Resh smirks at Tsadi. “See, even he doesn’t like you.” He looks back down at Jasper and pats his head.
Tsadi glares at Resh. “Why would I care? It’s just some weird… dog-snake hybrid creature.”
Teth groans and looks back at the two of them. “If you don’t shut up-“
Tsadi rolls his eyes. “Okay, fine-“
A few minutes more, and they all arrive in a small encampment. There's a few tents, and off to the side of the site a campfire. Around the camp there's torches that provide light. A few people give them curious glances as they enter. Harper heads straight for a larger tent, that already has its entrance pulled back. From here, a few figures can be seen, standing around a large table.
The trio falls silent as they all look around.
Resh secures his grip on his sword, feeling more and more nervous as they near the larger tent. Next to him, he sees Tsadi clench and unclench his fists, as if he wants to take his spear back out now that they’re outnumbered.
Teth seems to be the most calm out of the three, still tense and watching everyone and everything. Ugh, why can’t I just be back home right now…
Harper puts away her spear as she enters the tent. She looks back at the trio, waiting for them to enter.
A taller man watches as the trio approaches. He looks tired, like he hasn't slept in days. He has his hands on the table, leaning on them. He looks at Harper with confusion.
Resh lowers his hood as he enters, glancing around. He tucks part of his knotted hair behind his ear in order to see a little better.
Teth pulls her hood over her head, nervously playing with one of her braids. She glares at the man watching them, but doesn’t say anything.
Tsadi also glares at the man, still clenching and unclenching his fists. Resh elbows Tsadi and gives him a look that tells him to calm the fuck down.
The man evaluates them for a moment, before standing straight up. "Can't say people found wandering in the forest are often brought here. Who are you?" He doesn't seem very trustworthy of them.
Resh is the first to speak up. “I’m Resh Corvus, this-“ he jerks his head toward Tsadi- “is Tsadi Cepheus, and the short one is Teth Cassiopeia. We aren’t from here, we were all just minding our business and ended up in the middle of this forest.” He shrugs.
Teth crosses her arms and looks at Resh when he calls her ‘the short one.’ “Excuse you, I’m average. Not my fault you two had an excessive growth spurt.”
The man looks at them in near-disbelief after Resh introduces them. "…Right. And I thought I needed mental help." He looks at the other two people who were in the tent with him before the others arrived, and dismisses them in an unfamiliar language. They leave the tent, moving past the trio. One of them closes the tent after they exit.
Harper moves to stand next to the man, speaking to him in the same language. "I have reason to believe them. At least try to keep an open mind, Tseth."
Resh seems pretty unfazed by the man’s comment, simply raising an eyebrow in response. “I mean, we do need mental help, but I don’t necessarily think that’s the point of this conversation.”
Tsadi and Teth both narrow their eyes at the man. Teth is the only one out of the two to speak. “Well, alright then, smartass.”
The man smirks a bit at Resh's comment. "Mm. Well, you've introduced yourselves, I may as well do the same. Tsethlekai Stryker, King of the Dark Dragons. At your service."
Resh looks a little confused at his introduction. “King of the Dark Dragons? You’ve got to be kidding me.” He laughs a little and shakes his head. “You must be delusional.”
Teth and Tsadi also look confused, but make no comment.
Tseth puts on a false smile. "Well, that's a bold claim coming from the guy who shares a name with the god of darkness, who has friends named after elder deities. If either one of us is delusional, it is you, my dear." He clearly didn't listen to Harper's words earlier. The man who claims himself to be Resh got on his nerves a bit too easily. Maybe he should actually start trying to get sleep.
Harper only looks at Tseth disapprovingly, before regaining a neutral face. Berating him wouldn't help anything, and it wouldn't be professional. Out of line. I can just do it off-duty after this is resolved.
Resh lets out a low growl, but says nothing else. Not a good idea to get on his bad side. He glances over and sees Teth, and she looks livid. Uh-oh. “Teth, don’t-“
Teth takes a step forward. “Maybe you should watch your fucking tongue, Mr. So-Called King of the Burnt Shri—“
“Teth.” Resh glares daggers at her, and that seems to make her shut up quickly. She still looks furious, though.
Tseth keeps a neutral face as Teth speaks, but as she says the last part of her sentence, his eyes go red. "Perhaps I should." And maybe you should listen to your own advice. His tail flicks in annoyance. "Let's move on. You said you just ended up in this forest?"
Resh seems a little uneasy now. “…Yeah. Pretty much. It’s like we were teleported here by some… deity? Higher being? I don’t know. Point is, we didn’t want to end up here, wherever here is.”
Teth looks slightly bewildered. His eyes just changed colors. That’s definitely not a weird thing to see.
