving him to relax with the butterflies. "I got lucky at a draw from DragonSpyrit, Keeper of the Dragon's Dominion at the Orchard. It's worth taking a look for a wanderer like yourself." The feline anthro stops at the drop to the pond and you look at her skeptically. She grins and before you know it, you're back in the water. You look from behind your soggy hair and see her laughing hysterically before something jumps down on her. You shelter your eyes from the spray of water and when you look back, Lady Reaper is beside you in the pond. She looks at your smiling face, "Not one word, Fair One, not one." You grimace and you both look up at Athos who's laughing so hard he's having trouble standing. He stops, stifling his chuckles, looking down at the two of you and the starts all over again. This time he does lose his balance and falls into the pond with a small yelp. Athos perches partly on Lady Reaper's shoulder and a silence sets over the three of you for a moment. You are the first to lose yourself in laughter and the other two join in merrily.
Jungle Realm Entrance Lady Reaper |
