Difference between revisions of "Log:Harvesting with Harvestmen in the Hedge"

29 October, 2017

What use is sitting around in a coffee shop all day, if you can't drag fellow Wyrd patrons out into the wilds of the Hedge to get some fruit? Uschi takes Ziv and Omari into Bulberry Thicket, to search for some certain Goblin Fruits. Only something catches Ziv's eye, and... Well... Let's just say it's a good thing that Omari is there to help her out of a sticky situation.

Bulberry Thicket, The Hedge

High in the Wyrd atmosphere, the pinky-orange-reddish light of an autumn sky that's creeping in that odd out-of-time way towards a faux 'dusk' has illuminated everything down below in warmth. This is, of course, an illusion: it is not warm, it's merely... Wyrd. Down in the Bulberry Thicket, there is some activity: Hedge Bees go about their dopey droning, passing unaffected amongst the thorns. Occasionally, some gnarled Hob or another can be sensed moving in some of the pathways that split off of the main Trod and criss-cross along the slopes of the valley, but there is not much action going on.

See that six-foot-something Ogress, standing there half-obscured shadow of some particular Bulberry tree?

That's Uschi. The Moon Ogress looks like she should be sleeping in some abandoned boxcar -- but even crust punk Moon's gotta venture into the Hedge now and then. Body twisted to the side to accommodate the deadness of that left arm of hers, the tassels on the Ogress' battle jacket twist n' shake in the breeze, as she...

Observes the surroundings. Uschi is watching a patch of brambles, just off the edge of the trod. Like just -staring- at them could somehow send some hidden bounty of fruits her way.

"Uhhh... so what do these do? What do we need them for?" wonders Ziv, though she is at least whispering - keeping to the Ogress's shadow. Why did she come along with the mad Moon Changeling to begin with? Well, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and go for it - and she at least -claims- to be part of the collective. That makes the batling perhaps overly curious, as opposed to really being standoffish. But at least she has Neville with her, who is currently perched in between her ears, on top of her head. Not much use in a battle, but really useful if you have to run away. And she usually wears comfortable clothing, even though her little black work sweater dress, leggings, and sandals are possibly going to get destroyed in the Hedge.

"I think it was... Cassian? He makes pastries and stuff out of these," she whispers, creeping in closer to Uschi's side and looking where the Ogress is. Best to keep towards the big Changeling, since the last time she was out in the Hedge she got clawed.

After grabbing a bit of booze at the collective Omari followed the call without much issue. He's a Harvestmen and a Standard Bearer with a bit too much curiosity for his own good. After last night he's a bit more careful when coming along, and when he does so it's with at least one of his guns holsterd on his side.

The Beast isn't much for armor or the like, having settled on just a hooded jacket, jeans, and boots that were clean a few blue moons ago. He approaches the other two Lost, and asks, "Is staring at it going to make something come out?" The wintry wolf at his side points out, "Isn't that how you lost your shoes, though?"

Uschi has obviously taken her role as 'stoic protector/potential threat' seriously - she's not said anything beyond a grunt or two to anyone since they've stepped into the Hedge: she's merely supported the Batling and Wolfboy to navigate the trod, and damned if the Farwalker isn't a pretty acceptable tour guide. Omari? Omari can be their heavy bodyguard. Ziv's here to learn. Right? Oh dear...

"...Tha's a question." Uschi concedes to Ziv after a moment - lifting her ruddy right hand so she can scratch at the uneven, raw looking seam that connects her Very Dead Arm to her Very Much Alive shoulder. Is that even her 'original' arm? It looks like somebody's crossed a chicken's leg with a water-logged arm of a much scrawnier person that the Ogress.

Uschi better not have that Boarder Reavers' sickness.

"S'more like, whot -don't- ya need 'em for, eh? Lil' squirt like yerself? Goin' 'round gettin' into sewers? Yer gonna want some've them." Uschi's ruddy right hand is raised, leaning towards Ziv as she points into the brambles. Can Ziv follow what Uschi's looking at? In the greenery just off the trod, there are clusters of pink fruits just bigger than cherries. "Blushberries. Ya gone an' bash yer skull onna rock an' feel like shit? They'll heal ya. Wanna preserve 'em, dry 'em out..."

There is a beat. Then another. Finally Uschi turns and looks at Omari, sniffing in the air and being either very thoughtful or very... Slow.