(Tsadi just vibing)
(Tsadi and Harper radio-silence)
Tseth sighs. "That's definitely not my area of expertise. My only guess if that would be Megabird, or your deity counterparts here. And… Resh isn't one known for good things." He looks down at the map on the table, grabbing a pencil and marking a spot off. "That's where you arrived. Just in case."
(laughs evilly in author-level god powers that the megabirds can’t compete with)
Resh thinks to himself for a moment, his gaze drifting off to the side. “…Weird. The goddess in our world is Megabird.” He seems to be thinking out loud more than anything. He blinks a few times as he zones back in, and makes eye contact with Tseth again. “Well, I wouldn’t expect much good from him if he’s the god of darkness in this world.” Funny, nearly everyone back home treats me like a scary ‘god of darkness’ type character.
Teth looks up at Resh. “You know, you seem pretty chill with the fact that we probably just traveled the fucking multiverse, but okay.”
(if teth gets any more self-aware she gets obliterated /j)
Tseth returns Resh's attention. "The Wastelands and Eden speak for themselves. He's the only reason darkness exists. But we'll move on from that for now. If you did travel… the multiverse, you'll need to find a way back." We all sound like maniacs talking like this. I'm getting a drink when I get back home.
(She’s gained too many brain cells she’s too dangerous to live)
(Would it be funny if she randomly broke the fourth wall /hj)
Resh looks down at the ground and furrows his brow, visibly confused about this whole situation. “How would we do that, though?”
Teth sighs impatiently. “I don’t know, why don’t we just talk to a fucking god or goddess or whatever? Just chat it up and be like, ‘hey, how are you? Cool, hey, I need you to help me get back home because I just got thrown to another dimension somehow.’” She gets progressively louder as she speaks, ending on a near yell.
Resh crosses his arms and glares at Teth. “Really? Because that sounds like a great idea.” His voice drips with sarcasm as he talks to Teth, and he’s clearly fed up with her now.
Tseth closes his eyes, nearly covering his ears when Teth yells. Stop that- you're fine. He turns around, snatching a roll of paper from a shelf behind him. He puts it on the table in front of the three of them. "If you want to talk to megabird, be my fucking guest. There's a map of forest so you don't get lost in your quest." Just go away.
(Hey look more reason to obliterate Teth I mean whaaaa)
Resh pauses for a moment, processing everything. Well, this turned out horribly. He sighs and takes the map, giving it to Teth and dropping his voice so only she can hear him. “Get out. We’ll talk later.” Her facial expression tells him that she knows she fucked up, and she leaves the tent. Tsadi quickly follows suit. Resh looks back to Tseth. “…I’m sorry about that. Teth can be aggressive, and I wasn’t really much help.” He stands there awkwardly for a few moments, then looks down and mumbles, “I’ll just go.” He pulls his hood over his head, then turns and leaves the tent.
(man now I feel bad)
Tseth sighs, looking at Resh. There wasn't really much he could say, or wanted to say. He only watches as Resh leaves the tent. His attention turns to Harper as she also heads for the exit. "I'll be back."
Jasper looks up at the trio from his spot on the ground when they exit the tent. He had been laying down outside the entrance.
Resh glares at Teth as he leaves the tent. “What the fuck were you thinking?” Teth starts to speak, but Resh interrupts her. “You know what, I don’t want to hear it. You weren’t thinking anything.”
Teth clenches her fists. “If you would let me finish, I was thinking that maybe—“
“Maybe what? Maybe you’ll piss off one of the few people who could help us get back? Maybe you’ll start yelling at everyone instead of fucking being helpful?”
Harper watches Resh and Teth argue. Not much I can do there. I don't know them enough to get involved in their arguments. She moves over to Jasper, crouching down and petting him.
Their arguing has gotten attention from more than Harper. Others around the camp were glancing back at them, or politely ignoring them and pretending nothing was happening.
Resh and Teth continue to argue with each other. When both of them start yelling, Tsadi yells louder at both of them.
“SHUT UP!” Tsadi walks over, picks up Teth by the back of her cloak, and shoves Resh to the side a little. “Yelling at each other won’t fucking solve anything.” He glares at both of them.
Resh flinches slightly when Tsadi shoves him, and glares back at him. “A bit hypocritical coming from you. Yelling seemed to be the solution to you when I—“ He cut himself off, gritting his teeth. There are others here. Wouldn’t be a good idea to say it.
Tsadi sets Teth down, now shifting his full attention to Resh. “When you what? Go on, say it.”
Resh takes a step back, away from Tsadi. He looks uneasy. “…Nothing. Nevermind.”