"Shoes are for horses." Uschi says with a snort, although she -does- seem to be smiling-- well, smirking really. "Look like I give rides? Nah man. This issa... Whadda ya call it... Field trip." She sniffs in again, and tilts a horn in the direction of Omari's gun, before adding. "Whot news, from Wayhome?"

"I've... seen them before. Um," says Ziv, looking towards the blushberries, her ears perking in that direction. Neville, meanwhile, is keeping an eye on Omari and Romulus - because here there be wolves. Things that might eat little bats like him or Ziv. "Had a few... are we over here for these, then?" she wonders, looking aside up at Uschi. She's at least letting the Ogress take the lead; and her body language might even hint she appreciates it. At least a bit.

"Oh right, shoes!" is said in answer to both Omari and Uschi, before she takes off her sandals and tucks them into her rucksack. They're not going to really do her any good here, anyway, considering what they are - and they're for work. "Sooo... are there other fruits here, too?" she wonders, glancing between both the elder (?) Beast and the Ogress.

The attention both he and Romulus get isn't returned by the pair, although they do take the occasional look about the place as if searching for prey. "Can't say I know much about fruit, though. I mean I do eat it from time to time." He stops, rubbing at the back of his neck as he admits, "Hedge kind anyway. Regular fruit just tastes like crap compared to good, regular meat." Omari lifts a hand, and starts counting on his finger as he starts to droll on about fruit until he gets to Bloodapple. "Bloodapple is the best of 'em all though. It's kinda sweet, but it looks /just/ like blood."

"Good." Uschi grunts to Ziv, taking a moment to pull a face and scratch at her jaw -- did she just smudge shadow into her cheek? Things look darker now. The Moon turns and points at the bushberries again. "Yer here 'cause yer gonna go an' harvest some wif'out gettin' yer pretty lil' wings caught up inna thorns, d'ja get me?"

That does not quite sound like a request. That sounds like Uschi is demanding - ordering? - telling Ziv what's what.

"Me? I'm here fer..." That's not a sigh - Uschi, sighing?! That wheezing breath must be because she's got a cold, because a sigh would suggest she's expressing feelings. "Scarthistle. S'ain't as reg-ewe-lar, see? But I gotta sense there's some to get got."

Confident. That's what Uschi sounds like -- but she quiets as Omari starts talking about fruit; grunting once or twice, nodding her head vaguely, horns dully glinting in the Wyrd light, as that shadowy Mantle floats around her. When he says Bloodapple, though, Uschi starts to chuckle: a rough sound, like stones rolling over shale. "When've ya ever had th' need fer a Bloodapple? Damn son... S'only good if yer fuckin' guts 'er hangin' out -- but then s'reeeeeal fuckin' good." A beat. "Ain't many 'round. tho'..."

In the distance down trod, there is rustling. Nothing is immediately apparent, though. Out over the thorns, glows a dim blueish light.

"Scarthistle? What's that look like?" wonders Ziv, but she's already moving towards the thicket at Uschi's orders. It's not as if she minds having a mentor, even if it's somewhat of an unconventional arrangement - and the Ogress really isn't at all like the tiny Windwing. Padding forward, she moves to start slipping through the thorns, trying to carefully part them - with the upper ridge of her wing, if she needs to do so. Or an elbow. Anywhere there's less of the webbing. But, she might have -some- sense of what she's doing, in there.

"Bloodapple sounds... interesting," she says, somewhat uncertainly. Was that a shiver? It seems to distract the batling from what she's doing for a moment, and she sticks herself on a thorn. There's a little hiss of pain - but perhaps lesson learned, she looks again to what she's doing. Not at the other Changelings.

Until she seems to notice something off. Is it the bluish light? Is it the scent on the air? Either way she stops, sniffing at the air, with Neville mimicking her from the safety of her tousled mane. "Something smells... bad."

"I'm Omari," the Beast says with his thumb jabbed into his puffed out chest. He motions to the hedge beast ta his side, adding, "This is Romulus. Remus is usually with us, but after last night he's getting a bit of rest. I'm hoping he'll be-" Romulus cuts him off to say, "The dumbass got those nasty guts on him, and got what he deserves." He chuffs, and nods to that affirmation while Omari shakes his head. "Anyway, Bloodapple just tastes amazing, but there's been more than a few times where I've needed it because shit gets bad here, or I've gotten, as ya said, fucked up with my insides outside." Then to Ziv's note he starts sniffing at the air as wolves are wont to do, and says, "Bloodapple's kinda ugly to look at it, and I've seen a few get grossed out because it looks like blood."

"S'looks like a thistle." Uschi says helpfully to Ziv -- watching the Batling as she heads out towards the Blushberries and the brambles that protect their fruity goodness. Does the Ogress look concerned for her unlikely pupil? Not in the slightest! She looks like she has every single faith that... She, Uschi, will be alright standing there, observing. "Yer right, tho'. Bloodapples'er in-tere-estin', but so's readin' the portents in yer own offal."

Bloody Ogress', man. Uschi laughs to herself - oblivious, or uncaring, to the sights and sounds and scents around her.

Of course, Uschi is widening her stance a bit: feet pressed firmly on the ground, at the ready just... Incase.

"Omari." She echoes, her iridescent eyes flickering as Uschi looks to Romulus a moment later. "Rom-ewe-lus." There is a pause, and the Ogress lifts a hand to tap at her own chest, making a hollow thunking noise. "Uschi." Then? She lapses into silence - giving a vague nod to the Beast and his companion as he discusses Bloodapple.

Finally, Uschi's brow wrinkles with deep concern. "Whot? An' they think their insides'er prettier ta look at? Man, folk's'er always neglectin' whot's good 'cause it looks shit. Weren't I sayin' that, Ziv? I mean, s'more fer me inna long run, but... The shit folk toss aside, 'cause they too froo-froo... S'weak."

"I think it's-- oof! I think it's something about... health codes," pants Ziv, calling out from deeper in the brambles as she continues to look around for the blushberries, Neville retreating deeper into her mane where -he's- less likely to get skewered if one of the pushed branches rebounds and hits Ziv in the face or something. For a moment, the bat Changeling stops to take a breath, then continues on deeper. Bats aren't really blind; but they're also not much known for their eyesight - so the extra senses might not be so good there...

...But Ziv's own are pretty good, soon she calls from the thicket, "Hey! Here they are! And um... I don't think a bloodapple would... worry me for what it looks like," she calls out. There are some other rustling sounds, and then a few plucks, followed by rebounds.

"...probably be good to find and, um, preserve some of those, or so I'd think," she continues. The others likely, at this point, can't see that she's attentively listening to the area around them. Or maybe they can. The blushberries -could- be spotted from the Trod, afterall.

Omari tries out the new name a few times, and then nods when he's got the gist of it. He doesn't appear too happy, though, and for a moment it may look like it's a problemn with Uschi until he points out, "Fucking shit one of them damn fucking birds." He unholsters his gun for the moment, clutching it tight for fear of losing it or their safety. He turns his nose up, still sniffing as they search for fruit. "If you see a bird, point it out. I'm not taking a damn chance, and losing something to those fuckers again."

Health Codes.

Uschi's lips move, but words don't come out as she presumably mulls over what Ziv means by that. What's a health code? The quasi-feral Ogress doesn't seem to have a clue. Those iridescent eyes of her glint as she watches Ziv navigate the brambles and thorns in her search for The Bounty of Blushberries -- her own weight shifting back-and-forth between her feet, like she was getting ready to...

What? Pounce on Ziv? That seems unlikely. Maybe it's the scent in the air, because she's turning and giving Omari a curt nod -- NOD -- at the mention of birds. When he unholsters his gun, though? Uschi just sort of...

...keeps shifting her weight -- attention turning towards the skies. "...Whot they take from ya, Omari?" Uschi asks after a moment, padding back a step to remain in the shadow of that Wyrd tree. The Moon doesn't -seem- overly worried about the prospect of Vileshrikes descending on their little foraging foray, but it -is- hard to read her expression.

Attention slips back to Ziv, as Uschi grunts quietly in her direction. "Put 'em in yer pack, an' we'll dry 'em when we're at Cat. We ain't lookin' for Bloodapple today." So stern -- is it a Ogress thing? Because Uschi is kind of, uh, pushy.

Ziv's good at this, apparently, or maybe it's because Uschi sniffed them out. She finds a fairly large harvest of blushberries, and swings around her rucksack to stuff a few into it, keeping carefully poised so she's only touching the brambles on the tougher parts of her body, and not stepping fully on them with the pads of her claws.

"Are we going to make something with them? I think that would be a nice gesture for the... Lost that come to the cafe," calls out Ziv again, tottering carefully while she stuffs the things again. Her ear perks once more, and she pauses to look deeper into the thicket.

Once she breaks her silence again, she squints and looks vaguely uncomfortable - but also a little uncertain. Leaving behind the blushberry bush, she delves a little deeper into the thorns, as if trying to get a look at something by straightening up. "I think there's... something else in here," she calls over a shoulder to the others, looking briefly conflicted.

Omari looks back to Uschi, gaze glowing faintly against the white fur on his face. "Ugly fuckers stole a braclet that fell off. It was a gift from..." He stalls for a moment, likely looking for the right word. Romulus finishes it for him, and growls, "A friend." "What he said," Omari readily says, and seems happy to move from the subject. "I still don't like the fuckers, much less most things that fly."

As his ire grows his mantle flares. The heat radiating around him constrasts with the cold, menacing his lupine features as he follows along with the others. When pointed to the bushes he raises his gun and growls, "If whatever's in there wants no trouble just come and speak to the bat-lady. She likely won't bite, but we do."

"Yes." Uschi replies to Ziv, when she asks about preserving the Blushberries into fare at Cat-22.

...Really? Uschi? That's all she'll say? Apparently so, because Uschi's attention is back in the brambles -- ducking her head a bit, as if to get a better perspective as she looks, and looks, and looks and... Oh Omari is speaking to her. The Ogress grunts, turning to give him a confused look as he trails off.

The Ogress turns to Romulus for clarification, then ahs. "Well, ya know what they say out here -- finders..." Brief pause. "Finders." Yeah. Because not even Uschi thinks saying 'Keepers' is a good idea in the Hedge.

And yet... What's that, glinting between the thorns, not too far away from where Ziv wandered through? Perhaps the Batling's path through the thicket is what exposed it; something glinting in the gloom, shiny and metallic. Coins? Chain? Some sort of tchotchke?

The breeze blows through, and with in the gentle sent of rot -- rustling in the distance continues, very subtle.

Uschi looks out at the brambles, then over to Ziv and Omari in turn. "...Whot makes ya think it can speak?" The Ogress asks, and then she starts to move -- heading not towards the sound or the sparkle between the thorns, but a shadowy spot a little further down the trod. Seems like she's finally spotted whatever she's looking for -- or at least thinks she has. Now, if only she can get to it...

Ziv is curious! Not necessarily like a cat, more like a... bat. Because bats are curious too, though usually the things they're inquisitive about involve things such as insects. Or whether they can roost in something. Or whether there's more fruit. Or if it's going to get them laid. Hopefully Ziv has higher functioning proclivities than those, but sometimes you never know - a lot of humans are really motivated by those, too.

"What the..." Ziv says, audible enough for the others to hear. She continues to push through the brambles, keeping her ears pricked. As she does so Neville begins to chitter irritably, scurrying over the batgirl's head and clinging to her hair, before diving down partially under her collar in the back.

Right now she's just trying to get a better look, but soon she might be making grabby-wings.

"Finders keepers, losers weepers," Omari points while keeping his aim steady. "I ain't got a bit of proof that it speaks, but I'd rather give it or whatever the chance to speak if it can. I'm trying not to be as trigger happy and just shooting at whatever might be stirring about. I tend to get in truoble with that kinda shit." He looks over to Ziv then, gaze narrowing a bit. "What do ya see? If it's buried treasure that somehow got up to the top I wouldn't be against it."

Uschi is also curious -- and possibly either a very bad teacher, or a very 'hands off, let the kid put the fork in the plug socket: if they get burned, then they'll know not to do it again' kind of teacher, because she is most assuredly -not- paying attention to Ziv and her curious, grabby-wings, or Omari and his non-opposition vis-a-vis treasure.

Because all Uschi does is grunt, and then start hot-stepping it through the thorns: moving to reach the small, well hidden patch of Scarthistles which the Farwalker has spotted. And damn, for a girl as big and ursine as Uschi? The Ogress can -move-. It's like she's got Iron Skin or something, and knows how to manipulate herself /around/ the thorns, in avoidance of getting speared -upon- them. Clever girl.

But un-engaging. Uschi is in survival mode. Sadly it's limited to her own survival, because she's not interrupting the curious companions as they look towards the shinies in the brambles...

...and they are so shiny. Sure, they're off trod -- but is it really /that/ dangerous? If a person was to just, just... Just get in a little closer, a few feet maybe, they'd be able to reach the little bit of glinting metal that shines in the Wyrd warm light from the alien heavens above them.

They could brush off the bit of dirt and fallen leaves, really explore whatever that thing is, tangled in the thorns...

What's the worst that could happen?

Well, one of them is also a kid who was then a bat-thing for half her life, and is now an immature adult. Sometimes, the young really don't make the best decisions. "I think it's something," she calls back to Omari, over her shoulder. Then she's shuffling in deeper, trying to pick up whatever it is that's just beyond. Does she even, honestly, know exactly where the trod is? Possibly not, unless the Lost have some innate sense of such things.

Omari focuses in on what Ziv's found, and moves closer to get his own look. The gun is holstered at his side again, leaving trails of ice chips falling to the ground when he does so. Romulus moves behind him, his attention split between following the Changelings and keeping an eye out for danger. "Look on the bright side. If it's something nice you can always sell it at the market or to something else if it ain't whatcha need. Just hope it ain't one of those cursed things that makes you blind or ends up with you losing a finger."

It most certainly is something: from afar it looked like a coin, but up close the shiny object that Ziv has taken ahold of is the pommel stone of what looks like a very sadly broken dagger. She and Omari may be disappointed at what they find, it's just a bit of trash left in the Hedge.

Only... That's odd. It's... Sticky.

Thin, gossamer strands of practically invisible... Sticky stuff cover the whole thing - connecting the broken dagger to the ground, and a patch of brambles, and some more threads of sticky stuff, and... Oh. Oh it looks like a web -- or at least a line of threads, which may connect to a web somewhere through the thicket. Noticeable now, as they vibrate and shake the foliage, as Ziv holds her shiny 'treasure'.

Rustling in the brambles intensifies.

It is not from Uschi -- she's somewhere out of sight, off wherever she was finding Fruit; silent and melted into the landscape, as Farwalkers are wont to do. Sure, she's within ear shot... But the Ogress isn't paying attention. Omari and Ziv are left to deal with the sticky situation themselves.

Well, Ziv can take a guess at why the dagger was -broken- at least. Mentally, she takes stock of her options, because while beasts aren't the most insightful on academic topics sometimes some of them are -witty-. Her wing, though, is pretty well stuck in the webbing. "Omari, I'm stuck! There's a... spider thing in here, maybe about six paces away." And then she's trying to back up, starting to pull some of the webbing with her - and she at least tries to position it so she's starting to pull some of the edges of the brambles with her, as well.

"I smell. Like some old book hidden in a library. The shitty one nobody ever reads like Thomas Jefferson's memoirs." He shudders at the thought, likely his own bit of history there. Omari was reaching for his gun until it looked like Ziv needed a bit more help, and he reaches forward to tear at the webbing with his own claws. "Maybe now isn't the best time to mention that it might be one of those Harvestmen. Not our kind either."

Off in the distance, close enough that it's audible to the two fae in their sticky situation, there is a sound.

Chitter-chitter-chitter...

Where is Uschi?! The Ogress is not in the direction of that sound -- she's further down the trod, remember? Looking at Scarthistles? And yet... There is an almost imperceivable sound of movement, off from where she was earlier: could it be that Uschi has heard her companions' peril? Possibly. She hasn't appeared again though. Man. Some protector she is...

Ziv and Omari will be faced with the sticky webbing around Ziv's hand, arm and wing -- thin, translucent strands that only really become visible when movement happens; giving the strangest, or Wyrdest, illusion of the world around them being rippled.

The Wolfboy supports the Batgirl's sticky situation, those gossamer threads getting cut through under Omari's claws. The real question is; will that help be enough to help Ziv rally her strength and break free? Because... What's the folklore about Harvestmen say again? Isn't their webbing a little... Toxic?

Omari to the rescue! He's in there, using his own claws to cut through the strands, while Ziv is twisting around in order to use hers (and possibly the dagger she's grabbed onto) to slice through the webbing that's entangled her. With the other Beast's help, she manages to get free, and jerks backwards.

It's possible, though, she must have made herself dizzy. As an extension of that jerk to freedom she staggers off to the side, twists around and promptly loses her lunch in a frothy explosion - before tumbling like a particularly small tree in a forest, face first into it and a patch of thorns.

The batgirl's free from the webbing, and Omari's allowed just a moment of relief. However, she drops right to the ground, and leaves the Beast with his jaw slack. "Aw fuck." Beat. "Somebody's gonna kill me for this." He unholsters his gun, trying his best to wake up the other Beast with a few hard nudges. When that doesn't work he lets out a long, sharp whistle that may draw even worse attention. "Rom, get ready for a big fuck off spider that might be coming our way. I'm gonna put her on Remus, so get ready to fly if it needs to happen."

Free! Ziv is free from the sticky constraints of the Harvestman's webby trap -- the Batling is not, however, free from the noxious effects of the webs toxins. She will remain in a daze, as Omari ls left... Did he just kick Ziv?! Party foul! Either way, the nudges aren't going to wake her up, alas.

From the Trod proper, just viewable through the brambles that Omari and Ziv clambered through, there comes the shadowy figure of Uschi -- an Ogress who is /most assuredly/ sticking to the safety of the trod, as she squints that shadowy face and peers through the trampled avenue of thorns.

Silence. In the distance there is rustling -- no doubt the Harvestmen, but it doesn't seem to be drawing any closer. They are skittish sorts, those Wyrd spiders: frail, in a fashion. Prefer a prone, lone prey, and they've probably sensed that there is more than one Changeling here -- and that their webbing has been cut. Alas. It will have to Harvest another day...

Uschi, meanwhile, is carrying a bushel of Blushberries in her arm, staring at Omari like he's quite possibly insane. "...Whot'cha doing that to her for?" Oh man. Omari might have some explaining to do..

The Ogress does not have the sense to jump to any conclusions though, she just jerks her horns to point at the Trod path, beckoning him close. "Pick'er up, take'er here, an' wait fer your lil' buddy. We're goin' home."

Who isn't currently pushy? Ziv. Because she's currently busy getting unconsciously bushy.

"She passed out because..." Omari wracks his brain for just a few seconds before giving up. "Fuck, I can't remember, but it's about these goddamned spider webs. I swear it's not like I was gonna eat her or anything." Maybe. He is a wolf after all, and the same's true for his companion. "But we prolly need to get outta here asap. Like today, maybe."

"Uh huh, suuuure thang bigman." Uschi sounds unconvinced -- although that might just be the deadpan nature of the Ogress' cadence, because she's motioning with her horns for Omari to get the unconscious Batling back through the thorns and onto the trod.

What, Uschi's not going to help!? Well, the Ogress does only have -one- working arm, and it's currently being used to transfer those Blushberries of hers into her backpack. It's a bit of an ordeal...

"Yer right tho'. S'ain't no place fer us ta fuck around in, d'ja get me? C'mon... Ya know, ya 'holder types ain't all bad." Aw, Uschi -- is that a compliment? Could be.

Omari sighs, "I swear it ain't what it looks like, and-" He shakes his head, and "Aight. Just gimme a second." He squats down to heft up Ziv in both arms, and when he stands to his full hart a bandaged up, large icy wolf shows up. "Remus, I'll pay you for it later, but make sure she stays on for the trip back." Then to Uschi he turns, brow quirked. "Maybe next time we should probably look at smelling salts or some kinda shit like that. Never know when it'll help, scare some shit, or be worth a trade."

"I gots my eyes on ya." Uschi croaks out at Omari -- but... Is she teasing? There's something that suggest Uschi -could- be teasing, but of course, the tone of her voice can be so flat and blunt, it's really hard to tell.

She grunts as Omari picks Ziv up, and makes his oh-so-careful way through the thorny brambles and back onto the Trod. The rustling in the distance has stopped, although the occasional scent of rot wafts in on the breeze. When Remus pads into view, Uschi gives the steed a little up-nod of acknowledgement, then with some effort she shoulders her rucksack again.

Dead arm swingin', the Ogress waits for Ziv and Omari to get all sorted. "That 'vester web? Nah. S'ain't nothin' we can do but wait it out..." She murmurs, then starts padding along - taking up the front, as the three Changelings and Omari's two Hedge Beasty Companions start making the slow, winding road back towards Earth.

Uschi gives the zoinked out Ziv a nod, then grunts in Omari's direction after a while; "...Yer right, tho', Omari. S'pays to always be prepared."

Well, luckily Ziv is pretty light, and reasonably easy to maneuver - though dead weight is still a thing. She's easier, at least, for Remus to carry than Omari himself likely would be. From somewhere under the back of her collar, Neville is occasionally making Angry sounds on the way back.

"Lots of folks got their eyes on me. Worst ya can do is do that weird shit like trying to cut off my damned tail or something." Omari grunts in turn, when Ziv is laid down on Remus' back, and he turns back to the Ogre. When they're ready to move he keeps his attention this way and that while Romulus keeps up with the other wolf. "Just so you know," Romulus barks up to Neville, "if you shit on him I'll make sure to protect you."